Isaac isn't dumb; he begins sprinting away again.
"Hey! Come back ~!"
Hmmm… But Temporal Anchor… Wind Element… Mana… I can use magic.
A game. A game.
The fall, the endless dark…
Have I somehow been uploaded? Trapped in some VR purgatory?
Or was this the universe's sick joke, rebirthing me as a fucking plaything for cultists and glowing menus???
The individual lunges once he frees his cleaver, but now with the red markers and predictive arcs. Isaac quickly sidesteps while delivering a counter, driving his fist into the individual's liver.
Both he and Isaac howl in pain.
His body shut down. Isaac's wrist twisted.
Staggering back, he regains composure, most likely even more determined to kill this filthy boxer now.
"You fucking SHIT!"
Good Strike!!!
Stamina: 1% |
Wha—? Shut up! Is this damn system cheering me on? No judging on the passive | Survival Instinct |, it's taunting me in some sick, encouraging manner.
What a fucking shit cheat system. At least some buffed chakra. At LEAST some esper magic. AT LEAST some potions or a grey fog. AT LEAST GIVE ME SOME generic isekai instant cheat manhwa systems, but NOOOO.
This motherFUCIKING shit is useless. I only have my damn statistics and magic, and I don't know how to use shit!
"Burst!"
The cleaver-man flinches.
But no aerial energy was released.
Bruh
But wait.
Temporal Anchor | stated that I have authority to "...'perceive'" into the inhabitants of this world…
If I'm capable of doing whatever little damage my punch has inflicted, that means I should be relatively equal in terms of stats or system authority to the goblin.
It's worth a shot.
I highly doubt I'll be able to stagger it any longer with another punch, seeing as my stamina is left at 1%.
"NPC A stats? Background character statistics? Statistics of the NPC in front of me?"
Isaac rapidly fires these questions. Even the he looks confused.
"Inhabitant in line of sight statistics…"
PLEASE. Some information, please.
The system buzzes.
The blue of his own statistics fades, where a red interface forms in front of the...
Name?: Matthew Chong
Class?: 8th Quaternion Esoteric Kabbalist
Title?: Ritualist
Age: ??? (Biological Age). ??? (Mental Age)
Stats:
- Strength: 3-Star
- Vitality: 2-Star
- Agility: 3-Star
- Intellect: ???-Star
- Stamina: 51%
Attributes?:
Enhanced Strength: By consuming human flesh. Ritualists are allowed to sustain greater strength beyond ordinary human limits.
Enhanced Stamina: By consuming human flesh. Ritualists are allowed to sustain greater stamina beyond ordinary human limits.
Element Affinity?:
None
Mana Remaining?: ??? MP
…
Fuck you.
Isaac Mun. Am less superior to a damn 'Ritualist?'.
What the fuck does it mean by 8th Quaaternian Esoteric Kabbalist???
There is mysticism on top of Magic in this world?
Nevertheless, his stats, except for intellect, are above mine. And the worst part is that he's still at 51% stamina, even while swinging that huge ass cleaver.
It's a fight I can't hope to win…
Isaac glanced at the cliff's edge. The drop is definitely lethal. A puddle of brain matter and intestines would be left if he jumped.
He's thinking about how embarrassing it would be to perish in the same manner.
However, his interface's | Survival Instinct | tag pulses urgently.
Are you shitting me? I died once from falling, and now you want me to JUMP????
Suicide, death by fall a second time…
The Ritualist Matthew finally pulls his cleaver out of the ground.
"Okay. Just die, will you?"
In that moment, he runs at Isaac.
Behind him, more laughters echo. The rest of the Ritualists arrive sooner or later.
Well, what other option do I have left?
Tsk… FINE.
"HEY! COMEBACK!"
"FUCK YOU, YOU DAMN RITUALIST!"
Isaac Mun sprints toward the cliff, and Ritualist Matthew gives chase. At the edge, Isaac sprawls as Ritualist Matthew steps over. With an upwards kick to the testicles and a push backwards, grinding Isaac on the ground.
"GUGHHH. FUCK THAT HUR一 huh?"
The Ritualist trips and overshoots, plunging straight down while crying out.
Yet. Regardless. Isaacs' fate is similar to that of a desperate attempt to pull himself back up. The ritualist grabs and breaks Isaac's finger with all his might and pulls him off the cliff.
FUCK. THAT HURTS! My finger. Ow. Ow. Ow. OWWWW!!!!
This fucking bum… Of course, you had to pull me down with you.
"FUCK YOU!"
What is one supposed to do to survive this? Even if the system said that this was the most optimal spot to be in, by miscontextualization.
It could very well be the most optimal spot for Isaac to die.
Though a recurring thought occurs rings once again.
Inside the Ritualist's stats were two things that Isaac had over him.
Elemental Affinity and Mana.
Isaac has heard these statistics somewhere long ago…
Not in University, not in College.
Not even in high school nor middle school, no, sometime long ago these phrases were familiar to him.
Given the context of these words, there's only one time period in his life where he'd love to hear them be uttered.
"Elenos Arcane Academia: The Legend of the Light…"
Yes. Isaac's favourite game. The shitty RPG, with its only good aspect being the lore.
The game Isaac loved and hated.
The origin of his scientific obsessions and ultimately, his plummet from a 36th-floor balcony.
