As she took a step, the surrounding air turned as sharp and cold as ice.
A chill, as if freezing the very air in my lungs, swept over my entire body.
"Ice Wave."
Whooosh!
With a single word and gesture, the dense thicket and towering trees before us were instantly covered in pure white frost.
Wherever the cold touched, the primeval plants shattered like shards of glass, and even the nearby magical beasts turned into frigid ice sculptures before scattering, unable to even utter a death cry.
And immediately after.
A hunting log and loot list that made my head spin unfurled before my eyes.
[Hunted a magical beast, Forest Bug.] +1xp experience (Target: Clone—Instructor Seraphine) [Hunted a magical beast, Tree Lizard…] +3xp experience (Target: Clone—Instructor Seraphine) [Hunted a magical beast, Vine Frog…]
[Hunted a magical beast, Slime Worm…]
[Hunted a magical beast, Tendril Mushroom…]
"Wow…"
An overwhelming Ice Magic that instantly erased the heart of the dense jungle, creating a white void.
"So, this is the true power of an elite hunter with level 60 skills…"
Gulp.
'And all my hard work for the past few months was…'
Memories of struggling with even a single low-level magical beast in a small Rift flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern. It's not that I thought my efforts back then were in vain… but the tension that had gripped me had long since melted away.
"Don't dawdle, keep up." "Ah, yes!"
All I had to do was silently walk and walk along the frosty path that Instructor Seraphine had created.
[Cleared Area 1 of Rift 'Eleven-One-One'!]
[Cleared Area 2 of Rift 'Eleven-One-One'!]
[Cleared Area 3 of Rift 'Eleven-One-One'!]
"Haa… haa…"
However, walking wasn't exactly easy.
Hours had passed since we started walking on the endless ice path.
My soles felt like they were on fire, and my thighs were stiff as if they were about to explode.
"Instructor, please slow down a little!"
It was like the forced march during basic military training. Or even worse?
It was only thanks to the fact that my body was much more toned than my real-world body that I had been able to keep up with Instructor Seraphine for the past few hours, covering a distance of 30 kilometers.
"Haa, haa, let's really take a break. If we go on any further, it'll be a marathon!"
"Tsk, for a hunter, you're awfully weak. Once we get back, we'll have to start physical training all over again."
"It's hard to walk because you've turned the whole road into an ice rink! You're just floating around!"
While I was carefully moving along the edge of the ice path Instructor Seraphine had created, trying to find the least slippery spots, Instructor Seraphine was lightly gliding over the ice rink with the power of Magical Power, as if she were ice skating. It was an annoyingly graceful sight…
I really envied that magic skill at times like this.
"If you're so upset, fly too."
"Ugh! I want to fly too! While you're at it, can't you lift me up too?"
"I've already told you. It's a waste of my Magical Power to carry you as well. If you really want to fly, learn it yourself."
"How am I, a Crafting Hunter, supposed to learn that!"
"Haa, you're unnecessarily troublesome… If that's the case, distributing experience right now is also an option."
Distribute?
That's right. There was such a thing.
"Are you talking about my skill?"
"Yes. If you absorb the proficiency of my skill, you might be able to make that skill your own. Simple, isn't it?"
Is that so…?
Now that I heard it, it sounded plausible. After all, it was taking the proficiency acquired by the clone, so it probably included the magic Instructor Seraphine used.
"Then how do I receive the distribution?"
"Would I know, or would you know?"
"…J, just wait a moment."
You know everything else so well, but you don't know this.
Grumbling, I pressed the status window.
"Let's see… Ah, here it is."
The command was simple.
"Say 'pause' and absorb the experience possessed by the summon 'directly'?"
Directly absorb?
The nuance was subtle.
Directly absorb, how exactly am I supposed to directly absorb it?
"I still don't really get it. How am I supposed to do it? Huh."
"...."
"Instructor? Instructor Seraphine?"
I waved my hand in front of her face, but there was no reaction.
Ah.
Was it because I just said pause?
"Geez, it's not like I pulled the power cord."
It was a really strange skill after all.
Was it because it was a skill I obtained as a Crafting Hunter? It's called a clone, but looking at what it does, I wondered if the motif was an android or a mechanical doll.
"But looking at her like this, she's really pretty…"
Does her impression change this much just by keeping her mouth shut?
The slender neckline revealed beneath the instructor's uniform.
Skin so fair it looked almost pale.
The voluptuous curves of her chest that were hard to hide even with the uniform.
It was nothing new, but Instructor Seraphine was truly a stunning beauty. That's why I specifically chose her as the model.
But what do I do now?
Honestly, it's not like I don't have anything in mind…
That lewd stuff that only a teenage boy would think of.
Wizards can connect the Magical Power of two bodies by 'mixing' bodily fluids such as saliva, blood, or even semen.
It was a ridiculous story that seemed like it would only appear in erotic games, but there was actually such a mention in the game's setting book.
A collection of the game developers' dark desires, or something like that.
What if the method of distributing experience was also like that?
"...."
Thanks to Instructor Seraphine, the magical beasts around us had long been wiped out.
