The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

Just as he was about to protest, Turan missed the chance to respond due to the tremendous impact hitting his head.

"Urgh."

"Haa..."

He couldn't even properly hear the astonished exclamations and groans coming from beside him.

The giant sea serpent's magic gave him a sensation of pleasure that was truly otherworldly.

It felt as if all the bones, muscles, flesh, and nerves in his body were burning up and then being reconstructed anew.

Compared to this, all previous magic absorptions had been mere child's play.

Turan's magic, which had originally been in the lower ranks among top-tier nobles, instantly surpassed the middle ranks like Solif's and rose to the upper ranks, and then to the highest rank among the top tier, the same as Meisa's.

Then, just as when his bloodline locks had been released in the past, there was a feeling of reaching a limit and then being liberated, accompanied by a clicking sound.

After that, Turan's magic continued to rise until it reached a level a bit stronger than Meisa's, somewhere between top-tier nobles and great house heads, before the growth stopped.

"Ah..."

Turan wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and turned his gaze toward his companions.

Solif was clenching and unclenching his fists as if unable to contain the power boiling up in his body, while Meisa had sat down, unable to maintain her flight magic.

Their magic had also grown to a different dimension from before, transcending the realm of ordinary high nobles.

Meisa had now reached a level where she could somewhat defend against even the weakest great house head he had met, Osel Labitas, while Solif was weaker than her but stronger than Turan had been.

He had worried that one of them might reach their limit, but as expected of those chosen as vessels by the gods, they seemed to have enough potential to grow to the level of house heads.

[Turan! Turan! I felt so good! Really!]

Bize, who was making such a fuss, had also achieved several levels of growth in an instant.

She had acquired top-tier noble-level magic, the same as Turan had just before this battle, similar to the level of great house heirs.

If a magical beast with such power appeared, it would surely cause a commotion, being labeled as a mythical-level magical beast.

Ordinary house nobles would probably have no way to fight against it and would have to invite armies from great houses.

'With this much... I could even fight Arabion.'

Though it was still difficult to be confident about winning against that powerful lightning lord, he had at least reached a level where he could treat ordinary nobles, if not god's vessels, as mere minions.

After enjoying this joy for a moment, Turan noticed the changes in the two people's inner selves and observed them carefully.

"Why are you looking at us like that?"

"Both of your symbols have changed."

"What?"

"Did you hear any sound from your body?"

"A sound of opening... I guess? There was a snap like a tree breaking."

"For me, it was the sound of glass shattering."

Next to the symbol of the glowing white hand and fireball that Solif originally had, a shield had been added.

That was clearly the symbol of the guardian bloodline that he had seen from his martial arts master, Hardit, in the past.

As for Meisa, a white anvil and black hammer, the symbol of the artificer bloodline, had been added next to the lightning cloud.

If a clenched fist were to grasp and swing that, it would probably display the same power as the Arabion house head he had seen in the past.

When told this, both of them showed signs of great surprise.

"Artificer...? Me?"

"I have no connection with the guardian bloodline."

"It is one of the four bloodlines of the silver sun. Maybe it's some secret of your birth."

"This guy just has to say something bad about other people's parents."

Though Solif grumbled, he didn't deny the possibility.

Unlike Meisa, who was the child of a house head, his birth process as the child of ordinary noble parents would have been relatively easy to manipulate.

While Meisa was using magic to check the functions of her magic tools and Solif was pounding his chest to check if it had become sturdier, Turan lightly gestured toward the sky, which had cleared of clouds due to the disappearance of the storm spirit.

With a boom, a bolt of lightning struck down over the sea, and a roaring sound spread.

'It's complete, the storm bloodline...'

Normally, to draw powerful lightning from such a clear sky would require considerable power, but the amount of magic consumption Turan felt now was similar to that of a stormy day.

Moreover, he could precisely place the lightning down to the centimeter.

It was clear that the last remaining lightning bloodline magic had finally manifested.

