Alright. Trip number three.
Declan cycled the airlock, gulped in a fresh lungful of time, and dove back into the ocean. Lifting a sharp stone from the ocean bed, he swam over to his leg, shooing away the little rust-shrimp that had gathered over it again. He used the leg to trigger one of the oyster pit-traps, slamming it footfist down onto the organic landmine. Spines shot out, skewering the lightweight outer places.
He settled himself down onto the sand, and began to dig the sharp stone down into the roots of the spikes, making sure to carefully brush the sensitive ‘feelers’ that triggered the trap to see if any more spikes were waiting. Another one that hadn’t quite fired before shot up, but most of the trap’s payload was spent until the spikes retracted below.
And while they were exposed, he cut into the flesh around them, tracing a spine back into the dirt with his makeshift knife until he found something fleshy to cut at. In moments he’d managed to saw and rip the muscle that gave the spike its springloaded bite.
Pulling the spike away, he admired it for a moment. It was made of an oily white material like an organic stone, somewhat similar to the shells of oysters. Somehow, even though it’s an absurd magical trap, it actually resembles Earth critters quite a lot. I wonder if this was a real oyster once, before it fell into this ‘Rift’ with me and the plane.
He moved carefully but quickly, gutting as many of the spines as he could and ripping them out of the ground as the muscle beneath failed. Soon the pit trap was totally disarmed. It wasn’t as efficient as trying to trigger the trap, then trying collect the flesh and pearls before the spikes could retract back under the earth. But since Declan had never interacted with this lifeform before, he went with the thorough approach.
When it was done, he scraped the dirt away to reveal the oyster’s main body. It was a kind of toothless mouth perched within an open-mouthed, round shell hidden below the surface of the seabed. Embedded into the upper flesh of the mouth was a large pearl underneath a translucent layer of skin.
Already running out of time – Declan had counted eight minutes in his last expedition, and didn’t want to push beyond that – he gripped the whole thing and pushed off against the seafloor to pull it up entirely, dislodging a hairy net of ‘roots’ that had anchored it. The oyster wasn’t still, either. The gray-yellow flesh was bubbling and flexing, its toothless mouth gulping blindly.
What a gross creature – but I bet it tastes great.
Grabbing the leg, the spines, and the oyster itself, Delcan retreated back into the sub. As the water washed down the vents of the airlock, he limped in to sit on the bed and begin breaking down his haul. First he cut the lump in the oyster’s mouth open. The lopsided white pearl within popped out, and he lifted it to his eye.
Like he’d hoped…
A treasure icon appeared in the corner of his vision.
Flawed Pearl of Breath (Basic)
This small pearl can be placed under the tongue, providing breathable air for ten minutes. Produced by local species that absorb mana from their prey. Perfect specimens are remarkably rare, but are never exhausted, allowing for unlimited breath.
He examined it for a moment more, turning it over in his fingers. So things like this could be anywhere, huh? If I’m really going to survive, it will be because I keep my eyes open and keep stockpiling advantages like these. Thought about the right way… This is another life. A chance to live when I wander too far, or get chased around, and can’t get back to the ship in time.
Looking down at the oyster in its round shell, he lifted one of its own spines and stabbed down. Somewhere within the shell the spike found a vital point.
Killed an (Insignificant) servant of the Abyss, a Trapjaw Oyster. 0.01 Bloodline experience gained.
As yellow blood spurted out, he dropped the shell to the ground. I’ll cook you up later once I’ve determined whether it’s safe to light a fire in here.
Opening his menu again he confirmed the experience gain. It wasn’t much, but it was confirmation that the way to power in this game was to kill.
And a bigger monster, almost definitely means bigger xp. I could spend all day farming these oysters, but I’d just be wasting time I could spend exploring.
The cold was a little less pressing now that he had the wetsuit, at least. And as long as held this pearl in reserve, he could try venturing further out.
Next, he tried to jam one of the spikes he’d harvested down into the gap between the locker and pry it open. Unfortunately, the point wasn’t flat enough to slip into the join between the locker’s door and its frame, and while he barely got some leverage, the spine snapped in his hand as he tried to push force into it.
Sighing, Declan settled down. He puffed on his hands and rubbed them together until he could feel his fingers better, and began to break his leg down, prying away plates and stripping the materials apart. It was tough work, the edges biting into his hands as the prosthetic broke apart layer by layer. Finally, he got to the core and took out the underlying ‘bones’ of the leg, breaking it apart by bending it backwards against the joint until it snapped. He was left with a pile of metal plates, and a length of light-weight but durable plastic. Getting string by sawing at the bedsheets and pulling a loose thread, he tied on one of the oyster spikes.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
It was a spear. Crude and with not as much reach as he would have preferred – but a weapon nonetheless.
My fire magic might only be good for movement down here, but I bet I can catch a fish or two. Or catch a monster off-guard by slamming straight into it with this.
If the name of the game is fighting…
It’s time to see how tough the opposition is.
