I am mimicking and projecting a brilliant golden Art. Specifically, the healing aspect, befitting the name of protection.
Colliding and breaking doesn't naturally make a human body sturdier, but this is Terra, not Earth. It is a world where common sense is fundamentally different.
By the time Yujin passed his childhood and approached adulthood, he realized that his starting line was entirely different from those born on Terra. Even a bow used by an ordinary citizen required so much draw weight that Yujin couldn't pull it without using his Arts.
This applied to every piece of equipment. As he grew, he felt himself hitting a wall. Without Arts, Yujin‘s raw physical strength was actually lower than even Theresa‘s.
Buldrokk had remarked that while Yujin‘s ability to manipulate Arts had reached an absurd, near-divine peak, the physical frame housing that power felt like it was made of "cardboard." To anyone else's eyes, Yujin‘s physical stats seemed unnaturally fragile.
"…Sigh."
His mind drifted toward the ocean, where the sky met the horizon. Nominally, it was for training, but he had never experienced a hardship quite like that trip. He had endured many trials since his childhood in this world, but that one stood alone.
Shards of submerged memories began to surface.
"I have one question."
From the rattling car, a vast ocean stretched beyond the window. The blue expanse reaching the horizon was a magnificent sight in its own right.
"Did we really have to come all the way to the sea for training? How long have we been driving from Kazdel?"
"When I gave you the choice between Sami or Iberia, you were the one who chose Iberia," Buldrokk replied.
"Freezing to death or drowning to death—the result's the same either way."
Buldrokk gripped the steering wheel with a stoic expression. Yujin didn't know why Buldrokk had narrowed the choices down to those two countries, but he could guess. He knew the reason for Sami—it was where the most dangerous "things" existed.
But he wasn't as sure about Iberia. He had heard it was a powerful nation enjoying its "Golden Age." The dominant race there were the Liberi. Bolstered by their prosperity and advanced technology, the Liberi were said to possess an immense sense of national pride.
"…Whew."
As Yujin mentioned these things, Buldrokk‘s expression soured. He looked like someone watching a group of people celebrate while being completely oblivious to an approaching catastrophe.
"I see the Master hasn't shared certain stories with you yet," Buldrokk noted.
"Like what?"
Yujin countered the question, but Buldrokk just stared out at the sea. To the Wendigo, the ocean seemed less like a landscape and more like a brewing disaster.
"Forget it. Since the Master gave his permission, he must have judged that you needed to know. You'll find out soon enough through the training."
They arrived at a shack situated right on the beach. Beyond the building lay the open sea; inside, the shack was surprisingly clean and well-maintained.
"Oh, how did you get a place like this?"
"I stayed here long ago during my own training. I had several such spots. I didn't expect it to be this well-kept, though."
There wasn't a speck of dust inside. Yujin and Buldrokk unpacked their gear in the silent cabin.
"To think I‘d return to this soil..."
Buldrokk‘s voice was laced with a deep, visceral loathing. It was rare to see him show such emotion; it was the first time Yujin had seen him react so sensitively to a location.
"Shall we start immediately?"
"Why not take a day to rest?"
"No time. I'm busy."
Buldrokk watched Yujin with concern as the boy declared his intent to start immediately. Yujin had already spent a long time enduring Netsalem‘s Decay, but this was a different league of danger entirely. He could actually die.
Buldrokk explained the objective while staring out at the water. Yujin had to enter the sea. Somewhere beneath the waves, the Master and Buldrokk had hidden four items. Yujin‘s task was to find them and return to the shore. That would signal the end of this trial.
"Can you do it?"
"Sounds simple enough. It's not like I have bad eyes."
Buldrokk felt a surge of anxiety as Yujin pointed to his own eyes. Beneath the surface, Yujin's pride and joy—his sight—would likely be useless.
"Ready! Let's go!"
With a cheerful shout, Yujin dove headfirst into the waves.
He had heard the explanation. However, the geography here was unique. Yujin wasn't entering an ordinary sea; he was diving into a deep-sea trench. And there were many details Buldrokk had conveniently left out of the briefing.
