Because I Want To

While Seo Ye-in slept peacefully, I took the time to conduct an inventory of my own.

First up were the sub-quests.

Having claimed first place in both matches, I received the highest tier of rewards. While the C-rank Stamp Coupon I acquired previously maxed out at ten stamps, the C+ rank went up to fifteen. Naturally, it added an extra tier of milestone rewards.

Good thing I hoarded those ahead of time.

I had four unused Random Rank Up scrolls sitting in reserve. I decided to save those and pop them all at once later.

Next, I called up my skills and traits windows.

Looking at all this to chart out my course forward...

Priority one is reinforcing internal foundations.

Achieving a B-rank core was something I had accomplished relatively recently myself. For now, rather than expanding my repertoire of skills, pushing the ones I already owned up to B-rank was by far the more efficient play. Picking up something brand-new would just mean starting from F-rank anyway, which could never match the raw output of upgrading Wind Force or Spiral Explosion to B-rank.

It probably won't take that long, either.

Because I slung wind magic on a regular basis, their proficiency was already thoroughly stacked. In particular, Wind Force, Spiral Explosion, and their foundational base arts were the absolute backbone of my kit. I expected them to break through their plateaus and touch B-rank in the near future.

Priority two is utility.

Among utility tools, I desperately needed to secure penalty-management skills or traits. The maximum elemental penalty that an S-rank Elemental Resistance could completely nullify was B-rank. Anything beyond that tier inflicted residual backlash, however minor.

B-rank Inferno Fist and Mystic Yin Jade Demonic Finger were already formidable, but the caliber of my future adversaries would only scale higher. That meant I would inevitably have to amplify them to S-rank, just like I did when facing down the Witch of Rot. And I couldn't rely on mass-produced elixirs forever.

At least I managed to grab Retrocovery.

Even if I scorched or frosted myself by boosting the flaming fist or the demonic finger to S-rank, Retrocovery would cleanly restore me to mint condition at least once. Of course, that alone was hardly a comprehensive solution to the problem.

Furthermore, there was another penalty I had to keep firmly in mind.

Cooldowns are getting absurdly long.

The base cooldown of C-rank Bestowal sat at a modest thirty-five minutes, but pairing it with Octopus Arms had fired it thirty times in rapid succession. Thanks to that blitz, I successfully thrashed the Witch of Rot one-sidedly, but the blowback inflated its cooldown to a staggering three weeks. It was effectively sealed until the end of the first semester.

To make matters worse, Penance carried a natural seven-day cooldown. What would happen if I chained that with Octopus Arms?

It wouldn't be surprising if the timer stretched out for weeks, or even months.

Consequently, finding ways to manage and shave down penalties had become an increasingly urgent priority.

And finally, priority three.

It was a project that couldn't be resolved overnight, placing it lower in immediate urgency, but in terms of sheer importance, it lagged behind neither of the first two.

The Crow Branch (S).

It was an S-rank spatial crafting material handed over by the Crow Great Sage as part investment, part reward. If forged into equipment, it would undoubtedly yield an extraordinary artifact, but navigating the path toward its completion was fraught with hurdles.

First is tracking down a craftsman.

Naturally, artisans capable of handling such an item were vanishingly rare. Yet this was actually the least troublesome of the three bottlenecks.

I just have to go find another crow.

Most Dimensional Crows knew how to process their own branch. For ordinary folks, finding one was an ordeal, but for an old-hand gamer like me, it was as easy as flipping over my palm. The real issue lay elsewhere.

The crafting fee is going to be astronomical.

When I commissioned the Crow Tailor at Rainbow Lake, I handed over a sizable ruby and emerald. That modest price tag only worked because the materials being worked on were C-rank. If it involved crafting an S-rank base, tossing over a ruby or two wouldn't even cover the tip.

And I haven't even collected all the supplementary materials yet.

Forging a piece using only the Crow Branch would still spit out at least an A-rank piece of gear, but since I had obtained such a rare item through painstaking effort, why settle for anything less than perfection? That meant securing supplementary reagents—most of which were A-rank, making their procurement equally dreadful.

The first source that came to mind was a deep-floor dungeon, but Tang Gyu-young, who would normally accompany me, was bogged down with her Penance quest, so that was ruled out for now. The Principal and the Vice Principal seemed friendly enough, but whether they were viable trade partners for this remained to be seen, eliminating them as well.

Through this process of elimination, only one option was left on the table.

I'll have to lean on Haeseong Group's backing.

I would need to confer with Ahn Jungmi, but it made more sense to handle that after Seo Ye-in woke up. So, maintaining full-time Kim Ho Pillow duty, I waited quietly.

How much time had passed?

The ambient mana saturating the Mana Cultivation Room suddenly began surging into Seo Ye-in at a terrifying velocity.

Fwoooosh—!

Her entire frame flared with a momentary azure luminescence. She levitated a fraction of an inch above the floor before gently settling back down.

"...?"

Presently, Seo Ye-in fluttered her eyes open. Squirming lightly atop my lap, she peered up into my face and parted her lips in a faint murmur.

"Lucky day..."

"It went up, didn't it? Your rank."

"Mm..."

Seo Ye-in gave a slight nod of her chin, sharing the floating notification window.

"It really is your lucky day."

