63. My Buff is a Drug
63. My Buff is a Drug
Slurp......
'Ah, that feels good.'
A thought that surfaced the moment he woke up.
'But wait, why does it feel good?'
A sudden wave of dissonance hit him.
Slurp......
A vulgar sound accompanied by distinct sexual stimulation.
The blanket somehow bulging upward.
A peculiar weight pressing down on his lower body.
'No way?'
Hye-yong pulled back the covers.
And sure enough, there was Lanfang with her face buried in his crotch.
The moment the blanket lifted, Lanfang looked up at him with a bashful little smile, their eyes meeting.
"Ahah... Master... you're awake."
That little giggle, the word 'Master,' the way she asked if he was awake—every single bit of it shot straight through Hye-yong's heart like arrows.
A morning blowjob!
Wasn't that every guy's fantasy?
'Doing this kind of thing without even being told.'
He was genuinely moved.
"Master, this place... it was so hard it looked painful. So... I thought maybe if I licked it, it would feel better..."
Like a puppy whimpering and licking its owner's wound, Lanfang devotedly ran her tongue over the painfully engorged shaft as if pitying it.
'Ah, how am I supposed to hold back.'
They'd been at it plenty last night, but this was unavoidable.
"Lanfang. The licking's enough. Let's just once more..."
"Yes, Master. I love being joined with you..."
In the end, even in those fleeting minutes after waking up, before having to go to class, they tangled their bodies together stickily.
Hye-yong thought to himself that even newlyweds probably weren't this intense.
-
June 23rd, 8:40 AM
Lecture Hall
"Hmm."
—I, Lanfang, am Master's pet dog who does anything he tells me to.
"Hmmmm."
—Lanfang is Master's pet dog... I don't like anyone but Master...
He hadn't been in this good a mood in a long time.
The more he thought about it, the more he laughed.
'It actually worked.'
Is this what a six-year-old girl feels like on her birthday, getting a cute puppy as a gift?
Yesterday he'd been too dazed to really process it, but now, back in his daily routine, sitting here waiting for class to start, it was sinking in.
The girl he genuinely thought was cute had crawled to him on all fours, called him Master, and declared she'd be his pet dog.
This is life.
"Did something good happen over the weekend?"
He must have been grinning like an idiot, because Choi Ah-young spoke up from beside him.
"Huh? Nah. Just feeling good for some reason today."
"Really? I guess it makes sense. If you get a buff like that every morning, it'd make you feel relaxed and happy."
A buff like that?
Ah, she meant the Comfortable Feeling one.
"Here, you take one too."
[ Comfortable Feeling ]
Comfortable Feeling effect, Level 2
"I wasn't asking you to cast it. Thanks, anyway."
"Don't mention it. Just tell me whenever you want one. It's no big deal. Between us, it's the least I can do."
"Then I'll take you up on that. I'll be counting on you."
It was a buff he'd just thrown together, but it seemed to have left more of an impression on Choi Ah-young than he'd thought.
Maybe the Regretful Feeling combo he'd used a few times had been effective?
'Whatever, it's good that she's taking an interest.'
More than that, he just wanted to hurry up, get through the day's classes, and go see Lanfang.
-
"Good work, everyone!"
"See you tomorrow, guys."
Parting ways with his party members, Hye-yong's steps were light as he walked out of the Otherworld Waiting Room.
'I'm free!'
It wasn't that he hated his daily life.
If anything, it was actually pretty fun.
It was just that right now, the free time after daily life was a little more fun!
Out of habit, Hye-yong opened his terminal.
[ Mina: Creator sir! ]
[ Mina: I have something to discuss, please reply when you have a moment! ]
'What's she got to talk about today.'
Judging by the tone, it didn't sound like anything too serious.
[ Choi Hye-yong: What's up? ]
[ Mina: I was thinking we could talk in the Inner World, how about it!? ]
[ Choi Hye-yong: Alright, I'll head to my room. ]
Entering the Inner World basically meant losing control of his body, so he needed to move somewhere safe first.
[ Choi Hye-yong: Ready. You can call me. ]
The instant he returned to the dorm, lay down on his bed, and sent the message, the scenery around him shifted.
