Chapter 124:

Swimming with the Fishes

The Unified States of Mana



The water is pleasantly warm, if not quite to the point of a warm bath or spa, then at least what you might expect from a public pool on a hot summer day. I hang onto the resilient ice shelf for dear life as Adler rests in the water by my side, bobbing rather happily in the water, while sparing the occasional glance downwards to ensure that the fish don’t decide to nibble on Eshya.

“How does this work?” I ask, refusing to release the ice shelf that’s keeping me from sinking like a stone. “Are you sure the armour isn’t going to make this more difficult?”

“It’s fine, I’m here to catch you.” Adler says. “But please temper your expectations, you’re probably not going to get it first go like Eshya did.” Said elf breaches the water while joyfully holding a fish above her head, panting for air before planting the fish on the ice and preparing to kill it.

“These little guys are fast.” She says, smiling happily as she quickly thrusts her sword into the head of the large fish.

“Damn talented battle maniac.” I grumble, my hands refusing to let go of the ice.

“You called?” Eshya asks, slipping down to my side with a cheerful smile as she washes the blood off of her sword.

“Just complaining.” I say, while hugging the ice.

“You’re not going to get anywhere just clinging to the ice like that.” Eshya points out.

“…How deep does it go?”

“Only about a hundred and twenty metres or so.” Eshya says with a shrug. “It’s wider than it is tall.”

My mind boggles at the depth and it’s all I can do to keep from pulling myself out of the water this instant and running to the safety of solid land.

Eshya dives under the surface again, sourcing more ingredients for our over eager alchemist, already setting up her small cauldron and lighting a fire under it. Water gathered from this very pool poured into it as she prepares to start cooking up her potions.

“Do you trust me?” Adler asks

“Sure, I trust you. I trust you.” I say, shivering though I don’t feel the cold. “But… how does this work?”

Asking again is just a delaying tactic, and I’m sure she knows it too, but she nods and drifts closer, hesitantly resting a hand on my shoulder as she begins to explain.

“The biggest reason we sink in water is because our mana density is so much greater than that of the water we’re swimming in.” She explains. “Water thick enough would be almost solid beneath our feet as we’d have difficulty displacing it. While if it was thin enough, it’d seem almost like air as we sink to the sea floor.”

“So swimming is pretty much the same as flying then?” I ask.

“In some ways, but while both are fluids, liquids have different qualities to gasses, and there are various methods of movement that work better in one compared to the other. In this instance the Skill that you’re wanting to try and learn is most effective in liquids rather than gasses.

“What it should do is help you to control your own buoyancy. Essentially, you’ll be allowing yourself to experience the waters as if you were of a lower mana density, which should allow you to float, and to kick at the water. There are some advanced adaptions to the Skill allowing you to grasp the water almost as if it were a solid thing, though you’re hardly ready for that yet.

“Now to get started, you’re going to have to flow the mana through your body as the Skill is trying to do. You’ll have to correct it quickly before it lets too much mana waste, can you do that?”

“Why does it work like that?” I ask. “Why does moving the mana in that peculiar pattern twist physics so that I can suddenly float instead of sinking.”

“There’s a long explanation that I haven’t yet had chance to read through.” Adler says, trying to sound confident regardless. “The theoretical details aren’t important right now, all that matters is that it works. You just need to replicate that success.”

I’m sure the explanation is some quantum mechanics mumbo jumbo about how the mana isn’t really real, or some equally difficult to understand nonsense. The last time I delved that deep I found out that the mana inside me is actually spread out diffusely through my flesh and bones, and what I’m controlling in the flows through me is something more akin to its shadow… I think?

It gets weird.

The fact that if I spin it around just right it’ll partially disappear from ordinary physics, just makes it extra weird.

“Okay, I’m doing it.” I explain, pulling from the ‘Swimming’ Skill that’s been borrowed from someone, somewhere at some point in time. The ability doesn’t easily translate, and I shed a little mana before I’m able to keep it from tearing my mana out of my skin.

