Chapter 4: Hello, World! (4)
Witnessing the fish transformed and swimming around like fish, I carefully dipped my hand into the seawater.
The cold sensation. When I took a little lick, the salty taste hit me, not much different from the seawater I remembered.
Hmm. I’d like to explore the underwater world a bit more… but seeing from above has its limits.
Should I just go for it? But how do I swim with this new body?
A dragon with a pretty solid lower body swimming… Hmm… I have no clue.
Well, there’s only one way to know. I cautiously started to wade into the sea.
The cold seawater drenched my legs and tail. Not a bad sensation.
Ah, but wouldn’t my eyes sting if I opened them underwater? I haven’t tried it before; I’m hesitating a bit.
Ugh… Ah! Whatever! It’s all about taking on challenges! As if a dragon would drown! If I can fly with my wings, swimming should be a piece of cake!
With that thought, I took a deep breath and plunged into the sea.
And surprisingly, I felt completely free in the water.
I didn’t need to hold my breath, opening my eyes didn’t cause any discomfort, and I felt so weightless that I could move around quite comfortably.
Swimming was… easy, really. Just swishing my tail back and forth was enough to propel me forward.
Hmm, as expected—being a dragon makes one extraordinary! Those worries turned out to be for nothing!!
I quickly swam around, taking a look at my surroundings.
A sea where seaweed and corals were slowly growing. No real fish yet, but it had its own charm.
And I noticed slimes gradually transforming into fish shapes, which caught my eye.
These slimes adapting to their environment were changing into all sorts of forms.
Some slimes had taken on the typical appearance of fish. Some oddly looked like squids.
There were those shifting into shapes resembling trilobites or shrimp, and even some becoming bizarre, deep-sea fish-type creatures.
I wonder how many of these slimes will survive? This was getting rather interesting.
Now that I think about it, the ones I released on land were changing to gain different attributes, but the slimes in the water seem to differ in some way.
I spent my time traveling around, releasing slimes and observing their transformations.
One day, two days, three days, four days. Time just kept going on with the sun rising and setting.
As time flowed, the world changed little by little.
The view of life slowly spreading from nothing.
Amidst such scenery, I found myself laughing uncontrollably for no reason.
With my actions and choices, the world was evolving so much, I felt like an incredible being.
Well, it’s true that being a dragon with godlike powers feels quite magnificent.
How many days, weeks, or months has it been since I started watching these changes in life?
Another change was approaching this world.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
What is magical power?
The driving force for using magic.
A mysterious force spread widely throughout the world.
A grace bestowed by the gods upon this world.
The manifestation of the will to incite change.
With as many magicians there are, there are numerous definitions of magical power, but I think of it this way.
It’s like the blood flowing through the veins of the existence we call this world.
–
The content of the first lecture in the basic class of the Kingdom’s Magic School.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
At first, I didn’t notice the changes because they were minor, but over time, it became evident.
The magic power of the world was gradually intensifying.
Indeed, it was mentioned in the message sent by that person, but what would occur due to this magic power… well, that’s a bit hard to predict.
Still, having a means at my disposal is a good thing.
As I let out a soft sigh, the magic power within me reacted, releasing a small breath.
Since I didn’t change any attributes, it came out just as a breath of wind.
If I had wished for a particular attribute while exhaling, it would have manifested with such a change.
I could’ve released fire, lightning, cold, or even water.
That’s what magical power is all about.
The power to turn desires into reality. The force that brings about changes by infusing intentions and will into magical energy.
What changes this power might bring to the world… well, that’s a mix of worry and anticipation.
In contrast to my situation, the slimes were thriving even today.
The slimes that flowed into the sea had already started to embody various creatures.
Some had evolved hard shells and started resembling insects, while others had fully taken on the form of fish.
But those that underwent such evolution, probably because they were no longer just simple slimes, needed a lot of energy to maintain their bodies… which means they needed to eat.
Well, that can’t be helped. While slimes could just absorb things, fish have scales now, they can swallow and digest food with mouths, and breathe through gills.
The required energy was vastly different.
This meant that large fish swallowing smaller ones became quite a common sight.
A classic case of survival of the fittest. Could this also be part of the evolution flow?
On the flip side, the slimes on land still hadn’t strayed too far from the category of slimes.
There were those spitting fire or exhaling cold, but it was hard to consider those creatures as truly alive.
Ah, yet the rock-like slimes were somewhat fascinating.
Due to their solid forms, moving was quite a challenge, so some had developed tiny legs to inch around.
Those rock slimes with legs reminded me a bit of golems.
They still didn’t have arms or heads, though! Anyway.
Thus, I kept observing the changes of life as I roamed the world.
Because the magical power thickened, I began noticing that irregularities were gradually occurring in the world.
To be specific, strange natural phenomena started unfolding.
“Hmm… How should I interpret this?”
Massive whirlwinds formed ceaselessly between enormous canyons, and huge whirlpools appeared in parts of the sea.
The magic was circulating throughout the world, stirring up various phenomena.
But if it were just that, it wouldn’t be termed an anomaly.
The biggest issue was.
“Ah… Aaaah…”
That these phenomena were beginning to show a hint of intelligence.
I sighed subtly while gazing at the whirlwind before me.
It was a pretty strong whirlwind, yet still lacking the power to move my body.
A faint voice emerged from within it.
“Ahhh…”
The voice of an intelligence that still hadn’t fully defined itself.
In a world where I was the only being capable of thought, something was starting to take shape.
Destroying this phenomenon wouldn’t require much effort. Just release a breath infused with magical energy, and it would easily be shattered.
However, I didn’t want to do that.
I had no desire to erase a being born from this world.
So, I addressed it.
“What is your name?”
“Ah… Nah… Naaneun…”
“Okay. Your name shall be?”
“Naaneun… Who…?”
However, the newly birthed intelligence couldn’t define itself as anything.
After all, it was like a blank sheet—how could it possibly know?
Therefore, it fell to me to give it a name.
A massive whirlwind. Perhaps I should take a name from the wind spirits.
“I shall bestow upon you a name. Sylphid. That will be your name from now on.”
“Syl… Phid?”
“Exactly. Sylphid.”
A name synonymous with the King of Wind Spirits. Upon receiving such a name, the whirlwind began moving in a strangely different manner.
The wind that had been swirling around gradually approached me.
“I am… Sylphid… Sylphid…!”
“Yes, you are Sylphid.”
“Sylphid!!!”
The whirlwind exuded sheer joy. I could feel its delight even from a distance.
To put it simply, the wind was getting quite fierce!
“Name! Happy!!!”
“I’m glad to hear that. Now, I have some business elsewhere, so I must be off.”
“Yes! Name! Thank you!!!”
Leaving the ecstatic whirlwind behind, I soared off to another location.
I wondered if it was due to the magical power, but phenomena beginning to sprout consciousness were surfacing in numbers.
In the volcano giving birth to eternal flames.
In the colossal whirlpool forming in the sea.
On the tallest mountain in the world.
In trees that had grown as massive as mountains due to magical energy.
Even in darkness where not a glimmer of light penetrated.
Even during the light of the midnight sun that never set.
Natural phenomena with their own consciousness were emerging.
That being said, none of them shared even a single attribute.
As if someone had intended this…
Wait, am I supposed to name these natural phenomena? Me?
Ugh… My naming sense isn’t all that great. This is quite the conundrum.
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