Chapter 45
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Anonymous 3
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Somewhere in the vast Varks Ocean. At the bottom of the abyss where even light could not reach.
A colossal castle stood in the place filled with deep blue darkness.
And within the transparent barrier enveloping the entire castle, at its center where the throne's master resided.
A man with blue hair.
His face resembled a human's, but his eyes were as deep and immeasurable as the ocean's depths.
His upper body was humanoid, but from the waist down, it transitioned into a single, scale-covered tail stretching out long like a serpent.
The Lord of the Deep Sea, Naskael.
In his hand was a small black stele.
Enter your Unique Mana Pattern.
"Hmm..."
A low voice prompted a beautiful woman with long silver hair cascading down beside him to speak.
"Your Majesty, please have some of this."
With a graceful form like a flower of the sea, she picked food from the shell plate in her hand and brought it to Naskael's mouth.
Naskael's 81st concubine, Zurune.
Naskael gazed at Zurune with a gentle smile.
"Thank you. But could you interpret this script for me?"
Zurune peered at the stele for a moment before replying.
"Habdelier. It's from the human language family. It says to input the Unique Mana Pattern."
Naskael's eyes slowly darkened.
A very old memory resurfaced—the stories his father had told from beyond the sea.
Tales from the time when one human had caught his fancy, left the ocean, and roamed the continent on adventures.
But exchanges with humans had long ceased since then, so Naskael did not know Habdelier.
He wrapped one arm around Zurune's shoulder and whispered lowly.
"As expected of my goddess. You are always the light of wisdom that awakens me."
"...It's embarrassing."
Naskael inputted his Unique Mana Pattern into the black stele with his other hand.
Soon, new script engraved itself on the stele.
Anonymous (3) has entered the chat room.
Zurune tilted her head and read it aloud.
"Chat room?"
Naskael narrowed his eyes and read the flow of mana enveloping the stele.
Information about various functions came into view.
Oh.
What is it? Newbie?
The third one has joined.
Is it the will of '0'?
You should at least say hello if you're here.
As Naskael read the functions, Zurune continued interpreting the conversation.
"I'm the third... so there were two before me. Hm, a greeting?"
A strange smile spread across Naskael's lips.
"Write 'nice to meet you.'"
"Yes. ...Hm?"
Zurune tapped the stele several times before pausing.
"It seems I can't write. No response."
"I see."
Naskael understood immediately.
Once the Unique Mana Pattern was engraved, the stele was designed for the owner alone.
"Truly exquisite."
Humans had advanced in this manner for thousands of years?
He muttered to himself and activated the voice recognition function.
But his voice was not recognized.
If it was made by humans, it made sense that it wouldn't recognize the language of the deep sea.
Why no reply?
Can't read, maybe?
Zurune, reading the last line, suddenly pressed her lips together.
Seeing her hesitant gaze, Naskael guessed.
"It's fine. Read it as is."
"...They're asking if you can't read."
"Haha."
Naskael burst into clear laughter.
"But with you by my side, it doesn't matter. My wise goddess, possessed by no one else in the world."
"Your Majesty."
Zurune bowed her flushed face in embarrassment, and Naskael set the stele aside for a moment to savor the sweet atmosphere with her.
Even then, the chat continued inside the stele.
Maybe they're just observing the situation.
What's there to observe?
Since '0' isn't saying much, there shouldn't be any issues.
Your speech lately is kinda...
Did you become a fanatic or something? Especially lately.
Don't mock my intentions.
Tch.
And turn off the voice function.
I check thinking it's something important, but it's just your pointless mutterings.
No way.
After a long silence, Anonymous (2) continued with what they had been saying.
To finish what I was saying, we can't just let this slide. Do you have a price in mind?
We're not just hiding in the forest anymore; our range of activity has expanded.
A moment later, a new line appeared on the screen.
Stele of the Oracle.
Oracle...?
No, the stele?
Referring to the oracle of the great being?
Yes.
I know of such oracles, but... a stele is new to me. Sorry.
It's fine.
Find it from now on.
So finding that is the price.
Yes.
But the oracles I know aren't in stele form.
Oracles don't have to be one form. '0' means finding the oracle of a different being from the great one you know.
Can I look too?
Then you'll grant my request too?
So be it.
After a pause, Anonymous (2) left another message.
So this is why you freed us from isolation.
'0' did not reply.
Naskael checked the stele belatedly.
Zurune had been calmly interpreting the lines from the top down.
"Stele of the Oracle? The oracle of the great being..."
"Wait."
The leisurely smile vanished from Naskael's face in an instant.
His already sea-deep eyes sank further.
He turned the screen to block Zurune's view.
"Your Majesty?"
"Hm, that's enough interpretation."
A hint of regret lingered on Zurune's face, as if she had quite enjoyed the situation.
