D.I.O

Whoosh!

Merlin used his boosters to accelerate, raising his speed to 500 kilometers per hour. As his body quickly zipped across the water’s surface, he left a trail in his wake.

Splash!

All of a sudden, Merlin abruptly dove down at nearly a straight right angle. A towering column of water exploded above the surface. His speed was increasing.

/Your Swimming skill has increased to S Rank!/

His understanding of the medium of water was constantly improving. When he was within it, he could sense everything happening around him. The water in a five-meter radius from his body was akin to an extra limb. Additionally, Merlin was slowly expending less energy in the water.

Bubble…

In a short period, Merlin found himself 500 meters underwater. Since he was so deep, there were many enormous and powerful monsters around him, but when they saw him zipping down at an incredible speed, they couldn’t help but scatter in fright.

Whoosh!

Without slowing, Merlin suddenly changed directions, making a complete U-turn, and shot upward towards the surface. His speed was still increasing.

Swish!

When he made a gentle paddling motion with his feet, Merlin shot forward while leaving behind an incredible shockwave. It didn’t take him long to reach the surface.

Boom!

With the tremendous speed and coil-like tension he created with the seawater, Merlin was flung out of the ocean.

Whoosh!

He was flying upwards. He had gone well beyond the typical jumping height of an average user as he ascended like a missile.

Merlin then landed on the island.

“W-what’s up with that guy? What did he just do?”

“He’s just a human? Did he jump from somewhere?”

“Uh… to come onto the island like that….”

The Avian monster species on the island looked exasperated as they commented. However, Merlin didn’t pay any attention to their reactions as he balled his hands into fists.

“Yes! Success~! Hahaha!”

/You are the first to discover the Heavenly Sky Island, Icarus!/

/As the first discoverer, you have acquired a bonus of 10,000 Spirits!/

When the text box appeared in front of him, Merlin stopped smiling.

“Huh? Why’s the island’s name so weird? Is it about to fall from the sky soon?”

“Hey, you! Why did you come here?”

As it saw Merlin act without a care in the world, an Avian monster with a long spear angrily shouted. The male Avian monster had black wings and a handsome face, and there was a username and title above his head, which read: [Black Crow Tribe Warrior, Ryuhyun].

“He’s Level 6.”

“It seems that, regardless of species, every warrior is Level 6, no?”

“Probably just a system balance thing. Although, it’s best that you be more careful. While they’re only Level 6, you’re also Level 6.”

“I’m always careful.”

Merlin’s combat capabilities were far beyond his level. Since he didn’t know about the stat bonus points and didn’t use them, his overall ability stats were relatively lower than others at the same level, but his Master title, innate battle sense, and various special abilities elevated his combat power to levels that almost rivaled a Master. If there was a problem or he wasn’t in the right environment, he couldn’t use any of his special properties and abilities, making him less powerful than even lower-level beings. As such, this was why Quiet Heaven always felt like it was walking on thin ice, concerned that its master might be killed under disadvantageous circumstances.

“Level up some more.”

“I took the Level 6 test a while back already.”

“Go beyond Level 6.”

“Why?”

“…”

When Merlin questioned it with a perplexed tone, Quiet Heaven couldn’t think of an answer readily. Quiet Heaven had been excited to learn of its master’s tremendous potential, talents, abilities, and skills, but Merlin didn’t have any drive to level up. Merlin had only taken the Level 6 test because he needed to raise the caps on his ability stats. Yet, once his magic power and internal energy development reached a plateau, Merlin lost all interest in leveling up. Rather than ability stats, Merlin was more interested in developing his spiritual power types.

“Hey, you…”

“Ah, sorry. My name is Merlin. I’m currently on an adventure.”

“… Adventure?”

“Or should I call it travels? Anyway, wow, this place is so interesting. How is such a colossal land mass able to levitate in the air like this?”

The Heavenly Sky Island, Icarus, had a diameter of at least 20 kilometers, so it was relatively massive. In addition to being larger than most cities, Icarus also hovered a little over 300 meters above the water’s surface; even most avian species couldn’t make their way onto the island.

