It’s strange.
For all my fear of the open oceans in the real world, while I do feel the same fear it doesn’t bother me nearly as badly as I thought it would. My consciousness knows I’m under the water by the way it wraps around me, enveloping me like a reverse wetsuit. Yet at the same time, I also know that this is just a simulation of a video game and it’s not really there. A strange disconnect but one I was grateful for as I swam over the bright coral clusters at the edge of the drop off.
It’s only a game, was the mantra I repeated to myself inwardly over and over again.
Echoes of Peaches’ squeaks chirped off the walls of the cliff side as she swam around freely playing as dolphins do.
“Anything in particular you’re looking for?” Maggie asked swimming up next to me, tiny trails of bubbles slipping off her seal flippers.
“An octopus, a crab, some shrimp and an eel.” I listed, remembering the animals I’d seen in the fish tank at Sharkie’s.
“That’s easy enough,” Maggie smiled lifting her fingers to her lips. She let out a whistle that sounded like a dolphin squeal and Peaches approached. “Peaches find—” Maggie let out another shrill set of whistles. Peaches nodded in understanding and set out, skimming the tops of the reef as she let out periodic squeaks.
Looking as focused as a dolphin could manage with her permanent happy grin, her head suddenly snapped down as nudged at the corals with her snout. A dark gray blob shot upwards, kicking up orange sand and a cloud of black ink. I moved as quickly as I could manage, kicking after it as I held my finger down on the shutter button.
Ker-chunk
Ker-chunk
Ker-chunk
Ker-chunk
[Floor 1 Animals 16/25]
I waved Peaches off from chasing after the cephalopod and working with Maggie and Peaches I snagged the rest of the underwater animals I needed. Peaches played with the flat brown body of the crab like a frisbee, tossing it up like a dog and catching it back in it’s mouth. I got a school of shrimp and Maggie pointed out the deep green eel that had it’s head partway out of the hole.
Ker-chunk
The flash was bothersome, bathing the whole reef in a bright instance of light. Fish crashed and collided in their confusion as they swam away. The eel retracted deep into it’s hole with an audible watery hiss. Still my compendium was up to nineteen out of twenty five animals for the floor so I took it as a victory.
Iagan looked like he was enjoying himself, floating along lazily inspecting the coral upside down. I took a picture, catching his attention.
“If you’re done with your pictures here are you ready to go to the main part of the tour?” Maggie asked. Oh yeah, there was more to this tour than just getting the animals tab filled out. I nodded, checking the remaining time left on my first potion
[23:12]
“I’m ready.” I said peering at the far away floor.
“Me too.” Iagan piped up. Maggie summoned Peaches back once again and the dolphin finally let the crab bury itself back in what little orange sand there was next to the edge of the drop off. Peaches sidled up in between us and I hooked my hand back around the rope harness.
“Okay, we’re going to have to take this decent slowly to help your bodies acclimate to the change in pressure.” Maggie instructed as Peaches carried us over the edge of the ledge. We lowered ever so slowly, the few sparse coral and critters who called the nearly smoothed edge of the rocky wall home adding few pops of color to an otherwise bare canvas.
Watching the seconds we were wasting as the first potion timer ticked down was agonizing. We had under 10 minutes left by the time we finally made it all the way down to the floor. The sunlight still shone through the clear waters but the chill of the deep waters was even more than what it had been at the surface. I stopped my teeth from chattering as I rubbed my bare shoulders. My dark gray shorts and tank top were NOT good for deep water swimming gear.
Lesson learned Walters.
“It’s just a short swim to another smaller step.” Maggie said pointing out ahead of us. Iagan and I kicked off, swimming on our own. “Keep you potion until the last minute to maximize your times you can spend underwater. The longer you can wait the longer you can stay down.”
Oh noodles. I raised my newest concern to Iagan.
“How are we supposed to drink it?” My voice warbled through the water. He stopped swimming and floated, tapping into his wrist HUD.
“Uh…” his expression paled as he looked above to the distant surface above us. “Maggie how do we take the second potion?”
“That falls under the things you were supposed to be in charge of for this trip.” Maggie said with an apologetic frown. “You should still have enough time to go all the way back up to the surface if you want to drink it above the water again.”
I bit my lip as I floated, the chilled current moved the slow waving anemones that anchored themselves sparsely to this shelf. Coming down had already taken over ten minutes of acclimating at proper intervals. It seemed like a waste to do it all over again as we rose to the surface only to come straight back down afterwords. An idea presented itself.
“How much for your smallest Narwhal Bubble?” I asked, gesturing to the size of the bubble I wanted. A little larger than a small fish tank. Maggie thought for a moment.
“One that size would cost about 5 gold.”
