Chapter 7 Night
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”…Thank god. She didn’t level up.”
”That’s not a good thing!?”
I’d Appraised her status the second she walked back in, and that was the first wave of relief that hit me. Maybe I was still wrung out from last time, because even though her sweat was laced with that sweet Succubus pheromone, my lower half stayed dead quiet.
”So… how was ‘Lonisera’?”
”Eh? Oh. I guess… easier to fire than before?”
”Then my adjustments worked. Good.”
I tried to coax her impressions out of her, curious if last night’s tweaks had made any difference. If she wasn’t mentioning firepower, she probably hadn’t gone deep enough this time for it to matter.
”Anyway, so… I talked to someone knowledgeable today.”
”Knowledgeable? About what?”
”Your, uh… condition.”
”Wha—nyah!?”
Her voice cracked like a startled cat, eyes going round as saucers. She’d been so determined this morning to “find a way to fix it,” and now here I was, casually telling her the answer like it was nothing. No wonder she looked lost.
”Okay… so what do I even do?”
”They said you need to get the ‘s*x sorcery’ skill. Apparently your Succubus body is missing something it’s supposed to have, and your instincts go haywire trying to compensate whenever you level up.”
”…That makes only halfway sense.”
”Don’t think about it too hard. That way lies madness.”
Of course, knowing the solution didn’t solve the real problem—her Skill Slots were already full. If she could just jump five levels at once, she could unlock a slot and grab s*x sorcery right there. Would that be enough to dodge the frenzy…?
”Oh, right. I got some weird announcement while exploring today.”
”Weird announcement?”
Announcements were the system fanfares from back in the game days—little chimes and voices you’d hear when leveling up or completing a skill. The most familiar one was the level-up jingle, then maybe the skill-complete chime. Class-ups were even rarer; I’d never heard one myself, though old records said they existed.
”Yeah, like, it said ‘complete’ or something.”
”That’s the skill-complete jingle.”
I remembered the voice so clearly—cheery, but weirdly off, like the voice actor couldn’t quite pronounce English. More like ‘konpuriito.’ It only played when a skill hit max level, not just ranking up, which meant she must’ve pushed a skill to level cap. Lucky. I hadn’t gotten that far yet.
”So… what should I do next?”
”First thing, get s*x sorcery. Please. Before it kills me.”
”You don’t have to say it like you’re begging for your life!”
Before she even checked her slots, I forced the priority on her. Honestly, I didn’t *hate* doing those things with her… but the way she went full predator during them? I really could die. I wasn’t eager for round three. She was swiping her finger through the air now, updating her status window—probably sorting her Skill Slots. Four of them had opened up at once; no wonder she was hesitating.
”So, um… can I ask your opinion?”
”About what skill to take next? Are you sure you want me butting in?”
”No one’s better at this stuff than you.”
I sighed. She wasn’t wrong. Thanks to my past life’s game knowledge, I knew how to build powerful setups. Not that I didn’t prefer quirky roleplay builds personally… but she needed strength right now.
”Well… for you, ‘Agility Boost’ and ‘Mobility Boost’ would be good. Maybe ‘Endurance Boost’ if you want to patch your paper-thin defense, but honestly I’d rather push you toward a scout-type build.”
”Eh, what about ‘magic attack up’?”
”That only makes sense if you ditch ‘Lonisera’ and switch to magic casting. I mean, there’s a chance future upgrades might let Lonisera scale off magic attack, so it wouldn’t be a total waste… but still.”
’Lonisera’ hadn’t existed back in the game days, so I had zero idea what its upgrade tree looked like. Some Arcane Guns used magic attack for damage, sure, but they were still weaker than just using actual magic. If she went that route, she’d end up learning mid-tier spells anyway, and Arcane Guns wouldn’t even be worth using.
”…Nah, I’ll skip magic. I got s*x sorcery already anyway.”
”S*x sorcery isn’t direct attack magic, you know.”
”Wait, then how am I even supposed to use it?”
”Charm magic to freeze enemies, then finish them while they’re helpless. Or use the dazed moment to dodge.”
”That’s… way more murder-y than I expected!?”
”It’s also got energy drain moves, so it’s good for Mana recovery.”
”…That actually sounds perfect for me!?”
Exactly. Low-level monsters usually couldn’t resist charm, so it would help keep her safe too. If I’d known about the Succubus race traits earlier, I probably would’ve taught her that before guns.
”‘Lockpicking’ and ‘Stealing’ would be good too.”
”…Those are totally thief skills.”
”From floor fifteen on, you’ll find locked chests. Unlocking skills are super valuable. And some monsters carry rare loot, so stealing from them is—”
”Wow. I just saw the dark side of being a Crafter.”
Yeah… it was true. Deeper in, some enemies carried stat-boosting items, and you *had* to steal those. You could even swipe a boss’s weapon to cripple their attack power. I’d seen bosses drop Mithril or Orichalcum as random loot too—if she could steal those, it would be huge.
”Okay, done. I picked them.”
”Oh, you finished?”
”Yep. ‘S*x Sorcery,’ ‘Agility Boost,’ ‘Mobility Boost,’ ‘Lockpicking,’ and ‘Stealing.’”
”…You just went with my whole list. You sure about that?”
”It’s part thank-you for letting me stay here. And I want to keep using Lonisera too.”
She stroked the gun still holstered at her hip, almost tenderly. Yeah… she really did love that thing. She’d said once that guys had only seen her as baggage with legs, and girls had treated her cold out of jealousy over her looks. ‘Lonisera’ was the one thing that had turned it all around for her. Of course she’d cling to it.
”So… how are your stat gains?”
”Mm, same as always. One point each to physical attack, defense, and luck. Like three or four to speed and magic defense.”
I let out a quiet breath. Most Explorers didn’t even get guaranteed stat gains on level-up, so one point every time was ridiculous. Even the Archangel sometimes got zero.
It was all thanks to two accessories I’d made using my past life’s game knowledge: the ‘Blessing of the Earth Mother’ and the ‘Prayer of the Earth Mother.’ They were busted items that boosted the hidden chance of gaining stats on level-up. They had no stats themselves, but everyone who went hardcore crafted them.
Normally, the materials only dropped just past floor fifty—way out of our reach now. But when I was little, I’d begged my parents, who’d been mid-tier Explorers back then, to gather enough for three sets.
The Crafting level requirement was only one, so I’d whipped up a pair for myself and gifted the others to them. They’d been level 38, and I’d thought… if they wore these and reached level 50, they’d get at least twelve more points in everything but movement. That might be enough to survive.
They’d later joined a massive raid to take down a monster near floor seventy… and never came back.
The old man told me their efforts had carved the path to victory though. Their gear and bodies were returned to me, and at least I got to bury them. Some Explorers didn’t even leave remains behind.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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