Chapter 6: Chapter 8 – Recommendation II
First, an explanation was needed.
Why I started playing [Scavenger] and how I found the body of guild members today.
When I explained it briefly, her face turned blue.
She made an expression of surprise, saying that she had no idea how to control a cockroach, but then closed her mouth.
"-No?"
"What?"
"I can't be too excited against cockroaches... No matter how much I don't like the skill, that's it."
"Are you crazy? What should I do against cockroaches?"
Crazy girl. There are some things you can do and some you shouldn't.
Although it may be a misunderstanding, what if she believes it as it is?
"Then how do you control cockroaches?"
"Tch. One day, a few days after I got the skill, I was sleeping peacefully when I suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the trash can. Fuck. I woke up in my sleep and checked to see where these damn bugs had come from, and they were going crazy and going crazy in my trash can. ?"
"Your trash can?"
"Don't speak, just guess."
He showed his skills again.
[Nectar(Νέκταρ) (E~?)]
[Your semen has the power to attract females.]
[It has a slight cosmetic effect.]
'Female??'
Song Seong briefly recited, and her face blushed as she remembered the connection between my trash can and this skill.
"Hi."
It was a short, female-like voice.
"Can't you keep it quite?"
"I understood it, right? They smelled your semen and gathered there and…?"
"That's right! I was confused too, but they really followed suit. It was then that I realized that those damn cockroaches are capable of parthenogenesis between females. So do you know what has become of me? I'm either going to kick my ass and burn the toilet paper at any cost. Or do it in the bathroom! Oh, life sucks, right?"
"Yes."
"Oh sh*t, thinking about it makes me break out in hives again."
Glup..Glup..Glup..
I immediately drank alcohol and burned my throat.
I don't know what I'm saying to a childhood friend I haven't seen in years.
'… I'm so embarrassed.'
"Calm down. I'm fine. Furthermore, I also feel that there are a lot of strange skills in the skills. It's Top's fault that gave it to me, not you, Hong Chang."
"But that's why I'm treated like a scavenger. It's my fault for thinking of using it like this, but it's really-"
"That's right~! You did a good job. How many bodies have been returned to the bereaved families thanks to you? Are you doing well?"
"Yes, thank you for telling me. After all, what you need to have by your side is an understanding friend."
"No problem. Are there two friends like me in the world?"
I was suspicious that she was emphasizing her friend to a strange degree, but I thought I was too suspicious from earlier, so I gave up thinking.
It's me who's being rude.
Seong has been approaching me in a friendly way since a while ago, so I wonder if I am being shameless.
'I drink well. It feels like the alcohol content is higher than usual. '
I glanced at the alcohol in my hand.
It is a green soju bottle that you see everywhere, with the words [for commercial use] written on it.
… After all, it's my mood.
"So you've been spending your time like that, finding corpses or catching mobs with bugs?"
"Ugh. I never dreamed that a D-class guy would have a tinnitus. But even though I don't have a tinnitus, because of the burns, they keep saying shit like I'm spotted or a hyena. I'm not even their friend, so why don't they know?"
"There are so many rude people in the world. Last time I went up to North Korea, I cleaned up the tower, and when I came back down, they asked me why I looked like a girl and asked if I was really talented."
"I asked you if you had any skills. I guess even the higher-ups had their eyes peeled. How many hunters in the world are stronger than you?"
"Is that right? So when I told you to let out an aura and jump in the air, you immediately ran away?"
"You did a good job, kid. Just listening to it makes me feel refreshed."
"Hehe."
Gurgling.
We exchanged glasses with each other again.
Another drink. A piece of meat too.
"So you've never used it against women?"
"Skill? I've used it."
"I heard there wasn't a woman earlier."
"I didn't go somewhere and say it out loud, but there's a dark place in the corner of the tower. I paid money there and did this."
"…Red-light district?"
"It's a crazy town. The tower is essentially an extraterritorial place. To be honest, I didn't want to hang out in a place like that, and I didn't have the money to do so, but I had to check my skills, so I had no choice.
"Hmm~."
An unpleasant voice came out, as if something had offended me.
What is it?
"You asked."
"I thought there might have been another way."
"What other way is there, then, to date and have sex just to test your skills? That's being disloyal to my partner, man."
"Yeah, that's right."
Even that brief change, her facial expression turned into a smile again.
What was that irritation just now?
Is she really a crush?
"So, what is the skill? Was it activated against a person?"
"Not at all. The skill level is E. There's no way I can seduce a woman so easily after having sex only once, so I vaguely expected it, but I wonder if it doesn't work on humans to begin with, or if it's a biological thing since it's written as a female, but if you think about it that way, I thought it was normal for humans to be divided into males and females... So I gave up because I thought it was a skill level issue."
"That's true. As soon as I saw it, I thought the skill level was the problem."
"Really? You are more expert in this area than I am. It's very reassuring to hear you say that."
"I know similar skills. Oh, let me tell you in advance, I'm talking about grades, not sexual aspects."
