MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1670: The Ocean’s Depths

Whoosh!

Making use of his movement skill to propel himself, Ataraxia began to dive deeper into the Ocean of Crystallized Truths, briefly leaving Valyr at a loss for words as he watched his other self disappear from his vision.

Though, recalling the words his other self spoke just now, the young man did not take long to follow suit, utilizing his own set of movement skills to dive deeper into the ocean as well.

And thus, the two proceeded to head into the third layer of the ocean, which was the Depths.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Although arriving at the Shallows had made the two understand the difficulty of staying within the ocean for a prolonged amount of time, it was only after deciding to head into the Depths did the two realize how difficult it truly was.

Screeeeccchhhh!!!

By the time the two dove 50 meters into the ocean, both Valyr and Ataraxia were hit by a sonic attack all of a sudden.

To no surprise, the two were caught off guard by the sonic attack, causing them to become disoriented for quite some time before eventually recovering from the attack’s effects.

’Where the hell did that come from?’ asked Valyr the moment he recovered from the attack, briefly taking a look at their current surroundings as he proceeded to reorient himself. ’Are there other beings in the water?’

’Probably,’ said Ataraxia in response as he maintained vigilant towards their imminent surroundings. ’After all, the guard did say that there’s a mental and physical aspect to staying for a long time in the Shallows.’

’...I guess this sonic attack is part of the mental aspect?’

’Not gonna lie, I thought he meant that figuratively,’ replied Valyr after pondering over Ataraxia’s words for a bit. ’In my head, I thought the mental aspect was just fighting the urge to breathe and head back to the surface after staying in the ocean for a long time.’

’I definitely wasn’t expecting attacks like these.’ The young man gave his other self a wry smile.

’Thankfully, we were able to recover from the attack in a short amount of time,’ said Ataraxia after that, to which Valyr nodded in agreement. ’If not, who knows what would have happened to us.’

’Either way, wouldn’t hurt to pay a bit more attention to our surroundings.’

’Yeah.’ After drafting up a rough plan on how they’d defend against the sonic attacks the next time they received one, the two continued with their journey to the Depths, reducing the speed at which they dove deeper by half of what it used to be.

Then again, even though they reduced their movement speed by half, the speed at which they dove deeper was still far faster than most of the people that visited the Ocean of Crystallized Truths, allowing them to cover the remaining distance in considerable time.

Naturally, with the two heading deeper and deeper into the ocean, the two eventually began to experience the pressure of the water pressing down on them, feeling as if they were being squeezed by a hydraulic press on all sides.

Nevertheless, with their stats being far higher than what was expected for a being at their current class rank, the two were able to ignore its effects for the most part.

Instead, the two spent most of their attention on guarding against more of the sonic attacks, which both were struck by a few more times as they arrived at a point slightly past the hundred-meter mark.

’Here we are. The Depths.’

’Or at least, that’s what the guard said is the starting point,’ said Ataraxia through [Soul Entanglement], only to close his eyes soon after.

Whoosh!

Watching his other self focus his attention towards comprehending the [Intent Seed of True Mana], Valyr noticed that the number of iridescent streaks surrounding Ataraxia were at least twice as many as the ones that surrounded them back at their previous point.

However, aside from that, the young man did not notice any qualitative difference between the streaks from the Shallows and the streaks from their current point.

’Does that mean the Depths actually start at 200 meters?’ Valyr wondered to himself, getting a strong feeling that the thought might just be correct.

Then again, it wouldn’t be long until his other self proved his hypothesis.

’There’s a difference for sure, but it’s not as much compared to where we were,’ said Ataraxia the moment he opened his eyes, looking at Valyr with a hint of disappointment.

’Going by the numbers you gave me earlier, comprehending here feels like it’s around 25 times faster than normal.’

’So, what you’re saying is the depth the guard gave us was wrong,’ said the latter in return.

Ataraxia shrugged his shoulders, looking at his other self with a hint of doubt. ’Or perhaps he wanted us to err on the side of caution. After all, this is our first time coming here.’

’Perhaps.’ Pondering over the young man’s words for a bit, Valyr eventually shrugged his shoulders as well, deciding not to think any further on the reason why the guard gave them that figure.

’Anyways, do you want to head down to the actual Depths?’

’If we can handle the pressure of staying there, sure.’ Ataraxia gave him a nod after a bit of thought. ’But if not, then let’s stay at a depth where it won’t affect our comprehension that much.’

’Alright.’

With their minds made up on what they would do next, the two went ahead and proceeded to dive deeper into the Ocean of Crystallized Truths, easily reaching the 200-meter mark in a few minutes.

Stopping for a bit to see if heading down that depth would bring them to the start of the third layer, both Valyr and Ataraxia were both disappointed to find out that it wasn’t.

Though the speed at which they comprehended concepts was a bit faster than the speed they got back at their previous point, the difference hadn’t reached a qualitative point like the difference between the Surface and the Shallows.

And so, they dove even deeper.

300 meters...

400 meters...

450 meters...

’We’re closing in on 500 meters...’ said Valyr through their connection, his expression a slight frown. ’Surely the Depths wouldn’t be any deeper than this, right?’

’I don’t know,’ replied Ataraxia, briefly glancing at the path they took to get to where they currently were. ’We’ve checked the difference a number of times already, but it still doesn’t feel like we’ve reached a new layer.’

’I really hope we arrive at the Depths soon,’ said the former in return as he let out a low sigh.

’Would be a waste not to after diving this far.’ Ataraxia nodded in agreement, continuing to keep an eye on their surroundings.

At this point, the speed at which they dove deeper into the ocean had slowed down to a crawl.

Though the two were still unaffected by the pressure that pressed on them after reaching such a depth, the same could not be said for the mental attacks they’ve had to endure while diving.

Fortunately, just as they thought that they’d be greeted with disappointment the moment they surpassed the 500-meter mark, the two instead felt their surroundings slightly shift all of a sudden, causing expression of anticipation and excitement to appear on their faces.

However, before the two could even relish in the feeling of their efforts finally bearing fruit...

Whoosh!

They soon felt despair engulf them.