A chill ran through Derek as the system notifications flashed one after another, disorienting him with their rapid pace. The ominous word "corrupted" echoed in his mind, sending a wave of unease through him. But as the last notification rolled, the part where he gained an additional 0.5 strength, his heart sped up.

He immediately looked at the merwoman who seemed completely indifferent to what was happening. Wait, did she know and she was acting indifferent or is she not aware of this new development?

Derek hesitated a moment and then silently closed his status screen. He himself did not fully understand what just happened. On the one hand, the merwoman might know something about all of this, but on the other… asking her was extremely risky.

Corruption was not really something glorious. Who knew how this person would react? For all he knew this was enough for her to decide that he was no longer the chosen one. Nope. It was best for him to keep this to himself for the time being.

Derek again glanced at the 0.5 increments in his strength. Yes, it was very small but he had gained without gaining a level. If he was not wrong, then something like this was not easily obtained.

He was also not naive enough to think that this so-called corruption wouldn’t be without any consequences. Despite that, he couldn’t help but feel a spark of excitement. He needed to find his mom and Jo and he needed more power for that. Maybe he could use this corruption and become stronger faster.

If he was not wrong, then all of this should have been a result of him consuming the flesh of the nest guardian or maybe just the action of fighting and defeating the bigger crab. To test these theories and to take the next step in leveling he needed another nest asap.

He turned to the merwoman again and opened his mouth when the other party immediately shook her head as if reading his mind. “I cannot help you anymore, my liege. I will still heal you and provide assistance but you are the ruler of this ocean. If I presume to know more than you and guide you, it will only hamper your growth.”

Derek opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. There goes his shortcut. He could tell it was only a matter of time before she stopped completely helping him. He needed to become stronger before that.

Clenching his fists, he closed his eyes to settle himself a little. Numerous thoughts raced in his mind but he slowly calmed himself down. What was his next step?

A thought popped up in his mind and he decided to test it out. His eyes still closed, he focussed again, and this time he paid attention to the mana around him. It took a moment for him to sense the mana and he needed to first gain a foothold by sensing the mana within him. Once he did that, he was able to use the same feeling to sense the mana around him.

As Derek concentrated, attempting to sense the mana around him, a sudden surge of energy overwhelmed his senses. Almost instantly, a blinding light assaulted him from the spot where the nest entrance had been. He staggered backward, raising his hands to shield his eyes.

It looks like to locate another nest he needed to locate another one of these mana-concentrated spots. He wondered how rare these were as he tried to close his eyes and sense if more of these were around him. Unfortunately, he did not have much luck standing in the same spot. He probably had to swim around.

Derek looked back at the direction from which they had fled. He then decided to swim in the opposite direction. He propelled himself through the dark depths, leaving the familiar terrain behind. As he swam further, he continued to focus his senses every other minute and get a feel for the mana around him.

The act was extremely taxing and the result was not too great but it turned out that mana sense was a skill that got better with practice.

Soon, he noticed something weird. There was a faint mana blob up ahead. It was not as intense as the nest but mana-rich nevertheless. Could it be another fish or another crustacean? He proceeded cautiously to take a look. Thankfully, the mana blob was located in the open waters, and from the way it swayed, it was clearly just a plant attached to a rock.

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Derek swam closer to take a look and his suspicions were confirmed. It was just a plant. He reached forward to pluck it to see what was so special about it when the merwoman standing behind him finally spoke up.

“No, my liege! You cannot handle a precious herb with such a heavy hand!” Derek turned to see the merwoman visibly angered as she rushed forward and stood next to him. She waved her hand and a small ripple in the water gently harvested the plant by separating the stem from the roots.

“Live and let live!” She mumbled in annoyance. “If you pull it haphazardly, the herb will permanently die without getting another chance to revive and grow. What will you harvest then?”

As she lectured him, the herb floated towards Derek. Seeing that she was no longer interested in the herb or what he was going to do with it, he examined the herb now floating toward him. Its leaves shimmered with a faint luminescence, and he could feel a gentle pulse of mana emanating from it.

He carefully took it into his hands. "So, even you have things you're passionate about," he remarked, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. The sight of the monster caring delicately for a plant was simply too bizarre.

“Every creature of the world has a role to play.” The merwoman snorted and turned away, no longer wanting to talk to him.

Derek did not poke her anymore. Besides, he had more important matters to test out. He turned the herb over in his hands a couple of times, after which he directly shoved it into his mouth.

“What are you doing?!!!” The merwoman shrieked but it was already too late. Derek gulped it down, waiting for a flurry of system notifications to pop out, except nothing really did pop up.

The herb slid down his throat without any immediate effect. He frowned, puzzled by the lack of response.

The merwoman stared at him in disbelief, her eyes wide with shock. "What have you done? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"I thought it might boost my abilities. Isn't that what magical herbs are supposed to do?" Derek tried to explain his actions without giving away too much.

“Consuming raw herbs without proper preparation can have unpredictable effects!"

The two of them stared in awkward silence for a few minutes but nothing really seemed to happen. Finally, the merwoman rolled her eyes or at least that’s what it looked like to Derek and swam to stand further away from him as if she did not want to catch his stupidity.

Derek did not care. So random mana-rich plants did not work. It was good to know. He needed to eat more things to figure out what would benefit him and what did not. Maybe it wasn’t at all what he ate. Maybe it was the water around the plant or the fish. Maybe he needed to swim deeper.

Derek stared down at the dark endless water. A feeling of nothingness came over him as he looked at the vast expanse stretching out before him. The ocean seemed to want to swallow him whole, its depths hiding countless secrets and dangers. Would he get out of here with more power or as a corpse?

As he continued to stare absentmindedly into the nothingness, suddenly a pair of eyes stared back at him. A shiver ran down his spine and he flinched quickly looking away. What the hell was that? He looked at the darkness again but nothing stared back at him this time around.

Derek did not even know if he wanted to see those eyes again or not. He had enough problems as is. He shook it off and continued to swim forward. The merwoman wordlessly followed him. This continued for a few hours. There was a lot of distance to cover.

Derek used every chance he got to practice his swimming skill and the newly acquired [Wave Shift] to get a feel for the mana usage. He also tried pushing mana to his four extremities as he swam and unlocked a new skill [Torpedo Swimming].

Thankfully, he did not run into anything problematic except for a couple of level 13 fish which he took care of with a bit of struggle. Naturally, he consumed the two fish right then and there but he did not get any more notifications about extra stat points or corruption.

The two of them continued swimming for a while when they came across a school of fish, each fish with a light blob on its head. The blobs pulsated gently, casting a soft glow that illuminated the surrounding waters with hues of blue and green. Derek watched in fascination as the fish moved in perfect synchronization, their movements creating mesmerizing patterns in the water.

They were level 2 fish and from previous encounters, Derek knew they did not offer many experience points. He had killed an entire school of these fish without gaining a single level. So this time he did not bother attacking this school. The way they lit up the entire ocean was very convenient for him and he ended up following them along for a while.

Just when he was wondering if this was even productive, the fish shockingly led him to another mountainous region like the previous one and this one as well was glittering like gold from top to bottom with numerous mana-rich pockets. Derek instantly knew he had struck rich.