“No, wait… argh. You’re leaving me at a loss for words. You’re saying that you came up to Heavenly Sky Island just for a tour? Did anyone give you the authorization to visit?”

“Hmm? I don’t need authorization.”

Hearing Merlin’s nonchalant response, Ryuhyun narrowed his eyes.

“Oho. So, what you mean to say is that you’re….”

“I’ll be taking off now.”

“… challenging us- what?”

“Bye~!”

After waving his hand, Merlin jumped off the island. Since Merlin just wanted to gain the experience points for being the first discoverer, he didn’t see much importance in making small talk with the locals; however, the Avian species on the island didn’t know any of this.

“Eh? Oh! Huh?!”

“Who the hell is that guy?”

Thoroughly dumbfounded, Ryuhyun found it hard to speak properly. Merlin’s body was quickly falling toward the sea. The sea was 300 meters below the island, but Merlin had jumped off without a single iota of concern or fear.

“Ah, even though I’m leaving, I should take a souvenir.”

The material on the top of Heavenly Sky Island was dirt and rocks, but underneath the island were stones that glowed with yellowish-green light. Merlin used his hand skill to pick off one of the glowing stones underneath the island. It was a stone about the size of his hand.

“Yahoo~ skydiving~!”

“How can you find such pleasure in the most mundane things….”

Though Merlin was quickly approaching terminal speed, he wasn’t fearful. Actually, he felt refreshed with the sense that he had checked off an item on his to-do list.

“Finally, I’ve gotten another first discoverer experience point reward~!”

“Okay, so with all those experience points, take the level-up tests.”

Quiet Heaven kept pestering Merlin, but the latter didn’t seem to be paying attention as he held his arms outstretched, feeling the rushing air and wind pass by. Merlin then started falling at a diagonal, and once he neared the surface of the water, he rolled himself up into a ball.

Plop.

Though he weighed 80 kilograms and fell from 300 meters, he only made a light ‘plop’ sound when he entered the ocean. The surface didn’t even ripple, but below, the water seemed to cushion his landing and dissipate Merlin’s tremendous downward force. It was as if Merlin had landed on a bed of soft, fluffy cushions. Since the impact was dispersed throughout the water, Merlin barely felt anything.

“Quiet Heaven, do you know what day it is?”

“What day is it?”

“It’s been exactly six months since I entered the area south of the Noisy Belt.”

“The Phantom Monster Magic Islands’ mainland must be located in the southernmost area of this formation then.”

“Right.”

Between the Noisy Belt and the southern continent were the six giant islands that made up the Phantom Monster Magic Islands. The first island Merlin came across, Blue Forest Island, as well as the one he just visited, Heavenly Sky Island, were all part of the collection known as the Phantom Monster Magic Islands.

“I would’ve never guessed that the islands were constantly moving.”

When making his way across the Noisy Belt, the first question Merlin had was why there existed a discrepancy between the islands’ actual location and what was shown on the beta test map. The six islands were in a circle pattern and had moved slightly clockwise compared to what he recalled.

However, after speaking with Heavenly Flower, one of the four, no, now three main monsters of the islands, Merlin’s question was answered. Every year, the six islands moved clockwise by a set amount.

“Now, all that’s left is the Phantom Monster Magic Islands mainland and the three other smaller islands. I should hurry and gain the first discoverer rewards for those remaining islands and then return to meet with Heavenly Flower and cross over to the southern continent.”

Since he couldn’t use his boosters for an extended period, Merlin decided to swim to his next destination. Although he called it swimming, Merlin’s version of swimming was unheard of, as he moved across vast distances with each paddle of his arms and legs.

“Six months have already passed… it’s not a short amount of time, but you’ve still covered a considerable distance.”

“I’m great, right? Because of my achievements, I have 150 points in Strength and Stamina without using my titles. While it may be considered as a long time, in reality, not even a month has passed.”

Merlin estimated how much time had passed in real life. The current date in the outside ‘real’ world was January 16th. Despite his extraordinary amount of game time, merely a little over half a month had passed in real life.

