Iz looked at the thick stack of blueprints Kanzaki Rei had tossed out and fell silent for a moment.
A fleeting doubt crossed his mind.
Could it be... that Reiâs magical talent is actually slightly superior to mine?
But the thought vanished almost instantly.
Impossible.
As for why... there was no reason. It was simply impossible.
An absolute, unquestioned confidence.
Call it blind arrogance or pure prideâIz had never believed that anyone could rival him in magical attainment.
Swish!
All twenty-five thousand draft sheets rose into the air, circling around him.
They formed a cylindrical vortex, enclosing him like a towering chimney of paper.
"Oh!"
"Mm!"
"Tsk tsk... yes, it should be like this."
As he connected one diagram to another, Izpalut couldnât help but click his tongue in admiration.
Brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant!
To think he hadnât come up with this in such a short time!
As expected of my disciple!
For Rei to reach such heights in magic... it truly filled him with satisfaction.
Heh, Akasei.
You kept insisting Rei had a talent for being a warriorâbut from what I see, compared to his talent as a mage, all that time spent on combat was nothing but wasted effort.
Izâs heart brimmed with praise and admiration.
Yet not a trace of self-doubt appeared.
No inferiority. No hesitation.
"Rei, how did you come up with these ideas?"
Rei scratched his head.
"Inspiration, huh... well, inspiration is just... something that suddenly comes to you."
He had no intention of revealing his "Future Simulation" talent.
Not even to the closest people around himâKumironi or Izpalut.
At most, he would let them sense something unusual.
But he would never let them know that he could fully simulate an entire day of the future.
This trump card was far too important.
It wasnât that he thought Iz would leak it.
It was just that this world was too strange, too unpredictable.
Sometimes, it felt like simply speaking certain truths would leave a trace behind.
Better to say less.
Iz nodded thoughtfully.
"Mm... that makes sense."
"But this magic array still has plenty of room for refinement."
Reiâs lips twitched slightly.
Still refining it?
Just how far are you planning to take this spell?
Iz studied the array closely.
"Youâve managed to resolve part of the randomness... interesting."
"But you still havenât touched the core."
Resolved... randomness?
Rei paused at that explanation.
Then he consumed spiritual energy and peered into his own future.
Fate unfolded like a dense fog around himâ
And then gradually became clear.
He saw himself appearing in the future...
The Chaotic Sea.The Boundless Mountain.The Moon Sea.The Pale White Continent.
No longer chaotic.
The destinations had narrowed down to just four.
But...
Can we remove the Moon Sea?
I really donât want to go there.
Aelthemis was waiting for him there.
If teleportation was inevitable, heâd rather end up as far away from the Moon Sea as possible.
And there was also that enemyâthe one whose Reincarnation Body he had stolenâwatching him like a predator.
Even if that former Reincarnation Body likely couldnât defeat him now...
Rei had no desire to provoke them.
Most importantlyâ
The Moon Sea was their home ground.
Who knew how many traps had already been set?
"Iz."
"This teleportation array... it seems like itâll send me to one of four locationsâthe Chaotic Sea, Boundless Mountain, Moon Sea, or the Pale White Continent."
Iz tilted his head.
"Mm... you can determine the final destination of a random teleportation spell?"
"I foresaw it."
Being a seer wasnât exactly a secret.
"Oh, I see."
So you didnât know before, huh...
"In that case," Iz continued, "randomness isnât entirely random. Itâs influenced by certain underlying factors."
"If you can identify those variables, you can exploit them in reverse."
"Using randomness to cancel out randomness... and arrive at a stable outcome."
He turned to Rei, eyes full of approval.
"A truly genius concept. Or should I sayâgenius inspiration?"
You sound like youâre praising me, Rei thought, but youâre really praising yourself.
"Iz," Rei asked, "is there a way to avoid the Moon Sea?"
Iz blinked.
"Avoid the Moon Sea?"
"If anything, you should want to go there the most."
"Out of all those locations, the Moon Sea should be the safest."
Safe?
Safe where?
If he showed up there now, Aelthemis would skin him alive.
And yet...
From his future simulations, the Moon Sea appeared most frequently.
Roughly two out of five times.
Forty percent.
At first glance, it didnât seem that high.
But considering the sheer number of possible locations across the entire worldâ
Countless seas, mountains, continentsâ
The probability of landing specifically in the Moon Sea should be infinitesimal.
And yet, it was forty percent.