I wrangle the Skill like an angry stallion, trying to keep it from rushing us into one of the countless cliffs, bear traps, pits, and holes waiting to trip us up. The person who designed this Skill clearly had more flesh than I do, and the Skill is trying to move my mana that non-existent flesh.

For a few minutes I struggle with the errant mana, until it finally lets up, and follows the redirected course through my body.

Already I can feel the warmth of the water, the cold of the ice under my grip, and the slight floaty sensation of being in water. It seems this Skill can do more for me than just help me swim.

“It worked!” I shout, turning to Adler and letting go of the ice.

I don’t even get the chance to cry out as my head slips underwater. I sink deep into the pool in moments, my light wand flicking about madly as I wave my arms and legs about trying to swim back up, but I’m just too heavy, and the water slips past my struggling limbs much too easily.

A flash of light shines in my eyes, and I can feel warm arms wrapping around me as the water stiffens, locking me in place. The water quickly pushes me back up to the surface as I blink to clear my vision. I see Adler’s face as she carefully moves my hands back to the ice I’ve been clinging to.

“It didn’t work.” I say stuck between holding the ice and holding Adler. In the end she ends up stuck between me and the ice, looking at me a little awkwardly given how close our bodies are pressed. Her tall ears flicker about atop the wet mop of hair on her head.

“You haven’t quite got it down yet, no. That and you need to be able to get it working again when you panic.” Adler explains, urging me to continue practicing as she slips out from my arms, floating in the water beside me.

I bounce in the water, my buoyancy shifting and changing as I nudge the flows in slightly different directions. The Skill not being made for my body has forced me to adjust it, which has had the unfortunate effect of making it work a little less effectively.

At the moment all I can do is let my multi-mind focus adjust the flow while I pay attention to the slight changes in my buoyancy, hopefully I’ll be able to make it work before we have to leave. I’d rather have this particular Skill figured out before I end up falling in the bath and drowning myself.

I turn my attention towards the alchemist as she works on her potions on the ice a little further away from us. She’s not quite as keen about learning to swim and is instead relying on us to get her ingredients for her.

“And a little of this…” Thresh whispers to herself as she works, watching the water bubble in her cauldron. She sprinkles a handful of red dust over the water which quickly settles down in response. I resist asking her the details of what she’s doing, distracting her now could interfere with her work.

“How’s the swimming going?” Vii asks, settling in beside me as she turns her gaze between the two ends of the cave. The two places where beasts are most likely to come at us from. We still have to be cautious of trouble, even if it’s unlikely that we’ll be ambushed.

“It’s… developing.” I say.

“It’s going well.” Adler says. “You’re already learning faster than I did, back when I started water training.”

I grumble a quiet thanks for her attempts at complimenting me, clutching to the ice shelf as I lower myself into the water, just enough to let me sink and feel the buoyancy’s effect. A little better than before, but I’m still sinking.

“What else can you tell me about alchemy?” I ask Vii, looking towards Thresh as she drains the blood of a dead fish over her cauldron. She quickly grows stressed as Eshya delivers a couple more fish, her method of killing leaving them bleeding over the ice letting the blood waste.

Vii helpfully moves the group of dead fish over to a small bowl formed in the ice, letting the draining blood gather within. Thresh relaxes a little at the sight, her eyes calculating, likely already planning how to use the ingredients without allowing any waste.

“The brewing process is just another bend on what I told you about before.” Vii says, satisfied with how she’s left the dead fish. “The heat, the cauldron, the wood burning beneath, the air around us, all of it adds something to the mixture. She’s watching everything carefully, using some of it to add to the potion while trying to exorcise the aspects that she doesn’t want.”

“That sounds tough…” I say, watching as Thresh works, carefully wiping the sweat from her brow ensuring that not a drop falls into the cauldron.

