Chapter 14 : Adventure Level 5 (3)

I was playing outside with Do Yugeon, but it got too hot, so we decided to play indoors and went to his house.

As I followed him through the front door, I felt a wave of hot air.
“Ugh, it’s even hotter inside,” Do Yugeon said, pulling at his t-shirt, so I used magic to create a breeze.
Perhaps because the air was hot, the breeze felt warm.
Was the ventilation poor?

“Let’s air the place out.”
“I’m turning on the AC.”
“Suit yourself. I’m going to wash my face.”

I went into the bathroom, washed my face, and rinsed my legs while I was at it.
Even though I was dressed lightly in a t-shirt and short shorts, the weather was so hot I had sweated quite a bit.
Using magic drew attention, so I only occasionally created wind, making it tough.
Should I start carrying a parasol?

When I went to the living room, Do Yugeon was fiddling with the AC remote, pressing buttons repeatedly.
“Is it broken again?”
“It was working until yesterday…”

The air conditioner here broke down frequently. I didn’t understand why they insisted on suffering with it instead of buying a new one.
Maybe feeling the house heat up made it feel like summer had truly arrived?
I waited for a bit, my legs aching, but the AC didn’t turn on.
Ah, it’s hot.
I just washed my face, and now I have to do it again.

“Forget the AC—let’s just ventilate.”
I used magic to open the front door, the balcony door, and even Do Yugeon’s room door.
A natural breeze blew in without needing magic, sweeping through the living room.
How big was the temperature difference for the wind to rush in as soon as the doors opened?

The ventilation would take care of itself now, so I needed to lie down.
I flew into Do Yugeon’s room and jumped onto the bed.
Then, I used magic to adjust the fan’s direction and turned it on.
The fan’s breeze reached me.
Now I felt like I could finally live.
Though the ventilated outside air was also hot, so I had a feeling this relief wouldn’t last long.
Or maybe not?
Without direct sunlight, perhaps it would be less hot than I thought.
The weather wasn’t particularly humid right now, so the difference between being in the sun and not would be significant.
It was hot, but thankfully not muggy.

Feeling the spot where I was lying getting warm, I rolled over onto my stomach in a different spot just as Do Yugeon entered the room with juice.
“Coffee seemed too hot, so I brought juice.”
“Whatever works.”

He approached and placed the juice cup on the back of my head.
Ugh, cold.
It felt even colder because there was ice in it.
I used magic to take the juice and place it nearby.
“Are your legs okay?”
“Not okay.”
I answered, kicking my legs.
“Want me to massage them then?”

A fleeting, unnecessary thought crossed my mind, and I lifted my head to check his expression.
It was his usual look.
Hmm…… Maybe not.
I thought he might be trying to initiate skinship with ulterior motives.
Yu Mina had put strange ideas in my head.
“Do what you want.”

He perched on the edge of the bed by my legs and started massaging them.
My legs ached from walking around outside for a long time without flying for the first time in a while.
As a bonus, the soles of my feet stung from rubbing against my shoes.
We even stopped by a karaoke place midway because I was tired and sat down, but I was still in this state.

During the vacation, I decided to take a proper break, so I avoided going out, arranged meetings only at my house, and mostly stayed at the villa during the family trip. As a result, my stamina had plummeted.
Should I have at least walked instead of flying during Login sessions? Ugh.
I had anticipated some drop in stamina, but I had trusted my level…

This was because two changes occurred upon leveling up.
One was “Physical Adjustment.”
The System moved mana to directly affect the muscles.
I didn’t know if it increased muscle strength, but it probably did, more or less.
The other was the “Level Up Effect.”
When leveling up, for reasons I truly couldn’t fathom, physical abilities increased.
Literally physical abilities.
It wasn’t like something logical like muscle strength being trained; physical ability just directly increased.
Much like how raising stats in a game makes you stronger without any plausible explanation.
The most absurd part was that the Level Up Effect, despite being a fantasy phenomenon, couldn’t be traced back to mana.
Physical ability just went up.
Without mana or magic, just like that.

