Chapter 1
‘Where… am I?’
It whispered, belatedly coming to its senses.
Its head felt like it was about to split, and it had no strength in its body.
Its memories and consciousness kept coming and going.
For a while, it stared blankly into space. Then, barely coming to its senses, it forcibly rummaged through fragments of memory scattered like shards of broken glass.
Only after looking through the fragments it had gathered one by one did it realize what had happened to it.
At the same time, it couldn't hide its astonishment.
‘I’m… alive?’
At the fact that it was alive.
Though it had done no more than gather and examine the fragments of its shattered memories, it was still able to learn a great deal.
That it had loved the sea—and the deep sea—since childhood.
That it had become a deep-sea researcher because of that, and that before losing consciousness, it had been descending into the deep sea in a specially designed submersible.
Then, by chance, it had discovered an enormous rift, and the gigantic eye looking at it from beyond.
What on earth had it been thinking? Or had it been bewitched by that enormous eye?
It had been swept up by an obsession with obtaining a sample, recklessly touched the eye, and passed out.
It simply couldn't understand why it had done what it did in its memories.
What had possessed it to touch that eye?
It knew full well that in the deep sea, even a single trivial mistake could be fatal.
Had that eye really bewitched it?
No matter how hard it thought, it simply couldn't remember why it had done such a thing.
And so, it changed its train of thought.
Still.
‘At least I somehow survived…!’
Even if there had been an accident it hadn't intended, at least it was alive. What more could it ask for?
It rejoiced at that fact for only a moment before realizing that something was wrong.
It couldn't feel its hands.
No, it wasn't just its hands.
It couldn't feel its feet, either. As if they didn't exist.
It couldn't smell a thing or hear a sound.
It couldn't see, either.
At first, it had thought this was because it had suffered an impact strong enough to knock it unconscious, but now that it had come to its senses, there were too many strange things.
Where was this?
Was it really inside the submersible?
I can't see anything. I can't hear anything. I can't feel anything.
Am I… really alive?
A sudden fear welled up.
Its mind was in a panic, and it couldn't think straight.
Maybe it was already dead.
Was this pitch-black space the afterlife?
It was confused. Afraid. Terrified. Desperate.
What if it really was dead?
It still had tons of debt to pay off.
No, if it was dead, maybe it didn't have to worry about the debt.
Come to think of it, it had been so obsessed with the deep sea that it hadn't even dated anyone, let alone gotten married. If it had known it would die so pointlessly, maybe it should've at least tried dating.
Perhaps because it was caught up in panic, all sorts of thoughts came and went in its mind.
【■■■■ System Download Complete.】
【■■■■ System Activating.】
What? What is this now?
A system? What kind of system? No, more importantly—
Am I not dead? Am I… still alive?
In the midst of its panic, a system window appeared before its eyes, and it barely managed to come to its senses.
At the same time, various system windows appeared in a rapid flurry.
【Entity Information】
Name: Nereia
Age: ???
Species: Deep-Sea Unicellular Larva
Classification: Mutant
Sex: None
Growth Stage: Larva
Threat Level: Unmeasurable
【Biological Information】
Vitality: Extremely Low
Mana: 0.003
Body Size: 0.7 mm
Environmental Adaptation: Deep Sea
Predation Rank: Lowest
【Traits】
[Pressure Resistance]
- Can withstand the high pressure of the deep sea.
[Mana Sensitivity]
- Can detect trace amounts of mana in its surroundings.
[Primitive Digestive System]
- Breaks down consumed organic matter and uses it for growth.
【Unique Traits】
[Mutative Evolution]
- Evolves into a new form upon meeting certain conditions.
[Trait Predation]
- When it preys on a living creature, it has a low chance of acquiring one of its traits.
【Evolution Requirements】
Next Evolution: ???
Requirements not met.
Starting with entity information and biological information, then traits, unique traits, and even evolution requirements—there were all sorts of things it couldn't understand.
Faced with a situation that felt just like looking at system windows in a game, it—no, Nereia—was flustered.
What on earth…
‘What happened to me?’
* * *
So...
