Chapter 47 - The Price of Greed (Patreon)

The Battle Troll swings its fist at me, its tattoos shining brighter than ever, and it puts the entire force of its rush behind the swing.

I lift up my left arm and reach out towards the monster's fist with my open palm. I barely hold back the mana ravaging my body.

The Troll's attack connects and touches my arm first.

And that's all.

His movement stops, the entire force of his attack disappearing in a blink.

The world comes to a stop.

Then I try to redirect the energy, and my entire left hand explodes right up to my shoulder.

It just disappears in a fine mist of blood, flesh, and bones.

A short moment later, the Battle Troll's head explodes in the same way.

Then I pass out.

I wake up, and immediately I wish I did not.

Hoping I did level up, I try to invest three stat points into Constitution, and it actually works.

Now I have to wait a few minutes.

I focus on breathing, slowly, breathing in, breathing out.

Good.

Slowly opening my eyes, I realize that two fake suns are again in the sky, and I am lying down on a few hides in the middle of a small clearing, so similar to the one where we first appeared. The only difference is the soft hum of a stream of water nearby.

"Nathaniel."

For fuck's sake, Tess, a bit quieter.

"Nathaniel…" she repeats, and her voice is a bit softer now.

After getting used to the light, I fully open my eyes and look at Tess sitting nearby.

There is also Lily lying down right next to me. Actually, she is lying pretty close, and our bodies are touching.

Uh?

"She kept healing you the entire time and as much as she could. She fell asleep after spending the entirety of her mana multiple times," Tess says as if knowing what's going through my mind.

I see.

I glance down, and unfortunately, my left hand is still gone, and the wound is healed, covered in new, smooth, pale skin that never saw the sun, so it's not tanned. All thanks to Lily.

Goddamn.

I guess I owe them both now.

I send mana through my body and enter [Focus]. It takes longer than before, and my body hurts while I'm doing so, but soon enough, I can focus a bit better and check out the rest of my body.

The smaller wounds are already gone, and only the big ones are the problem.

My entire left arm is gone.

My right arm hurts but it´s thankfully not broken.

My left leg is not twisted anymore, but I can feel that it's not fully healed.

"Status," I whisper.

Then I slowly lift my right arm and roll my fingers into a fist, then lift my middle finger to show it to the holographic window floating in front of me.

WHAT THE FUCK!

EAT SHIT!

FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!

MOTHERFUCKER!

FUCKING CUNT!

WHAT THE HELL!

Why the fuck does every fucking monster on the fucking 1st floor of the fucking tutorial use fucking magic so fucking well?

What asshole came up with such an idea?

I swear, one day I will find the dickhead who came up with this, and I will fuck him up.

Fucking trash.

The window disappears, and I close my eyes.

For fuck's sake.

I enter a deeper [Focus] and calm down a bit.

I know I am at fault too. Almost the entire time, I continued to put more and more points into mana, relying on my talent way too much while hoping that my body would be able to handle it somehow. It's a good idea, and it can work.

But this is Hell difficulty.

Monsters here aren't crazy…

Even if I have a higher level, I can get killed if I'm not careful, as the Phantom Goblin showed me so nicely.

Battle Troll, Spider Matriarch, Crimson Wolf, and goddamn Cinderbear, all of them can use mana in some way and often have much higher base stats.

But.

It's my fault. I became too greedy, too charmed by mana, a shiny new thing, and ignored what I am good at.

Yet, I know I will most likely not change the way I go about it.

Even if it costs me my arm, even if it destroys my body, even if it costs me my mind.

For the first time in my life, I found something I am willing to put my life for.

And in the same way, I am willing to sacrifice others to survive, I am willing to sacrifice myself.

It's dumb, it's not logical, and it doesn't sound like me.

Yet, ever since I first moved my mana, I feel as if something changed in me.

Even as I lay down with my body in tatters, my head ringing, and after nearly dying, I continue to move mana in my body.

My balance is really messed up with my entire left arm gone. I am barely limping, and my shoulder hurts every time I move it.

