So I’m a Fish, So What?

Following along that water current turned out to be the correct choice.

Well, that was expected considering that it was this future goddess’s decision after all!

The crack might’ve not led to a cave or a ravine like I thought, but it did lead me to a very unusual spot.

A few hours after I had first started following this crack, I found myself at a ridiculously large sinkhole.

Basically, I just found a huge hole in the middle of nowhere under the ocean.

Looking down, all I see is black. 

This just goes to show how deep this place is and I’m honestly terrified of what’s could be down there.

However, the water current I’m following flows right into the freaking hole! 

I can only go down there or I lose my one shot at getting out of here alive…

A message to whoever made this place: you fucking suck at this job. There’s not an ounce of lighting throughout the entire cavern!!

I don’t fear darkness nor do I fear the ocean, but combining both is definitely a foul!

Had I happened upon this place without following the water current, I would’ve bolted away without a second thought.

Even Intuition and Future Sight can’t function with no information, y’know? I would only see this place as a spooky black hole and mark it on my top ten list of places I never wanna re-visit.

Fortunately, I came here following the current as a clue, so my intuition started giving me the feels the moment I laid my eyes on it.

It seems that my divine luck has splendidly fulfilled its duties once more!

That, or someone messed with my senses in another ingenious attempt to kill me for entertainment.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter which one it is, ‘cause this is basically the only way I have outta' here and I sure as hell ain’t gonna ignore it.

Following my intuition, I suppress my fear and dive straight into the cavern.

A thick spike emerged from my remaining shoulder, and I wasted no time transforming it into a curved shield and placing it in front of me.

The energy used will surely alert all the undead creatures nearby, but I’d rather not go splat in case this whole thing turns out to be an illusion covering solid ground.

Charging along the current’s path, I vigilantly use my sphere to scan the cavern walls for any traps or hidden entrances.

However, there’s nothing in there. It’s all solid ground without any seams in between.

There’s an uncanny resemblance to that one game’s out of map mechanism… Not gonna lie, the image of a gigantic ghost-like eel chasing behind me is a bit scary.

Thank goodness none of that happened at the end though, as I soon felt myself passing through some kind of barrier into a completely different environment.

Drawing in a few breaths to calm myself, I take in the sight of this sunken paradise I found myself in.

That’s an ancient ruin, alright. Just not one from the same civilization the previous laboratory came from.

The lab was a product of an incredibly advanced technological civilization, but it seems that said civilization’s fell victim to one of the natural traps any technological advancement faces.

Instead of making their planet into something akin to a main hub and then sending expeditions into outer space, they ignored the environmental problems and even went as far as to forcibly draw on the lifeforce of the planet itself.

Compared to those self-destructing idiots, what I’m seeing right now is more of a fantasy Atlantis-esque city.

Inside an enormous dome invisible to the outside world lies an ancient city that has obvious signs of a long gone prosperous age.

Filled with buildings made out of seamless white marble and following a mixture of ancient Roman and Greek ancient architecture, every inch of this place is treasure. 

The marble seems to have been divided into stones with insane precision, as if a sci-fi laser cutter was used. I wonder if this is another alien construction case like the pyramids back on Earth?

However, judging by the high levels of erosion, this place wasn't built to withstand an underwater environment.

Obviously, the barrier’s supposed to isolate water as well, but it’s either malfunctioned  or entered some sort of power saving mode.

So, the reason why the inhabitants here died is because they ran out of energy…? But if so, why’s the barrier still up? This doesn’t add up.

I never understood why similar civilizations were always easily destroyed back when I read history classes.

Natural disasters are always the go-to cause of extinction in history, but how would they even affect underwater dwellers??

It’s impossible for those to perish unless Krakens were actually a thing. No way could something like a modern time colossal squid destroy a civilization.

The colossal squid is only a big fish at the end of the day.

Anyways, this isn’t exactly a good time for me to review my history knowledge.

That stuff is useless in another world where gods actually exist anyways, and mythology might even be true.

This place’s different from the dead zone outside. The magic power sealed in my body has been slowly recovering ever since I passed through the barrier.

At this recovery rate, I should be able to cast a Long-Range Teleport in a few hours.

I hope my Spatial Storage is large enough to take this city in. I would love to use the materials around here to build myself a house that screams rich in the future.

