They spent some time in the shallows, testing the mask and seeing how things worked. And Sam was pleased to confirm that everything worked perfectly. In the back of his mind, he had the thought that it fucking better, considering the price they paid for these. It even fit properly on Dia, the rim around had some weirdness going on with some odd patterns and super soft spikes that looked like it could get enough through the fur to make it watertight.

  However, as expected, she struggled to breathe underwater, even with the mask on. There was something in her head that just refused to let her do it. But after a lot of explaining, showing and proving that Sam could breathe underwater, he proved this by breathing super heavily while being underwater with his mask, so she could see and hear it. She finally dared to try which had her be amazed by the magical device on her face.

  All the testing and over-heavy breathing had, in a strange sense, luckily emptied the stored energy so the little light signalling that it was recommended, but not yet critical, to recharge lit up. This let Sam explain and show Dia how this worked, and taught her that she needed to let him know when this happened, or just use a crystal to recharge it. Explaining and showing everything.

  After a solid while of this, they were finally ready to give diving a go. Janik was first out and disappeared into the water. Both he and Sam understood and had gone swimming in similar ways before, though Janik had used an air tank and Sam hadn’t, at least Sam had used snorkels and just held his breath. So the concept of swimming in deep water wasn’t weird. Dia wasn’t entirely foreign to this either, but it was a new experience being able to breathe underwater like this.

  They dove into the water, stopping at a few body heights of depth as they started testing things. Talking worked fine, something Dia used repeatedly to mention that she could breathe underwater, being just as amazed every time.

  “Dia, try to punch and kick, we need to see if you can fight underwater,” Sam commanded, moving her mind back to the important part.

  Sam had already been testing with his Psyhands and Invisibility. The latter was amusing, since he still displaced water there was a strange bubble where he was, meaning that though he was harder to see, it wasn’t exactly invisible. He had hoped that the bending of light around him would have compensated for that, but it seems that it didn’t.

  “It’s harder to move, I hoped that this would let me move more normally but... It’s just like normal water,” Janik commented stating the obvious. He didn’t have any activatable skills he could try out so it was a bit harder to confirm.

  “Well... My hands move as normal, if it’s in air or water it doesn’t matter,” Sam explained. “Though it’s a bit interesting seeing them.”

  Just like his own body when invisible, they displaced the water creating a kind of high-definition bubble. He moved a few in front of him letting him take in their appearance, which was best described as ‘default hands’. They looked like human hands but without defining factors like wrinkles, nails or things like that, just simple hands.

  “Ah, of course,” Janik commented in a dry, somewhat envious tone. ”Of course they work normally...”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault I’m awesome,” Sam smiled back, forgetting that the mask hides all facial expressions.

  “Dia... hard to punch, no kick.” Dia was struggling. Without any good footing, she wasn’t able to transfer power through her body properly. Her punches and kicks still looked decent for being underwater, but when she did so her body rotated just as anyone else would.

  Sam expected her bites to be unaffected but... those came with other drawbacks.

  “Well, I suppose we’ll just have to fight a few things, see how that goes,” Sam added as he looked around in the water, hoping to see something they could have their first underwater attempt at.

  They had to swim about and look for a while, it wasn’t like they were swarmed at all times, but eventually they found something. Or rather, they were found by something. A long and sleek fish the length of a person not counting its spear-like protrusion on its face. It had blade-like fins and glowing red patterns along its scales.

  [ Skewerfish

  Level: 43

  STR: 6

  DEX: 30

  VIT: 16

  SPT: 0

  HP: 350 / 350

  Damage: Razor Dash 280, Piercing Strike 280, Evasive Leap 104.

  Defence: 100

  Abilities: Dex Boon, Razor Dash, Piercing Strike, Evasive Leap. ]

  [ Razor Dash: Dashes past a target, slicing at them. ]

  [ Piercing Strike: Charge at a target, impaling them, a high chance to inflict bleeding. ]

  [ Evasive Leap: A defensive jump away from danger, can be used offensively by landing on a target. ]

  Sam almost chuckled at imagining this large fish landing on someone, but the hit-and-run tactic of its combat style could prove problematic underwater. At least for the ones that didn’t have Sam’s metaphorically long arms, that was.

  “350 health, 100 Defence, hit and run tactics with spearing and slicing. 280 damage,” he shared with his group. Simple and concise information. He didn’t mention the Evasive Leap damage as it was lower than the others and didn’t seem likely underwater.

  “280 damage, without a good way to dodge in the water... This is harsh,” Janik commented as he pulled his swords. “But I want to give it a go, do your thing if it lands a hit on me.”

  Janik proceeded to hit his swords together. The metal-on-metal plink carried very well in the water, enough for Sam to feel and hear it. The fish noticed it well and set its sights on the man producing it immediately.

  It started swimming towards him and gained frightening speed in only a few seconds. Janik proceeded to take his defensive posture from when he fought the crab. As the fish used its long, blade-like fins to slice at Janik, the Synergy skill triggered, and he moved just as swiftly as he did on land, ignoring the resistance in the water. It was an absurd thing to see.

