I continued westward in search of the leviathan after debating and eventually deciding that exploring the abyss was not worth the risk. The reasoning for this was simple. While there would probably be several level 99 monsters deeper in the ocean, I was not chasing this particular creature because it was the strongest, I was chasing this creature because leviathans were always unique. Every monster that took this evolution path was gifted with a title bestowed upon it by the system and I was working under the assumption that the "lord of the waves" was such a title rather than just a random name.

What's the difference between a sea monster and a leviathan? A leviathan, according to the system, was a second stage mutated marine monster in the same class as a Gold blooded Ratel. Unlike the Ratel lineage, however, any sea monster could become a leviathan if it managed to both grow large enough without evolving and achieve the feat of devouring a monster stronger than itself. They differed from their species regular evolutions by gaining additional physical features and at least duel elemental affinities with examples of this include shark leviathans plated in turtle shell that can control blood and shadow magic or giant squids with additional jellyfish stingers capable of commanding poison and lightning.

Turning away from the abyssal maw of the deep, I launched myself through the water like a torpedo. Turns out travelling through the water was a relativity fast means of transportation. My modified web-like feet magnified my ability to apply force to water and by applying enough physical force, I could create a solid step from which I could launch myself forward. In combination with a magic shield that effectively eliminated drag, I was able to reach insane speeds even exceeding my aerial velocity. Alas, as with all things, it was not perfect. Turning while using this movement method was more than a little problematic, requiring me to slow down let I throw myself into a barrel roll.

Along the way, several large sea monsters took note of me and they fell into two general categories. Those that understood I was not a good target due to my speed or use of mana and those dumb enough to get in my way and be smashed apart on my shield. It was strange that most of the ones dumb enough to stand in my way had large eyes while those who avoided me did not.

It turns out that the oceanic region had an interesting ecosystem. The large-eyed monsters were from near the surface and relied on visual acuity to hunt while the limited light of the depths forced the small-eyed monsters to detect pray using different methods. Mana sense and echolocation was common in this lower realm, allowing them to easily distinguish the relative power of the beings in their surroundings and thus avoid me, unlike their shallow-water brethren.

The shallow water monsters lived in an area with an abundance of fish. This allowed them to rarely need to fight anything that could challenge them as they mainly focused on finding and consuming weaker creatures. The weak monsters used teamwork to survive, often banding together to fend off bigger predators and sacrificing the weakest members to escape. As the sea got deeper the creatures got larger and traded sight for other senses. These monsters would not need to hunt as often but instead had to pick their battles.

Occasionally one of these deep dwellers would rise up to claim a territory. This was a double-edged sword as the deep dweller could overpower the surface monsters but doing so placed them in the perfect location to be hunted by the wandering behemoths like the leviathans. Even if they were lucky enough to avoid this they would soon drive the larger surface monsters away. Without large prey, they would be forced to eat the small fish. Unfortunately, the energy required to hunt many small targets exceeded what they would gain from devouring them due to their biology, forcing them once more into the deep. With the absence of hunters, the small fish population would explode once more causing the surface hunters to return to repeat the cycle.

I stumbled across a strong undersea current that was travelling in the right direction while I was studying the local ecosystem and decided to be lazy. Relaxing my hold on the shield spell, I let myself be dragged into the vortex, allowing the water to do the work. A shadow flashed past and it became apparent that I was not the only one with this Idea as a megalodon was also surfing the flow. The giant shark-like creature looked at me and decided I was not worth the effort as it travelled on its way.

I decided to exit and head to the surface when the current took a sharp turn from south-west to pure south. Breaching the surface like an angry whale, I unfurled my magical wings and continued into the sky. There was almost nothing in sight as I scanned the horizon until I noticed a pillar of cliffs in the distance dyed red by the setting sun. Even with the elevation, the land was easily missable, placing me about a hundred miles south of the Zurgan coast. I had obviously been diverted from my original path either due to wonder or boredom.

Tired after a day of exploring my water mobility in preparation for my fight I decided to splurge a bit. Withdrawing a large mana crystal from storage I drained it contents to fold space, teleporting to the shore. The reason I didn't abuse this ability often was because Teleporting long distances without the assistance of gates or other tools was incredibly mana intensive. Without higher layer materials gates would be unwieldy and generally required being fixed in a given location and spacial shuttles were downright uncreatable on this layer.

Arriving above the white stone cliffs that met the ocean, I aimed to take shelter in one of the small caved that dotted the landscape and acted as nesting spots for mitigatory birds. Finding one large enough for my bed would have taken too long so I enlarged one, using the excess material to seal the entrance. After adding holes for the air to enter and enchanting a small mana crystal for light, I summoned my bed. Technically I didn't really need the sleep as a simple rest would have recovered my stamina but why live like shit when you don't have too.