Even if I give up on that plan in the future, selling the materials would earn me a fortune, so I wanna steal– recycle as much of this city as possible!

Come to think of it, this place is actually more of a safe zone rather than a quest area. Things are a lot more simple if you look at them like a video game.

Since I actually can’t detect the outer barrier’s energy source and this is a safe zone, then there should be a hidden area somewhere.

The problem is, I don’t have a single clue as to where! This game sadly doesn't have any playthrough videos.

Even though my sphere has now grown to cover a radius of over five kilometers which means that the entire ruins are in its range, I don’t see anything.

Important facilities and equipment are usually placed under protection in special buildings, but this place has none of those.

Also, whatever was in those houses in the past has already been corroded by the salty water ages ago, leaving nothing but the building itself.

There’s no coliseums or palaces… there isn’t even a temple!

How can there be a Greek Roman hybrid city without a temple?! This is blasphemy!

No… looking at it from another perspective, it’s not that they don’t have a temple, it should be that the temple is hidden by a technique that I currently have no knowledge of.

Maybe it was hidden by a god… Oh! That could be it.

What if this place doesn’t have a temple because it’s actually supposed to be a tomb? Y’know, like the pyramids and stuff.

Such architectural wonders are almost always built for individuals with very high status, so who says this can't be a god's tomb?

That means what I’m looking for could actually be a mausoleum, huh? Well, guess I’ll go through the ruins once more, but with Spiritual Cognition activated this time.

Honestly, I’m not really surprised that it’s taking this much effort to find it, though I must say… I’m a bit pissed off.

I’m used to having my sphere detecting everything and seeing through all illusions, so going in completely blind is actually a new experience for me– an annoying one at that.

Besides, it doesn’t really matter since I’ll be able to use most of my magic power in a few hours time anyways.

The only reason I’m keen on exploring these ruins is pure curiosity.

Activating Spiritual cognition and adding the effect to my sphere, I comb through the city one more time.

At first, I saw nothing at all, but as I got closer to the center of the city, faint fluorescent light motes started appearing in my sphere.

Like a swarm of fireflies, dancing in random patterns.

The closer I got, the more motes I saw. Eventually, I found myself in a vast empty square right in the center of the city.

The number of light motes has become so dense that I can now see a river of light serenely flowing downwards in a manner similar to that of a waterfall.

My full attention was drawn by this breathtaking scene and my body unconsciously started moving towards it.

It took me a few minutes of awestruck silence before I was finally able to break through this state, but I was terrified to find myself only one step away from this river with one foot in the air…

Did my Heretic Nullification just get directly bypassed?!

This… this place is freaking scary. 

What the heck is this thing?

“AAAAAAA… OOOOO….” A deep hoarse scream came from the river.

The stunningly brilliant white image of the river was abruptly replaced by a pitch-black river of death filled with agonized faces.

Holy moly, when did we switch to the horror genre?! Nobody told me about this!

“Comeee join usss… Sacrifice fooor Kratinz… The Living Rose will save us all…” The voices echoed with temptation.

No, thank you!

I guess I know what actually happened to the residents around here.

Although I don’t know whether Kratinz is the name of their god or their country, it's commendable that they all sacrificed their lives for it.

Problem is, that didn’t go well now, did it? I mean, this place is shielded from the death outside, but I’m fairly positive this isn’t how they actually wanted to go about it.

I wanted to know more, but the river just went silent after I moved a few steps away from it.

… What the heck?! Why did you stop speaking?!

So, I had another close brush with death and nearly got assimilated by a creepy river, yet I got pretty much nothing out of it!!

Maybe that Living Rose thing would be worth paying attention to, but it’s obviously not a good thing!

Sigh… I’m tired of this shit. I wanna take some time off.

Yeah, I’ll do just that. Anymore near death experiences and I might actually go insane.

After I find land, I’ll look for a peaceful town and register as an adventurer over there.

Sariel’s preparations are almost done, so I might as well go on a relaxing vacation and focus my attention on cracking the system’s skill database.

I can also hunt for information while preparing an undercover human identity.

And although the chances are quite low, I might even make some new friends to stave off the loneliness.

For now though, I'll regrow my missing arm and treat myself to a sumptuous meal since my Spatial Storage is finally back up!