Reach.
Merlin tried reaching out with his hands to touch Heavenly Flower’s main body, but his hands just passed through like it was air.
‘It’s in another dimension.’
Of course, this didn’t mean that her body was in a distant dimension. It was definitely in front of him, but she was out of reach. In this state, Heavenly Flower explained.
“It’s often called ‘existence overlap’. Our species has two figures from birth. It’ll be hard for you to understand the general magic system, but…”
After briefly revealing her main body, Heavenly Flower reverted to her previous state and continued explaining. Magic was established largely based on fundamental theory, so the fox’s natural ability seemed more like a sensory-type supernatural ability than magic.
Of course, Heavenly Flower, who was a fox herself and possessed an abundance of knowledge in magic, knew that understanding this concept wouldn’t be easy for a non-fox. In fact, her explanation was more of a theoretical concept; it would have been nearly impossible for anyone to fully grasp what she was saying. Merlin stayed silent for a moment before speaking up.
“A dual existence. In a way… you’re like a coin.”
“What?”
Surprised by the sudden remark, Heavenly Flower focused her attention on Merlin.
“Like changing the front and back of a coin… it’s a way of changing the frame of reference you take to face reality, right? A person would need to possess a higher level of theoretical knowledge to flip the coin, but foxes can do it intuitively with just their senses.”
“…”
She didn’t have to continue explaining; Merlin fully understood. Of course, if they went into the theoretical details, Heavenly Flower would probably have to fill in a lot of gaps, but it was already surprising that Merlin understood this much just from the information he had been given so far.
“But how does this change you into someone else?”
“We turn into a human form and then shroud it with an illusion. It becomes relatively easy to create an illusion once we take on a similar body shape.”
“Aha.”
Merlin nodded as if he understood. Seeing this, Miho asked, “What? Did you already figure out the fundamentals of Shrouding Art?”
“No. Well, I made some guesses. It’s amazing. Shrouding Art… a double existence…”
Merlin was about to fall deeper into thought, but Miho grabbed his hand before he could.
“That’s enough, let’s go! I’m going to be late!”
“Oh, you’re going to be late? Is there a time limit?”
“Moby Dick is passing by!”
“Moby Dick?”
Without caring whether Merlin understood or not, Miho yanked his hand. Although she had the form of a small girl, her strength was considerable, so unless one was prepared for such a pull, even a grown adult male would have easily been dragged along.
“I’ll be back!”
“Have a safe trip! Be careful!”
“Don’t forget the tempura!”
Merlin, still facing the monsters who were waving goodbye, was dragged off. Since he was taller than Miho, who looked like a middle school student, Merlin felt that he wouldn’t have any trouble matching her speed.
“By the way, how are you going to get to the continent? I can swim, but is there any other way?”
Miho snorted at Merlin’s question. In no time, they were standing atop a dizzyingly steep cliff. All one could see below was the blue sea.
“Of course there’s another way! We’re not fish, so it’d be rather strange to swim all the way to the continent… Oh! It’s here!”
“Huh?”
Seeing Miho look up at the sky, Merlin followed suit. The sky was clear, without a cloud in sight. A giant mass floated through the air.
“… A whale?”
Merlin’s words came out unconsciously, but true to his assessment, it was a giant whale in the sky. It was so big that Merlin thought its size was comparable to a Kraken’s. Clusters of buildings dotted its massive body.
“It’s the Great Will’s divine spirit animal, Moby Dick. It’s normally harder to see, but the skies are especially clear today. It acts as a transportation shuttle to the Holy Shrine once a year. Oh, wait a minute.”
Miho searched her bag, which was larger than her, took out a golden bell, and shook it.
Ring!
Moby Dick reacted right away.
Whoosh!
The whale let out a heavy and intense sound, comparable to the sound a tuba would make, as it approached Blue Forest Island. Though it had been flying quite high in the sky, it took less than ten seconds to come down to the surface.
Splash!
