Chapter 72

Mei fished Adam out of the ocean and helped him back onto the dragon, which had immediately fallen asleep again after waking up and roaring at the sky as if it were trying to defy some heavenly being or another equally dramatic force.

She spent several minutes explaining everything that had happened after he fainted. Then, almost as if the system had been waiting for her to finish, a victory notification appeared between them, accompanied by several level-ups and stat increases.

Before reading through the notifications, Adam glanced wryly at the sleeping dragon beneath them.

“You sure this thing isn't going to wake up again?” he asked. “And if it does, you don't think it'll suddenly get hungry for a couple of humans, do you?”

Mei shrugged, barely paying attention. She was too busy scrolling through the system messages.

Adam shook his head. There was no point worrying about a problem until it actually happened. He turned his attention back to the notifications and read them alongside her.

Battle Complete - Victory!

99 Treasure Guardians Defeated

1 Treasure Warden Defeated

1 Sea Monkey (Legendary BOSS) Defeated

A massive amount of XP awarded

Level Up!

Player Adam Colt Lv. 65 → 70

Player Mei Mori Lv. 65 → 70

Stat Up!

Player Adam Colt - Magic B → A

Player Mei Mori - Luck A → S

Adam blinked.

Mei blinked.

The dragon, which had woken up a second later, blinked as well.

For a few moments, all three of them simply stared at the notifications in disbelief.

They were so distracted by their stat increases that neither Adam nor Mei noticed the dragon had stopped snoring and quietly awakened.

At least this time, it didn't roar and send them flying off its snout.

“I'm pissed,” Mei said with an annoyed huff.

“About what?”

“Our stats.” She pointed at the notification. “They're going to get reset after the tutorial.”

“Well…” Adam tapped his chin, thinking for a moment. “Look at it this way. We'll already know what it feels like to have high stats. That means we'll be more familiar with our abilities than people who have never experienced them before.”

He shrugged.

“Plus, we get to keep all the items we obtained from the high-level bosses in the tutorial. That's another advantage most people won't have.”

The dragon nodded, causing their seats to shake precariously.

“Sound advice,” it said in its strangely high-pitched voice.

Adam couldn't help but think the dragon would make an excellent falsetto singer.

“You aren't about to fall asleep again, are you?” Mei asked.

“No, I…”

Before the dragon could finish speaking, a strange pressure suddenly descended upon all three of them.

The ocean below them went completely still as the clouds above twisted together, forming a massive vortex like a hurricane being born in the sky.

“A storm?” Adam muttered.

“But those aren't storm clouds,” Mei said suspiciously.

The dragon began trembling violently beneath them, shaking so hard that Adam and Mei nearly slipped off its snout.

It was clearly afraid.

But of what, they had no idea.

...Aside from the possibility of a hurricane. But what kind of sea dragon was afraid of a storm?

Then the clouds split apart.

A gigantic human hand formed from the swirling mass above them. It was so realistic that they could see the details of its palm and fingerprints, though each fingerprint was less like a line and more like a continuous chain of mountain ranges stretching across the sky.

The cloud-formed hand descended directly toward them.

However, it was so enormous that it was impossible to tell whether it was reaching for them specifically or simply reaching into the ocean to scoop up a handful of water.

Then a booming voice echoed across the entire sea.

“Divine beings are not allowed!”

Adam shivered for a moment, thinking the hand had come for him.

Then he remembered.

He no longer had access to divinity.

Mei realized the truth a moment before he did. She turned toward the dragon.

“You're a divine being?”

The dragon slowly nodded.

“Thanks to you.”

Only then did they notice the change.

The dragon's name, which had previously been Lesser Sea Dragon, had transformed into:

Blessed Sea Dragon, Rainbow - (Minor Sea Deity) Lv. 203

“Your name is Rainbow?” Mei asked, tilting her head.

The dragon blinked.

“...Yes.”

“Oh, makes sense.”

She nodded as if that completely explained everything.

Rainbow stared at her for a moment but seemed to accept the answer.

Its appearance had changed dramatically as well. Its previous black scales, darker than the deepest ocean trench, were gone. In their place were luminous white scales with faint golden undertones. Every movement caused reflections of rainbow-colored light to dance across its body, as if the surrounding ocean itself was being reflected upon its scales.

For a creature that had once been nothing more than a Lesser Sea Dragon, it had become something entirely different.

A dragon touched by divinity.

WhenOrangePigsFly: That’s a very big hand.

