How to Level Up (3)

I'm losing it. I'm losing it. I'm completely losing it!!

The dream had ended with that kiss. Apparently some kind of quota was in play.

Setting aside everything I ought to have been carefully observing over that long stretch of time—

Recalling the kiss from the dream, I found myself dousing my face with cold water over and over, trying to cool the heat that had risen to my cheeks without my noticing. After the icy water slapped my face again and again, the feverish flush—hot as if I'd come down with the flu—settled just as quickly as it had come.

"Haaaah…"

I let out a breath gone cold.

"I've been like this all day…"

It was already lunchtime, and here I was blushing over something that had happened in a dream.

Well… fine. Honestly speaking, my heart had been racing. In that moment, the fact that the person in front of me was my only friend had barely even registered.

That didn't mean I was the type to go around imagining kissing just anyone. If anything, the thought of kissing someone other than Sung-jun made a creeping sense of revulsion crawl up my spine.

Well… I've already done it with Sung-jun, so.

It had to be for that reason and that reason alone!

Still, I was glad I'd managed to keep a straight face in front of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him. If I'd gone red and hot every time I looked at Sung-jun, it would have been a genuine disaster.

I've got a little free time. Might as well sort through the situation.

Breakfast and lunch were done, the dishes washed. Cleaning amounted to little more than putting a few things back where they belonged, and I'd already gathered and taken out the trash that morning—so for once, I had hands free.

Number two was a hypothesis.

Sung-jun's attitude in the waking world and his attitude in the dream were as different as heaven and earth. Without some factor interfering with his perception to that degree, the gap would be completely impossible to explain.

In the dream, Sung-jun had been every inch a man passionately courting a woman. …The problem being that the woman receiving that courtship was me.

Number three was a hypothesis as well—but it had some grounding.

For one thing, the Incubus had no reason whatsoever to help me or Sung-jun. And yet that thing had deliberately made sure I learned fact number one.

There was no way that was simple goodwill.

Sung-jun didn't remember, but it was possible he, too, had encountered the Incubus in a dream. There was just no way for me to know.

Even if I conveniently hypnotized Sung-jun, I couldn't dig anything out if it isn't in his memory.

Judging by the way it talked, the Incubus seemed to know about the contract between Sung-jun and me as well. For all I knew, it wasn't just lurking beneath the surface—it might be awake right alongside him even now.

Which meant it might have been watching yesterday's events, too.

Yeah. I have to get rid of it.

Whether it had given me information or not, that demon had only done so because it wanted something. A demon parasitizing Sung-jun from the inside like a worm—there was no reason to leave it there. Smashing it outright might harm Sung-jun, so I'd have to check that part carefully, bit by bit. But still.

Training from the morning. Training after lunch. Magic lectures after dinner. Then bed.

Sung-jun spent his third day exactly the same as his second, and then the next day arrived.

…I didn't dream.

I'd dreamed on day one and day two, but on day three, nothing.

Is there a condition?

It wasn't that I was disappointed about not dreaming, or anything like that. If anything, the urge to understand the phenomenon was stronger.

Which meant there was something I needed to do first.

The moment I opened my eyes, I washed my face, got dressed, and went looking for Sung-jun.

He was just stepping out of his room in his workout clothes. Yesterday he'd been around a hundred and fifty centimeters; now he looked closer to a hundred and sixty. One or two more levels and he'd probably be taller than me.

"Heading to train?"

"Yeah. Gotta get stronger."

Fair enough. The one who'd put the curse on Sung-jun was almost certainly scouring every corner for him, furious that they hadn't managed to end his life. Finding this hideout was simply taking them a little longer, that was all.

"Mind if I check you real quick?"

"Check? Sure, go ahead."

Sung-jun nodded without any particular suspicion. Just like last time, I ran a quick scan of his body with mana.

"Huh. Mm. Maybe because I've learned magic? It feels different receiving it than it used to."

