At first, it was calm.

Ione basked in the cool water, her [Cold Resistance], [Water Breathing] and [Swimming] skills all worked in combination that allowed her to comfortably move through the chilly waters as she examined the surface area of the ocean. Small fishes were seen flopping out of the water, only to make a small splash as they returned back home.

No predators were in sight. It was odd. Fishes were abundant, yet there seemed to be no struggle in this circle of life.

When Ione glanced back to the exit, she was dimly surprised to see that it seemed to be a floating dirt tunnel connected to a door. She could see the blue sky and fluffy clouds in the distance. It would have been a strange sight if Ione hadn't lived on worlds with floating rocks and monstrous carnivorous plants that were the size of two-story buildings.

A question came to her mind: how the fuck am I supposed to get back up there? She supposed the answer would come when she completed the dungeon.

Her eyes glanced down into the darkened depths. She knew that the further she descended into its cold abyss that monsters would appear, and, despite her previous experiences of living in an ocean, she was apprehensive of the kind of creatures she would see.

Some ocean animals were horrifying. It certainly wasn’t their fault, they were born like that, but Ione couldn't help the deep seeded primal fear that burgeoned for approximately two seconds at the thought of facing some new monstrosity under the dark deep.

She lamented about not being able to use her gun. It wouldn't be as effective underwater, so that proved the weapon useless for this dungeon, but she could hopefully use her double-sided porcelain-bone polearm. She quickly formed it and swung it under the water, determined to see if she could fight with it, and thankfully her strength stat was so high to the point that whatever resistance the water provided proved meaningless. It would be good to level up her most important skills while she can before she finished the dungeon.

If the Treller still wanted to talk to her after she finished the third dungeon, then she would do her best to complete the dungeons and get her stats as high as possible before undertaking a quest provided by that being.

With that thought in mind, she descended into its depths. Light blue slowly transitioned to deep azure and the fishes were abundant. Ione realized she would eventually have trouble seeing, she had yet to develop any skill to actually see in the dark, but she hoped that [Spatial Awareness] would help.

Some remnant of human instincts remained, and she could feel a tightness in her chest as she descended into the watery deep. Objectively, Ione knew it was fear, but she was able to separate the feeling with the knowledge that she had lived in oceans before, and often died horrific deaths.

Deeper and deeper she went. Ione couldn't see, all was black and she felt a pressure grow in her ears until they popped. Still, she went deeper, and eventually she felt the moment when pressure burst in her ears, which had hurt, but determined to push through without using [Pain Resistance], she quickly healed herself and the pain vanished.

Again, she thought about how peaceful it was.

Though, Ione knew it was the calm before the storm. Sometimes the waters were tranquil, but there was always a moment when the tides would turn, and a torrent of hell would rain upon the peace.

Legs kicked and arms paddled, and soon enough, Ione neared the bottom. The only way she knew was due to the luminescent glow of various fauna that decorated the substratum. If Ione had air, her breath would be caught, but all she could do was slowly descend and take in the scenery.

Bioluminescent fish swam past her, and she was in awe of how alive it was at the bottom. Realistically, she knew how abundant life could be at the bottom of the ocean, crustaceans, snails, sharks, squids, eels and other such life were plentiful, but it was a whole other world to see the bottom filled with plant fauna that glowed. The Coral had mesmerizing patterns that flickered with light, bioluminescent seagrass swayed in a light current, and radiant creatures that danced around the surroundings to create a picture that could have been out of a fantasy book.

This was a place she could live in. Yet, all was not calm. Just in the distance Ione saw some type of shark creature descend upon the fishes. It had a mouth surrounded by tentacles and was positively vicious. It was able to capture its prey with ease and quickly suck their dinner in with the tentacles that forced the fish into its mouth. It was bloody and grotesque, inelegant and messy. The creature's mouth was too small for anything to get through, so the appendages surrounding its mouth had to force the food through the hole.

