For a moment, everything was dark in front of Theo’s eyes.
SPLASH!
An unimaginable pressure slammed into his body from all sides, along with a bone-chilling cold.
Theo’s eyes snapped open instantly.
Thanks to his ability to see in the dark, a colorful world instantly filled his vision.
For a split second, his mind went completely blank.
’The ocean,’ he thought, amazed.
Then his instincts took over, forcing him to remain calm.
Theo immediately clamped his mouth and nose shut before looking around frantically.
Massive stone rocks rose from the seabed, covered in colorful coral and seaweed.
Schools of F-rank fish swam between the rocks while countless other creatures crawled across the ocean floor.
It would’ve been breathtaking under normal circumstances.
But that’s when Theo’s eyes began to widen slowly.
’Wait,’ he thought. ’If there are creatures here... and the system isn’t protecting me...’
Theo’s heartbeat gradually sped up.
There was no way the creatures would actually attack him, right?
Surely the system wouldn’t be that cruel!
His gaze slowly swept across the surrounding waters once more.
None of the weaker creatures seemed interested in coming near him or even paying him any attention.
Seeing that, Theo decided remaining perfectly still was fine.
It was the only way he could guarantee he wouldn’t run out of air before the timer ran out, after all.
But after a minute and a half had passed, that thought started to change.
’I’m running out of air,’ he thought, clenching his fists subconsciously.
Just as he thought about that, something began happening around him.
The nearby schools of weak fish suddenly darted away, scattering in different directions.
A second later, several crab-like creatures abandoned the seabed as well, frantically squeezing themselves into narrow cracks in the rocks.
Just like that, the once lively seabed rapidly emptied out.
Theo’s heartbeat instantly picked up.
’What’s going on...?’ he thought, almost in denial. ’It can’t be, right?’
The water around him had grown eerily quiet.
Theo slowly began turning, trying to see everything around him.
That’s when a massive shadow suddenly entered his view.
Theo’s pupils shrank in an instant as he spotted a gigantic shark easily as large as a three-story building.
’Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!’ he thought, watching it speed towards him. ’That’s a B-rank for sure!’
Unable to use his mana, he desperately began swimming away.
But it was all useless.
After only a second, the shadow of the beast’s massive jaws appeared above him.
Theo instinctively threw both arms up in front of his face.
’Pull me back!!!’ his mind screamed.
The jaws rapidly began snapping shut around him, pressing down on his body with immense force.
Only then did Theo hear a familiar noise.
WHOOSH!
The crushing pressure and ice-cold sensation vanished in an instant.
Theo suddenly found himself falling the short distance onto his sleeping bag.
THUD!
He hit the floor with a grunt, immediately rolling onto his side.
"COUGH! COUGH!"
He sucked in lungful after lungful of air, his chest rising and falling violently.
Only after half a minute did his breathing gradually begin to steady.
’’I swear...’’ he mumbled, his body and clothes still completely drenched. ’’One day, I will get you back.’’
As if replying to his words, a blue window popped up above him.
[Daily Dive: 1:03:59:59]
[Remaining Daily Dives: 6]
’’You bastard,’’ Theo cursed, swiping the panels away.
He slowly pushed himself back up into a sitting position.
Water dripped from his clothes onto the wooden floor beneath him.
’That wasn’t a joke...’ he thought, his expression gradually turning serious.
The system had actually thrown him into a place with a B-rank creature nearby.
Who knew how much farther it could go in the future...
’I have to be a bit more careful in the future,’ he thought, shivering. ’But for now... let’s get rid of these soaked clothes.’
With a flick of his fingers, all evidence of his little trip disappeared into his spatial ring.
Theo quickly pulled a fresh set of clothes from his spatial ring before changing into them.
Only after making sure the room looked exactly as it had before did he finally let out a relieved sigh.
’That should do it.’
Knock! Knock!
As if on cue, someone began tapping impatiently against the door.
"Oi!" Owen’s voice echoed from the hallway. "You done yet?"
Theo glanced at the door before chuckling to himself.
"Yeah," he replied. "Come in."
The door immediately swung wide open.
Owen walked in first, followed closely by Jim.
The moment they stepped inside, Owen wrinkled his nose.
’’Why does it smell so salty in here?’’ he asked immediately. ’’You didn’t—’’
’’I did not,’’ Theo cut him off with a deadpan expression.
Owen stared at him for a moment longer, clearly suspicious.
Jim blinked once before frowning in disgust upon realizing what Owen was implying.
’’Dude,’’ he said, staring at Owen. ’’You have to put an end to the disgusting nonsense.’’
Almost offended, Owen placed a hand on his chest.
’’What?!’’ he shouted. ’’It could’ve been the case!’’
Theo simply sighed before sitting down on top of his sleeping bag.
His mind had long switched away from the other two, returning to his goal instead.
’Just two weeks,’ he thought, closing his eyes. ’No time to slack around.’
The noise around him slowly faded into the background.
He focused deep inside himself and began channeling mana thread after thread toward his core’s walls.
Across from him, Jim eventually stopped messing around with Owen as well.
Looking at Theo’s serious expression, he quietly sat down on his own sleeping bag.
"Might as well cultivate too," he muttered.
Owen clicked his tongue before shrugging.
"Guess I’ve got nothing better to do."
Before long, all three of them had fallen silent.
Each of them focused entirely on improving their core, shutting out everything else.
Unbeknownst to them, several people had long been made aware of their arrival.
’’We’ve got another new target for inside the ruins,’’ one man said, stashing his phone away. ’’Make sure your squad knows as well.’’
A much younger man bowed slightly.
’’I will do so now, Mr. Whitmore.’’
Elsewhere, one particular person sat on top of a rooftop with a huge, wicked smile on his face.
’’My little prey,’’ he said softly as he clutched a picture to his chest. ’’You didn’t die before our reunion after all!’’
Wild laughter burst from the man before he vanished into the shadows once more.