"What's all this now."
It felt kind of like a restaurant.
"Over here, Creator sir!"
Hsssssss—
He turned at the sound of her voice to see Mina, dressed in a chef's outfit, busily stir-frying something on a griddle.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to cook you a meal, Creator sir!"
There was a single-person table set up in front of the griddle, so he went and sat down.
The savory aroma of oil hit him instantly.
'Oh. The smell is good, at least.'
Eating in the Inner World wouldn't fill him up once he left, but it would still provide a sense of psychological satisfaction.
Whatever she'd called him here to talk about, he figured he could afford to take it easy.
'Spatula. Is that square cooking tool called a spatula?'
He sat there, lazily watching Mina—sweating, working hard stir-frying rice with a spatula in each hand—when she spoke up.
"How do you like the new interior?"
"Not bad. As long as you didn't burn all your energy doing this."
"I have a certain amount of miraculous power, you know! Controlling my own Inner World is no trouble at all."
She kept stir-frying the rice even as she talked.
Griddle-fried rice is impossible to mess up, but she was so skilled that it looked genuinely delicious.
'And the ingredients look pretty solid, too...'
Maybe three minutes later—it felt like a little less.
Mina plated the fried rice beautifully, then handed it over with a Chinese-style spoon.
"Here! Please try it. I've practiced this killer fried rice countless times for you, Creator sir!"
"Ooh... I'm looking forward to this."
Hye-yong blew on the piping-hot fried rice, steaming visibly, to cool it down before putting a spoonful in his mouth.
The rice was firm and chewy, the meat tender.
The amount of oil and the combination of vegetables felt just right.
'Mina's pretty good at cooking. Or is this just what it means to be a creator of a world?'
Finding it genuinely quite tasty, Hye-yong busily shoveled down the fried rice.
Once he'd finished, a deep sense of contentment settled in his stomach.
"Whoa. Devoured that in no time. Really delicious."
"Aah...! I'm so relieved you enjoyed it!"
"So what's with the fried rice all of a sudden?"
"A long time ago, didn't you think you wanted to see something like this made right in front of you?"
Had he?
Ah, now that he thought about it, maybe he had.
It was a while back, though.
"Seems like I did."
"Right!? I wanted to grant even your smallest wishes, so I worked really hard to practice this!!"
What an adorable thing to do.
'It's the everyday things that really get to people.'
Looking at Mina, she sometimes gave off a bit of a childlike vibe.
Probably that quirkiness born from a lack of knowledge.
"I know you didn't call me here just for this, so what did you actually want to talk about?"
"It's nothing else, you know! I felt that the Seed of Negativity has completely bloomed this time and transformed into a high-purity Seed of Recognition."
"Ah, right. That."
"So you successfully trained someone who properly disliked you and made her all goo-goo-eyed for you, right?! Even now, that character is doing nothing but think about you, Creator sir! The Power of Recognition is flowing in smoothly!"
Honestly, calling it 'training' was a bit strong—it had been on the softer side—but it was true that he had made someone who used to dislike him now like him.
"So I think I'll be able to strengthen your abilities, Creator sir!"
"Oh?"
What was with her today? Mina was being as adorable as she looked.
"What kind of thing this time?"
"Let's see... Ah! Buff Pages!"
"Buff Pages?"
"Right now, when you make a buff, you have to keep deleting and remaking them to free up the cost, right?"
"Right."
"This is an ability that lets you save the buffs you've already made!"
An ability to save buffs you've already made...?
'Is it what I'm thinking?'
First, let's hear Mina's explanation in detail.
"Up until now, if you made one buff and then another, they had to share the cost. So if you wanted a single powerful buff, you needed time to delete it and make a new one! Delete and make, delete and make. Hasn't it been terribly inconvenient!?"
"Yeah. It's ridiculously inconvenient. When things get urgent, you don't even have the time."
"After I strengthen your ability this time, a function called Pages will appear in your Custom Window. Those pages will work independently, so if you pour 100 cost into a buff on Page 1, you won't have to delete it. If you switch to Page 2, the buff you made will stay as it is, and the cost will reset!"
Hye-yong mulled over Mina's words.