As if the landing area was set in advance, Moby Dick landed and submerged half of its body in an area west of Blue Forest Island, a part of the sea that was relatively deep that Merlin had often swum in. Since Moby Dick’s body was so large, it would have been difficult to climb on top of it if it had landed on the ground instead.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. But is it okay to ride on its back?”
“It was sent out for the specific purpose of bringing representatives to the Holy Shrine. Stop worrying so much and follow me.”
“Oh, before that…”
Merlin reached out and picked up the bag Miho was carrying. Although he lifted it with one hand, the bag weighed more than thirty kilograms.
“Why’s this so heavy? You’re not a soldier or anything. I’ll carry this for you.”
“Eh? I’m using magic to levitate it, so it’s not heavy for me at all.”
“Seeing you carry it makes me feel uncomfortable. Besides, I’m not planning on carrying it around either. Let’s see… Ta-da!”
Merlin sneakily shifted his robe to cover the bag, activated his inventory space, and put it inside. When Merlin stepped forward, there was no sign of the bag.
“Huh? You can hide something as large as a bag like that?”
“Of course. It’s easy for me to take it out as well, so let me know when you need it.”
Merlin shrugged as if this act was nothing special, but Miho’s eyes sparkled.
“Ooh. Teach me how to use that magic!”
“Eh? Teach you? But it’s not magic.”
“It isn’t magic? But it’s dimensional-related magic, no?”
For the uninitiated, inventory space and the act of logging out would probably seem like magic. Wouldn’t anyone think this if they saw a large item vanish from thin air like that?
“It is but… it’s kind of like you’re Shrouding Art. It’s an inherent skill, so I can’t teach you.”
In the end, Merlin had no choice but to explain his inventory in this manner. It was technically true that users had an inherent skill of possessing an inventory. It was every user’s exclusive, innate superpower, so to speak. One couldn’t teach another to use an inventory through senses. One couldn’t teach a blind man how vision works and expect that man to see, right?
Miho shrugged. “Everyone says it’s extremely difficult to use dimension-related magic techniques, So I guess it makes sense that it’s a natural ability. Anyway, let’s go up.”
“Alright.”
Following her lead, Merlin jumped off the cliff and landed onto Moby Dick’s dorsal fin. Since the dorsal fin was so large, it took a considerable amount of time to cross it. Oddly enough, a ladder connected the fin to the main body, so it wasn’t difficult to climb down onto it.
“You’re a human being.”
“Huh? A lion?”
The first thing Merlin saw after climbing down on Moby Dick’s back was an unusually large lion. The lion spoke a human language and was covered in red hair.
“Hey Red Blood. Do the Senior Remote Islands lack talented beings?”
“I was thinking the exact same thing about you. Miho. Don’t you lack the prowess and age to be sent as a receiver of the prophecy? And you’re being accompanied by a human being… Don’t the rules state that only one being and one young servant without a seal per party is allowed entrance into the Holy Shrine?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Miho responded.
Hearing Miho’s answer, Red Blood the lion frowned.
“Then how…”
“Why are you speaking before checking?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. A being with your level of power can’t possibly have been given a seal… huh?”
While speaking to Miho, Red Blood turned his head toward Merlin and was taken aback. Red Blood looked Merlin up and down, as if searching for something, then looked back at Miho.
“What’s up with this guy?”
“He’s a guest on our island. So, there’s no problem with the rules, right?”
“I still don’t understand, he seems human, but… he isn’t like the other humans on the main continent.”
Red Blood peered at Merlin with a dubious expression. Merlin asked Miho, “What seal is he talking about?”
“It’s a spiritual sign one gets when they become an adult. Can you see this?”
Miho slightly lifted her collar, revealing a portion of her shoulder. There was a strange symbol embedded on her white skin.
“Hmm. I don’t understand.”
“Really? From my perspective, what’s truly confusing is that you don’t have a seal…”
“No, that’s not what I’m confused about. It was what you said before… that you’re an adult.”
“…”
Miho’s fist trembled as her calm expression cracked; however, she was able to barely suppress her rising anger. It would be unseemly to lash out in a place where the representatives of other islands were also present.
“Well, let’s go and get a room. It’ll be a while before we arrive at the Holy Shrine.” She said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, there are rooms? Well, I did see some buildings earlier.”
