CH 93

Sun rays passed through the ocean’s undulating waves and landed on the seafloor, lighting up the abundant coral as they brightly displayed their many vibrant colors.

‘Beautiful…’

Merlin slowly flowed with the current and admired the surrounding scenery. The coral gave off a dazzling appearance, distributed throughout the area and as transparent as glass. It was as if Merlin had entered a huge flower garden; this couldn’t be easily found in real life. It was indeed a spectacular sight to behold.

Bubble.

A shoal of fish approached Merlin, creating a trailing current behind them. Each fish was only the size of his palm, but hundreds or thousands of them together made the group as large as a massive whale. Testing whether the fish were afraid of humans, Merlin moved a little bit closer, and the fish backed away immediately as if they were startled.

‘This is different from the other online games I’ve played so far. It isn’t just a game; it could also be a popular tourist destination.’

The truth was that DIO’s level-up system wasn’t conducive to accommodating and attracting everyone. Users without talents or skills wouldn’t be able to progress, no matter how long they played the game. During the closed beta test, only gifted, enterprising individuals were contacted, and they all devoted themselves to training, but if DIO started accepting anyone without restriction, stragglers and dawdlers would definitely appear.

‘There’ll be users who give up on leveling.’

However, even if this happened, the world of DIO was wondrous, and there were plenty of other things to enjoy. Merlin felt that many people would be interested in DIO for tourism due to the animals and monsters that could never be seen in real life. Additionally, if people didn’t want to fight, they could log in to watch others’ battles. Lastly, the passing of time in DIO was 12 times faster than in reality, so it could be used for studying or an extended vacation.

‘This game will inevitably bring significant social change.’

The introduction of DIO to the masses would bring an intense culture shock stronger than the rise of the Internet. Furthermore, since DIO didn’t develop gradually but was created suddenly, its impact on society would be that much greater. Unlike previous games and the mainstream use of the Internet, DIO’s virtual world would present a variety of advantages without any drawbacks. As such, DIO’s influence would instantly encroach on people’s lifestyles and knowledge. And the result would probably be-

“Are you still alive?”

A telepathic message bearing a familiar voice flew into Merlin’s mind while he was falling deeper into thought.

“Of course, I’m still alive. What’s up?”

“Nothing important; I’m just bored. Do you have any idea how long you’ve been underwater?”

“About twenty hours?”

“Hey… are you a whale or a human?”

While listening to Quiet Heaven’s telepathic message, Merlin lightly kicked and rose to the surface. His swimming skill was Rank AA again, and he’d also reached the same water attribute affinity level he had in the beta test.

“Phew! Are you bored?”

“My wings hurt from flying all this time, you bastard.”

Quiet Heaven gently glided down and sat atop Merlin’s head. As if to protest its stiff body, Quiet Heaven twisted its wings back and forth to loosen its muscles.

“Hmm. If flying for a long time is difficult, can’t you land in the water for a while and rest up? Aren’t you able to use your legs to paddle around?”

“Do I look like a duck to you?”

Quiet Heaven muttered exasperatedly as Merlin slowly drifted forward. The current was pushing and pulling him, so he wasn’t moving too quickly.

“By the way, what’s that strange current over there? It extends sideways like a long belt, and no matter how high I fly, I can’t see where it ends. Also, it’s giving me some weird vibes. It’s so noisy despite being this far.”

Ten days had passed since Merlin jumped into the water from the southern part of Dynamic Island. Of course, this was in DIO time. Merlin hadn’t logged off since he had not reached the time limit. Due to the difference in which time flowed between real life and DIO, users were given an unimaginable amount of time to play the game.

“Quiet Heaven, do you hate water?”

“Of course. Don’t you know my attribute properties? Fire and wind.”

Merlin knew this but asked anyway. Then, he continued.

“Will you get injured if you get wet?”

“It’s not about being hurt. I just hate how water feels.”

“That’s good.”

“What do you mean that’s good-”

Snatch.

