ch 20, I (would) think a training montage is what turns boys into men
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The would in the chapter title is due to the mc's mental state because of the skill he got in the previous chapter btw.

Dying would be a memorable experience if I wasn’t being prevented from giving it any significance in order not to fall apart mentally.

Earlier I remarked that the experienced I had was an actual-death experience instead of a near-death experience but I now will take my words back.

The thing I am going through is the simulation of my very own mind collapsing as I stop existing in the material world – or as close to the described experience as Ralph can take me at least.

It would be an interesting fact to observe, if not for the Warped Mind skill how my mind is being supported through this experience anyway by the skill.

Because I am not really dying and the system realizes it, the skill keeps working as my thoughts and memories fall apart despite being kept in shape. My will – my desires as well as my ability to set goals and make judgments and observations in order to fulfill those goals are also being kept, though adjusted to their state of dying.

In the end, I am being fully functional despite being effectively not functional at all.

If my mind was in a healthier psychological place, I would make observations of it greedily, In order to sate my curiosity and acquire a better understanding of the inner workings of this kind of magic.

But right now I am only experiencing it and making observations without giving it any emotional significance.

Now I woke up.

How much subjective time is there left for me until the monster reaches the radius of 6 meters within my real physical body?”

You spent 2 minutes of the mindscape time since you last asked this question”

How much time does it take me to die and get resurrected?”

10 seconds in mindscape time regardless of the instance of death”

With this out of the way, let’s analyze the information I have of the monster.

What I have seen of it is little. It was all a gray blur.

I can assume it was long and serpent-like. It might’ve had a head the size of a basketball.

I believe it is capable, at least for a short period of time, to move at at least at speeds barely perceptible to the human eye.

It’s movements are also very smooth as I barely noticed it approaching. I don’t think it moved awkwardly at all when it went for the strike.

Therefore I can assume it’s very good at movement and is superior at moving in this terrain than me. My chances of survival just by running aren’t very good.

Tell me all the information that I will need to survive this monster”

I can answer some questions. Go ahead and ask”

How good is the monster’s perception. What senses does the monster rely on?”

It’s hearing is bad, it’s sight is bad, it’s tactile senses are great and it’s sense of taste is bad. it’s sense of smell is comparable to a dog though and it can sense the airflow, the changes in temperature and humidity to get an accurate picture of its environment. It has no other senses”

How fast and for how long can it move?”

You can find out by yourself”

For how long can it move at the speed that it attacked me the last time?

While you can’t find this out for yourself at this moment you don’t need to know this

How-”

Oh, here it is

*Chomp* *Chomp* *Chomp*

I can indeed avoid its attacks (it bites) but it takes a lot of effort and stamina.

*Chomp*

It doesn’t necessarily kill me in one bite but the damage it deals will eventually lead me to death.

*Chomp*

You Died!

Quest failed!

And I am back. And this time I am running towards a close tall tree with a thick trunk.

I see the monster moving towards me at a speed so fast it looks blurry and I create small scaffolds out of stone with magic to climb to the nearest branch.

Before monster reaches me, I dissolve the stones and climb higher up the tree. This may not help me in the long-term but it will let me observe the monster more closely.

No it won’t. The monster is climbing up the tree fast. But I got a good look at it.

*Chomp*

And I’m dead.

And I’m back.

Updating what I know. The monster is fast and agile. It’s about three meters long, has six legs with four claws at each. It’s fully covered in gray scales and it’s head is twice as big as a basketball.

It has one mouth that is very big in size, it can fit my whole head and shoulders inside with no problems and its jaws must be very strong.

Its teeth are all very sharp and long.

It has a pair of eyes, each twice as big as an adult male’s fist, located on both sides of its roundish skull. It seems to have double eyelids, both eyes are fully black in color.

It’s nose is also big. As big as a dogs. It has a sharp protrusion above its mouth that looks like a duck’s beak. It’s also covered in scales and has two big holes in it, I suspect they are nostrils.

