The More, The Better

The team leader training, which was tedious at times and useful at others, was finally over.

The moment I started my lightning elemental training, a bolt struck the target perfectly.

It was the natural result of my horns manifesting, which raised my Elemental Control by a whole six levels, bringing it to level 8.

“Oh, what the hell? You really are a fast learner.”

Sung Yu-han’s eyes went wide.

“I guess they weren’t calling you a hotshot for nothing.”

“Haha…”

Sung Yu-han brought over several lightning rod-like objects and placed them between me and the target.

He arranged them in a straight line, however, so that if the lightning traveled in a straight path, it would still hit the bullseye.

“Alright, try firing from here.”

Zap!

A direct hit.

Though, the bolt did waver a bit more on its way than before.

“…At this rate, you don’t even need training.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The reason the lightning element is so tricky is because it’s hard to hit your target. This is more than enough for practical use.”

Sung Yu-han rearranged the lightning rods.

This time, the path to the target was blocked, and the rods were placed irregularly, here and there.

“Fire.”

Cra-ackle!

The bolt weaved around the lightning rods, heading for the target. It got stuck to one of them along the way, but it still managed to hit the bullseye in the end.

“You pass. Training’s over!”

“What?”

“You don’t need any more training. Seriously, you’re amazing. I think it took me two or three weeks just to get it to go in a straight line past the rods.”

And just like that, my lightning elemental training was over in two days.

*

“There are fewer lightning mages than fire mages.”

I was on my way to a small gathering with Sung Yu-han.

I figured I should stick with him for this one. I needed to at least know someone before I could wander around on my own.

“Does the lightning element have something like a ‘mental image’?”

“Hmm… It does, but it’s probably not the same as with fire. We’re almost there, so you can ask them yourself.”

When we entered, I could see that there were definitely fewer people than at the fire mages’ gathering.

A group of people spotted Sung Yu-han and approached.

“Well, look who it is. Yu-han, is that you?”

“Hey, good to see you. This is Lee Han-gyeol. He just awakened the lightning element. And this is Lee Sang-hoon, Kim Su-eon, and Lee So-won.”

“Ah, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to working with you.”

“Oh, the Lee Han-gyeol?” “Nice to meet you.” “A pleasure to meet you, too.”

The man called Lee Sang-hoon spoke up.

“Are you by any chance the famous…”

“Sorry?”

“I heard you’re a dual-elemental and a spirit summoner. Is that true?”

“Ah, yes, it is.”

“Wow, I’m jealous. Is this what talent looks like?”

“Stop pressuring him and give him some tips on the lightning element,” Sung Yu-han interjected.

“Tips? About what? For hitting targets, there’s no other way than to just grind it out until you get a feel for it.”

“Ah, I was just wondering if the lightning element has something like a ‘mental image’.”

“Less of a mental image… For the lightning element, it’s more about… ‘manifestation’…”

“Manifestation?”

Seeing Lee Sang-hoon stumble over his words, Lee So-won stepped in.

“Since it’s harder to change its shape compared to fire, you imbue the element with a specific trait from the moment you create it. We just call that ‘manifesting’ it.”

“But there are all sorts of traits, so it’s best to find one that suits you. Or, instead of spending time imbuing a trait, you can just focus on hitting fast and hard.”

Sung Yu-han, the very man who had let me experience a lightning storm as an example of ‘hitting fast and hard,’ added his two cents.

“Well, there’s the method of just overwhelming with power like Yu-han, and… what else was there?”

“You don’t know anything. There’s hitting hard like Sung Yu-han here, and there’s also a method of imbuing traits by changing the color,” Lee So-won explained instead.

“The color?”

*

By the time I had heard all the explanations about the color of lightning, the details on shape fixation (which sounded incredibly cool—a lightning spear? lightning armor? I wanted to try that someday, regardless of efficiency), and other useful tips from various groups, the time had flown by.

“Ah, there are no dual-elementals here.”

“There are people who wield two elements?”

“Of course. But I figured they’d be too busy to come. To be honest, lightning is a great secondary element.”

“Really?”

“I’m not one myself, so I can’t say for sure, but I hear it’s better than other dual-element combinations.”

“Why?”