[ Attack ]
Attack Power Increase Level 20
Let's say he made a buff like this to attack.
But in a fight, there always comes a time when you suddenly have to switch from attacking to defending.
If that happened, he'd have to delete that Attack buff and create a new Defense buff to quickly free up the cost.
[ Defense ]
Defense Increase Level 20
But if he used the Page function Mina mentioned?
He could put Attack on Page 1, Defense on Page 2, and switch between them rapidly while using the buffs.
"So the enhancements you can actually give are predetermined, then?"
"Yes! How should I explain it... Your ability, Creator sir, has all sorts of restrictions plastered onto it, maybe because of the Virus or maybe because you came from a higher dimension—I'm not sure which. It's like an uncut, unpolished gemstone, you know? You can just think of it as me smashing that open with force, then reporting back to you what comes out."
So that meant she couldn't just give him whatever ability she wanted.
He got the general idea.
"Go ahead and do the enhancement. I'll judge it for myself once I've used it."
"I already applied the enhancement while you were eating earlier! Give it a try."
So that was how it was.
Hye-yong opened his Buff Custom window.
'Oh. This is different from usual.'
Whether Mina had manipulated it or not, a Page function really had been added to the left side.
[ Page 1 ]
[ Page 2 ]
[ Page 3 ]
[ ... ]
[ Page 10 ]
'Looks like there are up to 10 pages.'
Reasonably spacious, all things considered.
'Currently on Page 1.'
He usually deleted everything after a raid ended, just to avoid the hassle when making new ones.
He decided to make something light, just for a test.
[ Strength Increase ]
Strength Stat Level 15 Increase
Only usable on self
'Page 2.'
Just thinking that flipped the page.
The buff he'd just made was nowhere to be seen.
He made a new buff here too.
[ Shield ]
Level 10 Divine Power Shield Generation
Only usable on self
'Now, if I apply the shield buff here...'
Whoosh!
He was explaining this to himself, but using a blessing was honestly simple.
You just think of the blessing you want, think of activating it, and the corresponding Divine Power is consumed to cast it.
If there were some special trick to it, Hye-yong would never have been able to use it.
From what he'd heard, other Blessing Mages actually had to learn techniques for utilizing Divine Power.
In many ways, Hye-yong was a special existence in this world.
'Done. Shield's up properly.'
Now back to Page 1.
[ Shield Blessing's duration has ended. ]
The instant he moved, the shield vanished without a trace.
[ Strength Increase ]
Strength Stat Level 15 Increase
But instead, he could instantly apply the buff he'd made earlier.
'Ooh. So that's how it works.'
Fast and easy buff switching.
It didn't directly save cost or anything right this second, but it allowed for much snappier actions than deleting a buff and making a new one, so it felt safe to say his effective combat power had gone up.
More precisely, his situational adaptability.
He could now make an Attack skill buff, pour out attacks, and if the enemy counterattacked, instantly switch pages to block with a pre-prepared shield — he'd gained the ability to handle sudden emergencies.
'I can use cost way more efficiently now.'
More than anything, he liked not having to delete and remake them every single day.
Leaving Page 1 empty for general-purpose stuff, Page 2 for emergency defense, Page 3 for his raid party's buffs, Page 4 for Lanfang's buffs, Page 5 for gun-related buffs — if he set it up like that, it would be incredibly useful.
'What's gotten into her, handing out a great feature like this.'
It'd probably be gone the moment he left this place, but she'd even made him a tasty meal.
Today, Mina was being so commendable he almost wanted to pull her into a hug and give her a kiss.
Of course, if he wanted to, he could.
But... some part of his brain was adamantly insisting, "Mina is a bit..."
Maybe because she was such a fourth-dimensional person whose true feelings were impossible to read.
Maybe because of that time he'd suddenly felt like he was being mentally contaminated.
Face-to-face, she honestly gave off a slightly scary vibe.
'Anyway, I'm glad I got a useful ability today.'
Mina seemed to be making an effort, so he decided he'd at least give her a compliment.
"The fried rice was really good. Make me something else next time, too."
"I'm so happy you enjoyed it! Look forward to next time!"
Still, he had to admit, Mina really was cute, appearance-wise.