[Initiating transfer to Planet EB-17]
[Confirming three matching subjects]
[Match time greatly increased for a more seamless dating experience]
[We hope you have a wonderful time]
A familiar sensation, as if the surrounding air was shifting, swept over me.
Before I knew it, the surroundings had transformed from my musty-smelling studio apartment to an underground passage filled with an acrid, fishy odor.
And not far away, a familiar face greeted me.
A fearsome lizard head, pearly white skin that seemed to deflect bullets with ease, and a massive, muscular physique that looked to be at least three meters tall.
-Krrr…
It was the Lizard Warrior, the gatekeeper of the first floor of the underground dungeon.
The first time I saw it, I vaguely wondered if I'd ever be able to defeat it, but not anymore.
The magic stone attached to Millennium began to glow.
[Strength Enhancement]
[Haste]
[Balance Adjustment]
[Steps of Fire]
Auxiliary magic is essentially common magic.
Elementalist, Mentalist, and Alchemist alike can all use it.
However, it consumed a considerable amount of mana and couldn't be cast on others.
Moreover, casting it on oneself put a strain on the mana circuits, so it wasn't a magic that garnered much attention from mages. In fact, it was more or less a forgotten magic.
But that didn't matter to me.
Mana? It recovered quickly with just a little meditation, and my mana capacity had long surpassed the level of a Second Circle mage.
Besides, thanks to the sacred water I drank last time, my mana circuits had become even stronger, so there was no reason not to use auxiliary magic.
-Krrraaah!!
Before I could even finish, the Lizard Warrior charged at me with the one remaining spear it held.
It was an intimidating pressure that belied its C+ rating.
[Thought Acceleration]
Even so, it was nowhere near as overwhelming as the Ice Golem.
Within the time-slowed world, now moving nearly twice as slowly, I invested most of the remaining mana in Barrier magic.
I abandoned the idea of blocking a wide area.
All I needed to do was encase the Lizard Warrior's spear tip.
Just as I had created a barrier only on my forehead in an extreme situation before, this time I envisioned, constructed, and deployed a barrier that completely enveloped the spear tip.
Bang!
-Krr, rgh?!
The Lizard Warrior, charging with tremendous speed, found its spear tip trapped in a barrier, the spear itself fixed in mid-air. It gripped the spear shaft, desperately trying to break the barrier.
[Weakness Detection]
Such struggles were no different than the monster kneeling and begging me to attack it.
I lunged towards the area that glowed brightest, excluding the brain, forehead, neck, and heart.
Perhaps my speed was unexpected, as the Lizard Warrior dropped the spear shaft.
The weaponless creature tried to retreat to avoid the attack, but I wasn't so unskilled as to let it escape in its unbalanced state.
In the short span of a week, I had received one-on-one coaching from the wolf-girl who could unleash blade aura.
I gained practical experience in a B-rank isolated gate.
I constantly practiced mana cultivation and strengthened my mana circuits with sacred water.
Even without an increase in my overall skill, I had become strong enough not to run away in the face of the Lizard Warrior.
Whump!!
Millennium, emitting a blue light, flashed towards the creature's flank, piercing straight through it.
The Lizard Warrior, now with a tire-sized hole in its side, collapsed, spewing crimson blood instead of a wretched scream.
Ding-
[You have defeated the Lizard Warrior]
[First Kill Bonus: 200 Coins]
The bonus coins were irrelevant.
The sense of accomplishment from defeating the Lizard Warrior was much more rewarding. Besides, I already had over 2,000 coins.
With nothing worth buying at the store, coins weren't a major concern.
Still, I bought health potions, mana potions, and vitality potions (which seemed like a weaker version of the sacred water) whenever I could find them.
I wasn't about to hoard them only to have them go to waste.
A mana scan revealed no monsters nearby.
I thought about replenishing my mana through meditation, but in case, I decided to drink a mana potion.
I refused to be stingy.
The mana potion tasted like a familiar sports drink.
Taking a moment to catch my breath, I lowered my head to collect the Lizard Warrior's magic stone, but then I noticed something glittering near the corpse.
It was a small key and a dagger.
The key's purpose was obvious. It was probably used to open the stone door up ahead.