“Because of ‘switching.’ The scary thing about dual elements is the ability to switch.”

“Oh… you mean like switching elements in the middle of an attack.”

“Yep. Like, you hit them hard with lightning, bam, then switch to fire and burn them to a crisp. Something like that? Anyway, ask them when you meet them later. I’ve introduced you to everyone I know here. Why don’t you go around and—no, wait, I’m about to leave. You want to head out with me?”

“Ah, yes, thank you.”

…No need to stay by myself in a place where people were whispering about me.

*

How long had it been since I’d come home as a man…?

But now Choi Shin-woo was on his way over.

His purpose was probably that.

[Essense: 6000/19529]

I still had plenty of Essense left. Should I just rest?

…I could feel it.

If I were Seo A-gyeol right now, I’d be counting the seconds until Choi Shin-woo arrived.

It must be the ‘Polarization.’ With the ‘storm’ concentrated in one place, this body felt surprisingly calm.

Before, it would have been something like this:

—Am I actually waiting for Choi Shin-woo? Even in my male body?

—I’m a succubus, not gay!

—No! Why! Is my heart! Pounding!

And even in my succubus form, it would have been:

—Hah, is this right? Is it? I know I need to get Mana, but…

…Was that how it was?

Yeah. It was.

The problem was that I enjoyed it even while thinking that…

Looking back now, I did enjoy it to some extent, using the excuse that when it came to Essense, the more, the better.

That’s why I’d been tormented by that lingering discomfort and the resulting sense of dissociation, but—

Now that I understood Polarization!

Now…

…

*

“Aren’t you going to move?”

“I haven’t even gotten my first paycheck yet.”

A normal conversation.

That was because I had greeted Choi Shin-woo in my male form.

The more Essense, the better, but that was a separate issue from how exhausting it was…

I’d spent my vacation creating a guild and raiding another organization, and the moment my vacation ended, I was thrown into training. I just wanted to rest.

I thought I saw a flash of disappointment on Choi Shin-woo’s face when I opened the door, but that wasn’t my problem.

…Not my problem.

“Right.”

“Yeah. By the way, didn’t you say your guild gave you a house?”

“Yeah. But your guild should do that much for you, too.”

“You think so? I’ll have to ask when I go in tomorrow.”

“But can you… enter a guild-provided house in that state?”

“…You’re right. Oh… sharp point. I guess I’ll have to find my own place. Ugh, this is so inconvenient in the weirdest ways.”

“But aren’t there advantages, too?”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, well, isn’t it pretty good, in its own way—that kind of thing.”

I could see Shin-woo was getting antsy.

…It’s true that the more Essense, the better. It really is. It’s just that I’m tired.

But if I transformed, I had a feeling that far from being tired, I’d be pouncing on him under the pretext of relieving my fatigue.

“What are you talking about? I only do this because I can’t get Essense—I mean, Mana—otherwise.”

“Really?”

“…Yeah.”

“But don’t you need Essense these days? It’s been a while since you’ve seen me.”

…Does he seriously think I only do it with him? But I told him I did it with Han-yul last time.

“It’s not like you’re the only one with a dick.”

“…How many people have you been with? I know you were with one person that time you were in a pinch—that sounds weird. Anyway, I know about the one person when you were in an emergency.”

A highlight reel flashed through my mind.

Choi Shin-woo, Yoo Yi-jun, Nam Han-yul, Ahn Ji-seok, Park Se-hyuk, Kim Hee-an…

For the record, I think today is the 19th day since my Awakening.

Six people in nineteen days? And it wasn’t just once with each of them, either. Hmm, even I have to admit…

“…It’s a secret.”

“Tell me.”

“Why?”

“Just because. Can’t you even tell me that, between us?”

“What’s with you? …Are you upset, by any chance?”

“Hm? About what? I’m not upset. No, of course I’d be upset if my friend was living like a slut.”

“What? Say that again, properly.”

“What I mean is, rather than my friend just being promiscuous, it’s more like, um, I just don’t like my friend living like a slut.”

“…Be honest. Do you wish I only did it with you?”

Choi Shin-woo let out a heavy sigh.

“Haaa… Yeah. I want to have you all to myself, so what? To be honest, anyone who sees you would think the same thing.”

