Diving into the surprisingly warm water, Alistair and Riseth prepared themselves for any beasts that might come their way. However, none seemed aggressive or foolish enough to attack them.
The first thing Alistair noticed was the sheer variety and abundance of fish swimming around them. They came in all sorts of sizes, colors, and shapes. Although none appeared to be a significant threat or particularly magical, some of the fish were early Grade 9, yet still seemed mundane. It felt strange to think of these fish as normal, especially considering that merely a year ago, he wouldn't have been able to hurt most of them.
"Can you capture some of them with your telekinesis?" Riseth inquired over the Akashic link, her eyes following a school of fish resembling armored carp in shades of dark red, brown, and yellow.
"Sure thing," Alistair replied.
Although they didn't really need additional food sources, since the mundane plants they brought with them grew rapidly and they had a growing stock of livestock, discovering new ingredients could still be beneficial. Barton and the other magical cooks could use these new ingredients for magical cooking, which could provide stat boosts and other benefits. Fish, in particular, had a higher chance of being suitable for magical cooking. Alistair used his telekinesis to capture a portion of the school, pressuring the fish until they allowed themselves to be stored in his storage. Good food would also help with mental fatigue and boost morale.
As they descended deeper, they approached the nearest of the Grade 8 beasts they could sense, maneuvering across the rocky and sandy lakebed. The water was quite clear but still limited their visibility. They instinctively drew back upon recognizing the beast: a Lirsaross. Although this one was much weaker than the one in the mountain lake, spotting another of these creatures suggested it was one of the more common powerful beasts on their planet as they had found a few around Rathos. This was good as they tasted great, and it meant they weren't just native to Rathos and it's surroundings, but the planet's waterways as a whole. They also made for the most massive shrimp-on-the-barbie.
"Another one of these scythe shrimps," Riseth remarked with a frown.
"Yeah, let's leave it alone. There's not much value in killing it until it becomes stronger," Alistair concurred, moving towards another of the nearby Grade 8 beasts, hoping it wasn't another Lirsaross. He paused when he noticed Riseth hesitating. Following her gaze, he saw the beast feeding on what looked like long white tentacles with red rims. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a type of kelp.
"Let's see if we can find some of that kelp while we look around. Something tells me it could be valuable," Riseth suggested.
Alistair's Conceptual Awareness skill confirmed her suspicion. He detected traces of water, nature, and purity aspects within the kelp. It made him ponder whether purity might be a more common concept than he initially thought, as they had already encountered several sources and treasures containing it. Perhaps it relates to a planet's purity? Alistair mused, glancing around at the clear water and recalling the unspoiled landscapes of Lacustrine. They would need to work hard to preserve its pristine nature, though it should be worth their efforts and quite manageable with the magic available to them.
Floating over a crevice, he noticed more of the kelp, gently swaying in the low currents. He descended, using his Telekinesis skill to move the rock and soil, unearthing the plant. Riseth guarded the top of the crevice, sensing a powerful presence approaching them, though it lacked any bloodlust, at least for the moment. He was about to stop his work and join her when she signaled him to continue still drawing her bone blades. "I got this," She confidently said over the Akashic Link.
He hesitated for a moment but then hurried up, the presence growing closer, though it still lacked any hostility or bloodlust. It was slightly unnerving. Just as he finished collecting the last of the kelp, the sparse light from the surface was blotted out by a massive beast, almost as large as King. Its fins were a bright light purple, transitioning into dark blue scales that grew orange around the edges, shimmering with an almost golden sheen in the dim light. The creature had the body of an Arowana, but the front of its body was a mix of draconic and fish-like features, complete with long whiskers. Alistair realized it had to be a wyrm variant but paused as he noticed its front limbs connected to wing-like structures specialized for underwater mobility. Despite its lack of hind legs, he wouldn't categorize it as a sea serpent either. His Identify skill only revealed that the creature was an [Arowanath - lvl 124], but he had no prior record of it within his stored knowledge. Based on its name, he surmised it might be related to an Arowana. Did Earth have this very same beast?
"What the hell is that thing exactly?" Alistair asked, slowly ascending while observing the beast. It spared him a glance but idly swam past, uninterested in engaging with them.
Riseth didn't lower her guard, her gaze still fixed on the creature, noting its higher level. "I don't know. It's not in my Akashic Link's knowledge base or the Network."
Curiosity piqued, Alistair reached out to Dexter through the Akashic Link, adding him to the conversation. "Hey Dexter, what is this Arowanath?" while sharing his vision.
"Hi, Alistair!" Dexter's excited voice rang over their Akashic Link. "What do you mean by 'What is this Arowanath?'"
"I mean, what species is it? It looks like a sea serpent, but it has front limbs with wings instead of fins," Alistair explained.
"Oh, I see!" Dexter replied. "The Arowanath is an amphithere. It's part of the draconic family closely related to Fluffy's species and is essentially the underwater version of a wyvern."
Alistair hadn't heard that term before and suspected it had to do with the term amphithere, which sounds a lot worse than just calling it a sea wyvern.
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"Can you tell us anything about its combat style?" Riseth questioned, still wary of the beast despite it lazily swimming out of sight.
"Hi, Riseth!" Dexter replied eagerly. "The Arowanath primarily utilizes powerful water-based abilities. When engaged in combat, it relies heavily on manipulating water and leveraging its considerable strength and agility underwater. However, they're generally quite peaceful and prefer to feed on algae and the cores of water-aspected beasts. Due to their calm nature and striking appearance, they're often kept as ornamental creatures by powerful individuals."
They both relaxed a little. "I guess we worried over an ornamental fish," Alistair said with a chuckle.
