Kai twisted his wet clothes, causing water to drip into his questing mouth. He gasped as the water soothed his arid throat.

With his mind clear, he wondered what about this location was supposed to be compatible with him? Was it simply that he was an exceptional swimmer?

He had avoided the luminous water initially because of the hot steam venting from within, plus the melted copper-sunrise-looking liquid and crystals surrounding it, but with his improved body, the heat was bearable.

How do I get out if I leap over the outer layer into the clear centre? Should I touch the strange liquid and see what happens? Oh god… can bacteria get levels? Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. After some thinking, he bulldozed sand towards the clear water. An hour later, his little path was complete.

Kai squinted as he peered beneath the surface. Alabaster rock as white as bone rimmed the underwater grotto’s maw. Jutting out like gills, rocky protrusions spiralled down into the murky depths where he could see a faint blue light.

He shuddered at the thought of swimming through the gullet of what felt like a long-dead creature; if he had not seen that flying whale he would not have thought it possible. Kai hesitantly dipped his feet into the water, startling when bubbles broke the surface. However the water was bath hot, and after some hesitation, he lowered himself in with the smallest splash he could manage. He didn’t want to alert anything to his presence.

The warm water soothed his tense muscles, but he felt vulnerable treading the water naked. He tentatively sipped some. Tastes the same. Soooo using my clothes was pointless? Kai grumbled as he sloshed out to pull his pants on; the last thing he wanted was some toothy fish thinking it had found a tasty worm.

Kai thought about the longest he had held his breath. A normal swimmer could reach almost two minutes; he could reach three, but the world record for diving was eleven minutes. He sat down and stared at the water, then took a deep breath and began counting, wanting to test if his limits had changed. He planned to swim back up if he reached half of his maximum time.

He collapsed on the sand as he heaved in great gasps of the humid air. Four and a half minutes, a fifty percent improvement. This is amazing! He wondered how sense and mind would improve him after ranking up. After catching his breath, he started his underwater delve. The water got warmer the deeper he went; Kai stopped after a minute when he could make out the source of light in the water. Far beneath him a bright blue light refracted off the white rocks obscuring some sort of structure. Can I get that deep and make it back to the surface?

He continued swimming down, knowing two minutes would be his halfway point for air. He kept his heart rate calm to save oxygen. His eyes darted around the suspiciously serene depths.

Kai drifted around a giant alabaster hand, reaching out from the murky depths. In the centre of its palm resided a shimmering anvil. Blue light pumped from the anvil through crystal veins towards three fingers of the giant hand. These fingers had actually been chiselled into statues themselves, and were studded with crystals humming with blue light. The light from these crystal statue fingers penetrated a few hundred feet. Kai gazed down and could just make out the alabaster giant’s elbow in the darkness. How could a floating island be so deep? It made no sense.

Bubbles vented past him as he glided to the first finger statue with awe-struck eyes. It looked like an effervescent fairy with wings made of clouds.

He read the engraving beneath: ‘If you want your soul to dance in the clouds, you must learn to juggle lightning and taste thunder.’ — Skylark Giggledrop, Fey Warden from Ratheshan. Sage of lightning, thunder, and cloud weaving.

Kai blinked in surprise. Was a Sage a master of sorts? He didn’t recognise Ratheshan, yet it was phrased like it was where Skylark came from, perhaps a city or planet? He smiled at the possibility of acquiring knowledge or abilities from beings across the universe. In tough times Kai usually retreated from his responsibilities to train, and this was certainly a tough time. With little to go on, he considered how he might escape with this ability. If he could turn into a cloud, perhaps he could slip between cracks in the doors. While wielding thunder and lightning sounded amazing, he doubted its effectiveness against stone doors.

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Kai paddled over to the second statue. It appeared human, but with star-dusted skin.

‘Most nights you’ll find me orbiting suns in my hammock, sipping the night black, a few stars as sugar cubes.’ — Altair Sol, Starforger from Miobos. Sage of stars, gravity, and space.