As Do Yugeon slid his fingers up my leg, I felt a pang of muscle soreness.
“Ouch. Wait, don’t press so hard. It hurts.”
“Isn’t a massage supposed to hurt?”
“That’s only if the person knows what they’re doing. Be gentle.”

He didn’t reply, but his finger pressure lessened as if acknowledging my point.
I received the massage in silence for a while.
As it continued, I felt drowsy.
Honestly, it wasn’t as good as getting one from a professional place, but the warm skin contact amidst the fan’s breeze just felt nice.
Comfortable and good.
I might actually fall asleep like this.

“Do Yugeon.”
“Huh?”
“Talk to me—keep me awake.”
“If you’re sleepy, just sleep.”
“I don’t want to. Come on.”
“Um…… Well, if I have to ask, it was obvious this would happen, so why didn’t you go outside during the vacation?”
“Obvious?”
A yawn escaped me.
“Why, according to the Exploration Alliance experiments, it was confirmed that the Level Up Effect is influenced by basic physical ability, right? So it was obvious that if your physical ability dropped from not exercising during vacation, the Level Up Effect would also decrease. Leading to rock-bottom stamina like now.”
“Ah, that.”

I briefly recalled the post the Exploration Alliance had made and continued speaking.
“You misunderstood the experiment. What the Exploration Alliance confirmed through their experiment was, simply put, whether you needed to exercise beforehand to gain more level-up stats.”
To verify that, the Exploration Alliance gathered people and compared them before and after leveling up.
The experiment’s purpose was in a completely different domain, so cases like mine, where someone didn’t exercise after leveling up, weren’t applicable.
Therefore, looking at the experiment results wouldn’t tell you if stats gained would decrease due to lack of exercise.
Although now I knew they did.
I explained this to him.

“Is that so?”
“That’s how it is.”
His grip on my thigh tightened as he seemed lost in thought.
Ouch.
I told him not to press hard.
Was his strength control poor now that he reached level 7?
“Are you saying you predicted before the vacation that your stamina might end up like this?”
“Yeah, that’s right. You catch on quick.”

If anything, I considered the possibility of the Level Up Effect decreasing more likely.
After all, seeing the System perform both Physical Adjustment and grant the Level Up Effect simultaneously upon leveling up made it more probable than not that there was a correlation between the two.
“Then why did you just stay home during vacation?”
“Well.”
“Well?”
“Because I didn’t want to leave the house. You’re asking the obvious.”
“You told me to talk to you…”
He pressed down hard on my thigh.
“Ouch.”

I woke up because it was hot.
Wondering why it was so hot, I realized I was covered with a blanket I didn’t remember pulling over myself.
I kicked off the blanket and sat up.
Looking beside me, Do Yugeon was using the computer in the dark.
What was he doing without turning on the light, ruining his eyesight?
I used magic to turn on the light.
Ugh, blinding.
I rubbed my eyes.

“You’re awake? I ordered chicken—you’re staying to eat, right?”
He asked without even turning around.
Was this his “I know everything with Presence Detection” act?
“Yeah, I’m staying.”

I peered at the monitor to see what he was looking at.
It was the party recruitment board.

▷ Title: Aren’t party leaders who only recruit Spearmen and exclude Swordsmen irresponsible?
▷ Author: BestSwordsman
No matter how hard Slimes are to catch, looking down on Swordsmen is just arrogant, isn’t it?
If a situation arises where a Swordsman is needed later, can you take responsibility?
▷ Comments
Spear_User: Swordsmen should switch classes! The era of the Spearman has come!
3.5m_GreatMage: Author’s username lol
PartyLeader3: If you post proof of catching a Slime with a sword, I’ll let you join. Post proof pls
PartyLeader7: Why hasn’t the admin deleted this post? Are the board rules just for decoration?
ExplorerHere: There’s a Swordsman party just for you. Join us.
https://open.kakao.com/o/g7ad5sUkp
└ Author: The Best Swordsman stands alone above heaven and earth. I rely on no one.
└ ExplorerHere: ???????????????

