With my new goal in mind, I rapidly swam from one bubble to another. Although they were far more rare than the clustered orbs up where Bella and Nuoda were swimming, I was able to teleport between them fairly quickly. The problem was that there were quite a few possible rewards, so even with me being able to quickly obtain all of the rewards in the vicinity, the chances of getting the Soul of the Reef or the Runic Coral Core was rather low.
However, I did discover another crafting material, the Moonlit Tideglass, which was a crafting component for the Sunspire Palace. This only spurred me on, causing me to journey further and further in the hopes of getting the materials that I needed.
I lost track of time, certain that I spent at least two hours simply farming these orbs, before finally noticing that I had met my quota. The seventh Runic Coral Core seemed to shine in my inventory, and I teleported my way back to the surface in a hurry.
When I broke through the surface, I saw that it was already well into the afternoon. The rocky wall of the mountain biome was a distant shadow on the horizon, one which I quickly sped towards. Soon, I saw Nuoda and Bella swimming together in the water, and typed out a message to both them and Diane, likely still swimming below.
All of you, get back into the cave for a few minutes. I’ll join you for lunch once I’m done, but I need a lot of space for what I’m about to do.
The duo swimming on the surface looked up at me, a hint of understanding in their gazes, before turning to swim towards the hole I made in the rock wall. Soon after they entered it, I saw Diane slipping into the opening as well.
Only once all three of them was secure did I activate the Coral Imperial City blueprint. In doing so, the blueprint dissolved, registering itself with my Construction Worker skill, which received a boost of experience in the process.
I swapped my draconic forms, switching the active skill to Instant Fortifications-X, and began to implement this blueprint. The water below me seemed to shudder as my wings spread. Stone and coral fell out of my inventory, proliferating as they descended to the ocean floor to form seven islands. These islands continued to grow, larger and larger, filling up the space demanded by the blueprint.
In the process, seven of the Souls of the Reef and the Runic Coral Cores disappeared from my inventory, integrated with these seven islands. I created a projected platform beneath my feet to rest on as the islands continued to grow. Eventually, each one was more than three dozen kilometers across, with one island resting at the center of the other six.
Then, coral bridges began to form, connecting each island to its neighbors. Despite the giant, stony structure, the seven islands did not sink, either as a result of the blueprint’s effects or the effect of one of the materials I had gathered. However, with this, the first stage of construction could be considered complete.
For the second stage, there seemed to be several different ways I could handle it. The blueprint came with a basic building layout, but the buildings could be exchanged with other blueprints of a similar nature. In other words, if I went back down, there was the chance that I could get unique housing blueprints, or other such buildings. There were also areas designated for system structures like the teleportation nexus, training grounds, and so on.
However, for now, I was satisfied with this. Until I went back down to the depths, I would simply replace the docks with the Driftwood Dock blueprint, and the lord’s manor with the Sunspire Palace.
With that taken care of, I reverted to my normal form, making my way towards where the others were waiting. Nuoda, her player having logged in by now, widened her eyes as she looked at the newly formed city. “Diane told me you had another city planned, but I didn’t think that it would be that big.”
“I got a lucky blueprint drop at the bottom of the sea.” I said with a satisfied tone, while Diane looked at me with a perked brow.
“What is that you’re wearing?” She asked, and I blinked, looking down at myself. I was wearing a skintight, dark blue bodysuit that covered me all the way up to my neck, with webbed feet and black gloves..
“Ah, this must what the Diver King’s Set looks like. I got it from a nine star reward. It lets me breathe underwater and ignore the water pressure.” I responded, and her eyes widened slightly. “I wouldn’t have been able to get the blueprints if it weren’t for this. I’ve also got some things to give to you three, but we can handle all of that tomorrow before we go back. For now, let’s have something to eat, and then I want to try to get a few more rewards from the ocean floor before the day is up.”
The other three nodded, and we made our way back up to our temporary abode, where we all sat down to quickly eat. Since I was planning to dive again, I didn’t eat much, just a simple stew before bidding the group goodbye again. However, I did ask Bella to warn me when the sun was setting, so that I would have plenty of time to return to the surface before the event ended.
Without any further hesitation, I dove back down, pre-emptively setting up my barriers against the pressure before rapidly descending. Now that I understood my own limits, I could continue to teleport downwards, as long as I was careful to avoid the eldritch abominations lurking in the darkness.
Even so, it took me nearly half an hour before I returned to the ocean floor in my draconic form specialized in detection. Since I had already gathered the few treasure orbs from this region earlier, I took off to the south, a direction I hadn’t ventured previously.
In the back of my mind, I was already making plans. These blueprints should be considered decent even among grandmasters. If I happened to get a duplicate, there was nothing wrong with me selling them, either through Diane or directly to another nation. Such a blueprint would naturally be worth a grand fortune. Although it could only be learned once, similar to a skill book, it could be crafted repeatedly, so long as you had the materials.
Of course, I lacked any more of the materials needed to make another Coral Imperial City, so it wasn’t as though I could create an entire aquatic empire. Still, the blueprints themselves should be incredibly valuable.