Merlin followed Miho, who strode ahead. Suddenly, a red eagle flying through the sky swooped down and landed on Merlin’s head. It was Quiet Heaven.
“Where have you been? I haven't seen you since I logged in.”
“I’ve been looking around the area. This whale, by the way, is great. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Divine Spirit Class being.”
“Miho also said that this was a Divine Spirit Animal. What’s the standard for a Divine Spirit Animal?”
Quiet Heaven answered. “The dictionary definition says that spiritual animals or monster spirits are spirit beings that obtain a high enough position that their spirits reach enlightenment, or a power beyond a certain threshold. They’re generally considered Level 17 to 19 beings, but in some cases, spirit species can reach transcendence.”
“But the Phoenix’s level was 27. Wasn’t the Phoenix a Divine Spirit Animal?”
Merlin recalled the record of the Phoenix from his previous promotion test.
“Of course a Phoenix is a Divine Spirit Animal. Though I stated that their levels usually hovered around 17 through 19, I’m just stating their starting point. Monsters like Kirin and the Divine Dragons, which barely exceed Level 20, to the Three-Legged Crow are all referred to as Divine Spirit Animals.”
“Oh, so it’s a very broad, all-encompassing concept.”
“However, there are distinct power levels. For example, transcendents are not at the same level as a newly minted god or a god that rules over something. It’s a similar concept.”
When Quiet Heaven finished its explanation, Miho stopped. They arrived in front of a two-story building made of a strange material that Merlin couldn’t recognize.
“Let’s rest here. It’ll take about a day to get to the Holy Shrine.”
“One day? This whale doesn’t seem that slow… why does it take so long?”Merlin, who remembered the shape of the islands on his map by heart, wondered aloud.
The distance from Moby Dick’s current location to the southernmost point, or the end of the map, was only two-hundred kilometers at most. Merlin felt it was strange that it would take the whale an entire day to traverse that distance. Even if one moved at a steady speed of twenty kilometers per hour, one could traverse that distance in just ten hours.
‘Will the map expand like it did after I crossed the Noise Belt?’
This was a possibility. As Merlin was momentarily trapped in thought, he heard a voice from behind him.
“Oh gosh. We already picked this place for ourselves.”
“What?”
A blue-haired man standing behind them spoke in a pompous tone. He was around a hundred-and-ninety centimeters tall, with a trident as tall as him sheathed on his back. He was accompanied by a small, ten year-old girl who looked at the blue-haired man with a nervous expression on her face.
“Hehehe. I was wondering where the fish were hiding, but it looks like they came out of their own accord!” Miho quipped.
“Hmpf. What the hell is this animal girl saying?” the blue-haired man retorted.
A tense atmosphere formed between the man with blue hair and Miho. Merlin couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. The trident-carrying blue-haired being’s level was higher than Miho’s. The blue-haired being was Level 9, which was equivalent to the Human-faced Centipede, Inyup, that Merlin had encountered in the past.
‘Well, I should be able to deal with him if need be.’
A lot of time had passed since Merlin fought against Inyup. Of course, Merlin was only Level 6 at the time, but while traveling, his internal energy and magic power had increased and become purer. Besides, he felt confident in one-on-one combat. In case of an emergency, Merlin sent some of his internal energy over to Miho’s side.
“What’s wrong? Are you not on good terms with this guy?”
“The mermaids don’t get along with anyone. Unlike the powers that rule over the various islands, the mermaids claim that the whole sea is their territory. Even though they say this, they don’t dare go near Red Dragon Island. Isn’t it funny?” Miho spoke loud enough for the blue-haired mermaid to hear.
“You’re talking nonsense. Weren’t you all in a frenzy to give offerings whenever the red dragon appears?”
“What?”
Even though there was no noticeable wave of magic power, Merlin felt that sparks were crackling all around him. In this rather hostile-seeming atmosphere, Merlin sneaked a peek at the other monsters in the area with Insightful Eyes. Whether it was fortunate for them or not, all the other monsters were far away.
