‘Calling this information is a f*cking scam.’
The content itself may be lengthy, but whether it qualifies as readable information is debatable.
My teeth are on edge, but wasting time venting won’t do.
I searched for explanations on other pages in the status window.
About three pages later, the explanation of ranks appeared.
The order is Alpha(A), Beta(B), Gamma(C), Delta(D).
Most of the characters here were also distorted in each of the ranks, but the only explanation remaining was about Delta.
‘A candidate rank eligible for promotion within the top three ranks…’
However, there was no information about the process of promotion or the benefits one could gain from it.
‘I don’t even know what to hope for anymore.’
I turned towards the next pages with a sense of detachment.
While doing so, I started running again.
Since I still had time until the afternoon part-time job, I thought of measuring my physical limits while I was at it.
Suddenly, a patch of grass appeared beside the utility pole.
“Oh.”
Luck was on my side.
There were more withered ones than lively ones at the end of winter.
Moreover, the area around my house had already been thoroughly searched once, making it harder to find.
I immediately lowered my posture, pulled out the weeds, and stepped on them meticulously.
[Mana 0.02 absorbed.]
I finished absorbing Mana and summoned the status window.
[Status Window
Player Kang Hyunwoo (Beta Tester)
Mana: 88.42 (Attribute Magic: 8)
Affiliation: Earth
Species: Human (Player)
Rank: Delta (D)
Attribute: –
Abilities: ?????, Assimilation, Dedication, Mana Manipulation (0.01%)]
Now my Mana is 88.42.
Absorbing the Mana of plants had raised it to over 80 by now.
Defeating three lions in the second mission was a significant achievement.
‘I received about Mana 10 from each of them.’
Recalling the moment he was fighting with the lions was an unpleasant memory.
But I couldn’t ignore the messages related to Mana that I had experienced at that time.
The status window clearly recorded the events of that moment.
‘Mana Manipulation…’
I experienced the difference between having Mana and using it directly.
No matter how strong I became, it wasn’t enough to resist the lions’ strength.
But it became possible after the message about Mana Manipulation appeared.
‘Is it just about getting stronger?’
From that moment on, I focused on Mana Manipulation.
I have to be able to control it freely.
As the third mission would undoubtedly involve facing something much difficult than the three lions.
‘How do I trigger it?’
As I was thinking when will the third mission start, I heard a voice.
“Mister, where’s Mom?”
A voice passing by interrupted my continuous thoughts.
After stopping running, I turned to look.
A man in his forties and a child around six years old had just passed by me.
What I felt from them was a slight discomfort.
A minor discomfort that seemed insignificant even if ignored.
Unable to shake it off, I fixed my gaze on the two.
Just when I wondered if I could hear their conversation, which was getting fainter as they moved away.
Stealthily.
Something emerged within me, sharpening my senses.
[Mana manipulation initiated.]
I thought my senses were already sharp.
However, it was child’s play.
Various information poured in from all directions.
I could vividly feel mixed sounds and smells around me.
Thanks to that, I quickly caught the conversation between the man and the child.
“Then, will Mom come?”
“Yeah, if I wait over there, Mom will…”
At that moment, the man turned around, and our eyes met.
In a hurry, he turned his gaze and grabbed the child’s hand, pulling them along.
“Hurry, or we might miss your Mom. Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Swiftly.
The wide-open senses closed again.
[Mana manipulation is ending.]
The shock was brief, and the action was quick.
I found myself approaching the man and the child.
“Hey, wait a moment.”
Startled, the man, with trembling shoulders, clearly heard me.
But instead of stopping, he quickened his pace.
The unease intensified.
“Just wait a moment.”
Hastily, I overtook the man, blocking his path.
“Well, what is it, you!”
The man immediately put his empty hand into the pocket of his coat.
The suspicious movement automatically tensed my muscles.
While cautious of the man, I looked down.
The child’s eyes met mine.
“Is this person your dad?”
“No, but…”
“Why are you together then?”
“The man said he would take me to my mom…”
“I, I know their parents!”
The man abruptly shouted, cutting off the child’s words.
‘No, but why is this guy speaking informally from the first meeting?’
I shot a piercing look, my expression stern.
“Prove it.”
“What, what?”
If the man’s words were true, it was just a misunderstanding on my part.
But I couldn’t easily shake off the unease.
So, reluctantly, I took a step forward.
“You could call and check. Through video call. Since you know each other, you must know their number.”
If this were just a misunderstanding caused by my groundless suspicion, I would apologize and end it.
In the worst case, I might endure some insults or a few punches.
But what if the man was lying?
If the situation turned out to be what I suspected?
In the worst case, someone could get hurt.
‘The one getting hurt would be that kid.’
I was thinking about the mortality rate of child abduction cases.
Then, the man took his hand out of the coat pocket.
As my concentration soared once again.
[Mana manipulation initiated.]
It felt like I was watching a video in slow motion.
Compared to the beasts rushing toward me, it was unbelievably slow, like my stomach was about to burst.
So, I just grabbed it.
‘Look at this guy?’
Instead of rushing toward me, his hand caught in mine revealed a kitchen knife.
Due to the intertwined memories and scattered pieces of information, my impression was not pleasant.
Fragmented conversation, a kitchen knife, a child.
Putting these pieces together, I could draw one conclusion.
‘Is he a real kidnapper?’
I laughed ironically at the absurdity of it.
“Damn, can’t you let this go?!”
To escape my grip, the man raised his arm.
But the strength was incomparable to before.
He couldn’t escape my grasp.
“Let go!”
“You let go.”
When I kicked his thigh, the man’s balance crumbled.
At the same time, the hand holding the child’s became slack.
