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 [Chapter 126]

[Enlightenment Seeps into the Sword (4)]

An Ein abandoned at birth would have no name.

An Ein who can only cry without being able to do anything alone is likely to become food for wild dogs.

Some lucky Eins who survive are sold to underground markets, picked up by slum dwellers, or if very lucky, enter orphanages.

"Hmm, so that's how your name became Pinky?"

"Yes, because my hair is pink."

"It's too dark for pink... The people who named you must have had no eye for color."

That's why most Eins' names don't sound like people's names.

It's just that intuitive nicknames used to conveniently call nameless Eins settle as names at some point.

For example, naming someone Blue because their hair is blue.

In a similar way, I came to be called Pinky by the back alley people who paid tribute.

"More importantly, let's move somewhere else quickly. If we're caught resting here, the unnies will scold us."

"What's wrong with resting a bit when we've been cleaning since dawn? Look, we've finished today's quota anyway."

"Still..."

I can't remember his name now.

Because he died so soon.

I only remember that 'he' who lost his parents to the Kraken and was picked up by slum people was different from others.

He was always confident and knew a lot.

Above all, he was bright and energetic.

So I and other kids my age often followed that child who always smiled even though he came to the slum last.

"Why are you always smiling? Isn't living here hard?"

I asked him one day.

Then he answered so confidently.

"Because smiling brings good fortune. My dad told me before he died to always live happily smiling no matter how hard things get."

"Does that work?"

"Hmm... I do feel better after smiling a lot. And I start thinking positively, and I met you guys like this."

"...You really say cheesy things well."

"Really? I'm not sure... You try thinking like me too. Then you'll feel better."

"That... doesn't seem to suit me."

His thinking was too foreign to slum dwellers living lives not knowing what tomorrow will bring.

So I think that's why I and the kids often followed him.

Because it felt like good days would surely come someday if we followed him.

"Ah! I remember."

"What?"

"There's a movie I watched with my parents long ago. Now that I think about it, you Pinky look just like someone in it."

"What movie was it?"

"The Little Mermaid. You've probably heard of it at least once?"

"...You're saying I look like the Little Mermaid?"

"You look just like her! Now that I look, even your hair color is similar..."

"I think your eyes are messed up. There's no way I could be as pretty as the Little Mermaid."

"No, I think you're pretty?"

"And the Little Mermaid turns into sea foam and disappears. I don't like that."

Thinking about it now.

I think I was drawn to him.

To me who lived in the slum just getting scolded without doing anything properly, he seemed like an object of admiration.

In fact, he was our hero.

"What's wrong with that? You won't disappear in front of me anyway. I don't want to be alone again so you have to live with me for a long long time."

He who said that to me left this world first.

That's slum life.

You don't know what tomorrow will bring.

So we didn't cling to names.

"Ah! Speaking of which, how about the name Ariel? Pinky is too tacky. Isn't it a pretty name?"

Ariel.

The name of the mermaid princess appearing in the movie became my name from that day.

Starting with him, the slum people called me Ariel.

But I don't think I ever properly called him by name.

Looking back, maybe that's why I can no longer remember his name.

─Ah.

Instead, I and the slum people called him by a nickname, not a name.

"If you keep smiling, good fortune will come someday."

The endlessly positive thinking child.

The hero who became an object of admiration for slum Eins.

Bright, cheerful, energetic.

I, we gained a precious life from him.

"So you try smiling too, once. Then the world will look different."

He was like a shining sun.

So we called him 'Sun'.

☆

The fourth day after departing for Yokohama.

On this day, the ship passing near Mie Prefecture encountered a large-scale mana imbalance.

As a result, all schedules were canceled, and students had to assist players and fight monsters.

Fortunately there were no deaths, but quite a few were injured.

Eun-woo's skills have improved a lot.

To the point of accurately pinpointing wound areas and immediately deploying healing magic...

Cha Eun-woo played an active role at this time.

Thanks to her accurate and fast magic, the burden on supporters was greatly reduced.

