Aqua
My eighth day in the world of Oceana starts out the same as all the days before it despite starting in a dungeon. With the sole exception of my infection hurting a bit more. Probably having worsened overnight.
But that’s fine. It’s almost the day when sponsorships are allowed.
The tenth day.
Just have to suffer through two more days before I can get that antibiotic.
I’ve already gotten some promising business inquiries that have agreed to give me things I need in exchange for priority selection for their particular offers. Including a starring role in a drama done by Oliver Ashfyre from Alliance Drama Center. A rather famous director.
Honestly, that’s probably the absolute best offer I could’ve been given. So even if they didn’t try to bribe me I’d still accept it.
As a Pioneer, I need popularity. And getting a starring role in a drama under a popular director at a big company is a very good way to get that popularity.
Of course, it could also crash and burn if the drama doesn’t go over well.
But I also have a singing job that I decided that I might as well give a try. One with that idol in fact.
So if one flops, I have a good chance of doing well with the other.
And if they both flop? Well, I can always just do commercials, ads, and even some modeling jobs.
Not much that can go wrong with those. Or at least, not with the modeling jobs.
Technically commercials and ads can still go poorly.
And if somehow all of that flops? Well, I have my Pioneer success to lean on and can just make appearances on interviews and variety shows.
That should work well enough.
I yawn as I finish up my morning routine and finally jump into the water before moving out deeper into the dungeon. Where I eventually run into more sharks.
Which means more level-up fodder for me. Since I’ve grown very used to underwater combat at this point. And since I’ve been putting my free points right now mostly into strength, dexterity, and magical strength, the sharks don’t stand a chance.
My strength is just too much for these monsters thanks to the Physique of the Abyssal Kraken trait.
Or at least, it’s too much for them underwater.
I tried fighting an orc on land just to test it out, and it turns out the orc wasn’t much weaker than me physically despite my level being two higher than his. Which was very disappointing.
If it weren’t for my weapon and armor, I’m not even sure if I’d be able to take on two orcs at once.
I probably could.
But three orcs at once outside of the water and without my trident or armor?
I’d be dead.
Honestly, it makes me feel a little unsettled about how things will go when I eventually leave the deepsea. Unless I manage to get a domain skill, which is possible with my Bloodlines.
A domain skill would really be helpful.
One that pretty much alters the region around me into a specific type of region.
Which in my case would be flooding it with water and pretty much making it underwater.
I let out a sigh as I dream of getting a domain skill. But until then I’m stuck trying to balance it all.
So while I hunt the monsters in the dungeon, I make sure to run a few tests. Specifically testing just how much of my body has to be in the water for me to be considered ‘underwater’, activating my trait.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Fortunately for me, I find that so long as half or more of my body is submerged, my trait is fully activated. But that’s not all as I also find that my trait seems to partially activate even when a quarter of my body is in the water. It’s just that the boost in strength is a twenty-five percent increase instead of a fifty percent increase.
Those are the only cutoffs though.
I tap my finger on my trident before continuing to swim a bit and noticing a shark. Only to end up skewering said shark and continuing on in the dungeon.
Well, these issues aren’t real problems right now. Not when I’m fighting underwater most of the time. With the exception of some of this dungeon.
So I just continue moving through the dungeon as the monsters gradually rise in level along with me.
The only problem is that they’re starting to rise in level faster than I am. Which makes things a bit more difficult.
When it comes to the sharks, they’re still manageable. Largely because of Physique of the Abyssal Kraken. Even if they do leave me a few injuries. Injuries that generally heal within the hour.
But the orcs are becoming a problem.
The first orcs in the place were armed with nothing but crude spears and some bows with crude arrows. Now though, some of the orcs are showing up with better weapons. Even better armor.
And some of the orcs are proving to have better aim as well.
It’s almost like their level correlates to their aim and intelligence.
Not that I’d be surprised if that were the case.
I frown as I dodge another arrow before throwing a pressurized water blade at the orc that shot the arrow. Only for another orc to jump out of a small cave up in the ruins and actually use a shield to block the water blade. Shocking me in the process.
Great. Now they have shields, too?
And that’s a pretty tough shield.
Wait a second.
My mind blanks for a moment as I finally realize something.
The water pressure in here isn’t as high as it was outside of the dungeon.
Is that because there’s no deep ocean pressurizing it down here or something?
Actually, I think the water pressure may even have been a bit lower in the caves than it was when I went out of the caves. It’s just that I didn’t really notice thanks to the pressure not affecting me.
Which makes sense considering some of the orcs I saw floating in the water occasionally.
After all, if the water pressure really were at the thousands of meters deep mark down in the caves, I’m pretty sure those orcs would’ve been flattened like pancakes.
But regardless of why the pressure is lower, that makes it even harder to kill these things.
When several arrows begin flying straight at me from the top of the ruins, I dip down under the water and move behind some debris down here. Then I take a peek at my status to check my remaining mana.
[REQUESTING STATUS: USER AQUA FALLEN]
[STATUS RETRIEVED]
[Name: Aqua Fallen]
[Level: 14]
[Mana: 37/140]
[Strength: 30(20)]
[Dexterity: 18]
[Constitution: 16]
[Magical Strength: 17]
[REGEN: 141]
[Free Points: 0]
[Traits: Physique of the Abyssal Kraken, Apex Predator of the Depths]
[Skills]
[END STATUS]
Damnit. I’m running low on mana.
I purse my lips for a moment before coming to a decision.
After reaching level 15 and getting my next skill, I’ll go ahead and head back to the start of the dungeon to call it a day.
My regeneration speed at this point is fourteen times the speed of a regular human. Which makes it so that a bruise that would normally take around a month to heal takes a mere two or three days to heal instead. Much less the smaller bruises and the like that I’ve been getting from the monsters here that only take a few hours to heal.
And the arrows shot by the orcs aren’t strong enough to pierce my armor even if the orcs themselves probably would be strong enough if they attacked with their blades.
So those only end up leaving some bruising instead of piercing my skin.
After taking another moment to catch my breath, I go back out from behind my cover and continue my assault on the orcs located up on the ruins. Startling them when I immediately come out throwing blades of pressurized water at them. Cutting into the neck of the one with the shield in particular.
But the stupid orc doesn’t die. He doesn’t even let go of his shield because the angle the water hit him didn’t cut his major artery or cut into his throat.
Damnit.
Deciding to just finish this now, I swim back down deep into the water before making a turn and swimming as fast as I can towards the surface. Following which I activate Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace and summon a tentacle right near the orcs as I fly straight over the ruins from my dive out of the water. And using that very tentacle I knock the orcs down into the water below like a bunch of bowling pins.
Then I land on the ruins near that cave of theirs before smugly walking over to the edge of the ruins and jumping back into the water to slaughter the orcs.
Fun fact. Even when I’m not in the water, the tentacles seem to have the same strength as me when I’m in the water. Regardless of whether the tentacles are underwater or not.
The moment I kill the second from last orc of the bunch, the message I’m looking for finally appears.