Time went slow.

The mass of eyes and tentacles came unbidden each time Sera closed her eyes, and what made it worse was the Oculi was still there.

The one thing she did have in this small cave was time, enough of it to give the eldritch abomination a name.

It had been more than an hour of resting, waiting, hearing the water above the cave fizzle and bubble, the Oculi had not moved from the area. It knows there’s food nearby, it probably has some sort of nose that could sniff the bloody croc.

Or worse, it saw me drag the croc inside and is just waiting. Sera could feel her gills pull in water from under her chin, it felt like a tickling sensation, but she had learned it was almost akin to hyperventilating.

Trying to settle herself, Sera wrapped her arms around her legs and leaned back onto her pack.

Her eyes looked over at the half-consumed predator, if it wanted to it could’ve used its long tentacles to grab onto the carcass and bring it up to it’s hidden mouth.

Thank god it’s only Iva eating it, although she is getting a bit rounder near her fins now. Looking over at Iva, she could see the seal wasn’t sleeping like it normally did after it's nap, but instead her companion was staring at the cave entrance.

Her hand nervously scratched at the side of her thigh, a habit that had come back despite her mental ails long since cured, though at least now she could stop herself.

What else can I do? Looking back at what she did in the hour, her options seemed spent.

Rereading the PID database? Check.

It was mostly the history and assimilation area’s, but Sera checked through for weapon recipes after remembering the fight with the croc going almost terribly if not for its eyes being in its mouth.

Unfortunately, she found out rather quickly that the knife was the only weapon she could make. Which either meant she needed more modules or she needed to find and scan a weapon to build.

Collecting rock outcrops? Check.

The scan results were mostly lead and copper, there was also some quartz hanging from the ceiling, but she didn’t need the scanner to find that out.

Checking the next module location? Check.

But whereas before the last module was close by, the newest one was over twenty kilometres or over forty football fields away and what was slightly disappointing was what kind of module it was, was unknown.

Yep. That’s not happening until I figure out how to move my Dwelling and upgrade it a bit at least.

Swearing that she wouldn’t spend a night away from her warm and safe home, Sera silent pushed off the ground and made her way to the cave opening.

Grabbing onto the top of the cave, Sera peeked her head to the side and saw-

Cyan waters, with the sun no longer blinding her, it was past midday she suspected as she slowly popped her head out of the cave.

That’s when Sera realised that the Oculi, most certainly, had a mouth.

Half a distance away, she could see the massive tentacles grabbing onto something from one of the crates, it's eyes grabbing what seemed to be grain were closed, and it was using its eye tentacles like chopsticks.

Except normally you don’t bite off the chopsticks along with your food.

As the tentacles came close to what looked like the Oculi’s underbelly, a chasm opened up and sucked in the food-along with the tentacles carrying it.

Then Sera saw what was left of the eye-tentacles come out with half it’s limb cleanly cut-off.

Sera gripped the cave entrance tightly and slowly began to dip back inside the safe shelter when she saw it spit out the tentacles it had consumed a moment before.

The tentacles pulsed on the seafloor before the chopped off limb came to it and like a magnet, the two pieces stuck back together, seeing it happen with over twenty tentacles Sera was suddenly very grateful the Oculi hadn’t found her.

It would’ve killed her.

Each time she would cut a piece off, it would reattach in a second and the number of tentacles-one she could handle. But ten? Twenty? It would capture her in moments.

Dipping her head back inside to the relative safety of the cave, Sera let her body just float downwards for a moment before noticing she could still be seen if something decided to peek inside the cave.

Moving her arms minutely, Sera slowly swam over to Iva and began stiffly patting her as she continued waiting. Waiting is good. Waiting is safe. Waiting is good. Waiting is sa-

Repeating the words like a mantra, she couldn’t feel Iva stiffen up next to her.

It had felt like two hours, but the Oculi was still above, despite getting used to the noise of what sounded like thousands of fish brushing against each other and the bubbling and fizzling that came when it moved.

Okay. Calmed again, Sera was ready to plan-take action-do something other than just sit and wait.

Despite her situation being better, she wasn’t getting any closer to getting her Dwelling up to standard, and it had nearly been an entire day.

Bringing out her scanner, Sera finally decided to just scan everything.

Her PID was thoroughly researched, the cave was explored, all that was left was to scan every little rock and the weird looking flora growing in the cave.

Scanner Results

Sandstone found!

Lead found!

Red coral found!

Sandstone found!

Dirt found!

Green Anemone found!

Mana-Infused Algae

Sandst-

Stopping the scanner, Sera moved over to the mana-infused algae and noticed a slight glow come from it. Normally the scanner tells me when I find a new material… Maybe because it's organic, I have to manually scan it, like I did with Iva and myself?