Ione used [Inspect]

[Shoct] - LVL 314

The name was apt. Ione quickly grew her polearm and the Shock turned to her, its black gaze zeroing in on worthy prey. Briefly, Ione wondered if she should grow any armor, but decided against it as she didn’t want to be weighed down. She was remarkably fast in the water and she would rather give up any added protection if it meant she could outpace her enemy. Ione smiled and the adrenaline rushed through her bloodstream, her body gearing towards another fight and blasted forward. Her kicking legs brought her quickly to the beast and with an outstretched arm she tried to force the polearm into the Shocts mouth. It scraped off the barest hint of teeth and was flung sideways, Ione surprised and determined to not lose her momentum, twisted and swung the polearm against its back. A deep gash formed and the beast flinched in pain. It circled around her and she watched as more Shocts appeared from the murky darkness in the distance where the bioluminescence ended.

She counted an extra three that came to join the party, most likely due to the blood now in the water, and Ione adjusted her posture. Her arm tilted, and she pointed the polearm towards them. They must have known it was some sort of challenge and their movements become frenzied.

Ione was excited.

I fucking love fighting.

~~~~~

Ione defeated the Shocts with relative ease. She certainly didn't come out unscathed, but she came out the victor and that's what mattered. Their mangled corpses drifted down towards the bottom and despite what would actually happen when a creature dies in the ocean, their bodies just melted into the surrounding water. The creatures that drifted along the corrals wouldn't be able to have the meal that would naturally fall to them.

Ione felt a pang of sadness for the little creatures. She repeatedly chopped her arm off and watched as the flesh drifted down. Once it landed, Ione watched with rapt fascination as luminescent crabs greedily ate what used to be her flesh.

Did I just give crabs a taste for human flesh? Or elf? Whatever.

She couldn't see any other creatures to fight in the vicinity, so she decided to explore the bottom more. There had to be some cave or structure that could be examined.

Ione couldn't help the incessant feeling of unease that permeated through her being. There was something really odd about this dungeon and she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something she was missing. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. Without a doubt, Ione knew it was her instincts telling her that something was wrong, how there was an innate sense of It was obvious the feeling wouldn’t go away, so she just swam along the bottom in the hopes to find something interesting.

Soon, she received a notification.

Congratulations! You have been awarded the Class Aptitude Skill: Fins of Flesh

And then, something interesting did come along. She had happened upon a strange hole in the ground, one lined with glowing algae so she quickly swam in, eager to see where it would take her. After a few moments of swilling, she was stunned to realize that it opened up into a cavern, one where underwater mushrooms seemed to thrive. The grotto was huge, at least miles long, and teemed with life. Beasts clawed at each other's throats, squid-like creatures coiled themselves around hapless prey, lizard-like creatures with huge spikes surrounding them bent themselves into tight balls to ward off predators, and used those spikes much like that of a hedgehog when they were threatened. In the distance she could see that it would open up into another area, but once she made a move to go towards it, the surrounding life ceased their activities and stared at her.

She was the interloper. Her eyes tracked the animals that made a move towards her and she used [Inspect].

[Squin] - LVL 317

[Hydroter] - LVL 320

[Sublune] - LVL 305

[Nautis] - LVL 318

The Squin were creatures that had a circular main body, and had tentacles that extended out. The tentacles held the same shape as a squid's tentacles, but there was a key difference. The tentacles had tentacles.

What the actual fuck? Ione thought.

Tentacles upon tentacles upon tentacles. It gave her the creeps.

The Hydroters were tube creatures that wiggled on the lowermost portion of the cavern, the hollowed portion of their bodies would suck in food, and needles pop out to stab prey in place and suck out nutrients. Flowering fins would either lay flatly against their bodies or fill with the blood of their prey to produce wings that were razor sharp. A way to deter predators from attacking them.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Sublunes were the lizard creatures. Only huge, and had massive spikes that covered their bodies. Their tail eventually ended in a single spike that they could use as an extra defense mechanism. Another notable difference was that they had fins for legs, instead of the usual claw tipped fingers.

The last enemy type she saw were the Nautis’. As the name suggested, they were a chambered mollusk creature that had comically large eyes. They weren’t particularly threatening, but Ione noticed the strong substance they shot out of their mouths when creatures came too near. It was similar to the Redmane’s corrosive liquid, but instead of corroding, it seemed to poison those creatures until they eventually turned purple and distended.

