Sweat poured from my entire body against my will.
The horror that had unfolded behind me heated my heart.
A slash that seemed capable of grinding anything to pieces.
The sensation of it skimming over my head was beyond words.
Chirik.
The red man, the Cyclops’s single eye, stared straight at me.
Prey before a predator.
My body froze as though it had heard a tiger’s roar.
The Cyclops’s claws began to move slowly, but surely.
└Truth Scholar: Dodge!!
The comment appeared before my eyes, and I reflexively threw myself to the side.
Chajajak!!
My skin scraped against the sand and bled, and my clothes were covered in sand, but I paid it no mind and ran.
I wrapped my whole body in mana and sprinted toward the submersible.
And when only a few steps remained.
Chirik.
A chilling intuition.
I immediately drove my legs into the sand and came to a sudden stop.
“Ugh!”
Because I had stopped so abruptly, my chin slammed into the sandy ground.
But when I saw the split sand right in front of my nose, the pain sank deep away.
The Cyclops’s attack.
I had no means of dealing with it.
‘The submersible is right there…!’
Now that the Cyclops’s attack had stopped, I wanted to run straight to the submersible.
But inside my head, my intuition was screaming horribly.
It was telling me that the moment I approached the submersible now, something very bad would happen.
The sense of death rang an alarm.
The Cyclops’s single eye seemed to see through my every action.
The Cyclops’s hand moved.
The Cyclops’s sharp claws were about to—
Kkudeudeuk.
An unpleasant sound reached my ears.
The sound of flesh being crushed.
It wasn’t my flesh.
It was the sound of the Cyclops’s flesh being crushed.
Jjijik. Jjijijik.
The Cyclops’s single eye, its body, was torn away.
I followed the blue tentacles that had created that sight with my gaze.
A semicircular head rising above the old city.
Hundreds of tentacles stretching down beneath it.
It was a jellyfish.
Those tentacles easily tore the Cyclops apart and consumed it.
When we eat raw shrimp, do we put in much effort?
That sight was the same.
An overwhelming difference.
The Cyclops’s claws moved and tried to split the jellyfish’s tentacles, but—
Chwajak!
The severed tentacle became two, and the tentacle cut again became four.
The Cyclops was swept away and killed without any proper resistance.
As though satisfied with its meal, the jellyfish slowly ascended beyond the force field.
Perhaps the force field did not prevent things from leaving, because it let the jellyfish pass through as it was.
The jellyfish glowed vividly even in the darkness.
Its appearance was utterly overwhelming.
The jellyfish leisurely swam through the deep sea.
But.
That thing.
That thing like a snake made of red flesh, the one gnawing at the force field, lightly swallowed the jellyfish whole.
Despair spread throughout my body.
If I had to leave the deep sea, I would have to face that thing.
A jellyfish that easily defeated the Cyclops.
That thing, which easily chewed up that jellyfish.
The law of the jungle.
Yes, that was exactly right.
An intangible pyramid, unseen yet clearly existing.
I was at the very bottom of that pyramid.
“…Let’s not think about it.”
Because I knew that continuing to remind myself of my position would not help in the slightest. Leaving my helplessness behind, I walked toward the submersible.
I decided to think positively.
Now that the Cyclops had been dealt with, I should be able to enter the city.
I entered the submersible, turned off the broadcast, and prepared to end the night.
I turned off the lights inside the submersible, took a blanket and pillow from a drawer separate from the one containing food and water, spread them on the cold floor of the submersible, and lay down.
I looked at the faint green light of the force field filtering in through the submersible’s window, then closed my eyes completely.
The day was over.
…That night, I dreamed that the Cyclops was chasing me.
***
Warm sunlight streamed in through the window.
If one looked outside, one could see the Empire, a gathering of many different races.
A viewpoint of an unmistakable ruler, with the Empire beneath her feet.
A place where the admiration of the citizens gathered as if upon the imperial palace—the Magic Tower.
At the top of that place, a woman flipped through documents packed with text.
Problems mixed with difficult terminology and all sorts of political incidents.
Problems for which it would be difficult to provide wise answers.
“This one… would be better to support. What? They’re making a request? We’ll have to leave this one out for now.”
The master of the tower seated at its summit sipped warm coffee as she swiftly cleared away the documents.
It was a truly astonishing processing speed, but she moved her hands as if it were only natural.
And so, all the documents disappeared.
She let her focus scatter and leaned back in her chair.
The sensation of the plush chair naturally improved her mood.
She savored that feeling for a moment, then decided to indulge in her personal hobby.
She pictured the word “Gallery” in her mind.
A simple thought.
She had merely imagined the word.
