Markets and Multiverses

I froze, staring at the giant eye that lay deep in the ocean, before I saw it disappear just as suddenly as it had appeared.

I stopped moving as I looked around, but I couldn’t see the rest of the giant creature. The ocean seemed normal. Giant fish continued to swim around, disinterested in their surroundings. I simply kept scanning my surroundings, unwilling to move an inch.

Where had it gone? Where was the rest of its body? I tensed, wondering if I had strayed too deep into the ocean.

Before I had time to think further, I spotted something else. It was hard to notice, but at the edge of my vision, I could just barely make out something… translucent. At first, I thought it was just a symptom of the weird, distorted vision I was forced to use beneath the ocean. However, I realized that I was looking at a physical object after a few more moments of observation. The way it moved in the ocean’s currents felt almost natural, but its movements were slightly off. The giant translucent sheet was slowly drifting closer to the school of giant fish.

The more I looked at it, the more its movements felt intentional to me. An ominous feeling started to appear in my stomach.

The school of giant fish didn’t seem to notice the strange translucent creature at all. They continued to swim around like a cloud of Great Fish, which were ignoring the world around them as they swam towards whatever destination they had in mind.

Then, just beyond my view, I started to see something unique in the water far in the distance. It felt like space started breaking, as water suddenly surged towards a location in the distance. At the same time, the mana in the ocean currents slowly drifted towards the same spot. The water, mana, and broken space seemed to slowly come together, compressed into one spot, before the irregularity in the ocean’s current and mana flow eased. However, it didn’t disappear entirely; water and mana were still being dragged towards a certain point in the distance. 

I felt the corners of my frozen lips drift upwards. The abnormality in the ocean reminded me of other weird materials in this world, such as floatwood and Astrellium. I had been in the ocean for less than an hour, and I had already found another weird material. Was this something I could use for the islands?

Before I could continue to analyze what was going on, one of the giant fish drifted a bit too close to the translucent creature. A sense of terror came over me as the translucent creature suddenly changed color, turning a bright red as the space around it rippled. It suddenly used an amount of mana I had never felt another living creature possess. Not even the glowing fish had been this horrifying. How many runes did this thing have? Finally, a massive row of teeth appeared from thin air, before they clamped down on the fish.

The fish started thrashing, blood pouring out of its wounded side as it tried to escape, but the massive creature revealed its massive body. It serrated teeth hooked into the belly of the fish, and the blood pouring out of the fish’s wounded side began forming drops of corrosive liquid before surging back into the body of the Great Fish. The other fish, alerted by the appearance of a predator, froze for a moment. My ominous feeling grew worse.

Seconds later, the currents of the surrounding ocean began to twist and surge, rippling towards the bright red creature as parts of its body faded in and out of the weaknesses in space beneath the waves. 

I felt the ocean currents start to drag me around, and panic nearly overwhelmed me as I realized that I might get killed by the Great Fish in this area. I quickly began swimming upwards with all of my might, using teleportation and water manipulation to propel myself upwards as fast as I could. However, the tugging and twisting sensation as the entire ocean seemed to twist and tear at the creature was too much for my body to handle.

And, even though I was only caught at the edge of the attack, the sudden violent surges of thousands of kilograms of water still tore at my body as well. With a snap, I felt the left side of my ribcage, along with my left arm, bend in a way they weren’t supposed to bend, before several bones broke. I gasped in pain, but managed to push through it with my Willpower as I desperately healed the left half of my body. Thankfully, I wasn’t the main target of the currents, so I was able to escape before being completely ripped apart by the ocean. I finally managed to teleport out of range of the attack, and gently used my right hand to probe my broken bones.

My ribcage wasn’t totally destroyed, which was probably the only reason I was still alive. My left arm had basically been fractured beyond recognition. I felt a dizzying amount of pain rip into my thoughts for a few moments, before I slowly pushed away the wave of dizziness. I could still function like this, but I wasn’t going to be swimming anywhere anymore. I would need to use water currents to move, and I would need to be gentle or I might pass out from the pain.

I turned back towards the bright red creature, trying to figure out what it was doing, and also trying to see what was happening with the strange object in the distance. As I observed it I realized that there wasn’t an object moving mana in the distance; instead, it was more like an object was being created out of water and mana. I frowned. Were events like this common beneath the waves? How often did these strange objects form?

Before I could think more, my attention was drawn back towards the translucent fish. The creature seemed aware that it was no match for the school of giant fish. Even though it probably had far more runes than each fish, there were far too many enemies for it to survive a proper fight with. As the dying Great Fish thrashed and wriggled in its mouth, the creature began madly fleeing towards the forming object in the distance. At the same time, the temperature of the water around both me and the Great Fish began to drop in temperature, causing me to start shivering again. My Fortitude was high enough that I could ignore smaller drops in temperature, even if it was unpleasant, but even with my healing runes, if this creature kept lowering the temperature, I would die. I poured more mana into strengthening my physique, uncaring as I absorbed another fish core, before the bright red creature finally moved far enough away that its freezing ability no longer affected the water surrounding me. I breathed another sigh of relief, even though it was swimming towards the weird object I had been eyeing.

