~ Two Weeks Later ~

Amy had spent the last few weeks expanding, changing, and adding to both her territorial area and iceberg. She had done a lot to make her iceberg and territory better and less rough.

The first thing over the weeks that Amy did was her territory above the surface and below. Below sea level, she added another 47 metres to her territory. With the 47 metres, Amy’s underwater territory height came to 70 metres, and she could tell that she wasn’t even close to reaching the bottom of the ocean. So she extended her territory 20 metres taller, making the total height above sea level 26 metres.

The second thing Amy did over the last two weeks was to create bigger connected rooms. By adding rooms and connecting those very close to each other, she could create environments that mimicked the outside one. This would be helpful in a couple of different ways. The first way would be when she finally drifts into a warmer or different environment. Then, she could preserve the environment that she has built. The second way it would be helpful is if there was a large storm, hurricane, or typhoon. Then, if it destroyed the non-iceberg part of her territory, she would be able to recreate and regrow it to what it was previously.

The third thing that she thought of and was working on creating is a type of trap. The idea that Amy thought of would be like creating a pail or grate-like structure that she could lower to the ocean floor and pull along the floor, picking up creatures, plants, and any debris or sand they could pull back up to her territory. She thought the shape would be a long and skinny bucket that she could troll along the ocean floor, then lift it back up using something like a chain attached to the opening that would prevent anything from escaping or falling out. Amy had finalized this idea but hasn’t finished creating it yet.

The fourth thing that held Amy’s attention throughout these two weeks is the animals and plants of her territory. Over these two weeks, she has added more species of animals and plants to her territory.

Amy knew her iceberg must have floated into a more populous region of fish because she gained five new fish species. With a smile, she once again pulled up their descriptions and looked at them in happiness.

Silver Anchovy

A small silver-looking fish that are often in schools.

Redfish

Contrary to its name, the redfish isn’t actually red. Instead, it only turns red when it uses a small amount of mana to regulate its temperature.

Air Hopper

A type of flying fish that can jump out of the water and glide for a couple of metres before needing to descend back into the water.

Menhaden

A type of grey prey fish that is high in nutrients and can produce a chemical reaction within its blood that will quickly heal minor injuries

Ice Barracuda

A predatorial fish that is long, lean, but very fast. This fish can use a small amount of water mana to help make it faster.

These new fish species made Amy very happy when she gained them. They were very useful; these fish, the silver anchovy and menhaden, would help pull in predators that would want to feed on them, while the ice barracuda can help defend her little section of territory within the ocean. The barracuda could also hunt outside her territory then bring it back to her to gain a new species.

But fish were not the only new things that Amy had added to her territory. Two species of birds had wandered into her territory, a penguin and a flying bird. The penguin species was somewhat expected, but since she picked up three penguins, she was probably closer to land than she expected. The same goes with the flying bird. Back on Earth, if you see a bird when sailing, that usually means that you are close to land.

When she pulled up the descriptions of the two birds, this was what it said:

Yellow-Striped Penguin

A species of small penguin that will travel far into the ocean with small groups to hunt and catch food.

Ocean Swallow

A species of migratory bird that migrates across and around oceans, but it never strays far from the ocean.

Amy obtained the yellow-striped penguin when it used her iceberg as a resting point, and the swallow flew right inside of her territory, allowing her to obtain the species.

Due to her obtaining the bird species, Amy added and changed her iceberg to be somewhat more accommodating. The first thing that she did was make some slopes and easy entry points for the penguins to climb in and out of the water. The second thing that she did was to add nesting or rest points for the birds. The third thing that Amy did was create a small freshwater pool. In some of her rooms that were filled with water, they were filled with fresh, not saltwater. The freshwater came from before she woke up as a core when the iceberg was melting in some places.

As Amy was admiring what she had done with her territory, the ocean started to become rough. The once blue sky started to turn grey and black with clouds. The slight waves that once were started to become wilder, rocking the iceberg more and more. Then the rain hit, and Amy knew it was time to start getting ready for the storm to hit.

She started by calling most of her animals back into the iceberg herself in specific control rooms. She pushed calm into them to make sure that they don’t get riled up. Then, with the animals taken care of, Amy started taking about 25% of each species that lived outside her iceberg and placing them in a couple of smaller rooms. The only reason she did this is to allow her a starting point if the storm destroyed the non-iceberg parts of her territory.

As the storm got rougher and rougher, she checked the whole iceberg to make sure everything was set up before she closed all entrances and exits to the iceberg. After the iceberg was taken care of, Amy started going into a meditative state. Within this meditative state, she started circulating more and more of her mana throughout her iceberg and territory. Amy continued to do this as the heart of the storm began to hit. Finally, she said a prayer to whatever was listening out there to keep her dungeon safe and focused on keeping her territory and everything within it alright.