Damned System Chapter 4

I found a method for absorbing mana, but there were more limitations than I had anticipated.

Killing animals posed too great a risk.

There was the fear of violating animal protection laws and the possibility of being reported to the police.

I also felt a reluctance to indiscriminately take lives.

Struggling for survival was different from senseless slaughter, at least in my eyes.

However, I couldn’t just stand idly by.

I needed to compromise between conscience and survival.

Even if I excluded animals, I decided to extract mana from plants.

“Well, I have to survive somehow.”

I wasn’t exactly a noble human, taking care of even the lives of the grass I ate every day.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t deal with large plants like trees.

Breaking off branches proved ineffective. I needed to pull out down to the roots to ensure a successful absorption of mana.

In the end, the widely scattered trees in the backyard became useless to be my experiment subject.

Instead, I trampled on weeds visible to the eye.

They weren’t many since it was winter, but still.

Through this insane manual labor, I could gather a bit more mana.

However, I was still unable to feel and use mana.

So, I decided to take a more drastic approach.

Even in the deep night, I couldn’t let go of my phone in order to browse for other ways.

Animal hunting, ways to kill beasts, hunting.

I entered various search terms, but the results were unsatisfactory.

“It’s all about guns.”

It drove me crazy. In frustration, I threw my phone next to the bed.

But it didn’t take long before I picked it up again.

I couldn’t forget what happened this morning.

The horrifying pain and screams.

My body vividly remembered that moment.

Thinking about the unfamiliar pain and fear made my muscles tense, and my heartbeat quickened.

At those times, I took long breaths to control my emotions and maintain composure.

Even after that, I dedicated a couple of hours to searching.

And just before falling asleep, with a brief hesitation, I entered another search term.

“Large dog.”

I wanted to see if I could find the one I had confronted.

Fortunately, I quickly found a dog that looked the same.

“Kangal…”

Turkish dog, Kangal, known for its strong bite force comparable to wild beasts.

“This is just the first stage.”

What I was experiencing now was similar to a game.

And typically, the difficulty of games increases gradually.

There are three mission, and I had only encountered one.

If the remaining two brought out stronger animals, they would likely be more dangerous than Kangal.

My hand holding the phone became sweaty.

Regardless, I somehow managed to get some sleep.

* * *

My mana increased from 35 to 37.4.

However, I wasn’t able to use Mana yet.

Yet, on the fourth day since the end of the first mission,

A sound I didn’t want to hear again pierced my ears.

Ring.

[A new test will soon begin.]

This message abruptly appeared in front of me as soon as I came home after finishing work. My body became instantly alert.

The white space I had seen last time unfolded before my eyes.

I shook my head vigorously to dispel the drowsiness.

“Storage.”

I immediately opened the storage, but my face crumpled.

Four out of the five square compartments were empty.

I didn’t know when the second mission would start.

So, I always kept the items I prepared in storage.

From a baseball bat and kitchen knife to protective gear, painkillers, and hemostatic agents, I meticulously packed them.

But what remained in the storage was just a dagger provided by the system.

The only other things that came with me were the clothes I wore to bed.

A black T-shirt, cargo pants, and military boots I bought in the store.

That was all that was left of on what I had prepared.

[A new weapon, sword, is provided.]

Feeling unjust, I renewed my resolve.

With a clinking sound, a long sword about the length of my arm fell.

As I picked it up, the mission window appeared.

[MISSION

Tutorial (Beta Test 2/3)

Eliminate the target.

Time Limit: 00:10:00

Start timer: 00:01:00]

A sudden chill through my body.

“Damn it…”

Beyond the mission window, 3 beast appeared—lions.

Judging by its size, it was similar to the kangal I confronted before, but there were three of them.

A mix of fear and anger overwhelmed me, making my head spin.

Meanwhile, the timer continued to steadily decrease.

Soon, the numbers reached 0, and I yelled as the lions charged.

“Bring it on!”

It seemed like I had to confront the fear head-on.

The one charging straight at me was the fastest.

I extended the sword I held in both hands towards the open mouth of the lion.

Luckily, it went straight into the lion’s mouth.

Although its massive weight pushed me back, I resisted with all my strength, avoiding a fatal fall.

The lion, struck by the sword, convulsed.

I managed to defeat one immediately, but there was no time to celebrate.

“Ugh!”

With the sword still struck on the first lion, another lion leaped over the fallen one and went towards me.

Desperate, I grabbed the sword hanging from the lion’s mouth with my hands.

This time, I couldn’t resist the force of the charging lion, and I fell backward.

“Target eliminated. Absorbing Mana 11.”

Mana flowed in from the deceased lion, more mana than when I was absorbing from plant.

Things that had entered my body were wreaking havoc inside of me, but I couldn’t afford to focus on that.

“Argh!”

Thud, thud!

The other lion’s threatening mouth repeatedly closed and opened right in front of me.

Despite enduring the intense sensations, I had to prevent the lion from getting any closer.

At that moment, when I was pushing the lion away to keep it from closing in, a terrible pain struck my left leg.

Crack.

The sound was a crunch, echoing loudly like thunder.

“Kyaaa!”

The agonizing scream was of no help.

The flesh and muscles tore apart, and below my knees, everything was completely detached.

Blood sprayed like a fountain.

The once white space had long been painted over with red.

The other lion had bitten off my leg.

“Ugh, damn it!”

Tears and saliva streamed down.

I had lived for about 25 years, but the crossroads of life and the terror of death washed over me instantaneously.

It was terrifying. I felt like I was about to be torn apart by them.

If I were to die, I wished for a painless death.

And I regretted.

“I didn’t know I would die here!”

