Spatial Leap (2)
Breathless Magic.
You couldn't breathe underwater — that much was obvious — which made the spell essential for exploring the lake. And Enchant Magic was the only way to have that effect placed on someone like me, a man who didn't know the first thing about magic.
"Ask me anything you'd like."
I put every question I had about the two spells to the man, starting with the most important.
"First — can you Enchant Breathless Magic onto someone else?"
Enchant Magic was extremely limited in what it could actually bestow, given the nature of its effects. I was fairly certain Breathless Magic was one of the spells that could be Enchanted in the game, but I asked anyway, just to be sure.
The man nodded, chewing on a drinking snack.
"Yes, I can."
"How many people can you Enchant at once?"
"My skill isn't quite there yet, so one person is the maximum."
"And the duration?"
"Duration varies wildly from person to person, but… for an ordinary person who's never cultivated mana at all, it should last about two hours."
He went on.
"If their mana affinity is poor, or if it doesn't mesh well with mine, the duration would be shorter. Still, as long as you don't move your body too violently, it isn't a particularly mana-hungry spell."
One person max meant I'd have to leave Ashel behind and go in alone… and two hours.
That was nowhere near enough time to search that enormous lake and find a Mystery. But I didn't need to find it on the first try, so it felt reasonably generous. Even if the duration ended up shorter, I couldn't afford to let a talent like this slip away — I wasn't going to find another one anytime soon.
The man didn't seem inclined to refuse the job, so I made the offer immediately.
"I'd like to hire you."
At that, he rubbed his fingers together.
"If the pay is generous, I'd be more than happy, my lord. But when were you planning to explore the lake, and for how long?"
"We leave tomorrow. As for the duration — there's no set end. Could be a few days. Could be a few weeks."
"…Pardon? Wait, that's a bit…?"
"As you said, I'll pay you well. Two gold as a retainer, two gold per day, and five gold on the day the job is finished."
He'd hesitated for a moment, but at those words his eyes went wide.
The usual shameless flinging of money. Its effectiveness, as always, went without saying.
I glanced around the tavern.
"I'll cover the entire tab here, too."
"…Well now. You're a rather flashy young master, aren't you."
A cheerful smile spread across his face.
"I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Hable, a special-class adventurer. If I may ask, young master — and you are?"
"I'm from a distant city. Telling you my family name wouldn't mean much."
"Ah, I see. Well, I look forward to working with you. I'll do everything I can to assist the expedition — you won't regret a single coin of that fee! Hahaha!"
And then he immediately ordered several more drinks. He invited me to stay and join him, but I paid a generous amount up front and left the tavern.
When morning came, I met Hable at the appointed place.
"Ah, you've arrived. My apologies for last night."
His manner was considerably more composed than it had been at the tavern. He'd probably already been a bit drunk by the time we'd met.
We set off for Lake Gaitan by carriage at once. Along the way, Hable talked about himself — stories from his past, that sort of thing.
"…That's how I first learned Breathless Magic. I've been putting it to decent use ever since."
"I see."
I replied without much soul in it, then asked him a question.
"How much do you know about Lake Gaitan?"
"Honestly, not much beyond the fact that it's a filthy huge lake. There's a rumor that terrifying monster fish show up if you go too deep? But come on — even if a lake fish gets big, how big could it really be?"
"How big could it really be" was a hell of a thing to say about what I knew to be one of the largest lakes on the continent. And the creatures living beneath that surface were correspondingly monstrous. This being a fantasy world, they were things that made ordinary sharks and whales look like goldfish.
Not that I plan on going that deep anyway.
The Mystery I was looking for was attached to the lake's outer rim, so I wouldn't need to venture toward the center. If it had been somewhere in the middle of that enormous lake, I wouldn't have even considered looking for it. And even if I did run into something, I had Blood Arts now. Dealing with it wouldn't be a problem.
I pictured the landscape where the Spatial Leap Mystery was hidden. This wasn't a Mystery I'd found myself — I'd just happened to watch another player's footage — so I couldn't pinpoint the exact location.
Along the outer wall of the lake, rocks jutting up like sea urchin spines… and there was a cave.
Just like when I'd searched for the Immovable Barrier, this was going to be pure grinding. That thought only grew stronger once we arrived at Lake Gaitan and I saw the lake's scale with my own eyes.
…Holy shit.
Staring at the endlessly vast expanse of water stretching out before me, I cursed inwardly. It was an overwhelming size, no different from looking at the ocean from a coastline.
I had to find a Mystery hidden somewhere in this? This could take months. And even then, I might never find it at all.
"It's been a while since I've been here."
Hable said it while sightseeing the lake with the leisure of a man who had nothing to do but cast a spell and collect his pay.
The carriage stopped near the water, and Ashel, Hable, and I approached the shore. A dense forest spreading along the lakeside — this was the above-ground scenery I faintly remembered. If I combed this area, the odds of finding the Mystery were high.
I looked over the lake for a moment, then turned to Hable. Meeting my gaze, he asked,
"Starting right away?"
"Yes."
"Understood. If you feel anything off in your body, tell me immediately."
Hable began casting at once. Blue light gathered gathered in his hands, then slowly sank into my body. I felt mana welling up through my entire frame. Ever since acquiring Super Senses, I'd become far more attuned to energies like mana.