"Thatâs because," Iz explained, "the Chaotic Sea is a domain of madness and disorder. Itâs filled with chaos. There are ancient opportunities hidden there, but the danger is equally immense."
"The Pale White Continent belongs to Purityâit symbolizes death and destruction."
"As for Boundless Mountain... itâs filled with forbidden zones and is the closest place to the gods. There have been multiple divine descents recorded there."
...
Rei fell silent after hearing this.
What the hell are these places?
Back when he read geographical records in the White Tower, none of this was mentioned.
The Chaotic Sea was described as turbulent, sureâbut only in terms of its islands, nations, and marine monsters.
Nothing about it being this dangerous.
The Pale White Continent? Occasionally mentioned as a land of pure whiteâ
But nowhere did it say it represented death and destruction.
Boundless Mountain... divine descents?
Seriously...
Why is every place in this world so dangerous?
It felt like nowhere was safe.
Noâif anything, the Secret Sea itself was a death trap.
Who wouldâve thought that a perfectly stable sea would suddenly face total annihilation?
If he hadnât foreseen it...
Would he have survived?
"And as for avoiding the Moon Sea..."
Iz frowned slightly as he examined the twenty-five thousand diagrams.
"That might be difficult."
"Rather than eliminating randomness, the more you refine it, the more it converges toward the Moon Sea."
"In fact, instead of randomly reaching the Moon Sea, itâs more accurate to say that randomness originates from the Moon Sea and disperses outward."
"So if you remove randomness..." Iz shrugged helplessly.
Rei tilted his head back and sighed deeply.
Damn it... I donât want to switch maps.
Canât I just stay in Kronoa forever?
"...Fine. Iâll think of another solution."
First priorityâ
Donât walk straight into Aelthemisâs line of fire.
"Iz, Iâm feeling a bit tired..."
"Iâll head back and rest for a while."
"Haha, go ahead. If I had inspiration like yours, Iâd be exhausted too."
Rei vanished.
But Iz immediately turned back, brimming with excitement as he resumed studying the diagrams.
"Inspiration, huh? Fascinating!"
"It seems I still have room to improve! I need to think faster... stimulate my inspiration even more!"
It had been a long time since heâd encountered someone who could match him intellectually.
And to think he found that in Rei...
How delightful.
What had begun as a tragic, inevitable apocalypse...
Was now becoming strangely addictive.
â
Rei appeared on an empty street.
His perception swept back toward the research chamber.
Iz... youâre not competing with me.
Youâre competing with yourself.
Watching Izâs intense enthusiasm was almost unsettling.
That unwavering convictionâ
Was nothing like Xu Zhou, who fell into self-doubt after a single defeat.
Xu Zhou, you should learn from Iz.
If you crumble that easily, what kind of Origin Mage are you?
â
Rei found a shop and grabbed a late-night meal.
Kronoa didnât enforce a curfew outside the Month of Death.
At night, shops remained open.
...Come to think of it, I havenât visited Yuna in a while.
Since returning yesterday, he had gone straight to Kumironi, then helped Iz refine magic, and then studied a new Origin spell.
Running back and forth like thisâ
He had been away from Kronoa for nine days without seeing her even once.
But now it was late.
Disturbing a little girlâs sleep didnât seem right.
Tomorrow, then.
As for tonight...
Swishâ
His figure flickeredâ
And appeared on Luluviâs windowsill.
"Ahâ!"
Fresh out of the bath, Luluvi opened the doorâ
Only to see a small boy standing at her window.
...
A beam of light shot out instantly!
But it was deflected skyward in a split second!
BOOM!
The beam exploded in the sky, forming a massive cloud sphere.
Rei tilted his head.
"Luluvi, firing a [Annihilation Arrow] inside the city isnât a good idea. You might hurt civilians."
Her face flushed red as she gripped her bow.
"Little Rei... why donât you guess why I fired it?"
"Iâm not sure, Luluvi-sis."
"But... donât you think you should put some clothes on first?"
"Tch. Youâve already seen itâmight as well let you see your fill."
Rei stared calmly, completely focused.
"Luluvi-sis, Iâm not that kind of person."
She snorted, then finally summoned her battle attire in a flash of light.
"Alright. Say itâyou definitely didnât come here without trouble."
"Didnât you say I could look as much as I wanted?"
Her fist clenched.
"Who just said they werenât that kind of person?! Thatâs itâIâm telling Kumironi..."
"Didnât expect you to turn bad this quickly."
