Chapter 5: 5. Should I Take Off My Bottoms Too?

Despite my master’s attempts to stop me, I stubbornly completed all nine bows.

My master’s expression said, “That’s not how you do that...” but by around the fourth bow, she was looking pleased, so I think my sincerity got through to her.

After that, she taught me the basic knowledge I needed in this world.

Currency, the value of goods, the distinguishing features of each district in the labyrinth city, factions, the Adventurers’ Guild—by the time I had forcibly crammed all sorts of information into my head, it was already evening.

‘Am I the only one who can see the status window?’

I asked about skills several times as well, but she said I would have to pay at a temple to have them checked.

‘I’d better not say anything carelessly and have people think I’m insane.’

I was already going with the amnesia story, so if I said a rectangular image was floating in front of my eyes...

As I sank into thought, my master stared intently at me and spoke.

"My disciple..."

My master hesitated for a moment, then spoke with a resolute expression.

"Then... would you let me examine your body in detail? As your master."

Even between master and disciple, if one receives something, one ought to give something in return.

For a thorough examination, I promptly pulled off the top I was wearing.

Sliiide...

My master’s ears perked up, her eyes darting wildly as she cried out.

"D-disciple! You don’t need to take it off like that..."

Thud...

"You don’t... ah... um..."

"Pardon?"

"It’s nothing..."

"Should I take off my bottoms too?"

"Yes... No! There’s no need to take off your bottoms!"

Was this detailed examination only for my upper body?

Since I had no idea how she was supposed to examine me, I simply looked at her blankly. My master lowered her eyes and spoke.

"Could you lie down over there...?"

"Yes!"

When I lay down where the bedding had been spread, my master hesitantly placed a hand on my stomach.

Her slender fingers slipped between my abdominal muscles. It tickled slightly, but it also felt strange.

"Close your eyes and breathe comfortably."

"Yes."

When I did as she said, I felt a warm energy in my stomach.

This must be the internal energy she had mentioned earlier.

Starting from where her hand touched my stomach, my entire body gradually grew warm. It felt very nice.

Then, suddenly, my master’s hand felt a little warmer.

It was no longer merely warm—more like slightly hot?

As a light sheen of cold sweat broke out on me, my master’s lips parted.

"Haa..."

"Master?"

"Ah, ahem! Is there anything wrong with your body?"

"No, it just feels a little hot?"

"As I thought..."

I was terribly curious about the examination results, but I assumed she would tell me once she was done, so I simply kept my eyes closed.

I thought it was over when the hand on my stomach lifted away, but then my master grasped my fingers and began bending them this way and that.

"M-master!"

"Oh my, did that hurt?"

"Huh? Ah... no?"

"That’s right, isn’t it?"

I had been startled when my fingers bent in all directions... but my master smiled faintly as though she had expected this.

"Nothing will hurt, so just relax~"

"Yes!"

I felt embarrassed for making such a fuss all by myself.

‘Is this the body of a slime?’

Now the back of my hand was touching my arm, beyond merely bending my fingers.

Holding my elbow and bending it the other way, my master muttered to herself.

"Just as I thought... wow... this too?"

After that, she grabbed my ankle and rotated it, kneaded my Achilles tendon between both her fingers, turned my neck one hundred and five degrees...

Nothing hurt, so I did not mind, but my master’s tail was a little... odd.

When I cracked my eyes open, I met the gaze of my master, who was holding my arm and bending it backward.

My master, who had seemed strangely excited, blinked and smiled awkwardly.

"Haha, I got so absorbed that..."

"Master, that’s not it... your position..."

My master was sitting astride my stomach, gently rubbing my thigh with her tail.

Still holding my arm, my master blanked out for a moment before springing away like a coiled spring.

"Eek! Th-that is... you misunderstand!"

My master’s tail curled between her legs.

It seemed I had unintentionally embarrassed her.

But if she stimulated my thigh like that, an even more embarrassing situation might arise for me too, so it could not be helped.

No. Things could not become this awkward between master and disciple.

I nodded with a bright smile.

"I sometimes get so absorbed that I lose track of my surroundings too!"

"Th-that’s right. I became too absorbed."

I decided to simply change the subject.

"Of course, I understand everything. Ah! Could you tell me what condition my body is in?"

My master had been looking at my toes, but she suddenly lifted her head, her eyes shining.

"Th-that’s right! Your body is special. You have none of the meridians a person should possess."

‘Wait... I have no meridians? Does she mean blood vessels? Wouldn’t that make me sick? No, could I even be alive?’

Perhaps reading my expression, my master shook her head and answered.

"Your blood is circulating perfectly well, so do not worry. The meridians I mean are the pathways through which qi flows."

"Ah... then does that mean I can’t use the internal energy you use, Master?"

I had finally become her disciple... I felt sorry that I might not be able to live up to her expectations.

Just when I wondered if I was about to be expelled from her school immediately, my master spoke.

"That is not what it means. Your body can definitely accept internal energy."

"Even without meridians?"

