The Life I Refuse to Waste

Zeldryn was still holding one of his cheeks.

The burning sensation from Kera's slap hadn't completely faded.

Twice.

If this had been a real fight, Kera said he would have already died twice.

Zeldryn frowned as he stared into the empty space in front of him.

He couldn't see Kera.

No body.

No shadow.

No mana revealing his presence.

Absolutely nothing.

But precisely because of that, a thought slowly appeared in Zeldryn's mind.

Wait.

If Kera really wanted to kill him...

Why was he still alive?

Zeldryn slowly lowered his hand.

The man was a Level 3 Manholer.

Zeldryn couldn't even see where he was right now.

The first slap had struck his face before he could react.

The second was exactly the same.

If Kera had replaced his hand with a knife, a sword, or simply struck his neck with full force...

Zeldryn might genuinely be dead already.

And not just twice.

Kera could have killed him several times by now if that had truly been his goal.

So why tell him?

Why bother saying that he had already died twice if this were a real fight?

Zeldryn narrowed his eyes slightly.

“What does this guy actually want?”

Zeldryn wondered.

He still didn't know whether Kera could be considered a good person or someone dangerous.

Coming from the main residence didn't automatically make the man trustworthy either.

But one thing was becoming increasingly clear.

If Kera's only goal was to kill him, then all of his strange behavior until now had been completely unnecessary.

Zeldryn rubbed his cheek again.

The lingering sting brought 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's voice filled the room.

No answer.

He continued in an irritated tone.

“You show up first thing in the morning, walk into my room however you please, insult me, claim you're from the main residence...”

His hand touched his cheek again.

“And now you're slapping me?”

Several seconds passed.

Somewhere Zeldryn couldn't see, Kera smiled.

“Me?”

Kera's voice suddenly appeared.

Zeldryn immediately turned toward it.

Still empty.

Then Kera answered in an incredibly casual tone.

“I came here to kill this idiot Young Lord.”

Kera laughed.

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“Hahahahaha!”

Zeldryn fell silent.

...

Kill me?

Zeldryn didn't believe him at all.

If anything, that answer only confirmed his suspicion.

He's lying.

Zeldryn immediately concluded.

If Kera were serious, Zeldryn would have died the moment the man disappeared.

No.

Kera probably could have killed him even before that.

There was no reason to play around for this long.

That meant Kera wanted something from him.

What exactly?

Zeldryn still didn't know.

But he wasn't given much time to think about it.

Suddenly...

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Something struck Zeldryn's leg.

It wasn't an especially powerful blow.

But it came from a direction he couldn't see at all.

Zeldryn's leg immediately lost its footing.

“Hey!”

His body tilted sideways.

Zeldryn tried to regain his balance, but it was too late.

Crash!

He fell onto the floor near the window.

His hands instinctively caught his body so his head wouldn't slam against the floor as well.

“Damn it!”

Zeldryn immediately looked around.

Empty.

Nothing.

Kera didn't give him even the slightest clue about his position.

Zeldryn tried to get back up.

But this time, he didn't rush.

One thought immediately came to mind.

He couldn't see him.

If Zeldryn couldn't see Kera, how was he supposed to block?

How was he supposed to dodge?

Even figuring out where the next attack would come from was impossible.

Attacking blindly wasn't the answer either.

If Zeldryn started punching the air in every direction, he would only make himself look even more stupid.

And Kera would probably laugh at him until tomorrow morning.

Zeldryn gritted his teeth.

He needed another way.

His gaze moved across the empty space around him.

Then his thoughts suddenly returned to what had happened last night.

Mana.

The pain beneath his navel.

The particles disappearing one by one.

Then losing consciousness.

When he woke up this morning, every wound on his body had healed.

Zeldryn still didn't know how all of those things were connected.

But at least one thing was certain.

He could sense mana.

And Kera had just shown him something far more important.

Mana could be moved.

Zeldryn still remembered it clearly.

One snap of the fingers.

Then particles that had previously moved however they pleased immediately reacted to Kera.

Zeldryn looked at his right hand.

If he can do it...

Zeldryn thought.

Can I?

Maybe it was impossible.

Maybe it was far too soon.

But there was no harm in trying.

Zeldryn raised his hand.

He copied Kera's movement from earlier.

His thumb and middle finger came together.

Then...

Snap.

Tak.

...

Nothing happened.

Zeldryn waited.

One second.

Two seconds.

Still nothing changed.

The mana particles he could see in the other parts of the room continued moving normally.

None approached him.

None changed direction.

None reacted to his finger snap.

Zeldryn stared at his hand.

“...”

Then loud laughter exploded from the empty room.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Zeldryn's expression immediately changed.

Kera's voice came from somewhere inside the room.

“Incredible!”

Kera continued laughing.

“Absolutely incredible!”

Zeldryn gritted his teeth.

Then Kera continued in a mocking tone.

“Did you truly think you could imitate my technique just by snapping your fingers?”

Kera laughed again.

“You haven't even reached Level 1!”

Zeldryn frowned.

“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, it would never end.

For now...

Find a solution.

That was all.

Zeldryn lowered his hand.

He tried paying closer attention to his surroundings.

Sound.

Movement in the air.

Anything.

Maybe something could reveal Kera's location.

But he hadn't been concentrating for long when...

Wham!

A kick struck the side of Zeldryn's body while he was still on the floor.

“ARGH!”

His body was shoved sideways.

Zeldryn immediately grabbed the area where the kick had landed.

“Shit...!”

Pain spread across his side.

It wasn't enough to break any bones.

But it was definitely strong enough to knock the breath out of him for a moment.

Zeldryn grimaced.

He tried to breathe again.

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

Zeldryn complained internally.

He had only been kicked once, and his thoughts were already a mess.

And this wasn't even a genuine life-or-death battle.

How did those protagonists endure attacks, come up with strategies, analyze their enemies' abilities, and still somehow have enough time left to trade insults?

How many brains do they have?

“If your life is on the line, why the hell would you waste time arguing...”

Zeldryn cursed silently as he endured the pain.

Strangely enough, complaining helped calm his thoughts a little.

He couldn't panic.

If he kept reacting to every attack Kera made, the man would control him however he wanted.

Zeldryn slowly raised his body.

One knee rested against the floor.

His hand supported him near the window.

He looked again at the mana particles in the parts of the room unaffected by Kera's technique.

Golden-yellow particles.

Drifting slowly.

Unaffected by physical objects around them.

Zeldryn stared at them for several moments.

Then something came to mind.

Color.

According to what he remembered from the novel, every person could perceive mana differently.

Some saw it as blue.

Green.

Black.

Transparent.

And Zeldryn himself saw it as golden-yellow.

It depended on the person seeing it.

Their perceptions weren't the same.

Zeldryn slowly frowned.

“Wait...”

Zeldryn muttered internally.

If the way people perceived mana could be different...

Did the way they interacted with it have to be the same?

Zeldryn looked at the hand he had used to snap his fingers.

He had tried copying Kera.

The result?

Nothing.

Maybe he was simply too weak.

Maybe it was because he hadn't even reached Level 1 yet.

Or...

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

Zeldryn wondered.

Kera snapped his fingers.

Mana moved.

But that didn't necessarily mean the finger snap itself was what actually moved the mana.

It could simply be a habit.

A trigger.

Or even something Kera deliberately did just to look cool.

Zeldryn stared into the empty space before him.

For the first time, he stopped trying to imitate Kera.

If every person perceived mana differently...

Then perhaps using it wasn't as simple as copying someone else's movements either.

No one knew.

Even Zeldryn himself had no idea whether that thought was correct.

But at least...

Now he had something to try.

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