-"Aaaaahh, I give up!!" Noah complained, drenched in sweat and completely out of breath.
They had been walking through the forest for three hours now without encountering a single road or trace of civilization.
He added, "I'm telling you, this isn't teleportation this time. We're trapped in some kind of formation or spatial imprisonment technique. That damn Hwang is way stronger than he looks."
-"I've also got the feeling we've been walking in circles this whole time. The scenery and sky change, but something isn't natural..." Levi explained.
He crouched down and pressed his ear to the ground for a few seconds.
-"Why do you keep doing that?" Noah asked.
-"There are no ants. Not on the ground, nor on the trees," Levi confirmed.
-"I see, so this place really is fake, though it doesn't feel like an illusion."
The two boys exchanged their respective views on the situation, and after a while, the topic changed completely.
-"Wait, hold on—you know about video games?? I thought you came from another planet or ancient times!" Noah exclaimed.
-"Mmh, no, what's here isn't really different from what I had back home," Levi replied. "My grandpa often brought me video games. In my memories, I was just in my attic when I touched this strange gourd on a shelf. A light blinded me, and then nothing."
-"Are you serious? You seem way too calm for this situation. I'd be panicking if I were you," Noah replied. "Were you teleported or kidnapped? And how is it that you speak English so well?"
-"Mmh, English is my native language... I was rather confused at first, but after thinking about it, isn't this exciting? I never had the chance to go outside because of an illness so my grandpa used to tell me many stories about the world outside, and I finally have the chance to discover it," Levi finished.
-"Wait you're ill ?! Damn heartless bastards, you shouldn't have been dragged in all of this.m" Noah pointed.
-"Well to be honest, I'm not really sure what my illness is, I just did as my Grandpa told me. The agents in suits told me I'm fine so I thought I'd slip out on an adventure." Levi said with the biggest smile
Noah was left speechless. He then took out his phone and tried to turn it on for the hundredth time.
Mai observed the scene from a few meters away. She stared at the sky, then closed her eyes. She took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, as if letting all her worries escape.
She thought to herself that this place might be artificial, but the air remained pleasant. Then she was surprised when she realized she was beginning to smile.
She gathered her courage and went to interrupt the two boys. "Night will fall soon. We need to decide what we're going to do next."
-"The young lady is right, Levi, but we haven't found anything to eat or drink, and none of us knows anything about camping."
-"Mai..." she said shyly. "My name is Mai."
Levi smiled and advanced his hypothesis. "Mr. Hwang mentioned a surprise test. I think we just have to meet certain conditions to pass it."
Noah continued, "We can cross exploration off the list then. From a gamer's perspective in this situation, it's probably a survival game. But since we haven't found any resources, we won't last long."
-"Are we going to have to kill each other?" Mai asked.
Both boys jumped.
-"That was a joke," she reassured them immediately.
-"Haha... haha... Um, for now, the most plausible thing is that we just need to survive for a certain duration," Levi concluded as the last rays of the setting sun disappeared.
Awooooouuuuuu aawwouuuuuuu
A bestial howl covered the entire forest, and the children immediately understood what was about to happen.
-"I think hunting time has begun! I knew it was too easy," Noah stood up confidently with his knife in hand and raised his guard while Levi and Mai...
-"What are you two waiting for? Get ready to fight!" Levi and Mai just stood there doing nothing, then Noah understood the gravity of the situation. "Don't tell me you don't know how to fight?!"
Too late to confirm—the enemy had already appeared. It was an adult wolf over a meter tall with blood-red eyes and fur. Its canines were razor-sharp, and it emanated the aura of a predator ready to tear its prey to pieces.
Noah stepped back. "We're really in trouble here, it's a karmic beast!"
-"What's the difference with a normal wolf?" Levi asked anxiously.
-"The difference is that this wolf has accumulated karma. Judging by the bloodlust it's emanating, it's very bad karma... It has already killed and devoured many people," Noah explained, beginning to sweat profusely. "And as that damn Hwang showed us, karma can be really dangerous."
Awooouuuuuuuuu
Gloup gloup gloup
Three blood orbs formed around the wolf.
-"Dodge!!"
Feeewww few few
Noah leaped to the left, Mai pulled Levi, who had remained frozen, with her to the right.
Splash splash, the blood orbs landed where they had been standing and melted the grass at that spot.
The wolf charged at full speed toward the weakest of the group, who had fallen next to Mai.
-"Where do you think you're going?!" Noah shouted.
[ Reinforcement ]
[ Acceleration ]
White energy gradually began to escape from his body and cover his feet and knife.
Tap tap tap Slaaash
He covered the distance in a few steps and slashed a gash in the predator's side. The wolf jumped back, growling. GGrrrrrrrr
-"I'm your opponent!" Noah was ready to dive toward his enemy again.
Gloup gloup gloup The blood wolf was already preparing a second volley.
-"Shit," Noah stepped back. He was good at close combat but could only be a target against long-range attacks.
Feeew few few, one orb headed toward him and he dodged it with luck. In the path of the other two orbs stood Mai and Levi.
-"We can't just keep dodging," Mai said as she dove toward the attack with her arms crossed in guard position.
-"Stop! That blood is corrosive!" Noah warned.
Splash splash! Mai's entire body, which had served as a shield, was bathed in blood. The drops of blood flowing from her body began to melt the grass she stood on, while she seemed fine.
-"Attacks imbued with karma have no effect on me," Mai assured them, indifferent.
