Winning Streak Path (2)

"Pretty Rabbit! Hand over the items!"

Did I mishear that?

"What?"

Even the rough-looking tough guy, who seemed like he had anger management issues, lifted his head in disbelief. Cheonsol was digging at her ear, yet Sophia alone stood there looking perfectly confident.

"Pretty Rabbit!"

"My name is Yeftoki Dofski!"

"Ah, so Pretty Rabbit was right after all."

Written out it looked Russian enough, but pronounced the way it sounded, it came out as Pretty Rabbit. The name and the face did not match in the slightest. Was he clinging to that fashion sense because he hated his own name?

"KRAAAAGH! A mere minion dares mock me?!"

Teabagging was something I simply could not resist. Want to know why so many people in Earth's fighting-game community hated ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me? Sure, skill was part of it — but I was even better at teabagging.

"Hey! Pretty Rabbit! You fast too?"

"What?"

"I heard rabbits are supposed to be fast. Are you? Oh wait — since you're pretty, you're on defense, not offense, right?"

"What does that mean?"

Innocent Sophia blinked at me with wide, clueless eyes. It would never happen, but if I explained it, she might start saying things like "Until I figured out offense and defense, every day was a dream". The odds were tiny, but the mental image was so horrifying I was never telling her.

Unlike Sophia, Yeftoki — a man who had clearly seen a bit more of the world's filth — flew into a violent rage.

"You fucking piece of shit! I should've known the second that bragging bitch of a goddess took you in! You fucking bastard! How dare you! Spout that garbage at me! KRAAAAAAGH!!"

"Yikes. He's coughing up blood. Don't tell me he giantified Shibaski and—"

"Kheugh! Ghk!"

Watching Yeftoki spew blood like Zhou Yu after being thoroughly toyed with by Zhuge Liang, I felt a decade of pent-up frustration drain right out of me.

Technically Yeftoki was the victim here — he'd gotten bragged at, challenged them to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an IRL fight, lost, and gotten shaken down for loot — but still. Served him right.

"Lady Sophia. Now's the time. Go strip him of those items."

"Uh... but what did you even say ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to make him that angry? Coughing blood like that — his divine rank might've actually shaken a little."

"Dunno?"

"Mad Demon is dodging the question again. My lady. Even so, this is an opportunity."

Cheonsol's eyes gleamed. As the one who had been directly insulted, even defeating that Kwang-kwang creature had not fully settled her grudge.

"I understand that gods possess a Divine Eye capable of appraising items, as well as techniques to defend against it. In a state of such disarray, he will be unable to mount a defense. Might my lady not scan his items with the Divine Eye and send him on his way at once?"

"Yeah. Not a sight I want to stare at for long. Let's see..."

Sophia widened her eyes and pulled a gold bracelet from thin air. It looked like the kind of bracelet women wore while dancing samba in Brazil.

"Th-that one is off-limits! Nooooooo—!"

No matter how much he screamed, all we had to do was leave the room. The moment we returned to Sophia's space, I asked:

"What kind of item makes him react like that?"

"Jackpot! Absolute jackpot!"

Sophia bounced up and down with pure delight. Ordinarily the bounce of her chest would have stolen my gaze completely — but after having actually touched those things, I couldn't look anywhere else. There's a saying that knowing a flavor makes it dangerous. Knowing the feel of those breasts was dangerous. I stared blankly, then remembered Sophia's habit and opened my arms — and reeled in a trophy catch.

"Jackpot!"

Sophia clung to me and bounced in place. That heavy, solid weight never failed to make me happy. Sophia, ever the quick learner, wriggled free before my hardened cock could jab into her thigh.

"What is it, my lady?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Cheonsol, who had been watching calmly, soothed Sophia down. A little more composed but still snorting with excitement, Sophia held the bracelet high.

"It's a rare item!"

The gold bracelet dangling from Sophia's hand glittered with unusual brilliance. I'd expected nothing better than a common-grade drop — and it was rare?

Pretty Rabbit, you bastard... you were actually a good guy all along... No, wait. Why would someone who already owned a rare item get so pissed off looking at someone else's rare item?

In the end, he'd brought it on himself.

"You two, look at this description!"

"Hmm..."

Cheonsol, who came from a world with no connection to games, clearly couldn't get a feel for it — but I understood the bracelet's value the instant I saw it.

Honestly, even wearing the Bronze Ring, I had barely felt the growth and mana corrections. Growth, well — I was a genius, so that tracked. Mana, I hadn't even awakened yet, so it was basically meaningless.

I'd figured it was just because a Level 3 correction was too weak. But what if that wasn't it? What if the growth and mana corrections had been spread evenly across multiple categories, diluting their effect?

"Lady Sophia. Is this the effect I'm thinking of? May I equip it right away?"