Awakening after a few hours to the sound of waves, I grabbed a hot pizza from my storage for a late-night meal. Cracking open the 'door' revealed a calm ocean framed by moonlight. leaving my perfectly square hidey-hole as a monument to be pondered over by future discoverers or a great breeding site for the local wildlife, I rose into the star-filled darkness. The next few hours were boredom incarnate as I followed the coastline north-west. The only interesting diversion from the monotonousness of dark forest and sheer sea cliffs was spotting one of the great lakes on my right-hand side as I blazed past.

Reaching the siren gulf I chose to continue flying straight, passing overland to avoid having to detour. Several hours in, I started to question why I didn't just go into space and drop down on my location before realising there really wasn't a reason I didn't other than exploring the ocean. Kicking myself for the stupidity of it all and realising I was closer to my target now than I would be going into orbit, I continued on my boring flight path. Why doesn't everyone use orbital travel? Well there are several factors on higher layers that make it impractical from the higher gravity to naturally formed mana shielding. The only reason I could use it is that I have broken stats and this lower layer lacks meteor defences.

At dawn, I landed on a beach near Sans Reen the most prominent port of the water spirit kingdom. Taking the appearance of an old elf made entry into the city a breeze, the helpful guards even offered to be my guide. With the kingdom's culture focused around venerating the elderly it was not an unexpected outcome, the real unexpected outcome was discovering the crown princess of the Zurgan dynasty. Being neighbouring countries it was not impossible to find her here but the lack of guards and toyboy hanging off her arm told me this was not a typical encounter.

Listening in on the rumours it became apparent she was purchasing a gift for her father and the male accessory was her fiancee, the third prince from the kotis empire. Having retrieved the heirloom sword from the princess she had secured her place as the next queen in her countries matriarchy and chosen this unwanted prince to be her politically powerless breeding stud. It is incredibly easy to gather information on royals from lose lipped wives especially when compelled with some alcohol and mind magic.

Deciding that the royal couple was not my problem I entered into the auction house the dealt with ocean pearls. Unlike the grand auction houses of the isle of mages or the free trade republic, this place was an open auditorium with a lower floor for normal traders and a higher selection of balconies for VIPs. The pearls on display were blue unlike their normal white counterparts with the colouring coming from their water affinity. Acting as an elemental booster these gems made excellent wand catalysts or simple defensive items. Their purity, however, meant they would be useless in a higher mana environment and thus useless to me. They did have two hearts of the sea but both had been ruined by whichever moron crafted them into low-level magical trash.

Disappointed with the auction, I made my way to the docks for information on the lord of the waves. Luckily I discovered it had been spotted off the coast near the ocean pearl farm earlier that day. Deciding that staying in this town was wasting my time I dived straight into the ocean startling some locals in the process and aimed west. With my current speed, it did not take more than half an hour to reach the farm and my target was spotted immediately.

The mutant creature was an amalgamation of several creatures I had known in the past and perfectly explained the conflicting stories. At a length of 50m, it was definitely intimidating but not the largest creature in this ocean by far. It had the head of a shark, the body of a manta ray with the rear flippers and shell plating of a turtle. The creature's tail was around twenty metres long and ended in a bladed spine while a dorsal fin like blade formed of from the back of the shell which encased it's torso and provided pauldrons while allowing the pectoral fin to move freely. Each of the pauldrons contained a mana core as did the armoured shell protecting its head and the centre of its belly chest plate allowing me to easily determine the creature's elements.

The story was not looking good as it had access to water, lightning, healing and force magic while being both large and tanky enough shrug off most attacks. Deciding to see what it was capable of I cast a water-shadow combination spell to hide in the water and launched an attack. The reaction was not what I was expecting. The creature propelled itself at my general location using water magic while forming a lightning bubble, moving at a speed similar to mine while flying. Escaping with space magic I witnessed it immediately change direction and dash again. We repeated this game of chicken until I decided to escape into the air, earning myself two force-based invisible blades for my efforts. After another retreat, I discovered the water began circling the beast and mana sense let me witness it absorbing the mana from the surrounding ocean.

In short, this was a tanky, fast-moving, self-healing, mana absorbing, spell casting behemoth that also had mana sense and if my magic detection was not lying to me, rune scribed armour. Monsters, in general, had the downside that their ascension was ten times harder but the also allowed them to become as broken as this monstrosity. The only thing I was thinking at the time was “let's see who is the stronger monster!”