Volume 1 Chapter 8 Member Candidates
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The next day, when Chifumi and I walked through the school gates together, I immediately noticed the attention. Whispers spread through the students around us, and before long Ryota stepped forward as the representative of the curious masses.
”Mornin’,” he said casually.
”Mornin’, Ryota.”
After the brief exchange, he got straight to the point.
”Did ya do it with Takino-san yesterday?”
The grin on his face told me he already thought he knew the answer.
”Yeah. Did it.”
”No way! You’re a legend, man!”
He slapped me hard on the back.
”Her Mana wave feels totally different now. You actually managed to go from ‘Training’ all the way to ‘Mastery’?”
”Yeah. Well, Chifumi and I were already pretty compatible.”
”Two days into the school year and you’re already a Majin and Majo? That’s got to be a record.”
”Apparently it is for this school. Though I heard some students at other schools manage it on their first day.”
Once the Mastery process was complete, the titles changed. A Strong-Male became a Majin, while a Strong-Female became a Majo.
”Still, that’s way too fast.”
”You could probably do it too with someone like Yamada-san, couldn’t you?”
Ryota scratched his cheek.
”I could probably get to Unlocking. Mastery, though? Not this early. That takes time.”
”I just got lucky.”
”Hmm. You really think so?”
He clearly did not buy it.
Training was the first step, the act of a victor physically dominating a defeated opponent. People called it the First Push.
Unlocking came next. By reaching the peak of pleasure, you exposed your own soul and gained access to the other person’s. That was the Second Push.
Mastery was the Third Push.
The process of rewriting another person’s soul.
Each stage strengthened a Sorcery user’s abilities. Looking at it objectively, the system felt suspiciously similar to the progression mechanics from the games in my previous world.
Any Strong-Male who arrived with an established group of Strong-Females could usually achieve Training without much trouble. With effort, Unlocking was attainable as well.
Mastery was where most people hit a wall.
To rewrite a soul, you first had to understand it. The heart, which generated Mana, naturally rejected foreign Mana. Overcoming that resistance usually required painstaking preparation—taking advantage of moments when the body and soul drifted slightly apart, persuading a partner to lower their guard, or using specialized tools designed for the purpose.
Most students managed a single Mastery during their first year. By graduation, three successful Masteries was considered respectable.
Meanwhile, I’d completed one on the second day of school.
Even by this world’s standards, that was a pretty big accomplishment.
”So does that mean Takino-san has your mark now?” Ryota asked.
”Yeah.”
He hesitated.
”…Can I see where it is?”
”Sure. Chifumi?”
Chifumi had been chatting with Yamada-san nearby. When she heard me call her name, she turned and walked over.
”Yeah~?”
”Ryota wants to see your Majo mark.”
”Eh~!? That’s lewd…”
She giggled while putting on an embarrassed act.
”Ryota, you have absolutely no delicacy,” Yamada-san said coolly.
Since Yamada-san had followed Chifumi over, she got to witness the whole exchange. Ryota immediately panicked and tried to shove responsibility onto me.
”No, no, I was just curious! Hey, back me up here!”
”The location of the mark is unpredictable,” Yamada-san pointed out. “You should have considered that before asking.”
”Ah…”
Ryota’s face fell.
”Right. Sorry, Takino-san.”
By that point, I figured the joke had gone far enough. Catching Chifumi’s eye, I gave her a look that told her she could stop.
”It’s fiiine~” she said. “Besides, it’s somewhere I can show people anyway. I was just teasing you~”
”Oh?”
That narrowed down the possibilities considerably.
”So it’s on your tongue.”
”That’s kind of lewd in its own way…”
At Yamada-san’s observation, Chifumi’s face immediately turned red.
”Jeez~ now I’m getting self-conscious about it~”
She pulled her tongue back into her mouth and lightly smacked Yamada-san’s side.
The impact sent a noticeable ripple through Yamada-san’s midsection.
”Ooh!”
Ryota reacted instantly.
Apparently that was enough to get him excited.
I still did not fully understand the appeal myself, but if I compared it to the attraction of bouncing breasts, the logic at least made sense.
”We’re having our match too,” Ryota declared suddenly. “Starting with you, Rana.”
”Eh?”
Rana blinked in surprise.
”Oh… understood. I’ll be your opponent.”
”It’s decided then. Let’s go reserve the facilities.”
”Right.”
Ryota and the others quickly left the classroom.
Looks like my success yesterday had lit a fire under him.
Good.
I genuinely hoped it worked out for him.
The other boys who had been listening in seemed to grasp the situation as well and gradually drifted back into their own conversations.
I took my seat beside Chifumi and waited for class to start.
Even while pretending not to look, the Free students kept sending glances our way.
I could understand why.
For them, choosing which group to join would determine the entire course of their high school lives. Naturally, everyone wanted to attach themselves to a promising group.
At the moment, my value was easy to understand.
I’d already completed a Mastery with Chifumi.
That alone proved I had potential.
