Chapter 77

Now, Ymir was far behind me—I had run as far as I could from it. If Theurus had taken notice of me, he could track me through his followers, and I had no need for extra attention from the gods.

As soon as I left the city, I took off my cloak and gloves. I needed to find my parents, but not now—the roads to the south would be guarded after my "conversation" with the priest. I had to go far east, skirting the dwarven mountains in a wide arc. The No Man’s Land could also be reached from the ocean side, and that’s exactly what I planned to do.

Dad… Mom… I’m so glad they managed to escape.

I would take revenge on all my enemies. My "sword" was ready, but my shield was still incomplete.

I questioned everyone in Sural on my way to Ymir, but no one knew anything concrete about the Hunters. Only rumors that they were incredibly strong. The network showed that any information about them was deleted as soon as it appeared. One could assume that Lunar himself ensured the secrecy. If my guess was right, then passing the trial would allow me to level up. Otherwise, why would such a reward exist for "geniuses"?

What kind of organization or class is this, that Lunar goes to such lengths to hide it?

From the sea, it was five days to Zirda, and beyond the mountains lay forests and plains. That meant I still had twelve days before the trial began.

I need a shield—the most perfect shield for protection.

The ocean was beautiful. The water calmed my nerves, and I could train my resistance to physical damage. When I sailed from Heron to Sural, I dove to search for poisonous fish. That was when I discovered that diving deeper than a hundred meters caused continuous physical damage.

And that’s exactly what I’ll use now.

A nice picture: a boy lying at the bottom of the ocean with a rock in his hands, contemplating his life’s mistakes. I needed to calm down, escape pursuit, and increase my resistance—and this was the most efficient method. To keep from getting bored, I started catching poisonous fish, cracking open shells, and testing how spells worked underwater. The local fauna didn’t exceed level 200, and there were plenty of underwater plants. But the deeper you went, the fewer plants there were and the more dangerous the predators became. Still, the underwater world was breathtaking.

After selling the loot, I bought nearly two thousand vials of underwater breathing potions. Six vials per hour, one hundred forty-four per day—almost three hundred in my day. That gave me ten or eleven days to train.

Too bad I can’t use blood magic—I’d level up much faster.

The ocean was mesmerizing when viewed from the depths. The fish, the sunlight filtering through, the underwater landscapes—it all created an atmosphere of peace. I was starting to understand my father’s love for fishing.

Some of my suspicions were confirmed: Dad wasn’t just a fisherman if he managed to break a blacksmith’s arm and pick the lock of a cage. His combat skills were impressive. Even though I hadn’t faced any real opponents, my father surpassed them all in experience and skill. The only people I’d seen with such a mix of abilities were thieves and bandits—nothing else came to mind.

But there was no doubt he was a craftsman—I’d seen his wood and bone carvings.

Hmm… Not enough information. So, was he a bandit who became a fisherman? How did he change classes? How could he still use his main class skill—lockpicking? So many questions…

Darkness used to frighten me, but I learned to use it, and the fear faded. Today was the seventh day of my underwater training, and I had reached eight hundred meters. When I activated my flashlight, the light revealed the bottom of an underwater crevice I was descending along.

But it wasn’t just darkness—there was something else.

A colossal squid, drifting with the current.

[Monster: Kraken Spawn, Level 770. Raid Boss.]

This monstrosity, with hundred-meter-long tentacles, reached for my flashlight. Its full body length was around two hundred meters. The bright light must have caught its attention, and now it wanted to taste the source.

I thought I couldn’t swim any faster, but today I definitely broke my record. The squid only stretched out a tentacle, but when it couldn’t reach me, it gave up and retracted it.

Interesting… If a raid boss of this level is just a spawn, then what level is the actual Kraken? Probably well over fifteen hundred… And such creatures live just a kilometer deep. Fun. Once I level up, I’ll go hunting underwater.

The problem was, I didn’t have a single spell suitable for this situation. The water was still only knee-deep when a message appeared:

[Forced Disconnection… 3… 2… 1.]