Whoosh—
Luluvi shot backward at high speed.
In her mind, she had already cursed Kanzaki Rei countless times.
Fighting itself wasn't a problem—but who the hell forces an archer to fight at that kind of distance?!
The seawater was thick, heavily restricting her speed.
Meanwhile, the enemy's burst movement in the deep sea was downright terrifying.
"Obstacle—kill!"
"Anyone who obstructs me—kill!"
BOOM!
The ocean exploded into a violent mist as the creature instantly closed the distance, appearing right in front of Luluvi!
「Reverse Thrust Arrow」
BOOM!
Her longbow erupted with a tremendous shockwave. In that instant, Luluvi used the recoil force to blast herself backward toward the exit!
At the same time, the charging monster was halted mid-rush, unable to advance even a single step further.
The attack blasted the enemy back—and simultaneously widened the gap between them.
Whoosh!
In the very next moment—
Luluvi's slender arms blurred, drawing and releasing arrows at a speed invisible to the naked eye!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Each arrow both propelled her backward and forced more distance open, while the monster ahead was continuously hammered back, pinned against the wall by sheer force.
Under the relentless rain of arrows, it was completely suppressed—unable to move at all.
Luluvi had already created an enormous gap.
In just a few dozen seconds, she had retreated five thousand kilometers away.
Her speed… wasn't slow at all.
In fact, she was among the highest tiers of mobility.
What followed was a one-sided beatdown.
With five thousand kilometers of distance established, her arrows—each carrying powerful knockback effects—continued to bombard the target relentlessly.
—
Shua—
Kanzaki Rei appeared in front of one of the incoming arrows.
With one hand, he caught it.
BOOM—
The moment he stopped it, he felt an overwhelming force continuously pushing him backward.
Just a single arrow forced him back over a dozen kilometers.
Kanzaki Rei looked at the storm of arrows—thousands per second.
Seems like she's improved a lot too.
In the future, there will definitely be many situations where I'll need Luluvi…
It's not like I can just switch classes whenever I lack something.
Otherwise, I'd need to take on Assassin, Guardian, Healer, Observer… practically every class.
Especially when it comes to perception range—she fills in that gap quite often.
…
By the time the monster was completely obliterated under Luluvi's assault, Kanzaki Rei had already arrived in front of its corpse.
He searched the body.
On it, he found an anklet—a type of storage container.
"Initial Enlightenment"
Kanzaki Rei extended his perception across the entire cavern.
Symbols were carved everywhere along the walls—each one part of a larger ritual.
Glug—
The seawater stirred as Luluvi quickly returned to the cavern.
"Hmph—"
She let out a soft snort.
Kanzaki Rei smiled brightly.
"Luluvi, that was amazing."
"It was just killing a sixth-tier monster. What's the big deal?" she replied.
But the faint excitement in her emotions was impossible to hide.
For Luluvi, killing a sixth-tier monster wasn't particularly difficult—as long as it wasn't a Sunken-Continent-class entity, there was basically no problem.
But praise… was different.
If she casually killed a sixth-tier monster in front of strangers and heard them exclaim in awe—even if she was used to it, she'd still feel a little pleased.
That, too, was one of the meanings of becoming stronger.
Kanzaki Rei chuckled.
"Killing something like that in the deep sea isn't the same as usual."
"What's different about it…" she muttered.
But her face had already turned slightly red.
…Teasing Luluvi is really fun.
The girls I met in my previous life didn't have reactions this interesting.
Kanzaki Rei simply smiled and turned his attention to the spoils.
—
"Initial Enlightenment" recorded the Enlightenment Ritual.
There was nothing hidden.
Everything was written plainly.
Once the ritual was fully completed, it would irreversibly transform the user into a corresponding type of monster.
At the same time, the user would retain their human thoughts and consciousness.
Their spirituality would transfer over as well.
Furthermore, even in a monster body, they could still change classes, learn magic, and train combat techniques.
All the benefits were listed…
But what about the side effects?
Kanzaki Rei read through the entire ritual.
There were none recorded.
The only real drawback seemed to be that if the ritual was interrupted midway, the subject would become a grotesque, half-human, half-monster abomination.
In other words—as long as it wasn't interrupted, there was no downside.
The creator of "Initial Enlightenment" and its origin surfaced clearly in Kanzaki Rei's mind.
It came from…
The Nest of Mutation—Level 8 Nest.
A name both unfamiliar… and strangely familiar.
The Nest of Mutation was one of the Seven Great Nests, dominated by mutated-type monsters, and also the most unpredictable and complex of them all.
Among the seven recorded nests, it had the most speculative theories.
The ritual could only be used on beings that had not yet taken a class.
The creature they had just killed…
Though it looked human, it wasn't truly human—it was a marine race: a fishman.
A… barely sentient race.
Their intelligence was so low that they were often indistinguishable from monsters.
There were even rumors of people accidentally killing fishmen while hunting monsters.
If not for the fact that the upper ranks of their species possessed true intelligence…
They might have already been classified as monsters entirely.
It was said that the Fishman King was an eighth-tier Sea Sovereign.
And that the race also had an eighth-tier Sage—whose intelligence was second only to the God of Knowledge.
"…But I've never heard of fishmen appearing near the Secret Sand Archipelago."
Did my sacrifices cause them to appear?
As Kanzaki Rei reflected on the effects of his sacrifices to the Secret Sea, a theory began to form.
The more he sacrificed…
The more things from the deep sea would rise upward.
Not only that—things that should never have been seen were gradually surfacing.
At first glance, it seemed simple: sacrifices caused deep-sea entities to emerge.
But thinking deeper… it wasn't that straightforward.
Perhaps the Secret Sea had multiple layers.