‘To sum it up, I’m already dead, and I was reborn as a deep-sea unicellular larva? And the place I’m in now isn’t the afterlife or something, but the deep sea? That…’
Does that make sense?
Nereia let out a hollow laugh at how absurd the situation was.
Still, no matter how it looked at it, this was the only way to explain the situation.
‘This isn’t some novel.’
But.
‘I can’t just ignore it when it keeps popping up.’
Entity information. Biological information. Traits and unique traits. Evolution requirements and even special notes.
Nereia simply couldn't ignore the message windows that appeared before its eyes whenever it called them up in its mind.
That wasn't all.
‘Was it called Mana Sensitivity?’
Remembering one of the three traits listed under its traits, Nereia looked around.
When it had first opened its eyes, all it had found was darkness, without a single speck of light, just as befitted the deep-sea environment.
But now, things were different.
Glimmers of light could be seen all over the otherwise pitch-black deep sea.
Those lights were probably mana.
According to the description, Mana Sensitivity allowed it to detect mana in its surroundings.
It hadn't expected that to make the mana visible like this, though…
‘Kgh-!’
Just as Nereia was struggling to accept this situation, which was so hard to take in, it suddenly groaned.
A horrible hunger surged in along with the pain.
At the same time.
【Hunger level has reached 93%.】
【You might die if you don't eat something?】
A message window appeared before its eyes.
Unlike the ones it had seen before, this message window was red, perhaps to indicate that it was in danger.
Urgency colored Nereia's expression.
Even without the message window floating before its eyes, it could tell instinctively.
If it didn't eat something right now, it would die.
Die. Die? I’m going to die?
Like this, pointlessly? And of starvation?
No. I can't die like this. I don't want to die so pointlessly.
Nereia, overwhelmed by the horrible hunger and pain and the fear that it might die, moved.
Despite having lived its whole life as a human, Nereia could naturally move its newly acquired body, that of a ‘deep-sea unicellular larva.’
It had no idea how that was possible, but it had no time to think about it now.
It had to eat something immediately.
But what should it eat?
According to the biological information it had seen earlier, it was only 0.7 mm in size.
It was too small to hunt and eat anything, even outside the deep sea.
Of course, it didn't have to eat other deep-sea predators, like deep-sea fish or giant squid.
Whether based on the system windows appearing before its eyes or on biology…
It didn't need to eat anything specific.
Literally, all it had to do was fill its stomach.
The problem was—
‘There’s nothing to eat around here.’
Nereia muttered, frantically looking around.
This was the deep sea.
It didn't know how deep it was, but unlike the ocean above, there wasn't even any seaweed or the like.
The even bigger problem was—
‘The problem is, there’s nothing here worth risking my life to hunt.’
Deep-sea fish. Giant squid. Even horseshoe crabs or deep-sea jellyfish.
No matter how much it looked around, it couldn't find any deep-sea creatures.
In other words, there wasn't even a deep-sea creature it could risk its life charging at like a lunatic and take a bite out of like a cookiecutter shark.
It was dangerous.
At this rate, it really might die.
No. I don't want to die.
I don't want to die like this again.
Dying because of the stupid things I did as a human wasn't enough; now I was going to starve to death like this?
No way. Food. I need food.
I need food right now…
‘Ah…!’
Nereia, frantically looking around, let out a low rumble.
It was there. Food.
And there was plenty of it, so much that no one would notice if it ate a little.
‘Those weren’t mana. They were all deep-sea unicellular larvae like me.’
What Nereia had found were the glimmering lights in this place, at the bottom of the deep sea where not a speck of light existed.
At first, it had thought they were simply mana dissolved into the deep sea, but that wasn't the case.
Those things it had thought were mana weren't mana itself, but deep-sea unicellular larvae like itself.
And the reason they looked like glimmering lights was the mana they possessed, which it could see through Mana Sensitivity.
So.
‘Let’s eat-!’
No sooner had Nereia realized they were deep-sea unicellular larvae like itself than it lunged at them like a mad thing.
To escape this horrible hunger.
And to avoid the horrible death of starvation.