When I woke up in the morning, the bed was already a battlefield. Chen's arm was pressing against my neck, and Jia's tail was wrapped around my ankle. Mei was lying flat on my chest, muttering my name in her sleep.
As I tried to push myself up, I felt different than before. It felt like electricity was flowing through every joint of my muscles. I pulled up the system window. The 'Mana Vessel' level had risen to 3. The chaos of last night had paid off.
"Hey, wake up. I booked a slot at Sector 9 today."
At the sound of my voice, Jia was the first to open her eyes. Her golden scales shimmered in the morning sun. She gave my shoulder a tiny bite and spoke.
"Li-An, your body feels quite solid now. Did we go a bit too hard yesterday?"
"It wasn't just 'a bit.' I thought I was going to die."
As I grumbled and put on my clothes, Chen and Mei also drowsily got up. We packed our things roughly and headed to the Sector 9 gate. This is a place where low-rank hunters don't even dare to linger. The monsters here have thick hides and strong mana, so ordinary blades don't even leave a scratch.
A sense of tension hung in the air as we stood before the gate. However, the three women beside me looked excited. Jia, being a big-shot hunter, made the gate managers scramble in nervousness.
"Li-An, show us your ability now. We'll lend you our mana, so try wielding it yourself."
Jia took my hand. Then Chen and Mei grabbed my other hand and my back. At that moment, the 'Vessel' inside my body began to swirl.
[System Notification: Multi-Resonance Skill 'Triple Accel' is now active.]
I swung my sword at a massive pack of Sand-Walkers appearing before us. Their shells, which wouldn't have even been dented normally, tore like paper. From the tip of my blade, the red light of the wolf, the purple light of the leopard, and the golden light of the dragon erupted simultaneously.
"Whoa! No way! Li-An, did you see that? That was sick!"
Mei shouted, jumping up and down. It was a power even I couldn't believe. But every time I used it, my body grew hot. It felt like pouring molten lead into my veins.
"You can use... more. Li-An, squeeze us harder."
Chen whispered, breathing against the nape of my neck. Their mana passed through my body, back to them, and then back to me in a cycle. This wasn't just a battle. It was a massive circulation.
The monsters of Sector 9 were turned into scraps of flesh in an instant. We reached the vicinity of the boss room in no time. But my body was already reaching its limit. Faint sparks flickered across my skin.
"Li-An, don't overdo it. It'll be trouble if you explode on the first day."
Jia hugged me from behind, calming my mana. As her cold scales touched me, my burning body felt like it was cooling down a bit.
"I'm fine. I can still do more."
I stared ahead. I wondered how much more my level would rise if I took down the boss behind that door. And I wondered what kind of 'reward' I would share with these three women tonight.