Aqua

  Once I finish resting, I go ahead and walk up to the dungeon. Which is emitting mana around the same level as that large shark. Signifying that the dungeon’s boss must be around level twenty at the end of the dungeon. Meanwhile the orcs that no doubt escaped from the dungeon should be the lowest level monsters in it.

  Making the dungeon a perfect training place for me.

  So without any hesitation, I step forwards into the blue portal looking thing called a dungeon for the very first time in my life. After which I find myself standing on some ruined bridge over water in a cavern kind of similar to the one I just entered the dungeon in.

  Thought so.

  Most dungeons take inspiration from their surroundings when it comes to the dungeon’s insides. Making the dungeon itself resemble the world around the Gate to at least some degree.

  Even the monsters tend to take inspiration from the location. Albeit only the secondary monsters.

  The primary monster of the dungeon has nothing to do with the location or setting of the dungeon.

  Just like the orcs in this place.

  And I can see quite a few orcs just from where I’m standing here. All scattered across different ruins sticking out from the water below.

  I look around a bit more as the orcs all begin ringing alarm bells. But when I see the water down below clear of any overly powerful monsters, and see the decrease in my own strength stat from being outside the water, I go ahead and drop straight off the bridge down into the waters of the cavern below.

  Alright, let’s see what all is down here.

  Ignoring the orcs for the moment, I swim around beneath the ruins, finding the water to be sufficiently deep in the process. As for the monsters down here? None of them are too strong. Just some level eight sharks every now and then.

  Of course, I kill those sharks myself for the extra REGEN stat points they give. Not to mention the levels as they do raise my level to level eleven.

  Although to be honest, I was probably already close to leveling. What with that fight with the putrid shark and all.

  And just like that, I gradually begin to clear the first area of the dungeon out of shark monsters in the water. Pretty much claiming it as my own territory.

  Alan Pioneer News

  “Hello everyone, I am Alan, and I’m here to bring you the latest Pioneer news!” Alan says his usual opening line the moment the camera begins rolling. “I’m sure many of you have already heard, but the brave underwater Pioneer, Aqua Fallen, has finally entered her first dungeon! This marks the fourth dungeon of this set of Pioneers, and the very first underwater dungeon in the set!”

  “Wait, really? I hadn’t heard,” Rodrick – his co-host – says with a frown on his face. “Are you sure it’s that widespread?”

  “Well, Rodrick, I’m sorry you live under a rock,” Alan says while bowing his head with his hands clapped in front of his face. “We all pay respects for the rock home.”

  “Damnit Alan, you said you wouldn’t bring that up again!” Rodrick shouts, his voice echoing across the set as preprogrammed laughter echoes through the studio. “All I did was camp in a cave once!”

  “That’s under a rock,” Alan declares with a firm nod of his head, fully convinced of the righteousness of his words. “But we can discuss your living conditions later. Now we have to focus on little Aqua.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Rodrick glares at Alan before shaking his head and muttering, “You lose one bet, and it comes back to bite you for decades…”

  “What was that?” Alan asks as a bright smile spreads across his face.

  “I said this is the first time anyone has entered a dungeon underwater in a long time,” Rodrick answers, clearly fibbing. “How do you think she’ll fare?”

  “Well, her Bloodline makes the chances of her dying rather lackluster,” Alan says with a shrug, letting the fib go for now. “And it’s clear to everyone watching that little Aqua’s natural regeneration seems far higher than it should be. So I think it’s safe to assume she’ll make it out. Even the betting sites are shifting towards her survival as the higher odds.”

  “Well that’s no surprise, considering the massive losses people have made by betting on her dying several times already,” Rodrick retorts as the screen behind the two and the counter they’re on activates to show Aqua as she leisurely swims through the dungeon hunting sharks. “Plus there’s, well, this.”

  “Yeah,” Alan says with a nod. “This. The woman is just going around killing monster sharks like she’s on some school trip. And that’s with her right arm infected.”

  “It’s not often we have an ambidextrous Pioneer,” Rodrick says with his own nod. “Several Pioneers try to learn how to use their non-dominant arm after becoming one, but very few are ambidextrous right from the start.”

  “You’re right about that,” Alan agrees before looking at the screen. “What I enjoy the most about her broadcasts though is her personality.”

  “Personality?” Rodrick asks as a frown forms on her face. “What about it?”

  Alan just points at the screen as it changes to show a past scene. One of her crying after reading a message, only for her to glance at the chat floating next to her and mutter, “Something got in my eye.”

  Rodrick’s lips twitch into the start of a smile at that, clearly amused.

  Then the screen changes again to show her right as she is being sent flying by her own tentacle out of the water to avoid the ripper shark. Where she follows it by knocking down all the orcs from the ruins into the water, while standing on top of an orc and muttering, “See how you like it.”

  This time Rodrick bursts out laughing at her antics.

  “See what I mean?” Alan asks while pointing at the screen. “She’s hilarious and adorable! The way she just makes these completely natural and quiet retorts with that lazy expression on her face!”

  Rodrick nods his head without pausing in his laughter.

  “Now, Rodrick,” Alan says with a smile on his face as Rodrick continues laughing. “What do you say about a bet?”

  That instantly wipes the cheer from Rodrick’s face.

  “A bet?” he asks, sounding more than a little cautious about that word.

  “Yes,” Alan confirms with a nod. “A bet about what type of creature little Aqua’s Bloodline is from.”

  Rodrick narrows his eyes at Alan without saying a word.

  “If you win I’ll stop talking about your time living under a roooock,” Alan says while drawing out the word ‘rock’ with a grin on his face. “But if I win, you’re going to have to find another rock to live under for two days.”

  His words clearly agitate Rodrick for several seconds before the man finally gives in and says, “Fine. Then I bet she has an orca Bloodline.”

  “And I bet she has a kraken Bloodline,” Alan says with his smile growing ever the wider as he and Rodrick shake hands.

  Hook line and sinker.

  Aqua

  After finishing off all the sharks in the water, I look up at the orcs staring at me from the ruins above. Then I go ahead and shrug before grabbing hold of some of the water near me, turning it into pressurized blades, and sending it straight at the orcs. Making them scream in terror when one of the orcs ends up with his neck cut in half and another is sent flying off the ruins into the water below. Where I finish him off personally with my trident.

  This new skill makes for a good ranged attack.

  Too bad I need water to use the skill. So it doesn’t just create water for me.

  But considering that I’m deep underwater right now – or outside of the dungeon at least – that’s probably a non-issue. At least for the moment.

  Anyway, I go ahead and continue dealing with the orcs in this section of the dungeon. Slaughtering them all with ease since I’m doing it from the water. And since their levels are lower than mine by a decent chunk.

  It’ll probably get a lot tougher deeper in though. And I’m using up a lot of mana killing them like this.

  So I should call it a day after finishing them off.

  With that plan in mind, I just keep at it for a few hours. Going all over the starting section of the dungeon slaying the orcs one after another.

  And leveling up a couple times in the process. Until I’m level thirteen and half the orcs – the ones at level seven – no longer give me REGEN stat points.

  At which point the entire starting area is dead silent and filled with corpses.

  After that I find a secluded spot on a large ruin in the corner of the dungeon where the orcs won’t be able to reach me even if more of them came to this starting area to replace the others. Most likely. Hopefully.

  Then I do my normal routine, except in a different place, before going to sleep.

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