Second Draft - Reincarnated Into a Game in Impossible Mode

Suddenly the elevator made a sound, and Ryoshu froze, pulling his hoodie over his head. The footsteps were getting closer, growing louder. Or rather, it was the sound of his own heartbeat.

"Amemura, are you moving out?"

A clear voice came from behind the boy. He turned around to identify the owner of that voice.

'This girl is Japanese... like me.'

A slender figure in a school uniform with brown hair flowing in the breeze. Her pink cheeks complemented her playful brown eyes. Her oval face seemed somewhat melancholic, at least Ryoshu thought so.

"Ah, yeah, I mean no, I... got evicted..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry..." - She was quite surprised by his words.

Now it was Ryoshu's turn to be surprised, perhaps because the petite girl was treating him quite nicely. This was completely opposite to Ryoshu's previous life before he came to this game world.

"No, it's not your fault at all."

'Maybe because she's a fellow Japanese that she's being so polite... but does my character know this cute girl? She looks about the same age as my character, so it's quite possible.'

While he was thinking about the girl in front of him, she asked:

"Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

Out of pride, he lied outright.

"I do."

"Are you sure?" - She raised an eyebrow, looking rather doubtful.

"You can come to my place if you need help. My parents would be happy to help you."

Seeing that things were getting complicated, Ryoshu quickly gathered his things and prepared to leave.

"I've got a place already. Anyway, thank you very much. Goodbye!" - His voice sounded hurried, matching his hasty actions.

"Oh... well, goodbye then."

Ryoshu quickly walked to the elevator without looking back. Meanwhile, the curious girl kept watching him.

'Somehow, Amemura seems different today?'

The beautiful young girl kept looking at the boy carrying a pile of belongings until the elevator door closed completely.

'Normally he avoids eye contact and gives very short answers. But today he even greeted me?' - The girl tilted her head to one side, recalling the hurried and somewhat clumsy actions of her neighbor.

The cute girl opened her door, not forgetting to glance at the elevator one last time.

"How strange... But I hope I'll see him again at the academy."

In the elevator, Ryoshu was putting all his belongings into his spatial ring. Although there wasn't much: clothes, personal items, the notebook he had written in earlier that day, and a rather rusty sword from the living room.

'Luckily there's still room for other things... Who was that girl anyway? She looks familiar somehow, but I just can't remember who she is? A new character I accidentally glimpsed? Or... just an NPC?'

Ryoshu couldn't figure it out, so he gave up and moved on to the more pressing problem at hand.

'Whatever, the important thing is that I no longer have a place to stay... Where am I going to go for the next week? There's still almost a week before the class placement test, and I've already lost my place... But looking on the bright side, I don't have to pay back the rent I owe...'

Ryoshu found it increasingly unreasonable that his character could rent an apartment when he didn't have much money.

"But I still need to find a place to stay tonight or I'll be on the streets. Just one core and I couldn't even get that done properly."

But suddenly he came up with a rather crazy idea. Ryoshu checked the elevator for cameras. Seeing that it was fairly safe, he took out the teleportation scroll the blacksmith had given him and bent down to scribble some messy lines on his knee.

After finishing, Ryoshu stood up to read the incantation and then tore the paper in half.

His body was once again enveloped by ancient text and then disappeared from the elevator.

'Goodbye, humans! Suck my ba-'

----0w0----

Currently, he was in the middle of a primeval forest, and nearby was another Temple Gate.

After gathering dry branches to one side and lighting candles around, Ryoshu sat cross-legged. After a while, his steady breathing was the only sound in the quiet forest.

'Now I have to imagine the shape of a sphere.'

Then, he tried to absorb the surrounding Mana and tried to circulate it in the shape of that sphere, but Ryoshu's face unconsciously wrinkled at the action. But each time the pale blue Mana stream entered, it automatically flew right back out.

"This feels so uncomfortable!"

He got frustrated and lay down on the ground. Looking up at the bright stars in the sky, he sat there and felt the cool air of this forest called the Whispering Forest. Ryoshu felt less discouraged and enjoyed the scenery a bit longer.

"How long has it been since I last looked at stars like this?"

And unconsciously, Ryoshu remembered his loved ones:

"I wish my parents and sister could gather together under this beautiful starry sky. And if she could be here too..."

