How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 5

Episode 5

7. The Flower of Attack is Long Range! (2)

‘Should I have asked more politely?’

Should I ask again now? Like, ‘Please make a contract with me! Lady Undine!’?

If necessary, I can even lick Lady Undine’s feet right here.

But my worries were unfounded.

-Contract! Okay! I will!

“……If you were going to agree anyway, why did you hesitate?”

-Huh?

But Undine just looks up at me with wide eyes, pretending not to know anything.

Okay, if you say it’s good, then let’s do it! Lady Undine!

You don’t have to worry about the subsequent procedures.

Once the contract is established, the spirit side takes care of the rest.

It’s just like an insurance contract.

I just have to sign.

When I hold out my palm, Undine places her small hands on my palm.

“……Hmm.”

Something flows in.

A sensation of cold water flowing through my palm and into my blood vessels, circulating inside my body.

After that, I felt a strange sensation.

Soon, something was mixing and swirling in my blood vessels before flowing out.

What is this?

Only after that sensation stopped did Undine take her hands off my palm and smile brightly.

-Contract! Done!

“Hmm…… I see. So that was the contract. It’s kind of amazing.”

I still don’t feel it, but if the spirit herself says it’s done, then it must be.

“Anyway, I look forward to working with you, Undine.”

-Okay!

When I hold out my hand again, Undine imitates me and reaches out to hold my hand again.

‘Fortunately, she seems to follow me well by default.’

The fact that the first spirit is one who follows people well is desirable.

There are many spirits who are really picky.

Especially those of the upper ranks are often more difficult to read than people.

“Then, since I summoned you. Shall we test the spirit’s ability……?”

-Test?

“You were summoned anyway; it’s not right to tell you to go back like this.”

Since she is the lowest-grade spirit, even if she doesn’t have strong power, she should at least have the ability to manipulate or create water.

I also have selfish desires I want to use.

“Then let’s test your abilities first!”

I was about to give Undine an order right away.

Then suddenly, the ground beneath my feet shook.

“First, water? ……Huh?”

I thought the ground was shaking, but it wasn’t.

It was me who was staggering.

Suddenly, I lost strength and felt dizzy.

……What?

Before I could realize the identity of this strange feeling, my vision turned white.

The last thing I saw was Undine, who was somehow surprised.

What kind of face am I making that makes you so surprised?

I lost my mind like that.

* * *

When I came to my senses, the sun had already set.

“……What…… Ugh…… I still feel sick.”

Barely enduring the dizziness in my head, I got up and then remembered that I had been passed out until now.

“I summoned a spirit…… and then suddenly passed out?”

Since Undine is not visible, it seems she was sent back at the same time as I fainted.

Why did I suddenly lose my mind?

The answer came right away.

“……I see. So this is mana depletion.”

I was too excited and became careless.

I should have expected that even if I had some affinity for spirits, I wouldn’t have that much mana [magical energy].

If mana is compared to crude oil, spirit power is like gasoline processed from that crude oil.

The problem is that the amount of mana, which is the crude oil, is small, so I fainted like before.

It’s a total disaster.

‘Really, Aileon, you. You’re the perfect body for an extra [a background character]…….’

Literally the epitome of an ordinary person.

I looked down at my left hand and sighed.

I still can’t put much strength into my hand.

Summoning the lowest-grade spirit and collapsing from mana deficiency.

I can’t laugh.

‘At this rate, the fact that the contract was made earlier was already precarious…….’

If I had passed out during the contract, it wouldn’t have been strange.

If that had happened, the contract would have failed.

“First, I need to refine my mana limit and spirit power a bit more.”

If I summon Undine after recovering in this state, I’ll collapse after using spirit magic a couple of times.

There’s only one solution!

The amount of crude oil must be increased.

‘Mana naturally increases the initial limit if you repeat consumption…… so I should prioritize increasing spirit power.’

When spirit power increases, consumption efficiency also improves, and the power of spirit magic also increases.

‘I know the training method for spirit magic for now…….’

It’s not a grand training method.

Get used to summoning spirits, increase communication, and lie down in nature…… no, bask in that abundant energy, and a rookie spirit mage like me can sufficiently build a foundation.

Basic training can be done here too.

‘Should I aim for at least a year to build the foundation?’

For at least a year, I need to farm to increase affinity and stamina.

I farm for a living and go into the mountains to meditate in my spare time.

And I also call Undine out to play.

I’m going to increase my basic skills while spending my time like that.

‘I wanted to slack off…… but it feels like I have to suffer instead.’

I want to slack off, but what I have to do right now is labor and effort. Ugh!

It’s unpleasant, but let’s call it a basic investment.

I’m not so ignorant of the world that I’d be greedy enough to expect to get something without doing anything.

I will create the optimal environment to slack off comfortably within the next 10 years.

Let’s make that my future goal.

Today’s summoning is the first step in that commemoration!

“Okay! Then shall I work hard from tomorrow!”

So let’s rest today and work hard from tomorrow.

I’m definitely not trying to put off today’s work until tomorrow.

I need to recover the mana I’ve consumed.

‘Ah, now that I think about it, I need to fix the leaky roof too.’

……Let’s do that tomorrow too.

I postpone today’s work until tomorrow, and tomorrow’s work is postponed again until tomorrow.

Then I become lazy.

With that feeling, I flopped down.

* * *

A month passed in an instant.

Then one morning.

