The air had gone colder now, carrying that stillness that crept in as though the sun's about to leave for good.
Each step sank quiet into the dirt while the light between the trees thinned to threads, soft and amber, falling over me like dying fire.
And I walked through it, lost in the 'Status' before me.
[Protocol: Chronos]
Name: Arlen Hale
Race: Human
Circuits: 2
Affinity: Time, Red Lightning
Level: 14 / 100 (Tier 1, Late Stage)
EXP: 15,267 / 19,462
Status: Ruptured Core
Core Integrity: 7%
Function: Compromised.
MP Regeneration: -5/sec (Mana Leaking)
Circuits over-exerted.
1 Year before optimal function.
Stat Points: 0
Stats
STR: 1
AGI: 1
EDU: 1
DEX: 1
MP: 0 / 66
MP Regen: -5/sec (Core Ruptured)
LCK: 1
Magic
Red Lightning Reinforcement (Epic) (Active) (Min. 5 MP/sec) (7 Circuits for Optimal Function)
Skills
Precognition (Legendary) (Active) (Min. 2 MP/sec) (2 Circuits for Optimal Function)
Gear: Crossbow (Heirloom), Laro's Sword (Common)
Credits: 118
Tabs: [Shop] [Inventory] [Map] [Crafting]
The panel flickered as I stared at it, eyes locked on the part that mattered most.
MP Regen: -5/sec.
"I can't even fight a goblin in this state, much less kill a wyvern…" I muttered, watching the number like it might change out of pity.
At the normal rate of 0.1 per second, sixty-six MP would've taken roughly eleven minutes to recover.
Painfully slow, but at least it was recovery.
Now?
Now I was bleeding mana.
Even if I stood still and chugged a potion, I'd be bone dry again in thirteen seconds flat.
And that was without casting anything.
If I used both Red Lightning Reinforcement and Precognition, I'd be losing twelve MP per second instead of seven.
That's still five and a half seconds of power.
"That's the same as before the whole goblin fiasco…" I whispered, half laughing, half grimacing.
The math wasn't comforting.
The only difference now was that I couldn't preload mana anymore.
I'd have to pop a potion the moment a fight started and end it within those same five seconds before the leak drained me dry again.
One potion. One fight.
The thought made me glance up, scanning the dark between the trees.
The last of the sunlight was fading, golden smears turning to gray as the forest sank into that strange in-between light where everything looked softer.
My mind drifted back to the goblins. To the one that saw me first, to the sound of its shriek echoing through the trees, to the way it called the rest like a hive answering its queen.
That whole thing started before I could even react.
And now, my survival would depend entirely upon my reacting quickly.
"So now what…" I said under my breath as I stepped through the last line of trees.
And there it was, the clearing.
The same crooked fire Victor made was still burning weakly at the center, throwing a faint orange glow over the dirt and the hanging pot above it.
By the time I sat beside it, I still hadn't figured out my next course of action.
[System… pull up that quest]
And the next second, another panel shimmered to life.
{
Optional Quest
Target: Wyvern (Fire)
Predicted Tier: 5, Mid Stage
Time left for completion: 03:40:28
Reward:
5,000 Credits
Time Dilation (Legendary)
Slows time to a crawl relative to the user's perception and cognition.
Effective range: 10-meter radius at minimum function.
}
"I barely have four hours left to complete it…" I muttered, closing the panel with a sigh, "Other than finding Victor… this whole trip has been a disaster."
[But still… now what?]
That question kept gnawing at the back of my head.
The sensible thing would've been to wait till sunrise, get Victor to escort me out of this forest, and head home.
But to turn back now?
To give up on… my very first trip down insanity?
"Yeah… no way I'm resurrecting Mother with this little resolve," I sighed, leaning back and watching the last slivers of sunlight fade while the stars began flickering to life above the trees.
I knew whatever potion that could fix my core would cost more than I could afford…certainly not in the next three hours.
[System… what'll fix my core?]
-Ding!
{Grade 2 Healing Potion. Price: 3,50,000 Credits.}
A dry laugh escaped me. "Yeah. Called it."
[What do you think are my chances of completing the quest as I am now?]
-Ding!
{None. Advisory: Please abort.}
I stared at that message for a long moment.
Even the system thought this was suicide.
But here's the thing about the heart… it gives no shits about logic or the odds.
"Nah…" I muttered, smirking faintly. "I'd still win."
-Ding!
{Context: Consuming mana potions and using Skills or Magic will put additional strain on the core.
It will be extremely painful and may cause further degradation.
Warning: Risk of Crippled Core if pushed further.
Current Core Integrity: 7%.
Do you still wish to continue?}
"System… I gotta do this." I looked down at my hands, faint traces of dried blood still clinging to my skin.
"If I turn back now… sure, I'll probably still become that overpowered bastard someday. Maybe even strong enough to resurrect my mother… But, I'll never be strong enough to face what comes after that."
-Ding!
{Correct. ^%R^^% and #. &%& are beyond the limits of this world.}
The screen glitched for a second, static flickering through the text like interference from another dimension.
"So I need to win this," I said softly, voice trembling between exhaustion and defiance.
"To prove to myself that I can… To know that I can beat the impossible even with every odd stacked against me… because if I can do this, if I can win, I'll know for sure I might actually have what it takes to reach that happily-ever-after I keep dreaming about."
-Ding!
{Question: Do you truly believe you have what it takes?}
"Let's find out," I whispered, half smiling. "But the point of it all is… I need to get to a state where impossible odds start to look favorable."
-Ding!
{Noted.}