Chapter 395: Upgrade
Linda resolutely expressed her disagreement, saying, "The project has only ever been done on humans. A Deep Dweller attempting to fuse with a relic is tantamount to suicide."
"Humans have two arms and two legs, so is there even any difference between us? You also have many available relics, so just let me choose something. I want to fuse with the strongest relic," Dipp replied.
Linda could feel that today's Dipp was a bit different from the usual Dipp.
"Why do you insist on doing this?" Linda asked.
Dipp looked down at his webbed hands with a solemn expression and replied, "My abilities haven't been useful to the Captain during our recent voyage. I want to improve my skills so that I'll become useful to the Captain.
"Do you really have to do that?" Linda asked in a voice full of doubt, "We've found the exit to the surface, so perhaps we no longer have to go on a voyage."
Dipp revealed a disdainful expression and said, "Of course, I have to do it. I heard the Captain say that there are billions of people on the surface. What if we have to occupy territories above like we do here?
"What if the surface dwellers come down to seize our island?"
Linda was about to reply, but Dipp beat her to the chase, saying, "I can't wait anymore. Let's go. I'm not even afraid of death, so why would you be afraid of death in my stead?"
"Are you sure you don't want to discuss this with the Captain first?" Linda asked.
"What else is there for us to discuss? He's definitely going to disagree," Dipp replied.
Left with no choice, Linda led Dipp to a warehouse where a huge variety of relics were stored. The relics used in the human-relic fusion experiments were static relics, as living relics would undoubtedly prove troublesome to contain, not to mention using them in experiments.
"Relics have their own unique and bizarre abilities, and the energy contained within them varies from each other. The bigger that energy, the harder it is to implant into someone," Linda remarked.
"I see" Dipp muttered while staring at the written texts on the boxes.
Linda waited patiently, but Dipp remained indecisive, prompting Linda to speak, asking, "What's wrong? Are you not sure which ability to choose?"
"No, that's not it. I just can't read some of the characters on this box," Dipp said, frowning.
Linda was rendered speechless. Eventually, she proceeded to introduce the static relics in the warehouse, and as expected, Dipp chose the most powerful static relic.
"According to my calculations, if we were to take into account your years of experience as a sailor and the energy within this relic, your success rate is seventy percent. Of course, I didn't take into account the fact that you're a Deep Dweller, which is definitely an unknown variable," Linda said.
Dipp nodded excitedly while looking down at the blue cube in his hands. "Okay, seventy percent isn't low. The Captain has absorbed two himself, so I should be able to do this. I've written my will, and it's in my pocket.
"Don't forget to give it to the Captain if I end up dying."
Before long, the furniture in the laboratory was removed to uncover an array formation of intricate carvings on the floor. Whenever the researchers needed to carry out a fusion experiment, the guards only needed to fill the engraved patterns with sea salt, significantly streamlining and enhancing the efficiency of the research process.
"Brothers, are you ready?" Dipp said to his other personas.
"I've been waiting for so long I can't wait anymore!"
"Erm... I think we should tell the Captain first"
"Two to one, objection overruled! Let's go!" Dipp stabbed himself in the abdomen.
"You're supposed to extract the Origin Essence first, you idiot!" Linda exclaimed. It was chaotic at first, but the experiment was eventually carried out in an orderly, step-by-step manner.
Linda couldn't help but feel a bit worried for Dipper sitting still within the formation made out of the Subterranean's pitch-black sea salt.
Just then, Dipp looked up and convulsed as a faint blue glow flashed across his body.
***
Anna in her true form twisted her tentacles and dived into the depths of the icy waters of the sea as if she were an octopus. Clusters of green dots flickering left and round surrounded Anna.
Right as Anna was about to reach the seabed, something stitched together from flesh and blood emerged from the muddy seabed. It opened its huge mouth, which resembled a beak, and attempted to bite Anna.
Swoosh!
However, the clusters of green dots wrapped around the creature, and more than half of the creature's body vanished into thin air.
The clusters of green dots turned out to be Sparkle, and she was diligently protecting her mother. Sparkle had grown a lot bigger compared to her previous visit to Hope Island.
Anna stroked Sparkle with one of her tentacles before swimming toward the seabed. The two were then ambushed by a variety of monsters beyond human imagination, but they all met horrible fates before Sparkle.
Anna searched the gloomy and bizarre underwater world for a few hours before finally finding her target. Her target was a pitch-black creature with a rift on its carapace. The rift seemed to be the abyss, as it was as pitch-black as the creature, and it seemed capable of sucking in just about anyone daring enough to stare at it.
Anna's tentacles twisted rhythmically and rapidly while Sparkle's green eyes blinked speedily. Together with Anna, Sparkle vanished and reappeared on the back of the colossal flatworm. Before the colossal flatworm realized what was going on, the pitch-black rift on its carapace vanished along with half of its carapace.
Sparkle reappeared to wrap her mother, and when Anna opened her eyes once more, she found herself staring at a familiar scenery. Anna was back at the World's Crown.
Anna patted Sparkle's head, praising her for a job well done before walking over to the carapace on the ground not too far away from her. Despite the bright lights overhead, the rift on the carapace remained pitch-black; it was impossible to see what was inside the rift.
Anna stretched out a tentacle and carefully inserted it into the rift. However, Anna failed to reach the bottom of the rift despite inserting the entire tentacle. It seemed like the rift was truly the entrance to an endless abyss.
Anna retracted the tentacle and decisively inserted herself into the pitch-black rift.
Sparkle hovered around the thin carapace, seemingly bewildered by the sudden turn of events.
"Mommy?"
Sparkle proceeded to push aside the carapace, only to find a floor stained by the black liquid oozing out of the carapace, while Anna was nowhere to be found. Just as Sparkle was making a few guesses as to where her mother had gone, a dried-up, pitch-black tentacle emerged from the rift.
One, two, and three tentacles crawled out of the rift, followed by Anna herself.
Sparkle rushed over to her mother, but cracks abruptly appeared all over Anna, and black liquid oozed out of her from the cracks. The cracks multiplied until only a layer of skin remained, and it floated freely in the suspended black liquid.
"Mommy??" Sparkle grabbed the floating patch of skin and shook it gently.
However, the patch of skin did not respond, remaining limp in Sparkle's grasp. In no time, the cluster of green eyes filled with glowing tears that fell down like rain upon the floor.
All of a sudden, a bubble appeared on the puddle of black liquid on the floor. The bubble did not burst; instead, it multiplied until it filled the entire room. Then, a tentacle burst out of the bubble.
The tentacle was pitch-black and withered like an old tree bark, just like Anna's previous tentacles.
However, this brand-new tentacle was thicker and longer, while its hollowed parts had been covered with asymmetrical, semi-elastic black scales. Anna also started emitting a certain filthy aura that had never been about her until now.
Moments later, the tentacles and black bubbles shrank, revealing Anna with a smug smile.
"I've finally become more than just an ordinary Dioite capable of nothing but manipulating minds. I've been upgraded, becoming an existence on a higher level."
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