The time has come to work diligently again!

“……Damn it, it’s time to work.”

I shouldered the hoe and headed to the field.

Looking slightly above my head, I saw the letters unchanged today.

Name and role.

I’m used to this now too.

I chuckled, readjusted the hoe, and lifted it up as it was.

“Well, then, let’s start farming diligently today!”

I swung it down with all my might.

The end of the hoe hit the soil with a plausible sound.

“Heot……chaa! Heotchaa!”

I continued to swing the hoe while making strange shouts.

This requires skill.

If you don’t use your waist properly, your shoulders and knees will go out, and if you hit it wrong, the hoe will break instead.

I suffered at first, but now I’m completely used to it.

A month is enough time to evolve a person into a great farmer.

Plus, I have Aileon’s memories, so it wasn’t too difficult to adapt.

“Hoo, then shall we work diligently again today.”

Just as I was about to start cultivating the field with a rewarding smile and beautiful sweat.

There are guys who arrived with farming tools as well.

They are boys living in the same village.

Those guys, who are at the age of working, are currently helping me with my field work.

“What, you’re already here?”

When I stopped hoeing and waved my hand, they laughed it off awkwardly.

“You came out early again today, Aileon hyung [older brother/male friend].”

“We always hurry, but aren’t you too diligent, hyung?”

“Then you can become more diligent than me. Come out earlier from tomorrow.”

“Hey! You’re joking, hyung.”

I’m not joking?

We had a friendly chat and decided to start working.

It’s not enough to cultivate this field alone, so I’m exploiting the young guys in the neighborhood on the condition that I share the crops during the harvest season.

For reference, what I planted is potatoes.

Potatoes are good crops.

Carbohydrates are also the basis of survival.

In addition, the potato variety here is quite large.

It is worth harvesting enough.

So, you young guys. Come on! Hurry up and work!

Then the potatoes will be waiting for you.

“Let’s hurry up and finish it. I think we can finish early today.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll work hard!”

The boys start working in the field energetically.

I watched the scene with a pleased look and casually threw the pickaxe to the side.

Bye-bye~ pickaxe.

‘As expected, pretending is important in the world.’

One of the slacking tips I learned in the military.

Do it yourself at first. And when the time comes, pass it on appropriately and get out.

That’s the pattern I learned when I was a sergeant near the end of my service.

Like that, I slipped away, pretending to do other work.

Maybe when they realize it, they will realize that I’m gone.

Don’t underestimate the slacking instinct of a Korean military veteran.

In fact, I’ve only increased the way to pretend to be a professional farmer like this.

The saying that habits die hard is just right.

* * *

After finishing the field work with the help of the young guys, I headed to the mountain behind the village.

A farmer is a false appearance to deceive the world!

The reality is a spirit mage!

‘……Well, aspiring though.’

I can’t call myself a spirit mage at this level yet.

I need to get stronger.

The reason I headed into the mountains is for spirit magic training.

All I can do right now is nothing special when it comes to training.

Choose the place with the best water and air and meditate there.

Nature untouched by human hands has a relatively high purity of mana, which is desirable for refining affinity.

I meditate here to refine the energy of nature.

The trick is to recall the heterogeneous sensation you felt when you first contracted with the spirit.

Surely that is the sensation of mana circulating.

I awakened the most basic sense of activating mana through the contract with the spirit.

‘While being aware of the sensation of mana flowing…… calm your mind.’

It didn’t work well at first, but after getting the hang of it to some extent, I can now concentrate easily.

When I entered the first month, I felt that the circulation path became smoother.

My guess was correct.

“Hoo…….”

Only when I became vaguely aware of whether I was breathing or not did I open my eyes.

Has about an hour passed?

Today’s meditation is enough.

It’s not very efficient to overdo it.

Now all that’s left is practicing the use of spirit magic.

I gracefully waved my hand and tried to summon my contract spirit, Undine.

“Come out, Undine. It’s time to go to work.”

I’m also used to the summoning tricks, so I can summon Undine right away with just a flick of my finger.

Small water droplets gather in the air to form a small, blue fairy figure.

Nice to see you again today! Undine!

-Hello!

“Yes. I called you, you cute little thing.”

When I hold out my palm, Undine grabs it without hesitation.

I stroked her with my hand and tickled her slightly.

-Kya hahaha!

It feels like raising a dog.

“Hmm, it’s nice and cool today.”

Maybe it’s because she’s a water spirit, but she feels strangely cool to the touch.

Is it because of the water attribute?

If she were bigger, I would have used her as a pillow to hug in the summer, but it’s a pity.

‘Spirits can grow if you treat them well enough. There’s no need to be disappointed now.’

There are two main paths for spirit mages.

One is to summon and contract with other stronger spirits.

In that way, when you get a new spirit and the previously contracted spirit is no longer needed, you either terminate the contract or something.

‘It’s a truly ruthless world.’

On the other hand, another is to gradually raise the existing spirit, even if it is weak, to make it great.

In other words, the pattern of going to the end with the contracted spirit.

‘Which one will I be?’

It can’t be said which one is the right answer, but maybe I will choose the latter.

There are some reasons for that choice, but let’s put that aside because it’s not a problem now.

Anyway, Undine, who doesn’t know my thoughts, just laughs gleefully.

-Let’s play!

“Yes, yes. Now is the time to play, you little kid.”

All that playing is really just using spirit magic to control her as much as I want.