Sword Duel, Round Two (1)

The next morning arrived after I had fallen asleep naked in bed with Senior Hwayeong. The inside of the blanket where we had slept was strangely damp with moisture. The senior who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠should have been nestled in my arms had vanished from my embrace at some point.

“She must have slipped away while I was tossing and turning in the middle of the night.”

Well, even if I had held her with all my strength at first, it was practically impossible to keep someone in my arms the entire night. Senior Hwayeong wasn’t just missing from my chest—she was gone from the blanket entirely. The sound of a shower running came from beyond the wall, suggesting she was already in the bathroom.

…She showered before bed last night, and she’s showering again this morning…?

A fleeting question crossed my mind, but when I thought about it, it made perfect sense. We had slept completely naked while hugging under a thick blanket; there was no way we wouldn’t have sweated. That explained why the inside of the blanket felt so damp. Still, it seemed even wetter than I had expected. My suspicion deepened when I noticed what looked like a distinct pool of fluid near where my lower body had been.

That was when the bathroom door opened and Senior Hwayeong stepped out.

“Ughhh… grrr…”

She appeared with nothing but a single towel draped loosely over her shoulders—not even properly covering her body. Dark circles under her eyes were deeper than yesterday, and her unstyled straight hair was slightly damp yet still messy.

“You look really tired.”

“What?”

“Your voice and expression are radiating exhaustion. Did you not sleep well last night?”

“…The fact that you even consider the possibility I slept properly in that state is astonishing.”

“Huh?”

“Shut up. Eat breakfast and get out of here already.”

I tilted my head, unsure exactly which part of me had upset her. With that, I left the Lakeside Apothecary, promising to see Senior Hwayeong again next week.

“Don’t forget the homework I gave you.”

“I know, Senior.”

Once I had walked far enough that she disappeared from view, a familiar system window suddenly appeared before my eyes.

“…?”

…Is this a bug?

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

It didn’t take long after that for me to realize that Senior Hwayeong had fucked me while I was asleep.

The day after returning from her house, while I was tallying up all the points I had accumulated so far, I discovered a flood of newly completed achievement rewards. The contents were so obvious that anyone could tell what they meant at a glance.

“What the hell, there’s so many.”

I was stunned by how many previously hidden achievements had been completed. The first two were clearly from the mother-daughter creampie session ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I had with Sister Eunyeong and Hye-eun last time. The latter three must have come from my time with Senior Hwayeong. The last one felt a bit uncertain, but considering the timing and order of completion, there was no one else it could have been except her.

Unless Hye-eun had secretly broken into my house while I was sleeping, fucked me, and left… but that couldn’t have happened.

…Right? No way.

Besides, I had also received an untraceable batch of points on my way back from the Lakeside Apothecary. The most logical conclusion was that Senior Hwayeong, unable to hold back her lust, had taken me one more time while I was asleep.

The idea that she had fucked me without waking me up was incredibly perverse, but when I mentioned it next time, she would probably die of embarrassment. Judging from her reaction that morning, she clearly thought I had no idea.

Or maybe I could pretend to be asleep again next time and suddenly react in the middle—it would be pretty fun.

Looking through the new achievement list also brought back memories of how I had earned those points. The “Acquired Awakening Points from two or more Hunters simultaneously” one must have been from when I slid my cock between Sister Eunyeong and Hye-eun’s pussies and played with them using sumata. I didn’t know exactly what kind of judgment the system used to award Awakening Points, but I clearly remembered both of them reaching climax almost at the same time while I came as well.

The conclusion I eventually reached about the conditions for earning Awakening Points was this:

The partner must reach climax because of my cock, and I must ejaculate inside that partner.

There might be more details that would become clear later, but for now, this was what I had figured out. The reason I had earned points from both Sister Eunyeong and Hye-eun at the same time was because both of them had climaxed together thanks to my cock.

Once I understood the condition, my mind felt considerably clearer. Now that I knew how difficult it was to earn points from two people simultaneously, I wouldn’t get any half-baked ambitions about it. So I decided to continue handling future relationships the same way I had been doing until now.

The “Ejaculated inside a Hunter with all four limbs bound” achievement seemed to have triggered from when I held Senior Hwayeong’s arms and legs and fucked her in a standing full nelson position. If I had known such an achievement existed beforehand, I would have tried it on Do Sihui first, but since achievements couldn’t be known until they were completed, it had been resolved in an unexpected way.

The “Brought a magic-type Hunter to a mana climax” one probably referred to the time I thrust my cock into Senior Hwayeong and channeled mana through her. So that intense reaction was what they called a mana climax. I should try it on Cha Yuri next time—she might like it. Or maybe she would get angry at being handled however I pleased. Either way, her reaction would definitely be interesting.

After organizing all the points earned from achievements, the total amount of Awakening Points I had accumulated reached a substantial 1,095. This time I didn’t hesitate much about where to invest them. I simply raised my Recovery skill by one level, bringing it up to level 5.

Since I already had a master for both swordsmanship and magic, I figured it would be better to raise those after I had properly learned and understood them. And when it came to emergencies, no amount of levels in Recovery would ever be too much.

As my remaining points dropped to 695, the Recovery skill reached level 5. Perhaps as a result, a new recovery-type skill appeared below it.

After ‘Recovery’ comes ‘Blessing,’ huh.

Since there weren’t that many awakening abilities that used divine power, I had vaguely guessed that something like ‘Blessing’ or ‘Restoration’ would appear. Most abilities related to Blessing functioned similarly to buffs. They raised the target’s vitality, improved muscle strength or concentration, or increased intuition and luck.

If Recovery was a skill that healed injuries after they occurred, Blessing felt more like reducing the chance of getting injured in the first place. In reality, among the few recovery-type Hunters who worked in the field, most possessed abilities related to Blessing rather than pure Recovery.

That was because Recovery could be used after someone was already hurt, so there was no need to accompany them into dangerous dungeons. On the other hand, Blessing was an ability that was almost useless outside of dungeons.

Neither could be said to be strictly superior. At first glance, Recovery might seem better because it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠allowed post-treatment, but if forced to choose between getting hurt and then healed versus never getting hurt at all, most Hunters would probably pick the latter. No matter how well a severed arm could be reattached, it couldn’t erase the pain of the moment it was cut off.

Of course, it could also be used in combination—surviving a potentially fatal attack thanks to Blessing, then restoring the body with Recovery afterward.

The one thing I regretted was that both Blessing and Recovery had extremely low efficiency during solo hunting. Once I transferred to the company, I would be frequently raiding with the Azure Shield party members, so I would probably be able to use them properly starting then.

Or I could use them right away during the party hunt with Sihui and Eunbyeol next Monday.

Even though the party had been formed unintentionally, the first party hunt I remembered doing with them was the Kraken subjugation. There was no better pair than Sihui and Eunbyeol to test out my Blessing ability for the first time.

I decided to look into Blessing magic later. For now, I had plans to visit Sister Eunyeong’s house that afternoon.

「Son, you haven’t forgotten what I told you last time, right? It’s sparring day today, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so stop by the house sometime in the afternoon or evening~」

It had been three weeks since my last lesson with her, so a message from my master had arrived suggesting it was time for the next session.

…My goal this time was to score five points in the spar, right?

I could only desperately hope that I would somehow manage to finish it within a hundred matches.