When Quiet Heaven was about to question these incomprehensible words, Merlin’s hands shot out and grabbed its body.

And then, Merlin dove underwater.

“…?!”

With the bird unable to scream, Merlin rapidly descended with the bird in his hand, the latter wriggling and struggling to break free from his grasp. Merlin held the bird tightly in his arms and activated his attribute power. The Noisy Belt created this vertical current, which allowed Merlin to dive so rapidly. As Merlin rushed down with the current, Quiet Heaven’s screams resounded in his head.

“Ack! What are you doing?!”

“If you don’t pay attention, you’ll miss it.”

“What the hell are you…!”

Quiet Heaven trembled briefly, seemingly stunned and infuriated, but when it realized that it had reached the deep sea, Quiet Heaven stayed completely still, not even moving its head to its sides. It must have been true that Quiet Heaven detested water.

Whoosh.

The Noisy Belt’s current exceeded 20 kilometers per hour. At first glance, this may not seem too quick, but at that speed, a dolphin would be unable to resist and ultimately drown. In addition, the outer current of the Noisy Belt plummeted straight down to a depth of 800 meters, so if someone were to be swept away, they wouldn’t be able to escape, facing certain death.

‘Hmm? Has the current become faster?’

Although he was amidst all this chaos, Merlin was calm and composed, and he leisurely surveyed his surroundings. He could only do this because he had mastered the guiding principles of water. Thus, Merlin could catch and ride the flow of water without actively utilizing his attribute power. Now, since he had attained his previous levels of water attribute affinity, it wasn’t unreasonable to presume that Merlin could withstand currents several times faster than this one.

‘It’s not twice as quick as before, more like one and a half times. That makes it around 40 kilometers per hour.’

At these speeds, underwater monsters would be killed, not only dolphins. Merlin wasn’t put in a dire situation, as he could sense and go along with the flow of water, but anyone else would be in danger of dying, even if they had a water attribute power superior to Merlin’s.

Whoosh!

The rushing current sank into the deep sea and then rose upward. If someone continued to flow along with it, since the current moved in a circle, they’d return to where they started at the edge of the Noisy Belt. As such, just before surfacing, Merlin activated his booster and threw himself into the new circular current on the other half of the Noisy Belt. In other words, Merlin had just approached the Noisy Belt in a current flowing counterclockwise, and there was another current on the other side of the Noisy Belt, which moved clockwise. This was how Merlin could jump from one circular current to the other.

“Phew! The current flows quicker here, so that increases our jumping speed- ouch!”

Merlin had risen to the surface when he screamed as Quiet Heaven angrily pecked his forehead and escaped his grasp, flying back into the sky. This was done with such fervor that drops of blood started dripping down Merlin’s forehead despite the tough skin given by his high life force and HP.

“Ouch! How can an idiotic, unjustified pet attack its master!”

“What did you say, you little dipshit? As soon as I said I hated water, who was it that dragged me into the deep sea?!”

Quiet Heaven’s voice trembled as it spoke, showing just how surprised and angry it was. Words couldn’t convey how much Quiet Heaven detested water. In Earth terms, one could say that Quiet Heaven’s dislike for water was about a hundred times greater than a cat struggling against a bath. At this point, it was more appropriate to state that Quiet Heaven feared water rather than hating it.

“Didn’t you say that you wouldn’t be hurt if you got wet?”

“It’s not a physical problem; it’s a mental problem! If someone falls into a shallow pool of wastewater, is their life in danger because they might drown?!”

Merlin scratched the back of his head. Quiet Heaven’s response was more intense than he had anticipated.

“Um… sorry, but this is the only way we can cross the Noisy Belt.”

“What are you talking about? If I fly passed that portion of the sea-”

While speaking, Quiet Heaven turned its head and discovered the artificial islands in the center of Noisy Belt. Each one was about the size of two football fields, and they were around two kilometers away from each other. Atop each island were rows of silver golems.

