As I swam lower and lower, the light from the surface completely died down, replaced only by the flickering lights of various aquatic monsters, as well as the increasingly rare, shimmering orb. Even with my Tremorsense-X, I couldn’t detect the bottom.
Are you alright, Drake? Diane messaged me, having no doubt lost sight of me as I disappeared into the depths below.
I’m fine. I want to see what the ultimate rewards for this event are. I responded, my claws clacking away in the water as I continued to dive. Now, I was sensing the presence of truly enormous creatures swimming nearby. If not for the special rules of the event, I wouldn’t dare to dive this deep with my skills. At the very least, not until I reached the grandmaster rank with my stealth and detection skills.
When I looked up, I could no longer see even the slightest hint of the light above. Furthermore, the weight of the water was becoming rather obvious, even with my water dragon form.
Out of curiosity, I swam to the nearest bubble and popped it, receiving an eight star reward, a ‘Soul of the Reef’. I wasn’t really sure what that was for, but it at least gave me an idea of how far I had come. At the same time, I finally managed to unlock the Swimming skill, which relieved a small part of the pressure I was feeling.
I briefly focused, activating my Water Intent-X to further relieve the pressure, while also using my Martial Intent-X to form a barrier over my skin. With these two combined, I could dive even deeper, determined to reach the bottom of this abyss.
Part of me considered teleporting forward through the water, but I quickly dismissed this idea. First of all, I could already not see very far ahead of me, so such teleportations would not grant me much advantage. Furthermore, even if I could, the sudden difference in pressure might cause my defenses to collapse.
As I continued down, I almost crashed headfirst into the maw of a giant shark, its body more than twenty meters long. It wasn’t trying to attack me, but rather swimming idly. Despite this, I wasn’t sure if it would react if I provoked it first. I had to quickly swerve out of its way, kicking up a stream of bubbles in my path.
Finally, after what felt like an hour of diving straight down, I found the bottom. At this point, I had thought the abyss to be endless. In this realm, it would not surprise me if there were truly a bottomless ocean biome. However, it seemed that was not the case here.
When I landed on the ocean floor, I immediately began to sweep my senses around, looking for any bubbles within my range. I could only sense one, more than fifty meters off to my right. Its light wasn’t even able to reach me, but I spotted it thanks to my detection skills. I made my way over to pop it, receiving a nine star reward. It was an ‘Oceanic Bridge Kit’, which caused my eyes to light up. If there were proper building rewards at this level, I was sure that the ten star reward would be worth my time.
However, I had to find that first… I swam rapidly along the ocean floor, looking for any cracks or crevice that would take me further down. In the process of doing so, I received another nine-star reward, the ‘Diver King Suit’, which I immediately equipped. This suit had almost no armor, but provided two innate effects. The first was the ability to breathe underwater, and the second was increased resistance to water pressure.
As soon as I equipped this new item, the pressure on my body seemed to lift entirely. I removed my barrier, and still felt as if I could comfortably swim without the crushing weight of the ocean on me.
With this, I could switch to a different dragon form without worrying about not being able to breathe. Thus, I swapped my ‘active skill’ with Dragon Shift-X to Tremorsense-X. Immediately, I felt as if the ocean floor had lit up, the oppressive darkness fading away. Granted, this meant that I could see all of the horrific creatures swimming around me, such as a thirty-meter long squid with rows of eyes on its tentacles, or a manta ray hiding just beneath the surface only a few steps from me.
However, this also meant that I could ‘feel’ the change in the landscape. Up ahead, I felt a trench in the sea floor, one I likely would have missed flying over it.
Without hesitation, I moved to the trench, and dove downwards. If there was ever going to be a way to get the ten star rewards, it would be down there. As I dove, I kept my senses peeled for any hidden caves or alcoves, not wanting to miss even the smallest detail.
Several more minutes passed before I found one, a small opening on the wall near where I was descending. Inside was a shimmering sphere, though this one glowed with a faintly golden light. Excited, I swiped my tail to pop it.
|
Congratulations! You have received a 10☆ Summer Solstice Treasure! You have received the Housing Blueprint: Sunspire Palace! |
My lips curled into a draconic grin. A simple appraisal told me that this was different from the bridge kit I received before. This wasn’t a building kit that came complete with the resources. Instead, it was a blueprint to follow to build the palace. However, the fact that it was a higher tier reward naturally meant that it was worth it.