The end comes when I give up.

Today exists because I didn’t give up in the bleak past, even when putting food in my mouth was a struggle.

The moment I collapsed before fear, I embraced a stronger determination.

At that moment, something strange emerged from within me.

[Mana manipulation initiated.]

There was no time to read the words appearing in front of me.

I thrust my palm into the lion’s upper jaw and grabbed the lower jaw with my other hand.

Just as the muscles in my forearm swelled up, the lion’s jaw began to open up and down.

When I finally let out a scream fueled by anger,

“Aaaargh!”

The lion’s jaw widened beyond its joint limits.

Splat.

The blood poured onto my face.

With a strange sound, I shouted with my eyes wide open as I pushed the collapsed lion aside.

“Inventory!”

A solid sensation was felt in my hand.

Only one lion remained!

With a dagger in hand, I shouted,

“Come on, you bastard!”

After the mission, something once again began to crawl into my body.

Struggling in a state of mental exhaustion, I endured the sensation. It felt like I was being tortured. The moment I went out of the white space, I vomited everything inside me.

“Ueeak!”

The last one didn’t go down easily. My condition was not good. Perhaps due to losing too much blood, my vision was blurry, and my hands slipped frequently.

As a result, I saw my entrails flowing out of my abdomen. I heard the sound of it chewing on my flesh.

In the end, I almost suffocated as it bit my neck.

Yet, somehow, I managed to cut open the stomach of the last lion. Thanks to that, I survived.

“Ugh, uhp!”

I wanted to shout, asking why all this was happening to me. Wasn’t my life already challenging enough? Why add such a crappy situation on top of it?

I vividly remembered the pain when the lion bit into my leg. The fear and despair I felt when its teeth sank into my throat were unforgettable.

I poured out suppressed tears for a while, turning the dreadful memory upside down.

[Congratulations! MISSION – Tutorial (Beta Test 2/3) successful.]

[Mana 10 is provided as a success reward. All injuries are healed.]

[Score calculation is complete.]

[Congratulations! Player Kang Hyunwoo eliminated the target at 00:08:51.]

[Attribute Mana 3 is provided based on the ranking.]

I didn’t pay attention to the following messages. The fear of what might come next was greater than the relief of resolving the immediate danger.

Resentment filled me, unsure whom to blame.

* * *

After a day passed, I had to force myself to calm down. No matter how loudly I complained about my hardships, time kept moving forward.

Now wasn’t the time to sit and cry; it was time to get up and run.

That’s why I decided to take a break from night shifts for a while. Preparing for missions became my top priority.

The first mission ended around 10:30pm. The second mission finished around 10:10pm. Considering the time spent in the white space, I likely start around 10pm.

The first one took time to stabilize, probably.

“Two missions in a row at the same time.”

The next one wouldn’t be much different.

I had to sleep at night and maintain my condition. It seemed better than getting bitten by a beast while asleep.

I didn’t take it easy during my break, either. I continuously exercise, thinking about the system and the changes that occurred after the second mission.

After the second mission, my body had noticeably changed.

In the morning, I went for a run after waking up early. I arrived near my house, panting heavily and stopped.

“Really…”

The records left on the app were shocking.

I ran for two hours without stopping at a speed of 20 km/h.

Yet, there was no feeling of muscle pain or fainting.

It was only at a level of fatigue and shortness of breath.

If I set my mind to it, I felt like I could run for another hour.

It was a level of stamina that would put most marathon runners to shame.

“Hoo…”

While it was said that a person could exert superhuman strength in a life-threatening situation, this surpassed that.

Tearing apart a lion’s mouth or lifting a 100kg refrigerator alone.

It was even possible to leap a distance two meters longer than an Olympic champion.

The most significant change was in the senses, such as vision and hearing.

They became so sharp and clear that it felt like I was surpassing the limits of human perception.

The unreasonable changes brought along anxiety.

“What on earth is happening…?”

A mission suddenly started, and reality turned into a game.

From the danger of death to unfamiliar scars.

The anxiety and fear were vivid.

But I couldn’t be held back by them.

I had to accept the current situation.

The game had already begun, and I had to stay alive.

“I need to adapt.”

Otherwise, playing this insane game might lead to my death.

This simple conclusion helped me organize what I had to do.

To adapt to this game, I needed information.

If I hadn’t decided to acquire more Mana after the first mission.

If I hadn’t realized that Mana was the innate power of living beings.

I wouldn’t have thought of extracting plants to absorb magical power.

“It might have been more dangerous.”

What if the minimum requirement for Mana manipulation was 50?

I might have fallen victim to the second lion.

I might have really died.

So, I had to constantly think and ponder, even if it meant making mistakes. I couldn’t stop, and even if it was tough, I couldn’t give up.

“Hoo.”

Taking a deep breath, I called up the manual.

Since the file itself was corrupted, I had to deduce from what was written here.

Actually, this game was a bit different from typical games. Concepts like levels and stats didn’t exist at all. The status window was adorned with simple words.

Mana, affiliation, race, grade, attribute, and ability.

“Among these, only four are mentioned in the manual.”

Mana, grade, attribute, and ability.

I carefully went through the manual.

Even though I had already read it once, I didn’t remember everything.

I planned to read it again in order.

As I read slowly, I could find the words displayed in the status window.

[Ability]

Refers to the player’s individual abilities. Some abilities include @#(! ◎¡!# ◎ː&△** ^&ㅉㅃ(=……

[Attribute]

#◎!*ㅉ $^! Represents the natural inclination that can be used, ▲ ◎〗※ː¿¿#!*ㅃ&^¿■■■ is possible. Also…

“Hoo.”

I was really angry.