Chapter 10
Kang Nari.
The first time, she was drunk.
The second time, she gave me spending money.
The third time, we met while drawing mana stones.
We’d met three times without even knowing who the other was, and had built up a friendly relationship.
We knew each other’s names.
We’d even shared the early-morning hours.
So a phone call should be fine, right?
Since she worked as a mana stone dealer, maybe I could have her appraise mine.
That’s why I called, but…
“Ugh… Who is this…….”
Her voice through the phone sounded groggy and irritated.
‘Huh? What?’
I flinched a little.
She’d seemed bright and cheerful, but her voice on the phone was full of irritation.
So I answered timidly.
“Big Sis Nari?….”
“Hm?… Is that you, Yeoul?”
“Yes.”
“Gasp! What is it this late at night?”
“Ah.”
I looked up and glanced out the window.
Sure enough.
The clock showed four in the morning.
The dark view outside was hidden by the curtains.
It was dawn.
I’d just come out of Yeoulrim, so I’d completely lost track of time.
“I’m sorry!! I didn’t realize it was so late!!”
The moment I realized my mistake, I apologized.
No wonder her voice sounded groggy.
Even I would’ve been furious if someone called me in the middle of a good night’s sleep.
“Huh? You didn’t realize it was dawn?”
“Well….”
“It’s fine~ Just say it. You wanted to hear your big sis’s voice.”
“Y-yes.”
Heh.
I heard the distinctive breathy sound she made when she laughed through the phone.
Had she already gotten over being angry?
If it were me, I’d have stayed annoyed for at least another thirty seconds.
“But how did you get my number?”
“I looked at the phone number on your business card.”
“Oh, I see. Then why are you calling this late… Wait, are you in danger!?”
“No.”
“Phew~ That’s a relief. Then why did you call?”
“I-I wanted to hear your voice.”
“Pfft! I won’t get mad, so tell me. Were you bored and called to ask me to keep you company? I can keep you company for a bit, Yeoul.”
“Even at this hour?”
“It was dawn last time, too.”
I could hear the consideration in her voice.
I pictured Nari with wings.
There was no other explanation. Instead of scolding me, she was trying to help.
At this point, I couldn’t avoid bringing up why I’d called.
“Actually, I carved a mana stone, but I don’t know if I did a good job.”
“A mana stone?”
“Could you take a look and evaluate it?”
“Eeh… You carved a mana stone?”
“Yes.”
"W-wow! That’s amazing!~ Even your big sis can’t carve mana stones. How in the world did you do it~”
I could hear her uncertainty in her reaction.
It felt like she was trying hard to praise me so I wouldn’t feel discouraged.
I guess it really was hard to believe.
Good grief.
I definitely carved it, but I couldn’t confidently say I’d done a good job when I didn’t know.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to. I wasn’t expecting much, either.”
“N-no! I’m sure you carved it beautifully, Yeoul. I’ll come take a look!”
“Really?”
“Of course~ Absolutely. Should I come now?”
“You can come now?”
“Well… I’m unemployed, so I can.”
Surprisingly, she readily agreed.
When I gave her my address and told her I was home alone, she said she’d get ready and come right away.
“Then I’ll see you soon.”
“Sure, sure.”
Then we hung up.
It was my first time inviting a woman over, so I was a little nervous, but…
“Maybe I should clean up.”
Oh, well.
As long as the place was clean, it should be fine.
*
“Big sis is here~”
“Come on in.”
Nari came to my place in less than two hours. She had a bag in her hand, and I could see drinks and snacks inside.
“You live closer than I thought.”
“It took you two hours to get here, and that’s close?”
“Sure~ When Yeoul grows up, it’ll take you an hour or two at least to get anywhere, too.”
“Hmm….”
We chatted as I let her into the house.
No need to drag this out.
We sat side by side at the table, chatted briefly, then I showed her the mana stones right away.
“You carved these yourself??”
“Yes.”
She reacted with considerable surprise.
Eyes wide, she picked up one of the mana stones and examined it from every angle.
“Isn’t this one of the mana stones we won together last time?”
“Yes.”
“You really carved it yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Your parents didn’t carve it?”
“I told you, I don’t have any.”
“Ah….”
Nari paused for a moment, then cleared her throat.
I can’t believe it.
It looks convincing,
she said, running her fingers over the mana stone for a while before looking at me again.
“How did you carve it? Mana stone processing isn’t easy unless you’re experienced.”
“I have my own secret method.”
“A secret method?”
“More importantly, what do you think of the mana stones? Are they worth anything?”
She was a mana stone dealer.
She’d probably already have a rough estimate, so I asked directly how much they were worth.
“Well. They don’t shine much, and they’re a little translucent, so they seem a bit different from the mana stones I’m familiar with….”
“Are they bad?”
“N-not bad! Just unusual!”
“You can be honest.”
“Still, getting them into a crystalline form on your first try is amazing, isn’t it?”
“So they’re bad.”
“N-no! They might actually be amazing.”
“You don’t have to make things up.”
“That’s not it. I just don’t know enough, either. We’ll have to get an expert to appraise them to know for sure. I’m not very knowledgeable.”
“Oh.”
I guess they weren’t very good after all.