Elenos Arcane Academia: The Legend of the Light…
A magic academy simulator masquerading as a dating sim, where the protagonist, some blank-slate overpowered everyman, seduces three heroines with all the romantic subtlety of a peacock. Awkward library encounters, training montages intercut with beach episodes with a world-ending threat resolved via the power of polygamy.
But the magic…
The magic sang to Isaac.
EAA's combat system wasn't about button-mashing or grinding levels. It was more like a ritual.
To cast even a basic gust spell, one had to align pseudo-scientific mana channels, recite incantations phonetically, and time the inputs to the game's quick time events.
Most players ignored it, relying on the auto-battle and skipping cutscenes to reach the harem endings faster.
For one, why bother mastering Magical Thermodynamics when one could just give Heroine 1 enough chocolate to trigger her "Blushing Confession" event and eventually, her "Do you wanna do it" event?
But Isaac was the exception.
The obsessive young kid.
Although tempted by the romance aspect of the game. He was the kid who combed through every pixelated bookshelf and decoded the game's lore like it held the secrets of his universe.
Maybe because it was the last thing his mother gave him before an unknown illness took her.
Despite the medical bills and the negligent father, a battered second-hand copy was given to Isaac after she'd scrounged for it.
"Magic's real, you know, Isaac. You'll find it someday. Don't worry about mommy"
Tsk… She'd meant metaphorically. I took it literally.
Now, falling through this alien sky, I don't hate you, Mom, but I curse you for being damn right.
Isaac's stomach regurgitates as he forces his limbs into the skydiver's pose against the G-Force.
Drag bites into his frail, borrowed body, slowing the descent.
9.8 m/s. Terminal velocity again.
Judging based on the texture of the trees below me, the relative sizes of these trees and the parallax motion of the objects near the horizon…
Approximately 230 meters before impact.
With a marginal visual error of 15 meters…
215 / 9.8
Equals…
21.93877 seconds…
A quick calculation by a genius, down to the hundred-thousandths decimal place.
Panic nearly fractures his focus.
This isn't how magic worked in EAA. Those fatasses didn't feel the spells. They clicked menus, optimised stats, and watched pretty fucking animations.
But the boy whose body I'd stolen? His muscles remember something. I can feel what he wants me to do. His nerves are like cables waiting for a current.
Wind Affinity. Think. How did the professors teach the first-years?
A memory surfaces: pixelated lecture halls, a crotchety NPC droning about "Mana Alignment."
"Mana isn't a resource, you idiots! It's a negotiation. You ask the world to bend. If it likes your argument, it complies and gives back."
Bullshit philosophy.
But the game's code backed it up; spell success rates depended on environmental factors. Casting Fire Magic during rain would result in being penalised.
But Wind Magic mid-fall? It would be enhanced.
"Float"
Isaac rasp, the spell's invocation felt absurd.
Nothing happens.
13 seconds…
The ground rushes closer.
In EAA, spellcasting required three components, right?:
Intent (The mental blueprint)Incantation (The "request")Invocation (The physical catalyst)
But this isn't a game. There's no UI to guide him, no helpful tooltips. Only a stupid system and terror with the nerd-rot lore stuck in his brain.
Intent. Focus on the outcome. Not "cast spell," but "slow fall." Visualise air thickening beneath me, becoming a cushion full of density.
Incantation. The game used English for magic. "Float" No, that's a Novice-Class Spell.
Too advanced.
8 seconds…
Invocation. The body's role. In EAA, wind mages flicked their fingers in precise movements. But this body's muscle memory...
5 seconds…
His fingers twitch involuntarily, grasping the air again, ripping it apart like a curtain.
"Veil!!!"
The words tear from his throat.
The world wrenches as Isaac's eye is nearly pierced by a branch.
But wind wraps beneath Isaac, increasing viscosity into a liquid-like state rather than a gas. It hits his gut hard. But it slows his descent, not gracefully, but extremely violently, as if the air itself is punching upward.
Blood trickles from Isaac's nose with possible broken bones.
0 seconds…
CRACKKK
Rings as he slams against a tree branch, the impact knocks the breath from his lungs. Then another… And another… one more…
And finally, the ground.
But, instead of silence.
His new voice erupts like a triumphant cry.
"YES!!!"
And the blue interface agrees:
New Title: "Adept of the Howling Void" |
| "You've negotiated with the storm. It finds you… amusing." Good job
Element Affinity: Wind (1-Star → 2-Star) |
Remaining MP: 126/250 |
"Negotiating my ass," He wheezes, spitting mud. "More like a shakedown… And fuck you mean good job?"
Hell yeah! It worked! The magic, REAL MAGIC, worked.
But it wasn't the end. The interface notifies:
Run
The laughter that never ceases. The Ritualist began climbing down the cliff.
But Isaac laughs. It's a broken, manic. No. Maniac's sound.
Oh~ Elenos Arcane Academia was a shitty game. But this? This is so much fucking worse.
Practitioners of Esotericism are added as a DLC??? What a good joke…
In EAA, there existed no such inhabitant, monster or entity that was an "Esoteric Kabbalist"
Here, on the other hand, their eyes locked onto Isaac. Straight. At. Him.
Run
Don't have to tell me twi一
Isaac's legs aren't obeying him. The adrenaline from before had already fermented into dread.
Fucking hell, MOVE!
This body I've stolen is betraying me???
My knees… my knees.
They buckle as his lungs heave and collapse. Remember, the impact of the fall wasn't pretty.
On top of that, His muscles remember starvation, not sprinting.
Stamina: 12% |