It took me five full minutes before I found the next treasure bubble, tucked away between two thick patches of plants. When I popped the bubble, I was given the blueprint for a Tempest Tower, which seemed to be a special training building for magic skill users.
After that, the orbs seemed to become more and more sparse. I was lucky if I could find one every ten minutes of searching, even with my senses spread out to the limits. Of course, there was one that I sensed deep within a cave on the sea floor, but I had to ignore it due to the giant rock-like fish covering the entrance with its body.
Still, I managed to get a little over three dozen bubbles before Bella sent me the warning that the sun was starting to set. I sensed another bubble in the distance when I got that message, but had to grit my teeth and ignore it. My body shot upwards like a rocket, determined not to overstay my welcome.
I didn’t know exactly when the event would end, whether it was at sundown or midnight. However, I wasn’t going to risk dropping any of my newly acquired goods on the off-chance that it was the former.
Although I hadn’t gotten another Coral Imperial City blueprint, I had gotten several others that I did not want to risk losing. Thus, I swapped my active dragon skill to Ghost-X, pushing my speed to its limits as I cut through the water.
When I broke the water’s surface, I felt a brief moment of disorientation before shaking my head. Just to be safe, I used Internal Recovery-X, and then flew towards the distant imperial city.
Only when I landed on the island closest to the others did I allow myself to relax. At this point, the sun had just finished setting. To my dismay, I found that the underwater monsters still seemed to be passive, even against one another, letting me know that I could have grabbed at least one or two more rewards before rising.
Still, I was glad that I made it out in one piece, returning to my normal form. “So, get any other good rewards?” Diane’s Chosen asked, her brand having already dimmed. She and the others had moved to the island when it started getting dark. Not a bad decision, given that I could easily just make us a house here if I wanted.
I took a deep breath, nodding my head. “Yeah… can you send the list to your player?” I asked, taking a picture of the blueprints in my inventory and sending it to her. “I want to keep one Tempest Tower, Sunfall Bazaar, Tidehome Villa, Azure Harbor Market, Pearl City District, Sunlit Plaza, and the Seashell Cottage. Everything else, she can find a way to sell.”
Diane’s eyes widened as she heard that, looking through the list of items I sent her. “You… sure you want to get rid of the Mariner’s Keep blueprint? It looks like it doesn’t need any rare materials. You could probably remodel Fallcry with this one, right?”
I hesitated for a moment. While the keep didn’t need any rare event materials, it did still require materials harvested from the ocean floor. I could handle the coral now, but the other various materials, I’d need to go down myself to grab. “I’m sure. I don’t have the skill to get the materials it does need, and won’t for quite a while. If anything, I’d rather use the money from selling all of these to attract a City Planner that could customize Fallcry with materials we can use.”
Diane nodded her head at that, sending the list to her player. There were several blueprints on the list that I simply didn’t care about. For instance, the Wavecrest Manor. Although it didn’t require any special event items to build, it was just a luxury mansion. I didn’t need anything like that. I’d rather use the buildings I could make normally when we’re traveling. And for a proper residence, I had the Sunspire Palace.
Thankfully, I had gotten enough Moonlit Tideglass to make two of these palaces. So, I could place one in Fallcry and the other here. Normally, I wouldn’t really consider it necessary to place the palace in a city other than the ‘capital’. However, it was rather thematically appropriate for this new city, so I saw no reason not to.
As I was thinking that, Nuoda looked around, a curious glint in her eyes. Unlike Diane, she logged on later, so her player was still online. “If I may ask, what does the blueprint have planned for the islands here?” She asked, and I checked the blueprint to confirm.
“Island one is the central island, and is designated for government facilities, the primary shopping district, and main hub. Islands two, four, and six–we’re currently on six– are set as residential areas with scattered shops. Three is a martial training hub, five is a magic training hub, and seven is reserved for agriculture.”
“Islands three, five, and seven also each have two ‘dungeon plazas’ allocated…” I hesitated when I read that, before blinking. “Huh. When the city is built, it will automatically generate six dungeons, and their controls will be part of the city management. The dungeons on island seven will be resource dungeons, too.”
Nuoda’s eyes widened further when she heard this. “I see… how long will it take you to finish building the city?” She asked, looking around again.
“Well, I plan to start by creating the palace now, which according to the blueprint will put the city in ‘phase two’ of construction. At that point, I should be able to buy the teleportation nexus and send you back to Fallcry. As for me… I’ll probably spend the rest of the week working on this.”
Even just one of the islands was bigger than Fallcry, let alone all seven. It would naturally take me a while to get everything set up.
Nuoda sighed, nodding her head. “Right, we need the teleportation points. Even without the sheer cliff in the way, the path from here to Fallcry is completely impossible for normal people to traverse. And even you can’t easily dig a tunnel that long.”
Well, I could, but it would take a long time… maybe two weeks of constant work? That was more time than I was willing to devote to a road that could be replaced by the teleportation point.
