Chapter 55: Yuna’s Rank Up

According to her status, Yuna was 20 years old, meaning she was a lot older than the other students currently in ALI despite being a one-liner but she could easily move through the ranks by killing more monsters.

What he was more concerned with was her mana talent.

Alongside the fact that she had the potential to be a sound mage as analyzed by the System, she was supposed to have above average mana control as well. It was available on her status screen, and he wanted to see it in action.

Yuna unfurled the scroll and looked at it.

It had an ALI tag up top so either her Master attended the prestigious academy or he had obtained it from a student there.

She swallowed… Despite being a full scroll, there were only instructions on mana gathering and a single chant written inside.

“Breathe deep, draw the flow, Through flesh and bone, let mana grow.”

She read it twice, mouthing the words silently then she did exactly that.

She closed the scroll carefully, placed it on her lap, and sat down in a meditative position then took a deep breath and began chanting in a low murmur with her eyes closed and her hands resting loosely on her knees.

Kōya watched.

There was no reaction at first… The ambient mana in the surrounding area didn’t move at all and it made him exhale through his nose.

Maybe the System had overestimated her abilities.

But then… slowly, like something stirring from a deep sleep, the ambient mana in the surrounding area began to move toward her.

It didn’t move gradually, neither did it move in a weak trickle the way most beginners managed. It surged forward, flowing into her body in a clean stream of water as if it had been waiting for her to simply ask.

Kōya took a step back then another.

’Above average mana control’ the System had said.

He hadn’t fully believed it until this moment. She had no training, no guidance and nothing except a scroll and the threat of death but she had drawn a lot of ambient mana on her first try.

She was far better than several students in Class 5 at least.

He turned and walked over to Victoria, who was now tending to the Fried Ox-tail soup… The scent was filling the entire campsite in thick warm waves and drifting outward into the surrounding zone.

Monsters would follow that smell it eventually and then they would do the needful.

The meat in the pot was bubbling steadily.

They had restocked considerably yesterday when monsters were drawn in during the cooking… There was Wolfmeat now, and even MiriLamb, which tasted startlingly similar to the lamb Kōya remembered from back on Earth.

Victoria stirred the pot without looking up.

“You really shouldn’t be treating her so closely,” she said, her voice carrying the careful neutrality of someone who had been waiting to say it for a while.

She puffed out her cheeks slightly. “She’s supposed to be a slave. Besides, you have never once taken out a handkerchief to dab at my wounds.”

“You don’t get injured,” Kōya said simply. He reached over and patted the top of her head without much ceremony. “She does.”

Victoria’s lips pressed together.

“Besides,” he continued, “she’s only the first of a small group I want to have eventually. We need people strong enough to fight for us, specifically people we can trust. Just in case.”

Victoria was quiet for a moment, processing this then she took a clean scoop from the pot, lifting it carefully so none spilled, and held it up near his face.

“Wanna taste?” she asked, the tension bleeding from her voice. “I used more of the ingredients you gave me this time. It is genuinely amazing. I’m only waiting for more monsters so I can restock the supply.”

He leaned down and took a slow sip directly from the ladle, holding it in his mouth for a moment before swallowing.

He looked at her again.

“It tastes far better than before.” He gave a small, genuine nod. “Just don’t add too much salt.”

She nodded once, clearly satisfied then there was a small but distinct spike of mana and both of them turned.

Yuna was still sitting in her meditative position, still chanting quietly, but the air around her had changed entirely.

Mana had begun visibly gathering around her body in a thin, rippling layer, pressing close to her skin like a second outline.

She had reached Mana Mode.

Kōya broke away from Victoria in an instant and crossed the distance at a jog, leaving her standing at the pot.

Victoria watched him go.

She gritted her teeth, released a long breath through her nose, and turned back to the soup.

“He still cares about me more than some slave…” she muttered under her breath. The words were mostly to convince herself, though the conviction felt slightly hollow even as she said them.

She looked down at the ladle in her hand and the part he had sipped from.

Her cheeks colored slowly.

“This is an indirect kiss, isn’t it?” she said to no one in particular. She took a small sip from the same spot with her eyes half-closed, as though this were a completely ordinary thing to do.

Meanwhile, Yuna was broken out of her concentration by a hand settling on her shoulder. She blinked her eyes open, still riding the trailing edge of the chant, and looked up.

Kōya was standing over her with a small smile on his face.

That smile.

It caught her off guard completely. She had only ever seen the frown he reserved for when he looked at her… This was something different, a smile looked natural on him.

It looked amazing on his face.

“Congratulations,” he said. “You reached Mana Mode.”

She blinked then she looked down at herself, at the mana still glowing around her arms and hands and the reality of it hit her slowly.

“Mana Mode?” she repeated, almost to herself. She had seen it before. The leader of the archer band used to enter this state whenever she was preparing to fire… that moment where the mana would course through her body first and then pour directly into her arrows, enhancing the impact significantly.

’So this is what it feels like from the inside.’