So she was currently gaining people's favor.

Not just her, but other friends also received rewards from others.

"Time seems to pass quite quickly too. To think we'll arrive in Yokohama around lunchtime tomorrow..."

Eun-ha also received grand thanks.

He had to endure them until just before evening roll call.

After that, on this night when people fell asleep leaving minimal available manpower.

Eun-ha walked the corridor leading to the deck avoiding people's gazes.

It can't be helped since people all come out to watch when I try to train, making it hard to concentrate.

Seo-young noona also said to practice where I'm not noticeable...

The day before, when he devised new magic based on Mana Crasher.

People were shocked seeing the magic he momentarily showed.

Players even put aside their pride and asked him to pass on teachings to them too.

In the case of instructors, they brought up wanting to add their input to complete the still imperfect magic.

There were so many people trying to meddle here and there.

But it wasn't without gains.

There were gains.

But gains obtained from Shin Seo-young, not them.

Eun-ha who came out to the stern deck took out the black thorn from its scabbard.

Mana Crasher, Improved Version

Magic he hasn't named yet.

He intuitively recalls the structure of complex formulas while repeating the temporary name.

Eun-ha confirmed the blue light dyeing the black blade emitting yellow.

I succeeded up to here.

He created Mana Crasher by mixing mana dissolved in the atmosphere.

And he invented completely new magic by blowing mana dissolved in the atmosphere into the blade again.

Just yesterday he had trouble maintaining the yellow light's form, but now Eun-ha could maintain the form thanks to Shin Seo-young's advice.

The problem is that power was considerably reduced in the process of maintaining form.

The slash's power has increased.

It's also possible to cut opponents at long distances now.

The problem is it's not very suitable for dealing with multiple opponents.

Simply put, it was nothing more than slightly strengthening Mana Crasher.

Just increased range and somewhat increased power.

Even if it's possible to attack beings touched by the slash

That wasn't the magic Eun-ha was pursuing.

Current magic was far from enough to face multiple opponents numbering at least over ten.

"What should I do from here? Or did I approach it wrong from the start..."

He had been thinking it would be easy.

Because he wasn't creating completely new magic.

He was just combining existing magic he had mastered.

But it didn't work out as he thought.

"It seems more effective when the slash scatters and explodes midway like when I first tried..."

Eun-ha removed Shin Seo-young's advice from the magic overlaid on the blade.

Then the mana flickering on the blade showed an unstable appearance unable to maintain a constant form.

Eun-ha fired a slash towards the sea in that state.

Sure enough.

While power decreased, attack range increased significantly.

Eun-ha clicked his tongue watching the magic spread radially midway.

Power decreased because the slash's form wasn't maintained.

But if I try to maintain the slash's form, it's not suitable for attacking multiple opponents...

And the range isn't longer than Mana Crasher either.

Of course, it's not that there was no method.

If power decreased, raise it. Just increase mana consumption that much.

The problem is if mana consumption increases, it's far from the goal of creating magic to deal with multiple opponents with little mana.

"In the end, internal mana is the problem..."

He needs to draw mana from somewhere.

Eun-ha lost in thought suddenly came up with a new approach.

Mana Drain

Mana Crasher, Improved Version

There was a burden on mana control.

Nevertheless, Eun-ha absorbed mana dissolved in the atmosphere with Mana Drain, and used that as the driving force for the magic he was conceiving.

The result was successful.

Power increased more than before.

Is there nothing better than this?

But something still feels lacking...

Eun-ha tried the new magic several times towards the empty sea.

It was below expectations. Controlling mana was quite burdensome compared to the power.

At this rate, there was no need to use it.

If it's like this, I might as well just use Mana Crasher multiple times...

Until arriving in Yokohama.

He thought he made meaningful progress but was back to square one.

Eun-ha regretfully shook off the remaining mana on the blade.

Just then─.

"─Puha!!"

"Huh?"

In the pool specially installed by Sirius Shipping for students to learn water walking.

A figure popped out.