"Grade?"
Seong asked me to show my skills again.
This time it's the skill card.
"[Skill card revealed]."
She took it out.
It is the same color card suitable for E.
The so-called hunter card.
Proof that Hunter's life is ruined.
"As expected, I was right."
"What?"
Seeing such trash skills, Seong was convinced of something.
I raised my head, wondering what on earth she had found, and Seong approached me in a position where we were almost touching our cheeks and checked her skill card again.
"Look here. Can you see the corner?"
"Corner? … Hmm?"
Upon checking Seong's hand gesture, the corners of her skill card were slightly crumbled. For example, as if the silver foil covering the chocolate was slightly torn, or as if there was chocolate inside the foil, silver shone in the crumbled hole in the corner of my skill card.
"Can you see it?"
"Uh, oh, oh! But is it strange? Last time I saw it, there were no traces like this anywhere."
I looked at it really carefully.
Because that was the first skill of my life.
'But now there are traces like this?'
'What the fuck?'
"I was confident in this skill's level (E~?). It can evolve. The fact that the outer part here is torn off is also evidence of experience points accumulated."
"So, if you collect experience points, this skill will be evolved?"
"That's right. Do you see the silver glowing inside? That's the next step."
"No, the fucking skill is evolving!?"
"The number of cases is very small, but it doesn't mean there are none. Information exchange is frustrating due to the [Hunter Information Protection Act], and it's information that you wouldn't know unless you joined a guild."
My heart was racing.
Evolution!
My skills! Can this damn guy's skills become stronger?
"A real ranker. How do you know so much information that a scumbag like me doesn't know?"
"It's not because I am a ranker, but because there's a similar case around me. Ceres, whom I mentioned earlier, was the same type as this. She was also a girl who had a really hard time when she first became a hunter because she had crappy skills, so I recognized it right away."
"Really?"
That person named Ceres is mentioned very often.
I vaguely remember the rankings, nicknames, and faces from TV, but... could it be like Seong's secret lesbian girlfriend?
I lightly scratched the rash while secretly praying that their romantic relationship would go well.
"Is this because of experience points?"
"That's right. The card probably reacted because you did something that suited this skill."
"Action that matches the skill... Oh, fuck, no way."
"No, it's not like it's attracting cockroaches. You said you've been using it that way almost every day for over a year. Then it can't have been torn apart like this."
"Other than that, it was just one night in the red-light district."
"Isn't that it?"
"Ah~! Is that so!? As you said, it fits the purpose of this skill! I haven't seen it since then, so it's understandable that the skill card was only torn like this!!"
In other words, if I went in and out every day, the skill card would have evolved by now.
Shit!!!!
I never thought I would realize such a simple condition. After returning from Changgwan, I checked the skill card, but what I didn't notice at the time turned out to be a serious problem.
"Oh really. There are so many things that make me feel happy and upset today. I got into a fight with a drunk guy, so my childhood friend suddenly helped me. I thought I finally figured out how to strengthen my skills, but then I realized I was actually an idiot."
"Now, one more drink."
"Ta-da!"
"Ta-an~!"
Gulp.
… Phew.
No. I'm starting to feel blue.
I had to hold my nerve tightly in case I couldn't get over my drunkenness and become irritated with the other person.
"Don't be so gloomy. Who is the person in front of you? It's Hunter, the 9th-ranked prospect."
"…?"
"Would you like to? There's no way I'm only telling bad stories about you, my childhood friend."
My heart was pounding again.
Actually, it was a good story just because it said that skills can become stronger. Even though I was just being crooked in her accepting attitude, she said that of course there was a better solution.
"What is this solution about?"
"Actually, there is a way to rank up quickly~♪"
"Really!?"
"Yes. I realized that the conditions for collecting experience points were actually a simple solution."
"Oh, I see. Isn't that right?"
It was simple. Since it was a skill related to females and semen, it was an idiotic condition to be told to hug a woman.
"Then here's the problem~! Heehee, we get stronger by climbing the tower and catching strong mobs to raise our hunter level, right? So how do we get stronger in our skills faster~?"
"Uhm…"
Hunters become stronger by catching stronger mobs. This is also her self-discipline.
Skill is asking me for a woman. That means…
"Holding a better woman?"
"Bingo!"
Gurgling drink once again.
I filled her glass, ate it, and started laughing.
"That's right. You just need to hug a better woman. It's simple, right?"
"What's the point... Oh wait, my bones only hurt because of you."
"Why?"
"The standard for a good woman is too vague. Are you telling me to embrace even a popular model? And that too for a guy like me?"
"Wrong. It's not that ambiguous. In your case, the standard by which value can be measured is clear."
"What value?"
"You're a hunter. So what is the value of a woman by our standards?"
"Ranking, Hunter grade?"
"Yes. That's it."
Holy shit.
'Already, the notoriety will spread, so you want me to embrace a high-ranking hunter?'
How can a person from the heavenly world not do that even with money!?
Fucked, really!