“Done.” I said producing the payment from my inventory. The coins flashed into view and floated down gently into the palm of my hand as I handed it over. That had to count for taking care our air supply. “I’ll let you know when we need it.”
[8:45]
“I wouldn’t have remembered to use that.” Iagan said.
“It’s the only other option we have right now. I’ll happily pay for the convenience.”
We pushed onward again, the movement through the water pumped the blood through my veins, warming me. We approached the next step in the ledge cresting it to find an exquisite sunken galleon ship nestled along the floor. The sails long in tatters, a large gash ran alongside the greenish brown hull, the reason for it’s fate. The HUD pulled up an empty icon around it and I snapped a picture.
[Floor 1 Viewpoints found 3/4]
[Floor 1 Secret: 5/10]
Another Viewpoint for the compendium. I pulled the camera away, recalling the secret that was hidden near the last viewpoint at the waterfall.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Are we allowed to get closer to the shipwreck?” I called back to Maggie. “I want to look for something.”
“Yes, just be careful and let me know when you need the bubble.”
[7:07]
Slowly we made our way to the wreckage. The waters were quiet as we approached, Peaches’ occasional chirp was the only source of sound around us.
“What are we looking for?” Iagan asked as we came upon the algae covered butt of the boat where in faded script read: Serene Fathom. Communities of barnacle clusters marked the edge of the usual waterline the ship had once sailed at, where fuzzy algae and anemones covered the rest. The current moved them in place of the wind like a grassy hill in miniature.
“Secrets.” I trailed off as I kicked off the rocky ground and rose alongside the hull. The boat sat at a slight tilt, making the footing scarce as I crested over the railing. I kicked toward the stern at the back where a small hallway lay indented in what was left of the wood. Keeping an eye on my timer I swam toward it quickly, determined to get a peek inside to see what would be waiting after I swam back to Maggie.
The water temperature dropped as I left the light behind, heading straight to the closed door that awaited me. Rust around the handle stained my hand the color of the sand as I tried to use it. A text box popped up that nearly stopped my heart:
[Insufficient Skill level]
[Missing: Strength level 5]
I tried the ring again and each time the same text box appeared over and over. A pink text box disrupted my attempts.
Mr.BigwIggy whispered to [The Group]:
I found the timer again, I let time escape me while I was fussing with the strength locked door.
[3:02]
Using the tilt to my advantage I propped my feet on the door and pushed off, rocketing back out of the small hallway into the deep blue ocean ahead. Off a ways to the right I saw Iagan and Maggie floating near each other waving me over. I gave a wave back and started off that direction. Maggie held her hand up to her lips and a large bubble traced the lines of her hand, growing in size to that of a large beach ball.
[1:23]
I made it to her with time to spare. Iagan was busy with the bubble as he stuck his hand in through the film and summoned his second underwater breathing potion. He popped the cork and stuck his face into it downing the vial in a single motion. The container vanished in a puff of smoke the filtered harmlessly through the bubble as he passed it over to me.
I stuck my hand in. The warm air of Maggie’s breath was a welcome change to the chill of the virtual ocean surrounding me. My vial appeared in my hand at my summons. I pulled out the cork with my teeth as I stuck my head fully inside the film. Sea water dripped off my chin, pooling around my neck as I tilted back another chunky seaweed smoothie.
Knowing what to expect made it that much worse the second time around.
I refrained from vomiting it all back up as my timer shot back up to [59:59] and ticked down slowly from there. All in all I only lost a minute of time between these potions which was all the wiggle room I was going to allow myself, even in virtual reality.
“Alrighty. You’re good for another hour then.” Maggie said popping the bubble once we were done with it as a flurry of smaller bubbles raced off towards the surface.
“Is there anything you can tell us about the ship?” Iagan asked, his voice rippled through the water. “Like what we might find if we explored inside of it?”
“Inside of it? I’ve never had anyone want to see the inside. Most people just want to pretend to steer it. I know that the Serene Fathom was a merchant ship that traveled between Seamyst and Dawnrise.” Maggie said, leading us back to it. “What was left of the crew after it sank swore up and down that they’d angered a sea god trying to anchor during a hurricane. I don’t know of any sea gods myself so I can’t speak to their claims.”
“A sea god?” I asked warily, remembering the comment Maggie had made before about there being no Krakens on this floor. “Are there really gods in the Tower?”
“I’ve never met any myself and have never really felt any calling towards any of them in particular so I can’t really say.” Maggie shrugged, setting her seal body down near the helm and half broken ship’s wheel. Peaches zipped around the deck playfully exploring with squeaks and squeals poking into the long discarded and empty barrels that populated it. “But if you’re going to explore inside the ship I’ll go ahead and warn you to please be careful. Clearwater tours is not responsible for your safety should you choose to over exert yourself.”