"That is why I said it was special, isn’t it? When I infused internal energy into your body, it spread evenly throughout your entire body."

"It spreads through my whole body...?"

All at once, the image of a slime came to mind.

Normally, there should be channels for internal energy to pass through, but it seemed my body had become like a slime, allowing the energy to flow everywhere.

"Then is that a good thing?"

The moment I asked, honestly not knowing what advantages it had, my master beamed and seized both my hands.

"Of course it is! A body with no risk of damaged meridians no matter how forcefully internal energy is circulated through it! Tendons that stretch and snap back in an instant! Muscles that are flexible yet tough! Joints that bend at impossible angles! My disciple... I am already looking forward to your martial arts... no, the swordsmanship you will wield!"

My master’s eyes sparkled as she wore an almost melted expression.

I was dumbfounded by the sheer force of her enthusiasm. Once she came to her senses, my master cleared her throat.

"Ahem! We will have to see about your talent for swordsmanship, but one thing is certain: you possess a blessed body."

I could not even remember the last time I had received such pure praise. Maybe from the director of the orphanage?

I had not known I was this vulnerable to praise. I had never received any before.

It felt as though someone had acknowledged that I, too, could accomplish something.

The corners of my lips naturally rose.

I should thank my master for letting me know this feeling.

"Master, thank you so much. I’ll work hard from now on..."

As I honestly expressed my feelings, it felt as though the distance between us had grown smaller.

My master blanked out for a moment, then gently stroked my cheek with her hand.

"...I look forward... to working with you..."

My master’s breathing was a little ragged, and the hand touching me felt strangely hot.

The rough breath brushing my chin was hot and sweetly scented.

**

After finishing our meal with my master, whose face was red, we decided that proper training would begin tomorrow.

For now, I was lying down and staring blankly at the ceiling.

I had not been here long, but since my recent sleep had always begun with me passing out, this was the first time I had properly lain down in bed.

Suddenly, I remembered my first day at the training camp. That feeling of, ‘How did I end up here?’

‘Can I really do well?’

I had boldly declared that I wanted to climb the labyrinth, but I had nearly died twice on the way here.

When my stomach was pierced, I was lucky that the slime used a self-destruct skill, allowing me to obtain a skill.

When I was about to be sold to the slave traders, my master saved me.

I opened my status window.

[Status Window]

Name: Jang Ryu-o

Class: None

Title: None

Level: 8

HP: 150/150 MP: 70/70 Strength: 17 Agility: 6 Vitality: 6 Intelligence: 6 Luck: ¿?9

Remaining Points: 1

Trait: [BUG]

Skill: [LV.MAX Slime Body]

I did not know whether all of this had happened thanks to my Luck, or whether I had simply been lucky.

‘I need to work hard, so I don’t have to rely on luck...’

As I steeled myself and thought about the Luck stat, I noticed that my level had risen.

‘It’s not like I killed anything... Don’t tell me!’

Apparently, your level could rise from killing people too.

If I had leveled up thanks to my master’s internal energy, I would have heard that sound earlier.

I had cut off the slave trader’s wrist, so it seemed that had been recognized as contributing to her death to some extent.

‘Killing...’

If the situation required it, I would do it without hesitation, but I did not want to go around killing indiscriminately just to gain experience.

Even if this was inside a game, it was undeniably reality to me.

People had hurt me plenty, but that did not mean I hated people.

After all, there must be many people like my master and the orphanage director.

I cut off my stray thoughts and closed my eyes.

For tomorrow’s training.

**

Huff... huff...

Arin gave a soft snort as she listened to the steady breathing coming from the next room.

A disciple with a miraculous body, one that might as well have fallen from the sky or sprung from the earth.

His face practically radiated noble refinement, so she had thought he might be a fallen aristocrat, but

judging by his rough hands and the manners ingrained in him, he seemed to have endured quite a lot.

Though, considering all he had been through, he occasionally blurted out things to women that could get him treated harshly...

And as if he had no shame at all, he showed off that obscene body and looked at her with eyes that said, ‘I don’t know anything’...

Then he would sway that handsome face of his and smile brightly, while a lewd scent wafted from his body...

Smack!

Arin slapped her own cheek and collected herself.

Whenever that happened, it would be fine if she corrected him, one thing at a time.

He said he had lost his memories, but she could tell from his eyes that he was hiding something, so she pretended not to notice.

She thought that once he opened his heart to her more, he would tell her.

When her family had fallen and her lovely younger sister died, she had wondered what she was supposed to live for.

She had barely escaped, yet whenever the emptiness that sometimes seized her made her whole body tremble, perhaps heaven and earth had sent him to her. She had saved a man who resembled her younger sister and even taken him as her disciple.

"My martial arts will not die out..."

‘It does not matter if his talent is meager. He only needs to walk boldly onward. It is all right if the terror of the labyrinth breaks him. I will help him rise again.’

Arin closed her eyes. So that she could teach the first disciple she had ever taken in.

With the steady breathing from the next room as her lullaby, Arin drifted pleasantly to sleep.

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