From that day on, Ren Kuroda became a regular patron of the succubus café.
Don't get the wrong idea—unlike those hopeless horn-dogs, once Ren realized that succubi possessed the ability to weave dreams, an entirely different line of thinking took shape in his mind.
Most people who ordered succubus services were after all kinds of erotic fantasies.But when it came to Ren, he was a complete outlier.
Every dream he asked Lia to create for him was a combat dream.
As for his opponents, they ranged from the bizarre to the outright absurd.
In order for a succubus to construct a character within a dream, she had to understand that character to some extent—otherwise, she simply couldn't recreate something beyond her comprehension.
So every time Ren prepared to fall asleep, he would carefully describe the abilities, personalities, and fighting styles of the opponents he wanted to face.
Some of the enemies that appeared in his dreams were characters Ren knew from anime in his previous world.Some were powerful foes he had encountered in the past.And occasionally, on a whim, he would even have Lia pit him against himself.
But no matter who the opponent was, one thing was certain—every enemy that appeared in Ren's dreams was a formidable powerhouse.
Although Lia had never heard of most of these figures, she instinctively felt that the opponents Ren asked her to create were in no way inferior to Demon Kings or Demon Dukes. In fact, many of them felt even stronger.
Naturally, Lia couldn't perfectly recreate the exact strength Ren envisioned every single time.
But after each dream, Ren would give her detailed feedback, allowing her to fine-tune and improve the next one.
At the same time, Lia's succubus abilities themselves were growing stronger and stronger with every offering of Ren's vitality. Her control over her power steadily became more refined and precise.
For a half-demon like Ren, losing a bit of vitality was completely negligible.
But for Lia, it was an absolute miracle tonic.
In just a few short weeks, her strength skyrocketed—until she had become the strongest succubus in the entire café.
Lia's explosive growth naturally left the other employees green with envy.
Unfortunately for them, every single time Ren entered the café, the succubus he chose was always Lia—without exception.
This was a massive letdown for everyone else.
Because of this, the succubi became more and more convinced that Lia was being "kept," and rumors even began spreading throughout Axel that Ren Kuroda had a thing for lolis.
To this, Ren could only cry injustice.
The reason he always chose Lia was simple: compared to the other succubi—who specialized exclusively in erotic fantasies—Lia's abilities were far more well-rounded.
Ren had absolutely no interest in having a fierce battle suddenly derail halfway through because his burly opponent turned into a beautiful girl, or because armor suddenly started exploding off bodies in dramatic fanservice effects.
Considering they were succubi, that kind of thing wasn't strange at all.
Which was precisely why Lia—who possessed succubus powers but didn't really act like one—was the perfect choice for him.
That said, it probably never occurred to anyone before that someone would use a succubus's dream-weaving ability for training.
It just went to show—
There are no useless abilities. Only the wrong ways to use them.
With enough imagination, even a succubus's powers could be taken to incredible means.
After all, inside a dream, the opponent's strength and abilities could be freely adjusted, and death held no consequences.
You could even simulate fighting yourself—know your enemy, know yourself, and break through your own limits.
Succubus dream-weaving was practically a god-tier training simulator.
The fact that people used it only for erotic dreams before was nothing short of a tragic waste.
Of course, this kind of application probably only occurred to a battle maniac like Ren.
And not every succubus could pull it off as perfectly as Lia.
Thanks to dream-based training, although Ren's level in this world had already reached a certain bottleneck, his combat experience and fighting techniques were improving at an astonishing rate.
"Man, that's nice… Ren, you went to the succubus café again last night, didn't you?"Kazuma said enviously."I heard from Chris and Dust that you're basically their supreme VIP now.Damn it… all because of that idiot Aqua. I finally found an affordable succubus café, and now I'm blacklisted."
Earlier that day, Kazuma had gone up a snowy mountain with his useless teammates to complete a quest to capture snow sprites—only to run headfirst into the ultra-dangerous monster known as General Winter.
Kazuma, being Kazuma, was promptly cut clean in half and killed on the spot.
He was eventually revived thanks to Aqua's resurrection spell, but the terror of being sliced in two refused to leave his mind. That was why he had recently been visiting Ren's magic-tool shop nonstop to vent his trauma.
This wasn't a video game—it was reality.
