The sun had just risen above the horizon when Professor Iakopo began patrolling Placid City. Initially, he went for a walk to check the shipyard of the place.

This was the eleventh time he had come to Placid City since the Catastrophe.

His heart ached when he realized that no matter how much support he had provided to the city out of his own pocket and time, Placid City still seemed dead--or on its way to dying.

Everything he had done so far seemed to have only bought a little more time for a corpse already decomposing.

When he finally got to the shipyard, he extended his senses into the water. Placid City was in the South Deep, and although unlikely, the monsters from the outside could potentially come ashore.

However, as he slowly descended onto the waters on a mana board, he felt a disturbance. He extended his senses below and killed three torpedo snappers in a half-mile range with a simple, neutral circle of Mana powered by his Primary Mana Channel.

"Torpedo snappers?" he muttered, his voice barely audible over the crash of waves. "How?"

The presence of torpedo snappers outside the confines of the Placid Cave was troubling.

I’ve made sure they couldn’t escape anymore. Sure, the guards here should be able to care for them, but… where did they come from?

He came here every two years to make sure that the Catastrophe wouldn’t repeat and that the first-year students who joined his course would be up to the harsh life of being a Water Rider.

Most importantly, he came here to obliterate every nesting inside the Placid Cave and to avoid those Torpedo Snappers turning into their much more dangerous counterparts: Drakes.

"This doesn't make sense," Iakopo said to himself. "The cave entrance is too far away from the nest. There's no way they could have..."

He trailed off.

Had someone deliberately released the creatures?

Was there a breach in the cave system that they had overlooked?

Iakopo really wanted to check the Placid Cave. Still, it made sense that Mayor Boro had begged him to clear the surroundings of Placid City from stragglers.

Someone must have encountered Torpedo Snappers while going about their day.

Considering how weak the average islander was, excluding their small military force, it was very likely that any civilian would have perished facing these creatures.

He had to make sure that there was no real threat in sight.

* * *

Twenty years prior

The streets of Placid City were flush with activity as Iakopo made his way towards the city center. He was sweating through the crowd while wearing his Water Rider uniform and checking the place out.

"Iakopo!" a familiar voice called out. He turned to see Yalena jogging towards him. "The mayor's waiting for us."

He nodded and followed her.

"Any word on the Placid Cave situation?"

Yalena sighed.

"It's worse than we thought. The local Water Riders haven't been able to keep up with the monster population, and the nesting hasn’t been kept in check for years. They're requesting our help to clear it out—one big push, they say, to exterminate all the Snappers inside."

As they walked, Iakopo couldn't help but notice the admiring glances Yalena drew from passersby.

Her reputation as a prodigy had preceded her, and even here, far from the Academy, people recognized the rising star of the Water Riders.

They arrived at the mayor's office, a modest building that belied its occupant's importance.

Inside, they were greeted by a plump man with a receding hairline and a nervous demeanor.

"Thank the Deep you're here," the mayor said, wringing his hands. "The situation in the cave is getting out of control."

Iakopo listened as the mayor explained the details of their mission.

Clear out the Torpedo Snappers, assess the overall threat level, and ensure the safety of Placid City.

It seemed straightforward enough, but something about the mayor's anxiety set Iakopo on edge.

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After the briefing, as they prepared to head to the cave, Yalena pulled Iakopo aside.

"Before we go in, there's something I want to talk to you about," she said, her voice low.

Iakopo raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Yalena hesitated more than once.

"What is it?" Iakopo darkened. "Is everything ok?"

Yalena briefly fumbled with her hands, letting them rest on her abdomen.

"It's... the Dark Water Well," she sighed. There’s magical interference all over the place.”

Iakopo looked at her with a frown.

“Cultists?”

Only an enormous quantity of Abyssal Magic would be nasty enough to be able to interfere with Yalena’s Star Water.

“I fear so,” Yalena said. “I think they might have done something to the monsters. The Mana inside the cave… it’s a suffocating presence. You might have to use your real spells if things go south.”

“Sure,” Iakopo said, frowning.

That might have sounded like a harmless statement to anyone else but those who actually knew Iakopo. Unlike every scion of the Kane Family, the man had neither mastered nor learned Azure Lightning Water.

Having been a rascal from a young age, Iakopo had found a mention of a forbidden Affinity that no one practiced because of its terrifying aggressiveness.

However, he had sincerely believed that mastering it would have given him the most excellent chance of one day completely obliterating the Kraken.

But he had underestimated how destructive his own spells would become.

His love for Yalena sprung, at least partly, from the fact that the woman wielded Star Water, one of the greatest Affinities—specifically, the Affinity with the greatest sealing and defensive power there was.

The white-haired woman by his side was one of the very few who could contain his magic in such a way that would allow him to unleash his full power without hurting all the people around him.

