The Life I Refuse To Waste [Slow Burn | Isekai | Remastered ]

Zeldryn was still holding one of his cheeks, where the burning sensation from Kera's slap had yet to fade completely. The man had struck him twice and claimed that, if this had been a real fight, Zeldryn would already have died twice.

Zeldryn frowned as he stared into the empty space in front of him. He couldn't see Kera's body, shadow, or even the mana that should have revealed his presence. There was absolutely nothing there, but precisely because of that, another thought slowly began to form in his mind.

'Wait. If Kera really wanted to kill me, why am I still alive?'

Zeldryn slowly lowered his hand from his cheek. Kera was a Level 3 Manholer whom he couldn't even see right now. Both slaps had landed before Zeldryn could react, and if the man had replaced his hand with a knife or sword, or simply struck his neck with enough force, Zeldryn might genuinely have died already.

In fact, Kera could probably have killed him several times by now if that had truly been his intention. That only made his warning even stranger. Why bother explaining that Zeldryn would have died twice in a real fight if killing him was the actual objective?

Zeldryn narrowed his eyes.

'What does this guy actually want?'

He still didn't know whether Kera could be considered a good person or someone genuinely dangerous, and coming from the main residence certainly didn't make him trustworthy by default. One thing, however, was becoming increasingly obvious. If Kera's only goal had been to kill him, then almost everything the man had done until now would have been completely unnecessary.

Zeldryn rubbed his cheek again, and the lingering sting immediately brought some of his irritation back. He looked toward the last place Kera's voice had come from.

“What the hell do you actually want, you four-eyed bastard?” Zeldryn shouted into the room. “You show up first thing in the morning, walk into my room however you please, insult me, claim you're from the main residence, and now you're slapping me?”

Several seconds passed without an answer.

Somewhere beyond Zeldryn's sight, Kera smiled.

“Me?” his voice suddenly came from somewhere inside the room.

Zeldryn immediately turned toward the sound, but the space remained empty.

“I came here to kill this idiot Young Lord,” Kera answered in an incredibly casual tone before bursting into laughter. “Hahahahaha!”

Zeldryn fell silent.

'Kill me?'

He didn't believe that answer at all. If anything, Kera's response only strengthened the suspicion Zeldryn had already formed.

'He's lying.'

If Kera had been serious, Zeldryn would have died the moment the man disappeared from sight. In truth, Kera probably could have killed him even before using this strange technique. There was simply no reason for someone trying to assassinate him to spend this much time playing around.

That meant Kera wanted something else.

Zeldryn still didn't know what, but he wasn't given much time to think about it.

Something suddenly struck his leg.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

The blow wasn't especially powerful, but because it came from a direction Zeldryn couldn't see at all, his leg immediately lost its footing.

“Hey!”

His body tilted sideways. Zeldryn tried to recover his balance, but it was already too late, and he crashed onto the floor near the window. His hands instinctively caught his weight before his head could slam into the floor as well.

“Damn it!”

Zeldryn immediately looked around, but the room remained empty. Kera hadn't given him even the smallest clue about where he was standing.

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Zeldryn began pushing himself upright, but this time he didn't rush. One problem was already painfully obvious: he couldn't see Kera. If he couldn't determine where the man was, then blocking, dodging, or even predicting the direction of the next attack was nearly impossible.

Attacking blindly wasn't a useful solution either. If Zeldryn started punching empty air in every direction, he would accomplish nothing except making himself look even more ridiculous, and Kera would probably laugh about it until tomorrow morning.

Zeldryn gritted his teeth.

'I need another way.'

His gaze swept across the empty room while his thoughts returned to what had happened the previous night. He remembered the mana particles disappearing one by one, the unbearable pain beneath his navel, and eventually losing consciousness. When he woke up this morning, every wound on his body had somehow healed.

Zeldryn still didn't understand how those events were connected, but at least one thing was certain.

He could sense mana.

More importantly, Kera had just demonstrated something Zeldryn hadn't known how to do before.

Mana could be moved.

Zeldryn remembered it clearly. Kera had snapped his fingers, and particles that had previously drifted however they pleased immediately reacted to him.