“Oho, because of that… wow, those golems are intimidating. Each of them is a Level 8 Iron Golem, and they also have a lot of buffs applied on them.”

“You can tell merely by looking at them?”

Quiet Heaven nodded.

“I told you about my visual abilities before. Anyway, those golems have buffs that support their magic power capacities and defenses. Additionally, the golems are permanently maintained despite their lack of special magic… perhaps they’re a system component?”

In the world of DIO, which was cut off from the outside and controlled by its own system, conceptual beings like this could exist. For example, there were indestructible buildings in the city and a perpetual circular barrier dividing the external and internal areas within the seven holy cities.

The [Setting] established by DIO’s system transcended the laws of physics and magic, and there were concepts put in place that made no sense. These golems guarding the Noisy Belt were an example of this, as they were maintained without any underlying element. This could be seen in the golems’ buffs which had no magic power or any other principle of operation.

“In other words, DIO’s developers and administrators buffed them?”

“Yeah, but what’s with the division? Did we enter an area we’re not supposed to be in?”

That was a valid question. There was no reason for normal monsters to have such buffs on them. Yet, the astute Merlin had a rough idea of what was happening.

“Hmm… I’m guessing this space isn’t supposed to be accessible for users yet.”

“That means we shouldn’t be here.”

“Not necessarily. If they truly didn’t want anyone crossing over, they wouldn’t have deployed such a weird divider; they would’ve used an indestructible and impenetrable barrier.”

The same went for the buffs on the monsters. If the golems were simply placed to prevent users from passing, it would have been more pragmatic to use overwhelming monsters above Level 10 instead of buffing Level 8 mobs. The existence of these lower-level monsters led to one conclusion.

“So?”

“The golem’s buffs probably exist so that they can be removed later. If there are too many powerful monsters here, when users start crossing the Noisy Belt someday, they won’t be able to do so. However, it would be too cumbersome for the developers and administrators to get rid of the existing golems and create an entirely new set of monsters, so they probably used the buffs as a deterrent against user encroachment until they eventually open this new area.”

“In other words, they’re making it possible for users to defeat the relatively low-level golems later on but preventing them from being capable of fighting them right now?”

“Yeah. To be honest, the Noisy Belt’s current is so forceful that it can’t be crossed with a vessel like a submarine or a ship. Furthermore, since the monsters on standby are flying types, I think the developers and administrators are probably planning on releasing airships and wings for users to engage in aerial warfare later. Those golems will probably be unbuffed at that time.”

Merlin’s prediction was spot on. If the developers and administrators heard his conjecture, they would have been terrified of his deductive ability. However, Quiet Heaven had no opinion on the matter, and it simply shrugged before speaking again.

“Well, there weren’t any warnings to not cross, so I guess there’s no need to be too nervous about breaking the rules. What’re the monsters on this side of the divide like?”

“They’re a little unusual. The monsters here aren’t aggressive. Actually, they don’t even know that they’re monsters.”

“What?”

Quiet Heaven flinched as if startled.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“No, wait a moment.”

A faint spiritual qi glowed around Quiet Heaven’s body while it murmured something. Soon, Quiet Heaven’s red eyes gleamed. The bird was gathering and interpreting the information on its surroundings.

“Eh? You’re using a strange power. Is this feeling chakra? It seems a little different, though.”

“… Your senses are pretty sharp.”

Quiet Heaven knew that chakra was difficult to recognize from the outside, and it smiled bitterly when Merlin instantly noticed what power it was using. After all, Quiet Heaven had made efforts to hide its chakra power.

‘Did I not train enough?’

Either way, the results were ready. Fortunately, Quiet Heaven’s concerns seemed unfounded since its analysis revealed that they were not [Outside] the authorized area.

“By the way, what did you do just now?”

“I looked around a bit. You’re right. This place isn’t a restricted area.”

Then, Quiet Heaven flapped its wings and soared high into the sky. Quiet Heaven didn’t find anything notable from his vantage point, and there didn’t seem to be any visible hints of monsters.