Pointing the scanner back at the green glowing algae, Sera scanned it alone and saw the familiar blue screen meet her.

Scanner Results

Rare material discovered!

Mana-Infused Algae:

This flora is normally harmless and can be safely digested by natural fauna, however it is currently infused with the essence of mana!

This gives the plant additional benefits of consumption, such as an increased assimilation rate.

If prepared with other such materials in the Foodocculator the effects could be magnified or could be used to create potions.

It is likely that other glowing plant-life is either bioluminescent or has traces of mana infused within.

The green light coming from the algae coming from the wall reflected in her eyes as Sera slowly grabbed onto the stalk and pulled, the flora easily came off from the wall as Sera closed her eyes with her hand holding onto the plant.

The cave with the skeletal jawed fish that were sensitive to bright lights, the cave with them was filled with similar glowing plants, and although dangerous were so useful, and she had passed them by.

Dipping her head onto her collarbone, her eyes were still closed as she tried remembering the other location-

Oh. Of course, it was there as well. Small red lights were drummed across the dungeon cave leading downward, illuminating it and the fish and the nests, Sera remembered.

With scanner in hand, she did an underwater face-plant.

How many other organics had she missed because of ignorance. Shit.

How much time would this had cost, and how much effort, she would have to swim-

No, maybe I can use this time to fix my fuc- my mistakes. Picking her head out of her hand, Sera looked over to her other hand and saw the still glowing algae.

Reaching over to her pack, she threw it inside and looked at the other small light coming from the wall. Maybe being trapped in this cave wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.

It had been four or more hours, Sera stopped keeping track as she explored every crook and cranny of the cave, which turned out to be a great idea as she found three different types of mana-infused plant.

Scanner Results

Rare material discovered!

Mana-Infused Kelp:

Long strands of biomatter infused with strands of mana, useful with assimilation and potion making.

Rare material discovered!

Mana-Infused Coral:

Spiralling coral infused with brands of mana, useful with assimilation and potion making.

Rare material discovered!

Mana-Resistant Seaweed:

This seaweed is resistant to all types of mana!

Can be used as a material to create a weapon against hostiles that rely on mana as their weapon.

It was a good haul, especially the Mana-Resistant Seaweed, but it had taken all day, and the worst of it hadn’t hit yet.

The Oculi was still there, Sera knew it wasn’t waiting, instead it was still eating.

Each time she checked, it was diving it’s many eyes into a crate before bringing them back to its mouth.

Even at night, it was doing this, which meant the next piece of bad news.

She would have to sleep in the cave, away from the comforting Dwelling that spoke of safety and warmth.

Feeling a small bit of warmth on her lap, Sera pat the sleeping Iva as her eyes were trained on the cave entrance.

It was going to be a long night.

Water violently was cast aside as what looked like a winged chariot burst through the water, leading it was two powerful beasts, and it sang across the seafloor in twirls of water pressure.

It was large but sleek, defiant looking but comfortable and most importantly it was fast.

“Why worry Reeve, we’re days away still and whatever threatened the expedition should be long gone if it was an ordinary beast,” A confident voice resided from the front cavern, his armour clinked despite being made from seemingly ordinary scales.

“You’re assuming three things then, firstly that it’s just a wandering beast, secondly that it wasn’t planned, and thirdly it wasn’t the depth kingdom,” A tired but noble sounding voice responded.

“Well mostly because if it were a beast there’s a chance we can find some survivors or at least their bodies…”

The silence, although calmed the throats of the two, didn’t calm their spirits nearly as much.

“If it were a beast, then I can only hope it’s not the thousand eyed leviathan or the shadow swam,” Reeve said in courtesy to his friend.

Scales could be heard clinking as if someone were straightening up at the thought. “Those two in particular would mean a terrible end for any neriead that met them, but there is something worse that will be approaching either during or after we find what happened to them.”

Reeve sat back with his mouth in a thin line. “The Demon Whisper.” He nodded to his friend.

“We should make it in time before it comes out to hunt, but if we don’t… I’ll have to rely on my champion to defeat it,” His lips turned upwards in a smile rarely seen since the kidnapping.

“Haha. Ha. We both know without the elite guard, there’s no chance we’re not running at the first look we see of the monster.”

The joking atmosphere left as quickly as it came.

“... If the expedition was assassinated rather than killed by a mindless beast than we both know, that running will be the last thing we do, Keirian,” He continued with his voice turning emotionless.

“Especially if Loretta has even a small chance of being there. I can't leave without my sister this time.”