I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature

Chapter 29. Krelsite

Javarel’s story was a pitiful one. Inside the kingdom, he had nowhere to go, even if he tried to run.

Having been deceived by an employment scam, Javarel had attempted to report it to the organization that maintained order in the Turtle Kingdom, but they refused to hear him out.

Later, he discovered that the company’s executives and the kingdom’s nobles were all in it together.

-By now, I’m probably a wanted criminal. Even if I return, they’ll chase me again. I... I don’t ever want to go back to that company… eek!

-Hmm.

The way this guy flinched—it was a serious case of workplace trauma.

-If you were to leave, where would you want to go?

-I... I want to go south, to the Archipelago Ocean. I heard many turtles live there who aren’t part of the Turtle Kingdom.

-The Archipelago Ocean, huh? I told the Matriarch, and she said there’s no need to send you back to the Turtle Kingdom.

-Th-thank you!

According to the duty handover from senior Patroller Borgin, issues in the border areas of low importance could be handled at the Patroller’s discretion.

Yul had reported the case to the higher-ups since it involved an outsider, but Lanchia told him to handle it as he wished, so it wasn’t considered a major issue.

-While you’re looking for Krelsite, can you also find any magic stones?

At those words, Javarel’s expression instantly darkened. This guy’s face clearly revealed what he was thinking.

-M-magic stones are too precious to obtain easily……

-What do you mean? Are magic stones rare in the sea?

-Because of the magic in the stone, it naturally dissolves and disappears when it comes into contact with seawater. So in the Turtle Kingdom, magic stones are worth whatever people are willing to pay.

-Oh?

-Only the King of the Turtle Kingdom can afford something like a magic stone. Even then, they’re so rare in nature that they have to be coated with crystal or processed in special ways.

‘Huh? The things considered rare on land and in the sea are completely different.’

Magic stones were expensive on land, yes, but not impossible to obtain. They were mined in large quantities, and even a country bumpkin mage like Ian could use them.

But Krelsite, a metal that blocks magic, was a luxury material worth many times its weight in gold on land.

‘That makes sense. Magic stones melt away when they touch seawater, while Krelsite’s main mining sites are under the sea……’

Suddenly, a spark shot through Yul’s mind like lightning.

‘If I could trade between the two……’

He could make a fortune.

Yul trembled at the idea that had just struck him. He already had allies on land: privateer captain Étienne Drake, Ian Beltaine, and he had an agreement with the King of Frangia. The market was already there.

'Ah, no. For now, it's enough to just secure what Lucian needs.'

He couldn’t let his thoughts get ahead of him. Mining alone would take time, and there were countless other difficulties.

And besides, it all depended on persuading Javarel first.

For now, this was something only Yul knew.

-Anyway, forget about magic stones. If you can find Krelsite, I’ll make sure you get safely to wherever you want to go.

-Understood.

‘It’ll take quite some time, won’t it?’

* * *

-Huh? I found it.

-……?

-Right here.

The turtle mining engineer, Javarel, found Krelsite just one day after Yul had asked him to look for it.

At first, Yul thought he was lying—but he wasn’t.

The location, surprisingly, was only about 300 meters away from the reef Yul used as his base. For a sea creature that was practically within arm’s reach.

Considering Yul’s patrol range spanned from several kilometers to dozens of kilometers, he finally understood what people meant by “the darkest place is under the lamp.”

-Look here.

Yul swam over immediately and looked toward the spot Javarel was pointing to.

-Do you see this dark metal here? And the faint green lines running through it?

-Yeah.

-That’s Krelsite. Before processing, it’s known for those strange green veins running through the metal.

-Huh.

Yul had seen it before. But he’d walked right past it, not realizing what it was—because he hadn’t known it was Krelsite.

-In the Turtle Kingdom, people curse when they see Krelsite.

-Why?

-What use is something that absorbs magic? If magic is blocked, we can’t use “Martial Arts” or “Mantras.” Aside from a few scholars studying it, nobody really bothers with the stuff.

From Yul’s point of view, it was like sitting on a gold mine without realizing it. But he didn’t tell Javarel that humans treated it as a treasure—he just nodded along.

-But couldn’t it be used as a weapon? Against enemies who use Mantras?

-Turtles love metal and eat it regularly, but if one of us accidentally ate Krelsite, it would be disastrous. It neutralizes all the magic metals we’ve consumed. Unless it’s for a very special reason, we never make weapons out of it.

So they avoided using it as a weapon… in case someone accidentally ate it?

Yul was intrigued by this new bit of information and asked,

-Turtles normally eat magic metals?

-Yes. Heavier magic metals like Boratum, for example. We eat others, too—metals like Mithrilite, which have high magic conductivity. But if someone accidentally eats Krelsite while consuming those, they become contaminated.

-And what exactly happens if you eat only Krelsite?

-You’d become a creature that completely rejects magic. But what good would that do? You wouldn’t even be able to send magic signals—so you couldn’t talk. Sure, it’d make you resistant to powerful magical creatures, but if you can’t use Mantras yourself, what’s the point?

Interesting. So, if a being with the Metal Consumption trait kept eating Krelsite, they’d develop a body with immense anti-magic resistance. But in exchange, they’d lose the ability to use magic or Mantras.

