139 Discovery (1/2)

Li, led by Ven'thur's crisp and precise directions, found himself in the docks. It was still dark, and there were a few hours left before first sunlight. Because of the lateness of the hour, there were very few late night stragglers to be wary of. Mostly drunkards or shady low-level crooks, but both types quickly withdrew from Li when they felt his presence.

The docks themselves were devoid of people. An array of fishing boats of varied quality tied down to the docks floated gently. Fishermen went out in the mornings and came back at sunset and did not ever try and wade into the waters at night when lower visibility and more dangerous monsters might roam the surface waters.

Lord Lys's personal ship loomed tall and large in the night, even now manned by a small guard to prevent thievery, but knowing how idyllic Riviera usually was, these guards were probably sleeping on the job.

'So, you want me to go to the bottom of the lake? You know, it's been a while since I've swam.'

'Is water perhaps one of your weaknesses? I can offer you some elemental protection if you so desire,' came Venthur's concerned voice.

Li sighed. 'No, it was just a minor joke. Honestly, I feel like everyone takes me a little too seriously most of the time. Anyway, bottom of the lake, right?'

'That is correct. There are a few meddlesome creatures, but I am certain they will be frightened away by your presence if they felt mine too much to bear. An entrance to an underground cave will be apparent there.'

Li knelt down by the water's edge, watching the water as it glimmered with moonlight. He liked to look at the water of this world. It was so clean, even right beside the docks, right beside sewage, that he found it a marvel to witness.

'More caves? Quite a few around here.'

'The lay of the land is conducive to underground caverns. But perhaps that is also because tribes of Molemen used to live here, though this was eight hundred years ago, well before any humans had yet to settle here.'

Li reached out and broke the water's surface with his hand. As he watched the shining surface of the water break apart, he wondered, 'But humans are here now. I assume the Molemen got driven off, then?'

'The records from the earliest era after the arrival of the gods is murky. One of my colleagues had devoted his undeath to piecing it together, but alas, the burning of the citadel claimed his life. Yet from his writings I know that the Molemen suffered a great plague which weakened them enough for the humans to move in.

But that is to be expected. All civilization is built atop corpses. It is simply the price of development. Yet it is a price that I have observed humans to be the most willing to pay.'

'But painting with a broad brush means you don't get to see the finer details. People can be good in their own way, and I'm confident that they can learn to respect the lives and world around them.'

'You intend to use your vast power to realize that ideal?'

Li shrugged. 'I don't see myself as a grand visionary. All I want to do right now is to grow my farm in a way that lets everyone from all walks of life enjoy it.'

With that, Li pushed himself into the water. An instant of coldness surrounded his body as he felt the water swallow him up, but then his bodily temperature regulated so that he felt completely fine. He had a functional swimming stroke, and with a tireless and immensely powerful body, he made quick work of the water, streaking down the depths of the lake with all the explosive propulsion of a missile.

A streak of bubbles followed him as he opened his eyes wide, letting his night vision take in the sight of this underwater world. Schools of fish swirled around him like clouds of brilliant red and white scales. The occasional lumbering body of a larger, armor plated fish swung by, close at the heels of these clouds, chomping to try and get at a straggler.

Balls of algae with glowing white eyes floated around him, looking at him curiously as he passed by. As he dove deeper, the water grew darker, and the fish became different. They were larger, more solitary, and more monstrous, covered with spines or baring vicious rows of teeth.

He recognized them as monsters from Elden World, but then there were also regular fish like pink salmon and trout. Here, the glowing algae creatures intensified in number and size, becoming like large floating lanterns that emitted a ghostly pale light from their bodies.

As Li swam downwards, the fish parted for him in the same way that people instinctively did, understanding he was not to be trifled with. At the bottom, he settled onto a sandy lake floor. Clouds of sediment wafted upwards, and he heard muffled sounds of movement as dozens of giant crabs that had blended directly on the floor rose up in alarm and ambled away.

Directly above, a lesser sea serpent over a dozen meters long circled, its red eye leering down as it waited for Li to move so it could snatch up a crab.

So this was what life was like underwater. He knew that people in his world used to dive down into the oceans and watch the life swim around them and peer at great and colorful walls of reefs, but the reefs had crumbled away and the fish population had thinned out long before he could have enjoyed anything like that. He only ever knew water as dirty, murky, and as choked as the air above water.

It was stunning, and it took Ven'thur to talk to him to snap him out of his wondering daze as he watched the life swirl around him.

'Is something amiss?'