MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

For hours on end, Ash sat in meditation, trying his best to unravel the secret through every method of concentration he could think of, spamming [Dragon Fear] and occasionally using [Focus] despite the cold embrace of the harsh tundra.

The only thing he learned was that the beasts roaming nearby seemed able to sense him after repeated uses of his abilities, perhaps suggesting that casting left behind some kind of residual mana. As the night progressed, more and more of them converged on his position, forcing him to retreat underground time and again.

Though that might also have been a coincidence — correlation did not equal causation and all that.

Either way, that was all he accomplished by the time the sun rose.

The truth behind mana and how to sense it still eluded him.

’Perhaps I should have asked Vera directly when I had the chance.’

...

’Why didn’t I in the first place?’

Pulling himself atop the tome as the last entity disappeared, he remembered:

’Ah, right.’

He had intended to, but then he’d witnessed the Seal Sentry, shocking every thought of relying on someone else straight out of his mind.

’Whatever... I’ll figure it out in due time.’

For now, it was time to nap. Come night, he’d be fully healed.

***

Waking up, Ash craned his head toward the horizon, where the sun was already sinking beneath it.

’I’m famished...’

Without too much care for cleanliness, Ash took a slab of meat out of his inventory, ready to gorge, only to find it frozen in exactly the same state as when he’d placed it inside.

’The condition of an item inside my inventory goes into stasis?’

Not the best news given his current circumstances, but good to know.

[You have equipped [Snow Crawlers]]

The hide boots formed over his feet in a swirl of white smoke: the vapor curling down his legs before condensing into the furry ice-walking boots, their soles studded with spikes carved from bone.

Then, for the first time in the last three days, Ash unsummoned both the tome and the bow.

Watching the curved wood dissolve into smoke, Ash smirked.

After the tome vanished, Ash planted both boots firmly on the snow.

He stood, crossed his arms, and faced the sun.

His black-scaled tail swaying slowly from side to side, the naked man stared directly at the ball of fiery radiance.

A sudden boom thundered across the tundra.

’Hmm?’

Ash raised an eyebrow.

A moment later, the world trembled.

The frozen ground shuddered beneath his feet, the tremors quickly swelling until the entire tundra seemed to convulse, threatening to throw Ash off balance.

He didn’t shift his stance in the slightest. Instead, Ash merely tilted his head upward.

A fracture had opened across the crystal expanse.

It tore through the crystalline sky as far as his eyes could see; a jagged fissure cleaving the vast plane overhead almost parallel to the other crack.

’You’ve taken down a second chain, Vera...’

Ash felt that was most definitely what was causing the immense disturbance.

But...

The fact that she could do it without him only reinforced what he’d already concluded: his real objective was stopping Demitra.

After all, what kind of instance would it be if hiding and letting an NPC handle everything was an option?

’I need to get back as soon as possible.’

Ash lowered his gaze just in time to witness the last breath of the sun and the waking of the moon.

’Alright...’

Slowly, the haze began to form, seeping across the tundra and steadily thickening around him. Soon, cracks split open through the ground, signaling the arrival of the monsters of the night.

Uncrossing his arms, Ash’s glare snapped to the nearest Snow Crawler, which was still clawing its way out of the ice.

’The wolves don’t usually spawn right away.’

Meaning, if he wanted a straight-up one-versus-one, the time was now.

While Ash recognized that the most efficient method, now that he could walk, would be to third-party a fight between a wolf and a yeti, he wanted to try fighting one head-on first.

Ash began closing the distance while the Snow Crawler heaved the rest of its hulking frame through the fractured ice. As he approached, his thoughts drifted to his new [Snow Crawlers].

The boots were definitely handy because of his glitch, but they were also the first item he owned that came with a negative stat. They gave +3 CON — kind of useless given his predicament — and -1 AGI.

Even if only -1, Ash could feel the slightest drag in his movements.

Not that it was enough to justify returning to his other hunting method.

’But it puts into perspective how much one stat point matters.’

Speaking of stats...

Now that the beast was finally aboveground, Ash summoned his bow back.

[You have equipped [Starter Bow]]

Even if he didn’t actively have the bow in his hands, as long as it remained equipped, he’d get to enjoy the +2 DEX bonus it gave. Plus, keeping it nearby meant he could easily slip underground for one reason or another.

Only a few paces separated him from the Snow Crawler now. Its hulking frame loomed clearly through the still-thin haze.

Ash threw the bow onto the ice beside him, crossed his arms, and spoke:

"Face me, mongrel."

The Snow Crawler instantly reacted to his brazen call. Upon spotting the furless man standing so graciously naked in the middle of a tundra, it roared:

"Urrragh!"

It barreled forward, eating up the space between them before hurling its entire body at Ash.

Ash didn’t even move.

He let the Snow Crawler plow straight through his intangible body and crash face-first onto the ice behind him.

Ash pivoted toward the fallen creature. Before it could push itself upright, he made sure he was clear of it then cast [Focus].

Once again, the chilling environment embraced his body. But the feeling was negligible compared with what he’d endured constantly over the past few days.

He kicked off the ice and vaulted onto the Snow Crawler’s broad back, straddling its shoulders as it began to rise.

Ash drove his hand toward the creature’s nape.

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