Normally, Naskael would soothe her with sweet words, but this time he stared at the stele indifferently.
"Sorry. I remembered something I need to do, so... Ah."
"...Yes. I'll do that."
"No."
As Zurune moved to withdraw, Naskael grabbed her wrist again.
"I need to learn Habdelier."
"Why aren't they saying anything..."
Maybe, as Anonymous (1) said, they really can't read.
Handling mana doesn't mean they know script.
This continent had countless races, and it wasn't rare for some to live without knowledge of writing.
Or perhaps they were simply observing.
When joining an unfamiliar group, staying silent for a few days to gauge the atmosphere was one method.
For now, thoughts on Anonymous (3) stopped there.
'Stele of the Oracle...'
Anonymous (1) and (2) seemed to know something about it.
More precisely, about oracles themselves.
Prophecies given by great beings.
'Great being...'
Not entirely unfamiliar.
Probably the one who called heroes its kin.
'The tree behind the hero's grave...?'
When I examined it, it was just a grand tree engraved with complex patterns and lines, but I instinctively felt it wasn't ordinary.
Gathering more info would naturally reveal it.
Then it should be fine to ask, right?
Of course, I strongly wanted to find it.
The issue was whether I could pay the price when found.
And even if they found it, how to relay it.
For now, I'd have to go there myself once the location was known.
'Might need to use Cedric then.'
It occurred to me to just add Cedric to the group chat as a member.
Acting as '0' had many limitations.
As I sorted through these thoughts, I collected the mana Merin had left behind.
As expected, she had water-flow attributes with amplification properties.
Chantless casting meant her understanding of the principles was at a certain level or higher.
Then, could those who reached transcendence through phenomenal magic touch the origin by deepening their understanding of attributes?
Taking Merin as an example, refining ways to utilize amplification might open new paths.
But upon reflection, understanding of attributes was inevitably limited by the property itself.
Properties inherently restricted in use.
Properties that offered no chance to expand applications across fields.
In that sense, attribute conversion truly held infinite potential.
Since it was called attribute conversion in the attribute realm.
Is this... talent?
Compared to that, amplification felt fundamentally limited, no matter how useful.
Of course, it might just be my lack of understanding now.
I forged Merin's pattern for a bit, pondering how to lead her property to broader uses, then let out a hollow chuckle.
'Not like I'm coaching Merin.'
Even if I could, with her personality, a wrong word might get me killed for arrogance.
After cleaning up the mess Merin left, I began serious artifact creation.
What I aimed to make: an artifact optimizing rituals and handling computations.
More plainly, it extracted mental calculations, overlaying mechanical precision and transcendent intuition—a true secret treasure.
The deeper I delved, the stranger it felt.
Ritual optimization defied explanation, no matter how I thought.
Who decided this 'optimization'?
The answer led to primal mana, the origin of this artifact.
Perhaps a great being linked to primal mana.
Following the path that being set?
Primal mana was wondrous. I felt it strongly shaping Philip Deran's body.
Not surprise at the bones, but at converting my mana to his body directly by will.
The sensation of thoughts manifesting at fingertips.
Unlike magic, it skipped logical processes like ritual computation.
A power leaping over worldly principles to make imagination real.
Would it work this time?
Had to try.
Luckily, I'd used the prototype before.
That experience made a difference. Primal mana manifested will directly; the more concrete and detailed the will, the more perfect the result.
The problem was quantity.
To achieve secret treasure performance with derivative primal mana, I had to incrementally test with precision.
Even a handful drained all mana, so like with Philip Deran, build bit by bit.
Then merge at the end.
Like milking a cow, I forcibly extracted mana.
Each small crystal-like handful fixed, then regather mana.
Repeat, repeat.
When enough, release fixes, merge, refine flow.
A layered mass, essentially.
Then engrave my will.
Delicate process.
Unlikely to succeed infusing will at once.
Philip Deran experience proved it.
Not circuit-like logical computation.
No computation needed.
If anything, like prayer... or alchemy.
Or perhaps a higher-dimensional craft I hadn't grasped yet. Felt alien because unfamiliar.
Time passed, mana depleted and recovered repeatedly.
Emptied and refilled circle mana for days, probably.
Refining the merged flow took full focus, not short either.
Failure?
Just eat, sleep briefly, restart.
But oddly, no sense of failure.
Tension gripped my nape, yet flow never broke.
And at the end... crossing some invisible line.
Tong-
With a vibration like ringing through air, something luminous rose above the workbench.
Simple shape.
A lump of light, really.
But chills ran through every cell at the thrill from fingertips.
Felt it perfectly.
"...It's done."
Undoubtedly a secret treasure.
Overwhelming presence incomparable to prior artifacts.
Using openly would draw all eyes.
Needed a shell to encase this light.
What to call this hidden core?
"...Core."
The heart of a secret treasure transcending circuits.
I named it the core.