Chapter 29 : Adventure Level 20 (1)

“Let’s call it a day.”

Normally, since we hit Level 20, we would have tried hunting Fire Slimes, but too much time had passed for that.
I was tired too.

“Already? We haven’t even hunted Slimes yet?”
“What do you mean, already?”

“It’s past 9 PM.”
“Too much time has passed to call it ‘already,’ don’t you think? Right?”
“Do you really have to sleep at 10 PM? How can you sleep at 10 PM every single day?”
“Because that’s my body rhythm. Thanks to that, I’m feeling incredibly drowsy right now, which means it’s time for bed.”

Do Yugeon grabbed both my arms.
What the.
My arms were pulled straight up.
What are you doing.

“If you’re drowsy, stretch. Come on, stretch.”

It was absurd, but I stretched anyway.
Ah, my back cracked.

“Awake now?”

As if.

“No, still the same.”
“Your expression changed.”

Is my expression control that bad?
Wondering what had changed, I touched my cheek, but I couldn’t tell.
I need a mirror.

“Liar.”

Is he now?

Using magic, I lifted the Grimoire from my head and rubbed it against his hair.

“Uwaaah! Wait! Static, static!”
“I know.”

As I lifted the Grimoire, his hair stuck to it and came up too.
Haha.
This is lightning magic.

I moved the Grimoire away, but Do Yugeon grimaced and fixed his hair.
Hmm, did I go too far?
Still, this much isn’t too excessive, right?

As I stood there looking at him and thinking, I sensed a presence.
Goblins were stealthily approaching through the forest some distance away.
The sound of the falling trees must have echoed.

Do Yugeon seemed to have noticed the presence too, fixing his hair while looking toward the Goblins.

“Don’t you hear something?”

What sound?

“I don’t hear anything, but Goblins are definitely coming.”
“Really? Then I heard right. I’ll go take care of them.”

He entered the forest.
I focused, straining my ears, but heard nothing special.
What did he hear?

Do Yugeon’s physical abilities were subtly deviating from reality, while I remained normal.
Hmm, I really dislike Schrödinger.
It wasn’t Schrödinger’s fault, but I just cursed it internally.

Anyway, since I’m a mage, physical abilities don’t matter much.
I grasped everything with mana just now.
Of course, of course.

The sounds of a fight echoed briefly, and Do Yugeon returned.
Glancing him over, there were no injuries.
An expected result, but I still lacked faith.

“So, is this it for today?”
“Yeah. I’m tired.”

He looked disappointed, but it couldn’t be helped.
Who told him to waste time cutting down trees?

Do Yugeon nodded, then looked above my head, and his expression turned surprised.
What, is there a problem with the Grimoire?
I took the Grimoire from my head into my hands, but his gaze remained fixed above.

Wondering what it was, I turned my head back and saw smoke rising from the forest some distance away.
Ah.
Looks like the recent Goblin hunt triggered a respawn near the Fire Slimes.

“Let’s hunt it!”
“Hunt what?”
“That!”

He’d given up just moments ago, and now he’s doing this?
Gauging the distance with my senses, it was reasonably close.
At this distance, we could hunt it and still log out to sleep before 10 PM.
But that was one thing, and being sleepy was another.

“It’s farther than it looks. Let’s hunt it later and just log out for today.”
“Your expression shows you’re lying.”

I flinched momentarily but pretended to be unfazed.
As he said, my expression control wasn’t completely nonexistent.
If I deliberately tried to hide it, hiding it was easy.
Though maybe not now, since I’m tired.

“Don’t recklessly accuse people of lying.”
“Since it’s Miss Cha Haneul saying it, I understand. But this time, you’re definitely lying.”

My hand was grabbed, and I was pulled into the forest.
“Let’s go! It’s an adventure, an adventure!”

His earlier disappointment vanished, replaced by an excited expression.
Fine, we can hunt it and then sleep.

I flew appropriately beside Do Yugeon as we entered the forest.

The Level 20 mob is the Fire Slime.
Literally a slime made of fire, it’s about my height.
Burning fiercely, it not only incinerates nearby trees and grass but turns the entire forest into ashes.
Explorers who leveled up quickly mentioned the hunting grounds turned into ash forests, or something like that.