Just a typical post.
Do Yugeon, having read it all, typed a comment.
SwordOnly: I catch Slimes with a sword though.
He grinned while posting the comment.
Busy adding to his cringe history again today.

The intercom rang.
Wondering if it was the chicken, I checked with my senses, and indeed, it was the chicken delivery person.
Do Yugeon got up, said he’d get it, took some money, and left the room.
While he’s getting it, should I check the mage board?
I haven’t looked recently.
I sat in the chair and went to the mage board.

□ Do mages under 5m range even need to go offline?
□ The eternal dilemma: Mage VS Portable Fan
□ How do you catch Slimes?
□ Is this the Magic Spearman board?
□ Magic does not violate the laws of thermodynamics
□ What is the point of a mage’s existence?

It was a despairing level.
When would geniuses more brilliant than me appear?
Were they all meditating facing a wall somewhere?
But what’s this about offline?
When did they schedule a meeting?
Just as I clicked on the post, Do Yugeon came back with the chicken.

“Where’s the chair?”
“Hold on.”
I used magic to levitate a chair from the kitchen and bring it over.
“Magic is cheating.”
“Which chair do you want?”
“You sit there.”

He pushed the keyboard aside and made space for the chicken on the desk.
We took chopsticks and picked up some chicken.
Boneless is convenient to eat, which is nice.
Do Yugeon glanced at the post while picking up chicken, and his eyes widened.
“An offline meeting?”
“Looks like it. Maybe they posted an announcement while we weren’t looking.”
“Quick, check the announcements. Announcements.”

I went to the main page of the Exploration Alliance, and there was a huge banner announcing the offline meeting.
The announcement title was “Exploration Alliance 1st Regular Meeting.”
Hmm.
I clicked the announcement and read it, finding out the main purpose of the meeting was to share know-how in preparation for level 10.
They seemed to predict it was a foregone conclusion that new mobs would appear at level 10.
Although not mentioned in the post, seeing “1st” written suggested they planned to hold meetings just before each level where new mobs appear to share know-how.
They sure live diligently.

“Let’s go to this!”
“Go where?”
Do Yugeon pointed at the monitor with his hand.
The offline meeting?
Ah, I’d rather not.
I shook my head.
“Ah, why?”
“Mr. Do Yugeon, how old are we?”
“14.”
I pointed at the monitor and said, “How old are they?”
“Uh…… I wonder?”
“Adults, mostly.”

The announcement had no age restrictions, and there was even a warning not to bring alcohol, perhaps considering the possibility of minors attending, but the vast majority of participants would likely be adults.
If a middle schooler went there, they’d just become a spectacle and be treated like a kid, making constructive exchange difficult.
There was no need to go somewhere like that.
Since the Exploration Alliance wasn’t run for private gain, if there were any sensible people involved, the meeting results would be summarized and posted on the site.
I told Do Yugeon my thoughts, and he shrugged.

“So what if we get ignored a little? As long as we have fun there, it’s fine.”
He’s optimistic.
I’m a bit envious of that.
Why can’t I live like that even though I’m the same age?
With Do Yugeon’s mindset, I feel like I could challenge unknown territories and live without regrets.
“I don’t really want to. I doubt it’ll be fun either.”
I ate some chicken.
The fried chicken is delicious.

He thought seriously for a moment, then spoke.
“Didn’t you say before that you needed to meet other mages?”
“Huh? Ah, back when you were hyping me up as a genius? Yeah, I did.”
When Do Yugeon kept pushing the “magic genius” narrative, I did mention once that I couldn’t call myself a genius without seeing other mages.
“Then let’s use this chance to meet other mages.”
I shook my head.
“The ones I want to meet are mages at a higher level than me. Specifically, geniuses.”
“I keep telling you, there’s no one at a higher level than you.”
“No way. ……Huh? What’s this.”

I felt a wide-range magic spread out.
[System Update Complete]
Jobs have been added to the system. If you have reached level 5, shout “Job Window.” You can now change your job.
Uh……