I glance at my severed left hand and burn the stump with thermal energy to stop the bleeding, immediately after I form a hand made of mana. Testingly, I move the fingers and increase the density of the mana.

For now, this should do. I can't have Lily restore my arm in the state she is in now.

Now then, since I've calmed down a bit, I should pick my rewards, right?

The kill of the level 159 deer got me a whopping 2 levels and I also completed my Side Quest that required me to get all of my skills over level twenty.

It's time to get my rewards before I start moving.

Congratulations, you have completed your Side Quest. You can now select one of the offered Passive skills, which have been determined based on your performance so far in the tutorial.

Passive Skill: Kinetic Momentum (Rare)

The user's manipulation of kinetic energy becomes fluid and seamless, allowing them to effortlessly transfer kinetic force between their body, weapons, and projectiles, increasing overall impact and damage.

Passive Skill: Mana-Fortified Resilience (Rare)

The user's resilience strengthens with their current mana reserves, boosting resistance to physical strain, and also enhancing resistance to various energies.

Passive Skill: Mana Convergence (Rare)

The user's mana manipulation abilities allow them to merge multiple streams of mana into a concentrated form, amplifying the potency and efficiency of their mana-based attacks and defenses.

Passive Skill: Swift Recovery (Uncommon)

The user's natural healing rate is slightly accelerated, allowing them to recover from injuries and wounds more quickly, particularly when their mana levels are high.

Passive Skill: Thermal Conversion Mastery (Uncommon)

The user's expertise in converting kinetic energy to thermal energy expands, allowing them to efficiently convert a higher percentage of kinetic energy into intense heat, resulting in more potent thermal-based attacks.

Passive Skill: Thermal Channeling (Uncommon)

The user can channel thermal energy into their mana-infused weapons or constructs, imbuing them with scorching heat that increases their damage potential.

Passive Skill: Mana Forge (Uncommon)

The user's mastery of mana manipulation enables them to shape and mold mana into slightly more intricate and powerful constructs, granting their creations enhanced durability and destructive capabilities.

Passive Skill: Mana Overload Absorption (Rare)

The user's mana pathways have the capacity to absorb excess mana, mitigating the negative effects of mana overloads and preventing potential mana instability or backlash.

Passive Skill: Energy Channeling (Rare)

The user has mastered the art of channeling various energies into their mana-infused weapons or constructs, achieving a seamless integration of different energy types.

As often, the options are beautiful, but is there a need to think? I know what I need right now.

I pick Passive Skill: Mana-Fortified Resilience (Rare) and close my eyes to endure the pain.

There was only one option that made me hesitate. Passive Skill: Energy Channeling (Rare). It's something that could give me an immediate and massive boost, but it's also something I know I'll solve on my own and improve on my own.

Mana Forge sounds good, but I'll learn it on my own, I'm already halfway there.

Mana Overload? That's for weaklings. I'll control my mana, I won't allow it to go wild. A bit of danger spices things up a little and forces me to improve my hold over my mana much faster.

And as many times, something tells me that in the long run, it's better to learn stuff on my own rather than just rely on the system and automatic usage of skills. I saw the difference between me and people from Hard Difficulty.

After the pain stops, I squat and look down at my cut-off hand. The changes going on in it are now much faster now that my mana doesn't passively fight against them and the hand closes its fist and is now shrinking. With [Perception] I can barely feel anything no matter how I look at it and as before, even now, [Disruption] doesn't seem to have any effect on it. None at all.

Is this some delayed hidden reward for finishing the second floor on a higher difficulty? Is this an aftereffect of using the strongest defensive item on the planet, an item whose rarity is way beyond “rare”?

Well, I'll deal with it later. I grab the cut-off hand and throw it inside one of the houses, making sure to remember which one it is and then I release my Mana Regulator and observe my body.

Good, the new passive seems to work beautifully and I release the Mana Regulator even more and my heart pumps massive amounts of kinetic energy through my body. Yet even then the body seems to be okay with that much strain.

My current passive is a weird one. The higher my mana levels are the better it works, but if I use 30% of my mana to create another javelin or orb full of tricolored mana, the efficiency will dramatically reduce, surely enough for it to feel like a lower rarity than “rare”. But, me being me and having massive amounts of mana, the passive feels much stronger than it should be.

