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

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BOOM!

The second explosion was far louder than the first, its sound echoing between the surrounding trees as smoke immediately covered the section of trunk Zeldryn had targeted. Several birds perched nearby took flight at once, scattering through the canopy.

Zeldryn kept his eyes fixed on the smoke.

'How was it?'

He tried to make out the damage before the smoke had completely cleared, but his attention was abruptly pulled away by a strange sensation inside his body.

It was not in his head or anywhere else he could immediately recognize. The feeling came from his Mana Hole, directly beneath his navel.

“...?”

Zeldryn instinctively touched his throat at first, because the closest thing he could compare the sensation to was thirst. His throat was not dry, however, and his mouth did not crave water. The feeling came entirely from his lower abdomen.

It felt empty and dry, as though something that had once contained a reserve of energy had suddenly been drained almost completely.

'What the hell is this?'

Zeldryn moved his hand from his throat to his lower abdomen and pressed against it gently. There was no pain, but the emptiness was unmistakable, and his body seemed to be instinctively asking for something.

Mana.

His gaze shifted toward the yellowish-golden particles scattered throughout the forest.

'I... want to absorb it?'

The desire had appeared without conscious thought. Zeldryn had not decided that he wanted to absorb mana. His body itself seemed to be demanding it.

That only confused him further.

When he had forced himself to control sixteen particles earlier, the sensation had been completely different. Back then, his Mana Hole had felt as though something blunt were smashing into it from the inside. The pain had been intense and disturbingly familiar, almost identical to what he had experienced the previous night.

Now, however, there was no pain at all.

There was only emptiness.

Even Reka, despite having lived for thirty-one years in the modern world, had never experienced anything he could properly compare to this feeling.

'Did I run out of mana?'

Zeldryn did not dare jump to that conclusion yet. He barely understood what a Mana Hole actually was, much less how it functioned.

While he stood there with one hand resting over his lower abdomen, Kera quietly watched him. The man showed no confusion, asked no questions, and displayed no concern. He simply observed every change in Zeldryn's expression with the calm attention of someone who already knew exactly what was happening.

Kera said nothing.

A few moments later, the smoke around the tree finally began to thin. Kera glanced at the result of the explosion and sighed.

“Good grief...”

Zeldryn turned toward him.

Kera wore a disappointed expression as he pointed toward the tree. “You really are a loser, huh? I told you to blow up the tree, not change its color to black.”

Zeldryn immediately felt as though a vein were about to burst in his forehead.

'Be reasonable, bastard. I came here to ask you about mana. Why the hell am I being told to blow up a tree?'

Already irritated by the strange sensation in his Mana Hole, Zeldryn finally snapped back.

“How the hell am I supposed to blow up a tree that big, damn it?”

Kera merely smiled.

“You saw it yourself,” Zeldryn continued, pointing toward the tree. “That was almost the maximum amount I can move.”

He glared at Kera. “Are you actually trying to teach me, or do you just want to watch me do something stupid, bastard?”

Kera fell silent for a moment before that strange smile returned.

“Try again.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Zeldryn frowned. “Huh?”

Kera pointed toward the same tree.

“One more time.” He paused briefly, then added as casually as ever, “And make the explosion stronger.”

Zeldryn stared at him.

'What? Is this guy insane or something?'

He had only just experienced an unfamiliar emptiness inside his Mana Hole. His body was instinctively craving the mana around him, and now Kera wanted him to attack again with even more power.

If the next explosion had to be stronger than the previous one, Zeldryn would presumably need more particles. Fifteen, perhaps sixteen, or even more than that.

'Crazy. This guy is seriously insane.'

Before he could continue complaining, however, Zeldryn stopped and looked at Kera more carefully. The man remained completely relaxed, wearing the same unreadable smile.

'Wait.'

Kera was a Level 3 Manholer. Whatever else could be said about him, he obviously understood mana far better than Zeldryn did. If Kera was genuinely trying to teach him, there should have been a reason behind these instructions.

'...Though with him, who knows.'

Zeldryn clicked his tongue.

'I really can't read this guy, damn it.'

There was something else holding him back as well.

The previous night's experience had left a lingering fear that Zeldryn could not completely dismiss. He still remembered the pain of feeling as though his body were being destroyed from the inside, followed by the moment he eventually lost consciousness. He had no desire to experience anything like that again.

Zeldryn looked at Kera's smile for several seconds before finally sighing.

'Ah, fuck it. I'll just try it.'

His gaze briefly moved toward Kera.

'Besides, if something happens, this bastard can probably save me.'

Zeldryn focused his vision again, and the yellowish-golden mana particles scattered throughout the forest became clear.

He selected three first.

'Move.'

All three particles responded, but Zeldryn immediately noticed something was wrong.

“...?”

They felt heavy.

Far heavier than before.