I nodded, remembering her words from above the water and the waivers we signed. “I need your help with one of the doors.” I said, turning to Iagan. “There’s a [Strength] skill requirement that I don’t meet.”
“Alright.” Iagan said gesturing through the water for me to lead the way. We swam down into the stout hallway at the stern, the chill of the darkened water embracing my bare skin once again. I pointed to the door handle and Iagan swam past me to try it. He braced himself against the door and gave a lethargic shove into it. Deep rattles reverberated through the water but nothing happened. He tried again with another shove of his shoulder to no avail.
“I meet the requirements.” He bubbled with a frown, backing off as he rubbed his arm. “I just don’t have the momentum to push through it since I’m swimming. I need to brace against something sturdy.”
It took some effort, but together Iagan and I managed to push a mostly intact box from the deck into the hallway. He swam overtop and squished between the two and I propped myself behind the box to stop it from moving. Iagan crouched, planting his feet firmly on the side of the box base.
“Ready? On my count. 1..2…3!” On three he straightened his legs. He launched into the door with a thud that echoed on the other side. The door shifted slightly as a trail of red leaked from the side with the hinges.
“Trying again on my count. 1…2…3!” Another thud. The door shifted another inch. This continued for another few minutes as my timer ticked down to [45:00] on the dot. Finally though the hinges seemed to recall how they were intended to work and with enough of the rust knocked off, the door swung open wide stopping midway into the room. More than enough to swim through without worry.
Eerie blue highlights filtered in through the lone window in the back casting the room in an cerulean silhouette as I entered behind Iagan. The same tilting list shifted everything in the room to the left where it lay in a broken heap together. Bookshelves, a desk, some chairs and what looked like tattered remains of fabric pinned under neath it all.
“Looks like this was the captain’s quarters or something.” Iagan said swimming to inspect the furniture. He shifted the wreckage carefully, moving what he could when my HUD locked onto something between two of the larger pieces, labelling it [???].
[Skill Increase: Investigation level 5]
A small fanfare sounded from my wrist as the head of Jasper Roqor popped up as a floating head. He didn’t seem effected by the water at all as his voice spoke clear as crystal.
“Congratulations [Tourist] on reaching a skill to level 5. Such a feat should not be undersold and you should be rewarded for such hard working dedication to your craft. As this is your first skill to reach level 5, I am pleased to inform you that you now unlock skill specific ‘Perks’ every 5 levels with the max of level 20.” The head of Jasper Roqor seemed pleased as it smiled at me with pride. “You get the choice between two Perks every time you’re eligible to unlock one.”
A text box appeared across my HUD.
[Eagle Eyes- Increase vision range by 15 feet.]
[Thorough Search- HUD now actively identifies items of interest.]
I clicked the button, accepting [Thorough Search] as my Level 5 Investigation skill Perk. Without prompting the HUD locked on again to the furniture this time labeling it as [Wreckage].
“Hey wait!” I kicked my legs, swimming over to help him. Iagan paused as I caught up beside him. “I just got a Perk!”
“Oh a Perk? Nice.” He said casually. I stared at him, recalling the strength skill level needed to open the door. He’d already reached level 5 in it and had apparently picked out his Perk already.
“When did you get a Perk?”
“Bear.” That made sense and Iagan had said he’d leveled a few times. Though five levels in a single night was really impressive.
“What perk did you end up with?” He asked.
“Investigation. [Thorough Search] said there was something under this bookcase it labeled as [Wreckage].” I said moving to the other side of the toppled shelves. Working together we freed the bookshelf entirely, laying it back onto the ground with a thud sending a blanket of bubbles to the ceiling.
My HUD highlighted the floor where a pitch black hole the size of a dinner plate sank through the floor boards. I squinted trying to see what was down it but my eyes couldn’t see anything.
“Light.” I said. The tiny sun appeared in my palm, lighting the room as my magic meter flashed from use and slowly started depleting. Iagan recoiled with a wince as he held his hand up to give himself some shade.
“Thanks for that,” he muttered.
I moved my hand to shine the light at the hole when it shrank to the size of a grapefruit. It moved, the small black orb flicking my direction as a low rumbling vibrated through the water from under us.
A text box popped across my HUD.
[Discovery: Underwater Monster!]
As I attempted to process the first box two more sprung up after it, filling my vision.
[::Seabed Stroll:: Hidden Scenario- Defeat the Giant Squid.]
[Monsters of Floor 1: 0/1]
[Reward: ???]
Iagan turned to me, his complexion paled as his voice bubbled. “Mica, did you just get the same text box I did?”