Her muscles felt lighter. Everything felt lighter, actually… her limbs, her shoulders, even the constant low-grade weight she carried around without thinking about it.

“At this stage you won’t be able to use magic directly,” Kōya said, straightening up. “But you can pour mana into weapons to enhance them. That’s enough for now.”

He glanced toward the line of buildings. “We’re expecting several monsters shortly. You’ll kill them and keep the cores for yourself.”

She had a sister to take care of, after all and they were planning to head back to Keropolis today.

’I hope Fate brings in one or two Iron-ranks.’ he thought, it would be a good opportunity for her to rank up quickly.

Yuna stared at the ground.

“I haven’t done that before, Master.” Her voice came out smaller than she intended. “Killed monsters, I mean.”

“There’s a first time for everything.” He picked up her bow from where it was leaning against a rock and held it out to her. “Pick this up. I recovered a few arrows from yesterday’s skirmish too.”

She took it with both hands. The bow felt familiar in her grip despite everything… the weight and curve of it but the growling sounds that were already beginning to filter through the line of buildings made her hands tremble.

The smell of the soup had done its job.

Victoria raised a barrier of blood around herself and the pot without being asked and the first monster burst through.

Kōya almost smiled at his luck.

「WatchHog, Iron Class」

She would rank up after taking this one down, without question… the experience mana from an Iron-class would be more than sufficient for a one-liner.

The monster itself was broadly armored across the body, but the head was an obvious structural weakness. He didn’t need the System to see that.

“Alright. Hold onto the bow while it comes toward you,” he said. “Don’t loose yet.”

The WatchHog stepped into the clearing and looked around slowly, nostrils working.

Its small red eyes settled on the two of them with animal wariness. It stamped one hoof against the ground in a warning, leaving a shallow crater in the earth, and squealed once… a high, piercing sound before fixing its attention directly on Yuna.

Her hands were shaking.

’I’ve seen monsters before,’ she told herself.

She had… Every monster gave off a certain quality of mana and this one was teeming with it. It was definitely an Iron-class monster.

She’d observed plenty of them during her time in the band, but nobody had ever let her engage one. She was the archer who couldn’t shoot straight and everyone knew it.

They had kept her around for the monthly dues.

That was all.

Kōya moved up behind her without warning, reaching around to cover her grip on the bow with both of his hands and adjusting her stance with a slight pressure at her elbow.

“Are you trying to shoot yourself in the face again?” he said near her ear. “Focus. We’re hitting the head.”

She nodded quickly and tried to ignore the fact that he was directly behind her, his hands over hers and his chest close enough that she could feel the heat of him.

’Focus. Head. Yes.’

The WatchHog had stopped hesitating. It was running at them now, straight down the middle of the clearing, building speed with every stride.

“Transfer your mana into the arrow,” Kōya said. “All of it. Don’t hold back.”

She did.

The mana flooded from her palm down through her fingers and into the shaft of the arrow, and the projectile lit up immediately with a clean white glow.

She could feel it humming against her fingertips and then she released it.

The arrow crossed the distance in less than a heartbeat and struck the WatchHog directly in the center of the forehead.

The Iron-class monster stopped as though it had hit a wall and its legs folded.

The monster hit the ground heavily with a single, final crash and then the experience mana came flooding out of the body in a visible rush, a current of energy that poured straight into Yuna’s chest.

Her hand spasmed around the bow and she dropped to one knee.

Kōya stepped back, giving her room.

The one-line crest that ran from her forehead down to the eyebrow of her right eye began changing… it was thinning and shifting itself as her body started its restructuring.

Her breathing went shallow, then deep, then shallow again.

Victoria covered the rest of the monsters in her blood barrier one by one… She would release them one by one once Yuna was ready to hold her bow again, they had to maximize on everything right now and since Kōya wanted to train her, she would help him.

“Is she alright?” Victoria asked, watching the girl on her knee with an evaluating look.

“Yes,” Kōya said.

He tilted his head slightly with a considering expression.

’System, is there anything that can be fed to her to increase her mana potential?’

「Yes, Host. Mana supplements are available through the System store. Since the System store is currently locked, I can sell them directly to you for a first-time discount of just 35,000 FP.」

’Keep your supplements.’ He thought flatly and closed the inquiry.

Yuna let out one last low groan and then the restructuring stopped.

Kōya looked at her.

The rank-up had not changed her on the first line… the beauty augmentation had apparently been delayed to the second.

What had been a completely unremarkable appearance was now something else entirely. Yuna raised her face from the ground and he found himself raising an eyebrow.

By his world’s standards, she had become a model.

In this world that was merely above average, but the jump from where she had started was considerable.

Her hair had developed a natural wave to it and her posture had straightened. The angular plainness of her face had smoothed into something genuinely striking.

Her figure had filled out as well in ways that were noticeable even under her clothes… a development that seemed to catch her off guard as much as anyone. Her breasts were much bigger.

She stood up on unsteady legs.

“Master…” Her eyes slid sideways. “You’re staring.”