Right now, the dagger caught my eye even more.
"Could it be an artifact…?"
It was equipment that dropped after defeating a monster.
I couldn't help but get my hopes up.
Forcing my wildly thumping heart to calm down, I grasped the dagger and focused.
A while ago, I had discovered a new function on the app.
It was an unbelievable function that allowed me to learn about an item's information simply by holding a magic tool or artifact in my hand and concentrating.
Ding-
[Collecting information on the newly acquired item]
[Serpent's Fang
Grade: Rare
Increases the power of attacks from the rear.
Reduces the user's presence.
Grants a certain chance to inflict a poison effect upon impact.
Enables the use of 'Wind Walk']
"An assassin's item."
After skimming through the description, I put the dagger in my inventory.
I already didn't like the fact that I, a mage, was running around with a sword, hacking off monster heads. I wasn't about to start down the assassin's path as well.
Who ever heard of such a terrible build?
Of course, being able to do magic, swordsmanship, and even assassination would theoretically make me invincible, but as someone living in reality, I always had to look at things objectively.
There was a reason why high school students specialized in science, humanities, or arts when going to college.
Still, the good thing was that the dagger seemed to be an artifact.
Aside from Millennium, I had never seen a piece of equipment with so many different effects.
It certainly wasn't a typical magic tool.
I was planning to dispose of my wand and mana sword soon, as I didn't think I'd be using them anymore. When I returned to Earth later, I'd need to wander around a suitable gate to create a source for the items.
"Should I go up for now?"
I was too caught up in other thoughts. I missed Iris too much right now.
***
Finding the path upward wasn't too difficult.
I just needed to follow the map I had created last time, and it would be strange if I couldn't do that.
However, the path back was filled with the corpses of the monsters I had slain.
As the stench repeatedly assaulted my nose, my gaze naturally drifted elsewhere.
[Remaining match time: 166:42:36]
Is this what it felt like to have your belly full just by looking?
With three matching subjects, the match time had increased dramatically.
I was a little surprised, but considering how ridiculously short the match time had been until now, even a week wasn't enough.
'I wish I could increase it with coins, maybe even up to a month.'
I was disappointed that I couldn't.
Lost in such thoughts, it wasn't long before I arrived at the stairs leading upward.
It took me a little over two hours to get here.
Since I didn't have to worry about monsters or traps, it was only natural that I arrived quickly.
I thought about resting for a bit before going up, but the thought of Iris made me choose to climb the stairs immediately.
As I climbed the stairs one by one, a thought suddenly occurred to me: it reminded me of my friend in high school who kept skipping night classes because he missed his girlfriend.
He was so clumsy that he got caught by our homeroom teacher every time and got hit with a bamboo stick.
What was really funny was that he never stopped skipping night classes, even though he got hit every time.
I once asked him why he didn't just meet her after night classes, and he said,
-I'm suppressing the urge to see her during class hours.
At the time, I thought it was nonsense, but now I understood my friend.
That was exactly how I felt now.
Even though I was running until my breath caught in my throat, I was still looking for ways to get up there faster.
That's how desperately I wanted to see Iris.
As I ran for a long time, a faint light from above made my heart race without me realizing it.
It wasn't because I was tired.
I slowed down and climbed the stairs one by one.
The light grew brighter and the air changed.
"Hyunwoo…?"
I made eye contact with the person I had been longing to see.
"Iris!"
Iris's eyes widened, and she ran into my arms.
I held her tight, as if afraid of dropping her.
From my perspective, it had been two weeks and several days since I had parted with Iris, but for Iris, it had only been a few hours.
Even so, I was grateful that she welcomed me so warmly.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
After being in my arms for a while, Iris looked all over my body with worried eyes.
She was so cute that I couldn't help but punish her.
It was an indefinite prison sentence that she couldn't leave my arms until I was satisfied.
"H, Hyunwoo, I can't breathe…!"
Even though she said she couldn't breathe, Iris was actually burrowing deeper into my arms.
As if compensating for the time we had been apart, we remained glued together for a long time.
Then, it suddenly dawned on me that the World Tree was silent.
"Iris, where is the World Tree?"
I could just call the tree "World Tree", but I couldn't do that in front of Iris, a devout believer.
