Turn-based Wizard

Five seconds to assess the situation. 

Fifty-five seconds to devise a strategy. 

… Just by thinking that, I lost another second. 

'Think. Think.' 

How can I escape this crisis? 

Above the hourglass, my action points were displayed. 

[Action Points: ■■■■] 

When playing this game on a computer, four action points would let me move over 10 meters. However, my body was completely immobilized. 

I have an idea why. The current 60 seconds are just for thinking. In reality, my action points are determined based on the fraction of a second, that fleeting moment when I can actually act. During that brief period, the number of actions I can take is limited. 

I forced my unmoving right arm to budge, lifting it slightly. As my hand moved about three centimeters, I lost one action point. 

[Action Points: ■■■□] 

'No, this won't work.' 

Even if I use all my action points, it's impossible to lift the wand and block that sword. 

What about dodging? Could I avoid it? If I used my remaining action points to duck? The blade would hit my cheekbone instead of my carotid artery. 

It might not be a fatal strike, but it would hurt—painful enough to wish I'd just died instantly. Mess up, and I could lose an eye too. 

And survival chances are slim. If the sword hit me, my head would likely jerk away, and Goblin #2, whom I'd lost track of, would stab my lungs with a spear. 

Wait, hold on. 

What's the point of these 60 seconds, anyway? Are they just giving me time to pray before I die? This might be great for a fanatic, but what good is it for me? 

"Sigh." 

I sighed thoughtlessly and realized something. 

Wait a minute? 

Isn't this odd? I can't move my body, so how did I sigh? Is it possible to exhale so slowly in 0.0-something seconds? 

When everything froze earlier, I reflexively mumbled, "What?" 

"Can I… talk?" 

I cautiously tried to voice a sound, letting it out through my vocal cords. 

It actually worked. 

I can speak. 

I think I know why. This game supports multiplayer for up to four players. No one actually plays multiplayer, so it's treated as a single-player game.

"It's a chat function."

This feature was designed with multiplayer in mind. In the game, pressing Enter opens the chat window, and whatever is typed appears as a speech bubble above the character. 

Could it be that the words I'm saying now are also considered a form of chat? 

No matter how much you chat during combat, it doesn't consume action points. 

If that's the case… 

"Could I also cast spells?" 

In this game, wizards always chant when casting spells. 

When they do, a speech bubble with the incantation message appears above the wizard character, just like with chat. 

Of course, players don't press Enter to input these incantation messages. When the character casts a spell, it appears automatically. 

But both appear as the same type of speech bubble. 

Could it be…? 

"Please." 

I twisted my wrist, adjusting the wand's direction to aim at the goblin in front of me. 

[Action Points: ■□□□] 

The wrist movement cost me two action points, and the hourglass showed four seconds remaining. 

Three seconds. 

Two seconds. 

"Fireball." 

The moment I chanted the spell, a new message appeared. 

[All action points are depleted.] 

[Ending turn.] 

[The hourglass has been flipped. Cooldown: 60 seconds.] 

Boom! 

A Fireball with an Intelligence of 10 burst from the wand's tip, engulfing the goblin in front of me and the second goblin holding a spear behind it. 

*** 

"Kyaaaaaaa!" 

The two goblins, now aflame, rolled on the ground, screaming as if the cries were pouring straight from the depths of hell. 

After a moment, they slumped down, lifeless. 

"Hah…!" 

Finally, the breath that had been caught in my throat burst out. It was like a dam breaking, and the air came out of my mouth in a rush. 

"Hah… Hah…" 

My neck stung. When Goblin #1 was blasted by the Fireball, its sword had grazed my neck. Blood oozed from the tear, hot and uncomfortable. 

'I almost died.' 

Damn. 

I almost died!

For the first time in my life, I was gripped by the terror of death, my whole body trembling uncontrollably. 

It felt like that shiver you get on a cold day after wetting yourself—except worse, my body shook like an aspen leaf. 

"Hic… hic…" 

I heard the elf woman crying behind me. I wasn't crying. Instead, a fresh wave of anger welled up inside me. 

'Why the hell are they doing this to me?' 

What crime did I commit by clearing that trash game? 

If I could, I'd burn alive whoever or whatever brought me here—whether it's some god, developer, or a ridiculous law of cosmic physics—just like those goblins. 

They say anger follows denial in the five stages of accepting death. 

To be honest, from the moment I first picked up a wand at the magic academy and walked here, I was in full denial. I told myself this was just a stupid nightmare, that I'd wake up soon, that this made no sense. Now, it's anger's turn. Why me, of all people? I lived a decent life! The anger roared inside me like a blazing fire. 

'Calm down.' 

I forced myself to calm down. I needed to stay composed, remain cool-headed. I would never reach the next stage after anger. I will never die. 

I'm a player who mastered turn-based tactics and conquered developer-level difficulty. I'm an expert in mage character building. I know better than anyone how to raise this mage with my own build-up. I will survive here, no matter what. 

*** 

Once I cooled off, a more concrete plan started forming. 

First, the turn-based hourglass. A helpful message appeared, explaining its usage. 

[The Turn-Based Hourglass can be used once every 60 seconds. To activate it, simply flip the hourglass.] 

[The Turn-Based Hourglass will activate automatically in emergencies.] 

A holographic magical hourglass floated a certain distance from me, following my movements. All I had to do was flip it whenever I wanted, and I'd gain 60 seconds to strategize. 

