I've been in this forest for more than three days. Guiver told me to try learning magic using the memories of the books he read in his previous life.
At first I was reluctant to do this because I thought it was pointless, but since he kept forcing me, I had no other way to refuse.
But I'm really sick of this. "Hey, Guiver. This is really hard, you know." I could only complain while doing this. But he ignored it. "Shut up! Stop whining about everything! Everything has a process!" He really said that. "Argh! Until when?!" I replied.
He said I had to gather 'Mana', but… what is 'Mana' anyway? How do I do it? He really ordered me to meditate under this waterfall for three whole days. I had to withstand the cold, and I had to stay focused without food or water. Basically I was forced not to move at all.
He kept saying weird things. "Relax. According to the book I read, in moments like this, the main character awakens his hidden power." He said calmly. That made the veins on my head pop, and I screamed in my heart. "Main character?! I'm not even some destined hero!" If he had a physical body, I would've punched him.
*Scratct. Scratch. I heard something in my head. "What are you doing?!" I asked him. He answered quietly, "I'm writing. Turns out I can manifest things I want as long as I think about them." Then he stopped talking again. But wait… "Manifest things? What do you mean?"
He still seemed to be writing, because I could still hear the scratching sound in my head. "Just like I said," he whispered, then added, "I can manifest things here, but there are limits."
"What the heck?! That's so unfair! Why do YOU get powers?!" I could only curse him. Honestly, I was jealous of him. I'm the one training under a waterfall, yet he's the one who gets that ability.
"Hahaha relax." He laughed casually and stopped writing. "There are still limits. I can only manifest things that can help you." Somehow, even though I couldn't see him, I could feel he was lifting a book and wanted to show it to me. "I can manifest this book and writing tools to write the next plan."
His words confused me even more. "What do you mean?" I asked quietly, still trying to focus.
"For example. If I want to drink coffee, then I can't manifest coffee." He seemed to continue writing. "Because 'coffee' has nothing to do with 'helping you.'"
I started to understand a little. "I see." I didn't want to make a fuss about it anymore and tried to focus on training.
He suddenly laughed proudly in my head. "Hahaha! Another example… I can manifest this expensive computer and a gaming chair!" His voice was seriously irritating. "That's cheating!" I knew what a computer and gaming chair were based on his memories from his previous life.
He calmed down again. "But it still has limits. They can only be used to search for information that's useful for you. And the chair isn't even a luxury one."
"I see. So you mean you can't use that expensive computer for things that are useless to me?" I asked him. "Exactly." Thank goodness. I was really relieved, because if not for that limitation, he would definitely use it for weird things.
"So hurry up and finish your training!" He yelled at me instead.
I grew even more annoyed. "Why not use that thing to look for a way to finish my training faster?"
"Oh right… I forgot! Hahaha!" This guy really pisses me off. He started looking for a way to help my training, but he searched through fictional works from his previous world. I didn't care anymore as long as my training finished quickly.
I trained for about a week following his nonsensical directions. Luckily, I was allowed to eat and drink.
And strangely, today exactly a week later, somehow I produced something. My body suddenly felt warm even though I was under a waterfall. I slowly opened my eyes and saw both my palms. "This… Why is it glowing?!" I asked curiously.
"Hooo! So this is 'Mana', huh?" he whispered. He immediately knew it was Mana? Why does he think so fast? "Hey kid! Try chanting something." He said excitedly.
I was still confused. "Chant?! What's that?"
"Just say it! For example, extend your hand and shout loudly 'Fireball!'" He said it with full enthusiasm.
Without asking much, I tried what he ordered. I extended my hand forward and shouted: "Fireball!"
I could feel Guiver's face become extremely excited when I shouted that, as if he were waiting for something. Slowly, something seemed ready to come out of my palm.
Whoooshh. Fire burst from my palm. Even though it was small, it shot forward fast. "Woah! What's that?!" I said in disbelief. He suddenly shouted, "Hahaha! That's great! The first magic I've ever seen!" He yelled with such joy that for some reason his excitement made me happy too.
I looked at my palm, which had just produced a fireball, smiled faintly, and murmured in my heart, "That's right. This is also the first time I've seen magic… And I'm the one using it." I looked up at the sky.
