?????°???°?????

  Things progressed well after the exam. I successfully became a Class A adventurer.

  Jason was fine too. A healing skill was enough to bring him back to normal after my attack. He congratulated me and said he would train harder.

  I truly hoped he wouldn’t want a rematch. That kind of relationship was something I preferred to keep far away from me. Too much work.

  Putting that aside, Merlin’s fight had been scheduled for the day after mine due to the queue. A fight I would be watching soon.

  It would happen in the afternoon. Merlin was currently preparing with Pumpkin and Don, and since the morning was free, I decided to go out into the city.

  I wanted to take a look at several shops to understand what kind of goods Valoria had to offer. I didn’t plan on buying anything yet. First, I wanted to complete a few missions.

  On top of that, [Skillful King] had already started bothering me, saying she wanted to enter combat and see if there were any interesting skills to absorb.

  She’s very noisy sometimes, even though she spends most of the time quiet. It felt like having a demanding mother in my head.

  Believing that she was my true essence was still difficult. I didn’t feel connected to her at all, but that was probably because of my lost memory. Losing your memory doesn’t change the essence of your soul, so my old self would probably get along well with this skill.

  The fact that I’m not that person anymore must frustrate [Skillful King] a little — if she even has real feelings.

  Merlin and Pumpkin also possess unique Class (S) skills, but theirs don’t speak. Not that they couldn’t — in their case, it simply isn’t necessary.

  The details about Pumpkin’s [Nuclear Fission] were something she herself still didn’t fully understand, so I couldn’t learn much from her. The only thing I knew was that her skill was perfect for mass destruction.

  Merlin, on the other hand, gave me a more interesting answer.

  Basically, [Enlightened] can communicate, but it considers it unnecessary. Merlin already learns and understands everything through her senses. For [Enlightened] to speak would only waste time, delaying a process that is instantaneous.

  Serena, however, said that [Ice Rose] spoke to her once, but remained silent afterward.

  Different skills. Different users. Different personalities.

  I sighed.

  [Skillful King] was like a guide — or rather, a video game build manual. But she depends on me to act, unlike Merlin’s [Enlightened], which works automatically.

  She will always want skills that suit me in a way that helps me become the strongest version of myself. If she sees a creature with a skill that interests her, she will tell me and order me to absorb it.

  Aside from those moments — and when I speak to her myself — [Skillful King] remains completely silent.

  Ever since [Analytical Perception] became automatic, she no longer needs to warn me about everything. I instinctively understand what’s happening around me.

  “What a headache… in the end, my unique skill is just a career planner…”

  ?…?

  She refused to speak even to that kind of provocation.

  Anyway, I was satisfied with her. As long as she stayed with me, I would continue growing stronger by following its requests.

  However, it felt odd to call it ‘she.’ Its voice sounded feminine due to the Voice, yet I thought ‘it’ was more fitting.

  “Well now, there you are. Little Victor.”

  The soft voice sounded beside my ear.

  My body reacted before my mind. I jumped forward and turned immediately.

  “Fufu~ did I scare you?”

  She was a beauty with blue-green hair and fair skin, slightly taller than me. She laughed softly at my reaction as if it had been nothing more than a joke.

  She wore a green long-sleeved crop top that revealed part of her toned abdomen, tight black pants with triangular cuts along the sides, and black boots with golden details.

  Her body was strong, clearly trained — but there was something beyond strength that made her presence unsettling.

  Her mana was nonexistent.

  Not low. Not suppressed. Simply nonexistent.

  My [Analytical Perception] had detected nothing. I hadn’t felt her approach, not even the slightest hint of presence. Even now, I couldn’t sense anything from her. It was as if my senses simply slipped away from her.

  Still, something about her felt familiar.

  Shorter, but the features… the smile… reminded me of Zarabahad.

  Which could only mean one thing.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “You’re Niyx, aren’t you?”

  She stopped laughing. Her pink eyes fixed on me with genuine interest.

  “Yes. So you’ve heard of me already. Was it Zarabahad?” she asked, placing her arms behind her back in an almost casual posture.

  Zarabahad’s warning surfaced in my mind.

  She was dangerous.

  Dangerous was an understatement.

  My chest tightened in silent warning. Even without hostility, without exposed mana, without a direct threat, my body wanted to step away. The people around us stopped mattering; it felt as if the space had narrowed to only the two of us.

  “Are we there yet?”

  A small boy appeared behind her, holding onto her pants.

  Niyx turned slowly, and the smile she gave him was absurdly gentle.

  “Not yet, dear. Auntie ran into a relative, that’s all. Let’s go to your parents now.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “This boy got lost at the previous station. I’m taking him back to his parents.” She looked at me again, smiling softly. “Would you like to come with me? I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

  Looking forward.

  The word sounded strange.

  “S-sure.”

  She walked past me while holding the boy’s hand with almost exaggerated delicacy. The contrast between that softness and the instinctive danger she awakened in me was unsettling.

  ‘What is going on here…?’

  I had no reason to refuse — or rather, I felt I couldn’t.

  Still, I walked behind her, keeping my eyes fixed on her back.

  A small laugh escaped her lips.

  “You’re very guarded. That’s good. But tell me, Zarabahad didn’t speak well of me, did she?”

  “She didn’t speak well, but I wouldn’t say she spoke badly either.”

  “Fufu~ Whether they speak well or badly, they’re always talking about me somewhere. And I don’t even try that hard, but…” she looked at me over her shoulder. “I always leave a lasting impression on people.”

  “Hm. I suppose so. I’ve heard about you from two different people.”

  “Only two? I must be getting outdated then. I know who one of them was, but who was the other?”