It was a dark night so Eun-ha who hadn't been paying attention to the pool until now widened his eyes seeing the figure suddenly pop out of the surface.

The other person seemed to notice his presence too.

"Oh, it's No Eun-ha. What are you doing not sleeping at this hour?"

"That's my line."

Ariel.

Eun-ha made a sour face seeing her waving nonchalantly.

He who put the black thorn back in its scabbard approached the pool.

"Me? I couldn't sleep, and I thought today's the only day left I can swim freely. So I snuck out and was swimming!"

There's no one more out of the blue.

Eun-ha doubted his eyes seeing her dive and appear elsewhere.

As he gradually became able to see into the water, he found the silhouette of a fish.

Ariel's tail.

Mermaid tail.

"Where are you looking? Ah, this?"

Ariel who noticed Eun-ha's gaze casually revealed her tail above the surface.

It was a tail with a mysterious sky blue color like the scales attached to both sides of her head.

Soon she put her tail back in the water and swam surprisingly fast unlike the skills she had shown so far.

"You're not surprised at all? I was surprised when I first learned this fact."

"An Ein having a tail, there's no reason for me to be surprised."

"Hmm... that's true."

Ariel's gift <Beast >.

She could manifest mana in water to turn her two legs into a mermaid's tail.

Not only that.

What she showed was just a part of <Beast >.

Jin Pa-rang who uses the same gift also only transformed part of his body, not his whole body.

In that sense, it could be said her control ability was excellent.

Though Pa-rang hyung was originally a fool in this aspect...

Not being consumed by <Beast >'s wildness and only transforming part of the body is a technique requiring considerable control ability.

Though she probably didn't learn it separately.

He brightened his eyes seeing her stably use her gift.

"Hup!"

Soon she climbed out of the pool.

She who came up from the water grabbing the floor edge with both hands twisted her body and sat.

The tail that was splashing water gradually returns to human legs.

"As expected, swimming is the best when feeling down! Don't you agree?"

Ariel speaking to Eun-ha standing behind.

She squeezed her wet hair to remove moisture.

Her dark pink hair looked red wet with water.

Likewise, her eyes glancing back at Eun-ha were very red.

She grinned at him as if craving blood.

Then she reached out and rummaged through a bag placed nearby, which she had brought at some point.

A green glass bottle came out.

"Ta-da!"

"Where did you get that from?"

"I asked the player unnies and oppas for it today. This is comradeship, right?"

"This kid is crazy. Trying to drink during the comprehensive evaluation..."

"But I'm a person who can't live without dew?"

"..."

Her appearance shaking the soju bottle holding the bottleneck somehow looks pitiful.

Eun-ha frowned seeing Ariel grinning and chugging the soju straight from the bottle.

She emptied one bottle in one go alone.

"Ahh, you don't know how depressed I've been without this during the whole comprehensive evaluation."

"What do you mean depressed... Drink slowly. Why is a kid blowing on a bottle?"

"I'm really depressed? I'm originally a person whose sensitivity explodes to earth-shattering levels at night."

"Oh my."

"It's true"

Is she joking?

Or is she serious?

Eun-ha looked at Ariel.

She who met his gaze didn't avoid his eyes, but rather raised a new bottle as if provoking him.

"How about it? A glass of soju in the middle of the night?"

"Is that a glass?"

"Want to drink soju with lonely me? Since it's come to this, let's drink together. I don't like drinking alone."

"Sigh..."

Ariel throws a tantrum.

Eun-ha sighed.

Actually, he was craving alcohol too.

He just couldn't drink because there wasn't any.

Her offer was welcome.

"Okay, fine. But before that─"

"Really? Great, great. What is it, what?"

There was something to point out before that.

Eun-ha quietly looked at Ariel and continued speaking.

"─Why don't you put on clothes first."

"Ah, right. Hey, you've already seen so let's just drink like this..."

"Okay, I'm going to sleep now."

"Alright! Then bring me some clothes."

I don't know why there are so many crazy people in the party.

Eun-ha who was probably the craziest among them sighed.