He nodded softly, I could feel he was smiling too. "Good job, kid." He said, as if praising me. Honestly, that was the first praise I'd received since the death of my parents. "Hey, Guiver," I said softly to him.
"Yes?"
"Thank you for being here and supporting me. I'm grateful you're inside me." I kept looking at the towering sky. Even though I was under the waterfall, somehow I didn't feel cold or hurt, and strangely deep in my heart, I felt warm and calm.
He smiled faintly. "What are you even saying? We still have a lot to do." His confident tone made me nod. "Yeah." From now on I'll follow all his commands, even if they're weird.
I continued training in the same forest, but now not under the waterfall. He told me to run and keep running around the forest to train my stamina. This time I did it without any protest.
"Haaa… Haaa…" My breathing was completely irregular. Guiver kept ordering me to run around the forest.
Sure, earlier I said I wouldn't protest. But still, what the heck is this? "Hey, Guiver! Do I seriously have to do this?!" I shouted with shaky breath. "Haaa… Haaa…"
"Of course! Do it now!" He ordered sternly.
"B-But…" I looked down. "T-This is really high!" This time he ordered me to jump off a cliff.
He didn't care. "Just do it! This is to make your body tough!"
I gulped as I looked down the deep, dark cliff. "I-I'll die…" It wasn't only deep and dark; there were sharp rocks on the sides.
"You won't die! Relax! At most only a few broken bones!" He shouted in my head. "B-Broken bones?!" That made me even more terrified.
I tried negotiating with him. "H-Hey, Guiver. Don't you want me to have a better life?" I spoke shakily, turning away from the cliff and looking around.
"That's right. Just do it."
"I-Isn't this torture?! Where's the good life in this?!" I kept trying to negotiate even though I knew it was useless. Because he was a psychopathic otaku.
He responded bluntly. "If you don't do it, your body will stay weak… He… He… He…" He even laughed creepily.
"Don't laugh like that!" I tried remembering something. "I-Is there a medicine that can regenerate my body?!"
"Hold on. I'll check if there is one on the computer. He… He… He…"
"Stop laughing like that damn it! Your laugh isn't funny at all!" I really hated his psychopathic laugh; he truly had no mercy on me. And when I tried protesting before, he always compared it to himself dying because he created a 'Nuclear bomb', saying, "This training is only a tiny part of a bigger goal." It's true he sacrificed his life for his dream, but still, he vents everything on me.
After searching for a while, he suddenly spoke. "Ah! There is none."
I got mad. "None?! S-So… What now?!" I grew even more terrified about what I was about to do next.
He suddenly spoke excitedly. "Don't worry!" he yelled.
I yelled back in frustration, cutting him off. "Worry about what?!"
He continued. "If your body is coated with 'Mana', the impact will be weaker."
I suddenly realized something. "So… that's why you told me to train magic first?"
He suddenly acted shy. "N-No. It's… It's just coincidence."
"What's with that tsundere attitude?!" His tone was really irritating. He's an old man! Why is he acting like a tsundere?
"A-Anyway!" He suddenly coughed, probably trying to change the subject. "Just jump. I want to see your body's endurance and your magic."
I swallowed hard when he said that, looking down again. "But this is really deep." I tried looking for the bottom. "How many meters is it?" I muttered.
Oh right, since we were in the forest, we didn't need to talk in our hearts anymore to avoid being considered crazy. I spoke out loud, even though I still sounded like someone talking to themselves.
He answered uncertainly. Even though he could see what I saw, everything looked unclear right now. "Fifty meters… maybe?" he answered quietly.
I groaned in fear. "F-Fifty… meters?…" This was seriously dangerous. I'd definitely die.
"Boom!" While I was staring at the bottom of the cliff, Guiver suddenly shouted. It startled me so much that I reflexively jumped, but the foothold crumbled… And… "Damn it! Damn you Guiver! Bastard!" I really fell into the cliff.
He laughed. "Hahaha! Interesting!"
"I haven't coated my body yet!" I tried grabbing the rocks on the cliff as I fell rapidly, but it was useless, everything was fragile. "Calm down," I murmured softly. I tried calming myself and closed my eyes to coat my body with Mana.
