VSP 15

Stamina could be raised if you pushed your body hard enough, even if there was a limit. Rarely, some hunters even reawakened and their rank went up, and if you searched, you could find quite a few cases.

But mana was different. It was more like in the comic “Two Piece,” where if you went off on an adventure, maybe you’d find a potion that increased mana somewhere~. In other words, it was like a legendary elixir.

There were rumors such potions existed, but they were nothing more than urban legends.

‘Do not forget. Mana potions do not exist in this world.’

There were even ridiculous Naples-style ghost stories like that.

Skill books that increased mana weren’t completely nonexistent, but getting one was like winning the lottery, no, like winning the Super Bowl ticket. They went straight to global auction.

The rumor of a mere F-rank hunter who dug up a chest in a dungeon and found a mana-boosting skill book, becoming instantly rich, was so famous it was even written as a case study in textbooks.

Even items that boosted mana were sold for whatever price people were willing to pay, even at E-rank.

So raising mana by even 1 required astronomical money and luck. Even Sejun, who made decent money as an S-rank hunter, couldn’t easily hope for it.

And in Sejun’s case, raising it by 1 or 2 wouldn’t solve much, so he had never really aimed for it.

But now the sub mission reward was Mana +10? That sub mission?

The insane mission that told him to flirt with Cha Dogyeong?

“This is real?”

Unable to believe it, Sejun asked again. The system, instead of getting annoyed at the repeated question, confirmed again.

[Yes, of course. Check your stats.]

At those words, Sejun immediately pulled up his status window.

[Seo Sejun (S-rank Hunter)]

Ability: Summoner

Alias: Pet Hunter

Stats

Stamina: 75/95

Mana: 10/130

Attack: 80

Defense: 60

Agility: 70

Intelligence: 100

Luck: 30

Skills

Summoning, Spirit Summon, Summon Contract, Combat Tactics, Quick Evasion

Passive

[Summoning Dependence]

“…Huh.”

Just like the system said, Sejun’s maximum mana had increased. His current mana was only 10 left because of the dungeon earlier, but that could be refilled with rest and food.

But maximum mana could not be raised no matter how much effort you put in.

The sub mission success had really increased his mana by 10. Mana that couldn’t be bought even with a fortune.

Wait, this… might actually be worth it?

It was natural for Sejun to start thinking that way, especially since he had already forgotten the exact content of the sub mission.

What was good about having more mana?

Skills became stronger. Skill duration became longer. It became easier to draw out added effects. For a hunter, mana was as important as rank.

The reason Sejun, even as an S-rank, couldn’t perform properly was because his absolute mana amount was lower than other hunters.

And he had awakened with the summoner trait, where absolute mana was especially crucial.

For summoners, the key issue was how many summons you could control, or if only one, how powerful that one summon could be.

Even if a summon just sat still after being called out, a summoner’s mana would keep draining.

If they moved or used skills or secondary abilities, the mana drained even faster.

That was why Sejun had become known as a half-baked, useless hunter.

His mana had been only 120, not even reaching the A-rank hunter average of 150.

But mana!

“Mana!”

Sejun suddenly jumped up from the sofa and shouted. Mana!

The system, which had quietly left him to his joy, sighed when it saw him looking like he might actually start dancing.

[Really… you don’t think this mission is ridiculous? You’re just happy?]

“Of course I’m happy! This might solve my chronic problem!”

He was always told he lacked mana. Just today, he had been mocked about it with crude comparisons to erection time!

Remembering Dohun’s words, Sejun shook with anger again, but then he was too happy to care.

“Come to think of it, this isn’t even a short-term thing, right? Sub missions keep coming?”

[Well, I think they’ll keep appearing until you succeed at the main mission.]

Ah, the main mission…

Sejun recalled the main mission, “Eat Cha Dogyeong,” and his face turned slightly blank, but since it wasn’t something that would happen right away, he soon brightened.

If he used it well, he could raise his stats through sub missions too. Wasn’t that killing two birds with one stone?

If he kept delaying the day the main mission would be fulfilled and kept doing sub missions, maybe he could reach the 200 mana he dreamed of, or even 300.

If the system had an expression, it would have shown a fed-up look at Sejun’s ridiculously simple thoughts, but since it didn’t, it just sighed.

[You don’t think there’s a problem with this?]

“No, what problem?”

[It means that counted as flirting.]

“Huh?”

That was flirting? That was…

Sejun suddenly remembered what the sub mission had been.

Ah. Right. That’s what it was.

The content of the sub mission was to flirt with Cha Dogyeong.

On the day he had gone to the association, when he had accidentally rubbed his face against Cha Dogyeong’s crotch, he had checked if maybe the mission cleared, but it hadn’t, and he had been disappointed. He also remembered the system scolding him, saying how could that be flirting.

But this time, it was recognized as flirting.

What exactly? The fact that he was hanging upside down with his pants down, begging until he was finally rescued, and became a coffee errand boy. This damned mission had counted that as flirting.

“Ah, fuck…”

Remembering that, Sejun realized he had been suffering earlier because of it, but then forgot everything and had celebrated like crazy just because his mana went up. He sank into despair.

“Shitty flirting, die.”

Of course, the one who wanted to die of embarrassment was Sejun himself. He buried his head in the sofa cushion again, as if he had never been happy.

It was like the rumor about ostriches, where when they’re scared, they just bury their head in the ground, thinking if they can’t see anything, nobody can see them either.

That was exactly what Sejun was doing. His vision went dark as he buried his head again, pretending that today never happened.

Not only had he hung upside down with his lower half completely exposed in front of Cha Dogyeong, but on top of that, it had been revealed that he had no hair down there. He really wanted to dunk his head in a bowl of water and die.

“But this time alone, I got 10 more mana, right?”

But when he thought about the fact that his mana increased by 10, Sejun perked up and raised his head.

[Congratulations, Sejun-nim.]

The system acknowledged it and offered congratulations.

[The average mana of S-rank hunters is about 300, so you just need to flirt 17 more times.]

Then it delivered the cold reality. Sejun, who had been happy froze.

17 times.

What had happened today would have to happen 17 more times for him to reach the S-rank hunter average of 300 mana.

It was true that Sejun’s mana was far below average. Even reaching 200 would probably be enough to handle Hoya properly, and maybe even use spirits if he pushed it.

But with only 120, once he summoned Hoya, which cost 100 mana, he could barely use him before he was forcefully unsummoned.

To reach 200, he would need to flirt 7 more times.

Better than 17, but even 7 felt impossibly far. The opponent was “that” Cha Dogyeong.

They had coincidentally ended up in the same team, but the difficulty was the same.

What opportunity was he supposed to take? But it was still better than having no chance to meet at all.

Considering Ryu Sehyun’s fair nature, they would probably be on the same team a few times, then shuffled again. When that happened, it wouldn’t be about how many times he had cleared the sub mission, but whether he could clear it at all or whether Seo Sejun could keep his hair.

Even today, hadn’t Cha Dogyeong actually tried to leave him behind? If he had, then Dohun or some other association hunter would have come to rescue him, and they would have seen him in that humiliating state.

And the rumors would have spread everywhere.

And even though his mana had increased from 120 to 130, while it gave him a little more leeway, it was still nowhere near a comfortable amount. Mana 130 was still laughably small.

But he couldn’t deny 10 mana was huge a gain.

But the price was this damned flirting. And it had to be flirting that the system recognized. With its strict, incomprehensible standards.

If he had to keep flirting like this for it to count, wasn’t Sejun going to die of shame long before mana or anything else mattered?