Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Strengthened Hypnosis
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‘Did the skill... get reinforced?’
Just as bones and muscles grow through training.
Skills also grow if you keep using them repeatedly.
However, unlike the body, skills don’t grow gradually but in sudden, stepwise leaps.
That’s why they called it reinforcement rather than growth.
‘For real?’
They said that once a skill reinforces, since it’s already a part of you, you instinctively know it.
And sure enough, I could feel it.
‘I understand how to use Hypnosis much better now.’
Reinforcement of a skill isn’t just about increasing its power or effect.
Like in those martial arts novels where you grow stronger by understanding yourself better.
It also includes gaining a deeper understanding of your own skill and handling it more proficiently.
‘Otherwise, holders of reinforcement-type skills would be causing all sorts of accidents because they couldn’t control their power.’
In that sense.
I, too, had come to understand Hypnosis much better.
‘But I have the Status Window too, right? Did it show up there as well?’
Curious, I opened it right away.
[Hypnosis]
[Stage 1: Stare into the target’s eyes and implant suggestions. Induce the target’s actions according to the implanted suggestions. When hypnotizing yourself, you can implant it directly without needing to look into eyes.]
[Targets with strong mental strength resist suggestions to some degree.]
[Stage 2: If activated while in contact with the target, you can apply strong suggestions.]
[The wider the contact area, the stronger the suggestion you can apply.]
[Stage 3: With mucosal contact, you can apply extremely powerful suggestions. Even targets with strong mental strength cannot easily resist.]
[Stage 4: You can use Hypnosis on targets you’ve ejaculated inside. This also allows inducing powerful changes to the body using the target’s or surrounding mana.]
[Man’s Pride...?]
[Enhances your stamina.]
Everything I thought I could do now that the skill had reinforced was written exactly in the Status Window.
‘Yeah, I was a bit puzzled that mucosal contact hypnosis wasn’t split into separate stages.’
The Hypnosis I had, altered after the final boss’s personality was deleted.
It had changed to increase in strength based on the intensity of physical contact.
But lumping oral mucosal contact through kissing and genital mucosal contact into the same Stage 3?
That’s what I’d thought, but now that the skill had reinforced, the latter had evolved to allow even stronger Hypnosis through internal ejaculation.
‘Wait, but why is there a question mark on Man’s Pride?’
The effect is the same as before?
Did something happen last night...?
I could check that later by using self-hypnosis to review my memories.
‘Self-hypnosis is possible now without a mirror, too.’
One thing I was curious about.
Why had the skill suddenly reinforced?
‘I didn’t put any Hypnosis on Yu-ra.’
I checked the Hypnosis list, but not a single one remained.
Not even the ones I’d put on myself.
‘...I already have a feeling what happened last night.’
I might need to brace myself before recalling the memories.
Getting back to the main point and thinking it over carefully, it seemed my skill was just a freak mutation.
‘Well, it wasn’t a skill I got normally.’
The final boss had tempted me to devour the women of this world as it pleased, and it was a skill made for that purpose from the start.
So probably, while having sex with Yu-ra and unleashing my lust wildly, the skill achieved its purpose and reinforced itself, treating it as training.
‘So Hypnosis gets stronger from sex, huh.’
Could it reinforce even more from here?
Did I need to have sex with more women to reinforce it further?
Or would having lots of sex with Yu-ra from now on do it?
I didn’t know.
‘If it’s the former, further reinforcement might be tough.’
Well, no need to worry too much.
I’d lived just fine without it reinforced before.
No point forcing it. I’d just live casually, letting clouds drift by.
‘But I should use Stage 4 on Yu-ra.’
The recent rumors about EX-Rank Gates.
I’d searched for precursors just in case, but it was all vague rumors like earthquake predictions—nothing solid.
Still, that didn’t make the anxiety any less.
What if an EX-Rank Gate really appeared?
As an S-Rank Hunter, Yu-ra would definitely have to participate.
Could she survive that place, which had become the grave of countless heroes?
I hoped this newly unlocked Stage 4 Hypnosis would dispel that worry.
‘At least the internal ejaculation... definitely happened.’
I didn’t need to check with my eyes.
My instincts knew Yu-ra was a target for Stage 4 Hypnosis.
‘Induce powerful changes to the body?’
No more thoughts about my past life’s fap mara...
As someone who’d diligently explored self-pleasure, I realized Stage 4 was some seriously intense Hypnosis.
‘Most hypnosis that changes the body was like that.’
On the softer side.
Touching breasts makes them gradually grow bigger.
Breasts produce milk.
Muscles disappear, turning into a slim, pretty body, things like that.
On the harder side...
Turning into a furry...
‘Stop! Don’t think about it!’
I almost peered into the abyss.
Anyway, with this, I could reinforce Yu-ra’s abilities to prepare for danger.
‘Using her own or surrounding mana to alter the body. This is basically body modification.’
And once again, I realized mana was all-purpose.
‘Let’s do it right away.’
I didn’t like using Hypnosis for bad purposes.
But this was for good, so I had no qualms.
[Transcend the limits of S-Rank.]
No SS-Rank had appeared in the last 100 years, and the association didn’t seem keen on making one either.
So I tried implanting Hypnosis to transcend limits like this...
[ERROR: Core component destroyed. Insufficient mental strength to execute the command. Replace the core component or increase the target’s mental strength.]
What? This doesn’t work?
My instincts said it should be possible?
‘Error? Wait, is it because the final boss’s ego is gone?’
That damn thing!
Useless even after dying!
To grasp the situation, I closed my eyes and focused on the skill.
Maybe because it had reinforced once, unlike before, just a bit of focus let me pinpoint why it failed.
Like observing an injured body part, I could identify the problem.
