The Secret Sea was about to be destroyed.If certain things weren't clarified now, they might never be understood again.
If the Secret Sea was some kind of massive nest for a certain type of monster…Then was its destruction truly a good thing—or a disaster?
The Church of Life had remained inactive. Could it be tacit approval?Or rather… the highest ranks of the major churches were all under the control of gods. How could it be possible that the gods themselves failed to notice that an entire Secret Sea was about to be destroyed?
Ever since learning some of the secrets of the Secret Sea during the last exploration,countless speculations had refused to leave Kanzaki Rei's mind.
There was also another possibility—that destroying the Secret Sea was meant to stop an even more terrifying catastrophe.
There were simply too many guesses.
Rei continued pouring more souls into the sea.
"Rei… what exactly are you doing?"
Rei replied,"Yeah. Injecting souls into the Secret Sea—kind of like offering a sacrifice to a dungeon."
Because this was inside a future simulation, Rei spoke without much restraint.Whatever came to mind, he said it.
In fact, communicating like this was more convenient—there was no need to hide any trump cards.
"Sacrificing souls to the Secret Sea… something like that…"
Luluwe shared senses with Rei, so she could clearly see the changes occurring in the sea.
Monsters were gradually increasing in number and beginning to rise toward the surface.
"You've done this before?"
Rei nodded.
"Yeah… tried it once in a simulation."
"What happened?"
"A really strong monster showed up, and then…"
Rei thought for a moment about how to explain it.
Even though it was a simulation, explaining it would still be troublesome.
"…then I ran away."
That was the explanation Rei settled on.
"Oh~"
"But if you're planning to do this again, that must mean it isn't dangerous, right?"
Rei froze for a moment, then showed a faint, bitter smile.
…Sigh.
There was no way he could tell Luluwe that this was a future simulation and he was already prepared to sacrifice everything.
Somehow, it felt cruel to the Luluwe inside the simulation as well.
The souls continued to pour in.
Suddenly—
The entire sea surface turned dark and viscous, and the range that their perception could penetrate shrank drastically.
Originally, Luluwe's senses could explore 45,000 kilometers deep.
Now, they could only reach 10,000 kilometers.
The number of souls sacrificed had already reached 5,000,000.
"…Alright. Let's go inside and take a look."
The last time he encountered that mysterious monster, he had died, entered reincarnation, and then returned afterward…
However, Rei could clearly feel that during that encounter he had been affected by a kind of knowledge contamination.
Fortunately, because he was immune to knowledge corruption, he had suffered no damage.
That monster was the kind that would contaminate you just by looking at it.
But with only five million souls sacrificed,they probably wouldn't encounter that kind of thing.
"Ah? We're going in?"
At that moment, the Secret Sea emitted a faint emerald glow.The seawater looked like dark green ink—thick and viscous.
It gave off an unsettling feeling.
Rei said calmly,
"Yeah. I'll protect you, Luluwe."
Though honestly, if we really run into danger, I can't guarantee I'll be able to protect you…
But since this was a simulation anyway.
Luluwe hesitated briefly, then said firmly,
"Tch—who needs your protection?"
"I can protect myself just fine."
"You, on the other hand—don't think your current strength means you can do whatever you want."
Rei tilted his head slightly.
"Luluwe… are you a tsundere?"
"Hah?! Who are you calling a tsundere?!"
Luluwe was furious.
But Rei immediately grabbed her hand.
With the physical strength of a warrior, Rei was far stronger—Luluwe couldn't resist as he pulled her with him into the deep sea.
Splash!
The ocean was pitch black.
Yet once they entered the depths, Luluwe's perception could once again extend farther.
Looking up toward the surface—
The surface was still there. Unlike before, when looking upward felt like there was no end.
However, it seemed very far away now.
"Did we dive that deep already?" Luluwe's thoughts transmitted into Rei's mind.
Rei shook his head and replied through mental communication,
"No."
"We just entered the water normally."
Luluwe was stunned.
"The Secret Sea… actually hides something like this."
"How did you discover it?"
Rei answered casually,
"I got bored and tried sacrificing souls to the Secret Sea."
"You really do have too much free time."
If the death priests from the Church of Death ever learned that Rei had casually sacrificed such precious souls to the ocean out of boredom…
they might actually cry.
Whoosh—
Rei swapped positions through space and continued descending deeper into the ocean.
All around them were ocean monsters.
They were now entirely Tier 6.
As he swam downward, Rei placed a hand on the shell of a giant crab.
