Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Underwater Maze (1)
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At Azelchen's fountain, three users tossed in coins and prayed fervently.
'Please give me a good buff!'
What they wanted was an experience buff. One user got the buff they desired and let out a joyful exclamation. The other two scowled.
"Damn, this is a dud."
"I got a 4-hour 10% experience buff."
"Lucky..."
As they chatted idly, the users glanced at the blue aura that had appeared by the fountain.
It was nothing out of the ordinary. Azelchen's fountain was a warp point, and auras like this were common enough.
Assuming another user had warped in, they watched the aura dissipate with mild curiosity.
But when two girls emerged from the blue aura, the three users were instantly captivated.
At first, it was just that they seemed pretty and cute. The red-haired girl twitching her cat ears, the petite blue-eyed girl wobbling as she steadied herself after warping—they simply struck them as adorable.
'Whoa, cute... wait, no way?!'
But soon, the three realized the figures looked familiar somehow.
To be precise, the red-haired girl and the lens monster with demon wings beside her were familiar.
"Ugh, fishy smell. Disgusting."
"Ew, what? Fishy smells are great."
After hearing the girls' banter, the three users' eyes went wide simultaneously.
'Cheisi?!'
Not just the three—the vast majority of users near the fountain gasped in shock.
Almost every user in Azelchen right now had seen Cheisi's clip from Moby Dick.
They already knew Megaranaphte and the Fog Mine had been discovered by this girl.
A streamer with overwhelmingly dominant physical prowess. Among gamers playing Ariant World, Cheisi's status was higher than any celebrity's.
And her avatar and voice perfectly matched someone they all knew.
"It's just a similar avatar, right?"
"With a lens floating around her? And she's a streamer?"
"Even non-streamers can have lens monsters."
"She's streaming right now?"
As they buzzed debating if it was her or not, they finally realized.
'It is Cheisi?!'
The living, breathing red-haired cat girl was Cheisi.
All eyes near the Azelchen fountain locked onto the red-haired cat girl in an instant.
Azelchen, after so long, had completely changed its vibe.
For starters, there were tons of users.
Unlike the days when Cheisi solo-farmed info, hunted mermen, and made buff dishes, now it bustled with users prepping hunts and filling fish guides.
"Azelchen guides available!"
"Don't have fairy tales for a fishing rod—anyone lend one?!"
"Fish guide #47—what is it? Anyone know?!"
Before they knew it, users had activated Azelchen.
Solo farming was fine, but Cheisi thought this lively atmosphere wasn't bad either.
After all, what was an RPG without this chaotic energy?
The only downside?
'Too many stares...'
The burdensome gazes pouring in every time she moved around Azelchen.
Thanks to users whispering "Cheisi" while staring—and her sharp cat hearing picking it all up—she knew she was drawing massive attention.
"Y-You... you're popular."
Cheisi glanced at Yu Wol, who had frozen stiff beside her. She seemed flustered by the stares.
It was definitely overwhelming.
But a streamer couldn't hide during a broadcast. And though Yu Wol looked tense, she seemed to be holding up.
Cheisi decided to ignore it and keep streaming.
"Huh?"
As she walked, Cheisi spotted a familiar hooded girl by chance.
"Nell?"
"Cheisi sis?!"
The golden-haired girl was Nell.
Spotting Cheisi from afar, Nell came toddling over.
"Waaah... sniff..."
Nell hugged Cheisi and started crying.
"Cheisi siiis... the shop's too crowded..."
The direction Nell pointed revealed a massive crowd.
Seeing the throng surging toward Nell's tiny eatery, Cheisi instantly understood her lament.
That crowd was way beyond what the little shop could handle.
"Uwuu, I got so frantic I even cut my finger."
Nell unwrapped the green plant from her finger, revealing a healed wound.
Cheisi comforted Nell and curiously asked about the plant.
"It's waterweed! Wrapping wounds in it makes them perfectly waterproof. Azelchen locals' pro tip!"
Apparently, waterweed had another use.
Nell tilted her head.
"But is 'pro tip' used like that...? Adventurers say it a lot, so I wanted to try it... did I get it right...?"
"Perfect."
"Really?! Wow, I learned an adventurer phrase!"
Nell bounced excitedly in place.
Walking the muddy path led to a lake.
The path continued underwater.
Users swam inside clutching waterweed; some held it in their mouths.
At the end of the path on the lakebed were five caves.
Passing through those caves likely led to more forks, following the user-drawn underwater maze map.
This was the underwater maze.
-Why is this so huge lolololol
-How do we even clear this
"Eh, we'll figure it out."
The lake was so vast it overwhelmed just looking at it. Beneath lay a sprawling seabed cave maze. But...
"...I'll gather some waterweed. Need the underwater breathing effect."
After Yu Wol left to stock up, Cheisi pulled the Fogcleaver from her inventory.
A large fog-made fish materialized.
"Nyaaang...!"
Cheisi happily chomped into the Fogcleaver.
"Oh, this... tastes like ice cream."
Slightly bitter chocolate ice cream flavor. Still delicious, though.
You have consumed Fogcleaver.
The following three effects will apply for four hours.
• Immune to Dust Fog damage
• Immune to Lava damage
• Able to breathe underwater
"Got the underwater breathing...
Cheisi approached the lake.
"Heh..."
The water rippled. Water. A cat's natural enemy.