  [Skewerfish HP: 210 / 350 ]

  100 Defence against a single attack from Janik made this take a while. However, as long as he could keep it going he would eventually come out on top.

  The fish turned around and made another beeline towards the swordsman, and this time he didn’t use his defensive form but seemed to try and dodge. He had zero chance and was sliced up quite badly.

  [ Janik HP: 55 / 220 ]

  Sam wondered what the fuck was going on, Janik, Mr Safety, why did he allow this to happen. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to dodge properly so, what was the idea here? A critical hit would have outright killed him... He might be good defensively but he was no tank.

  Doing his side of the deal, not wanting to risk missing the fish and giving it a chance for a third run, Sam manifested his entire swarm and went for it.

  Over 1500 dealt damage later, the fish was shredded in the red mist where it slowly floated towards the seabed.

  “The fuck is wrong with you?!” Sam called out to his nearly dying ally.

  Janik floated down to a rocky part of the seabed and just stood there for a moment. “I grew overconfident... After the crab and feeling like I could dodge it, I wanted to try... That was extremely dumb...” He didn’t sound entirely convinced by his statement.

  “Drink some potions or something, don’t just sta-” Sam was trying to get Janik to heal himself so he didn’t die from... anything that might come for them, he noticed that Janik’s HP was slowly increasing.

  At the moment he had forgotten one of the traits of Janik’s Armour.

  [ Earthbound Vitality: Gradually restore 1% health over time when standing still on stone or earth. Effect triggers after standing still for 10 seconds. ]

  A strange thing to consider underwater, but he was glad to see that it was working.

  [ Experience gained: +6 000 000. ]

  “Yes!” Janik exclaimed and didn’t pay any attention to Sam.

  Seeing that Janik’s level rose by one, Sam understood his reaction, but he wasn’t completely happy about the topic change. Pondering for a moment if he should berate him more he decided that Janik should be able to figure that out himself, but if that were to happen again he’d be furious.

  Trying to refocus as Janik took his time to slowly recover his health, the fact that Janik couldn’t dodge that meant that both Dia and Sam would most likely be in similar cases. Which made a lot of sense. Sam could cheat with his Psyhands but that would stop him from using them both defensively or offensively. And he had a powerful offence, so...

  Even without testing, he felt confident that he was going to be fine that way. Taking the basis of the two monsters they had seen so far, the worst target to instantly kill was the crab. It was a bit odd that both of them had the same Defence rating, but that was a discussion for a later time. 100 Defence and the Crab had 945 health. None of them had any elemental resistance, not even for fire, but as they were the two first things they had met it might make sense. But even with the 100 defence, he could often take them out in one volley.

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  When elemental resistance kicks in he might have to forgo his Invisibility, or just use that for what it’s worth and go for a second volley. In either case, he was fine.

  As he was looking at the numbers, he noticed that the Ascendant bonus thing had triggered again, this time on all of them, Janik included. Telling them it was agreed that due to the extra damage to things, it might be smarter to stack Vitality at the moment. So this became the target for both of them, Sam put his in Spirit like normal.

  “Do we think that’s enough testing?” Sam asked the group, mainly directing it at Janik.

  “I think so unless you want your girl to have a go.”

  “I’m good,” Sam replied. Though he wanted her to have the best chance of things, seeing someone as adept at fighting as Janik take a hit like that, it only takes one critical hit to blow them up... The scaling of the Tower is bullshit.

  “Ok, in that case, I think we can head to the first Dungeon, get a taste of that and do the routine, I guess.” Janik sounded both excited but also bored, something Sam understood.

  Though the first round would most likely be a group effort, just to be sure that things went well, it would be up to Sam to run it again and again until they felt confident for the next one. Which would have the whole process repeat.

  They were falling into a habit.

  “I suppose...” Sam replied, he agreed but it felt a bit... boring and exciting at the same time, however, the boring overshadowed it a little. This was just the same thing in a new environment. He was looking forward to the Fourth floor.

  [ Experience gained: +50. ]

  “Err... Sam? Did you just get 50 experience?” Janik asked as Sam was finalizing his stat point.

  “I did...” Sam replied with confusion in his voice.

  He took a moment to check the logs to find out where it came from and found the entry listing that Elara had killed a rabbit. Knowing that when Janik solo-kills something there is no proper mention in the logs where the XP comes from, just that it’s shared.

  “Oh! It seems that Elara is having fun,” Sam explained after discovering it. Finding it strangely amusing and satisfying that she was doing things on her own.

  “Ah, that explains it,” Janik replied with a strange relieved sigh in his voice.

  Sam understood his hesitation, though it only sounds positive getting seemingly free XP, not knowing the source can be oddly worrying as you might be in or around something, or about to be in a heap of trouble.

  “Let’s go and see what she’s doing,” Sam smiled behind his mask as he started surfacing.

  The group followed as Sam swam upwards. Breaking the surface they found that they had drifted, or rather swam, further out than expected. Not a problem since breathing wasn’t an issue, but it did take a few minutes to get back to the beach.