As we continued, I could feel the temperature gradually rising, then a wave of intense heat washed over us.
Beyond my line of sight, the entire forest was a sea of fire.
Smoke rose into the sky, carrying a pungent smell.
I feel like my health is deteriorating.
It all gets healed upon logout anyway, but it feels unpleasant.

“Where’s the slime?”
“More importantly, aren’t your feet hot?”

I was floating, but he was stepping on the ground.
Do Yugeon tapped the ground with his foot.
Sparks flew.

“It’s fine. I considered this when buying shoes.”

Hmm. Is that so?

I pointed in the direction I sensed it.
“It’s over there.”

We walked over embers and through flames.
I saw the Fire Slime, a mass of flames colored somewhere between red and yellow.
It wasn’t moving, just staying still, but its mere presence burned the surrounding forest and inspired fear upon approach.
Hot air filled my lungs with each inhale.

I’d heard a lot about it online, but actually trying to hunt it felt incredibly daunting.
How do we even catch that thing?

The slime, about 150cm tall, seemed to have spotted us and approached.
A burning tree was pushed over, falling and erupting in flames.
Seriously, how do we hunt this?

Looking at Do Yugeon, our eyes met.
“Weapon buff, please.”
“Are you really going to fight it?”
“Of course.”
“That thing, really?”
“It wouldn’t be an adventure if it wasn’t difficult.”

First, I applied the Freeze Enchantment magic to his sword.
Do Yugeon smiled.
“Anyway, its pattern is similar to the Acid Slime, so we can definitely hunt it.”

Easy for him to say.
Besides, it wasn’t exactly the same.

“Don’t blame me if you get hurt.”
“Yeah, yeah.”

Do Yugeon charged at the Fire Slime.
The slime surged upwards, erupting in flames.
He swung his sword, parting the flames, and thrust, shattering the slime core.
Losing its core, the Fire Slime collapsed and split apart.
Smaller, but still burning, slimes rushed toward Do Yugeon.

Four slimes died in the first sword strike.
Three more died in the second strike as he stepped back to create distance.
Third, fourth, fifth.
With each series of strikes, more slimes died.
There was no wall before Do Yugeon, but the attacking slimes couldn’t cross a certain distance before turning into EXP.

“Hahaha!”

He’s excited.
One slime stealthily approached Do Yugeon from the side and jumped.
The guy, gleefully swinging his sword, ducked in surprise, and the slime’s attack grazed past his head.
His scattered hair caught fire.
Fwoosh, fwoosh.

“Ah, hot!”

Do Yugeon scrambled back toward me in panic.
Oh dear.
The few remaining slimes pursued him.
Before they got too close, I crushed them all with mana, making them explode and die.
They’re weak.

Do Yugeon patted his head frantically, then ducked down and asked, “Is it out?”
Looking at his hair, some of it was burnt.

“Yeah. The fire’s out. Does your head sting?”
“No. Not really.”

I used healing magic.
His hair was restored.
Seriously, what is the principle behind healing magic?

“Phew… Hahaha! I didn’t mean to run away, but I panicked and fled.”
“You should do that if it’s dangerous. Well done.”

He shrugged his shoulders.
“More importantly, catching them all before they got close—Cha Haneul, you’re amazing.”
“Because I’m a mage.”
“But I’m stronger.”

Huh? How did his thoughts jump to that?
I shook my head.
I avoid sparring because it’s dangerous, but if we did, I would clearly win.

“Let’s log out now. I’m sleepy, and the air here is hot, making it hard to breathe.”
“Okay. Don’t forget the offline meeting.”
“Okay.”

I caught a cold.
Visiting the family doctor, I was told to eat well, sleep well, and rest well.
I do that normally anyway.
In my past life, I often failed to follow doctor’s advice, but in this life, I just do it well.

It’s better to listen to the doctor, but today might be difficult.
I really don’t want to leave the house, but unfortunately, today is the Explorer Federation offline meeting.

Registration was first-come, first-served, but Do Yugeon somehow managed to sign me up too.
He said he applied the day the post went up, but usually, even if they say first-come, first-served, such meetings pre-select attendees and inform them first before opening registration. Yet, the application went through.

Maybe it was because the number of participants was large, but Do Yugeon smiled and elaborated.
He applied for me the moment he saw the meeting post.
Before even asking if I wanted to participate.

He started attending cram school after arguing with his parents about not wanting to go, only to relent when told the fees were already paid. Now he’s learned some bad tricks.
Or maybe he learned the ways of the world.
Either way, it doesn’t feel good.

