Chapter 36: The Floating Orb
The afternoon sun basked the world above, making the ocean sparkle with bright rays. The waves continued to sway, drifting along the direction of the air currents.
Deep beneath the surface, a boy was drowning. Even the air bubbles stopped forming as seawater filled his lungs, forcing his breathing to stop. His frail figure continued to descend endlessly into the dark ocean.
As his body fell straight downward, the space around him blurred for a second, as if he had hit an invisible barrier. His body was slowly swallowed inside it as gravity pulled him down.
Without the pressure and buoyancy of the water holding him up, gravity hit him harder than before.
*Thud!*
He dropped onto solid ground. It was an empty pocket inside the deep sea, devoid of any water. A giant, dome-shaped barrier covered a large area, maybe a kilometer or two in radius.
Alden lay there on the rocky ground, unmoving. It was hard to tell if he was alive or dead, with seawater soaking his entire body.
Suddenly, his body stirred. He clutched his chest.
*Cough!...* *Cough!...* *Cough!...*
He coughed violently, trying to forcefully throw up the seawater trapped inside him.
He immediately imbued mana into his body to cleanse it from the inside out. He rested there for a few minutes until he finally expelled the remaining water residue from his lungs.
Putting a hand to his forehead, he tried to calm his shivering body and blurring mind. He then turned to look around his bizarre surroundings.
He could see the flowing ocean water outside the dome-shaped barrier. This bizarre phenomenon was unknown to him. Sea creatures swam outside the barrier, but they did not come near it, as if an invisible force repelled them.
Alden sat up, looking around.
’Where am I now? Is this some kind of underwater aquarium? I have never heard of such a thing existing. Sigh... But thanks to my luck, I am still alive.’
’Curse that lunatic. Just wait for me to get out of here. I will definitely kick his ass and make him drown in the sea myself.’
Alden sighed to himself, calming his rising anger. He knew anger would get him nothing but self-destruction. Nothing good would come if he went after Sion just for petty revenge. That was not his personality; that was not how he operated.
As he sat there for a while, he suddenly noticed a shining object floating at the center of this dome. It was covered by a smaller barrier on top of a pedestal. He looked at it curiously.
’What is that thing? Is it some kind of artifact? Or is it the core of the barrier?’
Alden stood up, stumbling slightly since his mind was still in a daze after inhaling a large amount of seawater.
He maintained his balance as he stepped closer to the pedestal. His feet continued to stumble, but he kept his pace. Right now, he looked injured and exhausted rather than a healthy young boy.
His hair and clothes were still soaked. He walked straight toward the center pedestal. As he stepped closer, the surrounding air felt different. His wet clothes dried automatically because of the warm breeze emitting from that particular item.
When he reached it, he could finally recognize the shape of the item sitting inside the small barrier. A floating orb rested there. It glowed with an eerie violet light and gave him a weird feeling.
’What is that thing? Is this some kind of artifact or a monster’s core? It gives me a bad feeling...’
’Hey System, tell me, what is that thing?’
A cheerful female voice rang inside his mind. Alden was still not used to this new System sound.
[Ding!]
[Hello Host! I was just waiting for you to call me.]
[Ding! I suggest you use the new function of the System called ’Appraisal’!]
Alden stood dumbfounded by the System’s voice. It was different from the robotic one that had once deducted his stats for a bruised ego. She was talking like it was a normal conversation rather than a mechanical notification.
’Sigh... I am more curious about the mystery of this System rather than the item in front of me. But still, I cannot ask. She is not going to tell me confidential information.’
Alden thought about her suggestion to use the new skill. He felt excited, wanting to check the new functions as well as find out about the mysterious item.
’Okay. How should I use this?’
[Ding! Hmph... It is quite easy. You just have to focus on the item, send your intent, and you will be able to appraise it! Give it a try, Host!]
Alden nodded and focused his full intent on the floating orb inside the barrier.
[Ding! Appraisal Item detected!]
[Analyzing the item...]
[Ding! Appraisal Completed!]
Item: ???
Type: ???
Description: ???
...
Alden looked at the interface, feeling dazed. There was no information he could read. He felt like everything in his life was turning into a mystery that would soon bring him more trouble.
’System, did the appraisal malfunction or something? Why is it not showing anything?’
[Ding! It looks like there is no information about the existence of this particular item in the system database!]
Alden felt disappointed hearing this from the System itself.
’Sigh... I can’t blame you. But what should I do to get out of this place? System, can you tell me how I should go out?’
[Ding! The system has no power to actively help the host leave this place!]
[Ding! Your chances of being able to go out of this place are only 4%!]
’4%?! Why do you say that? I was able to come here safely, so why can’t I go back? Even excluding the fact that I don’t know how to swim.’
[Ding! Since we are at the deepest part of the sea, the chances of your body imploding are very high. The water pressure is too heavy for your frail body to carry.]
’Huh? But I was still able to enter here. Where did the water pressure go back then? How was I able to survive the fall?’
[Ding! Sorry Host, but I don’t know how you survived.]
When the System answered, Alden fell into thought. There was only one plausible explanation. His Luck stat had somehow played a role in his survival, but he didn’t dwell on it since it wasn’t the most important thing right now.
In this current situation, he had to find a way out of this dome.
’Wait, the System didn’t mention anything about my Luck stat... Come to think of it, even in past situations whereever my luck played a major role, it never notified me that I survived because of it. It has never mentioned my luck, except in the status window.’
’Does that mean even the System does not know about the existence of my SSS+ rank Luck stat? Does it have a limitation? If so, then that is good. I was afraid that if it really knew about its existence, it would just keep giving me bizarre and dangerous quests to make me suffer. I don’t want to take that risk.’
He sighed and looked back at the floating orb in front of him. Suddenly, he saw a spiderweb crack form in the small barrier out of nowhere. Violet energy burst out from the cracks, and the barrier shattered into pieces.
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