Reach.
Merlin tried reaching out with his hands to touch Heavenly Flower’s main body, but his hands just passed through like it was air.
‘It’s in another dimension.’
Of course, this didn’t mean that her body was in a distant dimension. It was definitely in front of him, but she was out of reach. In this state, Heavenly Flower explained.
“It’s often called ‘existence overlap’. Our species has two figures from birth. It’ll be hard for you to understand the general magic system, but…”
After briefly revealing her main body, Heavenly Flower reverted to her previous state and continued explaining. Magic was established largely based on fundamental theory, so the fox’s natural ability seemed more like a sensory-type supernatural ability than magic.
Of course, Heavenly Flower, who was a fox herself and possessed an abundance of knowledge in magic, knew that understanding this concept wouldn’t be easy for a non-fox. In fact, her explanation was more of a theoretical concept; it would have been nearly impossible for anyone to fully grasp what she was saying. Merlin stayed silent for a moment before speaking up.
“A dual existence. In a way… you’re like a coin.”
“What?”
Surprised by the sudden remark, Heavenly Flower focused her attention on Merlin.
“Like changing the front and back of a coin… it’s a way of changing the frame of reference you take to face reality, right? A person would need to possess a higher level of theoretical knowledge to flip the coin, but foxes can do it intuitively with just their senses.”
“…”
She didn’t have to continue explaining; Merlin fully understood. Of course, if they went into the theoretical details, Heavenly Flower would probably have to fill in a lot of gaps, but it was already surprising that Merlin understood this much just from the information he had been given so far.
“But how does this change you into someone else?”
“We turn into a human form and then shroud it with an illusion. It becomes relatively easy to create an illusion once we take on a similar body shape.”
“Aha.”
Merlin nodded as if he understood. Seeing this, Miho asked, “What? Did you already figure out the fundamentals of Shrouding Art?”
“No. Well, I made some guesses. It’s amazing. Shrouding Art… a double existence…”
Merlin was about to fall deeper into thought, but Miho grabbed his hand before he could.
“That’s enough, let’s go! I’m going to be late!”
“Oh, you’re going to be late? Is there a time limit?”
“Moby Dick is passing by!”
“Moby Dick?”
Without caring whether Merlin understood or not, Miho yanked his hand. Although she had the form of a small girl, her strength was considerable, so unless one was prepared for such a pull, even a grown adult male would have easily been dragged along.
“I’ll be back!”
“Have a safe trip! Be careful!”
“Don’t forget the tempura!”
Merlin, still facing the monsters who were waving goodbye, was dragged off. Since he was taller than Miho, who looked like a middle school student, Merlin felt that he wouldn’t have any trouble matching her speed.
“By the way, how are you going to get to the continent? I can swim, but is there any other way?”
Miho snorted at Merlin’s question. In no time, they were standing atop a dizzyingly steep cliff. All one could see below was the blue sea.
“Of course there’s another way! We’re not fish, so it’d be rather strange to swim all the way to the continent… Oh! It’s here!”
“Huh?”
Seeing Miho look up at the sky, Merlin followed suit. The sky was clear, without a cloud in sight. A giant mass floated through the air.
“… A whale?”
Merlin’s words came out unconsciously, but true to his assessment, it was a giant whale in the sky. It was so big that Merlin thought its size was comparable to a Kraken’s. Clusters of buildings dotted its massive body.
“It’s the Great Will’s divine spirit animal, Moby Dick. It’s normally harder to see, but the skies are especially clear today. It acts as a transportation shuttle to the Holy Shrine once a year. Oh, wait a minute.”
Miho searched her bag, which was larger than her, took out a golden bell, and shook it.
Ring!
Moby Dick reacted right away.
Whoosh!
The whale let out a heavy and intense sound, comparable to the sound a tuba would make, as it approached Blue Forest Island. Though it had been flying quite high in the sky, it took less than ten seconds to come down to the surface.
Splash!