Ryoshu quietly gazed at the seductive night sky. And suddenly he sat bolt upright.

"I still have my sister! I must try to get back and apologize to her!"

He closed his eyes again, but this time focused only on that sphere.

To understand how Mana works, one can compare the human body to a cup of water.

The Mana Circuit would be the size of the cup's mouth; the larger it is, the more water can be poured in at once, determining the circulation speed. This is the Absorption ability.

The Mana Circle is the Mana Processing ability. It would be the water funnel, and the better the funnel, the less water spills out. It also acts as a water filter that can filter and transform the basic properties of water.

The Mana Core is related to Mana Storage, which would be the amount of water that the cup can hold before overflowing.

More simply, the Core is quantity, the Circle is quality, and the Circuit is regeneration.

And currently, Ryoshu doesn't even have a cup or a water filter. But the Mana Core was the most necessary thing for humans to store Mana directly in their bodies like other races or monsters.

It was also an important part of the equation that created the Potential Limit - the ability to Absorb Mana. Everyone is born with different abilities to absorb Mana; some people are more favored by Mana than others. And of course, humans can improve their Absorption ability in various ways.

For example, eating ginseng root will remove most impurities in the body to increase the number of Mana Circuit connections. Therefore, although he currently cannot store any Mana, he can still use Mana with very, very low efficiency.

So while all three factors are very important, if you cannot store Mana, you cannot use Mana as desired. That's why he was trying his best to create his first Mana Core.

'Try to maintain breathing rhythm and stay as calm as possible, just like when meditating.'

Despite the continuous flow of pale blue Mana pouring into him, his mind became calmer than ever. Evidence of this was that his face was less wrinkled.

'The mind must be as empty as possible.'

Just a few minutes later, his mind was completely empty. Even his past failures, the reason why he was here, or what he was doing here were gone. Now he was thinking about only one thing: letting the Mana flow into his heart.

When his body was filled with Mana, he began to make it flow in a spherical shape again, but this time he wasn't hasty but quietly kept trying again and again despite failing.

For talented characters in this world, this would probably take only a few minutes to complete their first Mana Core. Subsequent cores would take increasingly more time to create.

After several minutes... or perhaps tens of minutes of repeatedly absorbing Mana and letting those Mana streams flow in to form a spherical shape, Ryoshu finally heard a mechanical and cold sound that he had been waiting for all this time.

[Congratulations, you have created your "First Mana Core". Keep trying to create more Mana Cores!]

[Acquired trait "Mana Core" (Basic)]

[Acquired potential "Mana" (F-)]

Ryoshu slowly opened his eyes and looked at the new notifications. But quickly closed his eyes to focus on the next task. Next, he imagined the image of Mana being pushed out from his palm and then tried to maintain it there.

Of course, at first he couldn't hold it for even half a second. Because as soon as he released the Mana, it immediately lost its shape and flew back into the air. But the more he did it, the more proficient he became, as later he could extend it by another half second or so.

'Maybe it's because my Mana control is too poor? In the game, you just press buttons, so I'm not really clear. Or maybe I'm using the wrong method?'

The feeling of concentrating Mana in one place was like looking for a needle in a haystack. All the concepts here were too abstract for Ryoshu. Even though he searched online, people in this world still explained things too vaguely for his limited understanding.

'This time I have to try a different approach.'

Ryoshu absorbed Mana into the core he had just finished making and then imagined the Mana flowing out through his Mana Circuits to appear in his palm.

Fortunately, he already had 12 Mana Circuits, so the step of absorbing and letting Mana pass through the circuits was relatively easy. But the next step was the hardest, when he had to release Mana into his palm and keep it from saturating with the Mana density in the surrounding space.

Ryoshu would push it out only for it to evaporate after just one second, so he had to do it over and over until he used up all the Mana in his Mana core. Then he just kept repeating the process.

Although it was quite frustrating that progress wasn't as lightning-fast as other characters in the Isekai shows he used to watch in his old body, Ryoshu still maintained an impressive focus on his task.

This time it took over an hour before he could hold Mana in his palm for about 5 seconds, but he still had to close his eyes and imagine. In this aspect, Ryoshu became proficient much faster than other characters in this world.

