My Isekai Life in Hard Mode

The Night is Still Long

In the elevator, Ryoshu was stuffing his belongings into his space ring. There wasn't much: clothes, personal items, the notebook he'd been writing in, and the rusty sword from the living room.

"Good thing there's still space... But who's that girl? She seems familiar, but I can't place her. A new character I've seen before? Or just a random NPC?"

Ryoshu wondered for a moment before shifting his focus.

"Forget it. The important thing is I don't have a place to stay now... Where should I go this week? There's still a week until the class division test, and I've already lost my place... But at least I don't have to pay the rent."

The more he thought about it, the more unreasonable it seemed that his character could afford an apartment while he couldn't.

"But I still need somewhere to stay tonight, or I'll be homeless. With just this ring, I can't make it."

Then, a crazy idea struck him. Ryoshu checked for cameras in the elevator, feeling safe, and hastily scribbled some lines on his knee using the teleportation scroll the blacksmith had given him.

After finishing, he read the incantation and tore the paper in half.

His body was enveloped in ancient lines and vanished from the elevator.

"Farewell, human!"

* * *

Now, he found himself in a primeval forest near another Temple Gate.

After gathering dry branches and lighting candles, Ryoshu sat cross-legged. Soon, only his steady breathing filled the silent forest.

"Now, I have to visualize a spherical fruit."

He tried to absorb the Mana around him and shape it into a sphere, but it flowed out again each time.

"This is uncomfortable!"

Frustrated, he lay on the ground, gazing at the stars and feeling the cool forest air. Ryoshu felt less discouraged and enjoyed the scenery for a while.

"I haven't seen stars like this in ages."

And then, thoughts of his loved ones came to him.

"I wish my parents and little sister were here under this beautiful sky. And if she were here too..."

Ryoshu gazed quietly at the night sky, then suddenly sprang up.

"I still have my little sister! I have to try to go back and apologize to her!"

Closing his eyes, he focused on the sphere.

To understand Mana, you can think of the human body like a cup of water. The Mana circuit is the mouth of the cup, determining absorption capacity. The Mana ring processes Mana, acting like a funnel and a filter. The Mana Core stores Mana, which is essential for humans to use at will. Everyone can improve their Mana absorption ability, for example, by eating ginseng roots. Although Ryoshu couldn't store Mana, he could still use it with low efficiency, so he focused on creating his first Mana Core.

"Keep breathing and stay calm."

Despite the continuous influx of Mana, his mind calmed. His face smoothed out.

"The mind must be empty."

Soon, his mind was blank, focused only on letting Mana flow into his heart.

When his body was entire of Mana, he shaped it into a sphere, quietly trying repeatedly.

After repeating the process for minutes or maybe hours, Ryoshu finally heard the awaited sound.

"Congratulations on creating your First Mana Core. Keep trying for the next!"

Unlocking the "Mana Core" Feature (Basic) and Unlocking Mana Potential (F-)

Ryoshu slowly opened his eyes and saw a bunch of new notifications. But he quickly closed them, focusing on the task ahead. He imagined Mana flowing out of his palm and tried to hold it there.

At first, he couldn't hold it for even half a second. Whenever he let go, the Mana dissipated into the air. But with practice, he got better, holding it for half a second or even a full second.

"Maybe I'm just bad at controlling Mana? It's just a button press in the game, so I'm still determining. Or I'm using the wrong method?

Concentrating Mana felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. All the concepts needed to be more abstract for Ryoshu. Even online explanations needed to be more specific for him.

"I need to try something different."

He absorbed Mana into the core he just created, then imagined it flowing through his Mana pathways and appearing in his palm.

Luckily, he already had 12 Mana pathways, so absorbing and channeling Mana was relatively easy. But releasing it into his palm without saturating it with surrounding Mana was the hardest part.

Every time he let go, it dissipated within a second. So he had to repeat the process until he depleted all the Mana in his core and then started over.

It was frustrating that he needed to progress faster than the protagonists in the Isekai series he used to watch. But he stayed focused.

It took over an hour to maintain Mana in his palm for about 5 seconds this time, but he still had to keep his eyes closed. In this aspect, Ryoshu became much more proficient than other characters.

"Takahashi said it took him two hours to do what I'm doing now."

Takahashi Haruki was the main character of the Rainfall Disorder game. Ryoshu would meet him soon, and the main storyline would begin.

The "Super Memory" and "Lightning Reflexes" traits helped accelerate the process...

He received the "Mana Focus" skill (Level I).

"Now I can gather and focus Mana more easily and quickly."

Additionally, his imagination related to Mana improved. Thanks to his Super Memory, Lightning Reflexes, and Adaptability, he could focus Mana on any body part in just over an hour.

"But this is just the beginning... now I can start learning Magic..."

Ryoshu retrieved the lighter from his space ring. It was cheap, but he bought it anyway, knowing he would only use it once.

"I must be crazy... Who would've thought I'd burn my hand just to learn Fire Magic?"

He cautiously lit the lighter. The flame illuminated the dark forest slightly.

"Hard work pays off, right... I hope it's worth it."

As he brought his finger closer, he soon regretted his decision.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"

The scream echoed through the forest. The flame was too hot to touch again.

Ryoshu tossed it aside, groaning and writhing on the ground. But since he had yet to unlock the skill he needed, this was just his first attempt.

"...The night is still long."