Book 1: Chapter 27

Aqua I wake up feeling better rested than I’ve been in quite a while. No pain. No discomfort. None of that. Well, other than marks on my face from sleeping with a backpack as my pillow. But those fade away in moments. After stretching my arms over my head for a bit, I climb to my feet and proceed to do other stretches. Then I go ahead and summon my trident from my storage ring and jump down into the water below. Ready to start the day. Let’s see what’s deeper in that tunnel. I didn’t sense any mana instability, so there probably aren’t any dungeons. And the walls seem to be getting darker the further I went down the tunnel yesterday. Which likely implies getting deeper underground. At least based on what I saw before when I made it to the exit of the caves a while back. When the cave walls got lighter the closer I got to the exit. I’m genuinely very curious about what’s down there at this point. So I immediately head straight through my makeshift tunnel into the other tunnel before going down in the same direction I went yesterday. For two entire hours, occasionally killing a couple monsters along the way. There don’t seem to be as many monsters respawning now though. No doubt because of the dungeon’s destruction. It probably affected the entire area, even through the walls. The fact that there aren’t really many if any monsters reappearing in the waters outside of my little home is enough proof of that. That’s both a good and a bad thing though. Considering that it means less monsters to kill for EXP. On that note, I glance at my status. [REQUESTING STATUS: USER AQUA FALLEN] [STATUS RETRIEVED] [Name: Aqua Fallen] [Level: 19] [Mana: 190/190] [Strength: 37(25)] [Dexterity: 19] [Constitution: 19] [Magical Strength: 18] [REGEN: 198] [Free Points: 0] [Traits: Physique of the Abyssal Kraken, Apex Predator of the Depths] [Skills] [END STATUS] I managed to level up after killing monsters for a couple hours yesterday. All the ones in the tunnel. Fortunately for my leveling prowess, the monsters in this tunnel are all surprisingly in the mid tens range. Around level thirteen to sixteen. Which make for good EXP. Although there are also quite the number of weaker monsters thrown into the mix. Like levels five through nine. They were pretty useless. No REGEN stat points from them, and barely any EXP. Still. EXP is EXP. So I continue swimming through the tunnel for another two hours even after the initial two hour swim to get back to where I was yesterday. And it’s only after all of that swimming that I finally find something new. And it’s... weird. It looks like a pitch black wall that’s sorta moving in a way. And I’m honestly not sure what it is. I slowly inch closer to it while trying to identify it. But I don’t get any response from the System. Meaning whatever it is, it’s not alive. Or it’s not a monster. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I’m betting more on the former though. Because I think I recognize this smell. Still not sure how or why I can smell underwater though. That said, the smell is similar to ink from a pen. And if that’s the case... I reach out to poke the black stuff before pulling my finger back and raising it to my nose. Yep. I begin drawing a cute jellyfish doodle on the cavern wall with my ink covered finger. Not that the doodle really stays, considering that I’m underwater and it’s a cavern wall. But the chat seems happy to have gotten a picture of it, so whatever. Anyways, it’s absolutely ink. There’s no doubt about it. And if this is either a tunnel or a cavern full of ink, then does that mean there are a bunch of squids in there? I frown at that for a moment before shrugging. Either way, this is an interesting change of pace. So I go ahead and activate Call of the Abyss. Making me let out that call once again before four portals open up. Except this time no water pours out of the portals. Only the orcas come through. And without any hesitation, I proceed to send the orcas into the ink as bait. Ordering them to hunt any living monster they find in there. Of course, just their passing ends up making some trails that allow me to see. Mixing the ink a bit with the surroundings. But when I don’t see the orcas for a while, I begin to wonder just what’s happening in there. Especially when I do hear some noise coming from the ink. Mostly some calling sounds from the orcas. Right when I’m wondering if I should enter or not though, several System Messages appear in my vision. One after another. And they don’t stop either. [You have killed a level thirteen Deepsea Squid. EXP has been granted accordingly.] [You have killed a level fourteen Deepsea Squid. EXP has been granted accordingly.] [You have killed a creature underwater. Apex Predator of the Depths has been activated, increasing your REGEN stat by one.] [You have killed a level thirteen Deepsea Squid. EXP has been granted accordingly.] [You have killed a level fourteen Deepsea Squid. EXP has been granted accordingly.] [You have killed a creature underwater. Apex Predator of the Depths has been activated, increasing your REGEN stat by one.] Just one after another. With the messages alternating between level thirteen and fourteen squids. And judging by the fact that the orcas are just slaughtering them all, I’m beginning to wonder if they’re using some sort of sonar or something. Which would make sense now that I think about it. They have been letting out those chirping call sounds every now and then while in there. Huh. Didn’t actually think to use them in that way. I glance at the chat. [Echolocation. That’s a smart use of the orca summons.] [Our girl’s smart!] [That’s a lot of squids.] “Thanks for the compliments,” I say with a lazy smile, deciding to roll with it. Anyways, the messages continue for a little while before I get one different message that has my smile growing even wider. [Congratulations! You have now reached level 20! Your total free points have increased by two, and your mana stat has increased by ten. Allocate the free points whenever you please. Additionally, you have now unlocked your fourth skill.] Nice! Another skill! But the question is whether this skill will take after the Kraken or the Abyssal Orca more. I don’t have to wait long to find out though as I quickly open my status and then my skills screen. Only to surprisingly find the skills screen turned into a menu just like the status. One I’m able to interact with. It also has the other skills shortened and selectable. Interesting. [REQUESTING SKILLS: USER AQUA FALLEN] [4 SKILLS RETRIEVED] [MORE THAN THREE SKILLS DETECTED] [ALL SKILLS CONDENSED] [Skill 1: Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace] [Skill 2: Hydrokinetic Wrath] [Skill 3: Call of the Abyss] [Skill 4: Abyssal Kraken’s Partial Shift] [END SKILLS] Wait, excuse me? Um. A partial shift skill? I stare blankly at the skill name before hurrying up and selecting it. [REQUESTING SKILLS: USER AQUA FALLEN] [4 SKILLS RETRIEVED] [MORE THAN THREE SKILLS DETECTED] [ALL SKILLS CONDENSED] [Skill 1: Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace] [Skill 2: Hydrokinetic Wrath] [Skill 3: Call of the Abyss] [Skill 4: Abyssal Kraken’s Partial Shift] [Description:Abyssal Kraken’s Partial Shift allows the user to transform certain parts of their body into features of the Abyssal Kraken, the Kraken, or the Abyssal Orca. The parts the user may shift include the following: Tentacles, Fangs, Sensory Organs] [Cost: Abyssal Kraken’s Partial Shift costs differing amounts of mana depending on which body parts are shifted into what and for how long and how many parts at once.] [Cooldown: Abyssal Kraken’s Partial Shift has no cooldown.] [END SKILLS] Huh. It really is a partial shift skill. And it lets me shift some of my body to tentacles? Or does that mean grow tentacles? Not really sure. As for the sensory organs, that’s probably going to be useful. Since it doesn’t specify only human sensory organs. Actually, I should be able to get through this ink now with this new skill. So that’s rather convenient. In the same way the squids are fine in there, I should be able to use the skill to shift and gain their sensory organ that senses vibrations. But before that, there’s something I want to know. So I activate the skill, making a tentacle appear from my back, somehow just passing through my armor without doing anything to it. Because physics. Alright. Good to know the skill doesn’t seem to be affected by... my... armor? Huh? I stare blankly at the end of the tentacle. So... it didn’t mean fangs in my mouth but... fangs at the end of the tentacles? For some reason the tentacle has a split mouth at the end filled with razor sharp teeth. Was not expecting that.