Even reincarnators felt pain here.
Honestly, the fact that Kazuma's mind hadn't shattered after such an experience was already impressive.
Then again, if his mental endurance weren't that strong, he probably wouldn't have survived having teammates like those in the first place.
Still, ever since being killed by General Winter, Kazuma had fallen into a slump. He hadn't even gone on quests with Aqua and the others for several days.
Originally, he planned to drown out the bad memories with a pleasant dream from a succubus.
Instead, he was told he'd been blacklisted.
"Well, surviving in another world was never going to be easy," Ren said calmly."If you can't change your circumstances, then you just have to make yourself stronger.Talent-wise, you're already hopeless—so now it's time to rely on external aids."
He picked up a bottle and showed it to Kazuma.
"See this potion? It's one of our shop's premium items—Frost's Blessing.It temporarily grants your attacks a frost effect."
Then Ren leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"And because you're my close friend, I'll let you in on a secret.The main ingredient in this potion comes from Wiz herself… you know… that."
Kazuma hadn't been interested in Frost's Blessing at all—but after hearing Ren's explanation, he stared at the slightly viscous liquid in the bottle and swallowed hard.
Who in Axel didn't know Wiz?
Just imagining her voluptuous figure was enough to make ninety percent of male adventurers instinctively salute.
"You're sure this thing is related to Wiz?" Kazuma asked suspiciously.
He wasn't an idiot like Aqua. After all, Aqua had once been tricked into spending eighty million Eris on a single egg.
"Of course," Ren replied smoothly."You already know Wiz is a high-level lich. Otherwise, how could liquid from anyone else have such a powerful effect?I'm only recommending this to you because we're close. I only have one bottle, and I nearly died collecting it.If you don't want it—"
Before Ren could finish, the potion was snatched from his hand at lightning speed.
Kazuma emptied his savings on the spot, bought the bottle, and left with a blissful expression.
After Kazuma departed, another male adventurer entered the shop.
Ren immediately sidled up to him and discreetly pulled out yet another "last bottle" of Frost's Blessing.
"Brother, since you're a regular here, I'll tell you this in confidence…"
In the end, every adventurer left satisfied—and Ren made an absolute killing.
It wasn't until Wiz came out from the back room and saw Ren happily counting Eris that she tilted her head in confusion.
"Ren… why have you been making me take baths so often lately?""And why do you change the bathwater every single time?There's barely any work these days, I'm not even sweating… and I haven't gone outside, so I'm not dirty either."
Wiz was completely baffled.
For the past few days, Ren had been urging her to bathe frequently—and every time, he would enthusiastically prepare fresh water in advance.
Even when Wiz pointed out that it was a waste of water, Ren only replied that this water was worth more than before.
The truth was—
Frost's Blessing was actually Wiz's bathwater.
As the highest-level lich, even Wiz's bathwater naturally carried a faint ice attribute.
Of course, on its own, the effect was extremely weak—about as cold as a chilled beverage.
The finished product only worked because Ren mixed in other ice-attribute potions to grant attacks a frost effect, and added slime-based thickeners to improve the texture.
As an "honest" merchant, Ren prided himself on ethical business practices.
Defrauding customers was unacceptable.
Calling it liquid "from Wiz" wasn't wrong at all. Bathwater was the main ingredient, and Ren had never lied.
As for the "last bottle," that was just standard marketing—perfectly reasonable.
Everything Ren said was technically true.
Whether the buyers interpreted it the way they wanted to… that wasn't his problem.
Thanks to Frost's Blessing, Wiz's magic-tool shop exceeded its monthly sales target with ease—and also cleared out a massive stockpile of unsold ice potions and slime fluid.
That said, Wiz had started growing suspicious due to the excessive bathing.
So Ren decided it was time to suspend sales of Frost's Blessing and move on to a new product.
Water's Blessing.
After all, if a high-level lich's bathwater could have that kind of effect, then Aqua—the Goddess of Water herself—
…no, no.
Water blessed by Aqua.
Wouldn't that basically be holy water?
And more importantly—
Compared to Wiz, Aqua was far easier to fool.
Even if she figured it out, as long as there was profit involved, Ren was confident that this utterly shameless goddess would happily sell her own bath—cough, blessed water.
..
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