It was the same principle as a man with no religion going to church because he loved his girlfriend too much.
"Oh, she said she was going to the divine realm for a while. I think she'll be back sometime tomorrow… I don't really know."
"Is that so?"
I didn't show it in front of Iris, but when I heard that the World Tree was away, the first thought that came to my mind was that the timing was perfect.
It was hard to stick close to Iris when the World Tree was nearby.
It felt like being intimate with your wife in front of your mother-in-law.
Well, according to the myth Iris told me, the World Tree created the elves.
In that sense, it wasn't a completely wrong example.
Speaking of which, since my mother-in-law was a tree, I probably wouldn't be using wood as firewood when I make a fire in the future.
"Hey, Hyunwoo. Have you been back to the world you used to live in?"
"Oh… does it show?"
"Yes, your mana is much more stable than before. Your overall mana capacity has also increased a lot, and your mana circuits have become stronger. Besides…"
Suddenly, Iris's face turned red.
"Y, you've also become more physically fit."
"…"
At that moment, my goal was set to 800 kilograms across the three major lifts.
Lifting 800 kilograms without using mana wouldn't be easy.
"You've been through a lot."
While I was lost in thought, Iris gently stroked my cheek with her soft hand.
"It was nothing."
It wasn't a statement worth hearing until I got Iris out of this cesspool.
"Should we eat first?"
I had packed several course meals from the most famous vegan restaurant in Gangnam for Iris, who was a vegetarian.
My inventory became a little cramped, but I managed to free up some space by getting rid of some unnecessary survival supplies.
There was nothing more important than feeding Iris.
"Okay!"
Look at her, smiling brightly with her cute ears flapping, how could some measly survival supplies compare?
As I gazed at Iris with a contented smile, I noticed her dress, which was torn in places.
I felt a little sorry.
I was the one who had made her clothes like that.
It didn't seem like she couldn't wear it at all, but it wasn't good to keep it that way.
I was glad that I had packed a few clothes for Iris to wear, or else she would have had to stay in that state.
I didn't know much about women's clothing, so I just swept up everything the department store clerk recommended. I hoped Iris would like a lot of them.
Fortunately, clothes were bundled into one category regardless of whether they were tops or bottoms, so I could fit dozens of them into one inventory slot.
'This dress would look good on her too… and there's a tight-fitting knit sweater with jeans? Oh damn, should I go with that?'
Even if it was her first time wearing modern clothes, I wanted to see her in clothes that suited my taste.
Of course, I wouldn't force her if Iris didn't like them.
While I was rummaging through my inventory with the eyes of a male browsing a porn site for dozens of minutes to find the perfect clip, I felt an instinct that I couldn't resist.
Frankly, it wasn't the kind of clothes that the innocent Iris would like, but I wanted to see Iris wearing it even just once.
"Iris."
"What's wrong?"
Iris, who was nestled in my chest, looked up at my call.
The moment I saw her infinitely clear eyes, an indescribable sense of guilt began to bubble up.
But I couldn't give up here.
"D, don't you need to change clothes?"
"Huh? Ah…"
Iris glanced at the chest and back of her dress, which were in poor condition, and her face turned red as if she was embarrassed.
"I brought some clothes from the world I used to live in, would you like to try them on?"
"Really?"
Seeing Iris rejoice like a child at the mention of new clothes, the simple sense of guilt evolved into a feeling of torment that squeezed my heart.
Even so, I couldn't back down now that I had come this far.
I carefully took out the clothes and handed them to Iris.
Iris was appalled by the daring design, but after I earnestly asked her to wear it just once, she shyly nodded and quietly went outside the temple.
Had three minutes passed, or three hours?
"H, Hyunwoo…"
"T, the clothes seem a little small…"
The moment I saw Iris after she had changed, I couldn't say a word.
The tight-fitting tank top and dolphin shorts were accentuating her voluptuous figure.
Bursting breasts, a perfectly proportioned waist and hips, and big, firm-looking thighs and buttocks.
In the end, my patience snapped.
"H, Hyunwoo…?"
It was only natural that I grabbed Iris's wrist and led her out of the temple.
Now that the World Tree was gone, there was only one thing for me to do.