Chapter 94

Chapter 94

“Where are we going anyway?”

“Further south. There are a few islands marked on the map, so I’m planning to head to those first… huh?”

Merlin stopped speaking after he summoned the map and examined the terrain. During the beta test, the islands he mentioned were clearly marked on the map, but now they were invisible. The map was dyed black as if ink had been spilled on it; the illuminated area was restricted to a one-kilometer radius around Merlin. Essentially, there was a fog of war.

“What’s the matter?”

“It looks like the developers created an exploration system with a fog of war.”

The map was not completely visible like before, so the newly arriving users would have to find the islands themselves. However, Merlin didn’t care. He had already opened the map during the beta test and memorized the shape and locations of the various islands.

“So, what’re you planning to do?”

“For now, I’ll keep going south. On the way, we’ll stop by some islands.”

Then, Merlin started swimming. He didn’t make any notable movements, but his body shot forward.

Sss.

Gradually, Merlin sped up; until now, he wasn’t moving quickly. There was no rush, so he circulated his Golden Pill Immortal Technique and refined his magical powers while traveling. This was also why it took him ten days to arrive at the Noisy Belt when it required less time in the past, but the situation was different. After being constantly refined for ten days, the Sapphire gleamed with an undeniable degree of clarity and purity.

“Up to Level 4, I had the same results as what was written in the book. So why did I get a Sapphire instead of an Opal at Level 5?”

The Seven Jewel school of study, which distinguished its seven realms into seven jewels, began with the Unknown phase, where the practitioner accumulated magic power by creating magic circuitry and pathing on the back of their hand. The first realm brought the Jade, the first ‘jewel’ or magic power gem. The second realm was an Amethyst, followed by an Emerald, and the Spinel at the fourth realm. Then, an Opal and a Ruby were the next two realms. Once the gem reached the seventh realm, a Diamond, the practitioner would finally attain the ultimate state: Zero Shining.

Yet, for whatever reason, Merlin’s gem for the fifth realm wasn’t an Opal but a blue Sapphire. This incomprehensible puzzled Merlin, as it contradicted what was written in the Seven Jewels book. Seeing Merlin’s confused expression, Quiet Heaven stated, “It doesn’t follow an absolute standard.”

“Hmm, what doesn’t?”

“The classification and type of magic stones. I don’t know the specific name of your school of study, but if you’re training in materializing magic power into an external form, the results will vary based on the user.”

“It was the same until the fourth realm, though.”

“You probably skipped a step in the middle.”

“Oh, maybe.”

Merlin was still baffled, but he continued to move along with the calm current. There weren’t many monsters here in the first place, but it was still unusual that he didn’t see any signs of them for nearly ten minutes. Apparently, the distribution of monsters in this area was different from Dynamic Island.

“Oh, we’re nearing an island.”

“Huh? What island… oh, there it is. Wait, you can see that?”

With an astonished expression, Quiet Heaven looked at an island on the horizon that was still a speck of dust, still flying above Merlin’s head as it did so.

“I saw it a while ago. At first, I thought it was uninhabited because of its small size, but there are quite a few monsters living there.”

Seeing Merlin calmly muttering, Quiet Heaven tried focusing on the island, but it couldn’t learn anything other than the fact that the island existed. What the human, Merlin, could see, Quiet Heaven, the eagle, could not.

Of course, Quiet Heaven wasn’t trained in using Farsight to see into the distance, but eagles had two foveae to focus their vision, and they usually had eyesight that was four to eight times better than a human’s. Moreover, even without Farsight, Quiet Heaven had a specialized power to ‘see.’ As such, it was clear that the bird had outstanding visual acuity. Yet, how did a human have better eyesight than Quiet Heaven? While users had powers and skills that allowed them to surpass their physical limits, Merlin wasn’t only training his Enhanced Eyesight. It was remarkable he’d become so proficient in this particular skill.

“… I can see it now. It’s not that big, is it?”