"I knew you'd catch on, Yohan!"

The moment I put on the bracelet, a message rang out.

I adjusted the display so Sophia and Cheonsol could see it too, then spoke.

"One correction splits into four categories. Lady Sophia, would you mind explaining?"

As a lifelong gamer, I could guess the effects from the names alone — but I deferred for Sophia's dignity. She needed to explain something like this to keep her pride intact. What an excellent minion I was.

"Of course! First, Bonus EXP increases the experience you gain from battles, so your level goes up faster!"

"What good does leveling up do?"

I'd been curious about this for a while. In Earth games similar to the War of the Gods, leveling up raised your stats — yet even after leading six battles to victory, my level was still stuck at 1.

More precisely, 1.16. I was a total noob — why was the EXP so stingy? What a garbage game.

"Mad Demon does not even know of Level Correction?"

"That's why I'm asking what Level Correction is."

"I'll explain! Think of it as the upper limit on how well a minion can reproduce the movements they have in mind."

Not convenient at all. I wasn't a slow learner, but I still couldn't get a handle on it.

"In the early days after the War of the Gods was founded, even among rookie trainers, the power ceilings were all over the place — it caused problems. There was even a case where a Demon King summoned by a rookie trainer beat a ranked human mage."

Ah. Now I roughly got it. For balance, they'd buffed the weak and nerfed the strong.

"So raising your level fast would be advantageous, then."

"Generally, yes — but if I compare it to Cheonsol's world, it's similar to demonic arts. Early progress is fast, but if you don't build a solid foundation, raising skill proficiency later becomes hard. There are minions who only got strong, never refined their combat sense, climbed to higher leagues, and turned into complete trash."

"The higher your level, the harder it becomes to raise skills and other proficiencies."

"So we need to either balance carefully, or pick a specialization and grow into it."

"Exactly!"

Sophia clapped her hands.

"The War of the Gods doesn't like minions who hog everything themselves, so you'll have to pick a specialization eventually too, Yohan."

"For reference, this lady is specialized in martial arts."

Something suddenly occurred to me.

"Cheonsol. You're Level 1 too, right? Are you weaker than your original power, or stronger?"

"Regrettably, I am bound by many restrictions. I would need to reach Level 2 before I could reclaim the martial might of my prime."

No wonder she'd seemed a bit weak for a cult leader. She'd been nerfed. Meanwhile I, a frail modern human, had been buffed to hell and back.

Now I understood why I'd been able to reproduce fighting-game movements. And why, when I tried to recreate certain characters' techniques, my muscles had torn and my tendons had snapped.

It wasn't that I was weak — it was the power ceiling allowed to a Level 1. Meaning: I still had room to grow stronger.

Sophia explained the rest, but it was all stuff I'd already expected, so I let it wash over me.

"Then how should we distribute the points?"

Honestly I wanted to dump everything into EXP, but I couldn't afford to become all balloon muscle — so I'd hear Sophia out.

"Let's skip EXP for now. Yohan, you come from a world with no mana, so you need to get more used to Level Correction first."

"Got it."

I already felt plenty used to it, but in the War of the Gods I was a newbie, and Sophia was a newbie too, right? My trust in her just took a nosedive.

Still, she was a community ghost who ran alt accounts, so she probably knew more than I did.

"Minions can equip up to six skills for battle, you know? Yohan only has two skills so far, so put three into Awakening, two into Proficiency, and one into Talent Awakening."

"Why Talent?"

Didn't I already have enough?

"Think of it like winning the lottery? Without a correction it's 0%, but with one, even a tiny probability exists!"

Then it was worth investing. For mana, I split it evenly between Affinity and Awakening without argument. Had to have it before I could do anything with it.

Once the correction distribution was finished, Sophia pulled Cheonsol into a tight hug.

"When we get good items later, I'll give you some too, Cheonsol."

"I am fine. I have the fine sword Mad Demon gave me."

"I just feel bad funneling all the gear to Yohan."

"My lady..."

Two beauties hugging each other — now that was a sight. And Cheonsol's chest was completely buried in Sophia's massive breasts.

Sophia's chest swallowing a C-cup whole... I loved it so much!

No camera, so I stared hard to burn it into my brain — and Sophia whipped her head around.

"Shall we battle now, then?"

"Sounds good!"

She didn't catch me staring at her chest. Thank god.

We tore through to a nine-win streak with unstoppable momentum. Every opponent had been so easy that I hoped the tenth would be more of the same — and then a minion appeared that made me doubt my own eyes.

"KWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

Tudatudatudatudatudatuda—

A god's minion shaped like a robot climbed into a bipedal mecha straight out of a movie and opened fire with a machine gun.

Fuck. Suddenly going full sci-fi was crossing the line.