The Whale in the Sea Does Not Know the Bottom of the Well
The whale in the sea does not know the bottom of the deep well.
“Mel. Do you see that tormented face over there?”
“There is no mirror there.”
“I’m talking about Alto. And even if there was a mirror, I wouldn’t be making a face like that.”
“Please, at least try a little.”
From what I heard, the dormitory lights had stayed on until late last night. Thanks to that, he couldn’t completely hide his fatigue and his face remained stiff the entire time. Still, he was better off than us, who hadn’t been able to return to the dormitory yesterday either.
“Since he couldn’t sleep and is already thinking about facing me after the skill evaluation, he won’t be able to use his full power against Eres.”
“What if he tries to finish it in one go to conserve stamina?”
“Against Eres? That would be a waste.”
When the gap in skill was this wide, recovering energy could be faster than expending it. The Ripelreus twins’ levels were clearly 8. It might look low, but in this game the max level was 30 and the final boss was level 25. It wasn’t a world where stats rose dramatically with levels, yet higher levels did unlock special abilities.
Within the setting, level 5 or above was considered veteran. Level 10 put you on par with knights who had spent decades on the battlefield and could survive single-handedly against a hundred soldiers. They were only level 8 because they lacked experience points; given that both were unique magic users, their pure strength could easily be evaluated at level 12 or higher.
On the other hand.
“Look at that. The Ripelreus twins are level 8!”
“Uh… yeah. But isn’t that the least important part?”
“Exactly. What the hell is that Eres person? What was the academy thinking, pairing someone like that against Lord Alto?”
“That’s not the issue, you idiot. Look below it!”
11:00
Arena 1
LV 8 Alto Ripelreus VS Eres LV -
Arena 2
Luke Colwen VS LV 8 Fria Ripelreus
“His level isn’t even displayed? Just how weak is he?”
“There’s a guy whose level is completely torn off below that, and you’re focused on the other one? That’s automatic measurement. What the hell did that person do?”
“He probably asked them to remove it.”
“But it’s against the rules to hide it completely. How?”
The level wasn’t being measured. It was a common cliché for the protagonist to be so overwhelmingly strong that the system glitched like that, but that was impossible here. This was dark fantasy. There was simply no chance of a level 1 enrolling in the academy, so they just hadn’t realized the device was broken and failing to register anything.
It wasn’t a setup to highlight him but to mock him—an event designed to reveal the genre of this game.
“Does that mean sister trained for six years and only reached level 1?”
“Levels only rise by accumulating experience. And among those, only experience gained through interacting with others raises your level.”
“Just how little did sister interact with other people that her level never went up in six years…?”
“…Not every kind of interaction leads to levels.”
“But I’m level 2?”
“You hit me often. That counts as experience too.”
Training alone like me meant experience points didn’t accumulate, so levels didn’t rise. That didn’t mean stats stayed the same, however. Just as a frog in a well cannot know the vastness of the ocean, even I—who knew the original story—still had new things to learn.
In other words, Eres was…
“Sister is weak and has almost no experience….”
“Don’t say it out loud. You’ll jinx it.”
“Please face reality. I’m telling you, sister is already too late.”
“There’s still a chance if she accumulates experience! The real thing starts after coming to the academy!”
“Then why don’t you accumulate some experience too, Master. Here is the reply to the letter you sent to the main house yesterday. It bears Lady Layla’s seal.”
“…Is she angry?”
“I can tell her hand was shaking when she stamped the seal. Look.”
It hadn’t even been a week since her annoying older brother entered the academy, yet he had already picked a fight with the ducal family of the opposing faction. I had still written something as an excuse, but it seemed it had been pointless.
“Yes. Honestly, I think ‘Isn’t it better than fighting within the same faction?’ was the absolute worst possible excuse.”
“Hmm… I’ll look at it after this is over.”
“Are you running away?”
“It’s time to move!”
Damn it. Did Alto have supporters in the academy? Why were we assigned to Arena 2 while Alto and Eres got Arena 1?
The difference in facilities between arenas wasn’t large, but the important thing was the symbolism. Arena 1 only hosted the highest-level teams of that time slot. So why was Alto placed in Arena 1 and Fria in Arena 2 when there was a monster like Luke present?
That question no longer mattered to Fria.
‘Why didn’t that person reveal his level?’
It had become irrelevant!
There were people who wanted to hide their strength, but that ferocious man didn’t seem the type. If anything, he would have revealed it proudly. Besides, he was Luke Colwen, a key force of the First Princess faction. In an academy dominated by the First Prince faction, they should have been desperate to uncover his full power. So why had they given him such treatment without any discussion?
‘But why isn’t my level showing? I didn’t do anything.’
Even Luke himself didn’t know the reason. It was because the executives of Nine’s Piece within the First Prince faction wanted to conceal the power of someone they considered an ally. There was probably a secret letter from them waiting in his dormitory room. It would automatically incinerate itself after a set time for security reasons.
“Uwaa! F-fire! But my sister has to take her test!”
That old dormitory was a wooden building.
‘Hmm. I don’t know why, but this works out nicely. I can rig the results as 1.2 Ripelreus.’
Luke observed Fria, who stood waiting for him in the center of the arena.
She had the same sky-blue hair as her brother. Unlike the dark, scrawny Eres, she was bright and a healthy beauty in every respect. Her build was smaller than Alto’s, but her spirit didn’t lose out. Especially that majestic, confidence-filled expression.
She was a narcissistic young lady who referred to herself as the greatest genius from the very beginning.
“You’re quite relaxed. You’re ten minutes late.”