Ione wanted to see if she could eat the poison.

Her eyes became half-closed as she imagined a weapon that was infused with all status effects that could be possible. She smiled and thought to herself, time to do some cavern cleaning.

The Squins were gross and routinely tried to squeeze her to death, but she was able to quickly dispatch them with a few well placed swipes to seaport their appendages from the main body. Although she had to watch out, as some separated tentacles gained a mind of their own and still attacked her.

The Hydroters were easy. Ione didn’t have much thought about them, some had recently eaten prey, and some hadn’t, so she faced more starving ones that had no defensive capabilities rather than those that did.

The Sublunes did actually prove difficult. Ione was generally a close range fighter, and just their biology prohibited her from getting too close. Many times her body was pierced straight through, leaving her body riddled with holes that she was forced to heal. Eventually she was able to defeat them, but she was tired after the fight. Her stamina had actually run dangerously low, and she was forced to take a break to hide away in an abandoned snail shell.

The notifications she got were plentiful, and she weighed herself down using a metal weight in her back and legs to go over her gains.

Congratulations! Class Aptitude Skill: Polearms of Flesh has leveled up!

Proficiency increased. Durability increased. Mana usage: 33 m/s

Now at: Tier 1 LVL 1

It wasn’t a big gain, but she appreciated the durability increase. The porcelain often chipped so she was forced to grow it back every few seconds or so. With a start, Ione realized that she was drastically behind her in increasing her aptitude skills.

Fuck! She would have to go back and consistently grind the same enemies over and over and over again to at least get them to a higher tier. And I wouldn't be able to accept the rewards.

She screamed under the water. This was the drawback of being absurdly powerful, but also being a part of a game system that had multiple things to keep track of. If she could breathe air, she would’ve sighed.

She debated whether she should accept the rewards of this dungeon when she was done, and decided it was probably best to ask Spewn if they knew the evolution level of a strange class. There was something inside her that wanted to continue getting rewards, the sweet dopamine hits were addictive, but she knew objectively that it would fuck up her class if she continued to do do so. She had to learn restraint and patience when it came to her class. Fleshweaver was weird, and it if it took her more experience to level up, she assumed it would take a higher level to get to the evolution, bt she had to verify it first before she did something drastic and accidentally fuck herself over.

With that in mind, she looked to her other level-ups.

DING! Arcane Flesh Healing Tier 2 LVL 7->... Arcane Flesh Healing Tier 3 LVL 1

Arcane Flesh Healing Tier 3 LVL 1: Your body heals from any injury at a rate of +100 hp/s- however it has a cost of 60 mana/s. Cannot protect against decapitations.

That was a wonderful boon. Her health stood at 2,275 points, so healing from even one HP would take roughly 22 seconds. That was fast, but not instantaneous. She had to level it up more.

DING! Arcane Flesh Molding Tier 2 LVL 2->... Arcane Flesh Molding Tier 2 LVL 9

Respectable, but not ideal. Although, she was sure that would be tier 3 soon enough.

DING! Arcane Flesh Molding Tier 1 LVL 7->... Arcane Flesh Molding Tier 2 LVL 2

Arcane legs of Momentum… your legs are enhanced for speed. Movement speed increased by 3 with a cost of 500 mana/m and 60 stamina/s. Gives a static boon of 2x the amount of stamina you have.

Ione’s eyes widened. Holy shit. Her stamina jumped from 4,875 points to a flat 6,500. Her body vibrated in excitement as she could now fight longer and faster without getting tired. The most recent battle left her drained with only 200 stamina left so this power-up would help immensely.

DING! Meditation of the Flesh Tier 2 LVL 6->... Meditation of the Flesh Tier 3 LVL 1

Meditation of the Flesh…when standing still or sitting, you may gain mana at a rate of +2.5% mana/s. Gives a static boon of 2.0× the amount of mana you have.

Her mana pool went from 7,000 to 8,000 so that was good. She only got half a percent increase in how much mana she regenerates, which Ione thought was slightly cheap, but she had no choice but to accept it.

DING! Total Body Control Tier 1 LVL 3->... Total Body Control Tier 1 LVL 7

It was a remarkable increase. Ione wondered if it was due to the environment; the water would naturally impede her movements, but her myriad of movement skills allowed her to move nearly as if she was on land. Ione smiled at the thought of finally hitting tier 2.

The only class skill that didn't level up was [Arcane Flesh Sense]. With a disappointed huff, she realized that it would be one of those skills she’d have to work at outside of combat. Since she wasn’t focused on trying to get an S rank in the dungeon, at least not yet, she figured she had time to spare while she rested.

