Pov: Vik
The massive jaws of the abyssal leviathan stretched wider than a mountain pass, revealing rows of translucent, blade-like teeth that glowed with a sickening, bio-luminescent blue aura. The sheer suction created by its opening mouth pulled millions of gallons of water toward it, dragging surrounding thermal currents, deep-sea reefs, and the Great White straight into its gaping maw.
Inside the submarine, the floor plates trembled violently under the crushing ambient pressure. Amber warning lights strobed rhythmically across the primary bridge, casting long, dramatic shadows against the sleek metallic walls.
System: "Host! Host! It's creating a vacuum sphere! Its throat is acting like an localized ocean drain! In five seconds, the Great White will e swallowed whole! We'll be digested by S-rank abyssal acid!"
"Calm down, System. You're making Pushpa's ears twitch," I said casually, taking another slow sip from my mug.
Pushpa didn't even bother opening her eyes. She merely let out a faint, dismissive mew, adjusting her fluffy black tail around my neck as if an impending forty-kilometer leviathan was nothing more than a minor draft.
"Great White, disable automated safety protocols," I commanded, setting my coffee mug securely into a magnetic holder on the central console. "Transfer main power from the Nuclear Spiritual Energy Reactor directly to the spatial stability dampeners. Hold our position."
The sub's engines let out a deep, resonant hum. Translucent golden ripples flared across the ship's kinetic shield, locking the Great White rigidly in space. The raging torrent of water roared past our viewport like a subterranean hurricane, but the submarine remained completely stationary, refusing to budge an inch toward the behemoth's open mouth.
The behemoth's massive, golden eye—spanning kilometers across—dilated in visible confusion. It had expected to swallow us like a tiny krill, not hit a localized spatial anchor.
System: "Host! The beast is getting annoyed! Scans indicate massive elemental gathering in its core! It's charging an S-rank Abyssal Breath attack!"
Out in the dark abyss, dense blue energy began condensing within the monster's throat. The temperature around the submarine plummeted instantly, turning the surrounding seawater into slush and dark ice fragments.
"An S-rank beast with an ice and dark elemental core..." I murmured, my yellow eyes glowing with a faint, translucent golden-green light as I analyzed the massive creature. "Its Qi circulation isn't running through traditional meridians like a human cultivator. It's using its entire giant skeletal structure as a natural array to channel oceanic life force."
'Fascinating,' I thought, a genuine smile touching my lips. 'Its body structure is almost identical to how those special Physique that stores energy directly into the marrow.'
System: "Host! This isn't the time for a biology lesson! It's firing!"
BOOM!
A colossal beam of frozen blue energy tore through the abyssal trench, vaporizing the water in its path and instantly creating a mile-wide tunnel of pure vacuum. The beam surged straight toward the Great White, carrying enough destructive power to obliterate a small continent.
I kept looking at the Behemoth, trying to uncover the mysteries under its skin. To be more specific, I need to understand the flow of Prana energy inside it. I know Prana energy is present in every living creature; even if the quantity is the same, you could directly link this Prana energy to having a soul, but it is completely different from a soul.
While a soul can be grown stronger or weaker through the available techniques, there is no available knowledge about Prana energy in this world or even in the system's database. It is more like an energy that is directly proportional to life than anything else.
But through my deep research until now, I am able to identify some differences in Prana energy. As I said, Prana is present in every living being; even the quantity is the same, irrespective of species, strength, or cultivation. The only thing that is different is flow; the higher the strength some creature had, the faster or easier the flow of Prana energy would be inside the body of that creature.
So now, seeing the flow of Prana energy inside that behemoth's body, I can clearly see the difference. If I had to give an example, then it is like a normal person having blood pressure of 120 mm Hg, but this behemoth having blood pressure of 120 million mm Hg. The only difference is that here the blood is Prana energy flowing inside the body.
So finally getting a clear understanding of Prana energy flow, I looked at the coming attack of that Behemoth.
I didn't dodge. I didn't even activate the sub's heavy offensive cannons.
Instead, I simply stepped forward, pressing my open palm flat against the thick, reinforced glass of the primary viewport. It is time to check my understanding of Prana energy, so I made a simple technique, something that is still lower than a full cultivation technique but still an attacking move.
"Prana Authority: Life Thread Disruption."
A single, paper-thin thread of golden-green light erupted from my palm, shooting straight through the glass, through the submarine's kinetic shield, and into the roaring beam of frozen energy.
Prana wasn't Qi. It wasn't magic. It was the fundamental blueprint of life force itself. The moment my Prana thread touched the behemoth's Abyssal Breath, it didn't clash with the energy—it traced the energy directly back to its source, invading the giant beast's central life core in less than a millisecond.
The massive beam of frozen destruction suddenly froze in mid-air.
Not because it was blocked, but because the behemoth's internal energy circulation had been forcibly paused. The blue beam dissolved harmlessly into harmless bubbles and cold water.
Out in the abyss, the fifty-kilometer behemoth shuddered violently. Its massive golden eye widened in absolute, primal terror. Through the link established by my Prana thread, the creature could feel what I was doing. I wasn't attacking its body; I was lightly tapping on the primary blueprint of its life force. To an S-rank beast that had ruled the deep trenches for tens of thousands of years, my tiny thread of Prana felt like the omnipotent hand of a creator threatening to unweave its very existence.
'Let's see how your life force flows,' I thought, closing my eyes as I mapped out the leviathan's giant skeletal array in my mind. 'Ah, I see. The thermal pressure of the trench compresses its core, forcing the dark energy to refine itself naturally over centuries. That's why its body refining stage is so dense.'
A pleasant, warm sensation bloomed in my chest as my Prana bottleneck loosened just a bit more.
"Thank you for the demonstration," I said softly, opening my eyes.
I gave my palm a light, gentle flick against the glass.
A gentle shockwave of golden Prana energy surged along the thread, gently washing through the behemoth's massive core. I didn't kill it—I merely injected a soothing dose of pure vitality into its overworked energy pathways, soothing the ancient pain in its leviathan bones.
The colossal creature let out a low, reverberating rumble—not a roar of anger, but a sound that closely resembled a massive, fifty-kilometer cat letting out a satisfied purr. The terrifying pressure in the trench vanished instantly. The behemoth slowly bowed its mountain-sized head, drifting back down into the deep abyssal trench with absolute reverence, leaving behind a clear path through the dark ocean.
System: "...Host."
Vik: "What?"
System: "You... you just tamed an S-rank Calamity Level Abyssal Behemoth in three seconds with a single thread of Prana energy."
Vik: "I didn't tame it. I gave it some chiropractic relief. You have no idea how much back pain a fifty-kilometer creature accumulates from living under oceanic pressure for ten thousand years."
System: "Host... you are truly a monster."
"I am a Saintly Scholar Snake," I corrected dryly, turning away from the viewport and walking back to the captain's chair. "Now recalibrate our transit parameters. How much time until we reach the Western Continent?"
System: "Recalculating... With the trench path cleared of territorial beasts, total remaining transit time is reduced to eight days, Host!"
"Eight days," I murmured, sinking back into the plush leather chair as Pushpa curled back up into my lap. "Eight days for Noah to consolidate his new core, and eight days for me to finish my deep-sea research."
Through the wide glass viewport ahead, the Great White accelerated back to Mach 12, surging smoothly through the dark, peaceful ocean void toward our final destination