-Yes, yes! It's useless! Still, I want this metal. How much of it can be mined here?

-Let’s see… Since we’re looking at a coastal placer deposit, it should extend much deeper inward.

Areas of mineral concentration in shallow regions like this were called placer deposits, and those extending up to a depth of 50 meters were known as coastal placer deposits.

-There aren’t any magic metals nearby. If I were in charge, I’d tell them to dig somewhere else.

-So that means there’s a ton of it here, right?

-Yes. Do you notice how few sea creatures there are around here? That’s because the seabed is layered with Krelsite. It absorbs magic, so life can’t thrive here.

Yul confirmed it then—this whole area was a massive Krelsite mining site. Get full chapters from novèlfire.net

To put it another way.

‘What, like finding oil in my front yard?’

He hadn’t realized it because he simply didn’t know what he was looking at. Part of him felt a little foolish, but more than that, he knew this was a huge opportunity.

-Javarel, you kept your word. So, I’ll keep mine—you can go wherever you want.

-A-are you serious? You’re letting me go just for finding the Krelsite mine… You’re truly a generous person!

‘Actually, it is a tremendous discovery.’

Yul looked closely at the turtle before him.

This guy didn’t realize it either—he had no idea that what he’d just found was worth a fortune.

And now, he was overjoyed, thinking Yul was being kind by freeing him for discovering a gold mine sitting right under their noses.

-You don’t seem to have any belongings. Did you escape with nothing on you?

-I lost everything—or had it all taken from me—while I was running away.

-Hmm. Then how about this? If you mine Krelsite for me, I’ll get you magic stones. Let’s say… at a ratio of one to ten?

-A-are you serious? magic stones? One to ten?

-Sure. After a few months of mining, you could head to the Archipelago Sea loaded with magic stones and live comfortably, don’t you think?

‘Heh heh heh heh. Work for me, little turtle. Automatic mining system—activated.’

-I-I’ll do it!

Javarel thought to himself,

‘This orca’s an idiot. Even one to a hundred would’ve been too generous, and he’s offering one to ten?’

And so, while both thought they were outsmarting the other, the deal was struck—a negotiation where both sides believed they’d won.

-For now, I’d like you to gather a small sample.

Yul, thinking of Lucian’s size, described roughly how much material he needed. Something about Lucian’s height should do.

-If it’s that small, I can finish it in a few days.

-Good. Then I’ll go fetch those “magic stones” in the meantime.

* * *

It was by sheer coincidence that Yorum, the white-skinned Ktazar known as “Thick Eyebrows,” who had been dispatched by the High Council of Ktazar to track the Stone of Authority, happened to locate the missing Guardian who had deserted his post.

He’d only been relaxing at a cosmic resort when the criminal identification code flashed across the right lens of his sunglasses.

At first, he didn’t think much of it. Guardians occasionally deserted their posts; criminals wandering around under false identities weren’t exactly rare either.

But something felt off. Of all beings, the Ktazar standing right in front of him—named Arktar—just so happened to be the Guardian assigned to the very ruins where the replica of the Stone of Authority had been sealed.

‘Normally, I’d have ignored it… but I guess today’s your unlucky day.’

At that moment, Arktar was gleefully playing Living Rainbow Frog Tetris, remotely controlling the frogs while lounging in the resort.

Judging from the pile of cash beside him, the women at his side, and the narcotic drinks on the table, he’d clearly been burning through money at the casino for quite some time.

“Having fun gambling?”

“Who are you?”

Yorum grabbed Arktar’s face in one swift motion and slammed him sideways.

“W-what the—khuhk!”

Arktar was sent flying into the wall at tremendous speed. Before he could even activate a Mantra, he found himself staring down the barrel of something that looked like a toy gun.

“UV-Thermal Gun. Dangerous little thing—only disciples dispatched by the High Council are supposed to carry one of those.”

“Arktar, age 1,896. Selected as a Guardian of the temple. Assigned to Phantarassa, the first stratum of Cakeworld. Judging from your presence here, you’ve gone AWOL, haven’t you?”

Yorum recited the scrolling data projected across his sunglasses.

“I have no intention of resisting. You people don’t usually bother chasing runaways like me anyway, do you?”

Arktar raised his tentacles, signaling surrender.

“The Stone of Authority. What happened to it?”

“The replica? What about it?”

“Talk.”

“Whoa, whoa—easy there.”

Yorum pressed the gun closer to his face.

“A small creature infiltrated the ruins. It was… a jelly octopus.”

At those words, Yorum let out a low hum. The time his master had realized the Stone of Authority was missing matched exactly when that jelly octopus had supposedly obtained it.

‘Too precise to be a coincidence.’

Yorum knew he had stumbled upon a miraculous lead. He switched the mode on the UV-Thermal Gun and aimed again.

“You’ll forget everything that happened today.”

“Good luck finding it, then.”

The memory-erasing round struck Arktar squarely on the forehead, and his body went limp like a corpse.

Clicking his tongue, Yorum began transmitting the newfound intel to his superiors.

A moment later, after Yorum vanished—

Arktar sat up perfectly fine, plucked the bullet from his forehead with two fingers, and muttered,

“So… you’re telling me that Stone of Authority might actually be the real thing?”