Zeldryn frowned. He was controlling only three particles, yet each one seemed to require noticeably more effort than it had only a few minutes earlier.

'Why?'

He increased the number to six, and the fluctuations from his Mana Hole became more noticeable almost immediately.

'So heavy.'

Every particle felt as though it required several times more effort to control, but Zeldryn continued experimenting and increased the number again.

Nine particles.

His expression immediately tightened.

'What the hell is this?'

Controlling nine particles now felt almost as difficult as controlling fourteen had earlier. At the same time, the emptiness in his Mana Hole became more severe, leaving him with the persistent sensation of something beneath his navel desperately begging to be filled.

The urge to absorb the surrounding mana intensified with it.

This no longer felt like simple curiosity or desire. It was beginning to resemble a survival instinct.

'Absorb it. I need to absorb mana.'

Zeldryn gritted his teeth instead and continued.

“Tch...”

He increased the number to eleven. His head began to feel slightly dizzy and his breathing grew heavier, but he pushed onward until he reached twelve, then thirteen.

The moment the thirteenth particle entered his control, a blunt impact seemed to strike the inside of his Mana Hole.

Zeldryn grimaced.

'This...!'

He recognized the pain immediately. It was the same familiar sensation that had appeared when he crossed his limit before.

For an instant, Zeldryn considered enduring it and continuing anyway.

“Stop.”

Kera's voice cut through his thoughts with unusual firmness.

Zeldryn immediately turned toward him. There was no mockery in Kera's expression this time and no trace of laughter, only a short command delivered with enough seriousness that Zeldryn obeyed without arguing.

He released his control over all thirteen particles at once, allowing them to return to their natural movements.

“Hah... hah...”

Zeldryn drew several heavy breaths while the dizziness slowly began to settle. The emptiness inside his Mana Hole, however, had become even clearer than before.

He held his lower abdomen.

“What...” Zeldryn paused to steady his breathing. “What happened?”

Kera watched him for a moment before his usual smile returned.

“You can absorb mana, right?”

Zeldryn raised his head.

'Absorb mana?'

Kera pointed toward the particles filling the forest around them.

“Absorb it. Now.”

Zeldryn stared at him, but Kera offered no further explanation. He simply waited.

The strange thing was that Zeldryn had already wanted to do exactly that for some time. His body continued craving mana, while his Mana Hole felt like something dying of thirst after being deprived of water for far too long.

'Fine.'

Zeldryn closed his eyes and repeated what he had done the previous night. He focused his mind, pushed away the sounds of the forest, ignored Kera's presence, and concentrated entirely on the mana surrounding him.

Darkness gradually filled his awareness.

Then the yellowish-golden particles began to appear.

At first there were only a few, but the number quickly grew into dozens and then hundreds. Zeldryn's closed eyes shifted slightly as he became aware of just how many particles surrounded him.

'There are so many.'

There seemed to be far more than he had perceived when attempting this before. Mana from the surrounding environment gradually gathered within his awareness, and within that darkness, something else emerged.

His Mana Hole.

It still had no definite shape, walls, or visible boundary. It appeared only as a section of darkness that felt impossibly deeper than everything surrounding it.

Then one mana particle drifted toward the hole and disappeared into it.

Another followed, then another. Soon the particles were entering one after another, disappearing into the darkness as though being swallowed whole.

Ten became twenty, and the number continued rising.

At the same time, the emptiness that had been tormenting Zeldryn began to fade.

He could barely describe the sensation. It resembled drinking water after suffering from intense thirst, except the relief did not come from his throat. It came from somewhere far deeper inside his body as the Mana Hole beneath his navel gradually stopped feeling so dry and empty.

A gentle warmth spread through him.

It was comfortable.

More than comfortable, actually.

The sensation was unexpectedly pleasurable.

Zeldryn gradually lost track of how much mana he had absorbed.

'This...'

The remaining emptiness continued to disappear, and the more mana entered his Mana Hole, the better his body felt. The relief was so intense that Zeldryn began drawing in more without consciously deciding to do so.

More particles entered.

Then more.

Dozens continued disappearing into his Mana Hole, and before long, Zeldryn had almost forgotten why he had started absorbing mana in the first place. He simply wanted to erase every trace of that emptiness.

'A little more.'

He continued.

'Just a little more...'

CTAK!

“Agh!”

A sharp pain struck his forehead, instantly shattering Zeldryn's concentration. His eyes snapped open, and he found Kera standing extremely close in front of him with one hand still raised after flicking his forehead.

Zeldryn blinked at him in confusion.

Kera stared back as though he were looking at an idiot.

“You trying to kill yourself, huh?”

Zeldryn still had not fully understood what had happened when Kera clicked his tongue and pointed toward his lower abdomen.

“Tch. Only absorb as much as you need, idiot!”

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