BOOM—
Lightning surged into the shell, instantly shattering everything inside.
"Tier 6. Crustacean-type ocean monster. Crab species."
Luluwe observed the monster Rei had killed and immediately identified its type.
Crack—
Rei split open the crab's shell.
Inside, he retrieved a pearl-like object.
[Pearl of Awakening Knowledge][Key used to open the Gate of Awakening Knowledge]
How strange.
Why would a key be hidden inside a monster's body?
If he hadn't glimpsed the secret beforehand, he would have completely missed it.
They had passed countless monsters along the way.
Rei hadn't suddenly decided to kill this crab on a whim.
Rather, while traveling, he suddenly noticed that this crab carried a hidden secret.
As he held the Pearl of Awakening Knowledge,multiple directions appeared marked at once.
One direction led deeper into the sea—the creator of the Pearl.
Another pointed toward the Gate of Awakening Knowledge—the entity that had lost the pearl.
A key being lost by a door…
That did make sense.
But the location of this gate wasn't deeper down.
It was to the north.
Whoosh—
With a plan already formed, Rei grabbed Luluwe again and changed direction, speeding northward.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Ripples trailed behind them in the sea.
Luluwe allowed herself to be pulled along.
If you looked closely…
the deep sea wasn't as terrifying as she had imagined.Nor as disgusting as expected.
Suddenly—
Violent currents erupted from all directions!
BOOM!
But in that instant, Rei's figure flickered!
The surrounding seawater instantly condensed and froze solid!
A chilling suit of armor appeared on Rei's body in a flash.
[Extreme Frost Ice Armor][Piercing Glacial Whip][Polar Trace Boots]…
A complete set of ice equipment covered him from head to toe.Just standing near him made the air feel freezing.
However, the cold was clearly controlled.
Even though Luluwe was very close, she only felt a faint chill and suffered no harm.
Meanwhile, the monster swarm around them—
The moment they made contact, they were frozen completely into ice statues.
Not just statues.
Their bones, blood, and flesh inside were all frozen solid.
They were dead through and through.
Seeing the full ice set, Luluwe couldn't help but sneer.
A full ice gear set…
Where could those possibly have come from?
So hard to guess.
"How strange."
"These monsters were fine before—why did they suddenly attack us?"
Rei dismissed the ice set, returning it to his Ten-Thousand Skin Bag.
Then he casually took out a brightly colored hooked dagger.
He touched one of the elephant-like monsters.
Slash—
In the next moment, the monster's entire hide was peeled off cleanly.
"…Not from the same faction?"
Rei touched the monsters' bodies, gathering information.
Come to think of it…
He hadn't really examined sea monsters much before, so the information he had was limited.
After thinking for a moment—
BOOM—
Rei vanished.
Lightning, thunder, and freezing currents erupted in multiple locations nearby.
He touched more than ten monsters in quick succession.
"They actually belong to different factions?"
Rei observed as the indicated directions continued increasing, forming complicated pathways pointing throughout the Secret Sea.
What a chaotic mixture.
But at least one thing was confirmed.
Inside the Secret Sea…a civilization existed.
"Let's go."
Rei grabbed Luluwe's hand again.
Her perception still extended much farther than his underwater.
With her help, Rei could more accurately determine threats.
His current 600-kilometer perception range was indeed insufficient now.
His burst speed reached 3,000 kilometers per second.
A 600-kilometer detection range didn't even equal 0.2 seconds at his maximum speed.
In other words—
Even if he had methods to approach an enemy,he might not detect them in time.
If distance opened during battle, it would also be difficult to pursue.
At this level of combat power—
Speed, destructive force, and range had all kept up.
Only perception lagged far behind.
Whoosh—
Rei continued moving toward the Gate of Awakening Knowledge.
About half an hour later, he felt extremely close to the destination.
Luluwe's perception extended 30,000 kilometers ahead.
Interestingly, after entering the deep sea, her perception was less hindered than it had been near the surface.
In fact, it had expanded somewhat.
Unfortunately, it still couldn't reach the 50,000-kilometer range she had on land.
"Is this the place you're looking for?" Luluwe asked, her senses focused on a pitch-black entrance.
Rei, sharing her perception, nodded.
"Yeah."
Rather than a gate, it looked more like a cave.
Outside the entrance, two Tier 7 monsters swam back and forth.
They weren't huge—their size was roughly similar to normal humans.
Rei looked at their time of death.