Its overall body shape is similar to a gecko. It doesn’t have a tongue. I hadn’t notices one yet though.

It has a very high maneuverability and should be very confident in its ability to roam this forest’s landscape. It might be weak to heat and likely reacts strongly to smells.

Raaaaa”, yes, it does react strongly, at the very least the smell of the anti-undead gas made it roar in anger and stop in its tracks. And I’m dead.

Update: it reacts very strongly to smells. Its legs are also very strong and fast and its claws are sharp.

Update: It gets enraged when too much anti-undead gas is inhaled.

Update: It is weak to fire but isn’t afraid of it.

Update: it’s infeasible to create a hot enough temperature to stall or stun it in the given time.

Update: It’s unfavorable to try to stall or stun it an open space due to its strong mobility.

Update: It’s possible to create a gas that it reacts more strongly to that it reacts to the anti-undead gas.

Update: It’s possible to make a liquid that smells intolerable to the monster.

Update: It’s infeasible to create enough liquid to stun it in a short span of time.

Update

Update

Update

Update

Update: It’s possible to create a flammable liquid that emits a lot of smell that enrages the monster. The duration is stronger than the gas.

Update: recommended to apply at range. Must change direction of development – applying it internally to the monster is too dangerous and isn’t worth the risk.

Update: The creature quickly adapts to the effects of the liquid enough to chase me down and eat me.

Update: Reduce the flammability of the liquid. This time it caused a fire and burned me down before the monster got me.

Update: Reduce or change the smell of the liquid until it stops being poisonous.

Update: Reduce the effects further. While escaping the monster was successful, the poisonous effects took place about two hours later.

Update: Creation of he final(?) form of the liquid successful. The monster gets stalled and disoriented due to paralyzed senses of smell, heat, moisture and vision. Problem: the monster got enraged and chased me down six hours after it recovered.

Update: Hiding unsuccessful.

Update: Hiding unsuccessful.

Update: Development direction changed. Goal – death of the creature.

...

Update: None of the attacks I made were successful in severely damaging the monster.

Update: While taking longer to create stronger spells proved to be effective, its hide is too strong to be damaged by physical impact and it doesn’t die (at least fast enough for me to see it) from even more strong heat.

.

Update: Strong cold slows it down. Naturally, it also puts out the flames.

Update: The liquid failed to be updated to burn even in the cold.

Update: The liquid successfully updated to burn even in the cold. The cold is insufficient to win me enough time. The cold is insufficient to kill the creature.

Update: Failed to increase the level of the cold in time.

Update: increase in the strength of the cold successful but drains me of MP.

Update: freezing it on the inside successful. Failure to kill or severely damage the monster. Darins too much mana.

Update: Failed to optimize the spell.

Update: Spell optimized successfully. Strength still insufficient.

Update: Combination of the liquid and the lowering temperature successful in killing(?) the monster. The combination blew up and killed me too though.

Update: Combination of the liquid and the cold actually unsuccessful in killing the monster. The effects of the explosion would kill me a few hours later even if it did kill the creature though.

Update: Created a poisonous explosion spell based on the previous two spells. Need to develop the ability to fire it from a distance.

Update: Update successful. The monster is damaged enough to lose a part of its tail and injure one of its legs. The poison spreads too far. The MP consumption too great.

...

Update: The monster has two legs injured. The smell of the poison is enough to stunt it for twenty minutes (including its hindered ability to move). The monster has great regeneration, all damage healed in twenty minutes.

Update: Managed to completely burn its nose away with the poison and damage one of its legs. Managed to fire the spell again in five minutes at half the power (due to lack of MP). The poison killed me immediately.

Update: Managed to fire the spell twice. Missed the first one to leave any serious damage and the second one was avoided completely.

