Sea-Pattern Shell (Please keep reading)

Of course, what had put him on such alert were magical beasts-wild magical beasts. More dark gray dorsal fins were cutting through the waves in the distance.

One of those fins was especially thick and sharp. After it sliced through the seawater, the gap took several seconds to close.

Clearly, that was lingering magic.

Yes, terrifying magic at that.

"...Could it be a fourth-level magical beast?"

Kroya grew a little nervous. A third-level magical beast could still be overwhelmed with sheer numbers, but a fourth-level magical beast with a whole pack of followers would be trouble.

Naturally, he had only dared to come out to sea because he had both confidence and a trump card: that shell.

He reached down and stroked the little shell hanging at his waist. It had been a gift from the merfolk, and he was certain it contained a trace of their unique power. Stimulating it with magic should release that power in a burst.

The merfolk were the undisputed rulers of the ocean. Even the slightest ripple of their magic would absolutely be enough to scare these sharks away.

The problem was that he did not know what would happen if he used the power inside the shell, or whether it would affect the stability of its interior space.

If he ended up destroying this precious spatial magic tool, the loss would be enormous.

While he hesitated, the female dolphin, who had stayed back all this time, suddenly swam forward.

She fearlessly blocked the approaching sharks' path, and then-

"Chirp, chirp!"

There was an inexplicable, strange resonance in her cries, almost like a song ringing out in the depths of the ocean.

The waves immediately subsided under the soothing influence of that sound. The surrounding sea fell silent, and magic resonated with her.

Kroya's expression remained unchanged, but inwardly, he was a little surprised. This was definitely the mermaid's power. Had she blessed this dolphin at some point?

Was it back then?

He was not sure, but that did not stop the situation from changing.

Under the influence of the mermaid's power,

the previously ferocious sharks suddenly hesitated. They slowed down, then, led by the fourth-level shark, flicked their tails and swam away.

The danger had been resolved just that easily.

The female dolphin swam back and circled Kroya several times, chirping as though asking for praise.

Kroya could not help smiling. He reached out to stroke her and praised her. "Very good."

Nearby.

The knight Norman truly breathed a sigh of relief. His clothes had long since been soaked with sweat. Fighting magic fish out at sea was simply too much to ask of a first-level knight like him.

Fortunately, the mage had a solution. Even the dolphins he raised were so powerful!

He can do absolutely anything.

As he was thinking this, his lord's calm voice reached him-

"All right, take this shark back first and have someone prepare it. I want to try some shark fin when I get back."

The knight hastily nodded.

"Yes, I'll take care of it right away."

"Good."

After giving the knight his instructions, Kroya beckoned to a dolphin. It immediately swam over and nestled against the boat, allowing its master to climb onto its back.

As a second-tier magical beast, carrying one person's weight was naturally effortless.

And so Kroya rode away on the dolphin, surrounded by schools of fish and flocks of ducks, leaving Norman struggling to tie the shark to the boat.

It was only because the mermaid's power still lingered nearby. Otherwise, the smell of the shark's blood would certainly have drawn plenty of magic fish to lurk around them.

Elsewhere.

The dolphin was fast. In just a few minutes, it reached Kroya's next destination-the waters above the coral reef.

He did not dare visit the sharks' lair. Who knew whether he might run into that pack led by the fourth-level shark? He would have to let the dolphins slip over and explore it later.

Along the way, Kroya also questioned the dolphins. Through a mixture of guesswork and interpretation, he more or less figured out how they had recruited so many followers.

As expected, it was thanks to the mermaid.

The mermaid had given them a small blessing, and that blessing alone had been enough for them to recruit some followers in the coastal waters.

The dolphins also indicated that they had prepared plenty of food for Kroya and could give it to him whenever he wanted.

Kroya was rather looking forward to that.

For now, though, he needed to deal with those giant clams that might be down there.

Still riding the dolphin, Kroya cast the Underwater Breathing Technique on himself, then dove into the sea along with the dolphins, ducks, and fish.

The unpolluted ocean was beautiful.

Sunlight shone straight down onto the seabed, where a vast stretch of multicolored coral stood, with plenty of little fish swimming in and out.

It covered an enormous area, and the corals themselves were huge. Each one resembled a towering tree, intertwining with the others until the whole place looked like an underwater forest.

"This coral reef is huge... It looks like it covers at least seven or eight mu."

He considered it for a moment, then reached out and patted the dolphin.

He had already communicated with the dolphins earlier. They had spent this time exploring the area and knew where the clams were.

The dolphin understood and immediately carried him toward a particular area. After passing through some coral, they arrived above a seemingly bottomless trench.

Kroya looked down. It seemed impossibly deep, beyond even the reach of sunlight.

Honestly, the sight was rather unnerving. He could not help fearing that something strange might suddenly emerge from within.

Of course, he had no intention of going down. The Underwater Breathing Technique had its limits. Getting trapped down there and dying because its duration had expired would be stupidity beyond belief.

The dolphins, fish, and ducks had no such concerns.

The male dolphin immediately led all the ducks and fish down into the trench, leaving only the female dolphin to accompany Kroya.

They did not sit idle either. Riding the dolphin, Kroya searched among the coral, using his magical perception to locate specimens with relatively abundant magic.

Then... he unceremoniously stowed them inside his shell.

He continued roaming through the reef like this and soon found four or five fairly fine specimens, all of which he stuffed into the shell.

The storage space inside the shell was roughly equivalent to a room with a volume of twenty cubic meters. Fitting these corals inside was not difficult.

Coral was good stuff. Not only could it be used to make potions, but it also had effects such as purifying the air. Most importantly, coral infused with magic could serve as the core of a magic array with just a little modification.

A magic-storage array, for example.

That was something every mage needed to have.

Kroya could not yet afford to build something as sophisticated as a mana pool or an elemental pool, but using coral to make a bare-bones version should work.

For the magical experiments he would conduct in the future, relying solely on his own magic for power clearly would not suffice. He would need a stable, continuous output.

Only after he had a magic core could renovations to the castle officially begin. Otherwise, doing everything himself would work him to death.

He continued searching for suitable coral. About five or six minutes later, just as he was debating whether to surface first, the dolphin finally burst out of the trench with the ducks and fish.

"Oh? Quite a haul."

Kroya had sharp eyes. He had already spotted a basket formed from ice magic behind the ducks. It held five silver-blue shells, each the size of a millstone.

Working together, they dragged the basket and swam toward him.