A small golden bear appeared before Hyeonu with a brilliant gold light. Tang-E stood on the magic circle and called out to Hyeonu loudly, “Master dude!!”

Right when he seemed like he was going to rush over, he saw the dark red bear sitting on Hyeonu’s shoulder.

“Master dude! What is that? It seems like Master... Where did you get it from? Is there something? Don’t tell me...” Tang-E looked at Hyeonu and teared up. He was imagining something strange—that the dark red bear would replace him...

“No, it isn’t like that. This is made from my magic power. It means I like you very much,” Hyeonu explained while urgently approaching Tang-E. 

It was only then that Tang-E wiped away his tears and walked toward Hyeonu. “Really, Master dude? You aren’t going to throw Tang-E away?”

“Why would I throw you away? You are so cute,” Hyeonu said and held Tang-E in his arms. Then he lifted Tang-E in front of the magic spirit and told Tang-E, “Touch it. What do you feel?”

At Hyeonu’s words, Tang-E carefully reached out a paw and touched the dark-red bear that looked just like him.

“It is strange, Master dude. It is very soft.”

What Tang-E felt under his paw was obviously soft like touching honey that wasn’t sticky. It was an addictive feeling.

“Do you like it?”

“I like it. It is fun.” Tang-E nodded. It was fun to touch. Of course, it looked exactly the same as him, so it was a bit strange...

Still, it was really fun.

“Master dude, can’t it move?” Tang-E asked while looking at the magic spirit that didn’t react no matter how he touched it.

Hyeonu pressed against Tang-E’s cheek and asked in response, “Why? Do you want me to make it move?"

Tang-E nodded silently. It was nice for the magic spirit to stay still as a doll, but Tang-E thought it would be quite fun to watch it move.

“Okay, then go down and move. I’ll make it move exactly the same as you,” Hyeonu said. He decided to fulfill Tang-E’s request. There was no reason to refuse.

‘I also want to see it.’

It was a situation he had always thought about since getting the magic spirit skill. The real Tang-E and the Tang-E made of his magic power—the two of them standing right in front of Hyeonu’s eyes.

‘It is nice to imagine...’

It wasn’t just Hyeonu who smiled imagining it. The viewers were the same.

-Huh, what is Alley Leader doing? Why isn’t he putting Tang-E down?

-Move as quickly as when you fight?

-Can’t you see Tang-E’s expression right now? Hurry up and show them. Just talking with your face...

The viewers were already blinded by the encounter between the magic spirit Tang-E and the real Tang-E. They urged Hyeonu to show the scene as soon as possible. Hyeonu placed Tang-E down, and the latter landed lightly on the ground. Then the magic spirit sitting on Hyeonu’s shoulder also jumped to the ground. The magic spirit on the ground stood facing Tang-E in the same posture.

“Huh? Did it just copy me?” Tang-E’s eyes widened when he saw it, and he waved his front paws.

‘I am going to show you something very interesting today.’ Hyeonu smiled and moved his magic power delicately.

Simultaneously, he used his mind to make the magic spirit move. He made it move like Tang-E did, and the magic spirit copied Tang-E’s actions.

The magic spirit’s eyelids went up, opening its eyes wide. Then it waved its front paws. This was like decalcomania—painting a picture on one side of a sheet of drawing paper and then folding the paper in half to make the same picture appear on the other side. It was what the magic spirit Tang-E and the real Tang-E looked like right now.

To be precise, Hyeonu was making it this way. Tang-E and the viewers didn’t know anything and just felt amazed.

“Master dude, it is strange. It feels strange.”

-Crazy. The cuteness is increased by 20 times, not doubled...

-I want a Tang-E as well... That skill too...

-What good deeds did he do in his past life?

Hyeonu continued to copy Tang-E’s actions. Tang-E made bizarre moves, but the magic spirit copied them perfectly, which seemed to amaze Tang-E.

“Follow this, come on.” Tang-E started the dance that he had once learned from Hyeonu. It was once a popular dance in South Korea.

‘Ohu? He is dancing on his own?’ Hyeonu had a surprised expression on his face when he saw Tang-E dancing. It was really hard to see Tang-E’s dance. Tang-E didn’t normally show his dancing unless he had eaten a lot of the meat he wanted to eat. Yet he was dancing like that now.

‘Focus, focus.’

Hyeonu focused on the magic power connected to the magic spirit. The amount of magic power he’d already consumed was quite large, so he could no longer pour out magic power as recklessly as before. He had to use it a bit more sparingly. There was still a long time remaining in the stream.

Hyeonu used minimal magic power to move the magic spirit. His effort resulted in strange consequences; it was a really unexpected result. The magic spirit moved well and in accordance with Hyeonu’s orders. It followed all of Tang-E’s extreme dance moves in a perfect manner. It was exactly what Hyeonu expected up to this point. The questions appeared after that.

‘What is this now?’

[The skill Mysterious Sky Demonic Art’s rank has risen to 8 stars.]

It was an increase in the proficiency of the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art. The Mysterious Sky Demonic Art that hadn’t risen even when he hunted and used the skill actually rose when he used a skill that wasn’t even related to it.

‘Of course, it was already on the verge of rising, but...’

It didn’t change that this was an unexpected harvest. The increase in proficiency of the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art had a different kind of effect compared to what he’d get from his other skills. In addition to enhancing the effect of the other skills, the effectiveness of some of the items Hyeonu was wearing also increased. All stats rose by an additional 50 per epic item related to the Mysterious Sky Sect. Hyeonu had four items, so the stats increase was 200.

