B-Rank Hunter (1)
The morning after having intense standing sex with Cha Yuri in the bathroom.
"Achoo."
"Ugh..."
As might be expected, Cha Yuri and I had both caught colds and were greeting the morning side by side.
We'd been stupid enough to soak in the bathtub for nearly two hours after the water had gone cold, so in a way, it was only natural.
"...I'm never getting in the bathroom with you again."
"......"
Especially since she was scheduled to go to work that afternoon, it was only natural for her to be mad at me. All I could do was nod without a word, expressing my apology.
It wasn't a severe cold that made moving difficult, but both Cha Yuri and I had a slight fever.
Considering her afternoon shift, we'd probably have to skip the morning sex we'd originally planned. It was a shame we couldn't go for that second round she'd suggested for once before parting ways.
But in exchange, I'd gotten to devour an even tastier Cha Yuri in the bathroom, so I had no regrets.
"Think you can make it to work this afternoon?"
"Somehow. I was planning to take it easy soloing a B-rank dungeon anyway, so this much fever isn't a big deal."
At least I hadn't completely thrown off Cha Yuri's schedule—that was a relief.
"And you, Sungcheol?"
"Probably some personal training. I'll head to the Association nice and slow, just enough to keep my body from cooling down."
"Not even taking a day off the day after your promotion."
"I've still got a long way to go. Not until I reach A-rank like you, Cha Yuri."
I knew the hunter life would be tough since I started late, so I had to keep grinding even during breaks.
The journey from B-rank to A-rank would be even harder than going from trainee to B-rank.
"Once you hit B-rank, you said you'd transfer from the Association to a company, right?"
"Not sure if it'll work out. I need to prove my record under the alias first, but one of my connections knows someone at a company, so I'll try to get in through them."
"...You really know all kinds of people."
Of course, that would come after convincing Kang Eunyoung to ask a favor from company president Seo Okhee, or at least after getting a chance to meet her and pitch myself.
Nothing was set in stone yet, but it was still a far cry from the nobody trainee hunter I was a few months ago.
"Well then... work hard."
"Next time, I'll try to introduce you at the company."
"I won't expect much. But I'll wait."
With that leisurely exchange, Cha Yuri and I left the love hotel and headed to our respective destinations.
Dreaming of the day when we'd walk in the same direction even after leaving a hotel.
I made it to the Association in the afternoon as planned, but I couldn't swing my sword for even an hour before bolting out toward a B-rank dungeon.
Right after promotion, I just couldn't focus on slicing monsters, and the nagging fever made it impossible to concentrate fully.
Recovery skills prevented physical damage but weren't great for treating illnesses.
Regenerating damaged tissue didn't magically eliminate viruses already in your body.
Next time I visit Choi Hwayoung's pharmacy, I should ask if Lakeside Pharmacy sells cold medicine.
Unable to focus on training, I gave up early and headed not to a B-rank dungeon, but to the C-rank Ancient Tree Tomb.
D-rank dungeons were too weak for me now, and C-rank monsters seemed perfect for testing my new skills.
Today, I planned to focus on expanding my repertoire rather than honing what I already had.
First, I had 1,105 points saved up. Plus, I'd unlocked three new achievements from the past few days of sex, bringing the total to 1,255 points.
The first two came from showing Han Mina having sex with me in front of Han Jina and Han Seona.
The last one was from the masturbation play with Cha Yuri in the bathroom.
I hadn't gotten a first-time achievement reward in a while, so cracking these small challenges felt refreshing and fun.
With plenty of spare points, I decided to invest in skill level-ups for a change.
First, here's a rough list of my current skills:
A bit melee-heavy, but with melee, ranged, magic, and support covered, it wasn't bad.
For growth, I needed to balance it with points.
Unlike before, when I aimed to pass the B-rank exam with swordsmanship alone, now that I'd passed, there was no reason to hold off on upgrades.
And I had plenty of points.
I boldly invested a chunk to level up three skills.
First, Recovery—the only support skill—from Lv. 3 to 4 (-300).
Then Ice Magic, versatile like Fire Magic, from Lv. 1 to 3 (-300).
Finally, Spear Mastery from Lv. 1 to 3 (-300), leaving me with 355 points.
Recovery and Ice Magic made sense, but why waste points on Spear Mastery to Lv. 3?
Obviously, to unlock Javelin Throw, available to C-rank spearmen.
I picked up a long branch scattered around the Ancient Tree Tomb and hurled it at a nearby C-rank monster, Tris, with all my might.
Crack!!
The Tris pierced by my branch died instantly.
This power hadn't appeared when I tested at Lv. 2.
Hitting Lv. 3 unlocked the full destructive force of Javelin Throw—exactly the ranged check I wanted.
Unlike magic skills that guzzled energy for decent power, non-magic ranged skills like this delivered similar or greater damage with far less energy.
During the monster wave at the summer resort, I'd burned through energy too fast relying solely on Fire Magic for ranged attacks.
Physical and magic attacks had fundamental differences, so Javelin Throw wasn't a perfect replacement for magic.
But it added a trump card: powerful strikes with minimal energy.
I chose Spear over Archery (already Lv. 2) because spears needed less prep.
Bows were expensive and finicky, taking time to master.
Skills handled the power, but maintenance—string tension, limb strength, upkeep—was a hassle compared to tossing a greatsword in a subspace pouch.
With Spear Mastery, no need to buy spears just for throws.
Any long stick worked—that was its biggest perk.
I stocked 30 wooden rods in my subspace pouch for emergencies. You could never have too many backups.
I also tested Icicle and frostbite from 2-circle Ice Magic, plus unlocking Frost Storm and Avalanche at 3-circle.
Satisfied with the gains, another idea struck.
Attribute Attack—often used by magic and ranged hunters for synergy.
Simply put: ranged physical attacks infused with magic and mana.
Like coating a spearman's spear with Fire Magic for a fire spear, or an archer's arrow with Ice Magic for an ice arrow.
With both ranged and magic at my disposal, couldn't I do Attribute Attacks solo?
Double or multi-awakening seemed omnipotent but had limits.
One key restriction: multi-awakeners couldn't use completely unrelated abilities.
Makes sense—awakening abilities stem from the user's energy attribute.
I'm the outlier with colorless energy; normally, bodies channel either physical energy or mana.
Except recovery users with holy power.
Some had hybrid energies, but they often wielded mediocre in-between forces.
Geum Nari (Eunbyeol) probably fell into that category.
So multi-awakening was really just handling same-system abilities.
Like a melee sword awakener adding spears via double awakening.
Or a wind mage adding ice or lightning magic.
That was the limit for known multi-awakeners.
Attribute Attacks mixing systems normally required two awakeners' synergy.
But not for me, with no system restrictions.
I didn't even need to sync with a partner.
Ideas like this demand immediate action—that's my style.
I grabbed a suitable branch, aimed at a distant Woodrello, and as I threw with Javelin Throw, infused it with Ice Magic.
At first, no visible change—I thought it failed.
But when it hit the Woodrello:
Crackle. Crackle.
Ice spread from the embedded javelin, soon encasing the whole body.
Moments later, the B-rank monster shattered from two C-rank skills combined into an Attribute Attack.
"It works."
Plenty of power to confirm usability—a technique I could deploy anytime.
I tried a fire javelin next, but...
"Ah."
Wooden material + fire = it burned up before 10 meters.
Need different material for fire javelins.