Update: Managed to successfully land the first shot to damage one leg. Managed to fire the second time (I’ve learned to be able to do it 3out of 5 times). The monster had all of its legs and tail damaged to some extent. Unable to inflict further damage due to lack of MP. Monster regeneration healed all its wounds in less than half an hour.

Update: Blew away one of its eyes. Damaged its nose. Second shot missed.

Update: acquired sufficient skills in firing the spell to hit it with 100% accuracy in the eye every time the first time. Acquired sufficient skills to fire the spell in its other eye the second time. Was able to fire a bolt of the poisonous liquid at the end for the first time.

Damage insufficient. The creature heals too fast.

Update: By adding the Death attribute mana I was able to stunt its regeneration ability. Poor handling of the mana gave me necrosis of one hand.

Update: Integrated Death attribute mana into the explosion and the liquid bolt spells. This gave me enough time to recover enough MP to fire another weaker version of the explosion spell at a close distance in its mouth. Died from too much exposure to Death mana.

Update: Managed to repeat the previous attempt but without dying form my own spell. The creature still didn’t die even after the explosion inside its mouth but it seemed damaged severely.

No further attacks were possible due to extremely lacking MP. The creature hunted me down 9 hours later, escaping my attempts to shoot it down again. None of the spells prepared in the meantime dealt it damage due to its overwhelming mobility and increased caution.

Update: After taking away both of its eyes I prepared a stone spear spell and charged it to the limit. After successfully shooting it through the hole in its eye, nothing happened. The spear got stuck inside its skull.

The creature hunted me down 10hours later again. No prepared spells worked. It seems that its lack of caution towards me is the only thing allowing me to get an upper hand in the beginning.

Update: After escaping it again via the previous method I developed a mix of the stone spear spell and death attribute mana in the 8 hours that followed.

Update: managed to master the explosion spell. Can now form, aim and shoot it in 10 seconds.

Update: managed to master the explosion spell. Can now form, aim and shoot it in 6 seconds.

Update: managed to master the explosion spell. Can now form, aim and shoot it in 6 seconds. While avoiding the creature’s attacks. Requested Ralph to make it spawn 6 meters away from it.

...

Update: The new spear indeed prevented it from healing but it lacked a decisive factor to kill it. This time I had 15 hours to develop it further.

Update: The spear developed even further. Can’t kill it yet.

Update: The spear developed even further. Can’t kill it yet.

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

Update: The spear developed even further. Can’t kill it yet.

Update: The spear developed even further. Can’t kill it yet.

.

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

...

Update: The spear killed it. Committed suicide due to too much exposure causing necrosis in my body due to the lack of time.

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

...

Update: Made the spear safer. Still poisoned myself with Death attribute mana.

...

Update: Made the spear safer. Still poisoned myself with Death attribute mana.

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

...

Update: Made the spear safer. Still poisoned myself with Death attribute mana.

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

...

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

...

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

...

Update: Made the spear safer. Still poisoned myself with Death attribute mana. Was able to heal as the damage wasn’t too severe. Requested Ralph to make the creature spawn six meters away from me.

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

...

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

...

Update: Survived successfully. 3 days left.

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

Update: Failed to execute the routine. Died to the creature.

Update: Survived successfully. 3 days left.

Update: Survived successfully. 3 days left. Slept for 4 hours in order to rest mentally as the performance of my body began to fall below acceptable level.

Update: Survived successfully. 3 days left.

...

Update: Survived successfully. 3 days left.

...

Update: Survived successfully. 3 days left.

Update: Survived successfully. 2 days left.

Update: Survived successfully. 1 day left.

Update: Survived successfully. 1 day left.

Update: Survived successfully. 16 hours left

.…

Update: Survived successfully. 15 hours left.

Update: Survived successfully. 14 hours left.

Update: Survived successfully. 7 hours left. Slept for 4 hours.

Update: Survived successfully. 1 hour left.

Update: Time left: 3 seconds. 2 seconds. 1 second. Waking up...

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