Could Yujin, diving without a single piece of equipment and relying solely on his Arts, endure the crushing depths? Buldrokk watched the water with unease as the boy vanished into the dark.
'…Son of a—'
Ten minutes into the dive. Yujin curled his body into a ball, cursing internally.
A 'normal' sea, my foot. You lying deer skeleton.
There was nothing normal about this place. Yujin debated exactly how he was going to dismantle Buldrokk once he got back to shore, but for now, he was helpless. He had imagined a beautiful marine environment; instead, he had found a nightmare.
The water was heavy. Not as a metaphor—literally. It didn't feel like being submerged in water; it felt like being drowned in a viscous, sticky liquid that clung to his skin like iron chains.
He was mimicking the Aegir Arts to maintain his breath, but the further he descended, the harder it became. It felt like climbing a mountain where the oxygen grew thinner and thinner.
'…Damn. How am I even supposed to get back up? If I die here, they‘ll never even find the body.'
The water was so heavy that instead of naturally floating, he was being dragged down. Usually, you have to fight to descend; here, even when he remained motionless, the depths greedily pulled at him.
'Haa...'
He looked up. The sunlight was a fading, distant memory. Dark, suffocating shadows were beginning to wrap around him.
How deep was he? He had lost his sense of time and depth. Part of him wanted to call it off—he had multiple chances, after all. He didn't have to succeed in one go.
Yet, Yujin was curious. What could possibly be down here to make the environment so hostile?
The deeper he went, the more he was forced to concentrate his Arts to keep his body from collapsing and to conserve his internal energy. The chilling temperature was already trying to sap his heat, and the strain of breathing through Arts was mounting.
He curled his body further, making himself as small as a shrimp to minimize his surface area. It was a desperate survival tactic, fueled by a mental monologue of every swear word he knew for Buldrokk. The oppressive weight was suffocating.
He couldn't tell how much longer he had to go, but he finally sensed the target. The Master and Buldrokk had left a trace of their own Arts on the items. He could feel the faint signal through the pressure.
Buldrokk, you bastard...
If he had known it was like this, he would have prepared properly. Better gear, different clothes. He had assumed it was just a swim. It reminded him of his early training with Netsalem's Decay—the feeling was similar, though this was even more repulsive.
Eventually, the last sliver of light vanished. Absolute, pitch-black darkness enveloped him. His eyes, which he relied on so much, were now useless. The water pressure began to feel like a giant's hands squeezing his entire frame from every direction. He had to flare his Arts just to keep his bones from shattering.
'…Is this really training?'
It felt more like an execution method. If you hated someone, you could just tie weights to their feet and drop them here.
Yeah. Buldrokk. I‘m definitely dropping Buldrokk in here.
Amidst his spiteful thoughts, Yujin‘s eyes suddenly snapped wide open.
In the crushing, absolute darkness of the abyss... there was something else.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
Larin‘s voice pulled Yujin from his memories. He looked away from the sky and back to her.
"…Just an old memory. One of those things where, even if you paid me a fortune, I‘d never do it again."
"You have memories like that too?"
"Plenty. I wasn't always this strong, you know."
Yujin reached out and toyed with a lock of Larin‘s hair. Its pale indigo shade reminded him of the deep sea.
"What about the attackers?" he asked.
He had left the disposal of the people who targeted Larin to the butler, but he figured the interrogation should be wrapping up by now.
"The results are in. It was as you suspected..."
It wasn't the Confessarii.
Which meant...
"They really are desperate to win, aren't they?"
It was the Ingra family.
Yujin clicked his tongue and stood up from his chair. This was no time for nostalgia. He had to focus on the present and keep moving forward. Larin followed him silently as he headed back inside.
'Ah, that reminds me...'
The abyss hadn't been all bad. There was one person down there—one "good" memory.
'I wonder how Mla is doing.'
With that final thought, Yujin closed the chapter on his past and walked down the hallway.
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