“It’s almost completely round… about 11 kilometers in diameter,” Merlin said.

“Not around ten kilometers, but 11 kilometers specifically? How are you so sure?”

“Do you want me to give you the exact measurements? It’s 11 kilometers, 452 meters, and 13 centimeters in diameter.”

When Merlin gave this unexpected answer to Quiet Heaven’s passing question, the bird couldn’t help but look incredulous.

“You can tell just from looking at the island?”

“Yeah, of course. The estimate may vary slightly depending on how the island’s boundaries are defined, but if we’re talking about the area where one could stand on dry ground, it’s about 11 kilometers in diameter.”

Penetrating Eyesight. Simply put, this skill allowed users to measure distances by eye. Obviously, this ability could be developed to some extent through constant training, but there was a limit at a certain point. Though unfair, Penetrating Eyesight was primarily an innate ability, so no matter how hard someone tried, they wouldn’t be able to acquire it.

However, even if Merlin was born with this innate ability, Quiet Heaven thought that the way he used Penetrating Eyesight was a bit strange. This skill made it possible to see distant objects, but seeing something and measuring its size was entirely different.

‘Its diameter is over ten kilometers, but he can estimate it down to the centimeter?’

Although the estimate sounded absurd, Merlin spoke without any awkwardness or uncertainty, so it didn’t seem like he was lying. Merlin wasn’t bragging; he was merely stating the truth and nothing more.

“Hmm… that island, something is strange about it, no?”

Merlin, uninterested in what Quiet Heaven was thinking, looked at the island while recalling the map from the beta test. The island in front of him was exactly like one of the small islands he’d seen, but there was one difference.

‘It’s been moved southeast… by about five kilometers or so?’

This was a subtle change that wouldn’t have been noticed if Merlin didn’t possess an extraordinary memory, which allowed him to recall the entire map as if he were viewing a photograph. His current map was obscured by darkness, though, so only the island before him was illuminated.

“What’s the matter? Why are you in a daze?”

“Nothing. Just something I need to slowly figure out for myself.”

“…?”

“Anyway, there are many monsters on the island, but don’t you think they have a weird aura?”

While talking, Merlin walked onto the island. He recalled that there were more than thirty islands in the southern sea below the Noisy Belt. Among them, the largest island was immense, with three of the six biggest islands being over 100 kilometers in diameter, which was larger than Jeju Island. The scale of this virtual world was massive. Soon, Quiet Heaven spoke up.

“This aura….”

“Do you recognize it? It’s like magic, but it’s a little different. It does have similarities to chakra, although it’s closer to your version of aura than a user’s.”

Quiet Heaven couldn’t help but sigh when Merlin spoke calmly. Just as Mari had grown weary of being constantly astonished by Merlin’s talent, skill, perception, and general abilities during the beginner test, Quiet Heaven decided to accept that Merlin was going to be full of surprises.

“It’s Goblin-based monster power.”

“Goblin-based monster power? You mean those monsters are goblins?”

“Yeah. For your information, the power you use is based on Tao power.”

“Goblin-based monster power and Tao power… are you some sort of eastern shamanism guru?”

To be considered an eastern shamanism guru merely because one used Tao-based power… though this was a simplistic association that Merlin had jokingly thrown out, Quiet Heaven nodded.

“Similar. Oh, by the way, I’m not limited to using Tao-based powers because I’m a pet. Pets also have different powers depending on their type.”

After explaining, Quiet Heaven tried to sense the overall atmosphere of the island. Aside from the vast lake in the center, the island housed a dense forest with enormous trees and monsters scattered here and there. Judging by the monsters’ movements, they didn’t appear to have noticed Merlin or Quiet Heaven, and the former’s eyes widened when he saw creatures he had never seen before.

“That’s a six-tailed fox, and the other is a goblin, right?”

“They’re monsters.”

