Chapter 4
I carefully dipped my hand into the seawater, witnessing the marvel of evolution as I watched the fish-like creatures swimming around.
The cold sensation. A quick taste revealed a salty flavor, not much different from the seawater I knew.
Hmm. I'd like to explore the sea more... but there's a limit to what I can see from above.
Should I go in? But how do I swim with this transformed body?
A dragon with such a sturdy lower body swimming... hmm... I'm not sure.
Well, I won't know unless I try. I carefully started to enter the sea.
The cold seawater wets my legs and tail. Not a bad feeling.
Ah, but won't my eyes sting if I open them in the sea? I'm a bit hesitant since I've never done it before.
Ugh... Oh well! Everything's a challenge! Surely a dragon won't die from falling into water! If I can fly in the sky with my wings, water shouldn't be much different!
So, I took a deep breath and plunged into the sea.
And surprisingly, I was completely free in the water.
I didn't need to hold my breath, there was no discomfort in opening my eyes, and I could move even more comfortably as I felt no weight at all.
Swimming was... easy enough that I could move forward just by moving my tail back and forth.
Well, I guess being a dragon means being extraordinary! I worried for nothing!!
I swam quickly through the sea, looking around.
A sea with seaweed and coral growing bit by bit. Although there weren't any proper fish yet, it had its own charm.
And I could see slimes gradually changing into fish-like shapes.
The slimes adapting to the environment were changing into various forms.
Some slimes into typical fish shapes. Some into oddly squid-like forms.
There were some changing into shapes like trilobites or shrimp, and others changing into bizarre forms like deep-sea fish.
I wonder how many of these slimes will survive? It was becoming quite interesting.
Come to think of it, the ones I released on land were changing to gain different attributes rather than different forms, but the slimes in the water seem somewhat different.
And so, I spent time traveling around the world, releasing slimes and observing their changes.
One day, two days, three days, four days. Time repeating as the sun rises and sets.
In that flowing time, the world changes little by little.
The sight of life spreading gradually from nothingness.
In such a scene, I found myself laughing without realizing it.
The world was changing so much due to my actions and choices, it made me feel like I had become an incredible being.
Well, being a dragon with god-like abilities is indeed incredible.
How many days, weeks, months have passed since I started observing these changes in life?
Another change was coming to this world.
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What is magical power?
The driving force for using magic.
A mysterious power spread widely throughout the world.
A grace bestowed upon this world by the gods.
The realization of the will to bring about change.
There are as many definitions of magical power as there are magicians, but this is what I think:
It's the blood flowing through the veins of this world's existence.
- Content of the first lecture in the basic class at the Kingdom's Magic School.
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At first, the change was so subtle I didn't notice, but as time passed, I could clearly tell.
The world's magical power was gradually becoming denser.
It was written in the message sent by the god, but what would happen due to this magical power... I couldn't quite predict.
Still, I suppose it's good to have a means I can use freely.
As I let out a small sigh, the magical power inside my body reacts, releasing a small breath.
Without any attribute conversion, it's just released as wind.
If I had desired some attribute while breathing out, it would have shown such a change.
I could breathe fire, lightning, cold air, even water.
That's what magical power was.
The power to realize what one desires. The power to bring about change by placing one's intentions and will upon magical power.
What changes this power would bring to the world... It was a minor thing that I felt half worried, half excited.
Unlike my situation, the slimes were still thriving splendidly today.
The slimes that flowed into the sea now had the appearance of various creatures.
Some began to appear with insect-like exteriors, having evolved hard shells, and some had completely taken on the form of fish.
However, those that underwent such evolution, perhaps because their bodies were no longer the simple bodies of slimes, required a lot of energy... that is, food, to maintain their bodies.
Well, it can't be helped. While they could live just by absorbing as slimes, fish have developed scales, the function to swallow and digest with their mouths, and the function to breathe with gills.
The required energy is vastly different.
Thanks to this, now I often see large fish swallowing smaller ones.
A scene of survival of the fittest. Is this also the flow of evolution?
In contrast, the slimes on land still hadn't strayed far from the category of slimes.
There were slimes that breathed fire or exhaled cold air, but it was hard to consider them as living beings.
Ah, but the rock-like slimes were somewhat fascinating.
Perhaps because it was difficult to move properly with their hard bodies, you could see some that had created small leg-like structures to move around.
The appearance of these rock slimes with legs strongly reminded me of golems.
They didn't have arms or heads yet! But anyway.
So I continued to travel around the world, observing the changes in life.
Perhaps due to the thickened magical power, I noticed that small anomalies were occurring in the world.
To be specific, strange natural phenomena began to appear.
"Hmm... How should I think about this?"
Incessant whirlwinds appeared between huge canyons, and giant whirlpools formed in parts of the sea.
As magical power circulated through the world, it was causing various phenomena.
No, if it were just that, I wouldn't call it an anomaly.
The biggest problem was.
"Ah... Ahhh..."
The problem was that these phenomena were beginning to show a tiny bit of intelligence.
I let out a small sigh as I looked at the whirlwind in front of me.
It's quite a strong whirlwind, but still not strong enough to move my body.
A faint voice can be heard from within it.
"Ahhh..."
The voice of an intelligence not yet properly defined.
Something was emerging in a world where I had been the only being capable of thought.
It wouldn't be difficult to destroy this phenomenon. I could easily destroy it by breathing out magical power.
But I didn't want to do that.
I didn't want to destroy the beings this world had given birth to.
So I spoke.
"What is your name?"
"Ah... I... I am..."
"Yes. Your name is."
"I am... who...?"
However, the newly born intelligence couldn't define itself.
Well, how could it know, being an existence like a blank sheet of paper?
Therefore, I should give it a name here.
A giant whirlwind. Shall I name it after a wind spirit?
"I'll give you a name. Sylphid. That will be your name from now on."
"Syl... phid...?"
"Yes. Sylphid."
A name synonymous with the king of wind spirits. As I gave it this name, the whirlwind began to move differently.
The wind that had been constantly swirling now gradually approached me.
"I am... Sylphid... Sylphid...!"
"Yes. You are Sylphid."
"Sylphid!!!"
The whirlwind was extremely happy. So much so that I could feel its joy even from a distance.
Simply put, the wind was becoming incredibly strong.
"Name! Happy!!!"
"I'm glad you're happy. Well then, I have business elsewhere, so I'll be going."
"Yes! Name! Thank you!!!"
Leaving behind the whirlwind writhing in joy, I flew off to another place.
Whether due to changes caused by magical power, there were quite a few phenomena where self-awareness was beginning to sprout.
In the never-extinguishing flame that bloomed from a volcano.
In the giant whirlpool formed in the sea.
On the highest mountain in the world.
In the tree that had grown as large as a mountain due to magical power.
In the darkness where not a single ray of light enters.
In the light of the white night where the sun never sets.
Natural phenomena with self-awareness were emerging.
By the way, it's interesting that none of their attributes overlap.
As if someone had intended it...
Wait, do I have to name all these natural phenomena? Me?
Ugh... My naming sense isn't very good. This is troublesome.