On top of that, our group consisted of only two people. Before Dungeon training began, we’d need at least a few more members. Anyone who joined now would have a strong chance of becoming part of the group’s core.
It should have been the perfect opportunity.
And yet nobody approached me.
Nobody tried to sell themselves.
Nobody even tested the waters.
The hesitation in their eyes was obvious.
My ability as a sorcery commander might have looked promising, but that was only one factor. When it came to leadership, influence, and faction-building, I was probably viewed as a risky investment.
There was also the issue of appearances.
By the standards of Sorcery users, both Chifumi and I had poor physiques. Right now efficiency compensated for that weakness, but eventually raw Mana capacity would become increasingly important.
And, perhaps most importantly, neither of us ranked particularly high in this world’s beauty standards.
Sorcery users were proud creatures.
Serving beneath someone who appeared inferior in several visible categories was not a decision people made lightly.
”So?” Chifumi asked quietly.
”Let’s approach Kibe-san.”
”Mm. Got it~”
That was all the explanation she needed.
Chifumi immediately stood up and headed toward Kibe-san’s desk.
A Mastered Majo was, both formally and practically, her Majin’s subordinate. The fact that she understood my intentions without further explanation only highlighted how completely synchronized we had become.
The situation was almost the reverse of yesterday.
Back then, she had been the one ordering me around.
Now she was handling recruitment on my behalf.
Kibe-san sat with her usual perfect posture as Chifumi approached.
”Do you have a moment~?”
”Yes.”
As the two began talking, my thoughts drifted back to yesterday’s events.
To be honest, my original goal had simply been to place my lock on Chifumi. If things went well, I thought I might reach Unlocking.
Mastery had been completely unexpected.
Looking back on it, I could think of three reasons why it worked.
The first was Chifumi herself.
She had clearly been practicing alone. She opened her own key so smoothly that entering her soul required almost no effort on my part. That gave me enough time to focus on the Mastery process.
The second reason was compatibility.
Our Mana waves matched extraordinarily well. Because of that, her natural resistance remained unusually weak throughout the process.
That was not something she could have trained on her own.
I had simply gotten lucky.
The third possibility involved Mana density.
Whenever I used sorcery, I unconsciously compressed my Mana. The Mana I sent into Chifumi had likely been compressed in the same way.
If so, it might have suppressed the heart’s instinctive rejection response.
That theory needed testing.
Just before class started, Naruse approached Kibe-san’s desk.
At the same time, Chifumi returned and dropped into the seat beside me.
”I got time with Kibe-san during lunch,” she whispered.
”Nicely done.”
I patted her on the head.
”That’s my Chifumi.”
”Hehe. Well, you know~”
The grin she gave me was downright smug.
A moment later, Ryota and the others burst back into the classroom.
Then the teacher arrived.
And just like that, the day’s lessons began.
—
Summary:
Minoru and Chifumi face classroom scrutiny the day after their success. Ryota attempts to understand Minoru’s rapid progression through the school’s social and power hierarchies. Chifumi begins acting as Minoru’s representative to recruit new members for their group.
—
Trivia:
The school uses a three-tier sexual dominance system for power progression.
Mastery requires deep soul observation and precise, often tedious, procedural steps.
Minoru believes his success may be due to a subconscious habit of condensing Mana.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Chifumi – Minoru’s childhood friend is a beautiful, 15-year-old high school student with a J-cup bust, long side-tailed hair, and a scrawny build. Bubbly yet sharply-tongued, she acts as his loyal, teasing confidante, negotiator, and contracted water-sorcery witch servant after a mana transfer. Despite her naive appearance, she possesses deceptive combat strength and helps scout for his dungeon group.
• Ryota – An outgoing, loyal middle school student and friend to Minoru, he acts as an unofficial spokesperson for his peer group. He has a keen interest in school power dynamics and a distinct fondness for larger body types, specifically favoring a “miracle body line.”
• Takino – The family name shared by Chifumi and her parents, residing in the residential district.
• Yamada – A female student who associates with Chifumi and often acts as a voice of reason or social correction within their group.
• Rana – A tall, heavy-built female student who leads Ryota’s circle, serves as his combat partner, and maintains a close relationship with Senfumi.
• Kibe – A female student from a financially struggling family of sorcery practitioners tied to an old martial arts dojo. Pragmatic and submissive, she has joined forces with Naruse and is currently the target of a recruitment attempt by the group.
• Naruse – A grumpy, wide-eyed student from the wealthy Naruse merchant guild, this fiercely independent youngest of five daughters refuses to work under anyone. While interacting with Kibe between classes, she actively scouts other class members. Rumored to be a scouting target herself, she has also become the target of Minoru’s upcoming duel challenge.
• Minoru – A high school student and athletic sorcery user who reincarnated with memories of a 21st-century Japanese college past into a world with reversed beauty standards. Confident and predatory, he targets slender, beautiful girls, hides his lecherous side, and asserts dominance over a childhood friend and a classmate via Mastery contracts. He is a talented squad leader building a dungeon team.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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