[Truth-Seeking Gallery]
-Quickdraw Sword Saint: Quickdraw is the strongest swordsmanship, and this is beyond dispute…
-Real-time dwarf is f***ed
-I came up with a spell, rate it
-How’s our village?
A cluster of light appeared before her eyes.
She was the Magic Tower Master, the pinnacle of magic, but even now, this Gallery was full of mysteries to her.
However, just as most of us use cell phones without knowing every component or how they operate,
she, too, used the Gallery as a hobby.
Among the posts coming up in real time, she entered one that looked interesting.
-I came up with a spell, rate it
(A photo of a magic circle with various lines tangled inside a circle)
This is an automatic telekinesis spell. Is there anything else I should fix?
└It’s just amazing that you made this?
└What is this?? Isn’t it just a doodle?
└If I knew, I’d be a mage lol
She looked at the photo of the magic circle for a moment, then moved her fingers and wrote a comment.
└Truth Scholar: I think it would be fine if you adjusted the mana control section in the upper-right area just a little more.
└(Author) More from here?
└Truth Scholar: Yes. Keep the spiral structure, but change it so it’s closer to a straight line, and it should take a bit less mana.
└(Author) ? Why does this work?
She only passed along a simple improvement and immediately went to another post.
As she kept leaving comments like that,
└Are you some kind of machine? Why are you commenting so much?
└Nah, anyone can tell he’s an unemployed old guy who made a pile of money, retired, and scratches his belly all day lol
Perhaps because she had left too many comments.
On the Gallery, she was perceived as a knowledgeable jobless man.
‘An unemployed old guy scratching his belly…?’
For some reason, those words sank deep into her heart.
Because she wondered if she looked that old.
Contrary to expectations, the Magic Tower Master was someone who was “still” not even thirty.
Well, even so, she was cutting it close.
In any case, bothered by that comment, she brought a nearby mirror in front of her.
The mirror reflected her face without a single lie.
Silver bobbed hair that fell to her shoulders.
Blue eyes like the sea, tinged with a faint green light.
Long eyelashes.
Distinct, elegant features.
The appearance of a beautiful woman.
Among the words used to describe the Magic Tower Master was “the Flower of Mana,” so one could imagine her appearance.
She was about to leave a retaliatory comment against the one who had called her an unemployed old guy when—
Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking echoed inside her private room.
Since she already knew who it was, she stood and approached the door.
The door opened a path on its own, though she had not touched it.
The secretary standing before the door bowed her head lightly and spoke.
The carriage for attending the Imperial Grand Exchange is ready.
“…Is that man attending?”
A hint of unease colored the words that left her mouth.
She had not specified anyone, but the secretary understood and answered.
…The Sword Saint, Lord Heizen, has expressed his intention to attend.
“Ah….”
Her mood sank.
Thinking of the Sword Saint did not make her feel particularly good.
Even as she walked toward the carriage, the Sword Saint continued to weigh on her mind.
Who was the Sword Saint, Heizen?
A person who had become one of only five Sword Masters in the Empire through a swordsmanship called quickdraw.
…And a person who roamed around the Gallery under the name Quickdraw Sword Saint, engaging in bizarre behavior.
They had not exchanged many words, but he was a person she found extremely uncomfortable.
To the point that she would not meet him if not for the Imperial Grand Exchange.
‘…I’ll just browse the Gallery on the way.’
The Gallery as a cure for boredom was something every race could sympathize with.
And so she arrived at the Imperial Grand Exchange.
Befitting the name Grand Exchange, the emblems of many different races could be seen.
Starting with the host, the Empire and the imperial family.
Elves, dwarves, beastfolk, demons, humans, swordsmen, priests, spirit masters, necromancers.
And even mages like herself.
An exchange where representatives of races and professions gathered.
At first, she too had attended with emotion, admiring the Empire’s capability.
However….
The host, His Imperial Majesty, will say a few words before we begin the Grand Exchange.
Representatives of all races and professions…
Hwaam.
Someone in the hall yawned, but no one opened their mouth.
Because most of the people here were truly bored.
Yes, it was too boring.
Exchange among all races and professions meant, in other words, that things were conducted in an extremely businesslike manner to reduce disputes.
That was why she listened with only half an ear and opened the Gallery.
-Aurora: Deep-Sea Escape Log, Day 2. I want to become stronger. (Broadcast)
She was able to watch the broadcast of the person who had been on her mind recently.
His broadcast, where he said he wanted to become stronger.
And this broadcast became one that was talked about on the Gallery.
***
After a night in the deep sea, I became stronger along with the broadcast.
“Aaagh!!”
…Though it came with pain that felt as if mana were burning me alive.