He looked down at his right hand.

'If he can do it, can I?'

Perhaps it was impossible. Maybe Zeldryn was trying something far beyond his current ability, especially when Kera had already said he hadn't even reached Level 1. Still, there was no harm in attempting it.

Zeldryn raised his hand and copied the movement Kera had made earlier. He brought his thumb and middle finger together, then snapped them.

Snap.

Nothing happened.

Zeldryn waited for a moment and watched the mana particles visible in the unaffected parts of the room. One second became two, yet none of them approached him, changed direction, or reacted in any noticeable way.

He stared silently at his hand.

Then loud laughter erupted throughout the empty room.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Zeldryn's expression immediately darkened.

“Incredible!” Kera shouted from somewhere beyond his sight. “Absolutely incredible!”

Zeldryn gritted his teeth.

“Did you truly think you could imitate my technique just by snapping your fingers?” Kera continued in a mocking tone before laughing again. “You haven't even reached Level 1! Behold, the purest form of stupidity!”

'Shut up.'

Zeldryn cursed silently.

He was irritated, extremely irritated, but now wasn't the time to entertain Kera's nonsense. If he started answering every insult that came from the man's mouth, the exchange would never end.

For now, he needed to find a solution.

That was all.

Zeldryn lowered his hand and concentrated more carefully on his surroundings. He listened for footsteps, disturbances in the air, or anything else that might reveal Kera's position.

He hadn't been concentrating for long when a powerful impact struck his side.

Wham!

“ARGH!”

Zeldryn's body was shoved sideways while he was still close to the floor. He immediately grabbed the place where the kick had landed.

“Shit...!”

Pain spread through his side. It wasn't severe enough to break anything, but the blow was certainly strong enough to knock the breath from his lungs and leave him grimacing while he struggled to breathe normally again.

'How the hell do protagonists in novels and comics fight while thinking through entire strategies and arguing at the same time?'

Zeldryn had only been kicked once, and his thoughts were already becoming a mess. This wasn't even a genuine life-or-death battle, yet keeping track of his surroundings while enduring pain was far more difficult than fiction had ever made it look.

'How do those protagonists get hit, analyze their enemy's abilities, create a strategy, and somehow still have enough attention left to trade insults? How many brains do they have?'

Zeldryn continued enduring the pain as another irritated thought followed.

'If your life is on the line, why the hell would you waste time arguing?'

Strangely enough, complaining inside his head helped settle his thoughts. He couldn't afford to panic. If he kept reacting emotionally to every attack Kera made, then the man would control the entire situation exactly as he wanted.

Zeldryn slowly raised himself until one knee rested against the floor while one hand supported him near the window. His attention returned to the mana particles in the parts of the room that weren't hidden by Kera's technique.

The golden-yellow particles drifted slowly through the air, seemingly unaffected by the physical objects around them. Zeldryn stared at them for several moments until something else from the novel surfaced in his memory.

Color.

According to what he remembered, people didn't necessarily perceive mana in exactly the same way. One person might see it as blue, while another could perceive it as green, black, transparent, or something else entirely. Zeldryn himself saw mana as golden-yellow.

The appearance depended on the observer.

Zeldryn slowly frowned.

'Wait.'

His gaze moved toward the hand he had used to snap his fingers.

If people could perceive mana differently, then did they necessarily have to interact with it in exactly the same way?

Zeldryn had tried copying Kera's movement and received no response whatsoever. Perhaps that was simply because he was too weak or because he hadn't even reached Level 1 yet.

But there was another possibility.

'Why am I assuming my method has to be the same as his?'

Kera had snapped his fingers and the mana had moved, but that didn't necessarily mean the finger snap itself was what controlled it. The gesture could have been nothing more than a habit, a personal trigger, or even something Kera deliberately did because he thought it looked impressive.

For the first time, Zeldryn stopped thinking about how to imitate Kera and instead focused on the mana itself.

If every person could perceive mana differently, perhaps using it wasn't as simple as copying someone else's movements either. Zeldryn had no proof that this idea was correct, and even he didn't know whether it would lead anywhere.

But at least now, he had something new to try.

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