"Cough... actually, Luluvi-sis, I do have something important."
Though his body was still that of an eight-year-oldâ
Some sights...
Even now, were worth appreciating.
Nothing to do with desire.
Just pure appreciation of art.
...Though misunderstandings would definitely be troublesome.
Swishâ
With a wave of his hand, a radiant bow and a shadowed bow appeared before her.
Along with themâ
A collection of light and dark archery skills.
Methods for crafting light arrows and dark arrows.
And several Observer-class abilities:
[Observation Skill: Piercing Vision][Perception Skill: Invasive Perception][Perception Skill: Radiant Awareness][Perception Enhancement: Luminous Sight]
"These...!"
Even with her current equipment forged from Submerged-Continent-tier monstersâ
She could immediately sense their superiority.
"You... borrowed these again?" she asked in shock.
Rei shook his head firmly.
"Picked them up outside."
"...Picked them up?"
What are you even saying?
Things radiating this much light and darknessâjust lying around?
These are obviously stolen goods!
"Luluvi-sis, take them. Itâs a gift."
Her face flushed deeper.
Before, it had been embarrassment.
Now...
Her heart was actually racing.
Butâ
He was still just a child.
There was an eleven-year age gap between them.
Even if her lifespan would extend to three hundred years or moreâ
Even if Rei would reach similar heightsâ
In that scale of time, twelve years meant nothing.
But...
What am I even thinking?
He was still a child.
Rei grinned.
"If you take them, weâre accomplices."
That snapped her out of her thoughts instantly.
Whoâs your accomplice?!
...But still.
She couldnât refuse.
The equipment, the skills, the enhancementsâ
They were too valuable.
After a long internal struggle, she accepted them.
Closing her eyes, she exhaled deeply.
"...Fine. What do you need me to do?"
Rei smiled.
"Luluvi-sis, I want..."
â
[Secret Sea]
Rei and Luluvi stood on a deserted shoreline.
No one else was around.
"So... what exactly are we doing?"
He said they were going to the beach.
...Maybe I shouldâve worn a swimsuit, Luluvi thought.
"...Mm."
[Divine-Level · Future Simulation]
Rei activated it immediately.
"Luluvi-sis, can you help me check whatâs deep within the Secret Sea?"
His own perception range was only 600 kilometers.
Luluviâsâ
When she first reached Tier 5 Observer, it was 30,000 kilometers.
Nowâ
It had expanded to 50,000.
Even at Reiâs speed, it would take around twenty seconds to exit her detection range.
Twenty seconds.
That was a long time.
"Just scouting the sea?"
She extended her perception into the depths, sharing it with himâ
Swishâ
Her awareness pierced through layers of ocean.
The Secret Sea did interfere with perceptionâ
But not enough to stop her.
She reached roughly 45,000 kilometers deep.
Within that rangeâ
Countless marine monsters roamed.
Marine monsters were unique.
They rarely appeared in dungeons.
Most dungeons were land-based.
So these creatures existed almost exclusively in the ocean.
The deeper you went, the stronger they becameâ
Though most capped around Tier 5.
And worseâ
Fighting underwater was severely restricted.
Movement slowed.
Perception weakened.
The water itself grew thick and viscous.
By the time you reached Tier 5 zonesâ
Even Tier 5 adventurers were heavily hindered.
All magic and combat techniques were weakened.
Assassins couldnât hideâ
Ocean creatures were extremely sensitive to water flow.
Even the slightest movement gave them away.
Combat underwater was extremely difficult.
Wounds worsened rapidly.
Healing became far less effective.
Meanwhileâ
Marine monsters thrived.
Their combat power in water far exceeded land monsters on land.
For all these reasonsâ
No one willingly ventured into the deep sea to fight them.
And yetâ
Luluviâs perception reached straight into Tier 5 territory.
"Luluvi-sis, wait a moment."
Rei stepped toward the shore.
Raising one handâ
Streams of soul-light poured into the ocean.
Humâ
The sea began to glow faintly.
This time, he didnât inject all his souls at once.
That outcome was... too extreme.
He only infused 500,000 souls.
The surface showed little changeâ
But deeper downâ
Tier 5 monsters began rising.
And below themâ
Tier 6 creatures started appearing.
It was as if...
An entire layer of the ocean had shifted upward.
...
Want to unlock up to 60+ early-access Chapters and exclusive novels and NFSW CONTENT ALSO? Join my Patreon today and dive deeper into the adventure!
patreon.com/denji21