“Wow, if I play this game for too long, I’ll lose all sense of time. I’ve already developed a lot, but I wonder how the other users will fare after a year.”

While muttering to himself, Merlin kept swimming forward. Since he wasn’t moving quickly, it would take about eight hours to reach the main island. However, after an hour of swimming, Merlin found something weird.

“… Merlin.”

“Yeah, I saw it, too.”

It was a rocky island that had suddenly appeared in the boundless, empty ocean as if it was the only thing that existed here. It was a relatively small uninhabited island, and while Merlin had seen islands like this before, something felt different this time.

“That’s a user, right?”

“It’s… a user. How could this be? I thought I was the only one capable of making it down here.”

Indeed, there was a user on the small rocky island. The user wasn’t standing or sitting; they were comfortably sprawled out on the ground. The rocky island had a few trees on it, and the player used the shade beneath them to lay down.

“Excuse me?”

“…”

Merlin tried talking to the user, but he received no reply. The user wasn’t sleeping but had his eyes half-open as he stared at the sky. Wondering if the user didn’t quite hear him, Merlin approached and spoke once more.

“Excuse me.”

“Ah, don’t speak to me. It’s too bothersome to talk.”

“…”

It was a response that Merlin had heard before, a reply filled with the tone of someone being thoroughly bothered. There was no wariness or shyness, just a pure sense of being bothered. He came across someone like this when he met the blacksmith Aidelin and purchased some of his wares. Above the user’s head was the username and title: [A person who has found that there is no meaning in life, Manbo].

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you, but how did you get here?”

Merlin asked, but the user didn’t respond. It seemed that the latter was so lazy that he only responded once.

“What’s up with that guy?”

“I don’t know, and I’m also not sure how he got here….”

“No, what I mean is he’s Level 2.”

“What?”

When he heard something so unbelievable, Merlin couldn’t help but be taken aback. All players in DIO had to reach Level 2 after passing the initial level test. This meant that the user before him had never taken a level test after entering DIO. Of course, levels weren’t everything. This was best seen by the Level 6 Merlin, whose combat strength was far beyond what he should be capable of possessing. This user could also be someone similar, but Level 2 truly was too low. His ability stats were all capped, so he couldn’t develop anymore.

‘Then how the hell did he get here?’

The Noisy Belt wasn’t a barrier that just anyone could cross. If someone attempted to cross by air, they would have to fight the buffed flying golems. Similarly, those who traveled by water had to endure the forceful and deadly currents. To cross the Noisy Belt, users needed to either be stronger than the golems or have a swimming ability on par with Merlin’s.

“Eh, whatever.”

Merlin stopped thinking about the what-ifs and just went back into the water.

“Hmm? Did you figure out how that guy got to that island?”

“Nope.”

“You’re just going to leave?”

“What good will it do if I find out? Since he’s here, he clearly used some method to travel. I came into this area; I’m sure other people have their own means.”

“…”

It seemed that Merlin had lost interest in the user. Actually, since he crossed the Noisy Belt, it was a logical assumption that others could cross it as well. Though Merlin was interested in how the other player entered this area, he didn’t need to pry it out of him.

“Let’s head off.”

“Hmm…”

Still reluctant, Quiet Heaven turned to look towards Manbo. Meanwhile, Merlin started swimming and had already created some distance from the island. Thus, Quiet Heaven left its curiosity and started following its master.

Whoosh…

Even after the two left, Manbo remained spread out across the ground. Time passed by… one hour… two hours… three hours. After half a day, Manbo’s lazily half-opened eyes started filling with light and vigor.

“How interesting. How did that guy get all the way here? He couldn’t have swum….”

Manbo fell into thought, but he didn’t spend too much time doing this.

“Well, anyway, I’m here, so in the end, what’s to say others can’t.”

After mumbling a few words, Manbo started relaxing. The life and vigor in his eyes disappeared. It seemed that he was planning on falling into a state of unconscious unbotheredness for at least the next few days.