NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 14: Stagnation
'Ah, why must I suffer like this? I've always tried my best, so why isn't anything working out the way I want?' - Ryoshu lamented while using his hands to dig up soil to make a grave.
Fortunately, because it was raining, the soil had become moist and looser. That's why he could scrape up the dirt without scratching his hands too much.
Afterward, Ryoshu gently placed the bodies of the rabbit family, whom he had killed himself, into the grave as if afraid their bodies would be damaged. His hands trembled like a drilling machine, perhaps due to disgust at his own actions. Ryoshu had originally intended to eat them, but... things don't always go according to plan.
'I could have not killed them... what have I done...'
The little rabbit's body had already begun to decompose, so Ryoshu had to bury it quickly before its condition worsened.
'...I took the lives of a mother rabbit and her child... With these blood-stained hands.' - Ryoshu looked at his hands covered in mud and some blood, feeling nauseated as he recalled the scene.
Though he was very hungry, he felt terrified at the thought of taking another life. This was the first time Ryoshu had directly taken the life of a living animal.
The feeling of guilt flooded his entire body. His eyes looked empty and lifeless, as if the Grim Reaper had just taken his soul.
Ryoshu bent down to look at the two of them for a moment, then raised his hands in prayer. Those hands, though filthy, were filled with sincerity.
He returned to camp in a daze, despite the raindrops hitting his face.
"A sad person cannot enjoy a beautiful scene..." - Never had Ryoshu found this saying so accurate...
The rain grew heavier, making each splash more intense. Puddles of various sizes quickly formed on the ground.
He walked through them and accidentally fell, getting completely covered in dirty mud. Instead of getting up quickly, Ryoshu lay there exhausted for a while to rest.
'... Just a little bit more.'
----0w0----
Boom.
"It's been more than three days now..." - Ryoshu said absentmindedly while lighting a campfire. His hands were calloused after the grueling training of the past few days.
[21:50 Monday, August 21, 2023]
This was Ryoshu's fourth night in the virtual reality game world Rainfall Disorder. Since killing the mother and baby rabbits, he had eaten nothing except some fruits and vegetables that had passed his Identification skill. Even the weapon soul he named Fumiya felt anxious for him.
Occasionally, it tried to embrace Ryoshu to comfort him. Thanks to those loving actions, his heart quickly calmed down.
Although Ryoshu's body desperately needed protein, he still refused to kill animals. Instead, he tried to find vegetables that could supplement protein in place of meat.
Perhaps the raincoat Ryoshu found was the biggest and most proud change in his campsite.
He accidentally found it near the stream when hunting rabbits. Ryoshu used it to wrap around his tent so that when it rained, he could sleep peacefully without getting wet.
But because Ryoshu returned a bit late, when he got back, the inside of the tent was already flooded with soaking wet clothes, forcing him to do everything again.
'I shouldn't have lain in that muddy place for so long... feels like I got sick from bathing in the rain.' - Ryoshu breathed while trying to stop his runny nose.
Additionally, Ryoshu had found a grill at the bottom of the river while drinking water at that stream. It helped him easily place the small pot he had from home on it to make vegetable broth. And somehow, Ryoshu managed to find joy in cooking, so he prepared all three meals a day.
That inadvertently helped him unlock the Cooking Art at Apprentice rank. Ryoshu was quite surprised, but it wasn't too bad because being able to cook for himself meant he wouldn't have to worry too much when stuck at the Temple.
Ryoshu was currently chopping water spinach he had found yesterday.
'And most importantly, I've become stronger in many aspects... though not by much.'
"System, show me my Mana stat."
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[Mana]: 19 (F+) (!)
Core: 1 (Unranked)
Circle: 2 (Unranked) (!)
Channel: 12 (D+)
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Mana was what he had trained most diligently and had helped Ryoshu gain another Mana Circle.
'Now I'm officially a 1-star Awakened.'
Stars and ranks are two different things. Rank refers to a person's overall strength, while stars refer specifically to the ability to control Mana in general and Magic in particular.
Therefore, although Ryoshu had reached the 1-star level, he was still an Unranked Awakened. Simply because the two don't have a close relationship.
But this terminology was created by the Magic Council, not the System. They created it just to divide the power levels of those above and below in the field of Magic.
Of course, that's not without basis because they had observed and researched Mana for quite some time. Thus, they discovered that Mana has some relationship with the stars. But that still hadn't been discovered until nearly halfway through the game.
