That time I got reincarnated with a glitch: strings of fate

In a dimension awash with vibrant, shifting colors, Nirik's voice echoed with riddles. He explained that the artifacts they sought would emit mana, but their spawn locations would be uncontrolled. Their priority was to find each other before heading to the artifacts. Once an artifact was collected, calling his name would summon him. He warned them that some of these worlds had no mana, and using it could cause unexpected results, with residual mana lingering and leading to different outcomes.

Adam, still struggling to grasp Nirik's incomprehensible powers of traversing time and worlds, understood the gravity of the advice. Emily's life and their unborn child depended on this. Lyra squeezed Adam's hand, vowing to do whatever it took. Adam held Emily's hand, bracing himself. Nirik smiled, and a flash of light engulfed them before Adam abruptly woke up on a bathroom floor.

A World Plagued by Zombies

The bathroom was dark and in disarray. He opened the door to reveal the wreckage of an abandoned house, recently vacated, with belongings strewn everywhere. Lyra's voice, clear in his neuro-link, brought immense relief. "I'm safe," she confirmed. Adam missed their constant connection. He asked Lyra about their locations, how far apart they were. Lyra's scan revealed a new, unknown world, too vast for her current knowledge to pinpoint their exact distance. However, she detected multiple anomalies in her area, confirming she was inside a mall. Adam knew they needed to reunite and find the artifact quickly.

As Adam descended to the ground floor, a growl erupted from the shadows. A zombie lunged at him. Adam instinctively dashed through a window, smashing the glass. The loud noise attracted a horde, and Adam was forced to run, relying solely on his stamina in this mana-deprived world. He noticed his body was faster and stronger, a result of his training and survival in other worlds.

He outran the pursuing zombies, managing to climb the side of a nearby house. The horde swarmed the house but couldn't climb. Adam, unable to conjure a portal without passing out from chi exhaustion, realized he was truly stuck. He remembered Nirik's warning about residual mana causing unexpected results and decided to save his black armor's one-time use for emergencies.

Without a reliable mana source, he was little more than an above-average human.

He asked Lyra to scan his area through his eyes. Lyra, now safe atop the shopping mall, confirmed Adam was in a rural residential area. Adam asked her to check the sun's position; it was different. They were indeed far apart. Lyra then noted something unusual: multiple humans were hiding in the residential area.

Adam was shocked, knowing that prolonged exposure would only lead to more zombies. He asked Lyra if there was a way to create and minimize mana use in his current situation. Lyra proposed a modified tent that could become a mana-rich environment while preventing mana leaks, useful for extracting items from his dimension.

However, his current location wasn't ideal.

Adam told Lyra to reverse-engineer the tent's blueprint while he found a better spot. Lyra pinpointed a radio tower with minimal zombies and easy access to its top floor.

Adam set off, jumping from the roof, stepping on a fence, then leaping into another courtyard. He climbed another fence, went through an open gate, and ran through the streets. The radio tower was 2 km away. As he ran, people inside a house heard his footsteps and saw him from their window. They shouted for help, and Adam, knowing the noise would attract more zombies, signaled them to keep quiet.

Lyra scanned, revealing two children and three adults in the room. Adam ran to the opposite house, smashed a window, and shouted to draw the zombies' attention. The zombies swarmed the house as Adam climbed over a fence, continuing to make noise to lure them away, then ran silently towards the house of the survivors.

Adam climbed into the house with the survivors through an open window. He saw their faces, gaunt from lack of food and water. "Can you guys run?" he asked. They shook their heads, too weak. Adam asked Lyra to send the blueprint. He told everyone to stay quiet and, using his chi converted to mana, created the new version of the tent.

Before he collapsed, he laid inside the tent's mana barrier. He absorbed the rich mana, recovering quickly. Now empowered, he produced cuisine and drinks for everyone. Lyra warned him that the tent's intense mana could cause mana poisoning, so normal people shouldn't enter. Adam understood the danger.

A Haven and a New Strategy

Adam asked them about the apocalypse. They explained that a plague had spread from another country weeks ago, turning those with weak immunity into zombies. Society had collapsed about two weeks ago, and people were awaiting rescue from the army, but none came. Supplies were dwindling. Adam asked Lyra to scan the entire residential area for survivors. Hundreds were hiding.

Adam created a dimension filled with houses, food, and drinks. He told the survivors to enter the portal and choose any place to stay. Adam's duplicates helped them inside. Then, a plan formed. He created more duplicates to gather survivors, bringing them back, recovering any fainter duplicates inside the tent, and then sending everyone into the dimension.

This maximized efficiency. Lyra pinpointed every survivor's location in the area. Adam sent out his black-armored duplicates, who blazed through the locations, teleporting everyone back quickly and efficiently. The survivors were now safe in the dimension, enjoying shelter, food, and peace.

Adam posed as a government official, a "rescue team" using "classified technology." He observed the happy faces in the dimension, knowing he needed to maintain their sanity and establish rules. Women took on roles caring for children, distracted by ice cream and theme parks.

Adam asked the men to help create a structure for their new community, establishing rules and ensuring safety, with Adam overseeing everything.

Adam then packed the tent, preparing to run to the radio tower. He easily used duplicates to clear the hordes around the area. He broadcasted a message, checking for signs of life and urging survivors to hold onto hope, promising to reach them soon. Adam then asked Lyra if it was possible to work around the mana limitation.

Lyra had an idea: using a modified suit, similar to Emily's stasis coffin, that would emit high-density mana only inside, allowing Adam to freely use his powers in this world. Adam used a slime core to create this new mana suit based on her blueprints.

Now, Adam could freely use his powers in a manaless world, thanks to Lyra. He was ready to save more survivors and find Lyra, before embarking on the quest for the artifact.