124 – Throwing Away the Plan – 3

Gi-jun took Tilla’s invitation to a date as a joke, but it was not.

It was not that she had made a sincere approach… No, that was also true.

Tilla simply had something she wanted to do with Gi-jun alone.

Moreover, it was something related to her rank advancement.

Gi-jun had no choice but to set aside a place for just the two of them.

“This is something that will end quickly, right? It’s been a while since I’ve seen the others, so I want to prepare a welcome party before they arrive.”

“Jun, I really love your affectionate nature, but since it’s just the two of us right now, I wish you wouldn’t bring up anyone else.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Yes, I’m actually extremely jealous. Just think of it as mental care for a party member and cooperate with me.”

Tilla spoke jokingly, but since she was someone whose mental state had already caused a problem once, hearing her mention mental care made it impossible for Gi-jun to take it as a joke!

Finding it difficult to respond, he looked around and tried to change the subject.

“So… are you planning to advance your rank inside here?”

“That’s right. Although it looks like this, it is extremely expensive. If I hadn’t inherited the entire legacy of our civilization, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of making it.”

“Tilla, I wish you would refrain from constantly shifting to heavy topics that are hard to answer.”

The two were currently inside something like a giant, sealed box.

It was something Tilla had prepared for her rank advancement since a long time ago.

She said she had acquired it by spending an astronomical sum of money…

In fact, Gi-jun had been feeling a strong sense of déjà vu for a while now about this box, which still had space left even after the two of them had entered.

Ultimately, Lucy was the first to give voice to the identity of that déjà vu.

—This is that, Contractor. The box that demon used when she evolved you.

“Was that perhaps the standard for rank advancement on the continent…?”

—But this one is definitely a superior product compared to that one. The box the demon bought seemed quite expensive too… I don’t even want to ask how much this one must have cost.

If one were to gather people and discuss the difficulty of species rank advancement, their tears would fill drum barrels to overflowing.

Gi-jun, who had been able to attempt the advancement under perfect conditions with Biche’s help, was in an extremely blessed environment.

Then, what were the cases where it was easy to meet the rank advancement conditions even without a helper like Biche?

What if the entire civilization was of the same species, and there was only one path of advancement?

Furthermore, what if they were in a relationship like a giant family that deeply cared for one another?

They would share the rank advancement conditions with all of their kind and spare no effort to help their kin’s advancement.

The Flame Humans were exactly like that.

“There was someone who reached the Legendary rank before me. Having gone through so much trial and error, he personally came up with a method for me so I wouldn’t have to suffer like that.”

“He came up with it for you. As expected, you were outstanding since the old days.”

“Of course. I was the top prospect of our civilization.”

Here, Gi-jun had an intuition.

It was not a good idea to ask who ‘that person’ she spoke of was.

He must have been close to Tilla, and he could not personally attack the mind of someone whose past was already full of landmines!

However, Gi-jun’s resistance was futile.

“Aren’t you curious who it was? Fufu, it was my father.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

Gi-jun despaired.

Now, he could not even control his own thoughts as he pleased!

But Tilla, seeing Gi-jun fidgeting for a while, burst out laughing.

“I have no intention of parading my misfortunes as if to demand your affection, so don’t be so anxious, Jun. I am happy enough right now, you know? That is why I can talk about the past like this.”

“Mmm, I see…”

“If I were unhappy, just thinking of my father would have made me sad. But if he knew that I have met such good people and am doing well, he would definitely be happy. So even when I think of him, I do not feel sad.”

No matter how much she told him not to worry, Gi-jun felt heavy and uncomfortable enough, but because Tilla was smiling so brightly, he was soon able to calm his mind.

Indeed, if she had been depressed while recalling the past, there was no way she would have proudly shared her family stories with Gi-jun like this.

“Though it is true that I want your affection, of course.”

—Anyone would know that, you sly fox!

“I will do whatever I can to win your heart on my own, so I wish you wouldn’t pity my past and just look at the current me.”

“You are really honest, without hiding a single thing.”

Being able to purely reveal one’s emotions or will without filter was a tremendous talent.

With both Lucy and Tilla being like that, there were so many people close to the state of a superhuman, which Gi-jun could not even dream of yet.

“Then, shall we talk about my rank advancement now?”

“As a bonus, I would like you to tell me the reason you dragged me in here as well.”

“That is simple. Since the object will disappear once it is used for my rank advancement anyway, I wanted Jun, who has similar abilities to mine, to share the benefits if possible. From what I see, you also seem to be facing some kind of limit right now… am I wrong?”

“…Exactly.”

“Fufu, as expected.”

As expected, it seemed that Gi-jun and Tilla locking eyes when they received the quest reward earlier was not a coincidence.

Tilla wore a satisfied smile and spoke.

“Do you know the principle of how a Flame Human manipulates fire, Jun?”

“Honestly, I don’t know at all.”

“It is not important, so I will explain briefly. A Flame Human’s mana has two innate properties. One is, as you know, creating fire, and the other is stealing heat from the surroundings.”