She continues to bleed the fish into the mixture, her hands unerring as she carefully pries apart the fish. She shows more skill, experience, and patience in her work when compared to our own treatment of animal corpses. Our lessons on taking apart beasts was not anything like this, but I suppose the alchemists are trained to use the parts that we leave behind.

“Alchemists have to rely on Skills to anticipate most of the potential effects.” Vii says, watching Thresh with interest. “Each Skill however is built off of the experiences of the individual alchemist, so it takes years to develop a somewhat useful Skill, and even then, it’s imperfect.”

“So our ability to share Skills is actually a huge thing for alchemists, then?” I ask.

“It’s more than that.” She says excitedly. “There’s so much more than can be constructed from these support devices. So, so much more that they can do. Imagine all newly developed Skills being available the moment it’s made…. It’s…”

She quiets her excitement, looking a little ashamed of herself as she shakes her head and presses her lips closed.

“The internet but filled with new Skills and abilities.” I say with a smile. “Sounds interesting… and inevitable. I can’t wait, almost feels a bit sucky that we don’t get to take advantage of that ourselves.”

“Ah, yeah…” Vii says a little hesitantly, an awkward smile rising on her lips for just a moment.

“Do you want to try swimming?” I ask, “I can take over the watch duty.”

“No, it’s fine, you need the practice.” Vii says, hopping back to her feet. “I’ll wait until Eshya is ready to swap out, she’s already figured out her swimming.”

“Now’s fine, then.” Eshya says, swimming closer with a handful of bright plants in hand. It’s some breed of slimy seaweed by the looks of it. How so many of these plants survive without light, I’m not sure I’ll ever find out.

“Okay!” Vii says, kneeling down to help the elf out of the water. “Are you sure, though? I’m not wanting to rush you or anything. I’m fine up here really, the water is kind of deep, and… kind of scary.”

“You’ll be fine.” Eshya says, patting her on the shoulder. “Just practice your swimming Skills and don’t get too far from Adler while working on it. If there’s an emergency send me a message and I’ll dive right in and save you, okay?”

Her words help to settle her down, though she still watches the deep waters with about as much fear as I feel burning in my own gut.

“We’re in this together.” I say, clinging to her little feathered hand as she lowers herself into the water. Yelping as she starts sinking, she clings to me and the ice shelf I’m hugging, trying to keep from sinking to the depths.

“Yep, yep. Like Shen says, together!” She cries, her voice quivering.

As she explores the same ‘Swimming’ Skill as I’m learning, I can feel her weight shifting around on my shoulders. We watch Thresh work on her potions as we try to rediscover buoyancy.

“Is there any way to keep this Skill active without distributing my mana like this?” I ask, watching the numbers shift about without doing much to help me. In order to keep this new Skill active, I’m not able to keep my mana properly invested where I’d like it.

“Not really, no.” Adler says, “There’s other more difficult and expensive methods of keeping yourself afloat, but using this technique, you’ll generally want to let yourself sink if you get into a fight below the surface. That way you can focus on your mana defences properly.

“It’s not really an ideal Skill for underwater fighting, it’s more for exploring and moving about easily without wasting too much mana.”

Our conversation quickly carries over to descriptions of the various different Skills and abilities that she’s aware of that we could use to move about in the water. Many of them the same as for flying but underwater, and they come with quite the mana price.

Considering my current mana expenditure, it’s actually not a bad idea to learn a few flying Skills and magics regardless. Not like the cost is much compared to my current magic casting techniques.

“I think… It’s working…” I hesitantly say, floating on the surface of the water within reach of the ice shelf just in case I slip up and start sinking.

Vii is floating atop the water beside me, relaxing as she waves her wings back and forth through the water. The same as she does in the baths. I’m not sure if she’s actually relaxed, or if she’s pretending to be relaxed to try and keep from panicking.