I couldn’t help but recall what Kelly had told me, that most kingdoms employed grandmaster architects to plan their cities in order to receive special effects. This blueprint should be similar to the work of such an architect.
With that in mind, I continued my downward dive, eager to see what else I could receive. After a short while, The walls of the trench had widened so much that I could no longer sense the opposite side. Instead, I saw glowing coral reefs lined along a hazy underwater river of salt.
I lowered myself down next to the glowing coral, collecting a few pieces, as they were materials listed in the blueprint I received. In the process, I uncovered another treasure bubble within one of the coral trees, which gave me a blueprint for a ‘Driftwood Dockyard’.
Now, I was more sure. The ten star rewards were likely all such blueprints, meant to help players or powerful Fallen build their own cities.
With that thought in mind, I swept my senses over the brine river. I didn’t immediately sense a treasure bubble, so I followed the flow of the river. I thought that it was worth seeing where it led, especially since the ten star bubbles seemed to have quite a bit of distance between them.
With two rewards under my belt, I flew almost lazily above the surface of the brine river, careful to avoid any of the eldritch horrors along my path. I may have been eager to hunt treasures, but I wasn’t suicidal.
After another half hour, I spotted an underwater waterfall ahead, where the brine river cascaded down, further into the abyss. Curious, I followed its path, the pressure of the water once more starting to become a noticeable problem that required me to deploy my barriers again.
Just as I was considering turning back to find another path to explore, however, I sensed a small cave behind the brine falls, and a hovering sphere within. Without hesitation, I exited my dragon form, returning to my normal body to push through and into the cave. This cave was just barely big enough for me to stand in when I anchored myself to the floor, so my draconic form would have never fit.
Hovering before me was another treasure bubble, though this one seemed to glow with a purely golden light. For a moment, I wondered if there was an eleventh star for rewards, something that would completely break the normal ranking system. However, when I reached out to touch it, I realized that was not the case. This wasn’t a mysterious eleventh star. The value of the reward was just so great that it deserved the mystical effects given to it.
My eyes widened as I examined the reward. Diane. I’m done searching for bubbles. I’m going to be spending the rest of the day on resource gathering.
Why? Did you get something good? Even through the text message, I could feel Diane’s excitement.
A blueprint for a Coral Imperial City. I said, before sending her an image of the blueprint, as well as its material requirements. I want to try to get the basic frame built before the event ends.
The description of the blueprint said that it included a pacifism effect on monsters. As long as we could get that set up, we could work on the rest at a more casual pace. And, with a teleportation point connecting it to the main city of Fallcry, there can be reliable travel and trade between cities.
Of course, there was still the issue of dungeon level, so it would be hard for the residents to hunt. However, the pacifism effect meant that they wouldn’t have to if they didn’t want to. In addition, one of the districts of the imperial city blueprint looked like an agricultural zone.
First, though, I needed to collect seven different colors of glowing coral. With my skill, I could proliferate the material to a greater degree, but I needed at least a sample to start with. Thus, I left the cave and shifted back to my water dragon form, rapidly flying towards the coral forest I left before.
There were a few other rare-sounding materials that were needed before the city could be completed, but the main foundation simply required the glowing coral, stone, and soil. Aside from that, the main component that I’d need were Souls of the Reef and Runic Coral Cores, the latter of which I assumed was another high-tier reward from this event.
Thus, once I got the necessary coral colors, I flew upwards, teleporting ahead as fast as I could. I had always heard that you shouldn’t rise too quickly, due to the water pressure, but I was wearing the diving set to make me highly resistant to that pressure.
There were probably only a handful of people that had the skills to reach the eight-star rewards. If I didn’t get everything myself, I’d most likely have to wait an entire year, or try to find some way to get the materials from other kingdoms with a longer history.
If Nuoda’s online, let her know about the plan. I messaged Diane as I ascended. Since Nuoda was the Chancellor of Fallcry, it was important for her to know about this.
There was a brief pause before Diane responded. Could you let my old guild be in charge of this city? They’ve got a lot of members, and I think they’d be able to help out with this. They’re… pretty extreme when they set their minds to something.
I paused for a moment, before nodding my head. I can’t immediately make a promise about it, but I’ll meet with the guild leader when they get to Fallcry.
Once the faintest trickle of light became visible above, I saw that the reward spheres were becoming more abundant. Now, it was time for my harvest…