“…Oh, dear.”

I remembered Yoo Yi-jun, who had been so desperate for me. I guess his possessiveness wasn’t just the effect of ‘Subjugation’ after all…

“So, how many have there been?”

“Do I really have to say? There’s a lot of knowledge in this world that you’re happier not knowing.”

“Hey.”

“Hah… Even I think I’m a slut. No, I think my mind actually becomes a succubus’s when I transform.”

“I’ve heard about things like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We have a fair number of Transformation-types in our guild, you know.”

I had heard that Transformation-types who wanted to be successful tended to join guilds other than ‘Transformation’. It depended on what they transformed into, but I heard most of them went to Enhancement-type guilds.

“And it’s probably worse now because my personality is being funneled into one side.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“This body can’t have the mind of a succubus, so the succubus’s mind is funneled into the succubus’s body, and this body’s… feelings of repulsion and stuff are funneled into this body.”

“So when you transform, you become a perfect succubus in both body and mind?”

“Probably.”

“Oh.”

“So, for the succubus version of me, the concept of chastity doesn’t exist—that’s what I’m saying.”

“Oh… So it’s like, ‘The reunion with my childhood friend was the worst,’ huh?”

“…”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Our schedules don’t line up well anyway, right? I’m short on Essense, so what can I do?”

Honestly, if my only goal in gathering Essense was to convert it to Mana, my current situation would be more than comfortable.

Converting just 100 Essense would yield 4500 Mana.

It was just that my endgame content was the ‘Demonic Horns’ and raising my spirits. Both of them devoured an insane amount of Essense, but they worked harder than what they consumed, so I couldn’t just not give it to them.

“That’s… true.”

“Right? So the fact that I’ve been with several people is your fault, too.”

“How does that end up being my fault?”

“I don’t know. Don’t blame me. Anyway, it’s your fault.”

“Fine.”

“Hm?”

“I’ll take responsibility.”

“Huh?”

“It’s because I couldn’t give you enough Essense, right? So I just have to give it to you. I will.”

“You said you were upset. Because I was with several people.”

“It’s because I couldn’t give you a lot of Essense, so it’s my fault, right? So we’re good, then? I’ve saved up a lot, so you won’t have to worry about Mana for a while.”

“Uh…”

“If I give you a lot of Essense, you’ll be with other people less, won’t you?”

“I could just do it with you and with other people, too.”

A proud declaration of sluttiness!

I was surprised at my own words.

“Whatever, just transform. I’m struggling here.”

But he didn’t seem to care.

With his crotch bulging like that, he’d probably fuck any hole he could find.

If I could see the white flame even in my male form, it would probably be blazing huge right about now.

…Right.

The more, the better.

“…Fine. Turn around.”

Choi Shin-woo obediently turned his back.

This studio apartment is a little cramped. I really need to move.

I slowly take off my clothes.

The soft rustle of fabric fills the air.

A stray thought popped into my head.

Is Choi Shin-woo getting turned on by the sound of me undressing?

Even though I’m a man right now?

…What a truly random thought.

Shwoop—

I transform.

My body is revealed, and at the same time, from the depths of my heart, a wave of—

Lewdness.

My womb—is this even my womb? Anyway, the area tingled and trembled.

Why did I engage in such a pointless power struggle?

If I had just transformed quickly, it would have been good for me and good for Shin-woo.

One good, satisfying round, and my fatigue would melt away…

Ah, should I ask for a massage?

Seeing the white flame I could feel behind my back, there was no way it would be a normal massage, but—

Even better.

“Shin-woo.”

A beautiful, melodious voice, completely different from before, came from my throat.

“What?”

It seemed he was still facing away.

“Can you give me a massage?”

“…I don’t know how.”

“It’s fine, you just have to knead me. And rub the spot I show you a lot.”

I drop to my knees.

Then, I lean forward, draping my upper body over the bed and getting on all fours, presenting myself from behind—

With both hands, I spread my pussy, my already wet pussy, wide open.

“The spot you show me?”

“Uh-huh. You can turn around now.”

Swish.

The white flame flared to life.

“Right here… could you rub me? Deep inside♥”