“I think I’m ready too.” Vii says, coming a little closer before looking down into the depths. Even with a light wand in hand, and the light reflections filling the gap of the world beneath, it still feels like a terrifyingly deep abyss.

Thresh gives us a light wave, to get our attention, stepping aside from her cauldron a moment.

“I could do with some more of these if you can get some for me. Try to get the roots too, though I understand it might be difficult.” Thresh says, holding up a little seaweed like plant with long leaves shimmering faintly blue. The roots still attached to it are clear and crystalline, but it’s clear that most were torn loose.

“It’s rooted in the ice while the surface plant survives in warm waters.” Thresh says, her smile quite bright. “There are so many experiments… no, I can’t make waste.”

“How many do you need?” I ask, nervously looking down into the depths.

“Five should do.” Thresh says.

“I humbly accept this quest.” I mumble, slowly shifting the mana flows in the new Skill to make it work a little less effectively. It doesn’t take long to start sinking, and I quickly reengage the Skill and let myself bob right back up to the surface.

“Just practicing.” I say, facing Adler and Vii. “Ready?”

“Let’s go.” Vii says, floating close by.

I sink slowly and carefully while holding my breath. I mess around with the mana flows inside, adjusting it back and forth trying to find a happy medium where I no longer rise or sink. In the end, I’m bobbing up and down instead, but it’s close enough for now.

A few fish, about as long as my arm, swim about in this underwater aquarium. They’re all rather dull grey at first glance, but when the light reflects from the scales just right, they shimmer with bright colours, mostly blues and pinks.

They’re quick to escape my sight, clearly aware that we’re hunting them. They wouldn’t react like that unless there was something that hunts them. If the villagers aren’t lying about how safe we are, then I’d guess that it’s those villagers themselves who are the predators these fish are cautious of.

The crystalline walls reflect the light quite brightly, illuminating this underwater cavern better than I’d expected when looking down from above. Countless plants are scattered about the various surfaces, though not so much to completely cover the icy walls.

Pressured for time, as my lungs remind me that I’m not a fish, I quickly turn my attention to the plants, seeking the ones that Thresh is after.

It doesn’t take long to spot them, though swimming towards it suddenly brings up a few new problems. The more my Skill is active, the easier it is to move, which means that I can only really swim and manoeuvre upwards, not downwards. Not a problem for now, but something I’ll need to work on.

Vii flutters ahead of me, her wings proving just as useful under the water as in the skies, though it’s evident that she’s not using her magical talents down here. There’s not much wind to be found underwater.

The plants prove rather stubborn, and while I try to keep the roots intact, I rush the task a little to give my burning lungs some relief. The light we’ve left shining into the water from above the entrance makes it nearly impossible to get lost.

Vii and I rush back up to the air, carrying the bright plants and handing them over to Thresh. After a short break, we return to the task with Adler watching us closely.

My limited lung capacity makes the simple task something more challenging, but over a half dozen trips we do succeed in bringing the plants up to the alchemist, completing the quest.

“Thank you.” Thresh says, continuing to work on her brewing as I pull myself out of the water, Vii only a second behind me. My armour makes the cold ground that much more of an uncomfortable bed.

“All good.” I say, happy to be free from the water. “It was… good practice.”

She returns to her work, leaving us to recover.

Chip starts making a fuss before I can start relaxing, and I quickly check my messages. It’s from Nel.

“Do you have a moment to talk? There’s been a few issues in the dungeon. I hope things are working out well with the alchemist, because we’re going to need her.”

Nel’s message startles me back to my feet as I quickly reply.

“What happened?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 1664 units

~Mana distribution:

Defence: 0/58%

Offense: 0/57%

Mana sense: 77/77%

Recovery: 0/30%

Gluttony: 0/26%

Misc.: 0/42%

Efficiency: 77/100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Reactive defence

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Charged casting (Annihilation)

-Mana form flow fixer

-Branching magic

-Swimming

This Novel Contains Mature Content

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