Not just in depth—but in space itself.
Multiple spatial layers overlapped, with only the surface layer visible under normal circumstances.
Only when he performed sacrifices did the deeper layers reveal themselves.
…This theory bore a striking resemblance to the spatial interpretation of Root principles.
It seemed that space was far more profound than he currently understood.
—
With that thought, Kanzaki Rei raised his hand again.
A faint glow of soul-light appeared.
Glug—
The soul slowly flowed into the Secret Sea…
"Kanzaki Rei?"
Luluvi frowned.
"You're sacrificing again?"
"Mm. Just testing a hypothesis."
This was his first time performing a sacrifice underwater.
Previously, he had always done so above the sea.
Kanzaki Rei left the cave.
In the open sea, he looked upward.
As the sacrifice took effect, the surface of the sea seemed to drift farther and farther away.
At the same time, everything around him began to change.
Mountains and rock formations in the sea grew denser—as if they had appeared out of nowhere.
And those mountains… were enormous.
Despite the abyss having no visible bottom, they still stood tall within the ocean.
At the same time—
The cave where they had just killed the monster began to change.
A new passage formed within it, leading to a vast inner chamber.
"…This is…"
Even Luluvi was stunned.
The environment itself was changing with the sacrifice?
That meant the Secret Sea still concealed countless hidden secrets.
Inside the chamber were numerous jars and storage containers—like a hidden treasure vault.
To most, it would seem like a lucky find.
But to Kanzaki Rei—
He saw something deeper.
「Hidden Secret: Realm of Forbidden Knowledge」「Hidden Object: Passage」「Activation Method: Solve three puzzles in sequence within this space」
…Feels like we've gone way off track.
There's a passage inside the Secret Sea?
A "realm"… that sounds like an entirely different world.
Shua—
Kanzaki Rei instantly appeared inside the chamber.
With a sweep of perception, he located the three puzzles in different corners.
If one focused only on the treasure, they would never notice them.
He reached out and touched the first puzzle.
「How does one seek light?」
The text was written in the Language of Light.
Below it was an ancient pedestal.
Kanzaki Rei scanned the room.
With a flick of his hand, currents carried all storage containers to him.
He quickly searched through them.
Soon, he found a faint light source—a tiny glow like a firefly.
「Faint Glimmer」
He placed it on the pedestal.
No reaction.
But he had already moved to the second puzzle.
「Where lies that which has yet to be born?」
Nearby were several unhatched eggs.
He placed them on the pedestal.
「There is only one door. This passage is one-way.」
"Kanzaki Rei…"
"Doesn't this place feel… strange?"
"Yeah. It does."
Luluvi stood beside him.
With a thought, Kanzaki Rei activated the final mechanism remotely.
BOOM—
The chamber sealed shut.
The two solved puzzles began to glow.
A deep blue gate appeared at the center.
Kanzaki Rei touched it with his 「Core」.
Information flowed back.
「Path to the Realm of Forbidden Knowledge」「Creator: Denlin — Hidden Knowledge: Former Sage」「A forbidden world beyond this gate」
"Luluvi, have you heard of the Realm of Forbidden Knowledge?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"Then I'll go take a look first."
"If I don't return in 24 hours, let Iz know."
With that, Kanzaki Rei stepped forward.
Future Simulation gave him confidence.
He had originally intended to explore deeper layers of the Secret Sea—
Yet somehow, he had found a cross-world portal.
Opportunities like this wouldn't come again easily.
"…Alright."
Luluvi hesitated, but ultimately respected his decision.
She was beginning to understand why he had grown so strong.
He constantly explored places like these.
Kanzaki Rei stepped into the portal.
—
The moment he passed through—
His spirituality surged violently.
He looked up.
And saw—
A colossal sun occupying most of the sky.
The heavens were layered like endless clouds, yet brilliant light shone through.
Colors were overwhelmingly vivid.
The boundary between light and dark was absolute.
His perception became hyper-sensitive—
Touching objects with perception felt like physically touching them.
Everything was heightened.
Kanzaki Rei raised his hand—
Flames formed.
Within the fire—
He saw a core.
A fire core.
His mind trembled.
He turned—
And saw in the sky behind—
A massive ring, like a black hole, surrounded by faint light.
Just like the phenomenon he had seen upon class advancement.
Root.
Only that word remained.
His mind roared.
…
"Kanzaki Rei?"
"Kanzaki Rei!"
"Hey!"
His body felt weightless… yet heavy.
He snapped back to reality.
Luluvi's face was right in front of him.
Future Simulation—
Ended.
"Ah… Luluvi."
She exhaled in relief.
"What happened to you? I called you and you didn't respond at all!"
"Sorry. I got lost in thought."
"In thought? For a whole minute?!"
…A minute?
He had been gone that long?
He had just simulated entering the Realm of Forbidden Knowledge.
That thing he saw—
That massive void…
A black-hole-like entity with light outlining its edges.
When he tried to understand it—
Every thought, every cell in his body strained to comprehend it.
And then—
Everything froze.
An infinite loop of incomprehension.
…That's no different from death.
A chill ran down his spine.
If that had been real—
What would have happened?
This world… was far more dangerous than he imagined.
The Secret Sea alone had already "killed" him twice.
Fortunately—
It was only a simulation.
And after returning, his mental state hadn't suffered lasting damage.
Perhaps that was due to the nature of the soul.
"Kanzaki Rei… are you really okay?"
He smiled.
"I'm fine."
"…Alright."
She paused.
"By the way, why did you bring me here?"
Kanzaki Rei shook his head slightly.
"Nothing special."
"I just wanted you to walk with me."
"The Secret Sea is going to be destroyed."
"I want to take a few more looks before it's gone."