Chapter 22: The Search Begins
(This was supposed to be out yesterday but I pulled an oopsie and click save, not publish)
Turning back I find that the spire of Eon is no longer in view and the water is now flowing gently. Looking through the water, there isn't a super whale trying to eat me. At last, after so long, I've finally escaped from the Isle of Eon. This freedom of movement, it's absolutely lovely. Not being curled up in a lake is fantastic, I need to truly thank those sailors who valiantly and unwillingly gave up their life for my escape. Although it is a little regretful... if only I could have seen the expression on their faces the moment I betrayed them, it would have felt great to watch their face shift from happiness to despair.
Now that the immediate objective of escaping from the Isle of Eon has been accomplished, what should I do now? Previously I had just been moving around with a vague idea of evolving to land but now I have this System Quest. That old rabbit Skvader suggested that I should complete the System Quest, but even without that sneaky old rabbit's advice, I think I would try and complete this anyways for the reward. But there's a problem, where do I even start? Perhaps I should look for more places like the Sea Dragon's cavern. When I saw the evolution potential descriptions, the Trench Dragon mentioned it being the second largest of the Aquatic Dragons, but how many types of them are there? I've pretty much confirmed that there is at least three, the Sea Dragon, Trench Dragon, and the unknown largest Aquatic Dragon. Since it's the only other one I know of, the Trench Dragon is probably the best place to start. If this was the past, I would have been rather terrified of even thinking of going into such a deep part of the ocean but now that I'm much stronger, I should at least be comparable with the monsters that dwell that deep.
With a new short term goal set in mind, I begin to head further away from Eon, in search of the oceanic trenches of the deep. But with no maps or any information at all, I end up wandering around again, blindly following the seafloor as it gradually deepens. Due to the lack of light in the depths, I'm unclear on how long I've been wandering around but I get the feeling that it has been a little over a month. However, I found what might be an oceanic trench. A sudden increase in depth reaching far down confirms my finding as I begin to explore some of the deepest parts of the ocean.
So far the life down here is very different from above. My eyes are able to give me near perfect vision in this lightless place, but many of the lifeforms here are almost completely blind. Most of the monsters seem to sense vibrations in the water or maybe some sort of electroreception. After using Investigate on many of the monsters here I found that almost all of them are level one or two and that there practically isn't anything above level four. This seems to be a result of most of the creatures here being scavengers that eat the remains of the dead that happen to float through. They also seem to actively avoid all larger monsters which seems to be the reason for the low standard for levels here. This has actually made securing food here incredibly difficult as many of the monsters here notice my approach from far away and flee, leaving only traces of their presence by the time I arrive. Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, this oceanic trench isn't very large nor is it too deep. There isn't anything that I could identify as being related to the Trench Dragons, allowing me to quickly leave this place and search for other areas.
Upon my rising from the trench I run into an old friend, a Bladed Eel Shark, and it's an adult this time. And of course, it is just my luck to directly bump into it as it passes over the trench. Before I can even fully rise from the trench is bites into my body, but quickly lets go once it realises my toxic nature. As the shark coils back from the pain, I bring my full body out from the trench. And it was at this moment that the shark knew, it fucked up. The shark clearly didn't expect that the monster it had picked a fight with was a monster that was nearly 120-metres long, actually, it probably was even intelligent enough to recognise that I'm a Dragon. It tries to escape immediately after the realisation took hold, but a swing of my tail is enough to cause the shark to stop its run as it turns back seeing the do-or-die situation its in. With it having been a while since my last fight I start off by getting a look at its stats, as I'm done dealing with random surprises that might kill me.
Name: N/A
Race: Adult Bladed Eel Shark
Tier: 4
Titles: N/A
Level: 7
State: Healthy/Desperate
HP: 1215/1215 MP: 567/567 SP: 1791/1791 acid 20.7 toxic scales 12.15
STR: 304
VIT: 268 constrict 65 dmg
DEX: 209
INT: 119
WIS:149
MND: 122 ice shard 45 breath 51
Details: A shark with a body plan that's similar to an eel. Its sides are covered in sharp points made from bone. It has a blade-like appendage that is used to slash at prey. Its blade is also covered in small sharp points like the main body, getting hit can cause severe bleeding.
I used to think that monsters with stats like that were very strong but now they are nothing compared to me. Outside of its health and stamina which can be attributed to that absurd scaling I noticed, I have far greater stats than it.
After having been surrounded by monsters that are many magnitudes stronger than me, I decided that I want to take the time to slowly enjoy this and savour the moment. I wrap my entire body around the shark, completely ignoring the damage from its serrated edges and the stabbing of its beak as it's too weak to do any more than the bare minimum amounts of damage to me. Eventually, the shark's body is being strangled as I use Coil, although with how small it is, it would probably be more apt to so it's being squshed. Bringing my head up close, I launch an Acid Beam at it, completely covering the shark's body in my acid. I open the shark's status page again and watch its health slowly drop by 98 every few seconds while my health remains practically unaffected by its serrated body. After about 30 seconds it has about 627 health left and I start to get bored. Deciding to speed up the process I being using my Ice Shard at the head causing the shark to take 143 damage every few seconds. It doesn't even take another 30 seconds before the shark ceases its pointless struggling and stop moving.