— — —
It was time to hunt something that could actually fight back. As Declan dove back into the water, paddling slowly with his spear gripped in one hand, a sea of multicolored fish darted and swam around him. Any one of them might theoretically be prey… But they probably won’t give any more experience than the oyster.
But there were bigger creatures.
A massive catfish drifted across the seafloor, sucking up algae and scum. Declan chose it because he knew an easy target when he saw one. It had no teeth, no claws, but it was big – mostly it survived by being big and swallowing up everything smaller. Its only weapons were a pair of tusks that emerged from its broad-lipped low jaw.
Declan, not being smaller, thought it would make a pretty good meal.
He followed behind it for a minute or two, not quite sure when to make his move. It didn’t seem to be bothered by him trailing it at a distance – it continued to drink up algae and crud with abandon, slurping up smaller fish when they wandered too close.
Soon he had tracked it to a feeding ground where larger fish swam, bullying out the small, bright tropicals. It was an open field of cracked white earth.
He slid behind a boulder, watching manta rays and groupers drift by. Waiting for the ideal moment to lunge in and seize the catfish without being attacked by an opportunistic third party. Scavengers loved to let a predator tire itself out fighting then drive it away from the kill before it could eat.
But something was strange here. The water felt almost electric, a sensation that grew and grew until Declan realized–
It was coming up from the cracked ground.
Suddenly a jet of blue shot up from the cracked ground. Pure, brilliant light billowed like a flame into the sky, and Declan felt the ‘heat’ of his mana in his chest react, surging up hungrily. Whatever magical powers he’d unlocked, they wanted this.
And so did everything else.
Instantly, every fish twisted towards that point of light and began a mad dash for the blue geyser. Wherever they came to close, teeth flashed, tails kicked, violence swirled through the water. A manta ray stung viciously at a large octopus. A massive gulping fish opened wide and a vortex formed around its open maw, sucking in a smaller pale-yellow shark. It was chaos.
Everything that survived the melee fought towards the center, surging towards the geyser. Droplets of blue broke away from the stream of light that was shooting upwards from the glowing vent, flying to enter the bodies of the nearby fish and make their skin pulse with that same blue light.
They were absorbing the energy from the vent.
Is that… Raw mana? Experience? Whatever it is… I want it.
Whatever it was it was worth dying for, and many did. Blood and chunks of flesh floated in the water as the weak were drive back, a large scuttling crab finally planting itself directly over the vent. No matter what the others did, they couldn’t drive it away or get close enough to steal any of the energy.
As it swallowed the bounty of the geyser up the crab was beginning to change. Its sea-green shell was growing spikes, and its larger right claw was turning black and beginning to bulge with hideous new growths that looked like glowing tumors.
As one of the tiny octopus spawn tried to creep close enough to snag a floating spark–
The crab’s claw flashed, and snapped shut. An exactly identical claw of stone erupted up from the earth, crushing the octopus with a squelching pop of ink before it could escape.
The other fish instantly turned and fled from their evolved competitor. It had won the feeding frenzy.
And the catfish Declan had been hunting surged right past him.
Now or never.
He fired off a Scorching Spear from one hand, launching himself like a torpedo to catch up to it in the blink of an eye. The fish moved with surprising speed, whipping its tail around defensively to kick up a smokescreen of billowing dust that covered its retreat. His first spear-strike jabbed into the cloud and stabbed into the dirt. Holding back a growl of frustration, he fired off another Scorching Spear and chased it across the blue depths.
This time he didn’t miss. His spear jabbed down from above, catching the catfish near where the right fin joined the main body. He fired once more, blazing heat from his palm and slamming it down into the ocean bed. The catfish was surprisingly strong, twisting and thrashing, and its tail whipped around and struck him in the face. Blood billowed from a broken nose.
With the catfish pinned down, the spear pushed down and punched through. Despite being fully impaled it was still fighting, tusks ripping against the tough fabric of his wetsuit, tail beating against his side with dazing blows that threatened to make him spit up his air.
The spear alone wasn’t going to cut it in – and as blood poured from his face Declan realized he had no time to let the creature die from its wounds.
Wrapping his arms around the struggling, slippery creature, Declan grabbed hold of its skull and thought–
SCORCHING SPEAR!
Dim red light blazed from his hands, instantly dissolving the water into a cloud of steam that boiled up and singed as his face, spitting and popping and hissing. But the attack had been point blank. Even though the fire couldn’t move past his palms, the heat was still there, and the catfish was cooked alive as Declan boiled its skull.
In moments the tail had ceased to thrash –
Two messages popped in rapid succession.
!!WARNING!! Floor Boss has been awakened! Seek sanctuary or prepare to fight!
Killed an (Insignificant) servant of the Abyss, a Sabre-Toothed Catfish (Mana Infused). 0.2 Bloodline experience gained. (+.1 bonus experience).
Declan didn’t waste time. He barely had any breathe left before he’d have to swallow the pearl, so he turned tail, firing off a double-spear to launch him back towards the safety of the ship. The catfish under his arm, he climbed up into the airlock and twisted the door closed.