The Life I Refuse to Waste

“Kekekeke...”

A quiet laugh escaped Kera's mouth.

Zeldryn, still leaning against the side of the window, could only stare at him in confusion.

What now?

A moment ago, this man had been laughing like a lunatic.

Now he was making another strange laugh while wearing the same smile that did absolutely nothing to make him look more trustworthy.

Zeldryn hadn't even had the chance to say anything.

Kera raised his empty hand.

Then...

Snap.

He snapped his fingers.

Boom.

!?

Zeldryn's eyes immediately widened.

Not because something exploded.

There was no fire.

No deafening sound.

Nothing broke.

Instead, something far stranger happened right in front of him.

Mana.

The golden-yellow particles that Zeldryn had been able to see since yesterday, after first succeeding in sensing the existence of mana, suddenly changed.

Until now, those particles had only moved according to their own patterns.

Floating.

Drifting slowly.

Passing through one another.

Zeldryn had tried touching them.

His hand went straight through.

He had tried blowing on them.

They didn't move at all.

He had even slapped the air where the particles floated.

Still nothing.

Anything Zeldryn did physically seemed to have absolutely no effect on mana.

But now...

The particles moved.

Not one.

Not two.

Almost all of them.

Zeldryn instinctively straightened his posture.

Dozens.

Hundreds.

He had no idea how many particles filled the room, but all of them began changing direction at once.

Those that had previously moved without any clear pattern now seemed to have a purpose.

Zeldryn held his breath.

The particles near the floor slowly rose.

Those near the ceiling moved downward.

The particles around the table, bed, door, and even the ones near the window began shifting.

All of them gathered together.

Zeldryn followed their movements with his eyes.

The mana slowly formed an arc.

Then the arc continued extending.

Around the right side of the room.

Upward.

Across the top.

Then back down along the opposite side.

Within seconds...

Zeldryn and Kera were standing inside something resembling a massive sphere.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

It wasn't a solid wall.

Zeldryn could still see the entire room through it.

But the amount of mana gathered around them was far denser than before.

Zeldryn fell silent.

His eyes continued following every movement of the particles.

This...

Magic.

The word immediately appeared in Reka's mind.

Of course, Zeldryn already knew mana was real.

He had seen it.

Felt it.

He had even tried absorbing it last night.

And as Reka, he had already read more than five thousand chapters of Life Really Is Happy, Right?

He had read about things far crazier than what Kera was doing now.

Massive battles.

Mana attacks.

Weapons coated in power.

Enormous explosions.

Even battles that ended with entire kingdoms being destroyed.

Compared to everything that happened inside the novel...

What Kera was doing right now probably wasn't even worth calling extraordinary.

But that wasn't the point.

Back then, Reka had only been reading.

He saw letters.

Sentences.

Descriptions.

Then imagined everything inside his own head.

This was different.

Mana was genuinely moving in front of his eyes.

Particles he hadn't been able to influence even slightly yesterday were now moving because of a single snap of Kera's fingers.

Something that, throughout his decades of life as a modern human, he had only ever seen in movies, games, comics, or novels...

Was now happening right in front of him.

Zeldryn remained speechless for several moments.

Reading about something and seeing it with his own eyes really were two completely different experiences.

But his amazement didn't last long.

Zeldryn suddenly snapped back to reality.

Wait.

Why the hell is Kera suddenly using mana?

Zeldryn immediately shifted his gaze toward the man with glasses.

“W-What the hell are you doing, bastard?”

A slight stammer slipped out before Zeldryn could stop it.

Kera obviously noticed.

The man chuckled softly.

“Hehe.”

That strange smile returned.

“I simply don't feel comfortable letting other people hear our conversation.”

Kera paused.

“Or see us.”

Zeldryn frowned.

His gaze returned to the layer of mana surrounding them.

“Huh?”

Zeldryn pointed toward the particles.

“You mean people can't see or hear us while this thing is here?”

Kera went silent.

Then...

His smile slowly grew wider.

Zeldryn immediately knew.

This bastard is about to start again.

Kera tilted his head slightly.

“Even the child of a Level 5 Manholer doesn't know what this is?”