A few moments later, the creature’s presence began to fade. As the Great Fish chased after it, it became harder and harder to detect, and its limbs seemed to become translucent once more. in moments, it faded into the water, before I felt space ripple slightly. The creature teleported, causing me to lose track of it.

This thing could also teleport? I shivered. If it could teleport, it had probably also absorbed one of the Storm Orbs. Perhaps the reason we had never seen an incident like the ‘Glowing Fish’ in the years our village had lived on the island was because stronger creatures usually swallowed up the Storm Orbs. If there was one upside to creatures like the translucent creature, it was that it had never surfaced before now. Therefore, regardless of how violent it was, it had never attacked the villages. 

I shivered again, trying to ignore the overwhelming pain from my left side as I tried to locate the translucent creature. I finally noticed a few drifting and translucent limbs nearby, slowly making their way towards the strange object. The school of Great Fish seemed confused, having lost their target, but a few moments later, they started swimming away again.

I was shocked that the relatively peaceful Great Fish could pose a threat to other creatures beneath the waves, but I realized I simply hadn’t given them enough credit until now. The Great Fish were powerful creatures of the ocean that almost universally formed the ability to manipulate water, and had massive and powerful bodies even without their rune enhancements. They just weren’t aggressive, which is why I had never thought of them as a threat before. However, they clearly worked in massive groups. Even if one fish was manageable, a few hundred certainly wasn’t, especially if they coordinated their rune abilities.

I cleared my thoughts, before I ignored the Great Fish. I swore to myself that I would just take a look at whatever weird material existed in the distance, and then I would flee back to land to get my bones healed. I wanted to bring at least a little bit of useful information back with me, and even if I was in no state to snatch the unique object now, I could learn something for my next attempt. I turned my attention back towards the translucent creature that was making its way towards the strange object in the distance. However, I kept an eye on every direction around me, making sure I could push myself through a teleportation gate the moment I saw something wrong. I still hadn’t seen any traces of the creature attached to the massive eye I had seen just a minute or two ago. Its lack of presence, combined with the incredibly dangerous creatures in the area, made me extremely wary of dying at any moment.

Once the creature got closer to the object in the distance, the creature’s presence flared up again and it started to turn bright red. For a moment, I felt a mounting horror as I thought that it had somehow detected me and was about to have a snack after eating the Great Fish. Instead, some sort of appendage crept out of the creature, creeping towards whatever object was still gently absorbing water and mana in the distance.

Finally, the giant creature grabbed hold of the object before dragging it forward. I got my first clear look at it; it was a giant black pearl. As it moved closer to the giant red creature, its mana started to feel familiar. I felt… a sort of resonance between my fifth rune and the object in the distance. It was like I was looking at something that, while not quite the same as the Storm Orb I had absorbed, was at least similar in nature.

The System had called the Storm Orbs ‘fragments of the Ocean’s Heart.’ Perhaps this was another kind of ‘fragment?’

Moments after I saw the object, the Call of the Ocean suddenly became dozens of times more intense. I felt increasing waves of longing, desire, and every other emotion imaginable as I was nearly consumed by a need to be in front of the object. My Willpower started to crumble like a house of cards.

I forgot every single reason I had to go back home. A part of my brain was screaming at me, telling me I needed to look away, but Grade 6 Willpower was no longer enough to control myself.

I nearly threw away any shred of my rationality and tried to swim closer to the orb of energy, ignoring the extreme pain swimming caused me with my broken ribs and arm. Even if competing with the massive sea creature would definitely end with my death, I needed it. The orb was mine. Even if I died in the process, even if I had no chance, I had to get the orb.

Before the creature could absorb the orb, a massive tentacle suddenly flew out from the depths of the ocean. It was massive, and as I saw it from the corner of my eye, the world itself spun with hazy, distorted flickers. For a brief moment, it broke my line of sight with the black pearl, and the screaming fragments of my mind finally reasserted themselves.

I snapped out of it, my grade 6 Willpower barely saving my life as I overcame the madness that had temporarily drowned out my reason. As I struggled to wrench my eyes away from the black pearl, I watched the massive tentacle reach out towards the massive black pearl. At the same time, I began to throw even more mana into my body to heal myself, since I had stopped healing myself while I swam towards the black pearl with my broken arm and ribs. If I had been even a few seconds late, I would have died. 

Then, the pain in my body fading as I partially healed the torn muscles and flesh in my body, I absorbed another fish core and continued observing the black pearl and two giant sea monsters.

The massive tentacle took the black pearl, but the bright red hunter wasn’t willing to let go without a fight. The moment the tentacle drew near, it opened its maw again, before chomping down on the giant tentacle, while one of its other appendages kept dragging the black pearl towards its body.

The tentacle suddenly writhed in pain, and I had a very bad premonition. I began pushing myself upwards with water manipulation, in order to be as far from the fight as possible. 

