Chapter 608: Dive with Docky (1/2)
Nobody was happier than Ottley when Docky announced that Zero and Truen will spend the rest of their time training with him while the shipwrights finished the Marissa. Docky kept his students busy daily and often took them out to sea for a practical demonstration.
”Since the both of you can breathe underwater, swim and see things in the dark, you can start diving. I will explain as I go along with the diving sessions about the things to expect underwater. There are five basic layers under the sea, and each layer has its own dangers.”
Very quickly, Docky explained that there were five layers of the sea, but the Marissa was only able to dive until the third layer, no deeper than that.
”Unlike the sunlight, twilight and midnight zones that the Marissa can sail in, the deeper levels are not fit for survival conditions. Sea monsters often lurk in the abyss layer, and some even reside deep in the trenches.”
Simply put, the deeper they got into the ocean, the more dangerous things were. While the surface had its fair share of predators and weather threats, the calm beneath the surface was a lie.
Truen and Zero thought that taking a dip in the sea was going to be easy. After all, while they were doing sailing practices, they often fooled around and helped the crew gather food for dinner. It wasn't very difficult to keep up with Docky when he first led them to the deeper waters. The shores were full of sand and creatures that lived under rocks. Zero thought they would be diving to find clams, but that thought soon flew out of the window when Docky swam to open waters.
Truen panicked a little when he saw how the ground suddenly fell from below them. Above them, they could hardly see the sun, and the temperature of the water was getting colder. Thankfully, Zero and Truen had temperature regulating charms on their clothes.
Docky swam effortlessly and grinned to himself. It looked like he wasn't using any strength to propel himself forward, but there was a trick to it. He wasn't sure if the two land-dwellers figured it out yet. The wood elf looked like he was struggling, and the Chosen One was using brute force to keep up. Neither of them understood what was happening.
At a particularly powerful force coming from nowhere, Truen messed up and found himself getting pulled away from Zero's side. The wood elf struggled to swim back, but he only got further from them. Zero noticed it a little too late and followed the same fate.
Docky glanced back to check on the waddling kids a moment too late, and they were already several hundred meters away from him. Cursing in his mind, the sea otter jumped into the underwater current to fish the two careless land-dwellers out, pulling the startled rookies to the surface.
Truen spluttered, choking on both water and air. He was still unable to get used to using his underwater breathing skills freely. Docky checked on Zero, and the doctor looked slightly dazed. His eyes were unfocused, but he looked otherwise unharmed. Feeling slightly sorry for not warning them about the current, Docky ended practical lessons early that afternoon.
They headed back to shore, and Docky sighed. It was a good thing he looked back just in time to catch up to them. The underwater current in the second layer of the sea was a lot stronger than the first. They were only scratching the surface of that layer, and already, these two were at the mercy of the sea.
”How was your first experience swimming in the twilight zone?”