D.I.O

“I see. The properties I can utilize are based on my affinities. Was I able to create the Ice Arrows because of my water attribute and affinity?”

Even if Merlin didn’t have the water attribute, his deep knowledge of water and affinity for it was beyond that of an average person. If he had chosen chakra instead of magic and had opened [Water] as a chakra practitioner, he may have led a revolution in the chakra field of study. He already possessed a deep [Understanding] of the properties and essence of water. With magic spells, even if it weren’t the Ice Arrow, Merlin would have been able to use many spells without any prior memorization or training. However, the issue was that there were a limited number of spells that he could use without memorization; many spells required users to memorize them.

“Flame.”

Whoosh.

As he chanted, a flame arose from the palm of his hand. Then, Merlin clenched his hand into a fist and put out the fire.

“It takes me about three minutes to memorize a spell. The textbook has 25 Rank 9 spells, so it should take me about two hours to go through all of them.”

Merlin started to slowly walk around as he memorized the spell chants. When he skimmed through the textbook, he found that there were various spells that were suited for many different occasions. There were destructive attack spells such as Ice Arrow and Fire Bolt, communication and mirage spells that sent messages to other people or made someone see a ghost, and physical property spells that changed the frictional properties or weight of an object. There were even summoning spells that would call forth otherworldly beings to form a contract and imbuement spells that allowed mages to imbue magic into an external object.

Of course, the spells that caught Merlin’s eye were the imbuement, or Enchantment, spells. He had already experienced the power of Enchantment when he defeated the tyrannosauruses.

“Enchantment spells mainly serve to imbue magic power into external objects, converting the properties and effects of those objects. Theoretically, Enchantment spells can be combined with other spells, but whether a combination is possible relies on the target’s physical properties and one’s affinity and relationship with that external object.”

While Merlin had successfully used Enchantment before, it was his first time reading a formal explanation about the process. The textbook gave him a detailed description of the process and usage. For someone who had stumbled upon Enchantment like Merlin, this formal and thorough explanation was a tremendous help.

It didn’t take long before Merlin reached a gate at the outer boundaries of the village. There, two sentries were standing guard, and one of them saw Merlin approaching and waved his hand.

“Please wait a moment. The current monster attack will be occurring for the next hour and forty-five minutes. If you leave the safety of the village right now, there’s a high chance that you’ll be attacked….”

Merlin just passed by the speaking guard. Focusing all his attention on reading the textbook, Merlin didn’t hear the guard’s words.

“What the…”

The village guards were tasked with keeping users safe; however, they did not possess the authority to block a user’s free will, so the guard watched as Merlin walked past the boundary gate. Merlin walked without a care in the world; he definitely was not aware that he was walking into a dangerous area. The guard, Diwali 87, shrugged.

“It’s his fate and luck in any case.”

“Nothing can be done. We need to move out as soon as possible either way. We’ll fall into trouble if we’re still here when the alliance monsters come through.”

Gane 87 put his gigantic blade away in his private inventory and started manipulating the magic circle that he was standing on. Soon, with rumbling and creaking sounds, the boundary gate’s wall started coming down.

Diwali 87 soon spoke up, “Ah, you know that you’ll have to override and cancel the non-destructive setting as well, right?”

“Of course, but I’m not sure if it’ll be fine to change the setting when we’re expecting 40,000 alliance monsters to head this way.”

“I guess the higher-ups want the users to taste failure and refocus their attention on what’s important.”

The monster alliance was made up of four corps. Each corps had 10,000 monsters, so there were 40,000 monsters total in the monster alliance. Obviously, this wasn’t a simple combat force. If 40,000 humans gathered and worked together, their collective combative capabilities and destructive power would be significant; thus, one could only imagine the strength and ferocity of 40,000 monsters working together.

Click.

The gate’s wall came down and made a clicking sound to signal that it had locked into place. After hearing this, Gane 87 spoke up.

“Is it okay to only shut the east boundary gate? I guess it should be fine since nothing but forest monsters will be attacking the first day.”

“It’s nice that they decided to attack one side rather than multiple. That way, we just need to close this single gate.”

The two conversed as they teleported to a different area. They soon found themselves within a large meeting room that was the size of a small village.

“You two, the 87 couple, you’re both the last ones here again.”

“Dude, don’t call us a couple. Are you a pervert or something? Anyway, has everyone else arrived?”

“Yeah. We’re all designated by the system as supporting characters who help users when they’re being attacked. Since we’d only be observing the slaughter, it’s best that we’re all recalled. If just one of us remains outside, that’ll defeat the purpose and responsibilities that we’ve been programmed with.”

Although those assembled were mainly gathered in three large groups, every single person in the room looked exactly the same. Some were lying down and resting, others were reading books, and some were sparring and training together with their swords. It didn’t make sense for these people with identical appearances to have different personalities, but Diwali 87 knew the truth. They were the same beings but yearned to possess a sense of individuality. And so, they put in an incredible amount of effort to be different.

