MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

Six hours had passed, and Ash’s progress had been... subpar.

However, it wasn’t as if he’d made no progress.

About an hour ago, he’d begun to feel a fuzzy sensation in the back of his throat every time he breathed.

According to Cross, that was indeed the sensation he had to latch onto. From there, he had to recognize it as a clump of mana and trace its traversal through his body until it settled in his mana core.

Well, one of the three cores he supposedly had.

From there...

If his mana were at max capacity, the clump would push a bit of his own mana out into the air.

If he wasn’t at max capacity, his body would simply absorb it into his core(s).

At least, that was the theory in regard to humans.

There was a high chance mana behaved differently inside Ash’s body than it did inside Cross’s, but Cross had no way of knowing for certain.

’Wait...’

Ash glared at Cross.

"Cross, are you even a human?"

"Huh? Where did that come from?"

"Well... your mother is a spirit, is she not?"

"Yes... but as far as I’m concerned, I’m human. I do have an unusually strong connection to spirit, though. That’s to be expected, I suppose."

Ash shrugged.

"As far as I’m concerned, you’re further from human than I am."

Cross stared at the Dragonkin Champion.

"You have horns, a tail, scales, and a body that phases through nearly everything... You’re anything but human. In fact, you don’t even seem like you should exist. You should have died in infancy. Unless your condition is an acquired thing..."

’Stop trying to prod.’

Ash hadn’t considered it from that perspective. But...

"Hmm. In a way, I don’t exist."

The game didn’t know he existed — at least, not for the most part.

Cross sighed and rubbed his forehead, not even bothering to address the nonsensical remark.

"Dolt. Go back to practicing before I decide to kill you right now."

Ash huffed.

"Pathetic bluff."

Shaking his head, Ash turned away and returned to his training.

"Try me— hey, don’t just—! Whatever..."

’I don’t even know why you’re still here.’

It wasn’t like Cross’s presence was helping. Ash only needed advice or guidance every now and then, not constant supervision.

Once again, Ash focused on breathing. Each breath brought the fuzzy sensation back to his throat. The problem was that it dissipated almost instantly, never traveling farther than his trachea.

’I’d be a little screwed if [Focus] were needed for this...’

Thankfully, he’d at least learned that it wasn’t.

Though his strange constitution might still have been making the process more difficult.

’I’d like to test that theory...’

To use [Focus].

But Ash wasn’t ready to find out whether the prideless Cross would stay his hand if he made himself vulnerable.

However, there was something else he could use...

’[Dragon Fear].’

Ash activated the ability while taking a deep breath.

For a brief moment, he felt... something.

It was almost as though he was vomiting air, though without anywhere near the same level of discomfort as such a awful act.

Sadly, the sensation faded almost instantly, as usual, but it had been far more intense than the one caused by normal breathing.

’That seems to be my answer.’

Ash opened his eyes when he heard something odd. Then, he looked down at a stone stake protruding from his tail.

"What are you doing...?"

"Just... something."

’He knows I can’t cast it when I’m in the ground... is he that paranoid?’

Or perhaps he’d been testing whether Ash’s other ability left him vulnerable in some way.

Either way...

"Don’t you have something better to do?"

"Like what?"

"Keep your father company."

"...I’d rather stay with you than that creep."

Ash scooted away and made a weird face at Cross.

"Ew."

"Hey! It gets lonely here! Do you know how long I’ve been practically isolated?! Even the company of someone as detestable as you can at least ease that nagging feeling."

’So... he’s deathly afraid of me, but still wants to stay near me?’

’I really don’t get some people. This is why I hate human factors.’

Ash shook his head.

’And how weak-willed must one be to possess his level of strength yet surrender to loneliness?’

To Ash, that was...

"Vile."

Cross sighed, then recalled his stake.

"Yeah, yeah. Get back to it, lizard."

’Tch.’

Even if this wasn’t the form he’d had for very long or one he felt particularly attached to, Ash didn’t like that insult. Not at all. It was much worse than ’chimera.’

Ash spat back:

"Shut up, sister lover."

"Don’t confuse familial love with attraction, heathen... then again, how could one know the difference when they know neither?"

"Are you provoking me because you’re bored?"

"Precisely."

"..."

Ash turned away and went back to focusing.

Thankfully, [Dragon Fear] was nearly off its five-minute cooldown. The mana he’d expended using it earlier had also almost fully replenished.

’But I wish I knew how much it took...’

Unlike [Focus], which took 2%, [Dragon Fear] consumed a flat amount — one Ash could only gauge, not quantify precisely.

But he could sense his maximum mana...

’Wait...’

Knowing his maximum mana was instinctive.

However...

’Is that not the first step of mana sensitivity? Actually, no... not quite. It’s the result of achieving the first step.’

But what if, instead of starting from scratch, he used that instinctual sense as a base and worked backward, isolating the smaller sensations that formed the greater whole?

Ash began to breathe in and out steadily.

Slowly, the fuzzy feeling returned with each breath.

Then...

’[Dragon Fear].’

The moment Ash cast it, he focused not on sensing the mana leaving his body, but on his instinctive awareness of his maximum mana. Whether that awareness came from the system or something else...

’I... felt it.’

He’d felt an equal amount of mana drain from both his horns and tail. He could even feel new mana slowly flowing into those extra extremities to replace what he’d lost.

It was an epiphany.

He now possessed two pieces of the puzzle.

He could sense the mana entering his body and trace its passage into his mana cores. Speaking of which...

’It really is split into three.’

All he had left to do now was track its path from start to end.

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