That’s why they gravitated toward each other over the years.

Without her, Iakopo couldn’t unleash his magic unless completely alone, far away from any ally or civilian.

“As long as you’re by my side, everything will be fine,” Iakopo said, bringing Yalena in for a kiss. “I couldn’t imagine a life without you. Nor fighting without your Star Water anymore.”

“Maybe that’s why you chased me,” Yalena smiled mischievously.

“Perhaps,” Iakopo smiled.

“We have to find the well, though,” she said, putting her hand on his chest. “That’s the most important thing.”

“Sure, we will,” Iakopo smiled. “Let’s kill these monsters and… yeah, we’ll find it.”

* * *

The Present

The sun climbed higher in the sky, casting sharp, defined shadows across the landscape.

She had tried to find Professor Iakopo in their lodgings, but he wasn't there. This made her feel free to explore on her own since it still wasn't her turn to explore the Placid Cave.

The hills one could reach from the beach where they had landed first to battle grew closer. Talia’s grip on the Star Glaive tightened as she approached, feeling bad about the place.

However, more than any external threats, she feared what lay inside herself—the hunger that had nearly consumed Keanu’s life force behind the Star Glaive’s Skill.

As Talia trudged up the sandy slopes, the Star Glaive's weight felt different now.

"What happened?" she muttered to herself, examining the blade of the weapon.

The weapon had been a gift from her mother, unlocked by her father.

This was supposed to be the same instrument her mother used to protect innocents from the horrors of the Deep.

But now?

Now, it felt tainted, corrupted by what flowed through her veins.

Talia stumbled on the hill as a terrible thought struck her.

Had her own Affinity somehow corrupted the Star Glaive?

"No," she said aloud, shaking her head as if to physically dispel the notion. "That can't be right. That’s not how Soul Weapons work, right?”

And yet, the doubt lingered.

As she crested the first hill while keeping [Eyes of the Abyss] active to follow the Mana trail she had spotted the night before, Talia paused to catch her breath. In the distance, she could make out the dark mouth of what appeared to be a cave entrance.

"That must be where the Mana trail comes from," she murmured, squinting against the bright sunlight.

Before she could move, a flicker of movement in the sand ahead caught her eye. With a burst of sand, a creature erupted from beneath the dune.

[Slashing Cruster - Level 10]

"What the..." Talia began, but her words were cut short as the Cruster lunged at her with frightening speed.

For some reason, she hadn’t felt its presence with [Eyes of the Abyss].

Nonetheless, she made quick work of it.

[You have slain Slashing Cruster Level 10!]

She quickly absorbed the corpse with [Blood Siphon] and then moved forward toward the cave.

[You have absorbed the Level 10 - Slashing Cruster’s Life Force.]

[+0.9 to your Primary Mana Channel (14.32/20 to Level Two)]

[+0.5 to your Agility (5.7/6 to 1 Agility)]

The Mana trail grew stronger as Talia approached the cave.

Just as she was about to step out from behind a large boulder, something made her pause.

She saw movement and she instinctively ducked, pressing herself against the rough surface of the rock below her.

What she saw next made her blood run cold.

Emerging from the shadows of the cave entrance was a Slashing Cruster unlike any she had encountered before.

This beast was massive, easily three times the size of the ones they had fought on the beach.

[Slashing Cruster (Boss) - Level 17]

Talia bit her lower lip as she watched the monstrous creature.

"Dammit," she whispered, her voice barely audible even to herself. "What is this thing doing here?"

She knew that she was no match for this creature.

Even with her recent power boost and the Star Glaive, taking on a Level 17 Boss monster alone would be suicide.

But more than that, the presence of such a powerful creature so far from where it should be raised alarming questions. Already, the presence of the Slashing Crusters on the island was weird. A Boss, though? Outside the Dungeon, there shouldn't have been enough energy to sustain it.

As she watched, the Boss Slashing Cruster retreated slightly into the cave entrance, positioning itself to allow it to ambush any unsuspecting visitors.

Its behavior was too organized and too purposeful to be natural.

Even the giant Abyssal Scuttler had just been mindlessly looking for herbs.

Instead, this Boss just looked around and stood guard before the cave.

A chilling thought crept into Talia's mind.

Could this be the work of Cultists?

"I need to tell Professor Iakopo," Talia decided, slowly backing away from her hiding spot.

As much as she distrusted the man, this was beyond her capabilities to handle alone.

If Cultists were indeed involved, it meant that the danger to her fellow students - to all of Placid City - was far greater than anyone had let on.

As she hurried back, her thoughts turned to her classmates in the Placid Cave.

Were they walking into a trap?

Had Professor Iakopo known about this all along?

Talia's pace quickened, kicking up small clouds of sand as she ran.