The sight of that enormous eyeball rolling around was enough to make my body shrink back on its own.
Wary in case it might see me, I took a picture.
Click.
The shutter sound rang inside my head.
Fortunately, the creature was focused on gnawing away at the city with its long, sharp nails and paid me no mind.
Including the photo, I wrote up a post and uploaded it to the Gallery.
Hoping there might be someone who knew.
-Aurora: Anyone know what this creature is?
(A photo of a red person with a single eyeball on its face)
If anyone knows, tell me how strong it is. I want to go to the city, but these guys have occupied it;;
└Kyaaak!! This is a living thing??
└That’s a gross-out pic!! Mods!!!!
└Is that really in the deep sea?
└Seems like it? I’ve never seen anything like that on land, at least.
└If there were, that’d be an even bigger problem lol
As soon as I posted, a swarm of comments came rushing in.
But like any Gallery, most of them were completely useless.
Still, even in a Gallery like this, intellectuals were bound to exist.
Before long, a comment from the Truth Scholar appeared.
└Truth Scholar: I think I’d know if you went just a little closer…
└Aurora: Sir?
└Truth Scholar: Ah… I suppose you shouldn’t…?
└Attempted assassination, damn
└Shouldn’t this be bannable? hahahaha
…Was he not an intellectual?
No, judging by the comments he usually left, he definitely seemed like a mage.
That thought crossed my mind, but I decided not to pay it any attention for now.
I had more or less looked around, so I walked back to the submersible.
Clunk.
When I closed the hatch, the unpleasant sounds of the bizarre creatures disappeared.
A faint engine noise hummed.
Sitting in the quiet submersible, I began combining the elements I could use right now.
For the moment, there was no problem because I had emergency rations, but in the end, I had no choice but to advance into the city.
And I needed to either become capable of avoiding the bizarre creatures in that city, or capable of defeating them.
If possible, I had to become strong enough to defeat them.
“Can I do that before the food runs out…?”
Such doubt bloomed deep in my heart, but.
“No. I have to.”
If I couldn’t even do this, then all that was left for me was death anyway.
The deep sea was not a gentle place that made concessions for the weak.
I resolved myself like that.
But honestly, since I had no information on the bizarre creatures that were my goal, I had no sense of how strong I needed to become.
Even if I asked the Gallery, it didn’t seem like I’d get a proper answer.
‘They did mention something about an age where Truth Scholars had disappeared….’
Then what should I make use of?
Something that could uncover the ancient era, and that was easy for me to access.
“…The fabrication machine.”
An object that seemed to belong to the ancient city.
Accessibility, right beside me.
I immediately tapped the screen of the fabrication machine attached to the wall.
Black text was listed alongside photos.
In that sea of information, I found one item.
An item that would be useful both now and later.
-Scanner
-Required Materials: Titanium 500g, Grade-2 Magic Stone 100g, Mana-Gathering Stone 5.7g
-Description: When the button on the grip is pressed, mana extends outward and scans objects or living creatures, displaying information.
An item that was absolutely necessary for me, who lacked far too much information.
I wanted to make it right this instant, but…
“Magic stone? Mana-gathering stone?”
I’d heard of titanium vaguely in science class, but magic stones and mana-gathering stones obviously didn’t exist in reality.
For knowledge like this, as expected…
-Aurora: What are magic stones and mana-gathering stones? Are they edible?
Title says it all.
└Truth Scholar: If you eat a magic stone, side effects such as indigestion and mana contamination occur. Mana-gathering stones also cause indigestion in a similar way, but mana reflux is more common.
└Isn’t that not the point?
└But how do you even know that…
└Gasp
└Draw-Sword Sword Saint: A magic stone is an object formed by gathered mana, and a mana-gathering stone is a stone with the property of collecting mana.
The Truth Scholar said something strange, but since the Draw-Sword Sword Saint explained it, it was fine.
After hearing the explanation, it seemed like it would be better to see magic stones and mana-gathering stones myself.
The problem was where to obtain magic stones.
So I immediately replied to the Draw-Sword Sword Saint.
└Aurora: Where do you usually get magic stones?
└Draw-Sword Sword Saint: Magic stones are often obtained through mining. They are usually distributed more densely in places with thick mana.
└Truth Scholar: Ah, my chance to answer…
“Places with thick mana…”
According to the Draw-Sword Sword Saint, places with thick mana had more magic stones.
And this was the deep sea, a place where mana was ten times thicker than on the surface.
“I should check it out.”
The city with the bizarre creatures was a certain distance away, so if I only wandered around near the submersible, it probably wouldn’t be that dangerous.
Thinking that, I opened the hatch again and was about to go out to check for magic stones.
└Truth Scholar: If you’re going out, please broadcast it!!
The Truth Scholar’s comment floated before my eyes.
…Though I wondered whether Galleries usually had a broadcast function.
“Well, if it’s good, it’s good.”
It seemed like it would increase the moderators’ workload, but since I wasn’t a mod, it didn’t really matter.
If I was going to be in the deep sea, I’d probably get bored, so it would be better if the Gallery had various kinds of content too.
While checking the Gallery’s functions, I saw the word “Broadcast” and immediately pressed it.
[Please set a broadcast title.]
“Broadcast title?”
After thinking for a moment, I remembered old game streams and immediately came up with a title.
