Chapter 8: The Mana Incarnation and the 3% Limit
The bakery was silent again, the metallic chime of the NPC Auditor's departure ringing in Ruichi's ears. He was alone with the levitating loaf—the small, wiggling, undeniable evidence of an escalating physics anomaly that the System was now actively scrutinizing.
Ruichi didn't bother forcing the bread down this time. He just stared at the small, buoyant anomaly.
The "anomalies"—the VR glitches, the posture shifts, the floating bread—were all symptoms of the single, external force attempting to penetrate the local system structure, triggered by his own suppressed power. If the Auditor returned tomorrow, the scrutiny would pinpoint his violation of the NPC Code.
"I need to find the source of the system intrusion," Ruichi muttered, tapping a frantic message into his hidden palm terminal. "The Auditor gave me less than twenty-four hours. Aish... I hate rushing."
He pulled off his apron, revealing a simple, dark suit beneath—the uniform of the former hybrid student. He was not the CEO Banker; he was just Ruichi, the small portion of existence trying to survive. He left the bakery through the rear service exit, following the weak, localized disruption signal left by the levitating loaf.
Following the signal, Ruichi descended into the forgotten access tunnels beneath Sector 9, eventually reaching a massive, abandoned corporate server room—the precise source of the intrusion.
The lights in the subterranean room flickered violently. Ruichi found the cause: a tall, cold figure—a System Enforcer—standing among the dusty mainframes, a high-frequency pulse rifle held steady. This was no mere NPC Auditor.
"Villager 2922," the Enforcer stated, his voice synthesized and devoid of emotion. "You are violating the System's structural integrity. Your anomalous energy signature is a risk to the Code. Your life is a terminated asset."
Ruichi stood firm. "You don't understand the Code. I didn't steal it; I am it."
The Enforcer pulled the trigger. The pulse rifle spat a concentrated burst of superheated plasma.
The Mana Incarnation
As the searing plasma traveled, Ruichi channeled his true self. He didn't use thermal inversion; he called upon the elemental power suppressed within his very core—the Incarnation of Mana. He was limited to 3% of his total power, but that was enough.
A wave of concentrated, pure Fire Affinity erupted from Ruichi's hands. It wasn't raw combustion; it was the fundamental thermal structure of mana applied to the plasma bolt, instantly destabilizing the bolt's kinetic bonds and causing it to dissipate harmlessly into inert steam and dust.
Ruichi felt the internal drain, the sheer cost of violating the 3% limit threshold.
PMana≤0.03⋅PTotal
"My power is limited, but my affinity is absolute," Ruichi declared, his voice burning with contained heat. "You are dealing with an Elemental Source. Not an asset."
The Enforcer recovered instantly, pulling two heat-resistant throwing knives, targeting the exposed ceiling cables.
"Elemental chaos is easily contained!" the Enforcer yelled, launching the knives.
Ruichi focused his Fire Affinity on the knives, intending to vaporize them. But the Enforcer had a counter. The knives exploded into a blinding, disorganized flash of superheated metal shards.
Ruichi felt his control snap. The disorganized fragmentation attack was operating on a chaotic thermal signature: 5.44GHz—a frequency designed to bypass his Elemental Fire Affinity and compromise his core Mana structure. He couldn't burn away a thousand tiny, disorganized fragments operating at 5.44 GHz.
The overload was too fast. The ceiling supports began to crumble. Ruichi was trapped beneath collapsing concrete and steel.
The last thing Ruichi heard before the ceiling began to peel away was the Enforcer's synthetic voice, cold and triumphant:
"No affinity can stop gravity, Incarnation. You lose."
Chapter 8, Part 2: Gravity, Affinity, and the Cost of the Incarnation
The ceiling supports began to peel away, sending an avalanche of broken concrete and twisted rebar toward Ruichi. The Enforcer's synthetic voice—"No reversion can stop gravity"—mocked the failed attempt of his Fire Affinity to contain the threat.
Ruichi was pinned, not by the debris, but by the overwhelming, organized nature of the Enforcer's final attack. The Enforcer was not using basic kinetics; he was utilizing the fundamental force governing the Sector: Gravity Affinity.
The Force of Organized Mass
Ruichi, the Mana Incarnation, recognized the signature instantly. The assassin wasn't simply letting the ceiling fall; he was augmenting its collapse by subtly increasing the local gravitational field surrounding the debris.
Ruichi had mere milliseconds. He could not counter gravity, but he could learn it. He channeled his limited 3% Mana not into fire, but into computational affinity—an attempt to forcibly map the Enforcer's power onto his own core before he was crushed.