“The match begins on the hour. I arrived at the exact time.”
“If it says to enter ten minutes early, you’re supposed to arrive by then. Only sloppy people who can’t manage their time come in the middle of that window.”
Like this. She was a person with very firm self-assertion.
“I don’t know what kind of perverse hobby made you hide your level, but it doesn’t matter. Today you will reveal your true worth.”
“My true worth? Do you have the ability to make that happen?”
“Look forward to it, Luke Colwen.”
Crack.
A heavy crystal greatsword formed in Fria’s hand. Armor sprouted across her body. An attacker who overwhelmed with solid armor created by unique magic and the crushing power of a heavy greatsword. It was as if she and her brother Alto had completely swapped roles.
“You’ll be mistaken if you think I’m the same as Alto. I’ve heard the rumors that your body is immortal, so why don’t you try taking one of my strikes?”
“Sorry, but I’m a safety-first kind of guy. I plan to dodge safely today as well.”
“…Do you even know what safety-first means?”
“Isn’t it the same as putting safety above all?”
“You’re really overflowing with leisure…?”
Fria thought he was mocking her. There was no way a count would be that stupid. And there was no way he would have picked a fight with them if he truly was a fool.
“Don’t misunderstand. Today’s challenger is you!”
Crack!
The sword and armor. Large, solid crystals also rose from the floor.
Objectively, it would be foolish for her—who was slower than Alto—to compete with speed against a fast opponent. But she knew exactly how to handle fast opponents. By aiming for counters.
“Are you aiming for a counter?”
“How did you—!”
By restricting approach routes and speed with crystals laid across the floor. Since she knew where he would come from, the difficulty of countering dropped sharply. It was Fria’s desperate pattern in Endless Fantasia.
‘If you blocked the view and entered the crystals, you’d get attacked the moment you were seen, so the nickname was the peekaboo pattern.’
The other candidate was whack-a-mole. Of course, I knew the strategy for this too. The moment you entered Fria’s field of vision she would launch the special attack called ‘Ambush.’ It was difficult at first, but you naturally picked up on it as you played. She always attacked at that exact timing, making the dodge window too obvious. You could land a perfect dodge, close in, and beat her down, or…
“This is annoying!”
“Huh?”
Just destroy the crystals.
“Straight punch! Light hook!”
“H-how…!”
“Did you think I wouldn’t know? If you destroy them completely, it takes time to regenerate!”
Every time a crystal on the field was destroyed, the number she could place decreased, and each one gained a one-minute cooldown. If more than half—four crystals—were destroyed, the ambush pattern was sealed. This was the beginner strategy.
‘If you cleared it without destroying any, the achievement and dialogue would change, but there’s no need for that right now.’
Shatter!
One per punch. That made four.
The technique she had created to fight the brother she had never properly defeated. Seeing him destroy them without batting an eye, Fria thought:
“Fria Ripelreus. Did I say I was the challenger?”
He was too strong. The crystals created by her unique magic couldn’t be broken even when she struck down with her greatsword. To do such a thing bare-handed, without any weapon…
“No, I’m always the one testing. And you have failed. To bring a technique you couldn’t even complete.”
If he had realized the moment he saw it that this was a technique she was using for the first time and that it was incomplete…
Just how vast was the gap between them?
She realized. She had been wrong. Her strategy had been mistaken from the very beginning. Against Alto, whose specialty was speed, he had toyed with him using speed. Against her, whose specialty was power, he was toying with her using power. Even if the first time could be a misunderstanding, the second time had to be intentional.
“You… from the start you only intended to mock our Ripelreus!!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. If anyone is trying to mock, isn’t it you bringing a technique with such obvious weaknesses!”
“What are you trying to say…? You’re just calling me weak!”
“Eh?”
If the opponent wasn’t actually stupid!
‘Couldn’t you have just made the surrounding crystals harder? In the original it was incomplete, so it was only brought out as a last-ditch move.’
It was only weak because she had used it desperately when exhausted! What Fria considered incomplete was the fact that it blocked her own field of vision and prevented proactive attacks. The strength of the crystals on the floor was no different from those used for her sword and armor!
“You think this is going to end with you looking down on me? Fine. I’ll give you exactly what you want!”
Crack! Craaaack!
The crystals on the floor and those composing her armor vanished. Every crystal she could create flowed into the greatsword she held. Sharper. Heavier. It was a third-rate or worse technique that sacrificed mobility and could only pray the enemy would accept the hit, but…
“Th-th-this is a pattern I’ve never s—”
“Mock me if you want! I’m going all out, so try breaking this one too!”
That arrogant, violent man would definitely take the hit. To crush her weakness and laugh at her. Because he would be overconfident in the body known as immortal.
This was a duel that staked the pride of nobles.
“M-m-mock…? Wh-wh-what are you saying…?”
“If you’re going to run then run! If you don’t have the confidence to face me!”
“Bringing a sword and then talking shit…”
“Um…”
“Yeah.”
And in Arena 1. Why he was here instead of Luke and Fria. Alto was still contemplating the question that Fria had already forgotten.
The woman standing across from him, tying up her dark, frizzy hair. A thin, haggard woman who looked like she belonged in a hospital bed rather than an arena. Her posture, the way she handled the sword, her gait, her breathing. As a skilled fighter, Alto could tell clearly even from a distance.
“Why… twin tails…?”
“You use two swords. I was curious why you insisted on using two.”
“So you tied your hair in two parts…?”
“Yes.”
“…Are you picking a fight?”
“No.”
This woman was a complete beginner.