[Arcane Flesh Sense] was an odd skill. She could control all of her senses, but she couldn't really see the benefit of turning off her balance. Or sight. Which is why it’s barely leveled. The only time she had really used the passive was when she turned off her sense of smell at her fight with Belan, and in the first dungeon. So, she decided to play around. She turned off her balance and the entirety of her being felt wonky, as if she was one of those wacky waving inflatable tube guys. Her sense of sight went next. Then her touch, hearing, and smell. All of her senses were turned off and the experience was…

Terrifying.

But also interesting in a clinical sense. Ione imagined it was much like being in a sensory deprivation chamber. On some level, it was soothing and she figured that it might be the perfect time to look inwards. Ione was no stranger to mediation, she had done it plenty, but this would be the first time she tried to find anything deeper. Something inside her called, and she had to answer.

She delved deep into the recess of her mind. Notifications dinged in her mind, but she paid them no heed.

Deeper…

Deeper…

Until, with a start, she immediately brought all of her senses back. Her chest heaved as it cycled water, and her eyes darted around, as if what she saw loomed in her vicinity.

It did, but not around her. Her eyes drifted towards her stomach, where Harold was. She lifted her tunic and poked at Harold’s teeth. They twitched, but no other movement was made.

What she saw within her mind was Harold. Complete darkness surrounded her and the sharp-toothed mouth. Licking their chops. Smiling. Waiting. It unsettled her, and she wasn’t sure what it meant.

Was Harold alive? As in, an actual entity? She thought the growth was just a quirk of her class, but now she was unsure. She wanted to look again, but noticed she had some new notifications, and decided to put it out of her mind for the time being. One heart pounding experience like that was enough for her for the day.

Though, she was glad the weird experience bore fruit.

DING! Arcane Flesh Sense Tier 1 LVL 2->... Total Body Control Tier 1 LVL 8

Fuck. Ione was going to have to do that again at some point. It was obvious that’s what her class required her to do so she can level up the passive.

Whatever. She’ll do it. She just wouldn't like it.

Her thoughts then drifted towards the dungeon.

It was extremely obvious that this dungeon was incredibly tough. The skills or items needed to survive in this environment were astounding. One would need flippers of some kind, a water breathing skill, or item, a swimming skill, or item, dimensional items to hold their weapons. If they still needed to eat or drink, then they needed to finish the dungeon relatively quickly so they could replenish themselves. Mages of any kind, besides water, would be fucked. Any moves that required finesse would be useless. This dungeon was abominable for adventurers.

Unless…

Ione wanted to smack herself. This was a level 300 dungeon. Of course it should be assumed that adventurers would work themselves up from a level one dungeon, so it would make sense that previous dungeons would most likely provide the needed materials/ items that would allow them to succeed.

Ione had completely bypassed that. Her skills and class were more than suitable for survival of any kind.

She was a predator. The apex. Her entire lifetime made it so, and it all culminated in the world of Terrestria.

It was calming to be miles beneath the ocean surface, surrounded by luminescent fauna, the sounds of fish and other creatures just trying to live their life beneath the surface. A completely alien existence to those who live above.

In a way, it resembled Ione. At least, she thought so. She knew her journey through Terrestria would be lonesome. She knew she was strange, in more than her class.

Yet, she knew she was strong. Stronger than the gods? Absolutely not. She still had plenty of room to grow, and she still had yet to go through a class evolution. It wouldn't do to become overconfident and she had to be sure to walk the thin line.

She couldn't be overconfident, or underconfident. Self-assurance in oneself could be dangerous if it went to either spectrum and she would do well to remember that, despite the incredible advantage her abilities brought her, she wasn’t impervious. A well placed strike to the neck to sever her head would work. A simple trap would work if her [Danger Sense] didn’t pick up on it fast enough. An ambush of berserkers might be able to take her down. A wind mage, if those existed, with a well placed strike to her unprotected neck would kill her and she wouldn't even know where the strike would come from. She could keep her neck armored at all times, but that would raise suspicion if other parts of her body weren’t armored. She couldn't keep up [Arcane Flesh Molding] at all times, the drain on her mana would be immense even with her mana regeneration abilities.

Ione had to acquire every advantage she could. She couldn't die.

She vowed to herself. I’m going to fucking live, even if that road is paved in blood.