Afterward, as he practiced various applications such as creating a shield-like barrier around his body with lightning made from slight friction or making a lightning snake move, Meisa, who had noticed this, asked:

"So you can properly use lightning now?"

"Yes. It's definitely convenient. I can see why Arabion magicians don't practice various attack magics."

Compared to wind magic, which was difficult to use for attacks, it was an incredibly powerful and simple force.

The only drawback might be that, like fire magic, it was vulnerable to defense using earth transformation magic.

As an added disadvantage, it was difficult to attack those submerged in water.

"So, have you all checked it out?"

"Yes. I can now use artificer magic. Since it's a field I've never tried before, I'll need to practice to use it properly."

"We can contact Asiz later and ask him to teach us some techniques. Solif, what about you?"

"Well, I've gotten incredibly strong. Want to see?"

When Turan grasped hands with Solif and pulled, his body was effortlessly dragged toward the other person.

"Wow."

"Amazing, right?"

Solif had originally been a bit stronger than Turan due to his small but sturdy build and strong magic.

But it was certainly not such an overwhelming gap before.

"We'll have to test your defensive ability more... but at this level, it's definitely improved."

With Solif, who already had excellent attack power from the sun bloodline, now gaining the guardian bloodline for defense and hand-to-hand combat ability, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say his pure offensive and defensive power was now the strongest among the group.

The drawback was that he had almost no mobility or auxiliary abilities.

Hadn't he been forced to focus on rear support after Bize was injured, unable to fly on his own during this battle?

"I wish I had gotten something like that instead of the artificer bloodline."

Meisa, who had been muttering like that, suddenly closed her mouth with a "Hm."

She seemed to think her complaint was disrespectful to her mother, who had passed down that bloodline.

Just as they were discussing their newly gained benefits, they sensed the presence of several merfolk in the sea.

Shortly after, the merman king and various merfolk emerged in a rush.

"Kind demon! You're safe!"

"Yes, I'm safe."

Turan greeted Arma, who was smiling brightly, and quickly looked over the merfolk royalty.

The absence of several dead royals, including the king's eldest son, the octopus Makun, was clearly noticeable.

Of course, he didn't feel much regret about this fact.

When he had barely managed to get to the island in an exhausted state, the merman king's gaze had clearly seemed to be sizing him up.

If their forces had been intact, and if Turan hadn't instilled the suspicion that he was some god's vessel, they might all have been killed on the spot.

The merman king, with his stern expression, pressed down on Arma's head and said:

"So, have you finished your harvest?"
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"More or less."

"Then we'll take our share now."

Turan quietly assessed the power of the merman king and the royalty, as well as his group's capabilities.

Though they were not in their best condition, they had become much stronger than before, while the merfolk had weakened.

If they fought here, victory was certain.

But—

"As promised, I'll yield the corpse to you."

"Hmm, fair enough."

Although the merman king seemed to be testing them, he didn't attack, so the promise remained unbroken.

In the long run, it might be more advantageous for them if the merfolk gained the giant sea serpent's power.

The merfolk royalty, transformed into various large sea creatures led by the giant whale, dragged the giant sea serpent's corpse from the shore, and finally, baby shark Arma waved his fin in farewell and disappeared into the sea.

"Phew, it's really over..."

"But how do we get off this island? The boat was destroyed during the fight, and Bize's wing condition isn't good. Maybe we should have asked them to take us to a nearby island?"

"Bize isn't seriously injured, so she should recover soon if she takes more recovery potions."

Bize flapped her wings as if to say not to worry, but then let out a squeak as if the previously broken part hurt.

While stroking the whimpering creature, Meisa, who had been watching, spoke up:

"By the way, what happened to it? The relic."

"Right! I completely forgot. I hope it was worth sharing our magic with it."

Under his companions' urging, Turan immediately took out the relic hanging on his chest.

Since there was no visible change from the outside, he pressed the protrusion to open the lid—

"Oh."

"What?"

"The inside has changed."