Zeldryn's eyebrow twitched.

Kera continued staring at him with a smile.

“It appears I overestimated you earlier.”

...

Bastard.

Zeldryn cursed internally.

But before he could answer, Kera moved his hand again.

Zeldryn immediately noticed another change.

The mana particles surrounding almost the entire room began moving once more.

The massive layer started shrinking.

The mana near the window pulled away.

The particles above Zeldryn's head shifted as well.

Everything moved toward Kera.

Slowly.

Yet quickly enough for Zeldryn to follow the process with his eyes.

The sphere that had previously occupied almost the entire room became smaller.

Several meters.

Then smaller again.

Closer and closer to Kera.

Until finally, the boundary completely moved away from Zeldryn's body.

And at that exact moment...

Kera disappeared.

...

Zeldryn froze.

Not only Kera.

The mana that had surrounded him was gone from sight as well.

No barrier.

No particles revealing Kera's position.

No human silhouette.

No distortion in the air.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Zeldryn could only see the bedroom door, which was still open.

Empty.

“...Huh?”

Zeldryn blinked.

Once.

Twice.

He tilted his head slightly.

Then looked right.

Left.

Still empty.

Zeldryn even focused directly on the last place where Kera had been standing.

Nothing.

Even though he had been able to see mana since yesterday, that ability gave him absolutely no clue now.

It was as though Kera had been completely erased from the room.

Zeldryn swallowed.

“Mana can be used like this?”

Zeldryn wondered.

His memories of the novel immediately surfaced.

It should be possible.

Based on what he had read, concealing someone's presence wasn't impossible in this world.

There were even abilities far stranger than this.

Far greater.

Far more difficult for a person from Earth to accept logically.

But once again...

Knowing something from a novel and seeing it happen directly were completely different things.

Or in this case...

Seeing absolutely nothing.

Zeldryn stared into the empty space before him.

“Damn...”

Zeldryn muttered internally.

Only seconds ago, Kera had clearly been standing there.

Now, even though Zeldryn knew exactly where he had last been, he couldn't find the slightest trace of him.

Questions immediately flooded his mind.

How did Kera do it?

Had he actually become invisible?

Was Kera still standing in the same place?

If that earlier technique could also prevent sound from leaving a certain area, then mana clearly wasn't useful only for attacking.

Could every Level 3 Manholer do something like this?

Or was this a technique Kera had specifically learned?

If someone used an ability like this during a real fight...

How were you supposed to counter it?

Zeldryn became so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice anything approaching.

Slap!

!?

Zeldryn's head jerked sideways.

A burning sensation immediately spread across his cheek.

“Huh!?”

His hand instinctively touched his face.

Zeldryn immediately turned toward the direction the slap had come from.

Empty.

No one.

No hand.

No body.

No mana.

Nothing.

“What...?”

Before he could understand what had just happened...

Slap!

A second slap landed on his other cheek.

!?

“Hah?!”

Zeldryn immediately stepped backward.

Both hands instinctively rose slightly.

His eyes moved rapidly.

Right.

Left.

Front.

Behind.

Still nothing.

Not a single clue revealed Kera's location.

Then the man's voice suddenly came from somewhere nearby.

“Young Lord Idiot.”

!?

Zeldryn immediately turned toward the voice.

Empty.

Kera's voice came again.

“If this were a real fight...”

Kera paused.

Zeldryn remained still.

His eyes continued searching for something he couldn't see.

Then Kera finished his sentence.

“You would already be dead twice.”

Zeldryn didn't answer immediately.

His hands slowly lowered.

The first slap.

He hadn't seen anything.

The second.

Exactly the same.

Even with the ability to see mana that he had only gained yesterday, he still couldn't tell where Kera's attacks were coming from.

If that hand had been holding a knife...

A sword...

Or anything actually meant to kill...

The first strike alone might have been enough to end his life.

Zeldryn stared into the empty space in front of him.

No Kera.

No mana.

No clue.

For the first time...

The difference between knowing that Manholers were powerful and actually standing in front of a vastly more experienced Manholer became painfully clear.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!