“Well, it doesn’t matter if there aren’t many monsters. It’s not like I’m playing the game to fight them.”

“You’re not playing the game to fight monsters? Then why are you playing?”

“To have fun. Of course, I do have another objective in mind….”

While trailing off and mumbling the last few words, Merlin raised his right hand. There, on the back of his hand, was an evolved hexagonal magic circle. Currently, it was only an outline, but once the magic circle had enough magic power, it would transform and crystallize into a gem.

“Oh, I should do this before I forget.”

Whoosh!

As he muttered, a breeze started to form. Actually, it wasn’t the wind per se but the rush of mana filtering into Merlin’s right hand from the environment, pushing the surrounding air.

Crack.

Gradually, the magic circle started to take shape. In the beginning, it looked like a small concrete or stone sculpture, but as time passed, it became a green-jade color.

“Crystallization? How can it be done so quickly?”

Quiet Heaven murmured with astonishment, but Merlin didn’t pay any attention. With his right arm extended in front of him, his hand now glowing blue, Merlin continued walking ahead unfalteringly.

Whoosh.

The clear jade-colored magic circle slowly crystallized into a purple Amethyst gem. However, that change lasted for but a moment before it evolved once more to become a green Emerald. This Emerald then turned into a pink Spinel, which ended up as a blue Sapphire.

Flinch.

“Ugh…!”

Feeling a jolt of pain, Merlin stopped designing his magic system. Despite possessing a monstrous ability to create a novel magic system, this by itself didn’t allow him to go beyond the fifth stage of the Seven Jewels school of study. His talents and skills knew no bounds, but if he only relied on them, he wouldn’t go far.

/Magic Stone ‘Jade’ has been produced!/

/Jade has evolved to become an Amethyst!/

/Amethyst has evolved to become an Emerald!/

/Emerald has evolved to become a Spinel!/

/Spinel has evolved to become a Sapphire!/

/Spiritual Energy (Type: Magic Power) has increased by 160 points!/

“That was difficult….”

Although he focused and put all his effort into it, Merlin knew he couldn’t evolve his magic circle any further. As such, he recalled his magic power and halted the magic system design process. It didn’t take long to create the Sapphire, but sweat was rushing down his face. This was a time when Merlin focused all his attention on one goal. At first, he didn’t put much thought into designing his magic circle, but he was soon forced to work harder and harder as the designing and evolution became more challenging.

“What did you just do?”

“I’ve collected the minimum amount of magic power that I needed. I wanted to try something… hmm. My magic power capacity didn’t expand as rapidly or as much as I wanted. This time, I wasn’t restricted by my level, so that could only mean that I don’t have the talent and reached the limits of my abilities.”

Regardless of Merlin’s grumbled complaints, as it sat on his head and looked down with a calm and collected gaze, Quiet Heaven couldn’t help but stare at the recently-produced Sapphire on the back of Merlin’s hand.

‘This guy…’

Quiet Heaven sighed. Magic power wasn’t one of Quiet Heaven’s specialties, but he was informed enough to know that this recent display wasn’t normal. Magic power could be collected in a relatively short period as long as the requisite talent and skill were present, but the speed that Merlin worked at was irregular. Furthermore, Merlin did this while walking; he wasn’t quietly meditating somewhere peaceful.

“Isn’t it weird that I only gained 160 points even though I’ve reached five of the seven stages? Also, the purity of the magic power isn’t great….”

Merlin looked at the Sapphire on his right hand and sighed. Though it was a magic power gem, its purity level wasn’t to his liking. Rather than a gem, the Sapphire looked more like a red rock. This result seemed to have occurred because the gem was created hastily rather than through a gradual process. Due to this, Merlin could design and make a great magic system structure, but he was unable to control the materials that went into it.

“I guess this’ll take some time.”

“Hmm? Ah, yeah, most likely. We’re not in a rush, so there’s probably no need to rush.”

Briefly forgetting that Quiet Heaven was atop his head, Merlin nodded. Yet, Quiet Heaven didn’t budge, and Merlin realized that his red eagle had a pretty decent sense of balance. Wasn’t it impressive that Quiet Heaven didn’t slip at all? Also, Quiet Heaven seemed incredibly light and had no noticeable aura. These factors just further illustrated that Quiet Heaven wasn’t an average animal.

“If it were the Rivel school of study….”

“Hmm?”

Hearing something unexpected, Merlin looked perplexed. Quiet Heaven continued, “If you followed the Circle System practiced by the Rivel school of study, you’d probably already be a 5-Circle mage. You’d also have the quantity of magic power that you need.”

“Huh? Does that mean I chose the wrong school of study?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Hmm? What?”

“No, nothing. Let’s go to the sea.”

Since Quiet Heaven spoke in such a gruff tone, Merlin decided to drop the subject and continue looking forward. The surrounding area was flat plains, so his field of vision wasn’t blocked by anything, but he still couldn’t see the ocean.

“Ah, right. We’re quite far from the ocean, so I’m going to run there.”

“Whatever you want.”

After hearing Quiet Heaven’s reply, Merlin started sprinting. Since he only had five years of internal energy, with some of that being his genuine qi, Merlin couldn’t speed up with internal energy. Despite this, his Divine Swimmer title gave him an additional 150 points in Strength, Stamina, and HP, so Merlin could move 100 meters in five seconds. If he reduced his speed to 100 meters every eight seconds, he’d be able to keep going for about ten minutes.