[Time of Death: 20 days][Time of Death: 20 days]
Just like most monsters they'd seen along the way.
After all, the Secret Sea was going to be destroyed.
Not only people on land—
Even the monsters deep in the sea would perish with it.
Rei stood at a distance and didn't move.
He simply watched them silently.
"You're planning to kill them?" Luluwe asked.
Rei replied through thought transmission,
"Yeah. I'm going to stare them to death."
Luluwe scoffed.
"Stare them to death? What nonsense are you—"
Before she could finish—
The two monsters suddenly started fighting each other without warning!
Each of the lobster-fisted monsters threw a punch at the same time!
Bang!
Their heads exploded simultaneously.
Mutual destruction.
Rei chuckled softly.
"Heh…"
What just happened?
The monsters… killed themselves?
Luluwe couldn't believe what she had just seen.
What kind of fighting style was that?
She had expected Rei to rely on his overwhelming strength and demonstrate a cross-tier battle.
Instead—
The two monsters had simply killed each other.
"Let's go."
Whoosh—
Rei appeared beside the corpses.
He casually extracted their souls.
Removing the souls was just to prevent any possibility of resurrection.
As for the bodies…
Too lazy to collect them.
This was only a simulation anyway. He couldn't take the materials back, so leaving them here was fine.
Standing before the cave entrance—
His perception swept inside and found a stone gate within.
At the center of the gate was a socket.
Perfectly sized for the Pearl of Awakening Knowledge.
But Rei didn't use the pearl.
Instead, he placed a hand on the stone gate.
The ability of the Puzzle Scholar activated.
Buzz—
RUMBLE—
The stone gate opened immediately.
So it could be opened without the key—you just needed the appropriate class.
If Puzzle Scholar could open it, then a thief class probably could as well.
Rumble—
Rei opened the door—
Then immediately closed it again.
Luluwe watched him open and close the door once, her expression subtly shifting.
What exactly was this guy doing?
Playing with the door?
He didn't seem like such an immature child.
Why suddenly play with doors?
Just as Luluwe was confused—
Whoosh—
Rei suddenly appeared with her inside a dim room.
Right.
There was no need to walk through the door properly.
With space magic, they could just teleport inside.
The moment they arrived—
Rei saw a dark humanoid creature with its back facing him, digging into something.
Suddenly—
It whipped around!
Almost instantly appearing before Rei, sharp claws slashing downward!
Clang—
Rei casually took out a white shield and blocked with one hand, neutralizing the attack instantly.
The shield from the Church of Light was really useful.
No matter how strong one's offense was, it was still wise to carry specialized defensive gear and switch weapons flexibly to adapt to different situations.
Whoosh—
The distance between them widened instantly—
About 10 kilometers apart.
But after retreating, the creature turned around again.
It returned to a massive monster corpse and continued digging, stuffing flesh into its mouth.
Rei observed it for ten minutes.
It didn't take any action unless he approached, in which case it would turn and growl.
…Guarding its food?
Just as it lifted another piece of meat toward its mouth—
At that moment—
Rei appeared behind it instantly!
His hand slammed forward!
Skyflow Style: Fifth Form — Bind
BOOM—
The creature was slammed into the wall behind it!
But the moment Rei pinned it—
He felt its flesh rupture as the originally humanoid creature expanded into something massive.
At the same time, a monster aura began emanating from it.
"You… why…!"
"Interrupt… my meal!"
From the feedback of God-Tier Talent: Hidden Origin, Rei sensed the creature's true information through touch.
[Monster with Awakened Intelligence][Information: Consumes monster flesh to perform the Awakening Ritual, granting itself the power of monsters.][Information 2: This ritual cannot be interrupted halfway. If interrupted, the subject may transform into a monster with incomplete intelligence.]
A human turning into a monster?
That storyline really was a classic trope.
Like how a Shinigami becomes a Hollow… and Hollows become Arrancar…
If humans transform into monsters to gain power,then maybe monsters also want to become human?
"ROAR!"
The sea shook violently!
The entire cave trembled!
It seemed Rei had interrupted its meal—which meant the ritual had been ruined.
Originally, this creature could have become a monster with full intelligence.
But because Rei interrupted it—
Now it had become a mindless monster instead.
"Luluwe, it's only Tier 6."
"I'll give you this chance to shine."
Luluwe snapped back,
"Who said I want to show off in front of you?! You should just finish it yourself—"
Whoosh!
The monster suddenly lunged!
And Rei's figure—
Had already completely disappeared.