Before Riseth could reply, they sensed a clash between two Grade 8 monsters, sending ripples of energy through the water. They hurried to observe and found the Arowanath battling the Lirsaross. The scythe shrimp unleashed rapid water scythes at the sea wyvern, but the Arowanath either redirected the attacks with its magic or easily shrugged them off with its tough scales. The Arowanath moved like a blur, tackling the Lirsaross and sending it sprawling over the rocky surface. With a flick of its claws, the Arowanath tore the water around the shrimp, ripping off one of its arms before diving in to bite its long neck. It plunged its claws into the scythe shrimp's head and upper body, pressing it into the rocky lake floor and tearing at it, staining the water red with blood.
Riseth looked at him with a smug expression. "Just an ornamental fish, huh?"
"We both know you were about to agree," Alistair pointed out.
"Uh! Exciting! I've been quite bored lately. Can I watch you guys explore more often?" Dexter inquired hopefully.
They watched as the Arowanath buried its snout into the hole it had created in the chest of its opponent, ripping out its core and instantly killing it. It swallowed the core and turned to look at them again before swimming away, a little faster this time.
"Sure, as long as you don't distract us and help us identify the beasts," Alistair said, keeping an eye on the departing Arowanath.
"We might as well retrieve the body. It'd be a waste to let it rot," Riseth added, moving toward the fallen Lirsaross and storing its body and severed claw.
As they continued to explore, they didn't find any more beasts or treasures of note. The lake hadn't grown more powerful from a dungeon break or hidden treasure but was a natural formation. The circulation of different rivers in and out of the water, each with slightly different diffused concepts, increased the magical density and promoted the growth of the local algae, fish, and monsters. They continued exploring other nearby sites of interest along the equator. Still, most were similar in nature, with only a handful of unknown, generally low-tier treasures and monsters, with no new monsters that had reached Grade 8 yet, though some were very close and would advance in grade soon, and they decided to leave them alone.
After three and a half weeks spent exploring some of the most dangerous locations across Lacustrine, they decided it was time to reassess their next steps. Their followers could continue the exploration while they shifted their focus to much-needed training and body cultivation, areas that had been neglected over the past few weeks. Despite this, they had still managed to level up twice. Currently on the southern continent of Lacustrine—less lush but still vibrant with life thanks to its network of lakes and rivers—they knew it was time to return to Rathos. They needed to deliver their accumulated treasures and materials for their clan to process and assess, having only briefly returned after the Everbright Dungeon to deposit those materials before diving into planetary exploration. The stop at Rathos would also give them a chance to address important matters, as they knew much had likely unfolded during their absence. While regular updates and meetings through the Akashic Link skill kept them informed, these communications were intentionally kept brief to prevent distractions, trusting their people to manage things in their stead.
As Rathos came into view on the screens of the Artemis, both Alistair and Riseth stared in disbelief. Rathos had visibly expanded again, with its walls and farms stretching much further than before. More harvesting terraces were covered in various crops and herbs, not all of which Alistair recognized. The walls now had a proper star-shaped fortress look, surrounding the entire main mountain and some of its neighbors, covering an incredible amount of landmass when considering their population. Turrets and automata were stationed atop the walls, occasionally directed by demons or humans. Traces of a recent battle were evident as hovercraft rushed down new roads leading outside Rathos, collecting what appeared to be killed Hukris wyverns. From their vantage point, they could see ongoing excavation work on the surrounding mountains, with earth mages transforming the terrain at an almost visible rate even from their height.
Riseth adjusted the scans, attempting to gauge the full extent of the underground expansion, but her sensors were blocked, indicating that many of the basic defensive arrays had already been put in place. As Alistair observed the numerous automata patrolling the walls and tending to the fields, he felt reassured. Keeping one of the automata replicators had proven to be an excellent decision, as the growing number of these mechanical workers greatly accelerated both the expansion and the overall security of the area.
"We might need to make a longer stop to get an update on Rathos," Riseth commented as they approached a new landing site between the mountains. A massive hatch, disguised as a ridge, slid open to both sides, creating a gap large enough for them to land.
"Braxik and Nessyra have truly outdone themselves," Alistair remarked, admiring the massive hatch with its metallic frame and what he suspected were magic-powered hydraulics.
"Pretty sure your brother also deserves his fair share of credit for this," Riseth noted.
Alistair was still astonished by the sheer speed of the expansion. He knew that mass-producing automata and using magic would accelerate progress significantly, but this was beyond his expectations. Projects of this scale would take years, if not decades, to complete on Earth before the initiation. When they disembarked, they were greeted by Simon's father, Thomas, who waved them over.
"Alistair, Riseth, it's good to see you two!" he said with a wide smile, embracing Riseth first, then Alistair, clapping his back.
"It's good to see you too, sir. It has been a while," Alistair replied.
"Bah, don't call me sir. You are essentially my boss now. Call me Thomas, like I told you," Thomas corrected.
Thomas was accompanied by a handful of demons and humans Alistair didn't recognize. He nodded in greeting, and they responded with nervous bows.
"Nessyra mentioned that the two of you have been collecting many interesting and valuable specimens. I can't wait to work on something other than Hukris," Thomas said, his excitement evident.
Alistair didn't openly comment and simply extended his hand as they exchanged storage items, dropping off all the captured and killed beasts.
"Well now, I never thought I'd get to work on something like this." Thomas said, intrigued," The alchemists and healers, in particular, are going to love this," Thomas added, looking at his system; based on the way Thomas seemed to thumb through a book, he presumed his system was also represented by a book much like Alistair's mother.
Before Alistair could ask more questions, Nessyra's assistant and Alistair's former student, Zarrias, hurried their way; seeing his face, Alistair knew their stop would be much longer than they had expected.