I breathe in deeply and then slip into [Focus], making the world lose its colors as I propel myself high in the air with only one push. The acceleration strains my body; a huge burst of kinetic energy accumulates as well, but it's okay, the new passive deals with all of it.

When I land on top of the wall, a wave of kinetic energy is thrown at me. I absorb and hold it as I slowly walk towards the bear still at the top of the wall with its heart tearing and healing constantly as it produces kinetic energy the bear isn't able to hold.

That energy is shot into the surroundings or reverberates its bones that audibly vibrate.

The bear now barely has some fur on. A giant monster has half of its body covered in decaying muscles, with no fur, and its head is just one massive white skull with its face melted from before. Its mouth is open in a soundless roar.

I absorb two more waves and then shoot all that energy at the monster, my wave piercing through its defense and pushing it backwards.

My heart beats in the same rhythm as the bear's and I throw more kinetic energy at it, stripping it even more of its flesh and damaging its heart.

The green flames roar into existence, covering its entire chest and blocking my next attack that pushes the bear even further, the monster tilts its head and shoots kinetic energy at me in a similar way, only for me to totally absorb it and shoot it back at him, finally throwing him off the wall.

As he is falling down I jump off and follow him, transferring energy generated by my heart into bright yellow flames that are hotter than ever before, tunneled into a thin stream that heats the air as it roars through it, engulfing the bear in flames.

At the same time, a mana projectile forms behind me, and I start [Redistributing] and infusing mana into it, helping myself with surge as much as I can, my body able to endure it all now.

When the burning bear falls down, creating a small crater, the projectile flies at him while I propel myself higher and immediately after hitting him it explodes in a massive heatwave followed by a shockwave and then a terrifying implosion that pulls even the bear's massive body closer to where the center of my projectile used to be.

I let myself fall down and with a push of kinetic energy, I send away all the dust and reveal the bear that is still there, green mana glowing around his body, restoring its muscles, its fur, even his eyes reappear.

Then its heart beats and all of this is destroyed again by rampant kinetic energy and then the bear ignores me, putting his attention back to his heart.

[Disruption] levels up as I shoot it at the monster. [Mana Surge] levels up as I continue to boost my weapons coated in oscillating mana.

I shoot projectiles at its chest, I burn its body.

The bear continues to ignore me the entire time while all of his attention is on his heart.

POV Kim Min-Jae

(What the hell is that guy doing?) Aaron complains in my head.

(Usual stuff, exploding people, nuking the city, raising eldritch abominations. You know, typical psycho stuff.) Dennis adds and I can't help but agree. Nathaniel isn't exactly normal.

(We should hurry while he's got the attention of the bear and wolves.) I send as well through their [Connection] that they joined me to. It doesn't feel that bad, the wordless communication is nice, and listening to the two of them it's easy to guess how used to it they got.

(At this point I'm more scared of that guy than the bear.) Aaron says

(Don't forget the dog, he can interrupt and join our [Connection].) Dennis ads.

We quickly move through the area, especially fast now that I've lowered our weight with my skill. Far away from us, I feel Nathaniel's mana constantly exploding after he fell from the wall together with the bear, his flames burning the monster even while he was falling down.

That was the moment we decided to jump down and quickly went to get water as it also meant that the two one-question mark wolves moved to check what was happening.

Still, I can't help but feel a hint of envy, hearing the way the twins talk about Nathaniel. Even cheeky as they are, I can hear reverence and admiration in their voice.

I want that. I want people to admire me, to talk about me in the way they talk about Nathaniel. I want them to compare other people to me.

It's silly, I know, but I can't do anything about it. Ever since the start of the floor, I can't help but keep comparing myself to him.

I thought it would be different here, but in the end, it's the same. I keep comparing myself to others the same way I kept comparing myself to my siblings back on Earth.

So when the one question mark Boar appears in between us and the stream of water, I do not hesitate.

I try to imitate the stance Nathaniel likes to take every time he gets serious and look towards the boar as even my mana flares up in a similar way.

I won't run away.