Pioneer of the Abyss - Book 2 - Chapter 49

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Don't mind this. It's so that free readers can't see half the chapter when the chapter eventually becomes patron only.

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Table of Contents

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Click the following link for the 1367 word chapter 49:

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Aqua

Days pass by one at a time as I hunt monsters, work on my jobs, and level up. All the way until I finally reach level five hundred at last after an entire two months of hunting.

During this time I meet with my parents once every day or two for an hour or so. And we get closer bit by bit with every meeting.

And the moment I reach level five hundred, I find myself grinning at the new trait and skills.

[Congratulations! You have now reached level 500! As the current First Ranker of Dartric, your total free points have increased by three and your mana stat has increased by one hundred. Allocate the free points whenever you please. Additionally, you have now unlocked your eighteenth skill and your sixth trait.]

Nice!

The whole process of leveling up started to turn out rather dull after some point. Simply because I’m starting to be too strong for most of the monsters here.

Even monsters over a hundred levels above me aren’t strong enough to face off against me.

What surprises me the most though is how I’m still not considered the highest level on the planet.

I’m at least the highest level user since I have the traits, but why am I not the highest level being on the planet? Are there really monsters above level five hundred?

Then there’s that Bloodliner on the planet. I haven’t seen any traces of them since their little cult went after me.

Although, there has been word about strange occurrences in the dark ocean. An ocean that is completely pitch black and is the only one without any people living in it.

But, more importantly, I open my status to check for my new trait.

[REQUESTING STATUS: USER AQUA AZURANTH]

[STATUS RETRIEVED]

[Name: Aqua Azuranth]

[Level: 500]

[Mana: 41002/50000]

[Strength: 507(338)]

[Dexterity: 309]

[Constitution: 308]

[Magical Strength: 311]

[REGEN: 8941]

[MEN: 310]

[Free Points: 0]

[Traits: Physique of the Abyssal Kraken, Apex Predator of the Depths, Lifeblood of the Abyssal Kraken, World First Ranker, Scales of the Abyssal Kraken, Galaxy First Ranker, Special Core 1x, Mana Metabolism, Abyssal Mana, Sonar of the Abyss]

[Skills]

[END STATUS]

I blink at the name of the new trait before looking at its description.

[Sonar of the Abyss – The Abyssal Kraken is the lord of the Abyss, and as the lord, the Abyssal Kraken cannot lose its way. The Abyssal Kraken’s body naturally sends out a pulse every few seconds that searches and registers everything around the Abyssal Kraken into their mind. The pulse sees through all illusions, all darkness, and cannot be deceived.]

Huh. That’s interesting.

And now that I read it, I realize I somehow just know about everything around me. Even the things I’m not looking at or can’t see from where I’m at.

I would’ve preferred to get whatever trait the Abyssal Kraken is using to drain the Ancient Monsters, but I guess this one is nearly as good.

After all, it would suck to die just from some illusion or mental attack meant to confuse me. And this trait is a direct counter to those.

Another trait to remove a weakness.

After reading about the trait, I go ahead and open my skills list to see the latest skill.

[REQUESTING SKILLS: USER AQUA AZURANTH]

[18 SKILLS RETRIEVED]

[MORE THAN THREE SKILLS DETECTED]

[ALL SKILLS CONDENSED]

[Skill 1: Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace]

[Skill 2: Hydrokinetic Wrath]

[Skill 3: Call of the Abyss]

[Skill 4: Abyssal Kraken’s Partial Shift]

[Skill 5: Pressure of the Abyss]

[Skill 6: Abyssal Reversal]

[Skill 7: Maw of the Abyssal Kraken]

[Skill 8: Devourer of the Abyss]

[Skill 9: Converging Maelstrom]

[Skill 10: Abyssal Ruler]

[Skill 11: Light of the Abyss]

[Skill 12: Claw of the Abyssal Kraken]

[Skill 13: Ink of the Abyssal Kraken]

[Skill 14: Abyss]

[Skill 15: Abyssal Transformation]

[Skill 16: Abyssal Plague]

[Skill 17: Aquatic Tide]

[Description: Allows the user to create a powerful wave outside of water that they can send in a direction of their choice.]

[Cost: Aquatic Tide costs 1000 mana to use. Additional mana can be used to increase the size of the wave.]

[Cooldown: Aquatic Tide has no cooldown.]

[Skill 18: Abyssal Purge]

[Description: Allows the user to temporarily burn their own regeneration in order to purge a target. While a target is being purged, their body will slowly be filled with water, their body’s cells will slowly die off, and all of their healing will be halted.]

[Cost: Abyssal Purge temporarily decreases the user’s REGEN stat when used. The decrease will return to normal ten minutes after the skill is no longer being used. The more REGEN stat points are temporarily burned to use the skill, the greater the skill’s effect will have.]

[Cooldown: Abyssal Purge has no cooldown.]

[END SKILLS]

Oh, wow. Abyssal Purge looks really good.

It also gives my REGEN stat a use other than just regenerating myself.

Honestly, despite how useful both the new skill and the new trait are, I can’t help but feel more excited about the new skill than the trait. And this new skill is far more useful than the last skill I got. The one I got for level four hundred.

It’s a completely useless skill underwater and is the first non-Bloodline skill I’ve gotten in a while.

Although, I will admit that the skill, Aquatic Tide, will be useful for when I’m not underwater.

I probably needed a skill that can be used outside of the water too.

It’s slightly annoying how my REGEN stat has stalled out in its growth a little though. Since it’s getting harder and harder to find monsters at or above my level.

A lot of my current leveling progress came about from me sending out Abyssal Servants to hunt monsters for me. Making the levels come from slaughtering a lot of monsters rather than killing strong ones.

There just aren’t many regular weaker monsters the further I get down in the ocean. No doubt due to the size of the monsters of their level.

That said, there are still monsters there. So I quickly head down deeper to find a monster to test Abyssal Purge on.

And when I manage to find a large eel monster – a perfect test subject since these eels tend to have more regeneration than other monsters – I don’t hesitate to test it. Making my REGEN stat on my status do something similar to what my STR stat does. With the parenthesis and all.

Except that the current value of the stat decreases instead of increasing like the STR stat does.

Meanwhile the massive eel that is currently trying to flee from me suddenly starts to suffer from some sort of odd necrosis. With its body shriveling up as if soaked by water while also blackening as if undergoing necrosis at the same time.

Which looks slightly disturbing, but whatever.

I push the skill a bit more, gradually using more and more REGEN points to see how effective the skill is with how many points I use.

The eel lets out a screech of pain as it tries to swim away, but since I don’t have to actually be up close to it while using the skill, I just watch quietly from a distance while casually following it. All the way until the eel finally loses momentum and eventually stops moving.

Marking its death at last.

Nice.

The eel was about ten levels beneath me, so it’s not all that strong but also not that weak. And it worked pretty well for a test subject.

I glance at my REGEN stat to see a little timer next to it as well. One counting down from about nine or so minutes. Since about a minute has passed since using the skill.

This skill should be very useful. Especially against monsters that heal a lot. Whether through regeneration or active healing skills.

It’ll also help against other users, since healing is generally important in battles.

After looking at the stat for the remaining nine minutes before my stat returns to normal, I go ahead and search for my next test subject.