Parasite King

Jonah paced back and forth on the platform, grumbling and grinding his teeth. The past few minutes had NOT gone well at all...

[Jonah]: "So, what are you exactly?"

[AI]: "Response: I am your temporary personal assistant, assigned to answer inquiries, and assist in your recovery."

[Jonah]: "Yes, you've said that already, but why? Who sent you? You can't expect me to believe 'The Game' is suddenly benevolent enough to send some helper, not after everything that's happened so far.

[AI]: "Response: Please refer to 'The Game' manual articular 11S3-2A for rules and regulations regarding System support and sponsored care packages.

[Jonah]: "AAARUG!"

Jonah grunted and threw his fist into the meaty wall nearby. Then immediately regretted it as a sharp pain shot up his still injured forearm. This had been going on for a while now. He'd ask a question, and 9/10 times the AI would tell him to 'look in the manual.'

He wasn't sure if the AI simply couldn't answer his questions, or if he wasn't asking the right ones? Like was it one of those automated phone bots that only responded to precise commands? Though his gut told him that a system sophisticated enough to spawn giant monsters and create literal magic, shouldn't be so... simple.

None the less, he was able to glean some basic information as well. For example, by the AI's response, he could make a reasonable conclusion; this "assistant AI" was some kind of care package by one of the sponsors.

From who, and for what reason, he couldn't speculate, but given its limited abilities and lifespan, it probably wasn't something expensive.

Though to be fair, he assumed it'd be more useful if he still had his manual...

Maybe one of his "viewers" just wanted to see him suffer more in the better of a snake and was trying to keep him around longer. Whatever the reason, it did tell him something else.

Sponsors weren't just able to send monsters after him (though he didn't doubt it would happen again), they were able to support the "contestants" in other ways as well.

Maybe the most popular contestants were already being sponsored by some rich young master in some distant galaxy. It gave him hope that maybe, there might be someone strong enough out there to rescue him. He wouldn't rely on some slim possibility, though; at the end of the day, the only one he could rely on to help him was himself.

Besides that, he doubted there were many (if any) truly "benevolent" viewers of this sic[k game.

Jonah activated a short burst of [Arcanic Regeneration], and winced as the pain in his arm was replaced by one in his head, though it quickly faded. The soul-strain still put a limit on his mana use, but he found that he could use these short bursts to speed up his recovery if he was careful.

He rubbed his temples and tried again, this time remembering to keep his questions as direct and straightforward as possible.

[Jonah]: "So what information CAN you tell me?... that's not in the manual?"

[AI]: "Response: This system is authorized to instruct the host on the following;

1. 1. 1. Inquires about host health and status.
      2. Inquires about system basics related to host recovery.
      3. Suggestions regarding skill and training exercises to assist in host recovery.

Great. So basically, a glorified nurse bot. But instead of a sexy android, he got a floating box. He guessed you get what you paid for (not that he was the one paying).

Still, something was better than nothing. And it should answer some questions that had been nagging him for the past few weeks.

[Jonah]: "Then tell me. What are HP and MP? 

This one had stumped him for a while. By "normal" game logic, HP would represent a character's health. At 100%, they should be in perfect health. And while he definitely felt more... resilient, since his level-ups, he also noticed something strange.

His head told him even the passive effect of [Arcanic Regeneration] should heal him from even grievous wounds in a few minutes. And he did notice a shockingly fast recovery rate when he was under 100% HP.

However, once he hit 100%, the recovery stopped, no matter what kind of wounds he had. Only after he activated the skill, would his wounds start to heal fully. Even after three weeks, he could tell the rest of his wounds hadn't fully healed, especially his broken ribs. He even suspected he was only healing at the average rate before 'The Game.' 

[AI]: "Response: HP is the quantifiable totality of your combat effectiveness. It encompasses the physical and mental state of your body, as well as energy reserves. The higher it is, the greater your ability to perform 'work' of any kind. Respectively, anything that decreases your ability to perform 'work' will also decrease your HP. 

MP is a quantifiable measurement of your soul. It is both the storage place and generator of the energy form designated 'Mana.' MP also quantifies your willpower and overall mental strength (not state). Greater reserves represent a more massive, more energetic soul and a healthier and more resilient mind.

[Jonah]: "But then why am I still injured if my HP is already full? If HP represents the health of my body, shouldn't that reflect my wounds?"

[AI]: "Response: HP reflects your combat effectiveness. When your HP has reached 100%, the System has judged that you can function at your maximum possible output. 

In other words, 100% HP didn't mean he was at perfect health; it meant he could fight without injuries affecting what he could do. He guessed that made sense. But if HP was everything, even just his stamina, did that mean he could lose HP just from hard work? Or was there some kind of unseen buffer?

If he had to guess, his HP would only start dropping from physical exertion, when it started to affect his combat effectiveness. Like someone who could do a 3-mile jog and go straight to the gym would stay at top shape longer than someone who sits on the couch all day.

Conversely, he assumed someone with injuries like his might see a drop in HP every time they tried to exert themselves.

It also shed some light on how [Arcanic Regeneration] might function. It's passive gradually increased his HP, which caused the system to "reset" his body to fighting condition. But once he hit 100% HP there was "nothing left" for it to restore, meaning his body defaulted back to its normal, 'human,' recovery rate. At the same time, it's active ability directly healed his wounds and regrew flesh and bone, bypassing the limitations of just 'HP recovery.'

The whole thing was medically fascinating to Jonah as a veterinarian, and it only spawned more questions in his mind. Did that mean his passive and active also restored his stamina? Could he keep restoring his energy as long as he had mana? How did sleep factor into all this? What about sickness? Could he even GET sick anymore? He was pretty sure this place wasn't the most sanitary of places, even with his constant acid baths. But he'd yet to see any signs of infection in his wounds.