“Tilla, do you happen to know? Fire is a phenomenon that emits light and heat. Fire that steals heat is already no longer fire.”

Of course, since learning of the existence of mana, Gi-jun had thrown away all of his scientific common sense like trash, but even so, this crossed the line.

Supposing a fire that stole heat actually existed, it would not feel hot at all even if touched.

Rather, one would be more likely to suffer frostbite from having their heat stolen.

‘But if I start nitpicking like that, the light I manipulate is just as incomprehensible…’

Light was an electromagnetic wave.

In that case, questions like why he could manipulate light at will but could not handle electricity, and why he could not generate radiation, welled up in turn…

Reminding himself that, in the first place, this was a world where the power of light and the power of darkness were separate, and sunlight and moonlight were distinguished from each other, all questions were neatly resolved.

He had discussed this issue with Lucy before, and she said that while the offensive power of the light he manipulated included the radiant heat generated by light, the main force was actually not heat, but the offensive mana itself that was shaped into the form of light and rapidly emitted.

“So all of this must surely be because of mana. Fine, I’m convinced, so continue with the explanation.”

“It seems there is a bit of a misunderstanding. Our mana first steals heat from the surroundings and then ignites. When there is no heat around, we have to consume only mana to generate heat, so the efficiency is somewhat lower.”

“Hmm… is that also why you become weaker when the surroundings are filled with ice?”

“Exactly! Now we are speaking the same language!”

Of course, just because a somewhat plausible explanation was added did not mean Tilla’s words gained scientific persuasiveness.

Since heat basically had the property of transferring from a place of high temperature to a place of low temperature, the Flame Human’s mana, which blindly absorbed surrounding heat, was a mystery in itself from its very existence.

“And this is my father’s heart, in which such Flame Human’s mana is extremely concentrated…”

“Wait.”

He wondered what she was suddenly pulling from her bosom, and it turned out to be a red gem that was extremely compressed.

As he was struggling, not knowing how to reply to Tilla who suddenly explained it as her father’s heart…

—Rumble.

Dozens, even hundreds of similar gems suddenly poured out from her bosom at the same time.

“They are all the hearts of our people. As they were dying, they entrusted them to me. Telling me to use them to grow.”

“Wait, hold on a second.”

There was no time to let his guard down.

But Tilla just smiled brightly and continued her explanation.

“In order for a Flame Human to reach the Unique rank, they only need to focus on making their own flame stronger. We are a blessed race born at the Rare rank in the first place, and growing to the Unique rank isn’t that difficult either.”

“It seems that advancing to the Legendary rank… is different.”

“That’s right. To reach the stage of legend, we Flame Humans must learn how to not have the heat in our bodies stolen.”

“Ah.”

Recalling the reason the Flame Humans had been driven to the brink of extinction, Gi-jun couldn’t help but understand.

Not having heat stolen meant becoming resistant to cold, and even if cold was poured onto such a Flame Human, they would not be easily weakened.

Funnily enough, it was similar to the logic of survival of the fittest in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Of course, if they achieved growth that did not allow heat to be stolen, they would consequently be able to handle stronger heat.

The point was a matter of direction.

Moving forward itself was not necessarily a difficult thing.

But choosing the right direction was always difficult.

“So… I am going to make the mana in these hearts run rampant simultaneously. If we can survive inside it, we will definitely be able to grow.”

“Is this really the right direction…?”

However, he felt that they would certainly have to go through this level of hardship to raise Endurance to the legendary realm without even Biche’s help!

“Ah, now that I think about it, was it because of this that you said those words when we first ate the Divine Beast meat?”

When Tilla first ate the meat of the Divine Beast, she had hugged Gi-jun in joy and told him that she was able to glimpse the next stage.

And the Divine Beast meat, in addition to the permanent growth of stats, possessed the effect of protecting the body from the cold.

“That’s right, Jun. Even if we get help from cooking, it doesn’t hinder us much in achieving our accomplishment. Honestly, if it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have even thought of challenging it today.”

For reference, they had been consistently eating Hati’s meat, and while the permanent stat growth was a one-time occurrence, the effect of protecting the body from the cold was constantly being renewed.

Newly reminding himself of the fact that he was currently protected by the effect of the cooking, Gi-jun firmed his resolve.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

“Don’t worry too much, Jun. Even if we die, I will die first.”

Tilla, who spat out words that sounded extremely ominous, added with a fluttering expression immediately after scanning him up and down.

“Then, shall we undress now?”

“Huh?”

Tilla spoke confidently to the flustered Gi-jun.

“How could equipment survive when running so many Flame Human hearts wild at the same time? Don’t waste precious equipment for nothing; take it all off and put it in your inventory.”

“…Tilla, tell me honestly.”

Gi-jun, who had quickly put his armor and two shields into his inventory at the thought that he couldn’t afford to ruin Unique-grade equipment, narrowed his eyes and spoke.

“Isn’t helping my training just an excuse, and in truth you just wanted to see my naked body?”