The condition to become a 1-star Awakened is to have 1 Core, 2 Circles, and 3 Mana Channels; for 2 stars, it's 2 Cores, 4 Circles, and 6 Mana Channels, up to 10 stars which would require 10 Cores, 20 Circles, 30 Channels, meaning the Mana stat would reach exactly 100.
But in the game, no one had ever reached the 10-star level. And the number of those who reached 9 stars could be counted on one hand. This applied to both in-game characters and Players.
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-[Main Stats]:
Strength: 6 → 6.5 (Unranked) (!)
Endurance: 6 → 6.8 (Unranked) (!)
Agility: 6 → 6.3 (Unranked) (!)
Perception: 6 → 6.4 (Unranked) (!)
-[Secondary Stats]:
Charm: 1 (Unranked)
Regeneration: 41 (C-)
Intelligence: 1 → 6.8 (Unranked) (!)
-[Extra Stats]:
Alteration: 90 (SS+)
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'Despite training quite a lot, it's somewhat disappointing. Back then, in the early game, stats were much easier to increase, weren't they?' - Ryoshu looked at his stats with frustration.
"But at least the Intelligence stat increases really fast. Perhaps it's because of this skill?"
Ryoshu unconsciously looked at the Super Memory innate ability on the blue screen. He read the skill description again to better understand it.
"That makes sense... Having a good memory is a type of intelligence. In real life, people who can memorize quickly are considered intelligent, right?"
But besides the stats, Ryoshu had also unlocked skills and leveled up his existing ones.
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[Magic] (F)
-Mana Concentration (Level III) (!)
Increases the effectiveness of your Mana concentration ability by 10.5%.
-Mana Transformation (Level II) (!)
Increases the effectiveness of your Mana transformation ability by 5%.
-Mana Transmission (Level I) (New!)
Increases the effectiveness of your Mana transmission ability by 1%.
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Now Ryoshu could maintain Mana shape for up to twenty seconds or more. Not to mention, the time it took him to transform pure Mana into fire was no longer nearly ten seconds as before. Now Ryoshu only needed about seven seconds to recreate the flame.
But what Ryoshu had practiced most in the past few days was trying to transmit Mana into utilities or weapons. For example, into arrows or, more strangely, into clothes.
'Now I can control Mana according to my will rather than having it automated like in the old game version... However, because of that, I've come to know other properties of Mana... I certainly wouldn't have known if I couldn't play this version.'
For instance, when Ryoshu tried transmitting Mana into the Katana, he could easily pierce through tree trunks. Or when trying to enhance his clothes, they would protect him more effectively even though the fabric's properties didn't change.
And having a skill purely for Mana transmission also helped him a lot in learning how to perform better.
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[Archery] (F+) (!)
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Due to practicing archery a lot, his archery ability quickly ranked up. But there was one thing Ryoshu hadn't tried in the past few days.
It wasn't that he didn't want to try. More accurately, Ryoshu hadn't dared to try.
Ryoshu planned to transmit Mana into an arrow and then transform it into Fire-type Mana to create what's commonly known as a fire arrow in games. But doing so would be very risky, as he might accidentally burn down the entire forest without realizing it.
And in the past few days, besides practicing archery, Ryoshu had broken 4 arrows. Meanwhile, the condition of the remaining 8 arrows wasn't good either. On top of that, in the next few days, he intended to challenge the Temple, which made him increasingly anxious.
'Can I do it?'
Thanks to this, Ryoshu had also handcrafted additional crude arrows to have in reserve when the quality arrows broke.
'They can only be used once before breaking... and the day after tomorrow, I'll enter the Temple. This time, no matter what happens, I will go in there.'
Ryoshu looked at the gate from the stone bench while stirring the soup pot. His eyes displayed an unwavering determination.
"Since that day, I've become hesitant and procrastinated a lot..." - Ryoshu could never forget that day. That was also one of the drawbacks of having an almost unforgettable memory. Sometimes, the ability to forget something is one of mankind's greatest blessings.
Ryoshu closed his eyes and immediately recalled the scene from that time. Every detail of that day appeared vividly as if he had recorded a 4K quality video.
Ryoshu felt quite sad when he killed them. But what truly hurt him most was witnessing the maternal love of the mother rabbit.
That very thing made him realize... how pitiful he was.