The calculation burst into his mind, defining the relationship between the Enforcer's localized gravitational effect (g′) and the structural stress (σ) on the collapsing ceiling:
σcollapse=ρg′h⋅(tL)
Where ρ is the density of the concrete, h is the height of the ceiling, L is the moment arm, and t is the thickness.
To survive, Ruichi needed to reduce the effect of the Enforcer's localized gravity pulse (g′). He realized that the Fire Affinity was useless, but his Mana core held the blueprint for Jonathan Raines' Time/Space Element—the ultimate counter to a gravitational field.
He didn't need time manipulation; he just needed a momentary, calculated spatial distortion.
With a final, desperate surge of his Mana, Ruichi initiated a sub-dimensional flicker—a micro-jump that displaced his body by exactly 0.47 meters laterally. This was not a power he could sustain, but it was enough to momentarily exist outside the primary vector of the gravitational collapse.
The ten tons of ceiling crashed down, missing Ruichi by inches. The dust, pulverized by the amplified gravity, filled the air.
The Escape and the Heart-Wrenching Cliffhanger
The Enforcer, stunned by the unexpected spatial distortion, was momentarily distracted. Ruichi, coughing on the dust, seized the chance. He plunged his hand into the collapsed debris, forcing his limited Mana through the concrete and metal, creating a localized, superheated thermal channel—a blast of Fire Affinity to propel him forward.
He shot out of the wreckage like a cannonball, staggering toward the main service exit.
"You cannot escape, Incarnation!" the Enforcer synthesized, recovering and charging a new, focused gravitational pulse.
Ruichi reached the exit door, slamming the emergency access panel. He was safe for now, but the gravitational pulse struck the server room, sealing the entrance behind him with an earth-shaking thud.
Gasping, Ruichi leaned against the cold metal door, running the numbers of his escape. He had used 2.9% of his Mana, skirted the 5.44 GHz fragmentation, and barely evaded a Gravity Affinity attack. He had survived.
Then, he looked down at his hand.
The thumb drive—the one containing the final, uncorrupted Reversion Code that would save the System and complete Jonathan Raines' work—was not there.
During the spatial distortion (0.47 meters), the drive had slipped out of his grasp.
Ruichi's blood ran cold. The Code, the key to the entire global narrative, the purpose of his existence, was lying on the floor of the subterranean server room, now buried under ten tons of concrete and guarded by the Gravity Affinity Enforcer.
But the heartbreak was not the loss of the data.
Ruichi's internal sensory system flashed a sudden, terrible alert. The thumb drive had contained one more hidden file—a single, personal data log that he kept secret from the world: the last known coordinates and a single, grainy photo of Jonathan Raines, his idol, his hope, and the man he swore to meet.
The coordinates—the key to finding the real CEO Banker—were now crushed.
Ruichi, the Incarnation of Mana, the student who survived an amplified gravitational collapse, sank to his knees outside the sealed room. His voice, stripped of all Korean slang and CEO pretense, cracked with pure despair.
"I... I lost him. I failed the Code."
✍️ A Note from the Author, Kai Hoshin
Hey everyone!
Welcome to Chapter 8, Part 2! That was a massive physics overload for our dear Ruichi, and I know your minds are probably racing with questions about Mana, Gravity Affinity, and how one manages to survive ten tons of reinforced concrete. (Answer: Mana Incarnation with a 3% limit, obviously.)
But I know one question is probably nagging at my sharp-eyed readers:
Wait, Where Did the Dark Suit Come From?
Yes, just moments ago, Ruichi (Villager 2922) was wiping down a counter in his gentle bakery apron and tunic. Now, he's fully decked out in a slick, dark suit ready for a high-stakes, subterranean face-off.
We have to embrace the beautiful absurdity of the multiverse here, folks!
In the world of The Real Code, things that are impossible in your world are simply advanced character options here. When Ruichi realized he had only moments before the Auditor's return, he initiated a Level 3 Code Swap. This allows high-level players (or in his case, Incarnations) to instantly exchange their Local Function Gear (the apron/tunic) for their Combat/Escape Gear (the dark suit) via localized spatial distortion—a feature often utilized in this Sector.
Think of it like this: If Shina Raines (Jonathan's distant, perpetually timid brother from Hokkaido) can instantaneously grow spiky, gravity-defying hair from a buzzcut just by accepting a major quest(future tease), Ruichi can certainly swap out his bakery gear for a sleek, dark suit. It's just good Mana housekeeping!
Ruichi's focus is now purely on his mission to retrieve the Code and the lost coordinates. He's ditched the jom and the aigoo for now—he has a job to do.
Enjoy the next phase of the Incarnation's desperate journey! And please, hit that Collect button. Ruichi desperately needs to know you're rooting for him after that last blow!
Happy reading!
— Kai Hoshin