We are Void [Litrpg x Law cultivation + Kingdom Building]

Chapter 148: The Deep Ocean

‘Hmm… it doesn’t feel uncomfortable at all.’

Zyrus waved his tail and swam near the surface to get the hang of his trait. Underwater breathing was working as written in the system tab. There was almost no difference between swimming and running on the ground.

‘In fact, this is better since all my limbs are free.’

In this environment his tail was more effective than his hands and legs. He had expected as such, which was the reason why he changed the Xisheng arts’ target. Now, his horns were ‘sacrificed’ instead of his tail.

*Guduk*

He released the breath he was holding in to check the main function of the underwater breathing. It felt somewhat strange to not breathe all of a sudden, but he got used to it within minutes.

Every pore on his skin was absorbing the mana and oxygen from the surrounding ocean. In a certain sense, he was even superior to the fish who had to rely on their fins.

‘Good, everything’s set.’

Zyrus gave one last glance to the dragon of war and dived down into the deeper regions. 30 meters…50 meters…100 meters…500 meters….

The sunlight had almost disappeared at this point. He felt the pressure increase at every second, but thanks to his trait, he was fine.

This was the reason why he opted for a seemingly useless trait like underwater breathing. Similar to earth movement, it didn’t just allow the user to move underground. It adjusted one’s body to handle the environmental factors associated with the trait. In this case, Zyrus’s body was evolved to endure the pressure of the deep sea.

Forget about the lack of oxygen; just the pressure on the lower zones was enough to crush one into mincemeat.

Quite a few fish and aquatic creatures noticed his presence. Most of them were wary of the intruder, but since all of them were full from the recent meal, no one bothered him along the way.

Zyrus made good use of this time as he searched for any good materials. And soon enough, he came across the first target.

He swam towards a region that was glowing with a faint red luster. Such ‘faint’ light was equivalent to a floodlight in this twilight zone. Even so, he would’ve missed it for sure if not for his trait.

Of course, one can use mana to do everything the trait did by using skills and items, but it was a very inefficient process. An example would be the items Zyrus had bought from the ocean. They were great, but how long would they last? How much would it cost? This was one of the reasons as to why the ocean wasn’t explored before the fourth ring.

‘Let’s see…it looks like a flower, so it’s probably Nautilus Bloom.’

Zyrus recalled that it was a native species that grew on the blood and flesh of monsters. Contrary to its gruesome origins, its power was calm and pure in nature. It was one of the key ingredients in making recovery and mind-calming potions.

‘And you can consume it as is to negate any mental debuffs.’

Although he knew the material was useful, he didn’t dare to rashly approach the region. Every natural resource was guarded by monsters. The strength of the guardian was proportional to the material’s value.

Zyrus swam around in circles but failed to discover anything. He couldn’t use his skills either as it was equivalent to announcing his presence to everyone in the region.

In the end, he decided to check it out in person. He could afford to be a bit reckless at this depth with his current strength. His yellow eyes scanned the surrounding region while he steadily swam towards the target.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

He saw the red lotus-like petals that were floating in the middle of an empty region. The Nautilus bloom was a flower without any roots or branches. Its birth was a miraculous process; the carcasses of dead creatures would suddenly disappear into nothing, and in their place, a red flower would bloom.

The material was rare due to this very reason. Just as Zyrus reached within 10 meters of the nautilus bloom, his preceptive senses noticed the hidden guardian.

“Motherfu-”

The creature he saw was a stuff of nightmares.

*Krekrekre*

Zyrus had to admit that he was creeped out by the guardian. It was a mutated Telescopefish. Whoever named it was a lazy person for sure, but the name was apt.

He stared back at its purple face from a hundred feet away. As its name suggested, the meter-long fish had tubular eyes like a telescope. With a short snout and recurved teeth that went past the eyes, it could compete with the Nidhoggs when it came to being eerie.

*Krekre*

The Telescopefish wriggled and inched closer to him in a threatening way. Its fins and spine were almost boneless and transparent, so it looked like a purple face with tubelike eyes was swimming at his way.

Zyrus was speechless as he noticed another detail- the fish was trembling. That thing was practically a nightmare fuel, and it was scared by him.

‘Tch…whatever, I’ll just take it.’

*Kruuuuu*

Zyrus felt like he was bullying the little fish as he stowed away the Nautilus bloom. Anyway, it was a peaceful conclusion for both sides. Having a fight always came with the risk of attracting predators.

He swam down at a measured pace and crossed the 1000-meter mark. Zyrus was now inside the second largest layer in the ocean, the third zone below the Sunlight and Twilight zone.

It was called Bathypelagic Zone or the Midnight Zone. Almost no sunlight or natural bioluminescence was present in this region. At this moment Zyrus felt his scales shrivel up and become dense. It was a painful yet necessary process.

The temperature at this place was below 4 degrees Celsius whereas the pressure had increased by almost 300 times compared to the islands.

Zyrus changed his relaxed attitude and activated items that concealed the light and heat signatures around him. Although he would emit mana signals in the process, it was preferable. If worst comes to worst then there was always the speed up scroll he bought from the auction.

Besides, those who could sense such faint usage of mana were far fewer compared to those who detected all heat and light signatures. Pretty much every creature living here had large eyes like the ‘Telescopefish’.

It wasn’t easy to live in a region like this. There was no light, no sense of direction, and to top it off, you could be ambushed anytime and anywhere.

And this wasn’t a temporary situation.

The conditions wouldn’t change as long as one stayed in this region. How long could a normal player hold out under such stressful conditions? How long could they maintain their vigilance before losing their minds in fear?

Could they find food and water? Could they maintain their MP and stamina consumption? Such questions were hard to answer.

Zyrus knew that almost 99% of the current players would either die or become insane after living here for a month. As for traveling in a group or building a submarine? It was even more suicidal.

Both things were tantamount to broadcasting ‘I’m here fishes’ to the whole zone. It’d be fine if you had the power to withstand the aggression. Otherwise, the only outcome was utter annihilation.

The sea was vast and lonely. Hours went by as Zyrus swam in the dark water. It was fortunate that he could sense the flag which was on the dragon of war, otherwise, he’d have lost his way as well.

As an added safety measure, he had summoned the entire abyssal legion on the dragon of war. They could adjust the speed of the boats so that he wouldn’t be left behind on the ocean.

‘It'd be great if they could swim though.’

Reconnaissance and exploration would be a piece of cake if that were the case. However, he knew that it was just wistful thinking. Even if his summons had the ability to survive in this environment, the problem mentioned above would occur: Their mana signals would attract too much attention.

It was out of question to conquer the deep ocean without crossing lv 50.

Zyrus swam and swam before he lost the track of time. He almost felt glad when he discovered the fish living here. Their creepy faces were becoming a welcome sight in this desolate environment.

Of course, not all encounters were without a conflict. Zyrus was able to easily retreat or send away the fish since the vortex manipulation worked even better under the ocean.

He made use of these fights to further hone his controlling skills. Afterall, it was his first time fighting underwater with a low level. He didn’t face any problems when he was stronger in the past life, but now things were different.

In this process he also learned to manipulate the ocean currents. It was fundamentally different from using the airflow to charge his vortex. Zyrus knew that soon enough; he’d be able to generate a tsunami-like impact.

‘But let’s hope I don’t have to use it…’