He smirked at the thought, but the smile faded as he realized that he was actually probably correct about that. “System, can I inspect the items in my storage even though I'm dead?”
Joe wasn't expecting a response to this, and was pleasantly surprised when his inventory opened up. He received a notification immediately afterward, letting him know that he would not be able to interact with any of the items in his storage. He could only inspect them, though he could read over the books or data that was stored within. Joe pulled out the… scroll? Book? It was hard to tell exactly what this document was, as it shifted to a new form every time he blinked. “Thank you, System, that's exactly what I was hoping to see…”
Those were the last words he spoke over the next few hours, as he read over ‘Breaking the Mortal Limit’. The document itself was not difficult to understand; it was instructing him on how to create certain permanent patterns within his mana—and therefore, his body as a whole—and luckily had been tailored to his particular case. His mana was unrestrained and rampaged through his body at all times. The most difficult portion of study was the fact that there was no way to test his knowledge. While he was in his respawn room, he could only try to memorize the patterns as perfectly as possible.
At some point, the portal reopened, but he ignored it; for a day, then two, but just as the timer showed that he had been in the room for exactly forty-eight hours, Joe got to experience something absolutely brand new. He was violently and unceremoniously ejected through the portal at speed.
You are not allowed to stay in your respawn room for more than two days now that you have reached Zone Two! You have gained a debuff: Weakling. Avoiding your duty for two whole days has reduced your maximum health and mana to one quarter of its normal pool for the next 12 hours!
The debuff, coupled with the fact that Joe hit the floor hard when he came out of the portal, meant that the Reductionist nearly died by respawning. That would have been completely humiliating, but his current state of being completely unable to move beyond spastic twitching wasn’t much better.
“Oh look, that human is back.” The Dwarf immediately put on a greasy smile, moving into full salesman mode as soon as his target arrived. “You've been gone so long; you must have gone back to the previous Zone? Did you take the time to break the Mortal limit? That was very quick—what the abyss?”
A wave of healing water washed over Joe, bringing his health up to its current maximum. However, Joe did not stand up, nor did he move. He was stuck to the floor once more, slowly being crushed to death. The Elf scoffed at the sight, doing his best not to laugh aloud, but didn’t bother to comment about the weakness; instead making an astute observation. “He must have been banned, exiled from the previous Zone. Human, make sure to study and prepare during your time dead, else you will eventually return to the moon.”
The Dwarf winced at that, slightly sneering. The reason became apparent with his next words. “I hate to agree with this poetic fraudster, but if you die even a couple of more times, you are going to start losing ground faster and faster. You begin racking up debuffs, penalties, and you might just start respawning over and over. You will be level zero in no time… and your only hope will be returning to the previous Zone when your ban is over. For your sake, I hope that there is a time limit.”
“Either way, can you be quick about it?” The Elf sighed and picked at his nails. “Until you either leave for good or pick one of us, we are stuck without new recruits. This position and all bonuses are based on turnaround time, so…”
The fact that this was something they agreed on made Joe suspicious. They acted like mortal enemies, but they seemed to be getting along pretty well… or it might just be that important. Joe opened his status sheet and looked at the countdown timer. Three hundred and sixty-one days remaining on his exile. He swallowed, feeling like he was trying to get a ball of lead down his trachea.
Joe really needed to figure out this Mortal Limit thing.
Chapter One
“Four more deaths, and five days lost in Zone Two.” Joe sighed as he checked the countdown for his exile. That was the most accurate way for him to track how much time he was wasting due to failing to break the Mortal Limit over and over. Three hundred and fifty-six days of exile remaining meant that there was exactly one way forward. “I have gained four more characteristic points during each of those suffocation training sessions, and lost twenty-two thousand experience. I'm back to level twenty-one today, and if I can't figure it out this time around… I don't want to prove those two right.”
Joe decided to peruse his status sheet while he waited for the portal to reopen. He had learned that the weakling debuff increased in potency every few minutes that he waited to exit after the portal opened, culminating at the forty-eight-hour mark. That meant that the only way to maximize his chances of successfully creating the necessary mana patterns was to get out of his respawn room as soon as physically possible.
Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Reductionist
Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)
Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (1/20)
Profession III: None
Character Level: 21 Exp: 248,820 Exp to next level: 4,180
Rituarchitect Level: 10