SeeCuteGirl-iClick: Is it another giant, like Ymir?

While the chat speculated about who or what the hand belonged to, it had already descended to within several dozen feet of the sea.

Two fingers, its thumb and index finger, extended from the enormous hand as it reached toward them in a pinching gesture.

Gojira: That’s the tutorial’s governing system. It’s in place to keep balance.

Before Adam or Mei could even react, the cloud-formed hand pinched the dragon between its fingers and lifted it into the sky.

Unfortunately, Adam and Mei were still sitting on its snout.

They were dragged upward with it for several dozen feet before the sudden change in elevation forced them to leap off and plunge back into the ocean. Adam hit the water first, followed closely by Mei, and the two surfaced a moment later, sputtering as they looked up at the dragon being carried away.

Before they jumped, however, they had noticed something else in the distance.

A massive ship crafted from the skeleton of a Sea Titan was gliding across the ocean toward them.

It seemed Titan’s Grave had finally caught up.

While treading water, Mei wanted to ask the chat about the massive hand made from clouds and how it had casually pinched the dragon between its fingers like a worm. However, when she glanced toward the chat, she realized the livestream had ended at some point without either of them noticing.

“I saw someone say something about that hand being the system aligning the balance, or something like that,” Adam said, still staring upward. “That probably would have been me if I’d chosen to keep my divinities.”

Rainbow was pulled higher and higher into the sky until his enormous body became nothing more than a tiny, iridescent glimmer against the clouds.

A moment later, even that disappeared.

It was almost like watching a certain team blast off after attempting to steal a yellow mouse.

“Think we'll see him again?” Mei asked.

Adam tried shrugging while staying afloat, which was considerably harder than it sounded.

“Who knows?”

Mei stared at him for several seconds.

“What?” Adam asked.

“I'm checking to see if you have any gray hairs.”

“...What?”

“You know, because you used your lifespan to fight earlier. Shouldn't you get gray hairs afterward?” Mei asked. “That happens in anime and stuff.”

“It was just a little over a year.” Adam sighed. “Just imagine I'm a year older now.”

“Should I call you unc from now on?”

He rolled his eyes.

“No.”

“What about Onii-chan?”

“Ew.” Adam recoiled slightly. “No. Why would you call me that?”

Mei shrugged. “Some guys like it.”

“What kind of guy? Those oh-tacos or whatever they're called?”

“Otakus.”

“Yeah, those.”

“Probably.”

Adam clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Before they could continue their conversation, a massive shadow suddenly passed over them, casting both of them into darkness.

For a moment, Adam and Mei thought the cloud-formed hand had returned.

Then they looked up.

Titan’s Grave had finally arrived.

The massive skeletal ship had come to a stop several hundred feet away, its Sea Titan bones rising from the ocean like an ancient undead sea monster that had somehow been turned into a ship.

The two of them swam closer to the ship.

A large, deep-blue orc wearing a pirate hat leaned over the railing and spotted them below.

“Need a lift?!” Gracie shouted in his booming voice, the sound carrying for miles across the otherwise empty ocean.

A very, very long rope ladder was thrown over the side of the ship. It unfurled toward the water, splashing down just in front of their faces.

Adam reached for the ladder, then gestured for Mei to go first.

He didn't have any ulterior motives. He simply wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to enjoy the view from below as Mei climbed, her muscles flexing beneath the fabric of her tight jeans with every step.

Mei glanced down over her shoulder and caught him staring.

“I was going to stare at your butt too, you know.”

“I know,” Adam said with a laugh. “That's why I had you go first. Because I know for a fact you wouldn't have settled for just staring. There would've been plenty of groping.”

Mei opened her mouth as if she intended to argue. After thinking about it for a moment, however, she simply nodded.

“That's true. I would've done that. One hundred percent.”

Adam grinned and started climbing after her.

“See, this is why I like you.”

“That I grope you?”

“...No.” Adam sighed. “That you aren't afraid to admit exactly what you want or hide who you are.”

“Oh.”

Mei paused for a moment before continuing up the ladder.

“I like your toned abs and strong arms. Your big… hands are nice too. But your handsome face is the thing I like most.”

Adam stared at her blankly.

There was absolutely no hesitation in the way she'd said it. She had simply listed off everything she liked about him as though she were reviewing items on a menu.

Mei giggled to herself and continued climbing.

“Thanks for coming to save me,” she said without glancing back.

Adam chuckled as he followed her upward.

“You're welcome. Just try not to get swallowed by an overgrown sea monkey again.”