Thump, thump, thump!

‘His physical composition should be different from what he’s used to on his home planet, but he can still reach such high speeds. It’s likely that this body has no similarities to his other whatsoever… perhaps he got used to it during the beta test?’

Though Merlin was bobbing up and down while aggressively running, Quiet Heaven didn’t budge, as if the red eagle had been glued to the top of Merlin’s head. While in that unwavering, stationary position, Quiet Heaven started contemplating.

‘Why did he choose the Seven Jewel school of study? Also, the cultivation technique he’s using is the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, no?’

In Quiet Heaven’s eyes, the fields of study that Merlin had chosen didn’t seem to like the appropriate approaches. Actually, his spiritual power types were also unsuitable. This was clear when Merlin’s monstrous talent was taken into account alongside his lack of special skills.

If Merlin had chosen to pursue the Dark Northsea Divine Technique, he would already have a huge reservoir of purified internal energy. Also, if he hadn’t chosen internal energy or magic power as his spiritual power types but chakra instead, Quiet Heaven thought Merlin would have already reached the Virtuous Gate, otherwise known as the Fifth Gate. 

Yet, Merlin had chosen internal energy and magic power as his main spiritual power types. Additionally, he went with the Golden Pill Immortal Technique and Seven Jewels, which both emphasized the physical materialization of internal energy and mana and required the creation of external spiritual processing centers. These two directions would strengthen users if they were constantly trained and developed, but in Merlin’s case, Quiet Heaven felt that his talents were being limited by their rigorous structure. Merlin’s imagination knew no bounds, but his specialties' physical materialization approaches limited and restricted Merlin’s creativity and design skills.  

‘So weird.’

Although it had only been Merlin’s pet for a short while, Quiet Heaven couldn’t help but question Merlin’s choices and direction regarding his skillsets. In DIO, a user’s soul dictated what spiritual power type they chose; it wasn’t a coincidence. 

‘Perhaps he wasn’t able to discover and develop his true talents, so he reset his character and chose an entirely different spiritual power type. Come to think of it, I think I’ve heard of users choosing incompatible spiritual energy types based on a desire to pursue those fields.’

Thinking that this might be the case for Merlin, Quiet Heaven couldn’t help but sigh. However, Quiet Heaven didn’t voice out his thoughts. As a pet, he wasn’t allowed to interfere with the system’s processes and function, and it was also possible that Merlin succeeded with a spiritual power type that didn’t align with his talents. There were many cases where this occurred.

However…

Merlin had never reset his character or wavered from the first technique he had chosen with Mari’s help, the Golden Pill Immortal Technique and Seven Jewels. Quiet Heaven had misunderstood and come to the wrong conclusion based on false assumptions.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter. Even with all those constraints, this guy is extraordinarily talented. I didn’t expect much, but it seems like I’ve had a lucky match.’

Tap.

When Quiet Heaven’s thought this, Merlin stopped running.

“Finally… we’re here! It’s the ocean! Phew…”

After sprinting for ten minutes straight, Merlin couldn’t help but lower his head and breathe heavily to try and recuperate. However, since his Stamina had increased, he was able to recover fairly quickly. 

Plop.

Once his state improved, Merlin started entering the ocean. Since he was still on the shore, the water only went up to his ankles. 

“Oh, I almost forgot. Gear 2.”

As he mumbled, his mage robe suddenly disappeared, leaving him with only his underwear. For Merlin, this change of attire was expected, as he planned to enter the sea, but Quiet Heaven was taken aback.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean? I’m going to go swimming.”

“Wait, you’ve logged on just to swim?”

Splash!

“Woah?!”

Merlin dove into the sea and started heading toward deeper waters. Quiet Heaven had still been on Merlin’s head up until this abrupt movement, and it gasped and flew into the air. Though Quiet Heaven could keep its balance on land, this didn’t mean it could remain stabilized on Merlin’s head when he went into the water. Moreover, Quiet Heaven had a fire attribute affinity, so being splashed and surrounded by water wasn’t something that it welcomed.

“Hahaha! It probably wasn’t that long since I last swam in the sea, but I’m so happy to be here again! The weather’s nice as well~!”

Whether Quiet Heaven was startled or appalled made no difference to Merlin. He just enjoyed the refreshing feeling of being in the water. He didn’t even pay attention to the notification that popped up, stating, [You have acquired the swimming skill!]

“Oh, right. I should listen to some music.”

He changed gear once more and wore his mage robe again. Then, Merlin retrieved a special pair of devices from his robes and placed them in his ears. He’d created them during the closed beta, imbuing magic into the devices so that they act as an MP3 player.

/The wind is blowing in my heart~/

“Hey, master.”

From high in the sky, Quiet Heaven couldn’t understand what was going on, and it called out to Merlin, but the user continued to swim amongst the waves and currents while listening to his music. Merlin wasn’t using boosters or other special powers; he was just swimming. He wasn’t moving rapidly, but every time he kicked with his legs or paddled with his arms, his swimming skill level increased. It probably wouldn’t take him long to reach his previous level. Meanwhile…

“Where are you going….”

Rather than playing around the shores, Merlin was swimming further away into the sea. Quiet Heaven couldn’t help but look at Merlin incredulously.