When we arrived at the edge of the mountain biome, we were once again treated to the eerie sight of this realm’s biome transitions. I saw the water quickly approaching, noticing that something seemed to be wrong with the shape of the landscape. This sense of wrongness was fully explained only when I passed by the next mountain.
Instead of a gentle transfer from stone to sea, or even a rocky beach or cliff, there was just a smooth cut through the landscape. More than a third of the side of the mountain I had just driven past was abruptly severed, creating a flat wall of stone that dipped down nearly a kilometer to the water.
Even at the lowest point, the edge of the stony biome rested more than a hundred meters above the height of the crashing waves below. The girls in the car watched with wide eyes as I slowly lowered us down on the other side of the wall. Within the mountain, we could see numerous cave openings, some of which were very clearly inhabited by monsters.
“Well… at least this means that we won’t have to worry about as many monsters on the rocky biome side for the day.” I said dryly, stopping the car once I reached approximately fifty meters above sea level. I widened the platform until it connected to the sheer wall, and then got out. “I’ll make us a stone house here. Tomorrow, I’ll make stairs to go down to sea level.” I promised, and began to carve out a cavern in the shape of a house.
Just to be safe, I sealed most of the openings, leaving only a few small windows and a door that swings outwards. This way, even if there were large monsters capable of climbing on the rocky wall, they wouldn’t be able to make their way inside.
Once I was done, the others all left the car and stepped inside, inspecting the temporary domicile. “I know that you made the entire city like this, but it still amazes me that you can do something like this with a skill.” Nuoda said, eyes wandering over the smooth walls, the stone furnishings, and even the view outside the window.
“When we first made Fallowton, it took us weeks to get the basic structure of the city built. And even then, we had to hire several large teams of workers from the kingdom.” As she said that, Bella and Diane were already in action, pulling out cushions that they had prepared in their inventories, as well as beds.
Seeing Nuoda watching them, Bella blinked. “Ah… you can use my bed if you want tonight.” She offered in a comforting tone. “I’ll share with Diane. I’m sure your Chosen doesn’t want to sleep on the cold stone.” After saying that, she looked at Diane for permission, the latter nodding her head in agreement.
Nuoda gave a weak smile, chuckling softly. “I’ll take you up on that, then.” With that out of the way, we all settled in for dinner.
It was truly wonderful how the new menu worked. Everyone wrote their own orders in, and then passed the menu back to me to activate it. When I saw Diane and Nuoda’s orders, I didn’t even know what exactly their food was meant to be. Nuoda asked for something called a ‘sloppy joe’ with a side of macaroni, and Diane wanted a ‘foot-long chili dog’ with fries. Bella, at least, was more normal, asking for a cheeseburger and fries.
I decided to copy Bella’s order, and activated the menu. Despite not personally knowing what Nuoda or Bella’s dishes were meant to be, I saw two large plates appear before them. On Nuoda’s plate, aside from the familiar pasta, there was a sandwich stuffed with some kind of juicy, crushed meat. Similarly, Diane’s request was granted as well, and she received what looked like a sausage wrapped in bread and chili.
Bella and I looked at one another in confusion, both resolving ourselves to try these foods in later meals as we all settled in to eat.
When we laid down to sleep, I could faintly hear movement from outside the house, and used my Hawkeye-X skill to observe. As expected, there was a monster roaming the rocky wall. It looked like a long lizard, its feet covered with suction cups to let it stick to the surface.
With a thought, I used Dark Intent-X to create a simple pole between its body and the wall, pushing it off and into the water below. I might not be able to easily kill such a monster in direct combat, but dislodging it from the wall would let gravity do the rest.
I watched as the monster fell into the waves, where a giant creature with a mouth similar to a crocodile quickly emerged. With one powerful bite, it crushed the head of the lizard and dragged it down into the water.
The next morning, it was finally time for the Summer Solstice event. Even before Nuoda and Diane’s Players logged on, their Chosen had already changed into their swimsuits. Diane wore the same one-piece swimsuit that I saw her in before, while Nuoda wore a blue bikini that hugged her figure.
Meanwhile, Bella was given a red bikini which matched the color of her hair, showing off her proportions that she normally kept hidden under loose armor. When Bella showed off her swimsuit, she had a rosy tint to her cheeks, looking around at all of us in embarrassment.
“It looks good on you.” Diane said in a cheerful tone, smiling brightly to Bella. Afterwards, she turned to face me. “Let’s go. It shouldn’t be long before my Player logs in. She’ll be looking forward to getting in the water.”
“Mine will probably be on a little later.” Nuoda said calmly, shaking her head. “She works in the morning on Tuesdays, so she won’t be on till after noon.”