I met Do Yugeon, and we went to the hotel where the meeting was held.
Apparently, this meeting was at a hotel.
The Explorer Federation must have made some money after starting the System distribution business.
I was personally skeptical about it, but the worsening security situation seems to have acted as a boon for them.

We entered the banquet hall.
We entered, but Do Yugeon just stood there, not finding a seat, so I found one first.
Normally, Do Yugeon does this, and I follow—what’s going on?

“Are you sick?”
“Huh? No. You’re the one who’s sick.”
“Well, yes, but.”

A cough escaped, so I coughed briefly.
I try not to show I’m sick, but the cough keeps coming out, making it difficult.
I need to rest well at home after this ends.

As I was drinking some water, someone approached from the side.
“Oh? I don’t remember the last name, but was the first name Haneul?”

Wondering who it was, I saw it was the Necromancer I met at the previous offline meeting.
Thanks to her, I copied the Psychometry skill.
Though it was useless.

“Hello. Nice to see you for the second time. Yes, I’m Haneul.”
“I thought so. I was just looking for a place to sit, and you immediately caught my eye. You have that unique atmosphere too.”

The Necromancer carefully sat down in the adjacent seat, mindful of her dress.
“You remained in my memory after we met last time. I kept thinking, ‘I should have been like that when I was in middle school.’”

The Necromancer covered her mouth and laughed.
I should react somehow.
Glancing at Do Yugeon, he was still standing there looking dazed.
You usually handle this kind of thing.
Snap out of it.

I waited a moment, but since Do Yugeon didn’t respond, I gave up.
It’s tiring, but I have no choice but to respond myself.

“Well, I was born with it. Everyone has parts like that, don’t they? I think the part you mentioned is like that for me.”
“That’s true. But maybe my classmates were exceptions. Everyone acted clueless during our school days.”

The Necromancer laughed.
As I felt last time, she laughs a lot.
The conversation seems too focused on me; maybe I should change the topic.

“By the way, isn’t the dress cold? It must have been cold when you came.”

The Necromancer tilted her head for a moment, then smiled.
“It is cold! But fashion is completed with a dress! I could answer like that, but I changed here, so I’m not cold. The heating is warm—it’s nice.”

Ah, right.
I coughed.

“Oh? Do you have a cold?”
“Yes. A winter cold.”

After chatting a few more times, Do Yugeon joined the conversation, so I subtly withdrew.

“As a Necromancer, I can assert that souls will definitely play an important role in the Explorer Federation’s Level 25 emergency response.”
“Wouldn’t it be more about mana? Magic research is progressing significantly, right?”
“No. Magic research is still in its beginning stages; we don’t have that kind of technology yet. The same goes for souls, but it’s a different story for the Explorer Federation. The Slime Detector was strange technology too, but it worked, didn’t it? Then couldn’t souls be possible too?”
“Then wouldn’t magic be possible too?”
“Well, yes, but… if the Psychometry skill isn’t even used for something like this, the Necromancer job is too lame. If the System has any conscience, there must be something.”

Time passed, and after a few procedures, the Federation head went up to the podium.
He spoke about preparing for the potential appearance of mobs in cities coinciding with Level 25, hence organizing this event, or something like that.
And he announced they had invented a detector capable of finding mobs even if they appeared in cities.
The name remained “Slime Detector,” and it supposedly detects them somehow using mana.

The Necromancer muttered beside me.
“Can’t I change my job?”

The Federation head talked about app integration and future plans, then mentioned there would be know-how sharing but encouraged everyone to enjoy the banquet freely before stepping down from the podium.
Seeing a named explorer go up to the podium, it seemed like we could just eat and go home now.

I ate the pre-dinner bread.
It was passable.

“Let me say just one thing! Can’t I even say one thing?”

A commotion erupted at the podium.
Wondering what was happening, I saw the named explorer who was presenting being forcibly pushed down, and some other explorer seemed to have taken over the stage.
A scuffle broke out, then briefly subsided as allies of the intruding explorer appeared.
What one thing did he want to say so badly?

“Gosh, I’m nervous now that I’m actually trying to speak.”

The explorer on the podium coughed and cleared his throat.
Then he reached inside his clothes and pulled out a pistol.
A gunshot rang out, and the ceiling shattered.

“Nobody move if you don’t want to die. Hands up.”