The water-colored fins spread out long and graceful like a veil fluttering in the breeze. They wrapped around her in layers like a blooming flower. The glimmering scales were the color of the daytime sea, and her round, open eyes were the color of the night sea. A tiny mermaid made entirely of water crouched, shyly shrinking in on herself. Droplets sloshed together without form, then re-formed her figure. Like sunlit waves, gold and crimson hues quietly pervaded and spread.

“Hello, Sanho,” Park Ye-rim whispered.

The sea’s flower. The little mermaid smiled.

— Hello, Ye-rim.

Sanho rolled her white-sclera-less eyes, looked over her own body, and pouted.

— The Mermaid Queen’s influence is strong, so I keep taking this mermaid shape... I’m sorry.

“Why? It’s adorable.”

— Really?

“Really. And actually—”

Before Park Ye-rim could finish, the water trembled. The spirit slapped onto Park Ye-rim’s arm as if embracing her.

— The Mermaid Queen is coming!

“...I accepted the title, but she still won’t let me go, will she?”

— I belong to you, Ye-rim. Ye-rim!

“Let’s get out of here.”

Now Ye-rim knew the way. She recognized where sunlight shone above and where the deepest shadows pooled. Park Ye-rim kicked the water upward. The Water Spirit wound around her.

— I am still clumsy and inexperienced. So, Ye-rim!

My power for you. The water surged. The Mermaid Queen’s form seeped in as a watery shadow. Something huge writhed beneath her feet. Park Ye-rim pressed on without glancing back. The water’s color grew faint, the air grew dense, and a glassy surface reflecting morning light appeared. The sharp sparkle stung her eyes.

Shoo-aaah—

Water shot up high. Long hair whipped below white clouds. Droplets turned bluer toward their tips and ever more transparent. A white veil of fins unfurled like wings down her back. Her now-bright blue eyes surveyed the sea at her feet.

It felt exhilarating.

— The spirits passed their power to me.

Sanho, now a tiny droplet slipping into Park Ye-rim’s tinkling earring, whispered.

— It’s the connection passed down through generations. And so I—

Kwar-rrrung— the sea began to tremble. From the depths of the swirling vortex, the very presence of water rose up. Park Ye-rim gripped her spear.

— The Mermaid Queen’s successor inherits the power of her ancestors!

She will receive it. Though the ancient spirits’ power was almost gone, the Mermaid Queen stood right before her. The Queen’s power was the successor’s power. And that power was meant for Park Ye-rim.

— Little droplet.

The water reared ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) up. Amid the towering sea, the master’s form slowly revealed herself. A mermaid clad in blue scales exuding such majesty that one could rightly call her a goddess. Drip, drip, as rain beat down on the wing-like fins along her back—until shoo-aaah, sheets of rain poured.

The two rulers of water faced one another. Pearl-bright eyes met the blue-sea gaze of the other.

— You are—

“I am Park Ye-rim.”

In the downpour that covered the ocean, Park Ye-rim leveled her spear point forward.

“And I’m leaving this place.”

— ...Park Ye-rim.

“You don’t need to come looking for me. You won’t be in danger. I’ll come find you first.”

— As you say.

The Mermaid Queen’s hand opened. Water gathered, and a gigantic spear formed in her scaly grasp.

— You can no longer be called small.

The sea surged. The sky darkened. Above and below was all water. A path of water bridged sky and sea. Heavy moisture soaked through her body to her core. Park Ye-rim’s hand trembling slightly on the spear, felt both fear and—more than that—excitement.

Here she stood, face to face with the sea itself.

— Yet I cannot let you go.

“Move aside!”

Water rose along the spear’s arc. Waves soared as dozens of watery spears, whirling fiercely at the Mermaid Queen.

— Even if you wield the same power as I.

A sheet of glass-thin water unfolded silently before the Queen. It touched the veil of water at the spears’ tips.

— The difference in experience is clear.

Swish, the water gently coiled around the dozens of spears, then splash—it collapsed into a lump and fell onto the sea.