Noah and Levi looked away. "It's reassuring that your body is fine, but that's not the case with your clothes!" Noah said while charging toward the wolf.
Mai blushed violently and crouched down while covering the holes that were beginning to grow all over her clothes.
Slaash Noah managed to slash the wolf at the neck.
-"Shit, not deep enough." The size of the only weapon he possessed had become his disadvantage.
The wolf took some distance and recovered from its wounds visibly. Noah prepared for the next assault, but the wolf simply stared at them before disappearing like a shadow into the bushes.
Noah immediately laid down. "It's finally gone—we did it! Now get us out of here, damn Hwang!" No response.
Noah covered Mai with his sweatshirt, and after several hours of struggling, the group finally managed to light a fire by rubbing two stones against twigs.
-"Argh, this pisses me off. I thought beating the blood wolf was the condition to pass the test. Are we going to have to kill it? Or will there be a second wave?" While Noah complained and cursed Manju with every name in the book, Mai warmed herself by the fire and Levi watched his new companions silently. He also wanted to help them and fight by their side. He clenched his fist with determination.
-"Noah, I have a favor to ask you."
Noah turned toward his new friend, who then said while slightly lowering his head, "Please teach me how to use karma."
-"Hehe, no problem." Noah extended his hand. Levi raised his head and, smiling, extended his own in return.
-"I'm counting on you."
The three kids took turns standing guard every three hours, and finally morning came without incident.
[ Karma is born from actions and emotions. Saving a life, helping one's neighbor, killing an innocent, stoking others' hatred, destroying nature, caring for animals. All these actions create karma, good or bad, which attaches itself to one's being.
All living beings are capable of accumulating karma, but not everyone can sense it. The fastest way to sense it is to accumulate as much as possible.
Once you can perceive karma within yourself, it's possible to condense it into karmic will and thus reach the first level, the condensation stage. Karmic will is condensed karma made visible to the naked eye. In this state, it remains intangible but can be imbued into the body, objects, and nature for strengthening or control. ]
-"The energy you used on your blade—was that your karmic will?"
-"Exactly. People tend to think that karmic will is like a reservoir from which you draw the strength for your techniques, but that's not really the case. You can't exhaust your karmic will. You know in games, there are stats like strength, endurance, wisdom and mana. You can consider karmic will as a fixed stat, and it will go up as long as you condense your good karma.
When your body is saturated with karmic will, you need to create or absorb a karmic vessel to ascend and unlock the upper level techniques and spells. I only got to know until this point, the next stage is a mystery for me too."
-"What level have you reached?"
-"I'm only at the first stage of condensation—we call it the Initiate stage. But my father is much stronger. He's already at the third stage! He's a Karma Master!"
-"I need to reach the condensation stage before I can use a technique," Levi affirmed, observing the palms of his hands.
-"For your info, the techniques I used are the most basic. 'Reinforcement' and 'Acceleration' these are techniques that drain your stamina. The karmic will I've accumulated will also determine their effectiveness.
In other words, as long as I have stamina left, I can continue using these techniques.
While a spell drains what we call mental energy. But I don't know much about that aspect."
Noah seemed to enjoy teaching and couldn't stop talking, while Levi, who now understood the direction to take, closed his eyes and began to meditate.
Mai looked to the side and chewed peacefully on leaves, one by one.
Levi had explained earlier, "Actually, certain plant leaves and flowers are edible—you just need to know how to distinguish them. I have a garden at home with all sorts of plants and botany books, which allowed me to learn a lot."
-"But if the space we're in was created from scratch, then these are also fake trees, right?" Noah pointed out.
-"I think it's real, but it's not reality. The wolf that attacked us was quite real."
-"Mmh, that's true. I felt the same resistance as with a real animal when I cut it."
-"I think instead of questioning where Mr. Hwang could have sent us, it's more important to eat at least something in case we get attacked again."
Noah, initially hesitant, finally accepted. "I suppose it should be fine if I imagine it's salad."
The day went on like this: Levi meditated, Noah regained his strength, and Mai picked edible flowers and plants.
-"By the way, aren't you planning to learn how to use karma too?" Noah asked Mai.
She shook her head. "I can't," she replied.
Noah thought this must be related to the fact that yesterday's karmic attack had no effect on her and decided to drop it.
Levi was completely absorbed in his meditation. Rather than searching for whether there was karma in him or not, he asked himself instead:
(Am I a good person? What good deeds have I done in my life?)
Images of his life flashed through his mind: his grandfather telling him stories from around the world, the house servants cleaning or preparing meals, hours spent playing on the console, reading various books on geology and flora. An ordinary life full of precious memories and yet it felt hollow. It felt as if he was a distant spectator.
(I was always given everything all my life… I never did anything that could be of help to anyone…)
-"Cough! Cough! Cough! Uughh"
Levi began coughing violently as sharp pain gripped his heart. He couldn't breathe anymore.
-"Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!"
-"Levi!! What's wrong?!" Noah rushed to help his friend and concentrated to try to examine his body's condition.
Noah fell backward as Levi gradually caught his breath.
-"Thank you so much, Noah—" Levi turned around and saw Noah's terrified face.
-"Levi... What are you...?"
Noah spoke with a trembling voice and looked at Levi as if he were seeing a monster.
-"Why… Why do you have so much bad karma?"
The sun set and night began to fall, announcing the return of the previous evening's predator.
— End of Chapter —