It wouldn't hurt to try it once, right?
It's not the real Instructor Seraphine anyway, it's just a clone. It's just a fake.
"A, a kiss is fine. Instructor Seraphine has already eliminated all the magical beasts around here."
I said it so confidently, but honestly, my heart was pounding like crazy.
'It's stopped, right?'
Just in case, I moved right up to Instructor Seraphine's face. A distance where our breaths could almost touch.
I slowly reached out and touched Instructor Seraphine's cheek.
A subtle sensation that was neither as cold as a doll nor as warm as a person. Growing bolder, I slowly moved my hand down along her jawline.
Smooth skin. She still showed no reaction…
'Okay, she's really paused.'
Once I was sure, I felt a rush of heat.
"This is a clone, a clone. No matter what I do, it's not a crime…"
I slowly, very slowly, brought my face to hers.
Smooch.
My lips lightly touched hers. A soft, slightly cold sensation. It was just a simple kiss, but it felt more intense than anything else in the world.
It wasn't so much sweet as it was the feeling of committing a forbidden affair…
At first, it was just a light touch of lips, but as she showed no resistance or reaction, I gradually gained courage.
I pressed my lips a little deeper. And after hesitating, I very carefully stuck out my tongue. My tongue slipped between her slightly parted lips. A warm and soft sensation wrapped around the tip of my tongue.
A sensual feeling I had never experienced before.
Slurp, slurp…
[Experience Distribution +3xp]
[Experience Distribution +2xp]
[Experience Distribution +4xp]
It works after all!
I moved my tongue a little more boldly.
As if exploring her defenseless mouth, I moved my tongue around every corner, savoring the sensation.
Where had the initial caution gone? As time passed, my and Instructor Seraphine's 'experience distribution' transformed into a vulgar and intense form, with tongues intertwined.
Before I knew it, I was holding the back of her head with one hand and groping the voluptuous sensation felt over her uniform with the other.
I delved even deeper into her mouth.
Slurp, smooch, sluuuurp, slurp—
My mind went blank.
My lower body swelled up hard.
It was clearly just a one-sided molestation with Instructor Seraphine showing no reaction, so why did it feel so good?
How much time had passed? In a moment of suffocation, I couldn't hold back any longer and hurriedly pulled my lips away.
"Ptooey! Haa…!"
Between my lips and hers, a sticky, transparent thread of saliva stretched out long and slow.
Only then did I finally regain my senses.
"Wow, there are so many distribution logs…"
I hadn't noticed while kissing, but system logs conveying experience and proficiency were pouring down like a waterfall.
[Experience Distribution +3xp]
[Skill Condition Achieved: Ice Magic Lv.1]
[Experience Distribution +2xp]
[Experience Distribution +5xp]
[Experience Distribution +4xp]
[Experience Distribution +2xp]
[Experience Distribution +3xp]
. . .
[Experience Distribution +5xp]
[Skill Condition Achieved: Cold Control Lv.1]
"It's possible to get this much experience with just a kiss…"
The experience gained from the lower levels would be a pittance to Instructor Seraphine, but it was especially meaningful to me. With the experience of hundreds of magical beasts coming in at once, I instantly filled all the proficiency levels.
Even Instructor Seraphine's main magic system.
I never imagined I would directly acquire the skill itself like this.
"Damn, really."
I was starting to understand the exact usage of this skill.
It seemed like there was one more reason why I shouldn't reveal my skill.
I hadn't even absorbed all the experience, but if this was the level of achievement, what kind of efficiency would I get if I mixed something other than saliva…
My lower body ached for no reason.
'I should wake her up now.'
I cleared my throat once and gave the command in a slightly trembling voice.
"Resume!"
In an instant, as if time that had stopped began to flow again, her eyelids slowly closed and then reopened. As if she had just woken up from a deep thought, she stared blankly into the air for a moment.
"Umm…"
She tilted her head slightly. And then, unconsciously, she lightly brushed her lower lip with her thumb.
The sight of her slender finger slowly tracing the outline of her lips made cold sweat run down my spine.
Could she have found out?
Instructor Seraphine frowned slightly as if something was wrong. Did she feel a subtle foreign substance in her mouth?
She stared at me for a moment. I flinched at that cold gaze, but she shook her head lightly as if it was nothing.
"Are you alright, Instructor?"
"No. I think it was a mistake. I felt a slight disturbance in Magical Power, but did something happen?"
She asked me as if she remembered the context of the conversation from before.
Fortunately, she didn't seem to remember the kiss.
"A, no! Nothing happened. I was just looking at the skill usage in a little more detail."
I shrugged as casually as possible, as if nothing was wrong.
I absolutely mustn't show it.
Instructor Seraphine still had a slightly puzzled expression, but she nodded without asking further.
"Is that so. So, did you figure out the method of experience distribution?"
"Ah, yes! I, I just have to distribute it directly in the system. It wasn't enough proficiency to use the skill though…"
"You're stating the obvious. Did you think you could so easily take my achievements?"
Um.
It was a little simple though.
I awkwardly laughed and brushed it off.
It seemed like only I should know the real meaning of 'direct distribution'.