These were questions he could ask later, however. Right now, there was one major one he still needed to know.

[Jonah]: "So then, What happens when my HP or MP hits 0?

[AI]: "Response: Variable. As long as the contestant retains 1 HP, the system will sustain that contestant's life, regardless of the extent and nature of the injury. This excludes status conditions such as poisoning or bleeding, which will factor into the decrease of HP. Once a contestant's HP hits 0, they will lose the protection of the System and will suffer the full extent of their biological damage.

This damage can manifest as shock, organ failure, loss of consciousness, mental collapse, and other such symptoms, depending on the nature of the damage. 

While this results in death in approximately 90% of lower-level contestants, if treatment is received in time, HP can be brought over 0 and System protection reinstated. 

If a contestant's MP reaches 0, they will enter a state of mana starvation. Mana starvation will greatly low the contestant's mental and soul fortitude, make them highly susceptible to mental and magical attacks.

Skills used during Mana starvation will draw directly from the soul, increasing their cost by 2x (represented as a negative reserve, IE -20/450[-10]), and injuring the soul. This will temporarily decrease their total regeneratable mana pool by the Skills base cost until the soul has healed.

The contestant will enter a state of Soul Shock if mana is overdrawn over 100% of their total mana pool (IE -480/450[-235]). In this state, skill cost increases 3x, and draws directly from their maximum mana pool, decreasing it permanently.

If the contestant's maximum MP reaches 0 (IE -460/0), they will enter a state of Soul Collapse. Note, except under extremely rare circumstances, contestants whose soul has collapsed will fall unconscious and expire in 3 days.

Jonah groaned as he tried to take in all the information. It was a lot to take in all at once, even if he understood the basics. HP was simple enough at first glance. Take damage or overexert yourself, and you lose HP. It was interesting that the System would keep you alive even if you were only at 1 HP. While it seemed apparent that he would still be alive at 1 HP, the state he imagined someone would be at that point sent shivers up his spine. 

If he understood it correctly, you could be disemboweled, or burnt to a crisp, but as long as you had 1 HP left and managed to stop the bleeding, the system would keep you alive. He was sure that something like cutting the head off or disintegrating someone was enough to bring someone to 0 HP instantly. But it also left the possibility of exceptions. Skills that would keep you alive at 1 HP from an attack that would usually be fatal were popular troupes in video games, after all.

More importantly, that gave him a distinct advantage with [Arcanic Regeneration] that others might not have. At 0 HP, he doubted that many would be able to remain conscious, let alone move or help themselves. They would be at the mercy of others. But with the healing passive of his Skill, even if he were knocked unconscious, it might be enough to get back over 0 HP and regain the system's protection.

It was an entirely situational gamble, but it was something to keep in mind, as well.

Mana, on the other hand, was a lot more complicated than he first assumed. He had gleaned a little bit about it thanks to overmana, but he didn't understand the extent. Just like how he could extend his MP over the limit with overmana, he could "draw" on more than he had.

In fact, Jonah suspected that the MP on his status screen wasn't a reflection of his "total" mana pool like his HP was. Instead is showed how much energy was "free" to use, with the rest of it going towards maintaining his soul or other things. 

He could still draw on the rest of that pool if he needed to, but there would be consequences for doing so.

The first stage, he would be fine, since that was the energy he had freely available. Overmana added to this pool too, and maintaining overmana helped him 'exercise' how much extra energy he could hold at once.

Stage two, however, had him start drawing on his reserves. This was the energy his body or soul or something, used to maintain itself. Since the energy wasn't as readily available to use, it cost more and didn't recover as quickly.

If he had to make an analogy, it would be like your body switching from readily available sugars, to burning fat. It would take time to build that 'fat' back up, reflecting itself in a temporarily lower "free" energy pool.

Stage three is where things started to get serious, however. If stage two was burning fat, then stage three was burning body mass. This was the point where there was no longer a reserve to burn, and the soul started to 'consume' itself instead. This would cause permanent damage to his soul if he ever got this far. Probably wouldn't feel very pleasant either.

Jonah was starting to suspect this was the real reason [Arcanic Regeneration] was only D-Ranked. He'd assumed that if someone without a form of mana regeneration took the skill, they would just always be sitting at 0 mana.

This new information, however, painted a much darker picture.

If the user couldn't 'feed' the skill's passive, it would quickly eat through their free energy before moving on to the 'fat' and finally, the soul itself. It was a skill that could very well mean not only your death but the collapse of your very soul, if you didn't prepare for it.

Not only that, but its continually growing nature meant that even if someone DID have a way to regain their mana, they would have to always make sure their skills were up to par, lest they fall behind and start to be slowly drained.

It was like a parasite, slowly sipping away at their life, continually demanding more, while dangling the sweet fruit of cheap HP recovery in front of them.

Jonah's back was soon soaked in a cold sweat; had he made a mistake? Would [Breathless] be able to keep up? Or would he fall behind and suffer that fate as well? Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to trust something from someone called "Marcco the Mad" after all.

At least he knew what he needed to do now. His immediate goal would be to focus on increasing [Breathless] as much as he could and using overmana to increase his mana pool. Luckily, his class came with a significant increase to his mana as well, so he'd be able to keep above the curve with any luck.

Still, he had more questions than answers. And each answer just birthed more questions. It was a never-ending cycle, but he knew if he didn't keep asking, then he'd be dead shortly after.

Jonah took a deep breath and got into his meditation pose. No point in wasting time now. As he calmed his breath and starting to breathe in, he sent a mental command to his AI;

[Jonah]: Next, tell me about Skills...