  I didn’t want to talk about that near a child, so I decided to say only the name.

  “A man called Orion.”

  She turned forward.

  “Hm. Yes, I remember. Unfortunately, I was very young and ended up doing something terrible to him back then,” she said, slowing her pace until she walked beside me. “But I’ve changed a lot. I’m not the same person anymore.”

  I didn’t know if I could believe that. But I also had no proof to the contrary.

  She was being gentle with a child. Kind, even.

  She didn’t seem like the monster Orion had described.

  I was still scared, but I pushed that feeling aside.

  “So what did you come to Valoria for?”

  “I’ll be honest. I came here because of you.”

  “Because of me?”

  “That’s right. I wanted to meet the descendant of what was born from me. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

  Zarabahad had told me she would come after me.

  But I hadn’t expected it to be this soon.

  Near one of the streets, a couple stood talking with a guard. When Niyx released the boy’s hand, he immediately ran toward them.

  They embraced him with visible relief.

  "How did you find them?" I asked.

  "By their smell."

  After recovering from the shock, they thanked Niyx warmly, which seemed to leave her slightly embarrassed. When they left, we simply watched them go.

  “You’re not good with gratitude?”

  She coughed slightly, clearing her throat.

  “It’s not something I receive very often.”

  “Hm. I don’t know how to deal with it either.”

  A small laugh escaped her lips.

  “Anyway, you found me. So, what now? I don’t think you’re here just to spend time with your grandson, right, grandma?” I teased her, waiting to see her reaction.

  She immediately made a face, placing one hand on her forehead and the other on her waist.

  “Oh no, you picked that up from Zarabahad too? Honestly, ever since she started walking around with that man she’s become unbearable.” She leaned forward, raising a finger toward me. “I just want to observe you. But let’s make something clear — call me just Niyx.”

  ‘That man…?’

  Zarabahad had mentioned someone from another world.

  ‘Could it be the same person?’

  Niyx crossed her arms and rested a hand on her face, closing her eyes with theatrical appreciation. A blush spread across her cheeks and ears.

  “But if you insist so much, I’ll allow you to give me an affectionate nickname… as long as it has nothing to do with that family thing.”

  “So you’re going to observe me? Does that mean you’re staying around here, Niyx?”

  Her expression immediately shifted to mild disappointment.

  “You’re quite cruel for that, you know?”

  I tilted my head.

  “Hm?”

  ━━━━━━━━━?◆?━━━━━━━━━

  We walked through the city as the time for the fight approached, and Niyx didn’t seem like she intended to leave my side anytime soon.

  She looked around while we walked, observing people with a neutral expression that carried a faint hint of suspicion.

  “Look, I’m going to the adventurers’ guild. Can you enter there?”

  She turned her gaze to me.

  “I can go wherever I want. I’m undetectable. With my mana hidden, even recognition devices see me as human.” She ignored my surprised expression and continued. “But what are you going to do there?”

  “I became a Class A adventurer yesterday. Today I’m going to watch my friend’s test,” I said, clearing my throat. “You know, nowadays there's no problem with a Metamorph going in there; I was treated normally.”

  She placed a finger on her chin.

  “Hm. Strange. A few years ago there was. But regardless, I’d rather remain camouflaged. You should learn to do the same.”

  “That would actually be useful. How do you do it?”

  She smiled lightly.

  “Oh-ho~? Want to learn?”

  “I-is that possible?”

  “Of course. It’s the effect of an extra skill, so it can be taught.” She stepped closer, holding my hand as she stood in front of me. “I can teach you many things.”

  A shiver ran down my spine.

  Holding her hand, I could finally feel a trace of her mana — dense, dreadful, almost agonizing, reminiscent of what Orion must have felt when he stood near me, though on a completely different level.

  When I first met Zarabahad in the forest, I had felt something similar. But after Cirgo, I had grown enough to understand how strong she truly was.

  With Niyx, that didn’t happen.

  It was as if she existed on a completely different plane, one my mind couldn’t even begin to imagine. Wanting to be certain, I decided to risk asking.

  “Can you tell me your threat class?”

  She released my hand and returned to her relaxed posture, arms behind her back.

  “My class is (S).”

  For a moment, my mind simply stopped.

  That was no small thing. Far from it. Threat classes and guild classes were completely different matters.

  I remembered Pumpkin’s explanation about threat classes.

  For someone to be Class (A), the minimum requirement was forty thousand Mna — the combined measure of skills, mana, knowledge, and talent. Everything that defined a being and determined its value in the eyes of the world’s system.

  A Class (A+), like Pumpkin, would need to surpass one hundred thousand — something I still hadn’t reached.

  But this is where the real difference begins.

  Class (S) meant beings with at least one million Mna. According to Pumpkin, that would only place someone among the weakest of that class… yet Niyx didn’t seem to fit that description at all.

  'This woman isn’t just an ordinary monster. She’s the strongest creature I’ve seen so far…'

  The thought was terrifying.

  Creatures like Orion and Telos stopped at Class (A+). Even after being turned into monsters, they didn't get any better than that. With years of experience, most people barely reached Class (A).

  Niyx truly was—

  “What is it?”

  I shook my head, forcing myself back to reality and taking a deep breath to calm down.

  “It’s nothing. I’m still Class (A), but I’m close to (A+). I’m sure of it,” I said, forcing confidence into my voice.

  She simply smiled.

  There was no mockery in it, nor encouragement.

  “I’m sure you are.”

  She turned and took my hand again, pulling me along the street as if nothing had happened.

  “Then let’s go. I want to see your friend fight too.”

  “Right…”

  I followed her.

  ‘A monster…’

  ?????°???°?????