"Focus, kid!" He tried giving me directions.
I grew even angrier. "Shut up." My body was covered in wounds from scraping the rocks, and even my fingers were broken.
"There's 20 seconds left judging from your falling speed," he added.
"20 seconds?" I had to focus. Finally, after 5 seconds of concentrating, my entire body was coated in Mana. But the pain didn't decrease at all.
He gave more direction. "Let your body fall freely. If you try to resist, it'll hurt more." Was he serious? I was about to die soon, and he wanted me to just accept death? What did he mean… he wanted me to surrender to death?
I gambled on his words and stopped trying to grab anything, letting my body flip freely. I tried looking at the bottom. "I can't see it!" I yelled.
"Protect your head." He added.
I immediately obeyed, covering my head with my broken fingers. Probably because I had no other choice.
My right leg was also broken from repeatedly trying to find footing on the rocks. "Damn it. It hurts so much!" I could only groan.
Then… Crash! "Arghhhhh!" I hit the bottom. The rocks were uneven, some sharp, stabbing into the front of my body. "Huk! Uhuk!" It was extremely painful. My fingernails were gone, my fingers were broken, my right leg was broken, my stomach was pierced, and my body slammed the rocks hard.
No one could get used to this pain. It was truly unbearable. Tears flowed on their own. "Huuuh… Damn it…" I tried lying down and pulling the sharp rock out of my stomach.
"Haaa… haa…" Even with Mana coating my entire body, sure, I didn't die… but this was truly brutal. I tried sitting up slowly.
"Don't sit yet, kid." Guiver said, breaking the silence at the bottom of the cliff.
I struggled. "W-What now?!" All my strength vanished and I lay down again.
"Otherwise the wound in your stomach will keep bleeding. And you'll die from blood loss." He said it flatly.
I panicked. "R-Really? After all this pain… I'll suffer slowly again?!"
He tried calming me. "Relax. Just follow my orders and you'll live," he said with quiet certainty.
I nodded weakly. "O-Okay." I fully relied on him. I just wanted this to end quickly.
He continued. "Coat your body with Mana again. It will slow your death."
"O-Okay." I tried regulating my breath, ignoring the pain, and focused on coating my body again.
After a moment, I did it. "D-Done."
He continued. "Learn healing magic," he said calmly.
That made me snap. "Healing magic?! Are you kidding me? That's impossible in this situation!" I screamed, my voice echoing through the pitch-black base of the cliff.
I felt Guiver shake his head. "No," he paused, "This is exactly the right time because your body will naturally try to heal itself."
I had no reason to refuse. "F-Fine," I muttered. "But… how?"
He tried searching again. "Hm… according to the book I read… You just need to focus and think 'Heal'."
Hearing that made me shout instantly. "What book did you read now?!"
But he only chuckled. "A book titled The Healer… I read it in my previous life, but I forgot most of it and just manifested it again."
That irritated me even more. "That's just fiction! Don't compare me to that!"
He tried changing the subject. "Ahem! Anyway, you need to learn healing magic quickly before you die," he said confidently. "And since you already coated yourself with Mana, the process will be faster."
I sighed. "Haaa." I tried adjusting my breath and adapting to the pain. Earlier, I thought no one could ever adapt to pain like this—and I still think that's true.
Because even with Mana coating my body, the pain didn't go away at all. Especially for someone who never experienced something like this.
I tried learning healing magic through unbearable pain. I had to focus—to heal, and to live.
Now, Reigh kept struggling desperately to survive. He groaned in pain again and again in the silent darkness at the bottom of the cliff. Without any living creature around, without any light to shine on him, and… without any certainty that he would survive.
The story shifts to another place.
"He's not here again today, huh." I was really curious. Where was the boy who usually sat here? Did he die because of the harsh life here, or maybe he found something better?
I kept looking around. His fate was the same as mine. I heard that his parents died because they were betrayed by certain people, so I wanted to help him a little by giving this food.
Someone called out to me. "What are you doing there, Sylzee?" I turned to the voice. Ah… it was my sister. "Nothing." I walked toward her.
"Hurry up!" I didn't want to continue my job anymore and didn't want to be used by her. But I also agreed with her purpose, so I decided to keep working. "Alright."