The First Team Meeting (1)

Time for Lee Han-gyeol to make an appearance after a long time.

I’d been spending way… way too much time as a succubus….

An alt character is an alt character, but the main is important too.

After all, the whole reason I accepted the life of a succubus was to succeed as Lee Han-gyeol.

It would be a pain if that relationship got reversed.

Ultimately, I can only live as a succubus because Lee Han-gyeol is there to support that life from behind the scenes.

[Lee Han-gyeol

Trait: Elemental Mage

Sub-trait: Elemental – Flame
-Skill (A): Element Generation (Lv.5+4)
-Skill (A): Element Control (Lv.5+4)
-Skill (P): Flame Immunity (Lv.5+4)

Sub-trait: Elemental – Lightning
-Skill (A): Element Generation (Lv.2+4)
-Skill (A): Element Control (Lv.2+4)
-Skill (P): Lightning Immunity (Lv.2+4)

Trait: Transformation – Succubus
-Skill (A): Transformation (Lv.2+2)
-Skill (A): Essense Conversion (Lv.5+7)
-Skill (A): Innate Vital Energy Conversion (Lv.3+3)

Sub-trait: Demonic Horns
-Skill (P): Demonic Horns – Power (Lv.7+2)
-Skill (A): Demonic Horns – Manifestation (Lv.7+2)

Sub-trait: Demonic Wings
-Skill (A): Demonic Wings – Enhancement ▶
-Skill (A): Demonic Wings – Unfurling (Lv.1+2)

Trait: Spirit Summoner
-Skill (P): Spirit’s Blessing (Lv.1)
-Skill (A): Spirit Arts (Lv.1)

Strength: 86
Magic Power: 585+263
Mana: 1143/76342
Essense: 7024/76342
Innate Vital Energy: 1000+328/1000]

It had been a while since I’d seen Lee Han-gyeol’s status window.

The first things that stood out were the levels of ‘Essense Conversion’ and ‘Innate Vital Energy Conversion’.

Level 12 and Level 6, respectively.

1 Essense converted to 60 Mana, and 1 Innate Vital Energy converted to 60 Essense.

…This is so broken.

The Innate Vital Energy would go straight to my spirit, so it didn’t really matter, but if I did the math, 1 Innate Vital Energy was worth 3600 Mana.

Next up… the Demonic Horns in my Lee Han-gyeol state.

[Demonic Horns – Power: Lv.7+2
-Magic Power increased by 45%
-Max Mana increased by 800%
-Skill (A): Essense Conversion level increased by 5
-Skill (A): Innate Vital Energy Conversion level increased by 1
-Skill (A): Element Generation level increased by 4
-Skill (A): Element Control level increased by 4
-Skill (P): Element Immunity level increased by 4]

[Demonic Horns – Manifestation: Lv.7+2
-Skill (A): Element Generation level increased by 4
-Skill (A): Element Control level increased by 4
-Skill (P): Element Immunity level increased by 4
-Passive skills of ‘Demonic Wings’ level increased by 1]

It wasn’t as overwhelming as when I was a succubus, but…

Or was it? Was it overwhelming?

…I think my standards have just gotten a little high….

This also had the effect of “‘Passive skills of ‘Demonic Wings’ level increased by 1’.”

Well, the Demonic Wings are what they are, so—

[Demonic Wings – Enhancement ▼
-Flight (Impossible) (Lv.1+2) (0/10000)
-Resonance (Lv.1+2) (0/10000)
-Mana Field (Lv.1+2) (0/10000)]

…They’re different?

They’re different.

[Flight (Impossible): Unfurl your wings and ride the flow of mana to fly. Requires a high level of proficiency.]

[Resonance: Feel mana with your unfurled wings. Increases elemental attunement. Affects the proficiency of all skills under the ‘Trait: Elemental Mage’.]

[Mana Field: The wings are formed from the very flow of mana itself. This flow can be seen as a domain of its own.]

If the ‘Demonic Horns’ were relatively more useful in my succubus form, the ‘Demonic Wings’ seemed to be more useful as an Elemental Mage.

The descriptions themselves were different from when I was a succubus.

They looked stronger, more profound… something like that, anyway.

Besides, the amount needed to level up was different.

(0/10000)

…It couldn’t be 10,000 Essense, could it?

….

[Flight (Impossible) (Lv.1+2) (100/10000)]

It took Mana instead of Essense.

What a relief.

….

But if it was 10,000 Mana…

Didn’t that mean I only needed about 170 Essense?