  Though they were back in the air and out of the water, they were thoroughly drenched. The temperature of the water and on the beach was fine, so it wasn’t uncomfortable that way, but it was very much so being just 100% soaked.

  Sam wanted to check the market for some drying powers, just anything... It would also help Dia when they bathe or shower normally as... it takes a while to get her dry. But being literally in another world made that a bit odd. Checking cached data wasn’t exactly fun either as he might try to buy something no longer available, or new things might be there so... it’s just better to check when they return.

  Getting closer to the tree line, Sam called out for Elara, her voice wasn’t super powerful so it took a moment to find her. She was coiled up near a dead brown-furred rabbit. It had two puncture marks on its thigh but looked surprisingly fine besides that, not counting its horrified and bloodshot eyes...

  Elara had a massive smile, looking satisfied with the tip of her tail wagging she explained as soon as they came into conversation distance.

  “I hunted, it was exciting!” A simple statement but something she had on several occasions stated that she wanted to do.

  Sam was happy for her and reached down his hand to let her slither on board once she raised herself suggesting she wanted that. However, now Sam had yet another critter to take care of.

  “Is... that safe to eat?” Sam asked, pointing at the rabbit that died from injected venom.

  “Yes,” Elara nodded as she perched herself on Sam’s shoulders. “I have tested with the lower-power Venom and, I can control it to a surprising level.”

  “Oh? What do you mean? Like turn it off or something?”

  “Yes, if I want to I can open a window and see any venom used, even the ones on your toothpicks. I can disable them if I want to, I can also see what is affected by the Venom right now. As the rabbit died, it disappeared from the list so it’s fine now.” She sounded proud of having found out this information.

  Sam felt a bit sorry for the poor rabbit that according to the Appraisal had 15 health and probably suffered a bit with Elara’s 1-dmg-per-tick Venom for her to learn this. However, it was very, very good info. When she started selling it, she could have at least a tiny bit of control over things.

  Inspecting her at the same time he saw that she also had a +1 point to be added as part of the Ascendant bonus, she wanted it into Vitality. He could also see that she had used two Venom doses and that it seemed her Venom-per-day count was a total pool, not per rank. So if she had 10 uses, using 1x Venom 1 and 1x Venom 2 used two charges in total. She didn’t have 10 for Rank 1, 10 for Rank 2, and so on.

  “That’s very good to know,” Sam replied after thinking about the details. “I suppose you can deactivate right away if you ever see our names on the target list, then.” Smiling a little at his joke, as he hardly thought he had to explain that to her, he also didn’t intend to be on the target side of it but, you never knew.

  Since the rabbit was safe, he stored it in his Item Box, it could become a meal or something later when they chose to camp out somewhere. If today was going to be a grind, then it would probably be needed. The Player Stamina helped tons for day-long grinds but as these Dungeons would be at least mostly underwater, the extra energy spent would make it much more of a hassle.

  “Well,” Sam started as he looked towards Janik. “Where’s the first Dungeon? Might as well take advantage of the fact that we’re already drenched before we dry up.”

  Janik nodded as he took out his phone and checked a few things.

  Having to move to another side of the jungle, they passively dried up a surprising amount. Dia wanted to clean her fur multiple times but Sam mentioned an equal amount of times that it would be somewhat wasted effort as they were going back in the water as soon as they got there. Dia seemed to struggle internally with this and reminded Sam that her fur is important.

  Sam didn’t have a counter to that, but they chose not to stop until they had trekked across half the main island and were standing in front of a pool of water connecting to a small stream. The vague portal into the Dungeon was horizontal and seemingly connected to the calm water.

  “So, we go in, and just do it like a normal party the first round? Should I just remain invisible or...?” Sam wanted to double-check things in case combat happened right away.

  This hadn't been a thing so far, but you never knew.

  “Hmm,” Janik started as he scrolled through the Guide app. “Based on what I see here, this should be a relatively normal and simple Dungeon... considering its underwater nature. Since you’re going to be grinding it, I think it’s probably easier if you just do as you want and we’ll stay a little in the back, in case there is something for us to do.”

  “So, potential backup, probably not a bad idea;” Sam confirmed.

  “Dia fight?” Dia asked afterwards, wanting to make sure she understood it. Her English was pretty good for the short time she had worked on it, but she wasn’t perfect.

  “Stay with Janik, but if I get hit or are in danger, then you fight,” Sam confirmed in simpler terms.

  She nodded with an excited expression.

  Fumbling and finding Elara’s head, he motioned for her to come into view. “I suppose you can linger around here, then.” He didn’t have any breathing apparatus for her, and though she could probably swim and hold her breath very well, snakes often could, he didn’t know just how long they were going to be underwater at a time.

  Elara simply nodded and slithered into a nearby tree as the group put on their masks, topping them off with a shared Aether crystal that Janik had with him.

  “Well, let’s go!” Janik excitedly exclaimed as they headed for the portal.