As if the landing area was set in advance, Moby Dick landed and submerged half of its body in an area west of Blue Forest Island, a part of the sea that was relatively deep that Merlin had often swum in. Since Moby Dick’s body was so large, it would have been difficult to climb on top of it if it had landed on the ground instead.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. But is it okay to ride on its back?”
“It was sent out for the specific purpose of bringing representatives to the Holy Shrine. Stop worrying so much and follow me.”
“Oh, before that…”
Merlin reached out and picked up the bag Miho was carrying. Although he lifted it with one hand, the bag weighed more than thirty kilograms.
“Why’s this so heavy? You’re not a soldier or anything. I’ll carry this for you.”
“Eh? I’m using magic to levitate it, so it’s not heavy for me at all.”
“Seeing you carry it makes me feel uncomfortable. Besides, I’m not planning on carrying it around either. Let’s see… Ta-da!”
Merlin sneakily shifted his robe to cover the bag, activated his inventory space, and put it inside. When Merlin stepped forward, there was no sign of the bag.
“Huh? You can hide something as large as a bag like that?”
“Of course. It’s easy for me to take it out as well, so let me know when you need it.”
Merlin shrugged as if this act was nothing special, but Miho’s eyes sparkled.
“Ooh. Teach me how to use that magic!”
“Eh? Teach you? But it’s not magic.”
“It isn’t magic? But it’s dimensional-related magic, no?”
For the uninitiated, inventory space and the act of logging out would probably seem like magic. Wouldn’t anyone think this if they saw a large item vanish from thin air like that?
“It is but… it’s kind of like you’re Shrouding Art. It’s an inherent skill, so I can’t teach you.”
In the end, Merlin had no choice but to explain his inventory in this manner. It was technically true that users had an inherent skill of possessing an inventory. It was every user’s exclusive, innate superpower, so to speak. One couldn’t teach another to use an inventory through senses. One couldn’t teach a blind man how vision works and expect that man to see, right?
Miho shrugged. “Everyone says it’s extremely difficult to use dimension-related magic techniques, So I guess it makes sense that it’s a natural ability. Anyway, let’s go up.”
“Alright.”
Following her lead, Merlin jumped off the cliff and landed onto Moby Dick’s dorsal fin. Since the dorsal fin was so large, it took a considerable amount of time to cross it. Oddly enough, a ladder connected the fin to the main body, so it wasn’t difficult to climb down onto it.
“You’re a human being.”
“Huh? A lion?”
The first thing Merlin saw after climbing down on Moby Dick’s back was an unusually large lion. The lion spoke a human language and was covered in red hair.
“Hey Red Blood. Do the Senior Remote Islands lack talented beings?”
“I was thinking the exact same thing about you. Miho. Don’t you lack the prowess and age to be sent as a receiver of the prophecy? And you’re being accompanied by a human being… Don’t the rules state that only one being and one young servant without a seal per party is allowed entrance into the Holy Shrine?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Miho responded.
Hearing Miho’s answer, Red Blood the lion frowned.
“Then how…”
“Why are you speaking before checking?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. A being with your level of power can’t possibly have been given a seal… huh?”
While speaking to Miho, Red Blood turned his head toward Merlin and was taken aback. Red Blood looked Merlin up and down, as if searching for something, then looked back at Miho.
“What’s up with this guy?”
“He’s a guest on our island. So, there’s no problem with the rules, right?”
“I still don’t understand, he seems human, but… he isn’t like the other humans on the main continent.”
Red Blood peered at Merlin with a dubious expression. Merlin asked Miho, “What seal is he talking about?”
“It’s a spiritual sign one gets when they become an adult. Can you see this?”
Miho slightly lifted her collar, revealing a portion of her shoulder. There was a strange symbol embedded on her white skin.
“Hmm. I don’t understand.”
“Really? From my perspective, what’s truly confusing is that you don’t have a seal…”
“No, that’s not what I’m confused about. It was what you said before… that you’re an adult.”
“…”
Miho’s fist trembled as her calm expression cracked; however, she was able to barely suppress her rising anger. It would be unseemly to lash out in a place where the representatives of other islands were also present.
“Well, let’s go and get a room. It’ll be a while before we arrive at the Holy Shrine.” She said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, there are rooms? Well, I did see some buildings earlier.”