A fox with silver fur and six tails was sleeping relaxedly atop a boulder on the beach. There were also two goblins whose bodies were covered with sand and only had their heads exposed, and a black bat was standing next to them. As he watched this silently, Merlin spoke.

“Hmm. They’re also different.”

“What do you mean?”

“Normal monsters don’t stretch out and leisurely enjoy themselves like this when they’re on standby. They would be prepared for a user ambush at all times.”

Monsters entered an aggressive combat state when they sensed users, but that didn’t mean they revealed openings when they were alone. Seeing the fox sunbathing and the goblins buried in the sand, the atmosphere seemed serene and peaceful. It reminded Merlin of a vacation. And while Merlin was puzzled by what he saw, a text popped up in front of him.

/You are the first to discover the goblin island, Blue Forest Island!/

/You have acquired 5,000 experience points as a bonus for being the first user to discover the island!/

“Oh. They’re giving me experience points for being the first user here.”

“Well, that fits the exploration system theory you mentioned earlier.”

Merlin nodded after hearing Quiet Heaven’s words. They had already grown quite close to the island, so the monsters soon discovered their presence.

“Hmm? What are these guys?”

“They don’t have horns or anything. Are they human?”

“Where are you guys from?”

It was quite strange to see the two goblins speak as they stood, shedding the sand that covered their bodies. While the goblin species frequently appeared in the Forest of Despair, they were all aggressive and mostly unintelligent, so they could only say things like ‘Die!’ or ‘Death upon you!’

Step.

Merlin stepped onto the island and felt his feet touch solid ground, a sensation he hadn’t experienced in a long time. Obviously, Merlin was putting himself in greater danger by stepping onto land, as he was most powerful in the water. Yet, it seemed as if he were unperturbed by this as Merlin calmly asked a question.

“By the way, do you see usernames?”

“Of course.”

“Then what is that?”

As the two goblins stared at Merlin and Quiet Heaven, letters floated above their heads. Yet, these letters seemed to move in a slightly different manner than what they’d seen so far. There was nothing special about the names [Goblin Warrior Garam] and [Goblin Mage Narin], but their usernames had a white background as if they were speech bubbles.

“I don’t know either. It wasn’t mentioned in the Announcement Board?”

“The Announcement Board?”

Merlin recalled the post he’d checked after DIO opened. As expected, there was a part related to usernames.

4. The way IDs are displayed shall be changed as follows:

1) All users will have their names appear in white lettering. However, if a user enters a snowy area or anywhere with a general white background, the ID lettering shall be changed to black. Like users, NPCs will also possess viewable IDs; however, the IDs will show within a text bubble.

2) Non-aggressive monsters or those significantly weaker than the user shall have their names written in green lettering. Moderately weaker monsters will have a yellow font for their ID, and monsters with a similar power level as the user will have their name in blue lettering. Stronger monsters shall have purple lettering, and monsters drastically more powerful will be signified with red names.

… Right. This was the explanation that was given. However, the username of the goblins before him couldn’t be explained by the announcement’s description. Right now, their username lettering was purple, so Merlin recognized that the goblins were higher level than him, but they also had white speech bubbles, so were they NPCs? As Merlin stood there, puzzled by this inconsistency, Quiet Heaven spoke up,

“Is it because this place hasn’t been opened yet?”

“That might be it. I guess it’s not urgent, so I’ll figure it out as I go.”

As he muttered, Merlin approached the monsters. The six-tailed fox and the two goblins didn’t attack nor back away; they just kept staring at Merlin. The atmosphere wasn’t hostile; it was closer to what would happen when meeting someone for the first time.

“Uh, what are you-”

Whoosh.

One of the goblins tried to talk to Merlin, but he passed them as if it were natural, showing his favoritism. Rather than speak to the burly goblins, with Merlin’s thoroughly modern sense of beauty and aesthetics, he casually walked past the two-meter-tall goblins and went straight for…

Grasp.

“Huh… what?! W-who are you?!”