“I’m assessing,” he said, which was technically true.

He felt a very specific type of glare cut into the back of his skull and turned. Victoria was drawing one slow finger across her throat. Her expression was pleasant though her eyes were not.

He gave her a calm nod and turned back to Yuna.

“How do you feel after awakening?”

She flexed her right hand, the one that had been shaking earlier. The muscle had developed visibly and her grip was steady where it hadn’t been before.

“I feel amazing, Master.”

“Good.” He held out the next arrow. “Pick up your bow. Kill more monsters but try to reach Mana Mode again… you need to keep drawing experience mana while you can.”

She nodded, picked up the bow, and started chanting immediately. The difference between maintaining Mana Mode as a one-liner versus a two-liner was significant… she reached it again in roughly eighteen repetitions of the chant.

The mana sparked around her body like a visible aura this time, it was brighter and more stable than before.

“Victoria,” Kōya said.

“Already on it,” she replied, and released the next monster.

The next hour was a controlled massacre.

…

“I’m glad you’re fine and well, Yuna-chan and you even managed to rank up.” The receptionist at the KCAC Building 3 leaned on the counter with a warm smile. “That’s quite a change.”

Yuna clutched her phone and gave a small, uncertain nod. They were back in Keropolis. Her Master had traded his cores and monster corpses and collected a sum from Building 5 that had made her eyes go wide.

She had traded hers immediately after in Building 3 two Iron-ranks and twenty Rust-class monsters. She had killed more today than in an entire year of her career in the archer band, and the total sitting in her account now was more than she had seen in months.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

The receptionist… Kushina, who she had known since she started coming here, looked at Yuna’s chest then at her own.

A flicker of pure injustice crossed her face.

“Before you used to be completely flat,” Kushina said, without visible shame. “Now you’re here, walking around with a full rack. It’s not fair. You know every single person in this building hasn’t stopped looking at you since you walked in.”

Yuna could feel it… The eyes following her. She wasn’t accustomed to it and it made her want to walk in a smaller shape.

“See you later, Kushina-chan,” she managed.

She turned and made her way toward the door. Her Master was waiting outside… she had already spotted him through the glass, leaning against the building wall with Victoria in bat form perched on his shoulder.

Her chest warmed looking at him.

He would come with her today to buy her sister’s medicine. She hadn’t asked him… he had simply stated it in the same flat tone he used for everything.

She had stopped trying to figure out what to make of him. It seemed easier to just feel grateful and move forward.

Yuna was almost at the door when a hand landed on her shoulder and she turned.

The man was shirtless despite the street being busy, showing off a broad chest decorated with several old scars, brown hair and two crest lines visible across his face… he was a solid two-liner, strong by most standards.

“Yuna-chan,” he said with an easy grin. “It’s been a while. You’ve really grown into a beautiful woman.”

He tilted his head. “How about we get a drink? Catch up properly.”

“Kotetsu-san.” She tried to keep her voice even. “I’m busy right now, maybe lat—”

He reached out and pulled her backward by the shoulder, casually, as though this were a reasonable thing to do. She stumbled half a step before catching herself.

“Just hear me out,” he said, not letting go. “We haven’t seen each other in months, Yuna-chan. One drink. It’ll be quick.”

She looked around… Nobody was moving to help. The other people in the building had the practiced eyes of those who had decided very thoroughly that this was not their situation then she looked through the glass toward the street.

Her Master had stopped leaning.

He was walking away.

Something very cold settled in her stomach, followed immediately by something much hotter.

She shoved Kotetsu backward… not a polite push but a real one, the enhanced strength behind it sending the man staggering into the person behind him with a startled curse.

She didn’t wait to watch him recover.

She pushed through the door and broke into a run down the street.

“Master, wait up!”

She caught up to him half a block down, slightly out of breath, and fell into step beside him. Victoria regarded her from his shoulder with large unreadable crimson eyes.

“You took your time,” Kōya said, not breaking stride. “Who was that man?”

Her face went warm.

“His name is Kotetsu-san. He’s a two-liner and has a decent reputation as a fighter.” She kept her eyes on the street ahead of her. “He mostly involves himself with attractive women, so I’m genuinely not sure why he approached me.”

She said it matter-of-factly, without self-pity, because it was simply the truth as she understood it.

Kōya glanced at her sideways and said nothing for a moment.

“You’re not permitted to have a lover,” he said finally. “You belong to me. Understood?”

It should have felt like a restriction… It should have felt like another chain but It didn’t.

“Yes, Master.”

Her voice came out softer than she intended. She was happy…

Up ahead, the street widened where it met a main crossing.

There was a figure standing on the pavement… a girl with flowers in a basket, one of the students from the ALI classes Kōya attended.

She was looking toward them and as her eyes landed on Kōya; her expression shifted into something between recognition and shock then her gaze moved to Yuna, standing at his side.

The basket dropped and flowers scattered across the pavement in a soft, colorful spill.

“Kōya-kun?” she said.

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