Merlin followed Miho, who strode ahead. Suddenly, a red eagle flying through the sky swooped down and landed on Merlin’s head. It was Quiet Heaven.
“Where have you been? I haven't seen you since I logged in.”
“I’ve been looking around the area. This whale, by the way, is great. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Divine Spirit Class being.”
“Miho also said that this was a Divine Spirit Animal. What’s the standard for a Divine Spirit Animal?”
Quiet Heaven answered. “The dictionary definition says that spiritual animals or monster spirits are spirit beings that obtain a high enough position that their spirits reach enlightenment, or a power beyond a certain threshold. They’re generally considered Level 17 to 19 beings, but in some cases, spirit species can reach transcendence.”
“But the Phoenix’s level was 27. Wasn’t the Phoenix a Divine Spirit Animal?”
Merlin recalled the record of the Phoenix from his previous promotion test.
“Of course a Phoenix is a Divine Spirit Animal. Though I stated that their levels usually hovered around 17 through 19, I’m just stating their starting point. Monsters like Kirin and the Divine Dragons, which barely exceed Level 20, to the Three-Legged Crow are all referred to as Divine Spirit Animals.”
“Oh, so it’s a very broad, all-encompassing concept.”
“However, there are distinct power levels. For example, transcendents are not at the same level as a newly minted god or a god that rules over something. It’s a similar concept.”
When Quiet Heaven finished its explanation, Miho stopped. They arrived in front of a two-story building made of a strange material that Merlin couldn’t recognize.
“Let’s rest here. It’ll take about a day to get to the Holy Shrine.”
“One day? This whale doesn’t seem that slow… why does it take so long?”Merlin, who remembered the shape of the islands on his map by heart, wondered aloud.
The distance from Moby Dick’s current location to the southernmost point, or the end of the map, was only two-hundred kilometers at most. Merlin felt it was strange that it would take the whale an entire day to traverse that distance. Even if one moved at a steady speed of twenty kilometers per hour, one could traverse that distance in just ten hours.
‘Will the map expand like it did after I crossed the Noise Belt?’
This was a possibility. As Merlin was momentarily trapped in thought, he heard a voice from behind him.
“Oh gosh. We already picked this place for ourselves.”
“What?”
A blue-haired man standing behind them spoke in a pompous tone. He was around a hundred-and-ninety centimeters tall, with a trident as tall as him sheathed on his back. He was accompanied by a small, ten year-old girl who looked at the blue-haired man with a nervous expression on her face.
“Hehehe. I was wondering where the fish were hiding, but it looks like they came out of their own accord!” Miho quipped.
“Hmpf. What the hell is this animal girl saying?” the blue-haired man retorted.
A tense atmosphere formed between the man with blue hair and Miho. Merlin couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. The trident-carrying blue-haired being’s level was higher than Miho’s. The blue-haired being was Level 9, which was equivalent to the Human-faced Centipede, Inyup, that Merlin had encountered in the past.
‘Well, I should be able to deal with him if need be.’
A lot of time had passed since Merlin fought against Inyup. Of course, Merlin was only Level 6 at the time, but while traveling, his internal energy and magic power had increased and become purer. Besides, he felt confident in one-on-one combat. In case of an emergency, Merlin sent some of his internal energy over to Miho’s side.
“What’s wrong? Are you not on good terms with this guy?”
“The mermaids don’t get along with anyone. Unlike the powers that rule over the various islands, the mermaids claim that the whole sea is their territory. Even though they say this, they don’t dare go near Red Dragon Island. Isn’t it funny?” Miho spoke loud enough for the blue-haired mermaid to hear.
“You’re talking nonsense. Weren’t you all in a frenzy to give offerings whenever the red dragon appears?”
“What?”
Even though there was no noticeable wave of magic power, Merlin felt that sparks were crackling all around him. In this rather hostile-seeming atmosphere, Merlin sneaked a peek at the other monsters in the area with Insightful Eyes. Whether it was fortunate for them or not, all the other monsters were far away.
