D.I.O

In DIO, other than new users that’d just joined, everyone would have an ID nametag above their head, with the font being either white, yellow, or black. Users had white lettering for their nametag, and NPCs had yellow, which left monsters with black text. So, it was clear that these mermaids were monsters.

[Hey, you there? Say something.]

[You idiot. Humans can’t communicate with mind senses, so it’s impossible for them to talk underwater.]

[Then, do we need to take him up to the surface? I thought that humans who could swim all the way down here would be able to use mind senses.]

As the mermaids chatted, Merlin started circulating his magic power. Fortunately, he recalled reading about a spell related to mind senses in one of his spell books.

“Excuse me, can you hear me?”

[Hmm, it spoke?]

[I told you! It can talk!]

Some of the mermaids seemed happy that they were correct, whereas others appeared exasperated at the sight of a talking human. Regardless, none of them showed any signs of aggression toward Merlin.

“Anyway, is something wrong?”

[That’s what we should be asking. What brought you down here? You’re lucky that we found you. If another monster got here before us, you would’ve been torn to shreds.]

After the last mermaid spoke, it looked around to check for anything in its surroundings. Luckily, there were no other monsters. Since this was the mermaids’ territory, most monsters avoided entering. However, there were always some monsters that didn't care about arbitrary boundaries or who even wanted to specifically hunt mermaids. Thus, it was vital that the mermaids remained aware of their surroundings.

“Hmm. You can say that I’m traveling. I’m trying to head as far south as possible.”

[Traveling south? We’re at the most northern area, though?]

Seeing the mermaids’ perplexed expressions, Merlin became certain that they’d never crossed the Noisy Belt and didn’t know of the world that existed beyond. The Noisy Belt seemed to be a barrier that separated these two worlds.

“Hmm, this is a bit difficult to answer… is there perhaps a local village nearby for users?”

[User? What are users?]

The mermaids’ expressions showed that they had no idea what Merlin was talking about, and it was only then that Merlin realized something.

‘These guys, they don’t know that they’re just part of a program.”

All of DIO’s NPCs and a majority of the monsters were aware that they were living in an alternate, virtual reality. They knew that they were artificial creations in a virtual world, tasked with specific roles that they needed to carry out.

The only NPCs that didn’t seem to know this were the ones that Merlin had met in the level-up tests, which were conducted on separate servers. Yet, despite residing on the main server, these mermaids believed they were living in reality.

“Hmm, then, how long does it take to get from here to land?”

[The closest island is about two days away by swimming, but the nearest continent… is far.]

“How far?”

[Very far. Just… very, very far.]

“…”

After hearing this abstract reply, Merlin fell into thought before covering his eyes with his left hand, masking this motion by acting as if he were merely rubbing his tired eyes. When he first entered the Noisy Belt, he was at the southernmost tip of the map. As such, when he passed through this boundary and reached the other side, he expected changes in the map to reflect the new area.

‘Huh? The map is a rectangle now.’

Merlin was surprised as he opened his map. Previously, it was shaped like a square, but now, there had been an area added to the bottom. This wasn’t just a minor change. This extension was three times larger than the map’s previous size.

DIO’s map didn’t have fog of war, so Merlin could clearly see six sizable islands and a main continent under the Noisy Belt. And after calculating the distance, Merlin found…

‘Eight hundred kilometers?!’

Merlin was so shocked that his jaw dropped. Inevitably, this also allowed some seawater to flow into his mouth, but it was naturally expelled by his water attribute affinity. In any case, if there were a straight line from Seoul to Busan, it would be 314 kilometers. So, 800 kilometers… was enough to easily cross the East Sea. Most 3D games wouldn’t create such a massive map, so it was surprising that a virtual reality game with higher resource requirements would use a large-scale map like this.

[Why are you covering your eyes?]

“Ah, just… my eyes were a little sore… anyway, what are you guys planning to do? Are you going to capture me?”

[No, I don’t see a reason to capture you. It might’ve been a different story if you planned on entering our territory unauthorized, but it doesn’t seem like you had any such motive.]

“That’s good.”

For someone who wanted to travel or go on an adventure instead of fighting, Merlin was happy to hear the mermaid’s words. Although Merlin was akin to an alien existence in the water and could avoid most monsters that rushed toward him, constantly running away was tiring.

[Anyway, do you have somewhere to go?]

“I didn’t have any specific place in mind. Is there anywhere I should avoid?”

The mermaid contemplated for a moment before speaking with an expression that seemed to state that it didn’t have any reason to hide the truth.