“Anyway, the first wave will be the 10,000 monsters from the Forest of Despair, right?”

“Right.”

“Who’s leading? It should be the Cyclops, correct? Or will it be the top monsters in the Dinosaur species?”

Assassinating a monster alliance corps leader wouldn’t cause confusion within their camp. In DIO, a monster alliance corps attack would be carried out by the DIO system and the individual AI contained within each monster. Essentially, a corps leader was only in charge of verbalizing orders, such as [Attack], [Stop], and [Retreat]. In truth, a leader didn’t really lead; it was more like a title given to the strongest monster within a corps.

“No, it’s the Orcs.”

“What? Orcs? Wait, is it the Level 3 Orcs?”

“Yeah, those Orcs.”

Diwali 87 looked exasperated after hearing Gane’s reply. The Forest of Despair monster corps was comprised of many formidable monsters. Did it make sense for them to be led by the relatively lower-class monsters, the Orcs? Yet, Gane 23’s added explanation soon cleared up Diwali 87’s confusion.

“They’re from the [Hero Class]. They’re experts with the sword. I’m sure they’d even be able to defeat the head administrator of the Volcanic Clan.”

“…”

In the world of DIO, entire species possessed levels. Once a species-specific entity reached adulthood, it would receive a level classification based on the species it was affiliated with. Additionally, the level would denote the entity’s combat power. Regarding the human species, all humans started DIO at Level 1. However, unlike humans outside of DIO, within DIO, humans developed at a much faster rate. Typical humans outside DIO would normally develop up to Level 2 within DIO as they trained and progressed through martial arts studies and fighting. Yet, their development would usually stop at Level 2. Only those gifted with extreme talent or some other gift would progress beyond that level.

Monsters could train separately and gain abilities. They could even train in areas that had no relation to their species-specific features, and much like users, they could gain titles, which would be prominently displayed on their name cards.

If a monster were able to develop two levels higher than the general species-specific level classification, that monster would gain the title of [Warrior]. This continued for every two additional levels after a monster’s species-specific level. For instance, two more levels after earning the [Warrior] title would get a monster the title of [Fighter]. Following this same pattern, the next titles would be [Knight], [Hero], [Lord], and [Freedom].

“W-wait. If the Orc species level classification is Level 3, but the monster is in the [Hero] class… doesn’t that make it Level 11?”

“Level 12, to be exact. I heard it’s stronger than Level 11. If it continues to develop, it may even reach the [Freedom] class. It’s possible that it’ll become an Orc Lord within the foreseeable future.”

“Wow, isn’t that too much to go up against? The users are already outnumbered, but they also have to contend against such a formidable opponent. Even if the system is biased toward users, it’s only been two months since they started, right? Since they’re still in the beta test, they probably don’t even have any special or high-level weaponry. From what I know, none of the users have reached the Master class. They’ll be slaughtered.”

With an irritated expression on his face, Diwali 87 scoffed as he sat on a sofa, looking at Gane 87 with a serious expression.

“What do you think, Gane? Do you think you’d be able to contend against that Orc?”

“It would be difficult. There’s a higher chance that I’d be defeated in a one-on-one fight. I’d be at least a half-step, no, probably a full step behind the Orc. Even if I had time to plan accordingly, I don’t think I’d last more than 500 seconds.”

Hearing Gane’s all too realistic assessment, Diwali 87 replied with a deflated tone. “Ah, man, you’re no fun. So, you’re saying that even with our gigantic blade and counter armor, you wouldn’t be a match for that [Hero] class Orc, huh?”

“I’m sure the Orc’s equipment isn’t too shabby either.”

Diwali 87 scoffed again. “Argh. We can’t even defeat a single monster… we sure are worthless. If the monsters wanted to, wouldn’t they be able to take over Starting?”

“Don’t be stupid. Don’t you know how many of us there are?”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Diwali 87 quickly agreed with Gane 87’s response.

Soon…

Rumble.

The sound of conversations and movement from a hundred Diwali, a hundred Gane, a hundred Meltain, a hundred Kasy, a hundred… a hundred… a hundred….

“Well, let’s rest up. We haven’t had a day off like this in a while.”

There were 700 guards in the large meeting room. All 700 were equal in strength, though they specialized in different areas, such as chakra, internal energy, and aura. All 700 were resting in their own way.

***

Once he finally looked up from his textbook, Merlin found himself in front of a large lake.

“Where am I?”

Merlin quietly closed his textbook and vacantly looked around him. There was no one in the vicinity. Behind him was a vast green flatland and in front of him was a large lake.

“What’s this? It’s definitely bigger than a pond.”

Since Merlin’s vision was many times better than the average human being, he was quickly able to discern the size and shape of the lake. The lake was shaped in a perfect square with a width and length of 300 meters. And the depth was…

“Wow! It’s 50 meters deep. This definitely isn’t natural; it’s been artificially made.”