"You have slain a Level 7 Adult Bladed Eel Shark. You have gained 537 EXP. Because you have slain a monster that is 2 or more tiers lower, your EXP has been reduced by 20%(107). Because you have slain a monster of a higher evolutionary state, your total EXP has doubled. You have gained a total of 860 EXP. You have levelled up."
Seeing the notification for the kill, I release the shark and begin to consume it. Within minutes I hear the notification that I've received 375kg of biomatter and begin to check out my new stats and see if I have any available mutations.
Name: Cordelia Auspin
Race: Elite Young Sea Dragon
Tier: 6
Titles: Provoking Giants (-5 INT), Coward, A Fool, Immortal Slayer, Soul Eater, Seed of Calamity, Brave Explorer, The Sea Dragon's Inheritor, Life's End
Level: 2
EXP: 547/1080
HP: 1035/1035 (+71) MP: 575/575 (+71) SP: 920/920 (+71)
STR: 598 (+71)
VIT: 603 (+71)
DEX: 460 (+71)
INT: 511 (+66)
WIS: 483 (+71)
MND: 477 (+71)
CHA: 70 (Intimidation)
LUCK: 10
Acquired Skills: Analysis (3)
Innate Skills: Acid Beam (4) [1.7% max HP/5 sec, 1.9% out of water] 25 SP, Tail Swipe (6) [STR/2 -E.VIT/3] 10 SP, Venomous Bite (7) [1.7% max HP/5 sec] 10 SP, Ice Breath (1) [MND/7 - E.MND/7] 15 SP, Water Breath (1) [MND/7 - E.MND/7] 15 SP, Constrict (2) [STR/5.8 - E.VIT/8] 25 SP {All attacks will always do a minimum of STAT/100}
Soul Skills: Language Comprehension
Magic: Ice Shard [MND/8 - E.MND/8] 5 MP, Water Wall 10 MP
Resistance: Corrosion Immunity, Weak Poison Resist, Cold Immunity, Water Immunity
Weakness: Lightning [+50% damage]
Natural Mutations: Draconic Sight, Massive Size, Fluent Tongue, Toxic Scales [1% max HP/5 sec], Soul Furnace (+71)
Unlockable Mutations: Spiked Tail, Sharp Horns, Enhanced Stomach, Strong Venom
Current Biomatter: 1,339kg
Lifetime Biomatter: 5,337kg
Available Evolutions: N/A
System Quests: Legacy of the Dragons (0/2)
Details: You have obtained the Legacy of the Sea Dragons. You are large enough to coil around large ships and still have the ability to fight. As an Elite Monster, you currently have a +10 bonus to all base stats. As an Elite Monster above Tier 5, you are 30% larger than normal for your species. Your one step closer to your goal, but you'll still probably fail.
Aside from the normal increase in my stats, I find that I also have two new mutations I could pick. Enhanced Stomach and Strong Venom. Enhanced Stomach allows me to eat and slowly digest non-organic matter like rocks or dirt, while Strong Venom will simply enhance the potency of my venom. Unlock the two mutations I've had for a while now, these unlock future mutations that I need for the Ouroboros. There is just one problem... they're really expensive when I compare them to the mutations I don't need. I only have enough biomatter to pick one. While opting for the Strong Venom will increase my combat abilities and increase the speed at which I take down monsters I can't fight head-on, the earlier situation comes to mind causing me to hesitate. The severe lack of food in the trench coupled with the strong perception that the monsters who live there have made finding a meal incredibly difficult. Taking the Enhanced Stomach will be very useful when I need to feed with nothing around, saving me a lot of time and effort.
After weighing the pros and cons, I choose to take the Enhanced Stomach.
"This action will consume 980kg of biomatter. Are you sure you want to continue?"
Confirming my choice, I once again feel the burn as my stomach heats up giving me the feeling of being cooked from the inside. After a few minutes of squirming around in pain, the sensations fade as I begin to feel as if I could eat anything. I start to test out my new stomach, digging into the rock wall that makes up the trench, swallowing the all the rocks I break off. after around an hour a feel the rocks have been fully digested, while it doesn't award any biomatter it does sate my hunger. Now that I've solved the lack of food problem, it's time to search for another trench.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Akkre_Kojuuin
Akkre_Kojuuin As I was writing this chapter I got up halfway to use the toilet, while I was there I thought that this chapter felt like filler. To solve this problem I decided to push forward on the mutations path towards Ouroboros.
Honestly, I didn't know what to say about this chapter I just mentioned my pointless thoughts from the toilet.
Have a nice day everyone.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone