The creature growled like a predator that had just found its prey.
It looked like a basilisk, standing about one meter tall and nearly two meters long, the scales protecting its inner body looking as hard as stone.
But that wasn't what caught Kuon's attention—rather, it was the sticky black sludge coating its entire body, dripping in a repulsive way with every step the monster took.
Monsters coated in black sludge were nothing new to Kuon. He had come across them several times while still in the forest. But it was only recently that he had come to understand what had actually happened to them.
Monsters of this variant were not natural—they were the product of Black Tide concentrated in a specific location.
Creatures swallowed and reborn by the Black Tide. That was what they were called.
So far, the information held up. But something sat wrong in Kuon's mind.
Black Tide was said to be an element extremely hazardous to all life, humans included. This was a fact that had been told to Kuon so many times that he had lost count of how often UAA staff had warned him about the danger.
Its primary danger only manifested after any form of life made direct contact with it. Once exposed, there was no going back. That was what he had been told.
Except, Kuon remembered that he had already made direct contact with Black Tide several times through the wolves he had fought back in the forest.
For now, he would be careful not to tell anyone about it—including Kanon. And because of that, he would need to change his approach.
Fighting a ferocious monster without being allowed to touch it was difficult even for Kuon. In the end, all he could do was keep dodging the monster's relentless attacks.
Kanon, on the other hand, was still in position where she stood, ready to fire her magic the moment Kuon gave the word. She could only observe the fight in vague outline, and on top of that, a fight that relied heavily on mobility was her greatest weakness.
"You really do move around a lot, don't you."
Kuon calmly kept his footwork to the minimum each time the monster charged at him.
Occasionally the monster's tail would lash out like a whip aimed at him, but Kuon parried with his own weapon each time while looking for an opening to attack.
Now that he was engaged with this monster, he could finally sense the presence of other creatures not far away. From the way they moved and watched in silence, they were monsters too.
'I need to finish this as quickly as possible.'
Kuon exhaled and activated [Accel] to sharpen his perception.
He had grown used to this Gift by now, and through regular training, he could use it in intense situations for several hours at a time. Its side effects remained the same, however—the Gift consumed an enormous amount of his body's energy, so it was best to limit its use as much as possible.
The monster grew visibly more enraged as it realized none of its attacks had managed to wound Kuon. And perhaps that was why it immediately did something Kuon had failed to predict.
Without any windup at all, the monster leapt high into the air and curled itself like a pangolin. Its scales, already hard from the start, combined with the natural protection of the Black Tide sludge made it look all the more formidable.
Just before it landed, the monster uncurled itself again—this time with its tail primed to slam into Kuon like a thick whip. All of it happened with startling speed.
But naturally, Kuon with [Accel] active could see all of it without issue. He stepped to the side, avoided the monster's landing spot, then raised his Glans-clad hand to block the next attack he had predicted.
His right hand, encased in Glans, collided directly with the creature's tail, while Kuon covered his other hand with a gauntlet he had just crafted as a response.
The gauntlet covering his left hand was like Glans—made entirely from a metal alloy—but without the long dagger-like claw blades at each finger, only short, sharp, tapered points compared to the five blades on Glans's fingers.
With the new weapon, Kuon seized the monster's head and drove his claws in firmly—locking the monster in place. While his other hand, having freed itself from the thick tail's reach, drove straight into the heavily scaled area of its neck.
Not only the scales, but the creature's flesh was also extremely thick, preventing the sharp blades of Glans from piercing through in a single thrust.
Reading the situation, Kuon made the most rational decision on the spot.
"Kanon!"
"Firing!"
Without wasting even a fraction of a second, Kanon immediately fired her own magic.
Five ice spears manifested simultaneously, and after spinning rapidly like drill bits, all of them shot straight toward Kuon—or more precisely, the monster he was holding in place.
Unlike Glans, the ice spears, having built up momentum and rotational force, were able to pierce the monster's body with ease. Kuon hurled the dying monster into the air and let Kanon's ice spears chase it down.
The result was exactly as anticipated. Even a monster mutated by Black Tide couldn't survive having five spears driven through every vital organ.
