Chapter 109: Second Strata
My core acted like a seed, regrowing tissue, muscles, organs, and a new exoskeleton.
The body that the ants were feeding on was no longer mine. It became more like a soulless husk, while my new body was less than an inch long.
It felt strange watching myself being devoured. Almost like karma.
Still using this distraction, I skittered away from the chaos as more ants began to surround the husk.
The ground here was hard and made of a strange red stone. I could feel my consciousness return to me.
Though my body still felt weak, it would be best to stay in this form, at least for now.
Looking up at the sky felt as if I were gazing out of space.
The sky was like an endless darkness, as if I were staring at outer space.
Yet this place still had light. I guess this place is the second strata.
I skittered into the alien-like forest that sprawled before me. The trees and plants were of various colors.
Some of the leaves were crystal blue, others were a light shade of purple and yellow, and the rest had a dark red color.
I noticed the lower we went, the thicker the environment became with mana.
Even just the soil here had at least twice as much mana than the soil on the surface.
Even the fruits here were packed with mana. Just eating one of them was enough to restore the biomass I had lost.
I’m guessing the plants here absorb mana from the soil.
And then I perched atop the tree, eating a fruit that resembled a banana, only red. I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of Amanda.
[Obsidian Dragon Purity: 6.87%->7%]
Hmm... it seems I can use the mana from the fruit to increase my bloodline purity.
"Master, are you alright?" Suddenly I heard Lily’s, Aphrodite’s, and Dracule’s voices inside my head. "We saw what happened. We would’ve come out to help, but we can’t leave the storage space without your permission."
I think it might be time for me to let them out. With that thought a darling golden light lit up the surroundings, and when it dimmed, the three monsters I created stood before me.
"I’m fine. For now at least, but I need your help to find Amanda. Dracule, you can dig through the soil and try to find her on the ground, while Aphrodite, see if you can spot her from the sky. As for Lily, umm..."
"I can communicate with the plant life and find out as much information about this place as possible."
"You can do that? Oh, alright then, go ahead."
As they all head off on their various tasks, I begin contemplating my next move. I should find out more about this stratum before I do anything.
That’s what led to that mess last time where I nearly got killed by a giant crocodile.
The problem was that this world ran on a different set of logic than what I’m used to.
In the first strata, there was an unknown quest. If you completed the quest, you would gain the favor of the sea nymph, and she would help you to the next strata.
If you instead killed her pet, then she would send another powerful monster to take your life.
The logic was exactly like a game where you happen upon a quest, and if you complete it, you get a reward, but if you don’t, it’s as if the world turns against you and decides you have to die.
I just narrowly escaped it last time. And for all I know, Amanda didn’t escape. This time I have to be more careful.
If it weren’t for my healing factor and the fact that I had multiple consciousnesses to rely on, I would’ve been killed without a doubt.
I could repeat the same mistake; I needed to figure out whatever quest I needed to complete to get to the other strata.
But even if I did, it wouldn’t matter since Amanda was the only one who knew which strata the lost city was located in.
Now, how would I go about finding a quest?
If I apply game logic, I’m guessing that the sea nymph was supposed to give me a hint.
Ugh! It all goes back to that stupid shrimp.
"Have you found anything out yet?" I asked Lily.
She was standing in the middle of the forest with several roots connecting her to every tree in the forest.
"This strata is mostly inhabited by ants. There is a complex society of them. Some are even as smart as humans. They are known as copy ants. They have an ability to combine DNA from different creatures and add it to their own. These DNA remain dormant until they mate with the queen and a new generation is made."
Huh, that’s similar to Aphrodite’s ability.
"But why are you learning from ants?"
"Because everything in the trees’ biology is to combat the ants. That fruit you were gnawing on a while ago makes them infertile."
"Eh, what?"
"Don’t worry, it only works on the ants."
Whew, that’s good.
"Is there anything else?"
"The median temperature here is around 60 degrees Celsius. There is also a lot of information about the minerals and soil quality here, but I do think you’re interested in that. Oh, also, there is an unknown structure not far from here."
A strange structure, huh? I should go check it out after I am done here.
Using biomass, I increased
My size once again until I was roughly 30 feet long.
Then without wasting a second, I activated my magma creation spell. Immediately the ground began to boil until it devolved into the bright orange liquid.
I immediately created a river of magma, which slowly spread out through land, destroying the trees and plants.
I then dove deep underground. There were various rocks and minerals that I’ve never seen before.
There were also a lot of monster fossils, some with their cores intact. My magma swept over all the surrounding landscape as if a volcano had just erupted.
The thick magma continued to spread out until it resembled a lake.
Several monsters rushed out of their habitats eagerly, but before they could, I swooped down from the sky and grabbed them before they could escape.
[You have slain a D-ranked copy ant.]
[You have slain a D abyss roach.]
[You have gained 450 biomass.]
The monsters I caught were just appetizers for what was to come.
The ground here was rich with mana. So much so that trees could survive and produce fruits that are also rich in mana.
My plan was to absorb the mana from the soil and use it to increase my bloodline purity.
By transforming the soil into magma and then by using my magma absorption spell, I could absorb the mana.
As I watched the thick magma flow over the land, I dove into the chaos.
-[Magma Absorption]-
....
Meanwhile in the same strata, a young blonde-haired woman lay unconscious on the hard metallic ground.
Her limbs were twisted while she lay in a small puddle of her own blood.
A sharp, painful growl escaped her lips as she slowly opened her eyes.
In such a condition, she couldn’t even walk, as even her spine was broken.
The last thing she remembered was being hit with a power shockwave from an attack that could’ve wiped her from existence.
The horrifying memories flashed into her mind, and for the first time in a long while, she felt fear.
Unbridled fear coursing through every inch of her body. In such a state, she would be useless.
Even the weakest monster could kill her without much effort. The fear and the pain were pushing her to the edge of her sanity.
Ever since arriving here, this place has been pushing her to her limit. First it was the octopus; now it was this.
’What kind of hero could I be? I’m too weak.’
This was only the second strata, and there were six more left to go. Yes, she was already at her limit.
She would never get there in less than a month; it was simply impossible.
"I’m sorry, Amelia."
As she thought of her sister and her mother, she began to feel an unbearable sense of guilt.
"Dammit, Amelia, get a grip. What am I saying? Get a grip. I can’t die here’
She couldn’t stop the tears from accumulating in her eyes and running down the side of her face.
She had a healing factor that helped her heal minor wounds and protect her from poison.
But she wasn’t sure her healing could even fix this much damage, and as that thought crossed her mind, she suddenly remembered the expensive potions she had bought in the free city.
It was expensive. So much so that she had to use a third of the money she had on hand for that single potion.
The seller claimed it could heal almost any wound, but the sellers often exaggerated.
Still, she retrieved the potion from her storage space and used her teeth to open it.
The bottle opened with a soft pop! The liquid inside sizzled like acid as she brought it up to her lips and downed the whole bottle.