— You are not small, yet you remain young.

At the Queen’s words, the rain shifted. Slender streams poured not vertically but horizontally toward Park Ye-rim.

Shoo-aaah— each drop sharp like tiny arrows. Park Ye-rim quickly used teleportation. Raindrops she couldn’t dodge scored red lines across her arms and legs.

— I did not wish to harm you, but I had no choice.

The Queen’s water, razor-sharp and sword-like. Park Ye-rim’s water, a raw chunk of ore. Though the former had the advantage, even hitting a chunk of iron could still wound or kill.

Gurgle—the clouds gathered, coalesced into a moisture mass crowning the Queen’s head like a black crown.

— Spare yourself from grievous injury if possible.

A wave crashed from the sky.

— Surrender.

It sliced the air, swallowed wind, and roared thunder.

“I said no!”

Park Ye-rim likewise summoned a wave. Sea wave met sky wave—zzeong! The power within was the same. Yet the force falling from above held a slight edge over what rose from below. Park Ye-rim’s wave was driven back. As she fell with the cresting wave, the sea beneath her froze solid with a click. She ripped a fragment of the wave away and shoved it behind her back.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

Though she cushioned the blow with water, her entire back stung. Pong—she bounced and skidded across the surface.

“Oh, damn. I’m gonna bruise.”

Park Ye-rim exhaled sharply. While she rolled, the Mermaid Queen stood unmoving—like a ruler still seated on her throne.

— Ye-rim...

The frightened spirit’s voice whispered. No matter if she had the power to resist, long ages of difference could not be ignored. She could not win. But—

“Compared to Mister, this is nothing!”

There are F-rank Hunters who charge at S-ranks and Transcendents. Park Ye-rim had watched them. She reset her grip on the spear. Water surged once more.

“Then fight me properly!”

Kur-rrung, a dragon’s roar rose. A whirlwind bore down on the Mermaid Queen. She held her spear horizontally, drawing a long line. Shoo-aak—the whirlwind cleaved in an instant, and power blasted beyond. Park Ye-rim slashed as well.

Kwa-ang!

The two powers collided. Park Ye-rim’s body flung backward. A faint crack ran down her spear.

— For those like you.

The Mermaid Queen brought her spear down hard. Beneath its tip, the sea itself split. A wave of living water swallowed Park Ye-rim.

— You too received his aid.

Han Yuhyun. The Queen’s gaze darkened. Park Ye-rim emerged through the wave. A child who would not give up, water that had finally reached her feet.

— You know his power.

Han Yuhyun fosters growth. Though called the first perfect caregiver, she had expected little. To Transcendents, raising a small, weak awakened one was hardly special. Even the system’s scions could offer such assistance.

— Han Yuhyun’s stat line is low. Yet he accelerates S-ranks past their limits. If he were to gain yet greater power—

He could become a cradle for Transcendents without needing a single world as fertilizer.

Kwa-aaah—!

The sea battered incessantly. Tossed like water in a tiny glass vial, it surged without up or down.

— We need him.

For some time, the number of Transcendents had begun to grow faster than before. They became Transcendents by swallowing their own worlds. It happened now and then: ruthless strong ones who rejected all and deemed the living trivial.

But then—

“Hello.”

“Um, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Please take care of me!”

Transcendents born of self-fashioning had likewise swallowed their worlds. Strange. Yet most welcomed it.

“If more Transcendents emerge, system management gets easier.”

“And we collide less with those filial-addicts. Our numbers have grown.”

“They say this newbie’s creator-level! It’s been ages, really.”

Sacrifice of a few to protect many worlds. Perhaps because they bound themselves as stewards, the system’s scions accepted small sacrifices as inevitable.

The Mermaid Queen was no different. Before all else, she had been the ruler of every sea. In leading a vast realm, sacrifice was inevitable. In every long moment of history, great or small sacrifices were made.

Yet she was loved as a queen. She loved her people too. Even after leaving her world and the passing of ages, she remembered. The reverent gazes, the voices striving for better paths, times of harvest, the outbreak of war, the tiny hands rescued from ruins—all those warm currents.