She was trying to put it nicely, but her expression made it obvious she didn’t think much of them.
She probably thought it was just a kid’s game.
Of course, there was still hope.
Kang Nari was a mana stone dealer, but she wasn’t an appraiser. To know their exact value, I’d have to get them evaluated by an expert.
As it happened, Nari offered to take care of that, too.
“Want me to get them appraised?”
“Could you do that?”
“It’s no trouble.”
“Then I’ll give you this mana stone as a gift.”
“Oh? Are you sure?”
“And there’ll be an appraisal fee, so please take this money, too.”
“Money?… No, it’s fine. This is plenty. Just knowing how you feel is enough to make your big sis happy.”
“Eh, that can’t be true.”
“It is~”
Was she really offering to get them appraised for free?
Such a troublesome task, without asking for anything in return?
Seriously, was she an angel…? If I let her leave without giving her anything, I’d be the one feeling bad.
I couldn’t help it.
“Take these five mana stones.”
“Hm? This many?”
I handed her five mana stones.
Giving her goods like this should be okay.
Gifts or gift certificates were less burdensome than straight-up money, after all.
The problem was what came next.
An uncomfortable topic began.
“But Yeoul. Do you really live alone?”
“Yes.”
“Do you make your own meals, too?”
“Yes.”
“And you pay the rent yourself?….”
“Yes.”
“H-how?”
“I’m pretty smart. I know how to keep myself fed.”
“What on earth does that mean….”
“It means you don’t need to worry. I’m more worried about you worrying about me.”
“I can’t believe it. You’re so mature at such a young age… All right, I’ll come visit you often from now on.”
“Huh?”
Did she feel sorry for me?
Since she didn’t know I was an adult, she seemed to have steeled herself with a strangely solemn resolve.
Maybe that wasn’t so bad.
She did seem easy to be around.
“Then I’ll let you know when I get the appraisal results. It might take a few days, so keep that in mind.”
“Thank you.”
We chatted a little more, then said goodbye.
Since she’d contact me when the appraisal results came in, all I had to do was wait without worrying.
Heh.
This isn’t so bad after all.
Having someone over and talking.
*
Fwoosh!~
After Kang Nari left,
I connected to Yeoulrim again.
To make mana stones, I needed World Power, and I probably needed faith to gather World Power.
And to gather faith, I had to develop Yeoulrim… but that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
“Haa… All those stories about the Creator molding life into existence with their own hands must be lies.”
I must have accelerated time in Yeoulrim for about three months.
I’d grown Little Squirmy to the size of my finger, but I couldn’t make any more progress from there.
There were too many things to consider.
Where tissues formed.
Tissues serving a different purpose than intended.
Unexpected mutations.
Possible side effects between tissues.
The single-celled stage had been easy, but the multicellular stage had far too many variables.
There were more differences from the game than I’d expected, making it hard to interfere carelessly, and it didn’t always evolve the way I wanted it to, unlike in the game.
In the game, I would’ve finished this ages ago.
Reality really was different.
“What should I do?”
The ways things could go wrong kept increasing.
I needed a contingency plan in case it evolved incorrectly.
It would’ve been fine if I could remove and attach tissues like in the game, but this wasn’t a game.
I could undo a mistake, but that would consume a lot of World Power.
I needed to think of a solution in advance.
Wasn’t there a good way?
“I don’t have to fixate on just one individual.”
Maybe I thought about it for ten minutes.
I came up with a decent solution.
Evolution was originally the product of countless lives failing and dying.
“I just need to evolve other individuals, too!”
Quantity.
I could raise several of them.
The children Little Squirmy had worked so hard to produce were already active somewhere in the sea.
I could evolve them first, carefully observe the successful ones, then improve Little Squirmy and evolve it, too.
“In other words, I need to have a backup plan so the one I invest everything in doesn’t fail.”
I hadn’t thought of that because I could only watch one individual in the game, but I could deal with it by making use of the greater freedom I had now.
I should’ve done this from the start.
[Inducing a mutation in the individual.]
[The individual’s evolution is in progress.]
After that, I induced mutations in many individuals.
Mutations normally took place over countless ages, but…
[Accelerating time.]
[The individual has developed the trait of body separation.]
[The individual has formed a mana-devouring organ.]
[The individual has evolved, replacing cellular nutrient supply with a mana circuit.]
I didn’t have to worry about that.
By combining World Power with time acceleration appropriately, I could essentially evolve them every generation.
Thanks to that, I was able to obtain useful traits like mana-devouring.
And the good thing about this was…
[This individual has become your vassal.]
[It becomes easier to induce this individual’s traits in others at low cost. Inducing a mana-devouring organ in your vassal, Little Squirmy.]
[90pt of World Power has been consumed.]
It became easier to induce traits.
It felt like I’d unlocked a skill.
I evolved many individuals to gain traits, then shared the useful ones with others.
Accelerate, accelerate, accelerate.
The moon rose.
The sun rose.
Over and over.
Their bodies were growing more complex, slowing their evolution, but that didn’t matter.
Another year passed in Yeoulrim,
“Look at you! You’ve grown into a proper fish.”
About the size of my fist.
Little Squirmy had evolved to the point where I could truly call it a fish now.