I immediately grabbed the child and pushed the man away.
He couldn’t resist properly and stumbled.
Maintaining the tense state after discovering the knife, my body went stiff, frozen.
[Mana manipulation initiated.]
The message responded accordingly.
At that moment, the commotion attracted the attention of the shop owners, who came out one by one.
I pointed to one of them and said, “Hey, boss, let’s report this to the police. He seems like a kidnapper.”
While I was speaking, the kidnapper suddenly stood up.
“What the… Why are you meddling in other people’s business?”
As if he was about to stab me right away, he readied the knife.
I pushed the child aside, and the shop owner nearby rushed out and took care of the child.
At the same time, the man swung the knife.
“Whoa.”
Dodging by bending my waist backward, the stabbing continued.
Thunk.
I blocked his wrist with my arm raised at a right angle.
Despite the block, the man used the recoil to attack again.
Every time he attempted to stab, I blocked, flawlessly moving without a single mistake.
After several defenses, patience seemed to run out as the man closed the distance.
Thoughts and actions followed simultaneously.
Like before, I pushed away his wrist with my arm while simultaneously diving into his arms.
A crunch.
Using my left hand, I pulled his right elbow tightly, while my right hand struck his chest.
“Ugh!”
Gasping for breath, the man collapsed.
I kicked away the knife that fell from his hand, bringing the situation to a close.
‘Is it really this easy…?’
I replicated the technique I saw in a dagger combat video I had desperately searched for after just completing my first tutorial.
It was a defensive technique, not for attacking, so I hadn’t paid much attention to it.
My body effortlessly followed the movements I had only seen with my eyes.
I truly felt the change in my body.
The man’s movements seemed too slow from my perspective.
Thanks to that, I could subdue him without getting hurt.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue briefly while sitting on top of the man still writhing on the ground.
“What about the police?”
“I, I called them!”
The shop owner holding the shaken child answered.
While waiting for the police, I thought again about Mana.
The Ability the system explained as Mana Manipulation.
I made a tremendous effort to reproduce what happened back then against the lion.
I focused on finding the Mana within me without any specific training.
While I was focusing on my Mana training, it took over two hours to go to the police station and give a statement, making me late for my part-time job.
After hearing the boss’s nagging, I focused on training Mana throughout my work.
The Ability that might save me in the next mission?
Was it a reward for my determination?
When I turned towards the familiar alley near my house,
“…This is amazing, really.”
I sighed deeply as I saw red aura swirling around my left hand.
After gaining some control over Mana, I wondered what I could do with it.
In the process, I concentrated the Mana. Gathering it in one place.
Then, I pushed it out randomly, feeling a sense of oppression as if the Mana was penetrating something.
“What kind of Ability is this…?”
Muttering with a puzzled expression, I soon noticed something strange.
The Mana emanating from my hand was gradually fading.
Then, at some point, it abruptly stopped.
‘The mana is still there though…’
I focused the mana back into my hand and quickly rolled it again.
Then, like punching a hole, I created a path for the mana to escape.
Concentrating on the movement of the mana, soon I could identify the problem.
Every time red aura seeped through the hole, the rotational force of the mana inside, which had been spinning rapidly, weakened.
To maintain it at the same speed, the red mist continued to flow out, like oiling a machine.
In return, the mana in my body started to circulate rapidly.
Unlike when I simply rotated it inside my body, I could now feel in real-time that the mana was being consumed.
‘No, it’s being used up.’
Like the fuel of a car during a drive.
Currently, my mana wasn’t just gathered; it was doing something.
As an experiment, I clenched my fist and struck the outer wall of the nearby building.
Thud! Creak.
A deep and solid sound echoed, and the wall gleamed with gold.
I froze completely in that spot.
The wall cracked from the point where my fist touched, and fragments of cement fell.
Of course, I had put some strength into it.
But to have the wall turn into ruin with just one punch.
I hastily withdrew my hand from the shocking scene.
The Mana Manipulation had stopped, and the red aura that had gathered in my hand disappeared.
However, the hole that appeared on the wall remained intact.
Whoosh, whoosh.
I quickly looked around the alley. Just in case there were any witnesses.
Fortunately, there was no one passing by.
While hurrying to leave the scene, my thoughts were in confusion.
‘Should I report it? If the building collapses due to structural issues…
If someone gets hurt…’
There was no hesitation. In the end, I took out my phone.
The office hours had already ended.
I called the police and asked them to contact the administrative office responsible for the facility tomorrow.
I couldn’t admit I did it, I could only say I found it.
‘Even if I tell the truth, they probably won’t believe it.’
I returned home with a complicated and disheartened feeling.
As soon as I reached for the doorknob, Yeonwoo called me.
Instead of answering the call, I just opened the door.
“Why did you call…?”
“Come in!”
“Hyung!”
“Oppa!”
And there, my younger siblings ran towards me.
“What’s going on? Why are you like this?”
I asked casually while taking off my shoes.
Then, Yeonwoo pointed to the TV with a fierce expression.
“That’s you, oppa!”
“What?”
I shifted my gaze to the TV following Yeonwoo’s finger.
I froze as soon as I saw the CCTV footage and a cellphone video playing consecutively.
Above that, the calm voice of the news anchor was overlaid.
“… Kidnapper Kim is pulling out a knife. Despite the imminent danger, Kang Hyunwoo, who protected the child, calmly block it…”
“Uh…”
I was on the 9 o’clock news.
“Are you crazy, Oppa?! You rushed towards a guy with a knife, risking yourself for a child!”
I was speechless, unlike Yeonwoo, who shouted angrily.
***
The Twins are fraternal, one male(Jinwoo) and one female (Yeonwoo).