-Aurora: Deep-Sea Escape Log Day 1 (Broadcast)
When I started the broadcast, comments soon began rising at a fierce speed in one corner of my vision.
└? Is this not bait?
└Is this really the deep sea?
└Truth Scholar: What does the deep sea look like?
└Draw-Sword Sword Saint: Even in the deep sea, the sword always prevails, and among swords, the strongest sword art is the art of quick-draw…
└Wow, this isn’t bait?
└Kkukku: Wow, is dis weal?
└Bone-Carving Old Man: What,, in the world,, is this,,
└All the fixed-nicks are crawling out
Hmm, more people gathered than I expected.
Since I was a boring person, I thought at most around a hundred people would enter the broadcast.
Questions, doubts, laughter, spam, bewilderment—the chat was a cauldron of chaos mixed with all sorts of emotions.
Seeing that, I shook my head once and spoke.
“I’m going to look for magic stones and mana-gathering stones now, so if you see any, tell me.”
└lol Like magic stones are just lying around anywhere?
└Mana-gathering stones are considered precious even in the Magic Tower, what are you on about
└OK
└Truth Scholar: I’ll find them well for you, so could you listen to me just once?
└Draw-Sword Sword Saint: I shall find them well for you, so how about becoming my disciple?
└Sword Saint uncle is really doing this here
└I can’t believe that guy is really a Sword Saint…
└Is the Empire’s level for real?
└You’re a knife-ear, aren’t you
What I felt while watching the comments was that there were far too many of them.
In a modern broadcast, a manager would have filtered them all out, but I didn’t have a manager.
So I immediately turned on one function.
[From now on, only fixed-nickname users may chat.]
└Truth Scholar: …Is it all right to do that?
└Draw-Sword Sword Saint: I feel this may be excessive censorship…
└Bone-Carving Old Man: Finally,, I can,, see a bit,,
└Kkukku: Wow, dat’s so bold
“It was too much, so I cut some of it out.”
Blinking my now much more comfortable eyes, I pushed the hatch open.
With the creak of the old hinges in my ears, I stepped outside.
Feeling the dry sand beneath my feet, I asked,
“Are there any magic stones here?”
└Truth Scholar: …There’s one under your foot.
When I lowered my head, there really was a pebble there.
A stone with a faint green glow.
“If this is a magic stone, then where’s a mana-gathering stone?”
└Draw-Sword Sword Saint: The mana-gathering stone is right beside it.
Bending at the waist again and looking at the sandy ground, I saw a gray, cube-shaped stone.
When I carefully picked it up, I felt the mana flowing through my body faintly move toward the stone.
“…Now I just need titanium.”
└Bone-Carving Old Man: That,, big stone,, on the right,, looks like,, titanium,, doesn’t it,,
Just as he said, there was a small stone to my right.
I would have to check whether it was titanium or not, but my intuition was telling me that it really was titanium.
Clutching the titanium in my hand, I immediately returned to the submersible.
Seeing the resources in my hand, one thought crossed my mind.
Surviving might be more doable than I thought.
A faint ember of hope spread through my heart.
Holding on to that small and feeble flame, I approached the fabrication machine.
The fixed-nick users showed various reactions upon seeing the fabrication machine, but I focused on making the scanner.
When I pressed “Scanner” on the fabrication machine’s screen, a question asking whether to fabricate it appeared.
Naturally, I pressed yes.
Clack.
Then a hole opened in the wall.
A message telling me to insert the materials appeared on the fabrication machine.
I put in all the titanium, magic stone, and mana-gathering stone I had just picked up.
Then it closed automatically, and mechanical sounds rang out.
At times it clacked, at times it hummed, and after dull noises echoed for a short while.
Thunk.
The wall opened, and like a vending machine, the scanner dropped out.
The scanner was mostly white in appearance and looked rather like a pistol.
Its actual method of use was similar to a pistol as well.
As a test, I scanned the green cube in the center of the submersible.
Blue light passed over the cube.
-Multi-Bond Mana Collector
-Produced in the city of █████. Efficiently draws in surrounding mana and maintains the supply of mana.
While reading the text on the scanner, I paused at the part censored in black.
Just as I wondered why not all the information was appearing, I saw the Truth Scholar’s chat.
└Truth Scholar: It seems even ancient technology can’t pierce information concealment. Just how well concealed is that information?
Information concealment. That was probably the reason it was called a vanished era.
Well, I was still grateful to be able to obtain information at all.
I immediately went outside to scan the bizarre creature I most wanted information on.
I thought it would be all right as long as I knew something about it.
Standing on the sandy ground, I caught my breath for a moment and stared straight at the city.
When I pressed the button toward one of the bizarre creatures roaming the city, information appeared.
-Cyclops
-Also called the Cleaner of the Deep Sea. Its combat power is on the lower side among deep-sea creatures. The maximum thickness of titanium plate it can cleave is approximately 42m. As a cautionary note, it is sensitive to mana directed at it.
Reading down the text, I froze at the final sentence.
When I pulled my eyes away from the scanner and looked at the city.
Chirik.
The Cyclops’s single eye was staring straight at me.
Its hand, tipped with sharp nails, moved.
An instinctive motion.
I hurriedly lowered my head.
Slaaaash!!
After I glanced back with only my eyes.
Claw-shaped scars remained, having swept away everything, whether magic stone or titanium.
Had I said surviving seemed doable?
…I should take that back. This seems impossible to survive.