Testing the New Gear
To get some practice in before treating the Murim Alliance's VIP, I decided to select a few guild members who needed medical attention and test my abilities on them first. I had plenty of experience treating injuries, but my experience with illnesses or disabilities was lacking... While Jegal Cheon was gathering candidates for treatment, I decided to head to a Gate. I wasn't going alone, though—I ended up forming a two-person party with my younger sister.
"Are you really coming with me?"
"I know you're strong enough on your own, Sister... but just think of me as your escort."
"It's not that I mind, exactly."
I only asked because it felt a bit awkward. Today, I also planned to try on the custom gear I had commissioned from the guild... To be honest, I was quite worried. Most of the gear was skin-tight, meaning my figure would be on full display once I put it on. At any rate, the Gate we were heading to was located deep in the mountains of Gangwon-do.
"Do people actually come to places like this?"
We had driven all the way here, but unlike the Goblin Nest, there wasn't a single Hunter in sight. Even the local businesses in the nearby village were completely stagnant.
"They don't," she replied. "But it's not a bad place. It's actually perfect for testing your skills."
The Gate was called Ork Valley. It was a Dungeon-type Gate where you started at the base of a mountain, cleared out watchposts as you climbed, and then headed down to the entrance of the valley to fight the boss, an Orc Great Warrior, in their settlement. Unlike linear dungeons like the Goblin Nest, the monsters here were scattered across the mountain, making stamina management crucial. To hunt them, you had to search the surroundings thoroughly. Of course, you could just rush straight to the boss and leave, but apparently, it was better to clear the watchposts because they were crawling with Orcs.
"There are over ten watchposts, but most people only clear three or four before taking on the boss," my sister explained.
"Why?"
"Because they're too far away."
She drew a diagram in the dirt with her sword to explain. Since the watchposts ringed the perimeter of the valley, they were actually further from the starting point than the Orc settlement where the boss resided.
"I see..."
With that kind of terrain, clearing every single watchpost would be highly inefficient, even if they were packed with Orcs. If this were an Alien-type Gate, it might be a different story, but since it was a Dungeon-type Gate, the monsters would just respawn once we cleared the boss and re-entered. There was no need to waste time.
"Okay, so that's why it's three or four."
"Yeah, it's more like clearing out whatever happens to be on our path."
She traced a line over her drawing.
"Just straight up like this."
So, we would clear a few watchposts on our way up, then head back down. Once our plan was set, we headed straight into the Gate. It was nice that there was no queue to enter.
"Are Orcs not very popular to hunt?" I asked.
"No, it's not that. It's just that this isn't the only Gate where Orcs appear."
Ah, makes sense.
"Then why did you choose this place?"
"Because it's quiet."
True. There was a chance other Hunters might recognize me or my sister. That would inevitably cause a scene and drag us into annoying situations. To avoid that, she had picked a secluded Gate.
"Plus, Dungeon-type Gates occasionally act up, so I wanted to check on it," she added.
It seemed she was killing two birds with one stone. Well, that was fine by me.
First, we changed our clothes inside the car. Apparently, while you could wear gear over your regular clothes, most Hunters stripped down first.
"Well, it gets nasty if your regular clothes get ruined by blood or monster fluids... and you sweat a lot, too," my sister explained.
Fair enough. Without hesitation, I stripped off the clothes I was wearing. My sister didn't seem to mind my gaze either.
Then, I pulled the gear out of the suitcase. It was standard gear tailored to my measurements, but... putting it on felt incredibly strange. It was just so tight. I had tried on skinny jeans before, and it felt similar to that. Because of that, the pants weren't particularly uncomfortable. If anything, they were actually quite comfortable.
The top, however, was far tighter than I had anticipated.
"Ugh..."
My breasts. These damn breasts were the problem.
"There should be something for that in the bag," my sister said.
Following her advice, I rummaged through the case and pulled out a specialized brassiere.
"You even packed something like this?"
"Yeah, I figured you'd need it."
My sister's eyes drifted toward my chest. Normally, I would have felt embarrassed, but I simply whipped off my regular bra and slipped into the sports bra. This thing was... way stronger than a normal sports bra. My massive breasts felt like they had shrunk by at least three cup sizes. I could probably compress them even more if I layered another one on top, but that would make it too hard to breathe. Regrettably, this would have to do.
"This is great," I remarked.
"Yeah, I thought you'd need it. Apparently, it's a brand popular in the West."
It seemed to be a specialized product designed for Westerners who struggled with the same heavy-chested issues I did.
"Really? If I knew something like this existed, I would've started using it ages ago."
My chest had been nothing but a massive inconvenience. I had tried ordinary sports bras before, but they simply couldn't handle my size. To think a product like this existed... It had been over a year since I returned to Earth, yet there was still so much I didn't know. I really shouldn't have spent all that time just shut in my room, masturbating... I was just glad I was finally getting out and doing things now.
To be honest, wearing the new gear didn't feel great. No matter how much I compressed them, there was a limit to what the bra could do...
"Wow, Sister, what is up with your body?"
"What?"
"Are you sure those actually shrunk?"
"Yes, they did."
The skin-tight outfit left absolutely nothing of my already outrageous figure to the imagination. In particular, my waist and hips—usually hidden under loose clothing—were heavily emphasized, radiating an intense sexual appeal. Still, I felt like they had at least been reduced to a somewhat normal range. Regardless, the gear was comfortable. It was lightweight, clung perfectly to my body, and didn't hinder my movements at all. It was a bit embarrassing and awkward, but that was just something I had to get used to. With that, I stepped into the Gate alongside my sister.