I nodded my head with realization, understanding that this was likely why Nuoda was fine with the trip. It wasn’t just that she spends time with her husband in their world, but because she wasn’t going to be here for most of it to begin with.
I walked over to the wall of the dining room, activating my Instant Fortification skill. Gradually, I began to carve stairs into the cliff face, leading down towards the water’s surface. To light the area, I included numerous small windows, letting the light stream into the otherwise dark corridor and letting me know how deep I was going.
When I reached the sea level, I made the path just a little deeper before opening a gap in the wall. My intention had been to create a shallow area where we could swim back in without having to climb up.
However, something strange instead happened. Where I opened the wall, the water continued to crash against an invisible surface, as if the wall were still perfectly in place. My eyes widened slightly, and Nuoda arched a curious brow. “Interesting… so the natural elements of one biome aren’t able to enter another biome’s territory under their own power.”
To test this theory, she walked over to the wall of water as high as her knee, and reached out to scoop some into her hand. Then, she brought the water to our side of the wall and poured it on the floor. “It can only cross the barrier when influenced by external factors.”
This area was making less and less sense by the day. However, I simply shook my head. “Regardless, that’s not why we’re here. I’ll head in first, just to confirm that the monsters in this realm are affected by the rules of the solstice event. If anything happens, I’m most likely to be able to escape unharmed.”
Just to be safe, I left my Ki General behind with the respawn stone, before diving into the water. Once in the water, I transformed into my water dragon form, allowing for easy breathing underwater.
The underwater environment here was… breathtaking to say the least. Ribbons of light seemed to streak down from above, leading to an endless abyss below. Hundreds of large, shimmering bubbles lay suspended in the water at various depths. In addition, schools of fish ranging from the size of a pebble to bigger than my draconic form swam about in sparse groups.
At the present moment, my stealth effect wasn’t active, so I should have been the target for any nearby monster. Just as one final confirmation, I swam over to a clear predator, a level four hundred alligator eel. Its body was at least ten meters long, with a powerful, alligator-like mouth.
This monster barely even glanced in my direction before continuing to swim, completely uncaring for my presence. With this, I could confirm that the area was safe. Now, I just needed to get back and report to the others.
I swam back to the opening that I had made, poking my large head through. Nuoda seemed somewhat startled by my appearance, but the others were unfazed. I also noticed that Diane’s brand had lit up, so she was properly logged in now. “It’s safe.” I told them. “Also, the monsters I saw are at least level three hundred and fifty, with some over four hundred. We’ll need to be sure to be careful when we’re leaving later.”
“Bubble density?” Diane asked in a calm tone, hands clenched at her sides.
“It should be easy for us to get some.” I reported with a small nod. “I’d suggest leaving the ones near the surface for Bella and Nuoda. Neither of them have skills to dive like we do.”
Diane nodded her head, already tracing a water breathing pattern on her swimsuit. As she dove into the water, I looked at the others. “The surface should be safe. However, if you get swept away by a current, be sure to send us a message, and we’ll go help. Also, keep an eye on monsters from above. I don’t know if land-based monsters will become docile upon entering the water.”
Bella gulped, nodding as well before letting herself dive in. She didn’t have Diane’s ability to breathe underwater, so she needed to be more careful. After hesitating for a moment, Nuoda got in as well. Though, she shuddered when she felt the water washing over her nine tails.
With the two of them taken care of, I dove down, swimming towards the black depths. Since the difficulty to reach the bubbles determined the level of their rewards, I was quite curious what would happen if I went for those deeper treasures.
I could already see Diane swimming with a natural grace. Even without her shadow dragon form, she was an expert in the water. She swam from one sphere to the next, making sure not to get too close to the surface.
As I dove down, I passed by one bubble, and allowed my tail to slap against it as I descended. When the bubble popped, I received a notification alerting me that I had popped a five-star treasure bubble, and received an ‘Ocean Window View’, which seemed to be some kind of painting.
I hadn’t gone too far down at this point, so I was surprised that I was already receiving a five star bubble. However, given the level of this area, the base rarity of the bubbles were likely higher.
Shaking my head, I dove deeper into the water, determined to find something valuable. With my water dragon form and various skills, it shouldn’t have been impossible for me to get an eight star or greater bubble. If I was lucky, ten stars may have been achievable.
As I dove, I noticed the the bubbles were becoming more and more rare over time, spread further apart the deeper I went. A few minutes into my dive, I went out of my water to gather another bubble, a six-star one that awarded me a Pure Mana Pearl. This allowed me to gauge my progress as I descended, while the light around me began to gradually grow darker and darker.