Gravity seemed particularly useful considering he was on a floating island. Perhaps he could alter the weight of the stone or simply lift and rip the doorway out? Would space enable him to teleport out? Failing that, starlight may help him explore deeper into the water. The rippling skin of the Starforger’s appearance intrigued him almost as much as the statue’s hands appearing to grasp the cosmos.

After returning to the surface for air, he swam back down. Just what was this titanic statue? His eyes rested on its last finger statue. A tentacled beast with jagged spines. ‘If you want to adapt, fight alone in the endless fathoms.’ — Nragi, Deep Lurker from Maeclite. Sage of morphing and water.

Excitement flooded him when he saw water listed. The lens through which he understood the world. It called to him, but he had to think practically. It would take time to wear away stone with water. He’d be dead by then. Perhaps he could morph into something gigantic to move the door or something small like a beetle to squeeze through the cracks? However, the possibility of turning into a tentacled beast made this choice no longer an option. His human fists were just too important to who he was. He had no way of knowing for sure what would happen. Plus, Nragi seemed to only be a master of two things.

He used to look at the night sky, thinking how small and insignificant he was on a cosmic scale, but had come to learn that was not the correct way of thinking. He was the result of 14 billion years of cosmic evolution; humans were a thermodynamic miracle. He brushed his hand over the shimmering anvil, hoping for a prompt while treading water.

Select one Sage-rank heritage crystal to forge:

Skylark Giggledrop, Fey Warden.

Altair Sol, Starforger.

Nragi, Deep Lurker.

Kai selected Altair Sol, Starforger. It’s my best chance out of here, plus it has hands. The giant crystal fingers groaned and cracked as the hand clenched. Kai darted out in a jet stream of bubbles as the fingers repeatedly hammered into the anvil faster and faster until it glowed red. The water sparked and boiled.

The whole grotto rumbled as the bright light from the statue’s fingers drained into the blue crystal being forged upon the anvil. As the light faded, he spotted a monstrous silhouette writhing past the giant’s elbow. Then dark waters engulfed him. A bolt of adrenaline shot through his veins. He’d awoken something terrifying. He had no intention of coming back here. The crystal seared his skin as he pocketed it and frantically kicked off the alabaster giant’s hand. He surged through the gloom towards the surface. His heart thumped in his ears as he burned through precious oxygen. Pulses of heat and bubbles blasted past him from the reverberating water beneath his thrashing feet.

Something slick whipped across his foot. He resisted his reflex to swallow, but bubbles burst from his nose. Kai pumped his hands and legs furiously as his vision blurred. He erupted from the water, gasping for air as he hastily crawled over sand and crystals as they scratched his belly.

What the hel—What was that!

Kai scrambled backwards till his back slammed against the cave wall.

His heart thumped in his ears as the room shook, but after awhile the turbulent water stilled. The room was lit by the copper-sunrise crystals. Was the light or crystals somehow able to keep that thing at bay? He kept watching a little longer. His eye twitched when a notification broke both his gaze and concentration.

Congratulations, your struggle for supremacy has yielded results!

Alone and without armour or weapons, you survived an encounter with a primal far exceeding your level.

Vital Trait: Primal Eyes (Flawed)

Details: Your eyes can discern more details about Primals, and sense their presence nearby.

Fusion: Scales with Senses.

Claim: Yes / No

An eye… upgrade? Kai figured sensing that monstrosity earlier would have certainly been helpful. This was the second time he’d seen flawed by the name. Perhaps it had something to do with quality; what came after flawed?

Kai wasn’t looking forward to something happening to his eyes but in the interests of survival he had little choice at this point. Yes. His heart raced when his vision blurred with red splotches. His iris flashed a predatory gold before returning to its normal grey.

Kai barely noticed the itch as a tattoo etched into the centre of his back. A spiked compass with an empty circle in the centre. Seven cardinal lines flowed into it.

His vision returned to normal as he scoured the room. Not really sure what to expect, he relaxed after a few minutes of trying to sense anything. I don’t feel — is the primal too far away?