Kuon gave a satisfied nod as he looked at the monster's corpse now lying on the ground. The result was pleasing. This was the first time he had truly fought alongside Kanon, so he had expected a few small mistakes. But his coordination with Kanon was solid—especially because Kanon hadn't hesitated in executing his directions.
Kanon had also been training hard to control her recently awakened magic. Before, she could only produce magic based on instinct and reconstruct it imperfectly, but this time she had managed to control that power well, even able to regulate her magic's input and output as she wished. Though striking a target with precise accuracy was still a problem not yet fully solved, it was undeniable that Kanon had made remarkable progress in such a short time.
After a brief assessment, Kuon turned his gaze elsewhere. "Now, let's clean up the rest."
There were still several other monsters that needed dealing with. Until everything was cleared, Kanon would still need to fire her magic to support Kuon, who lacked in destructive power.
"Now!"
As Kuon pinned three monsters at once with several iron rods driven into their joints, Kanon immediately activated her magic and constructed another set of ice spears with enhanced penetration using the principle of rotation.
That was one of the best suggestions Kuon had given her—to apply basic physics principles to the final form of her magic to enhance its own power.
Instantly, the spears pierced through the monsters' bodies with ease. The scene had become fairly gruesome, with several monster corpses that couldn't even fall to the ground, pinned upright by the ice spears and iron rods driven through them.
'The material manipulation magic activation is running well and accurately enough by my calculations, but… not fast enough. The activation sequence and the input-output process should be running perfectly, so what's wrong?'
The feeling of using flawed magic made Kuon uncomfortable. But no matter how closely he examined the problem, he still couldn't find the reason behind the flaw itself.
Kuon tried to confirm the problem once more. He took hold of one of the iron rods pinning the monsters to the ground and reconstructed it back into an iron ingot as before. The result was the same. There was something that left him unsatisfied, but he couldn't identify it.
"Kanon, does my Aether flow look flawed?"
While returning all the metal he had deployed back to its original form, Kuon asked Kanon as she walked toward him.
The situation was clear—he sensed no other monsters. But seeing Kanon walking casually along a path surrounded by clumps of Black Tide made him draw a brief, startled breath.
"Everything looks normal to my eyes. In fact, the way you flow your Aether while building a magic sequence looks smoother than other mages I've seen in the city."
That answer left Kuon briefly silent, then exhaling in resignation. It only confused him further. And Kanon, sensing his unease, could only try to reassure him.
"I don't know what kind of flaw you mean. But I think you're just not confident in your magic."
Kuon responded to that with a brief small scoff before saying, "Unfortunately I've never felt unconfident before, so I don't know what you mean."
This time it was Kanon who wore a puzzled expression. "… In that case, I don't know what to say."
***
Exterminate monsters, record the changes in the surrounding Black Tide, and write the report. The mission was completed in under a day. But due to the considerable distance between the site and the city of Narc't, they ended up camping on the way back.
Now that they had returned and rested through the night, they went back to the UAA office to report completion and collect payment.
"Do we have a lot of money now?"
Sitting in one of the chairs in the corner of the UAA's main hall, Kanon asked Kuon curiously. He had just finished counting the money and was staring at a map spread open on the table.
The total earnings from the mission were not insignificant. Enough, at the very least, to keep them comfortable for some time without working—especially given there were only two of them. But Kuon was thinking about something else.
"Our total pay from that mission was 60,000 CRD. That should be a fair amount, and we could each take 30,000 after splitting it. But… it's far from enough."
30,000 Creda—commonly referred to as CRD—was more than enough if they were only considering general living costs like lodging and food. But the goal in Kuon's mind was something different, and it made that sum look small against the capital he would eventually need to spend.
"That's what you say, but do you already have a clear picture of your goal? I still can't imagine it, and the amount we have right now is honestly more than enough for me personally."
Kanon didn't have a strong grasp of the value of money here, largely because she had never had a concrete sense of what she could actually do with it.
Kuon's situation, meanwhile, was the exact opposite.
Kuon closed his eyes briefly, then adjusted his monocle.
"As I've said before, our current goal is to accumulate as much money as possible. This isn't just living expenses—it's capital and operational costs for what lies ahead. But beyond that, there are also several things we need to do."
Hearing that sparked something in Kanon's mind as she suddenly remembered. "That's right, you said before that we needed to accumulate a lot of money to enter the first stage of your plan. What exactly is that?"