"Oh. Really?"

I hadn't known that. I'd only ever been on the receiving end when I was a mage myself.

Having checked him once before, the scan finished quickly.

Nothing else had changed. As expected, the only thing that had shifted was the level.

Just as I'd thought. Levels gained: two. Number of dreams: two.

…His level went up by the same number of times he dreamed.

So then, why hadn't he dreamed last night? And if skinship was what raised the level, why only enough contact to push him up one level at a time?

It's like a game system. You have to fill a certain amount of experience before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the level-up condition is met, and only then can you raise the level through a dream…?

…Was that the most solid hypothesis I had?

"What? Is something weird?"

"No. You're level three now."

"Ah. I did notice I got a bit taller. Think I'll keep growing with every level until I'm back to my original height?"

It wasn't just his height that had changed. On the first day, Sung-jun's workout clothes had hung a little loose on him; now they fit well enough that the cut actually showed. If he kept growing at this rate, another two or three levels of height and bulk and he wouldn't be able to wear them at all.

"With growth like this, maybe around level ten he'd be back to his original build?"

Watching him shoot up two or three centimeters per level, it didn't seem like an impossible claim.

"That much?"

"You don't really feel it?"

"Well, the height I see from changes every day, so it feels weird, but…"

Sung-jun shrugged and went on.

"It was like this in middle school, too, whenever I had a big growth spurt."

Good for him. Even when I'd been a man, I'd never experienced anything like that. Maybe because I hadn't been that tall to begin with…

"Anyway, got it. Thanks for today, too."

"Yeah."

Sung-jun grinned as if he'd been joking, then brushed past me toward the training hall.

Right. I had my own work to do. I needed to research methods of killing demons if I was going to destroy the Incubus clinging to Sung-jun.

Unfortunately, I'd never encountered a demon intelligent enough to hold a conversation the way the Incubus could.

I had, however, run into lower-rank demons a few times—the kind that shrieked curses in a mana-laced howl no one could understand. I had been the number-one ranked hunter, after all.

"The problem is, all I've got are specimens from memory…"

Not that I could just walk into a Gate right now and drag a demon back. The only realistic way in would be something like Sung-jun taking me along—and if he went with the rest of his party, that would just earn us pointed fingers for freeloading.

Well. If Sung-jun and I went together, we wouldn't need the other members anyway.

Sung-jun on the front line. Me on the back line. Just supporting a de-leveled Sung-jun with every kind of magic I had would be more than enough. His experience and know-how were still intact, same as mine. Performing above his level would practically be a given.

Raising levels through training alone would hit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a wall soon enough. Stacking real combat on top of it was the way to go from there.

…Ah. My thoughts had wandered off track.

Anyway, I had hunted demons a few times, so I turned my mind inward and contemplated the memories.

Overflowing mana. But not a diverse range of it—mana specialized in darkness and curses. And a body adapted to that mana, so the physical durability is absurd.

That was about the extent of the notable traits from the demons in my memory. Maybe the tantrum I'd thrown in the last dream hadn't even registered. Had it genuinely just hated the dust flying around?

…Come to think of it, sitting around waiting for it to show up is pretty stupid.

The Incubus had no particular reason to seek me out again.

"Well. Nothing for it."

If it wouldn't come to me, I'd just go to it. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠magical reagents I had on hand were only the most basic, and becoming a doll had left my mana reserves pitifully reduced—but still.

"A mage just needs time to prepare."

Time was a mage's most important resource. I ought to make sure the demon learned that. The Incubus might be congratulating itself for trapping Sung-jun and me, but the fact remained: it had given me time.

This was simply the period for laying foundations, slow and solid, like building a tower from the ground up. Preparing a method to exorcise the Incubus—carefully, thoroughly—was the mage's way.

It was common knowledge that demons were so unholy that even contact with them was taboo. As a result, there was hardly any useful information to be found. But if the information didn't exist, you simply collected it yourself.