[If you head southwest of here, you’ll see our city. Of course, our species is respectful and noble, so we wouldn’t instantly attack you, but if you try to enter without permission, it’ll be dangerous. There have been many attacks on the city recently, so everyone’s on edge.]

“Are there more areas that I should stay away from?”

[Other places are equally dangerous… oh, right. If you go south, you’ll arrive at Cone Island. Try to avoid that place. It’s filled with goblins and other monsters.]

As he listened, Merlin visualized the locations of the islands he had seen at the bottom of the map. Outside of the continent, there were numerous islands of various sizes. Some were even larger than Dead Earth.

“Hmm… well, thank you. I’m sure you were startled by my sudden appearance.”

[No worries. I was actually quite interested to see a human.]

Swish.

Then, Merlin kicked out and started swimming, shooting upwards. These movements weren’t something an average human could do, but the mermaids were completely at home in the water, so Merlin’s actions didn’t seem weird or out of the ordinary. And so, they watched Merlin ascend as they waved at him.

[Goodbye. Watch out for monsters.]

“Thank you. Goodbye.”

Since mermaids were still monsters, Merlin quickly distanced himself from them, but it didn’t seem like they wanted to chase him. In fact, the mermaids continued to chatter excitedly as if they had seen something interesting.

“Phew! I guess the area beneath the Noisy Belt isn’t a high-level zone.”

Merlin made his way to the surface of the water, recalling and reflecting on the mermaid’s power level. The mermaid species possessed a Level 4 rating, which meant that the starting level for adult mermaids was Level 4 at the lowest. Hence, mermaids weren’t weak compared to other monsters, but they also weren’t too formidable either, as they likely couldn’t develop beyond Level 5 or 6.

“I guess the monsters and NPCs most likely don’t know the truth of their existence….”

In reality, Dynamic Island was an outlier that swayed Merlin’s way of thinking. It was weird for NPCs and monsters to know that they were virtual recreations, but it made sense in the context of DIO. If the beings native to DIO acted like they really existed, users might start to grow confused and become unable to differentiate reality from virtual reality. Moreover, there were always people that tried making NPCs realize that they were fictional characters. By making the NPCs aware of their status, this issue could be resolved.

“It seems the game developers and administrators are preventing users from going beyond the Noise Belt for now. This is probably because of psychological factors rather than insufficient combat prowess- hmm?”

Merlin abruptly stopped in his tracks. He stopped because he saw a red dot in the distance.

Whoosh.

Despite being far away, the red dot emanated an overwhelming aura that seemed to shake Merlin’s skull. Even at this distance, Merlin could tell that the being must be absolutely mammoth, as he could make out its form and its wings.

“Uh… uhm…”

Merlin felt his arms shake, and he softened his breathing. The approaching being was a dragon, not an eastern dragon, but a western one, and judging by its bright red skin, it was probably a red dragon. Since the red dragon was rapidly soaring forward, from Merlin’s perspective, it quickly grew bigger.

Flash!

The red dragon was high in the sky, but Merlin’s Enhanced Eyesight allowed him to see its body clearly. With its elegant body, the red dragon seemed as if it were an art piece created after countless hours and immense effort. In contrast to how Merlin thought a dragon should look, this one seemed like a flying artistic masterpiece; however, Merlin couldn’t afford to stare and appreciate the dragon’s beauty.

‘It saw me!’

A chill ran through him before Merlin quickly circulated his internal energy and used some to protect him. If the red dragon made any move, however slight, Merlin was planning on rushing down to the deep sea. However, the red dragon didn’t seem to pay attention to Merlin as it charged past him.

Merlin looked absentmindedly at the red dragon’s receding figure. The dragon didn’t restrain itself whatsoever, so Merlin could sense the immense internal energy that it exuded, almost akin to the sun. The dragon possessed so much power and energy that Merlin couldn’t help but think that it was on the same level as Zygmunt, the dragon Merlin saw at the Seadragon’s Temple.

“Oh my god… t-that’s not a boss, right?”

If that was the case, Merlin felt that fighting such a monster would be too overwhelming. Of course, users were powerful as well. The two Masters, along with the two thousand handpicked beta testers, had all achieved incredible feats and development in a mere two months.

“Wait, isn’t that dragon going toward Starting?”

In Merlin’s mind, there was no way such a massive, formidable monster would appear in Starting. It was on an entirely different level. No matter how many ants gathered, they would never be able to defeat a giant dinosaur.

“What the hell is this place….”

Merlin couldn’t help but stare at the departing red dragon as sweat poured down his face.