As I burned the blood-stained blankets, sheets, and clothes in the backyard, my whole body trembled.
What if someone calls the fire department, or what if someone sees this blood? Various thoughts crossed my mind, making me anxious to the point of madness.
But could I afford to show weakness in front of my younger siblings?
I didn’t want to burden the twins with unnecessary worries, so I gritted my teeth and endured. After they all became ashes, I went out.
However, as soon as I arrived outside, my strength drained from my legs.
“Sigh.”
I felt completely drained. I sat outside, staring blankly at the ground.
In a mumbled voice, I said, “System User Manual….”
A file consisting of a whopping 35 pages opened.
However, the content was not entirely intact.
The manual was damaged here and there, much like the first notice.
“Is this also because of that virus-like thing…?”
Fortunately, there were relatively detailed instructions on how to use some functions.
[Status Window
Player Kang Hyeon-woo (Beta Tester)
Mana: 35 (Attribute Mana: 5)
Affiliation: Earth
Race: Human (Player)
Grade: Delta (D)
Attribute: –
Abilities: ?????, Assimilation, Dedication]
Before I could finish reading all the characters in front of me, I opened my mouth again.
“Shop.”
[During the tutorial, the shop service cannot be used]
“Community.”
[During the tutorial, the community service cannot be used]
“Mission Window.”
[There are no ongoing missions]
[There are no available missions]
“Mission Record.”
[MISSION
Tutorial (Beta Test 1/3) successful]
My gaze was fixed on one of the system windows filled with warnings.
‘1/3.’
Doesn’t that mean there’s also a mission for 2/3 and 3/3?
Just the thought of it made me feel crazy, and the remaining contents in the message window heightened my unease.
[Mana 10 will be provided as a success reward. All injuries will be healed]
Reading the sentences in front of me, I could see what the rewards were. Receiving additional power points and being healed.
More than solving the immediate question, more important things occupied my mind.
I had to successfully finish the next 2/3 missions.
‘If success rewards include all injuries being healed, If the mission fails, the wounds might remain.’
I couldn’t help but think about what would happen afterward.
The day my siblings see me in that state, I might die before being taken to the emergency room.
A shiver ran down my spine, and a chilling sound echoed in the quiet library.
“Damn it….”
I forced strength into my trembling legs and stood up.
My steps towards leaving the library became faster and faster.
By the first stop, I raided the pharmacy. Second, I acquired a dagger, a baseball bat, and third, protective gear used for training dogs.
Carrying all those, my thoughts became more complicated on the way home.
With this much load, I should feel some weight, but it wasn’t heavy. It felt like holding an empty paper bag.
‘What’s going on?’
My strength had become significantly stronger compared to before.
Even considering the training from package loading and unloading, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
The changes in one night were hard to believe.
My steps back home turned into a sprint before I knew it.
What’s more confusing is that I felt like I could run even more after running for a while.
Once I reached home, I tossed the baggage I was carrying.
Then, in a hurry, I rushed into the bathroom.
Standing in front of the mirror with my top off, I saw things I hadn’t noticed while washing off the blood.
“This is seriously bizarre….”
Due to my active lifestyle, I already had decent muscles.
But I swore it wasn’t like this.
Without me knowing, my body had become even more solid, as if I became someone who had been exercising for a long time.
The faint six-pack became as clear as a washboard, and it was not an illusion.
This was a body that someone who had been exercising for a long time would have.
While being surprised by my body, there were unfamiliar scars on my side and hip, as if they were the first scars of my life, torn flesh that seemed to have healed unevenly.
The blood that had drenched my body this morning seemed to be visible—a solid reminder.
‘Scar…’
When I got up, there were no visible wounds on my body. However, the scar remained unmistakably.
It was evidence that, along with the scars, I had been injured and healed.
“It only heals the injuries.”
No further treatment was provided.
The holes in my clothes, the scars, the blood—everything remained. As if confirming that this was reality and not just a nightmare.
‘Should I lay down a plastic sheet or something in my bed?’
Through my life, there comes a day when I have to sleep not under a blanket, but under a plastic sheet.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue and hurried out of the bathroom.
I headed straight to the living room afterward, reaching out my hands.
“Argh!”
Successfully lifting the cheap sofa above my head was not just surprising, it was downright absurd.
‘It’s lighter than I thought…’
It wasn’t heavy at all.
When I tentatively lifted the sofa with one arm, it was truly astonishing.
“Ha!”
My muscles felt sore, but I could lift it, no doubt.
It’s something an ordinary person would find challenging to imitate.
“Hoo…”
I sighed, carefully lowering the sofa.
‘What on earth happened?’
I lingered in the living room for a while, contemplating.
Soon, I found a clue.
“Message window.”
Muttering quietly, I could see the remaining sentence in the message window.
[Mana 10 will be provided as a success reward. All injuries will be healed]
‘Mana…’
It was indeed an unfamiliar word.
Yet strangely, I felt like I knew what it was.
It was what crawled into my body when the mission ended.
‘Is that it?’
Was the change in my body because of that? It was a plausible guess.
‘Providing Mana as a reward for success.’
In normal games, rewards are a means to become stronger.
As the game progresses, the difficulty increases, and a player use the rewards from previous stages to clear new ones.
So, this Mana becomes crucial for succeeding in the next mission.