‘The unfortunate thing is that no new skills were created.’

The only regrettable thing was that new skills were generated on the odd skill levels. If he had a new skill… he would become even stronger than he was now.

“Master dude, this guy is darker now.” Tang-E came to Hyeonu’s side, grabbed his leg, and shook it.

Hyeonu was pulled from his thoughts. “Huh? Has it changed?”

His gaze turned to the magic spirit that was holding onto his other leg, opposite Tang-E.

‘It changed to be more like Tang-E.’

The magic spirit was now made up of a darker dark red color. There were also some other slight changes. Even the smallest parts had become more like Tang-E’s. For example, the fluffy fur looked exactly like the fur Tang-E had.

[The skill proficiency of Magic Spirit Creation has increased to E.]

[The skill proficiency of Magic Spirit Creation has increased to E+.]

[The skill proficiency of Magic Spirit Creation has increased to D-.]

More message windows appeared in front of Hyeonu to announce the increase in proficiency.

‘It rose well.’

The skill ranking of Magic Spirit Creation rose like crazy, jumping up three levels. Of course, it was easy to increase proficiency at the lower levels, but there had never been a case where he jumped three levels at once. The time it usually took was several hours for one level, no matter how fast it was.

‘I’ll check for more information later...’

Hyeonu recalled that he was currently streaming. It wasn’t the time to be absent-minded.

“I am stronger, so it’s stronger.” 

“Yes, Master dude. I understand.” Tang-E nodded. He didn’t doubt Hyeonu’s words or wonder if Hyeonu was deceiving him.

“Then next...” Hyeonu removed all the messages in front of him and continued the stream.

***

After the stream, Hyeonu immediately stopped playing and ended his connection to Arena.

‘I can’t concentrate.’

The gaming experience in virtual reality games was influenced by the player’s physical condition in reality, much like how it was with conventional PC games. If a person were sick, it would be hard for them to press the keyboard and mouse. It was the same for virtual reality games. Hyeonu was half out of his mind due to having drunk excessively, so it was hard for him to do anything properly, be it hunting or questing. It was close to a miracle that he even managed to end the stream properly.

‘It’s because my tension was released... I was in a seriously bad state.’

Once the stream ended, the magic spirit disappeared. It hadn’t been due to a lack of magic power though. He’d had enough time to recover while eating meat with Tang-E in the middle of the stream. The really difficult thing was Hyeonu’s focus. The moment his tension was released, his level of control over his magic power fell badly.

He wasn’t much different from other players in this aspect. In such a state, he could never maintain the magic spirit, especially when Magic Spirit Creation was already a difficult skill normally.

‘Is he still sleeping?’

Hyeonu came out to the living room and frowned at the sight of Yeongchan still curled up and asleep on the floor of the living room. The clock on the living room wall was already pointing at 11 o’clock. Quite a lot of time had passed since Hyeonu left the living room to do the stream.

“Hey, wake up. I’m going to eat. Don’t you want to relieve your hangover?” Hyeonu approached Yeongchan and tapped him on the back with his right foot. However, Yeongchan didn’t react and continued sleeping like a dead mouse.

‘Isn’t he sleeping for too long?’

Now Hyeonu was a bit worried. He wondered if it was too much, but he then thought back to yesterday’s party… and understood why Yeongchan couldn’t get up. Even Hyeonu, who usually refrained from drinking a lot, had gotten caught up in the atmosphere and drunk more than his usual amount.

‘Still, it doesn’t matter what happened. He should at least go to sleep in his room.’ 

Hyeonu stepped on Yeongchan’s upper body like he was squashing a can. He never reached out his foot toward Yeongchan’s lower body in case he made a mistake and stepped on something he shouldn’t. It seemed like Hyeonu’s efforts worked as a light groan emerged from Yeongchan’s mouth, and his body started to move.

“You’re finally waking up? Have you regained your senses?” Hyeonu asked Yeongchan who was raising his heavy eyelids.

“Uh, I think I can live now... Why does my body hurt so much? How many times did you hit me? What happened to me yesterday?” Yeongchan raised his body with great difficulty before touching his back and chest, which were tingling with pain all over.

“It’s because you drank alcohol and slept on the floor. Even if you turn on the boiler, it is different from a bed,” Hyeonu gave a natural answer. Then he changed the topic before Yeongchan could say anything else: “Are you hungry? I was going to order jjamppong.”

“Jjamppong? Jjamppong is good. By the way, I... Order me jajangmyeon. I need something greasy,” Yeongchan said.

Usually, Hyeonu would’ve said something, but today he called the Chinese restaurant without saying a word: “Yes, one jajangmyeon, one jjamppong, and one large sweet and sour pork. I’ll pay by card.”

The ordering ended in an instant. He often made such orders, so there was no need to talk about the small details.

Yeongchan sat on the floor, leaned against the sofa, and suddenly asked, “Do you have some more time to relax now?”

“Relax? What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“The competition is over. There is more than a month left until Arena Week. Honestly, won’t you win even if you go to Arena Week right now? If you fight like you do when you’re killing boss monsters, you can wipe out a professional team alone.”

“So?”

“Go on a double blind date with me. I don’t want to only be with guys this Christmas.”

(3/7) Weekly chapters. No set days. 

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