As queen, she had to abandon a small world—but even a small world could not be easily relinquished. It had to be, yet could not be.

— We must take the best path.

The Queen pondered. She quietly consulted the records and watched through waters everywhere. Then she understood. The crescent moon. Transcendents were being born in the worlds she touched.

“...Not the crescent moon.”

An old moon worshipped by many as a cradle for Transcendents. Even if people learned it birthed Transcendents by sacrificing worlds, would anything change? Many who realized it averted their eyes.

Overall, the crescent moon’s course seemed right. As the Queen nearly let it pass—an alternative emerged.

A new cradle needing no sacrifice.

— I do not mean to harm you. I seek to create another you continuously!

Heaven thundered. The rain intensified. In the tempest, a bedraggled Park Ye-rim stood on her two feet.

— The power that nurtured you to this point!

There was unease in the crescent moon’s actions. So the Queen planned to secure Han Yuhyun unnoticed. Those who noticed his ability would multiply; she must bring him under her protection first. If he became her vassal, no other Transcendent could touch him, ensuring his safety.

But Han Yuhyun was stubborn. Even if she revealed all, he would never abandon those under his care. She needed a way he could not refuse; thus she had to bind him by force. Before it was too late.

— Therefore!

“I stand on my own two feet!”

Park Ye-rim shouted. Her hair whipped across her cheek in the storm. Her limbs trembled, but her voice rang clear.

“Without Mister, I’d be weaker and slower for sure. But I am moving forward the way I want!”

Her toes rose above the surface, then above the sea. Part of the fin wings behind her had torn away. One arm barely moved. She was exhausted and weary.

“As long as I am me, and so long as I don’t give up, no matter what anyone says, Park Ye-rim’s place is here.”

The Queen was not wrong—Ye-rim had relied on Han Yuhyun’s help. But Ye-rim saw herself: herself walking her path in any circumstance.

‘Park Ye-rim, fighting!’

Without that chance encounter, she might have wavered at the Queen’s words. Without Han Yuhyun, would the present-day Ye-rim even exist? Alone, could she ever have achieved this?

Yet Ye-rim saw Ye-rim—and she was splendid.

“Even if I’m slow and stumble, I’ll stand here someday!”

She loved Han Yuhyun. She loved everyone who stood by her side. Their guiding hands and embraces warmed her. But at the center stood herself. To accept and grow, or to refuse and move on—that was all up to her.

As you wish.

That was what Han Yuhyun said.

“I—!”

She drew up the sea. The ring on her finger gleamed.

“This is what I want and where I belong!”

The tiny current held in the ring sparked. She drew on the skill-application methods felt through Han Yuhyun’s Teacher Skill. Seong Hyunjae had said her skill was similar to his—flowing water and electricity.

A wave surged at the Mermaid Queen. Within it, a faint current drilled through. Where ability fell short, overflowing power made up for it. Water’s force drawn to its extreme.

“Not anyone else—but me.”

Kwa-aaang—! The sea exploded. Park Ye-rim’s body, hurled like a fallen leaf in a whirlwind. And so was the Mermaid Queen.

— ...You are—

She retreated. Several steps back from her throne.

“It’s enough!”

Though tiny, Park Ye-rim smiled broadly. Struggling upright, she declared:

“Besides, the one I admired wasn’t Mister.”

Blue eye and blue eye met.

“It was you.”

The ruler of water whom Park Ye-rim had watched, pursued, and longed to surpass. When she first faced the Queen’s illusion in the Lake Dungeon, when she used the power granted by her—Ye-rim’s heart had raced. It was inevitable. In that moment, all water bowed to its master, responding to her slightest will and breath.

The water-worshipped sovereign of water. The fantastical feeling of all droplets in the air under her sway.

“I wanted to become like that. Though I’ve strayed, I wanted to be like you.”

She could not forget, so she strove to remember. That sensation, that thrill.

“And now I stand here.”

The Mermaid Queen’s eyes widened.