‘If my body changed because of this, I need a lot more.’
There’s no guarantee that finishing the remaining two missions, this will come to an end.
The third mission is clearly marked as the end of a tutorial.
Moreover, this is just a beta test.
‘Once this is over, the official test may begin.’
I just assumed that this ridiculous situation would continue, yet my body trembled.
‘If it continues after the second and third missions…’
Having more Mana increases the chances of survival.
I sat on the sofa, opening the status window again.
Then my gaze fixed on the box labeled “Mana”
‘Do I only get it when the mission is successful?’
No, I saw a message stating that Mana is absorbed even when killing a target.
‘Eliminate the target or succeed in the mission.’
In both cases, Mana can be increased.
‘And it provides more based on performance.’
When achieving the top rank, it’s 5.
Does it give it to everyone in the top rankings? Up to what rank?
If it provides rewards differentially based on rank…
‘Is it up to 5th place?’
If there’s differential distribution, up to the 5th rank seems plausible.
Then it would be advantageous to maintain the top rank.
But is that possible?
‘I don’t even know how to use Mana.’
I carefully went through the manual again, but there was no information on how to use magic.
‘Maybe it only affects strengthening the body?’
It can’t be used separately?
Lost in thought, I glanced at the status window again.
‘But… there are two types.’
Just Mana and attribute Mana. I’m not sure about the difference, but there are clearly two types.
But, does it end at simply enhancing the physical body?
‘It can’t be.’
If that’s the case, there’s no need to deliberately distinguish between types.
Mana, undoubtedly, should be usable in some way.
In a way that helps clear missions.
It’s just that I don’t know how to use it.
“In normal games, using skills consumes something.”
Staring at the status window for a while, I closed my eyes tightly.
Surely, Mana had entered my body. So, it must be somewhere.
I made an effort to feel the unfamiliar magic.
I tried everything, just like in martial arts novels.
“Hoo.”
I even tried shouting like in a martial arts novel.
“Huap!”
Putting my spirit into it, I tried exerting strength throughout my body.
“Fire, Fireball….”
I even tried reciting skill names from comics and movies, despite feeling embarrassed.
But effort doesn’t always correlate with results.
Even after hours, there was no progress.
“Come on, damn it!”
Why is this game so unfriendly?
Is it reasonable to play without providing basic information?
It’s not like asking me to do the impossible or anything!
“Uaaaah!”
I screamed in frustration to let out the soaring irritation.
After the frustration and failure, there was a sense of resignation as I went through the series of emotions.
‘I don’t even know what the characteristics of that fairy tale and dedication are.’
Just in case, I clicked on the letters in the status window, but nothing appeared.
I looked at the status window blankly while lying on the sofa.
Then, a sudden thought occurred to me.
‘Could it be that I can’t feel it because my Mana is too low?’
If that’s the case, should I just wait for the next mission without doing anything?
But what if the next mission requires Mana to pass?
Then I have nothing to do right now. It was pitch dark in front of me.
I really felt a sense of powerlessness for the first time in a long while.
How much time passed like that?
‘8, 10, 5…?’
While alternately examining the status window and message window, I noticed something strange.
The Mana I received as a reward adds up to 23 at most.
‘But the total is 35?’
I pondered the numbers without muttering and called up the damaged manual.
[Mana]
■△※!!【 Basis of Life Forms ▲ 〗ː ¿#!*Wㅆ&^¿■◆•≫%(*$…….
The content was long, but the part I could read was limited.
“Basis of life forms…”
It was truly a sudden and abstract word.
However, looking at it, it seemed like the empty number 12 meant something.
‘Probably the Mana inherent in me as a life form.’
If this assumption is correct, there might be a way to increase Mana before the start of a new mission.
As my thoughts reached that point, my hands searching the message window became more urgent.
Not long after, I found the sentence that answered my question.
[Player development program (absorption and purification) activated.]
[The target has died. Mana 8 will be absorbed.]
‘Absorption….’
If this game is structured to kill something, absorb the Mana the opponent had, and strengthen based on that, then?
My eyes, which had been staring blankly into space, turned toward the balcony.
Beyond the glass, I could see a few potted plants that Yeonwoo was carefully raising.
When I was young, I wanted to raise a pet, but since I was told I absolutely couldn’t, I ended up raising that potted plant instead.
I stood up as if possessed and went out to the balcony.
Then, I picked up the smallest plant. The system was silent.
But it was too early to give up.
I started crushing the plant with my slipper, swallowing my saliva.
When the plant under my foot was completely crushed.
[Magic 0.08 will be absorbed.]
‘Got it!’
The excitement that surged momentarily was accompanied by an instinctive sense of repulsion.
I felt the Mana crawling into my body.
“Cluck!”
Fortunately, this time the amount was really small, and it ended quickly.
For a while, I just stood there, unable to move, catching my breath.
When the excitement gradually subsided.
I tried to calmly feel the Mana again, but I failed.
Although it was clear that Mana had entered my body, I couldn’t figure out its whereabouts.
But it was okay. The sense of powerlessness that had engulfed me had disappeared without a trace.
‘If I can’t feel it because my Mana is too low.’
I just need to wait until I can feel that Mana.
I cleared away the remains of the crushed plant and the empty pot and rushed to the storage.
While picking up some tools and a shovel, my eyes sparkled with anticipation.