But how to flip it? Not by hand. It's invisible to others, and even I can't touch it directly. Fortunately, its activation was simpler than physically touching it. I just had to think about flipping it. That alone would activate the hourglass. 

'With this, I'm not in immediate danger.' 

However, it doesn't make me invincible—the hourglass needs a 60-second cooldown after each use. 

[The hourglass has a 60-second cooldown before it can be reactivated after use.] 

After taking down the two goblins earlier, a message had appeared saying, "The hourglass has been flipped again." The magical hourglass had indeed flipped, and the sand started flowing in reverse. 

Judging from this cooldown, it's likely I can only use the hourglass once or twice per battle at most.

The hourglass had 17 seconds left on its cooldown. 

It would be best to wait until it's fully recharged before moving again. Previously, everyone had been mindlessly dazed and caught off guard, but from now on, I'd proceed cautiously, staying alert in all directions. 

I would find the exit gate and escape, no matter what. I would never die. 

'And I'll do some looting while I'm at it.' 

The starter wands given out at the Magic Academy each contain one rank-1 spell. Mine had "Fireball," the bulky one's had "Telekinesis," and the fanatic's contained "Ice Spike." I took their wands. 

"Do you want to use any of these?" 

"No…" 

The elf woman's voice was completely devoid of energy. 

"What spell does your wand have?" 

"Lightning Shock…" 

"Use that if a monster tries to get too close." 

"Okay…" 

I grabbed two mana stones from the goblin corpses and found two potatoes on an ally's body. Then, I took the elf woman's hand. 

"Let's go." 

Honestly, I wasn't sure if she'd be of much help. 

But having her was better than nothing. 

*** 

I was a bit worried she'd completely shut down, but thankfully, she was holding on. After about ten minutes of walking, she regained a faint sense of vitality and asked me a question. 

"Why are they doing this to us…?" 

"Doing what?" 

"I thought they'd buy slaves with expensive money to make us do chores, like cleaning or laundry. Why send us into the labyrinth…?" 

I knew the answer. In the game's storyline, a few years before the player creates their character, the labyrinth erupted. 

Countless adventurers died because of it. Now, the Magic Academy was severely short on wizards. So, the academy decided to train labyrinth exploration wizards intensively. 

Their method? "Throw a bunch of slaves into the labyrinth and train the survivors as wizards." 

First reason: Anyone who can make it through the labyrinth with just a wand and find the exit has the potential to be an exceptional labyrinth wizard. Second reason: Slaves are cheap. To the elf woman, it might seem like "expensive money," but to the academy's annual budget, it's mere pocket change. 

However, I didn't share this knowledge with her. There's no guarantee that what I know aligns perfectly with the reality of this world. The best way to survive in an unfamiliar world is to stay silent. They say speech is silver, but silence is golden. 

So I replied to the elf woman, "Maybe they're betting on which of us will make it out alive." 

It was a response you'd expect from a bitter, ordinary human slave venting to a fellow slave. 

"What's your name?" she asked. 

I hesitated. I didn't want to get too personal with her if possible. Especially not in this situation; getting attached was the last thing I wanted. But it was probably necessary to at least know each other's names. In an emergency, I couldn't very well shout, "Elf woman! Get down!" 

"Call me Caleb." 

It was the name I'd used when creating my account. 

"And you?"

"I'm Yernil." 

She followed closely beside me and asked another question. 

"What did you do before you came here, Caleb?" 

This question was tricky. My only memory from before character creation was scratching my thigh in my underwear while switching on developer difficulty. 

"You're pretty quiet, Caleb." 

When I didn't respond, she muttered awkwardly to herself. 

"It seemed like you chatted quite openly with the others on the slave ship." 

What? So, there are people here who know things about the "me" before arriving at the academy? That's troubling. 

What if, after escaping, I run into people who know things about me that I don't? How should I react? 

"I used to live in the fairy forest at the eastern edge, then I went to Flanndor City." 

Yernil started talking about herself, though I wasn't interested. 

'Memory loss due to trauma from being thrown into the labyrinth by the Magic Academy.' 

I wondered if that excuse would be convincing, then shook my head. 

'What am I even thinking?' 

Getting out of here is the first challenge; there's no room to worry about a future that might not come. Focus on the present. 

"I got a job at an errand center there, delivering packages." 

Her chatter beside me was becoming slightly irritating. 

"But it turned out that center was using the packages to disguise drug shipments. I had no idea, of course! But… in the end, I was accused of being a drug courier. I couldn't pay the fine, so I became a slave." 

I had no mental or physical energy to spare listening to her tragic backstory. 

"Yernil." 

"Yes?" 

"Please be quiet." 

It wasn't annoyance; it was advice for the party. Who knows what kind of monster might pick up on the noise? 

This isn't a game; this is real. 

"S-sorry…" 

Seeing the light drain from her face, I realized my mistake. 

She needed a way to cope with the shock of seeing the bulky one and the fanatic die. By talking to me about our cursed fates, she was trying to find some solace in this hellish situation. Right now, she needed at least a sliver of positive energy to survive this labyrinth. 

"…You can talk, just keep your voice low. If it's too loud, monsters might…" 

Click.

A sound came from beneath Yernil's foot. 

[Your Turn] 

[Action Points: ■■■■] 

The hourglass flipped, and time stopped. 

"Hah." 

A sigh escaped. 

"Please, not this…" 

I closed my eyes, overcome with despair. Yernil had stepped on a trap.