[Essense: 7024/76342]

….

My Essense drained away, converting into Mana.

In an instant, Mana overflowed.

At that moment,

Ding—

[‘Essense Conversion’ Leveled Up: Lv.5 > Lv.6]

‘Essense Conversion’ had leveled up.

Looking back, it had 7 bonus levels, but its base level had only been 5.

[Mana: 33083/76342]
[Essense: 6490/76342]

Since I had just over 30,000 Mana,

[Flight (Impossible) (Lv.1+2) (10000/10000)] [Resonance (Lv.1+2) (10000/10000)]
[Mana Field (Lv.1+2) (10000/10000)]

Tiring—

[Flight (Impossible) (Lv.2+2) (0/20000)] [Resonance (Lv.2+2) (0/20000)]
[Mana Field (Lv.2+2) (0/20000)]

The current level of ‘Essense Conversion’ was 13.

That meant 1 Essense for 65 Mana.

What was 20,000 divided by 65?

307.7.

And so—

[Mana: 67533/76342]
[Essense: 5500/76342]

Once more,

[Flight (Impossible) (Lv.2+2) (20000/20000)] [Resonance (Lv.2+2) (20000/20000)]
[Mana Field (Lv.2+2) (20000/20000)]

Tiring—

[Flight (Impossible) (Lv.3+2) (0/40000)] [Resonance (Lv.3+2) (0/40000)]
[Mana Field (Lv.3+2) (0/40000)]

Just when does the ‘Impossible’ tag come off?

…I can do it one more time.

After carefully calculating with a calculator, the result was…

[Demonic Wings – Enhancement ▼
-Flight (Impossible) (Lv.4+2) (0/80000)
-Resonance (Lv.4+2) (0/80000)
-Mana Field (Lv.4+2) (0/80000)]

[Mana: 1283/76342]
[Essense: 3750/76342]

In the end, I still couldn’t get rid of the ‘Impossible’ tag…!

When will it come off…!

The only silver lining was that I’d only used a little over 3,000 Essense.

A result of the ridiculously good exchange rate.

Honestly, I could level them up one more time, but then I’d be completely broke, so I held back.

…Should I just level up one? Flight? Resonance? Mana Field?

No, I should hold back.

I had to prepare for the team meeting tomorrow.

*

“Hello. My name is Lee Han-gyeol.”

My first meeting with the team members.

Since I was the team leader who would be guiding them, I greeted them as I entered the meeting place.

But since I hadn’t scouted them myself, I wondered if they would actually listen to me—

“Yo, long time no see.”

“Huh? Mr. Yang Geun-tae, what are you doing here?”

“What do you mean, what am I doing here? I’m a team member. Let’s get along, Team Leader.”

I was pretty sure Yang Geun-tae was an A-rank.

In terms of both rank and experience, he was more than qualified to be a team leader himself.

With a question mark still hanging over my head, I greeted the other members.

“Nice to meet you all. I’m Lee Han-gyeol, and I’ll be your team leader. I look forward to working with you.”

“Nice to meet you.” “Let’s get along.” “Hello.”

The team composition was as follows.

Team Leader. Me, Lee Han-gyeol.

An A-rank Elemental Mage who wields Fire and Lightning.

Specialty: Spirit Summoner.

“You’re a Spirit Summoner? Let me see!”

“…She wants to see you. Want to come out?”

Pop!

The spirit appeared, tapped me on the head, and then zipped back inside.

?

What was that? Just as I was wondering, a voice echoed from within me.

‘I was bored to death!’

…I guess I had been neglecting her.

“Sorry… I’ve been busy…. Let’s go together this time.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, I haven’t been able to play with my spirit, so she’s a little pouty—”

‘I’m not pouting!’

“She must be upset,” I quickly corrected myself.

“Ah… I can see that. Spirit, hey Spirit? Do you have a name? You don’t? Ah… Spirit, let’s play together with us this time.”

The person so interested in my spirit was Cheon Yu-hwa.

A B+-rank Transformation-type.

Her transformation was a Harpy.

Even now, I could see feathers dotted here and there in her long hair.

“But this is strange. The spirit has a human form.”

The one who found it strange was Kim Ji-min.

A B++-rank Enhancement-type.

She used a sword.

“Is this its normal form?”

“A spirit’s form is related to the spirit itself.”

“That’s kind of obvious….”

“It’s not just obvious. It means the spirit takes on the form of a desire it had at its birth, or the form of what it wishes to become.”

