Catpurr 33: Researching the Water Temple

Catpurr 33: Researching the Water Temple

"Ugh. If only I had share sense still." Adam groaned, sitting on the platform as his skele-kitty popped out of the water, placing its phalanges on the smooth marble and pulling itself up.

"Alright. About five meters." Adam calculated, using a piece of charcoal to mark the section on a spread out parchment illuminated by the fire beside him.

It had been six days since he'd entered the dungeon, and in those six days, Adam had been plotting, planning, and exploring the watery tunnels underneath.

Well. His skeleton had.

Adam had come up with a relatively simple system using his skeleton.

As a non-breathing, non-living being, his cat would dive into the waters, exploring the tunnels on Adam's behalf. When it came to a turn or a split, it would return, tapping on icons Adam had made using pebbles that indicated the nature of the tunnel.

L for left, R for right. U for up, D for down.

From there he had extra rock symbols that represented the paths, curved, straight, or cross roads. And by calculating Skittle's swim distance with time gone, Adam was able to map out a small labyrinth of the underwater temple, including the pockets of air and rooms that were filled with monsters.

"Hmmm." Adam frowned, picking up a small blue glowing crystal and sucking on it.

The glowing crystals that pocketed the underwater cave helped to adsorb oxygen, but also released it, oxidizing the water around him for the plant life and fish that swam below him.

The crystal began to dim, the oxygen leaving the mineral. He kept sucking, removing the air until the crystal went clear and lost its blue sheen.

Dropping the crystal on the platform, the rock immediately began to reglow, taking in oxygen.

Adam recorded his findings. The third slot of his storage device being used to house a journal Ruebella had gifted him, something he could use to pass the time.

"Rate of re-oxydization, less than half a second." Adam jotted down, using the journal as a research pad.

He looked over the last few pages, each filled with drawings of fish, crystals, and images of the various items Adam had found during his stay on the floor.

Lora Fish, Glow Jelly's, Dyrid seaweed, shard of dios marble.

It was important to keep notes, not just for his sanity, but to document his findings.

Inspect. Adam said to himself as he lifted a piece of marble etched with golden engravings that he'd found after exploring his immediate surroundings.

[Shard of Undine's Temple: A remnant of Undine's Temple. After the war of gods broke out, Undine abstained, choosing instead to be the shelter for the lost and displaced from the war. Because of her actions she was revered, and praised. Sadly, with her increase of worship, her divinity grew, making her a target of scorn. This fragment is all that remains of her legacy.]

"No good deed ever goes unpunished." Adam sighed as he closed his leather bound journal. He took one more look at the map, studying it before he rolled up the parchment, dusting away the dead fish remains as he placed his items in his storage ring including one fish bone for later.

Adam sighed. It was time to get to work. Rechecking his pockets filled with the glowing crystals, he walked to the platform's edge, pulling up his interface and looking over his skills as Skittles went ahead.

Once he hit the water, he'd have no mana left unless he dispelled Skittles.

"Nothing ventured. Nothing gained." Adam said, motivating himself as he hovered his leather clad foot over the water.

Deep breath. Deep breath. Adam recited as he stuck a glowing crystal in his mouth and clamped down.

He dropped, falling into the water with a splash.

[Catsification Curse Activated!]

[-20% To All stats!]

Dispelling the notification, Adam acted quickly, placing one hand in front of the other and swimming through the water toward a tunnel at the far end where Skittles was walking.

Blinking several times to adjust his eyes to the water, Adam latched onto his skeleton, allowing it to drag him forward to conserve his strength.

Five meters left. Adam counted down, visualizing the map in his mind. He let go of his skeleton, allowing it to go ahead as the pair entered the next chamber that was teeming with fish.

Already the crystal in his mouth was dimming, but luckily, the chamber he entered held an air pocket.

He broke the surface of the water, taking the crystal out of his mouth to take in a deep breath. Holding the rock aloft, it quickly began to reglow, adding its light to the rest of the cave.

Alright. Let's get back to it.

Adam dove back down, swimming through the water to enter the next area.

Cave after cave, Adam swam, sometimes holding onto Skittles to carry him forth, sometimes stopping to inspect faded glyphs and ancient golden inscriptions on the cavern walls. However after the sixth tunnel, he was beginning to get tired, his eyes burning from prolonged exposure to the water.

Fortunately, the next checkpoint was an air pocket, allowing him a moment of reprieve.

He hit the surface, taking a deep breath as he looked left and right.

He saw nothing but stone, rocks everywhere with a few of the glowing crystals lining the ceiling.

Spotting an outcrop of a land mass he could rest on, Adam swam to the edge. He pulled himself up, grabbing onto the ground and lifting himself free of the water. However, as he did so a glint caught his eye, making him go wide-eyed and roll just in time to avoid the projectile.

Scrambling to his feet, Adam's daggers were out, his eyes narrowing as he stared into the darkness.

"PtOh!" A sound echoed, followed by a projectile that nearly struck Adam if not for him deflecting the rock with his dagger.

Adam backed up, stumbling back from the force of the attack. He took the glowing rock out his mouth and threw it towards the shadows, only for it to reveal something that made Adam frown.

It was a crab.

An excessively large crab.

A very large crustacean that didn't appreciate being unmasked from the shadows. Its rocky gray legs shifted, massive pincers clamping as it's crusty gray back opened up to reveal dozens of wiggling tentacles

"Oh… crap baskets." Adam muttered as the creature shot off the ground and charged toward him.