But I walk on my own.

I don't despair.

Even if they leave me now when I am not useful, I won't give them the satisfaction of seeing me desperate and scared.

Yet, they don't do that.

Tess is helping me while she could use the precious time to level up more.

Lily is almost permanently near me, healing me every time her mana regenerates a little bit.

Kevin and Kim showed some worry as well and asked me if they could help me somehow.

Even Doggo seemed to be less cheery when asking me for food.

I…

I don't know how to react.

Are they just trying to help me out, in hopes I'll come back to my full power quickly and owe them then?

Is it just pity, and they will throw me away when they don't have a choice?

Yet, Tess helped me, she dragged me back and is keeping watch over me. Lily continues to heal me, and even the two boys seem more considerate than usual.

I am worried that I wouldn't be able to do the same for them if our places were swapped, and that bothers me for some reason.

It bothers me a lot.

"Hey, Nathaniel, do you need a hand?" Sophie asks me when she sees me picking up some water to take a drink.

That's it!

Finally.

Goddamn.

I started feeling too awkward around all these people being super considerate and trying to even avoid looking at the stump I have instead of an arm.

I like this much more.

"Such a dick move, verbally attacking an unarmed person," I answer back, and shock flashes across her face before she smiles at me.

Her eyes measure me up and down, probably trying to guess if I am still someone she should be wary of.

I even feel a tiny wisp of her mana reaching out towards me, carefully, almost unnoticeably.

When it comes closer to me, I send a pulse of mana right at Sophie, while imitating the way Cinderbear used mana.

My mana obliterates her mana and hits Sophie, making her rouse up mana around her body.

I push out more and more, showing her the entirety of my mana pool, and our eyes meet.

I am wounded

I can't walk properly right now, and I am missing an arm.

But I will not give up.

If they take my arm, I will kick; if they take my legs, I will crawl and bite.

Up until my last breath.

After a while, Sophie gives me another smile. There is no sympathy in it, yet I prefer it over the warmth others give me.

Then she leaves.

POV Sophie Martinez

Even when I tried to be as careful as possible, he felt my probing nearly instantly, and his mana fired up, totally obliterating and pushing back my mana.

Tattered, and crippled, yet his face looks calm as always as he looked at me with his differently colored eyes.

And the mana he has…

What level is he? How many points did he invest in mana? And how was he still able to be so fast, strong, and agile while putting so many points into mana?

I don't even try again and leave, soon joining Maya, Leon, and Izzie.

My little sister instantly jumps and sits near me, and I put my arm around her. The heat of her small body next to me calms me slightly as I caress her hair.

"So how is he?" Maya asks curiously.

"I wouldn't mess with him."

"Huh? He's done, right? There's no way he'll survive when the night comes again. I bet I could take him on, right now."

Remembering his firm gaze and vast mana, I somehow doubt that.

"Others will help him," Leon says shortly with his strong accent, and I agree.

"They will. There's no way they will just stand by," I warn her.

"Pfff, only Tess is worth something; the rest of them are like headless chickens without Nathaniel telling them what to do."

I've thought over it multiple times and partly agree with Maya. Tess is probably the strongest one of everyone here, now that Nathaniel is so severely wounded, but the others aren't as bad as Maya may think. Sure, Lily isn't combat-oriented, but Kim and Kevin would surely surprise her.

"Don't forget that Lily did heal your shoulder," once again, the big man says.

"I would have been fine even without it! It just healed a bit faster. I don't owe her anything!"

Before they start fighting again, I interrupt them.

"Also, I think you were right, Maya. Nathaniel probably also has [Focus] or something similar to it."

"I knew it!" The woman in her mid-twenties instantly gets distracted by new information and forgets about the fight she was about to start with Leon. "That brat is too calm! I always…" she continues to talk over Leon, who is trying to say something, and I listen to her in the back of my mind, making sure I remember everything she says.

I also continue to carefully send my mana at her.

Unlike Nathaniel, she doesn't notice it at all, and I slowly continue probing her with my [Manipulation].