The sight that greeted us inside the Gate was a vast mountain range. If I hadn't been told beforehand that this was a Dungeon-type, I would never have guessed it was a dungeon, given its sheer scale. And... this was a landscape I had never seen before. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be a place I recognized. At the very least, this Gate didn't seem to have any connection to the Other World. Of course, I hadn't explored the entirety of the Other World, so I couldn't be absolutely certain, but that was the feeling I got.
"What's wrong?" my sister asked.
"Oh, nothing."
Maybe it was because this was a Dungeon-type rather than an Alien-type...? At any rate, since there was no one around to watch us, I drew my weapon and stepped forward.
The Orcs were weaker than I expected.
"They're a bit different from the Orcs in the Other World," I noted.
"Really?"
"Yeah. They don't have any Magi."
The Orcs of the Other World had submitted to the Demon King and harbored Magi within them, which made them incredibly annoying to deal with. They were already physically superior to humans by nature, but the Magi had enhanced their strength even further. Perhaps because she was receiving my buffs, my sister's movements were much swifter and more dynamic than before. Her stamina was excellent as well; she didn't seem to struggle at all with the mountain climb. I had always known she was strong, but seeing her in action now, she was truly remarkable.
"Wow, Sister, you're incredibly strong," she praised.
"Honestly, there's nothing difficult about this."
Orcs without Magi were utterly pathetic. However, there was one highly annoying issue... harvesting the Mana Stones.
"Tsk, this is such a pain," I muttered.
Digging the Mana Stones out of the corpses was an absolute chore. Why couldn't they just pop out of the monsters the moment they died?
"Should we bring someone along to harvest the stones next time?" she asked.
"No need. Next time, I'll just bring Ah-young and Gyuri."
Those two would surely handle it on their own, right? When I mentioned them, my sister gave me a dubious look.
"What? Why? They got into the guild thanks to me, so I'm allowed to put them to work a little."
"Sure, do whatever you want."
Of course, I was only half-joking. Well, maybe half-serious... but I genuinely did want to bring the two of them here. After fighting the Orcs, I realized this dungeon was indeed the perfect training ground. I immediately understood why my sister had said so. First of all, the open terrain was great, and having to plan our movements around the watchposts added a nice strategic element. The monsters' strength was just right, and there were plenty of things to keep track of. It was ideal for party play and made for an excellent testing ground. The only downside was that the Mana Stone yield was a bit disappointing.
Each watchpost was a small encampment garrisoned by about twenty to thirty Orcs. Normally, the standard tactic was to launch a stealth attack or lure them out to eliminate them one by one. I, however, simply hurled a massive sphere of Sacred Fire and set the entire area ablaze. Once the fire started, even Orcs had no choice but to crawl out. And once they did? My sister and I sliced them to pieces. In the end, clearing three watchposts took about two hours, which was quite a while.
"The dungeon itself is massive," I noted.
There were plenty of monsters, but they were too scattered, and the dungeon was so vast that exploring the whole thing took forever. Even if you wanted to do a quick boss run, hiking up and down the mountain was exhausting. It definitely had a lot of factors that made it highly inefficient, which explained why it wasn't popular. Looking down from the watchpost, the Orc settlement was quite large.
"There are probably about three hundred of them down there," my sister said.
"That's a lot..."
If you added up the Orcs roaming the mountain, the ones guarding the watchposts, and the ones in the settlement...
"But normally, people don't clear them all," she said.
Apparently, if you planned your infiltration route well, you could reach the boss with almost no combat. And once you reached the boss? You just took them out and called it a day.
"Um, last time, when the boss died, the other monsters stopped moving. Does that happen here too?" I asked, referring to what had happened in the Great Forest.
"Oh, that?" she replied. "Not at all. Since this is a Dungeon-type, the moment you kill the boss, the dungeon is marked as cleared, and all the monsters just vanish."
True. If that were the case, this place would be highly popular because harvesting Mana Stones would be a breeze. You could just rush the boss and then easily collect the stones from the remaining Orcs in the settlement for a tidy profit. The boss, the Orc Great Warrior, was also a disappointment. It was only about as strong as a regular Orc with Magi... and this was supposed to be a Great Warrior? Looking at it another way, it just showed how incredibly powerful Magi really was. Just how strong were the Orcs harboring Magi back then...? By Earth's standards, an Orc from the Other World would easily be classified as a B-Class monster. If they moved in legions, with shamans and the like, they might even be rated as A-Class or higher.
My sister and I ran the Gate twice before calling it a day. Since the days were getting longer, it wasn't completely dark yet, but the sun was beginning to set. The very first thing my sister said upon stepping outside was...
"Ugh, I need a shower."
She was full of complaints, having sweated quite a bit from hiking up and down the mountain.
"Sister, do you not even sweat?"
"It's not that I don't sweat at all..."
I probably did, but barely. Was it to maintain the dignity of a Saintess? I hadn't thought much of it in the past, but looking at it now, this body was incredibly convenient.
"Is it really that uncomfortable?" I asked.
Since taking on this body, I had rarely experienced that kind of discomfort, so I couldn't really relate. In particular, I had almost never dealt with the struggle of sweat pooling under my breasts...
"Should we find a bathhouse nearby...?" she muttered, contemplating. But after glancing at me, she decided we should just head home quickly. I didn't mind either way. Once we changed back into our regular clothes and got in the car, we headed straight home. Even though the combat had been easy, she must have been tired, so I felt a bit guilty making her drive all the way back.
"If you feel that bad, you should get your driver's license," she teased.
"I'll pass..."
Getting a license at this point? It sounded like too much work. Maybe I should just make Ah-young or Gyuri get their licenses instead... Ah, wait, they didn't even have cars, did they? Would I have to buy them a car before telling them to get a license? At any rate, our cozy little "date" was quite enjoyable. Getting to run wild for a bit helped relieve some stress. Since there was nowhere nearby to sell the Mana Stones, we decided to bring them back to the guild.