At this stage of the academic year, the number of freshmen holding a B-rank core could be counted on one hand. Song Cheon-hye, myself, and perhaps one or two top-tier prospects. Internally, I had pegged Hong Yeon-hwa as the most probable next contender, yet once again Seo Ye-in had shattered my expectations to hit B-rank first.

The idle-farming sloth is truly a terrifying beast.

Regardless, now that her rank-up had succeeded, the next course of action was clear. Looking down at her, I spoke.

"Let's check in with your butler for the first time in a while."

"Looking right at you."

"Not me, your actual butler."

When the communication crystal illuminated, Ahn Jungmi bowed deferentially from across the sphere.

"Young Lady, Young Master Kim Ho. Have you been well during this time?"

"Yes, it has been a while since we reached out."

I summarized our recent progress, hitting only the core highlights: how Seo Ye-in had mastered Ghost Steps through the arrangements of the Illusion Demon, how she had recently cut her sleep down to ten hours a day to practice, and how she had broken through to a B-rank core mere moments ago.

As expected, the further along my explanation went, the more emotional Ahn Jungmi's face became. By the time I concluded, she looked on the verge of spilling tears.

"For the young lady to exert herself so diligently... I cannot begin to express our gratitude."

"Most of it is her own doing. Particularly cultivating mana while sleeping—that's entirely her talent, so it's hard to call it my accomplishment."

Ahn Jungmi had attended to Seo Ye-in for years; she surely possessed an intimate understanding of her prodigal mana control and her idle-sloth tendencies. Claiming credit for her Core advancement felt excessive.

Surprisingly, Ahn Jungmi shook her head.

"That is not the case. According to the Future Strategy Room's projections, the earliest the young lady was expected to achieve a B-rank core was late in the second semester."

"I don't quite understand. Why such a massive discrepancy?"

If she cultivated simply by sleeping, how could a forecast miss the mark by nearly half a year?

Ahn Jungmi offered a wry, slightly bitter smile.

"While it is true that the young lady is capable of cultivating mana during sleep, whether she actually chooses to do so is an entirely separate matter."

"You mean she only does it when she feels like it."

"Precisely."

Apparently, the idle-sloth mode came with a toggle switch. And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from Seo Ye-in's perspective, sleeping without actively running cultivation currents through her circuits was infinitely more comfortable. Because she constantly flipped the switch on and off at whim, the analysts in the Future Strategy Room had pushed their estimate far into the future, landing toward the tail end of semester two.

Ahn Jungmi continued.

"Therefore, reaching this milestone so far ahead of schedule is unquestionably thanks to you, Young Master Kim Ho. Not to mention graciously sharing the Illusion Demon's legacy... We are deeply in your debt. Please, if there is anything you require, do not hesitate to ask."

"Actually, there are a few items I've been looking for lately."

I laid out the shopping list I had drafted earlier: skills or traits geared toward penalty mitigation, alongside rare supplementary reagents needed to forge equipment from the Crow Branch.

Even for Haeseong Group, these weren't wares that could be plucked effortlessly out of thin air. Ahn Jungmi paused in contemplation before offering an alternative proposal.

"How would you feel about browsing the shops in the downtown commercial district first? We will cover the entirety of the expenses."

In other words, she had just handed me a blank check. If I stumbled across what I wanted in the market, that was ideal; the odds of unearthing an unexpected hidden gem were also quite high. And even if we came up empty-handed, Ahn Jungmi would simply procure the items through corporate channels anyway, leaving me with zero downside.

I gave an agreeable nod.

"I'll take a look."

"Around when were you planning to go?"

"Next weekend seems about right."

The weekend of Raid Week. In other words, the threshold right before final exams. With massive tests on the horizon, students flocked downtown in droves, either to vent stress or to stock up on consumables. Consequently, the commercial district's merchants made a habit of stocking their shelves with an influx of rare inventory.

Just then, Seo Ye-in abruptly cut into the conversation.

"This week."

"You heard her, next weekend will have way more interesting stuff."

I attempted to coax her gently, but for once, Seo Ye-in dug her heels in.

"This week."

"Why do you want to go so badly?"

If she had a compelling reason, bumping the trip up by a week was hardly an insurmountable issue. To which Seo Ye-in offered a thoroughly unabashed reply.

"Because I want to."

"Well, aren't you being chatty today? Still a no."

When it came ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to discipline, a boundary was a boundary. Yielding every single time someone threw a mild tantrum would only rot the foundations of a long-term dynamic. However, attaching a condition to it altered the equation.

"Today is Monday."

"Yeah."

"Get your Mana Bullet to B-rank by Friday. Hit that, and I'll consider it."

I deliberately set an absurdly steep bar. Half of it was to drive her to train intensely; the other half was to establish an unavoidable pretext to defer the trip to next week as planned.

Yet whether Seo Ye-in saw through my scheme or not, she simply stared at me blankly before nodding her head.

"Done deal."

There's no way you clear this one.

Mana Bullet was one of the quintessential core skills for any gunner. Given that Seo Ye-in had sat at C-rank for quite some time, her latent mastery was undoubtedly high, but leaping to B-rank in a matter of days was an impossible reach under any sane metric.

Thursday arrived.

Down in the private training hall, I had spent the afternoon hurling iron dummies across the room to hone my wind magic. In the middle of drills, a string of messages pinged on my device.

She actually pushed it to B-rank?

Not even waiting until Friday—she pulled it off by Thursday?

This girl was nothing short of an absolute cheat character.