Dozens of giant red eyes open in the ocean below me. A howl resounded from the depths of the ocean, and I felt a familiar madness overtake my thoughts for a brief moment. This time, I understood more of what I saw; the creature’s voice reminded me of the hazy, distorted flickers of reality I saw after absorbing the storm orb. Then, several dozen other tentacles from the massive creature erupted out of chunks of distorted space, surging towards the offending creature. My eyes widened as I finally recognized this thing.

The massive eye I had seen earlier, and the dozens of massive tentacles all belonged to the creature who had demolished the fleet of the first wave of outsiders had returned. It was still here.

Several tentacles wrapped around the stealthy creature, as well as the black pearl.

Then, without even the ability to fight back, I saw the massive tentacles drag the creature and the black pearl towards the dozens of glowing eyes in the depths of the ocean. The creature madly tried to absorb the black pearl, and also tried to teleport away and freeze the creature’s tentacles, but it wasn’t even a proper fight. Its teleportation simply failed to work, and the ice didn’t even injure the tentacles of the giant creature before it disappeared into the depths of the ocean. If I could breathe, I would have been gasping for breath.

Suddenly, the incredibly powerful currents and my desperate struggle for survival ended, replaced with total silence in the area. The Great Fish had already fled from the area during the fight. I took a few minutes to recover, gently pushing myself upward with water manipulation while I closed my eyes, healed myself, and teleported upwards again whenever my teleportation was off cooldown.

I had an incredibly bad headache now. The Call of the Ocean was about to split my head open, and I was struggling to resist it more and more. 

The Ocean wanted me to return to it. And I wanted to become one with the water, the life in my body slowly draining into the depths of the ocean as it choked the warmth and life out my corpse…

Luckily, my Grade 6 Willpower was enough to keep hold of my sanity, if only just. However, the black pearl had nearly overwhelmed me when I had seen it. Finally, my eyes still closed and my left side still hurting, I emerged the ocean, and my mind began to recover from the damage of the Call of the Ocean. I wasn’t next to the village, but I was at least close enough that I could see it. However, the piercing agony in my mind was far worse than the pain of my broken bones. I collapsed onto the sand of a beach before I started hacking water out of my lungs and dumping healing mana into my body. At the same time, a System notification appeared.

Exploration: Explore the depths of the Al’thala Islands and return to the surface alive

Achievement +200

My Achievement increased from 8,258.06 to 8,458.06 as I coughed water out of my lungs and tried to manage the pain in my mind and body. Meanwhile, as I started to get my mind back under control, I began to think.

The fight between the two sea monsters revealed several things to me. First and foremost, the giant sea creature that had demolished the outsider fleet was still underneath the islands, and had never used anywhere near its full strength. I had no idea how strong that creature was, but I instinctively knew that it wasn’t fightable. Not for all of the village chiefs working together. Maybe not even for the entire Megailian empire. That thing had to be way stronger than a human with sixteen runes. It hadn’t even bothered to use a rune ability to wipe out the stealthy ocean creature, and the transparent creature had been helplessly dragged away to meet its fate the moment it got in the way of the ocean creature. I was incredibly thankful that it didn’t attack the islands, even if I had no clue why it seemed afraid of them.

Second, I was wary of the ‘useful resources’ that lay below the waves. Even if the Storm Orb had made me more powerful, it had also permanently damaged my Willpower as a cost. The strange object I had seen this time had nearly broken my Willpower just from seeing it. Even if the Call of the Ocean was much stronger while under the waves, I doubted anyone would be able to absorb that thing and remain sane. That meant the object was useless, and I needed to find something else to make the islands stronger. Nobody could absorb it, and so nobody could use it. My first trip into the ocean had given me some information I could relay to the islands, but was ultimately useless. And time was running out.

I frowned, before I realized something and grinned.

The strange orb was valuable enough for two powerful sea creatures to fight over it, one of which was the monstrosity that had destroyed part of the first outsider fleet. And just seeing the orb nearly broke my Willpower and drove me completely nuts on the spot.

Who said the islands needed someone to absorb the orb? If we managed to get the orb out of the ocean and dumped it in the middle of the outsider fleet, half of the sailors would probably go mad on the spot before the giant sea monster destroyed the rest of the fleet. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but a stealth-related rune ability MIGHT keep the orb hidden until we needed to sic the leviathan on the invaders.

I cackled to myself, in between coughing out spurts of water.

This definitely hadn’t been the way I envisioned my plan working out, but if I could get ahold of a sea orb for long enough, I might be able to make something work. I just needed to figure out how to snatch a magic orb from a sea monster that could probably kill a human with sixteen runes in seconds, and then flee into the center of a fleet of hostile sailors who had explicitly come to kill us. All while possibly keeping alive another villager with a stealth related ability. 

acaswell

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I actually managed to write four chapters this week. I think what I’m going to do henceforth is always add 3 chapters to public every week, and then on the rare occasion I get 1 chapter ahead of schedule for the week, it’ll go to Patreon’s chapter pool. Then, if I somehow get 2 chapters ahead of schedule, it’ll go to everyone’s chapter pool, although I don’t expect that to happen very often. That’s the current way I plan to handle things. I don’t get ahead of schedule very often, though…

Anyway.