“That’s not true! …Maybe about twenty percent!”

Tilla’s attitude of revealing her true feelings even in this kind of situation was very respectable, but everything other than her attitude was the worst.

What did she mean, ‘I will do whatever I can to win your heart on my own’—she was nothing but a complete opportunist and a swindler.

—Contractor, it is not too late even now. It is time to burn this impudent, sly fox who insulted the contractor’s pure heart with light!

‘No, but it’s true that this is helpful. Besides, once the rampage actually begins, we won’t even have the luxury of worrying about each other’s naked bodies because we’ll be busy enduring the cold.’

—Kugh, is this the so-called ‘even a bad law is law’? Creating an unavoidable situation to force the contractor’s action, how clever!

‘I’m sorry, but that example is completely wrong, Lucy.’

Gi-jun, who lacked the confidence to strip completely in front of a woman who looked at him as if she would devour him at any moment, left only his underwear—which would not be much of a loss even if it froze and crumbled—and took off all his other clothes to put them in his inventory.

Tilla, who had been glancing at Gi-jun, was apparently embarrassed like him, and it was cute how she could not bring herself to take off her underwear either.

“T-Then, I will start?”

Tilla spoke shyly, covering her chest area with one hand, as if she were embarrassed to show herself in only her underwear.

Gi-jun, who froze for a moment at the sight of her, quickly regained his senses and suggested to her.

“Wait. To focus only on the trial, let’s stand facing away from each other.”

“Okay. …Tch.”

Since Tilla, whose disposition was gentle and kind and who had never been seen getting angry, would have no reason to click her tongue, what he had heard just now must have been an auditory hallucination.

Beside Gi-jun, who quickly turned his back to her, Lucy spoke quietly.

—Anyone looking from the outside would completely misunderstand this.

“Could you please not say such unlucky things, Lucy?”

Just as he quieted Lucy and was about to begin the trial this time for real.

—Kiii.

—Hm? Ur?

Ur, who was usually gentle, asserted himself for once.

Lucy, who had been conversing with the fellow for a moment, nodded as if it made sense and spoke.

—Contractor, why not try doing it with this fellow this time? For starters, you have a unique skill and are strong against status ailments, right? If you add my defensive ability to that, honestly, enduring here becomes too easy.

“…….”

Instead of replying to Lucy’s words, Gi-jun made eye contact with the fire cat who was quietly looking up at him from under his feet.

He knew the fellow harbored a competitive spirit toward Lucy.

Since he was still no match for Lucy even now that his grade had grown to Unique, he must have internally wished that Gi-jun would employ him a bit more actively.

Even if he utilized Lucy’s ability, he would not lose out in terms of achieving the accomplishment.

However, his goal was also the training of pure Endurance, and unable to ignore Ur’s will, he eventually nodded his head.

“Right, it would be better to have similar conditions to Tilla’s. Let’s do that, Ur.”

—Kiit, kitkit!

Lucy stepped out of the box, and thus all preparations were complete.

The two stood with their backs pressed against each other without either saying it first.

Although it was far from the erotic situation Tilla had internally desired—she also quite liked the current situation where they could feel each other’s heartbeats directly through skin-to-skin contact.

“Now, I will really start?”

“Let me ask one last question.”

“Yeah. What is it?”

“Did you lock the door? Nobody can come in here, right?”

“Of course. I have no intention of showing my naked body to anyone other than Jun.”

Gi-jun, who succeeded in crushing Lucy’s ominous prediction, spoke with relief.

“Then please start.”

“Good.”

Tilla extended her mana and stimulated her father’s heart.

The moment it went wild in response to her mana and began to suck in the surrounding heat, the other Flame Humans’ hearts affected by it also went wild all at once.

In the blink of an eye, the temperature dropped to near absolute zero, and the wild Flame Humans’ mana opened its jaws and pounced to steal the heat of the two.

‘Ha.’

Fearing that his entrails would freeze if he opened his mouth, he didn’t even dare to open it.

His underwear also quickly crumbled and disappeared.

He pushed Salutaris, which circulated mana and spiritual power, Adamant, which transcended the physical body, the Unfailing Body Clock, which protected him from all status ailments, and finally Ur’s power, which manipulated flames and heat, to their limits, clashing head-on with the will that sought to steal heat from him.

Amidst the pressure as if everything in the world had turned into an enemy, distorting all his senses.

The warmth felt from Tilla, who stood with her bare skin pressed against his, calmed his mind.

‘I can do this.’

It felt so reassuring, to the point he wondered if she might fail the rank advancement because it was too easy for the two of them to endure together like this.

Of course, that was an endlessly arrogant thought, but Tilla, who was sharing warmth with him, was thinking the exact same thing and wore a smile on her face.

Neither opened their mouth, but their hearts were connected as one.

—Kiiiiit!

—Kong, koong!

While only the voices of Ur and Rodim, who were composed of spiritual power and mana and could make noise freely, grew louder.

The Flame Humans’ mana began to bite the two in earnest.