The first stage of his plan. Kuon had thought it through carefully time and again, growing more certain each time that there was no better option.
'I suppose there's no harm in telling her sooner,' pikir Kuon.
"Before that, I want to ask—how many Drifter are left right now?"
"… Wait a moment."
Kanon closed her eyes and accessed her own stream. Even before she could ask, her viewers were already ready with the answer. A few seconds later, Kanon opened her eyes again and looked toward Kuon.
"Including us, there are 194 people remaining."
Hearing that number, Kuon widened his eyes slightly. "Six people in nearly two months? Not a bad number, but not a good one either."
He had estimated at least ten would be eliminated in short order, but the actual number had turned out lower than expected. At the very least, this was good news for him.
"By the way, why did you ask that?"
Kuon surveyed his surroundings—everyone was still occupied with their own business, and no one would be eavesdropping on sensitive information like this. Once he was sure of that, he spoke in a low voice.
"This first stage—I want to complete it fully before the second wave of Drifter arrives."
From what Schesile had said, the second wave of Drifter would arrive when only ten percent of the first wave remained—meaning 20 people. The conditions for reaching that number fluctuated, but if Kuon had to weigh several scenarios based on available information, it wouldn't take two years.
Within that time, everything related to the first stage of his plan had to be finished.
"The first stage of my plan is heavily dependent on our wealth and reputation. This is the stage where we have to build everything from nothing. To put it plainly, the first stage covers accumulating money, building reputation, and gaining followers. But all of that is merely what's required to complete it. The real first stage is building Arcadia itself."
"Arcadia?"
This was the first time Kanon had heard that name. It didn't feel unfamiliar, but she couldn't place its meaning.
"Arcadia—a utopia that has only ever existed in human imagination—I will realize it as the nation I intend to build."
Kuon gazed at the map on the table and began tracing how every nation had established its place in this world. His ambition was to add his own to that map.
Of course, it only sounded like empty talk for now. But he only needed to prove it. And for that, the plans he had made absolutely had to be fulfilled.
"… How much time do we have?"
Kanon was beginning to sound hesitant, but that was understandable. What would need to be done to reach Kuon's great goal, what sacrifices would be required, how long would it take—those were the core questions striking at the root of their current situation.
"Two years from now. That is the timeframe I've set. Before that time runs out, I must plant the name Arcadia in everyone's minds so deeply that no one will be able to deny it."
"Are you certain you can do that? By the way, what's today's date?"
The trivial question made Kuon raise one eyebrow in puzzlement. "Time on Earth and Lios runs concurrently, and without accounting for time zones, right now it's June 4th, 2041 on Earth, or year 428 in Lios. Am I correct?"
Kanon closed her eyes once to confirm with her stream viewers and swallowed, not knowing what other reaction to show. "… You're right. Have you been counting continuously?"
"Of course. Counting how much time has passed is something my brain does passively on its own, so I can't help but always know. As a concrete example, since we walked into this place until this very moment, we've spent exactly 48 minutes."
Kanon's resigned sigh was perfectly audible to Kuon as he looked back at the map before him. "You win in intelligence at least. But do you already have a concrete plan to reach this stage of creating Arcadia? Because I'm sure you know as well as I do that money, followers, and reputation alone won't be enough to build a nation."
"Of course I know that, which is why I've made another plan to help resolve every obstacle standing in the way of completing the first stage—and that is a 'company'."
"A company?"
The moment Kanon heard it, she naturally thought of the giant businesses that had thrived on Earth—things that functioned as money-making machines for their owners. Was Kuon going to build something like that?
While she was confused, Kuon immediately answered all the questions she had failed to voice.
"In truth this is better described as an 'organization', and I prefer to call it that, but let's set aside the issue of what to call it. A company is the best way to solve our three core problems: money, followers, and reputation. I already have the design and I'm thinking of realizing it in the near future—but once again, we're short on capital."
For that, they still needed to take on several more high-paying Adept jobs. Up to this point, Kanon more or less understood. But what she wanted to ask next was the vital point for the 'company'—something Kuon needed to answer as well as he could.
"A company… don't we need a product?"
The question hit the mark. Kuon tapped his finger on the table several times before exhaling in resignation. "That's precisely the problem."