'Takahashi once said it took him two hours before he could hold it like me.'

Takahashi Haruki is the main character of the game Rainfall Disorder, the one who holds the fate of protecting the world from the apocalypse. It would be very soon before Ryoshu would meet the main characters directly, and the Main Plot would begin then.

[Talents "Super Memory" and "Godspeed Reflexes" have accelerated the process...]

[Acquired Skill "Mana Focus" (Level I)]

'This skill is one of the branches of Mana Potential.'

Now he could gather Mana more easily and a bit faster. Most importantly, just by having the new skill, he could easily hold Mana in his palm for another quarter of a second while his eyes were open.

Additionally, he also had a better imagination related to Mana. Normally he would imagine Mana particles gathering at a point on a 2D plane; now that 2D plane had a bit more depth but wasn't quite 3D yet, more like 2.5D.

And thanks to Super Memory, Divine Speed Reflexes, and not to mention the SS+ Adaptation stat, in just over an hour, he could almost focus mana on any part of his body.

'But that's just the beginning... Now that I have Mana, next I'll learn Magic...'

Ryoshu helplessly took out the newly purchased lighter from his spatial ring. The lighter had a rather common design with nothing special about it. But it was quite cheap, so he bought it anyway since he would only use it once.

'I'm really crazy; before I wouldn't have dared to do such things in real life. Who would have thought that one day I'd burn my hand... just to learn Fire Magic?'

He started to light it up. The flame from the cheap lighter lit up and illuminated a bit of this pitch-dark forest.

"No pain, no gain... Hope it's worth it."

Ryoshu held his finger near the flame but very slowly, and he was almost prepared to pull back.

At first, when he held it close, he didn't feel much except that it was quite hot, but just a moment later, Ryoshu regretted that foolish thinking.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"

A scream echoed throughout the forest, causing a flock of birds to fly out from upstream. The burning sensation seemed to spread throughout his body, not just his finger. The flame from the lighter was too hot for him to touch it again.

Ryoshu threw it aside while moaning and rolling on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum. He tried to engrave the feeling of his burnt finger deep into his body.

'Who knew it would hurt this much... Fortunately, the relatively high Recovery stat has helped me feel a bit less pain...'

But because Ryoshu still hadn't unlocked the skill he needed, this was just the first attempt. He picked up the lighter again weakly and lifelessly.

'...It's going to be a long night.'

----0w0----

[Your body is beginning to develop characteristics to resist high temperatures]

[Acquired trait "High temperature Resistance" (Low)]

His hand was completely blistered and looked awful. Ryoshu tried to hold his finger to the flame from the cheap lighter, but this time less hesitantly than before. The painful sensation had lessened considerably compared to before, but it didn't completely disappear, just subsided a bit. Although he was happy, he still let out a sigh.

After what seemed like an eternity had passed, Ryoshu finally successfully unlocked the desired skill that he had been desperately seeking. Each failure made him become more numb to the burning sensation.

'I don't know if that's good or not...? In the game, the process was much, much simpler...'

Next, Ryoshu focused Mana in his palm while burning his fingers. But because the sensation was still quite painful, he kept losing focus. It wasn't until Ryoshu's entire hand was deformed into the black color of charcoal that he began to sense how the flame worked.

"I've got the feeling now... let's practice right away..."

While burning his other hand, Ryoshu transformed pure Mana into fire. But his efforts only transformed it into a hot gas.

'That's half done. Now I just need to try to change its color to the color of flame.'

Mana control is related to imagination, so the more familiar the image, the easier it is to transform Mana. And because Ryoshu already had a fairly clear image of fire, this time it only took a few minutes before he succeeded.

Whoosh.

The flame on his hand blazed and just a few seconds later it went out completely, much to Ryoshu's disappointment. But even that short display made him sense the unlimited potential of Mana. He tried again and observed it very carefully.

"So this is Magic... It's beautiful." - Ryoshu's eyes sparkled under the flame. The eyes that had once lost hope in everything seemed to light up again.

Although the flame was still very small and could be extinguished at any moment, Ryoshu would always rise again as long as his life force remained.

'I must believe in myself... or at least I must believe in the information I possess...'