More accurately, the body of water was closer to a reservoir than a lake. A reservoir this size would take considerable resources to build; furthermore, it would have to be built over the course of years rather than months. Yet, when Merlin looked around, he saw that the reservoir was unguarded and seemingly uninhabited. Additionally, based on the geographical landscape, the location of this reservoir didn’t seem ideal. There was nothing around that seemed to need such an enormous body of water.

“This place is so abnormal. I guess this type of geographical anomaly can exist since this is just a game.”

Plop.

As he muttered to himself, Merlin stepped onto the body of water. Since he had finished memorizing all the basic spells in the textbook, he put the book back in his inventory.

“Ooh, I can walk on water. Am I now one of the top martial artists? Or maybe I’m the next candidate of a resurrected God?”

If any Christian heard his words, they’d cry out blasphemy. Yet, no one was around, so Merlin continued to walk across the water quietly. While it looked like he was walking, he was actually moving speedily across the surface of the water. Instead of stepping atop the water, Merlin was actually sliding on it. He quickly found himself at the center of the reservoir.

“Why is there a pillar here….”

Merlin looked inquisitively at the pillar that stood at the center of the lake. Rather than a pillar, it would be correct to state that he was looking at a tower. The tower had a diameter of three meters, and it was 50 meters tall.

“It seems to be floating.”

Once he got close, Merlin saw that the tower was hovering ten centimeters above the surface of the water. He wondered if he could move it, so he pushed against the tower, but it didn’t budge, as if it was affixed to something.

“What the hell is this….”

The tower was something Merlin couldn’t understand. He tried using appraisal on the tower, but the system didn’t seem to recognize the tower as an item, so it didn’t return any information.

“Gear 2.”

Once Merlin muttered those words, he quickly changed from his mage garb to his beginner shorts. He wasn’t wearing anything else outside of his shorts.

“Alright, then.”

After changing, he dove into the water. Once he did this, he sank faster than if he were a heavy metal object. With little delay, he reached the bottom of the reservoir. The reservoir floor was covered in stone tiles, but one part caught his eye.

‘What’s that?’

A square hole was dug up in a section of the reservoir floor. The hole was about three meters in length, width, and depth.

‘Huh? Wait, is this….’

Merlin looked up at where the tower was. The tower stood directly above the hole.

Whoosh!

Merlin shook his body briefly and shot up to the surface. As he ascended, he continuously accelerated and reached his peak speed in no time. And once he arrived at the surface…

[Jumping].

Merlin shot up above the surface of the water.

“Ah! It’s a bit too far away!”

Having shot up 30 meters above the surface, Merlin grabbed onto the patterned grooves of the tower. Since the tower was 50 meters tall, he still had 20 meters until he reached the top of the tower. Yet, this wasn’t an issue for Merlin; he possessed muscular strength that was ten times that of a standard human male.

“It seems this tower is the key. I don’t know how, but somehow, I need to bring this tower down onto the hole at the bottom of the lake.”

Since the tower didn’t seem to budge under his pressure, it seemed that the tower wouldn’t go down using brute force. Of course, if enough force was applied to the tower, it might move, but Merlin didn’t possess such monstrous strength.

“Hmm. There is a pressure spell I can use, but that would only increase pressure by three times.”

While he was contemplating what to do next, a text message popped up.

/A new announcement has been posted!/

“An announcement? There haven’t been any announcements posted since I started, right? Is it something that only shows up on the main server?”

Merlin had never had the opportunity to view the announcement function, so he put his hands together in a triangle formation. Within the triangle formation, a small window popped up. Merlin grabbed onto a corner of the small window and enlarged its size. He remembered reading about a general dictionary on DIO’s website, so he had decided to call it up.

“Let’s see… how do I bring up the announcement window… ah, here it is. Place my left hand’s fist against my closed right eye for three seconds… okay.”

Soon, the announcement window popped up.

/Changes to the Siege Event

Ah, we regret to see that everyone has been approaching the Siege Quest without any sense of urgency. Everyone, you think the Siege Quest is a joke, don’t you? The siege is about to occur, but most of you are just fooling around in the village. Hahaha! You’ll come to regret it. Since all of you are so relaxed, we’ve decided to change some details of the Siege Quest. In thirty minutes, monsters will rush in from all four of the village’s boundary gates. However, rather than 40,000 monsters, this wave will consist of 4,000 monsters. Each gate will be attacked by a force of 1,000 monsters. Once this first wave is over, you will be given two days before another wave is sent out to the east, north, west, and south gates in 24-hour intervals. In other words, the attacks will progress in turns in a counterclockwise motion. Any monsters that weren’t dealt with in the first wave will retreat during the rest period and be included in the second wave.

Everyone shall be part of this quest, so please prepare accordingly.

It seems that you’ll need to taste hardship before you realize what’s needed.

Additional Information 1. Any monsters defeated during the event period will garner 200% bonus experience points for the user.

Additional Information 2. If the defense of the village ends in failure, it will be determined that you have all failed the mission, and all your experience points shall be taken away.

Additional Information 3. If you fail to defend the Guardian Tower at the center of the village, the DIO service will automatically end, regardless of the date and time./