‘When changing the body with mana, you need mental strength as the driving force to direct it as desired.’
Normally, the final boss would whip it up on the spot and modify the body as wished.
But now that it was gone, that was impossible.
Any other Hypnosis would’ve worked with the target’s normal mental strength alone...
‘Transcending S-Rank limits requires such massive body changes, so it needs even stronger mental strength.’
There was a theory that modern human bodies, altered by mana, were also influenced by the mind.
Looks like it was true.
‘Wait, increase the target’s mental strength?’
Could boosting Yu-ra’s mental strength substitute for the final boss?
If so, maybe...
‘A conditional Hypnosis could work?’
It’s impossible right now.
The one I just tried said so.
But what if I set conditions so it activates when mental strength surges?
‘Mental strength fluctuates with situations.’
Like how Yu-ra’s strong mind crumbled once to Lee Seo-yeon’s trolling.
Or how my self-hypnosis got breached by lust.
A conditional Hypnosis tailored to such situations?
‘Might work.’
I tried it immediately.
It’d just say impossible like before if it failed.
[When facing a strong enemy, transcend the limits of S-Rank.]
[Impossible. The target’s projected mental strength in that situation does not meet the requirement.]
Failure message right away.
But “does not meet the requirement” meant it’d work if it did?
I tweaked the conditions and tried again.
[When facing a strong enemy and in a desperate situation where victory seems impossible, yet yearning for triumph without despair, transcend the limits of S-Rank.]
[Impossible. The target’s projected mental strength in that situation does not meet the requirement.]
Failure again.
Simply being in crisis didn’t boost her mental strength enough, it seemed.
‘What would work?’
I didn’t want a hero like Yu-ra dying pointlessly.
Even without that, she was now my confirmed girlfriend, someone I loved—I absolutely didn’t want to lose her.
‘Wait, hero?’
Maybe this condition...
I set the condition once more and implanted the Hypnosis on her.
It succeeded without any extra messages.
‘Success!’
At that moment, my eyes met Yu-ra’s.
“Jun-hyuk, you’re already awake?”
...
When did we start using casual speech?
Did it start from last night’s events?
“Did you sleep well?”
I wanted to think more.
But buried in her chest as she hugged me, I couldn’t.
“Yeah. Sis.”
Might as well drop formalities.
＊＊＊
“Then I’ll head in first. Been busy lately. Sorry.”
“No worries. Everyone knows how busy you are, Sis. Take care!”
“Yeah!”
Yu-ra—no, Yu-ra sis—left our house.
I tried to see her off, but she stubbornly refused, telling me to rest since it was still early morning.
So I could only go as far as the entryway.
“At least have some breakfast.”
At first, it seemed like she would.
She checked our kitchen and fridge...
[Eating nothing but unhealthy stuff.]
She said, and looked like she was about to tie on an apron to make breakfast.
‘Is something big going on?’
But then she got a call.
After that, she left in a hurry, saying she had no choice, just like now.
‘Hope everything’s okay.’
Probably a Gate Break?
Yeah, likely.
I forcibly shook off the anxiety and lay alone on the bed.
“Whew, now that Sis is gone, let’s check it out.”
Just what happened last night.
I hypnotized myself to recall last night’s events.
[Ahhng... Haht!]
“......”
Did I make sounds like that?
Once everything came back, I found the culprits too.
“Damn lust, and damn booze!”
Not everything came back.
I must’ve passed out while provoking Sis and in the middle of sex—nothing after that.
“Haa... I was ready to accept it all, but this is too pathetic!”
Pathetic in moderation!
Even recalling it felt like a dream, so it didn’t even feel like proper sex.
“Gotta release lust regularly from now on.”
First time having sex, got toyed with like Sis was teasing me.
So I need to jerk off periodically to get used to stimulation.
“And they say people turn into dogs when horny, but I turned into a fox.”
Past life man became a dog, present life man a fox.
Maybe it was the booze, not lust.
So I added Hypnosis for a calm mind, sealing erections and lust, and one for booze too.
[Never get drunk.]
[Hypnosis level too low.]
Stage 1 won’t work, huh.
Guess I have to restrain myself manually.
Instead, I tried it like a memo pad.
[Drink booze and you become a dog.]
This one stuck fine.
Acknowledging it as mentally becoming a dog, not literally?
The no-drunkenness one affects liver detox, so no?
‘But can I really not drink?’
That wine from yesterday was perfect for my taste.
I’d only tried soju before, thought booze was tasteless, just for getting drunk—my worldview changed.
“......Yeah. Life happens, might drink sometimes.”
Key is moderation to avoid getting wasted.
[Drink until blackout drunk and you become a dog.]
Tweaked the Hypnosis, now satisfying.
Reason for this Hypnosis was simple.
Not just empty promises—imprint the will to punish myself if I fail!
“Anyone can talk big.”
So with this condition, I’d be extra careful not to get blackout drunk.
Even if I become a dog, Stage 1 means once sober and mental strength returns, back to normal...
“Already planning to fail?!”
To shake off booze thoughts, I turned on the TV.
The world was still abuzz with Gate Break news.
“......Please, no EX-Rank Gate.”
I’d implanted ‘that’ Hypnosis on Yu-ra sis.
But no guarantee it’d activate 100%.
As an S-Rank, she’d definitely join any EX-Rank Gate, so best if none appeared.
“God, please.”
I quietly clasped my hands in prayer.
Didn’t believe in religion.
But having experienced reincarnation, I half-wondered if gods existed.
If they did, I hoped they’d hear me.
“Please ensure no EX-Rank Gate ever opens in Korea.”
And the next day.
[Breaking news. An EX-Rank Gate has appeared in the heart of Seoul!]
God is dead.