…Oh.
The spell's effect manifested immediately. Even without inhaling or exhaling, no sensation of suffocation came at all.
I was still marveling at it when Hable spoke, looking a little surprised.
"You don't appear to have cultivated mana at all, young master, and yet the Enchant's efficiency is remarkable."
"Efficiency?"
"I mean your affinity for mana is high. Whether martial arts or magic, if you were to properly cultivate mana, I suspect you'd achieve great things."
So I had a talent for mana? I'd thought it might be lip service, but his expression said otherwise. It wasn't important right now, so I turned my attention back to the lake.
Well then…
Time to go in. No point dragging this out.
I started stripping off my clothes one by one. There was no swimming around underwater in those thick layers. I stripped down to the thin undershirt and pants I wore underneath.
"Hold onto these for me."
"…Ah. Yes, my lord."
Ashel accepted the discarded clothes with a slightly flustered expression.
"Ah, and please be careful not to move your body too violently underwater, young master. The more you do, the more mana Breathless Magic consumes — exponentially so."
After taking Hable's warning as well, I sent the two of them back to the carriage. I was going to be underwater for a long time; there was no need for them to stand around waiting.
Hmm…
Alone now, I loosened up my body and stepped up to the water's edge. I wasn't particularly worried about diving. I'd spent my whole life buried in games, but one of the few other skills I could actually claim was scuba diving.
Unlike me, my little brother had been extremely active, and on days off he'd drag me out of the house and take me all over the place. Skiing, climbing, that sort of thing. Among those, scuba diving was the one we'd actually both enjoyed. It had suited my tastes reasonably well.
I was going in bare this time, but I had Super Regeneration, and I could move without tiring. Nothing to worry about.
Splash!
I dove into the water and immediately checked my breathing. No problem. The mana being consumed while I held my breath was vividly perceptible through Super Senses, so that was fine too.
…At this rate, I might last more than three hours, not two.
Was that because of the high Enchant efficiency he'd mentioned?
I moved my arms and legs, swimming slowly. Super Senses worked underwater as well, rendering my forward vision as sharp as it was on land. As I went deeper, fish began brushing past me one by one.
I stopped at a suitable point and began moving sideways, examining the lake wall. From here on, it was endless grinding until I found the Mystery.
……And roughly two hours passed, by my internal clock.
I grabbed a protruding rock on the wall, stopped, and sighed inwardly.
This is genuinely hopeless.
I'd expected as much, but experiencing it firsthand was a different feeling entirely. At this rate, how many years was this going to take?
My mana was starting to run low, so I decided to head back. I returned to the marked location and surfaced.
Back at the carriage, Ashel and Varos were having a meal with Hable.
"…You've returned, my lord."
Varos bowed his head, the corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly at the sight of me, soaking wet. He probably wasn't even aware he was doing it, but Super Senses caught it perfectly. The bastard was sitting there trying not to laugh.
Hable asked me,
"Did you find what you were looking for, young master?"
I shook my head.
"It's going to take far longer than I thought."
I dried myself by the campfire and joined them for the meal. Then in the late afternoon I went back into the lake and continued the search, but I still couldn't find the Mystery. That was the end of the day's exploration.
A week passed like that.
This morning, too, I'd entered the lake early and been swimming around, diligently searching. But with still not so much as a glimpse of the Mystery, I was starting to wonder if this approach was even going to work.
Can I even actually find this thing?
If this were something I could throw manpower at, I'd do it in a heartbeat — but I was looking for a Mystery, so that wasn't an option.
I floated on my back in the water for a moment, staring blankly, lost in thought. If I were certain I could find it, I'd invest however much time it took. The problem was that I didn't have that certainty.
If I searched a little more and still came up empty, maybe I should put Spatial Leap on hold for later… I was mulling it over when—
…?
A massive presence came rushing toward me from the distance. What emerged into view was an enormous monster fish, several times my size.
Just a stupidly huge fish — the kind of monster commonly found in Lake Gaitan.
……But I hadn't even gone that deep. Why was something like that already showing up?
The moment it saw me, it opened its maw wide and charged.
You little shit.
I immediately tried to fire a blood droplet with Blood Arts. But then another presence came rushing in from the opposite direction. Something shot through the water like a projectile and slammed into the body of the charging monster fish.
THOOM!
The shark, struck dead-on, thrashed in agony, unable to collect itself. Then I felt the thing that had approached me snatch me around the waist.
…Huh?
I looked at whoever had grabbed me.
A woman with blue hair, her entire body covered in scales. Apparently she'd thought I was in danger and was trying to save me. I couldn't speak underwater, so I was hauled to the surface in an instant, still in her grip, with no idea what was going on.
How is she this fast?
"…Hah!"
The woman who surfaced gasped roughly, then glared at me sitting there blankly.
"Hey, human. You got a death wish? What the hell were you doing going that deep like a lunatic?"
"…"
"Aigoo, you're completely out of it. You should count yourself lucky, seriously. I was this close to just ignoring you, but I saved you anyway."
She grumbled, shaking the water off her body. As she did, the scales covering the parts she'd shaken dry slowly receded, returning to human skin.
My eyes went wide.
…A Haerin Tribe?