She could push through the instinctive aversion. No way she'd skip exploring a new zone just because water scared her.
With that thought, Cheisi boldly dove in.
"Eeeek!"
She screamed and reflexively bounced out.
'Everything else is fine...'
The feel of water on her tail and ears was utterly horrific. Unbearable.
'If I keep water off my tail and ears...'
Cheisi fiddled with her damp ears.
Waterproofing them might work.
"Gathered a ton of waterweed!"
Yu Wol approached Cheisi and pulled out heaps of green seaweed from her inventory.
"Lemme use a bit."
Recalling Nell's words, Cheisi wrapped her ears and tail tightly in waterweed.
She grimaced at the moist, slimy texture but endured.
Her ears and tail now perfectly sealed in waterweed.
Dipping them in produced a marked improvement. As Nell said, it waterproofed them, keeping water off.
"Ugh, this is tolerable."
The dampness was unpleasant but bearable.
Thanks to the waterweed, Cheisi successfully evolved into a waterproof cat.
Even after wrapping her tail and ears, plenty of Yu Wol's waterweed remained.
"...How'd you gather this much so fast?"
"Just picked it up over there."
Yu Wol casually pointed.
Cheisi spotted a user with a dragonkin avatar—golden wings, reminiscent of a wyrm.
"...M-My waterweed's gone!"
She seemed utterly flustered.
-Whoa
-Hey hey
-Innocent
-Why's Yorong here
The chat exploded.
[Thanks for the 10,000 won donation!]
Gasp—never mention how some streamer pulled 5-day all-nighters hunting limited titles and hidden elements but found zilch and bawled.
Cheisi eyed the golden dragon girl with her tragic backstory vibe. A lens monster covered in dragon scales perched on her shoulder.
Actually, Cheisi already knew who she was.
Yorong. Mid-tier Abyss streamer. As an Abyss vet, Cheisi had watched several of Yokryong's streams from start to finish.
That golden-winged dragon avatar was Yokryong's main. Impossible not to recognize.
'Weird seeing her in person.'
Back then, it was through a screen; now she was right there. Virtual reality or not, who'd have thought?
Cheisi glanced at Yu Wol.
Yu Wol tilted her head innocently.
"You took it from there, right? Er, stole it?"
Yu Wol had somehow snatched a massive haul of waterweed instantly.
"......Y-Yeah."
Her hunch about the source was spot on.
Cheisi grabbed all of Yu Wol's waterweed and approached Yorong.
"...What's up?"
"Uh, returning your waterweed. Looks like we took it."
"Thanks for bringing it back. If you need waterweed, just take it. I've got plenty for Yorongi anyway. Huh...? Streamer...?"
Cheisi saw Yorong's gaze drift to empty air—reading chat, just like her.
"...Cheisi?"
Yorong scanned Cheisi up and down, then her eyes widened hugely.
"Real Cheisi...! Nice to meet you! I'm Yokryong! I stream Abyss games!"
"Ah, hi. Cheisi here."
"Haha, heard so much about you. Cheisi, you've got two zone discovery titles already? Mind if I check 'em out...?"
After learning how to share titles on the fly, Cheisi showed Yorong her five titles.
"...C-Cool... Yorongi wants some too..."
Yorong's reaction was genuine—no flattery.
She was glued to the titles, face practically smooshed against them.
"No-wins are tragic..."
She sniffled, then eyed Cheisi.
"But why's Cheisi here? Challenging the underwater maze?"
"Yep."
At her answer, Yorong's face cracked like porcelain.
"Hahahahahahaha..."
Wondering why, Cheisi caught her mutter.
"A Lucky One joined... Yorongi's doomed."
No-win. Yokryong's infamous nickname. Early exits in dozens of Abyss tourneys, flops in every event—no real "win" ever. Least not until Cheisi stopped watching. Apparently still ongoing.
"...Cheisi. If you're exploring the maze now... Yorongi wants to tag along."
"Why?"
"W-Wonder if Lucky Ones have some special something..."
"Do what you want."
Yorong beamed.
"Thanks! Won't get in the way!"
Prep for exploring the underwater maze was complete.
"Let's go."
Cheisi eyed colorful fish swimming with users and swaying seaweed, then dove into the lake.
Her lens monster followed, diving after.
Yu Wol, chewing waterweed for underwater breathing.
And Yorong—hoping for luck—and her lens monster.
Three users and two monsters dove together.
In the lake, Cheisi saw the five caves.
The underwater maze started here.
"Let's split and scout. Better for a maze."
"Got it."
Yu Wol swam into the fifth cave first and vanished.
Cheisi swam into the first.
Four more caves appeared.
Again, Cheisi headed for the first.
Yorong, who'd followed, stopped her.
"That's a dead end."
"Blocked?"
"Yeah. Annoying underwater lava blocks it. Health melts instantly—you'll die."
Yorong shuddered fearfully.
'Should be fine for me.'
Cheisi checked her buffs.
No one solved it all day, right?"
"...Yeah."
Then the untraveled path—the one only she could take—might be the answer.
Cheisi swam into the first cave.
"H-Hey, where you going?! That's not the way!"
She ignored Yorong's panicked shout behind her.
Soon, shimmering blue 'underwater lava' blocked her path.
First time seeing it up close, Cheisi stared at the rippling lava a moment before dipping her hand in.
'...No health loss, as expected.'