"Am I... inferior even to a rabbit? Even an animal I thought had no soul showed so much love... while..."
Ryoshu contemplated deeply and looked up at the starry sky. It reminded him of a timeless masterpiece. The impressionist painting by the Dutch genius, Van Gogh.
'Somehow he could create a painting that captivates even an art-blind person like me? I still don't understand it...'
But besides that, unpleasant memories from the past also began to flood back. Especially now that he could remember almost everything, those memories became clearer than ever.
Those memories related to being bullied, assaulted, beaten, and looked down upon. Ryoshu clenched his fists so tightly that his nails pierced through his skin.
Bright red blood flowed from his hand and dripped onto the ground.
"It's been so long since I've known what love is... and what it feels like..."
Somehow today, it looked even more poetic than before. Those stars began to fall from above as if confiding in him down here in the mortal realm.
"Ah, a meteor shower."
Ryoshu unconsciously spoke into the silent and cold night air.
"This is probably the first time I've watched a meteor shower like this... before, I had never even seen a shooting star."
And he suddenly realized something quite interesting.
"Ah... and this is also the first time I've experienced situations like this. The first time camping. The first time setting up a tent... In the future, there will certainly be many more firsts." - Ryoshu recalled his early days in this game world.
"Later on-"
Ryoshu hesitated quite a bit before what he was about to say. But he knew it was unavoidable.
"Later on, I'll definitely have to... kill... people too..." - Towards the end of the sentence, Ryoshu's voice sounded more like it was being strangled. As if someone was choking him while he spoke his last words.
After saying it, he suddenly realized his hands were trembling. The boy raised his hand in front of his face to see more clearly the unconscious fear within himself.
"With hands shaking like this, what kind of assassin could I be? Hahaha."
Ryoshu clapped his hands together, trying to comfort himself. Somehow by saying it out loud, his heart felt less constricted than before... if only a little.
But he knew that avoiding it would be much harder.
In the future, Ryoshu would definitely have to kill very formidable enemies, including humans. That was certainly unavoidable whether he wanted it or not.
But it would be a long time before then, as the story hadn't even begun yet. And it wouldn't be until Chapter 2 that the organization of all the villains would start initiating their sinister plans.
"Let future problems be dealt with in the future. Now I need to survive first, then think about killing... people later... Come to think of it, the villains probably deserve death more than the rabbit family."
His stomach then seemed to growl, reminding Ryoshu to eat. He immediately ate to satisfy the needs of his hungry stomach.
"Anyway, finish eating... then sleep early."
The quiet night was silent except for the steady breathing of a teenage boy sleeping deeply in his tent.
----0w0----
Boom!
A sound like thunder tearing the sky in half. But there wasn't any lightning here? So what could that phenomenon be?
The Temple gate, the target the young man had chosen to raid the day after tomorrow, was emitting Mana shockwaves spreading everywhere, signaling something ominous was about to happen.
But after that, it fell silent.
A moment later, the Temple door was flung open, fell to the ground, and shattered into pieces. It turned out the sudden silence earlier was just the phenomenon people often call "The calm before the storm." Monsters from within the temple began pouring out in droves. A monster shaped like a green slime jumped happily as it emerged.
Some random Slime began going everywhere following its ambition. However, when it reached an empty plot of land, it suddenly saw a strange object containing a small amount of Mana through its characteristic Mana eyes.
The Slime felt quite curious, so it lunged forward forcefully, and in an instant, that cheap, tattered tent was completely destroyed.
That made the Slime feel quite disappointed.
But suddenly it sensed the Mana of a human standing not far from it.
Since when had that human moved all the way over there? Moreover, that person had red liquid all around their body. These were things its tiny brain couldn't figure out.
But its consciousness was intensely telling it that it must kill this human.
Without wasting any time, the Slime began shooting a stream of acid from what could be considered its mouth.
But somehow that human could avoid it.
It began to panic and fired continuously. But the human avoided every time, getting closer and closer to it.
Instinct urged it to run away.
When it was about to follow that thought, the terrifying human was already standing in front of it, blocking its path.
So it had to lunge at that human with all its might.
Thwack!
But before it could stab that inferior human, its Mana core had already been completely shattered.
That was the core it had just shown off to its friends and parents a few days ago.
Now it had been pierced by a rusty sword. After that, everything began to gradually vanish into nothingness. The Slime was dead and would never return.