“Oh, as expected of someone from Elemental. You know a lot.”

The man who answered Kim Ji-min’s question about the spirit was Choi Seong-hyeon.

He was from Elemental, like me, and was a B-rank Water Elemental Mage.

Apparently, a water-wielding elemental mage was crucial when the ‘Expedition’ guild set out to conquer an unknown gate.

He said he often participated in Expedition’s gate conquests and decided to join since a guildmate from his own guild was forming a team.

And over there, with his arms crossed, was Yang Geun-tae.

An A-rank Enhancement-type. A member of the ‘Expedition’ guild.

“Yu-in said she can’t make it today, so I guess this is everyone.”

“Ah, I heard about that too.”

I’d gotten a message this morning.

Min Yu-in, an active Healing Mage, had work today and couldn’t come.

Since today was just a meet-and-greet, I told her it was fine if she couldn’t make it.

And how could I stop her from going to do volunteer work…?

She was so diligent, unlike someone who just sits in bars all day scheming to pick up women.

Five out of a total of six. Everyone who was coming was here.

It was a small team compared to those in other guilds, but for conquering unknown gates, which was Expedition’s specialty, a small, elite team was better.

Anyway, it was now my time to lead.

What should a team leader do in this situation?

The answer was in a pinned post on the community board.

[Tip) Let’s Be a Team Leader Pt. 2 – The Actual Role of a Team Leader

Tip) Let’s Be a Team Leader Pt. 0 – Things to Know Before Becoming a Team Leader

Tip) Let’s Be a Team Leader Pt. 1 – Let’s Gather Team Members

So you’ve decided to become a team leader.

Somehow, you’ve gathered all your members.

Congratulations. You are now a team leader.

So, what’s next?

It’s time to check your team synergy.

If you have a properly functioning brain or have read Part 1, you would have recruited members according to their positions.

If you gathered a sweaty-ass team of only melee fighters or only ranged attackers without a single thought for a tanker, I recommend you hit the back button, get on your knees and beg your members for forgiveness, and recruit a new team.

Don’t feel too bad. Once they see the state of your team, they’ll probably just laugh and leave.

It’s better than finding out when you’re all gathered in front of the gate.

If they all refuse to leave, that’s seriously dangerous, so report them quick if you don’t want to get your organs harvested.

If you’ve found a decent balance of ranged (hereafter ‘Ranged’) and melee (hereafter ‘Melee’) members, you need to check your synergy or plan a strategy.

There are so many different combinations that I can’t give you detailed advice, but,

in principle, one group draws aggro while the other deals damage.

Usually, Melee draws aggro and Ranged deals damage, but figure that out on your own.

I recommend dividing your Ranged and Melee into Main and Sub roles.

The reason is, if you mindlessly put Ranged in the back and Melee in the front, you’ll get tangled up and everyone will get hit by each other’s skills.

That’s called self-destruction.

You’ll actually get yourself killed;;

So, it’s better to have the Ranged who use area-of-effect attacks as the Sub, and the Ranged who use single-target attacks as the Main.

The Sub Ranged cuts off the escape route while the Melee draws aggro, and the Main Ranged hits the vital spots.

For Melee, the line between Main and Sub is a bit blurry, so divide them based on their range.

Bare fists, swords, spears, etc. Just divide them appropriately.

There are too many combinations, so I can’t say much more.

Anyway, once you’ve planned your strategy, you need to actually test your synergy.

Don’t just go into a gate and wing it. Rent a facility at a nearby Awakened Center and practice.

My nearby Awakened Centers! (Seoul, Gyeonggi area)

They’ll rent to you easily if you mention you’re with Expedition, so don’t worry.

The facility should match your team’s level-]

The rest of the post was just recommendations for facilities based on team level and criteria for judging your team’s level.

This team was pretty high-level.

Two A-ranks, three B-ranks, and a Healing Mage on top of that meant we could enter almost any gate.

So, I rented the highest-level facility at the Awakened Center.

Of course, since it was a public facility, it wasn’t that high-level.

I needed to see their skills before we entered a gate.

And of course, in a situation like this, the one who had to step up and show their skills first was the team leader.

Regardless of whether I was strong or weak, a team leader showing their abilities first was a matter of trust.

I stood before my team members, took a deep breath, and thought,

‘Manifest.’

And,

‘Unfurl.’

As light burst forth from above my head and from my back,

“Woooow….” “Oh, wow….”

My teammates let out sounds of awe.