The descent into the Saltwind Tidal Trenches was not a mere dive; it was a slow-motion surrender to the crushing weight of the world. As Jeather and Cora plummeted into the churning surf, the bioluminescent glow of the Saltwind Tidal Academy above vanished, replaced by a suffocating, pressurized silence that felt like iron bands tightening around their ribs.
[System Notification: Entering High-Pressure Zone – The Deep Current.]
[Field Effect: Oxygen Depletion active. Mana-Breath Protocol: Initiated.]
Jeather felt the familiar, grounding tug of the [Tidal Tidepool] within his soul. Deep within the Beast Habitat Realm, the Coralhide Snapjaw was pulsing with a rhythmic, azure light, acting as a natural anchor for Jeather's consciousness. He didn't need a mechanical rebreather; he channeled a fraction of the Snapjaw's essence, allowing his lungs to process oxygen filtered directly from the salt-heavy water.
Beside him, Cora moved with a fluid, almost supernatural grace. Her Chrono-Butterfly had retreated into a pulsing locket around her neck, but a faint, golden shimmer surrounded her body—a chronal field slowing the water molecules around her to reduce friction. She gestured downward, toward a jagged rift in the sea floor that glowed with a sickly, violet light.
"Stay close," her voice echoed in his mind through a telepathic link. "The Trenches aren't just deep. They're folded. If you lose sight of me, you might end up in a current that hasn't existed for a thousand years."
Jeather looked back. Far above, search beams pierced the surface. The Adjusters weren't giving up. But Jeather wasn't looking at the searchlights. He was looking at the notifications popping up in the corner of his vision. His collection instincts—the same ones that had driven him to meticulously craft stories and collect every rare asset in his past life—were screaming.
The Midnight Gallery was a graveyard of history, littered with the ruins of a civilization that had existed before the Great System. But for Jeather, it was a gold mine. As they drifted past a shattered obsidian pillar, a small puddle of shifting, silver liquid caught his eye.
[System Notification: Mercury Mimic (Juvenile) Detected.]
It was a puddle of liquid-metal polymorph, mimicking the texture of the nearby stone. Jeather reached out, his hand glowing with a soft mana. Most tamers would have seen a useless blob; Jeather saw a living tool. He opened a small rift, and the Mercury Mimic flowed inside, drawn to the metallic resonance of the [Iron Foundry].
Further down, near a cathedral of bones, floated the Singularity Jelly. It didn't emit light; it drank it. A small sphere of absolute darkness sat at its center, pulling in the bubbles and debris around it.
[System Notification: Singularity Jelly (Juvenile) Sealed.]
"Jeather, stop playing around!" Cora's mental voice was sharp. "We're entering the Aethelgard transit zone. If the sentries catch us looting—"
"Looting is a strong word," Jeather thought back, his eyes narrowing as he spotted a crystalline shell vibrating in the distance. "I prefer the term 'asset relocation.'"
He plucked the Echo-Shell Hermit from its perch. It was a sonar-vibration crustacean that recorded the heartbeat of the abyss. Into the realm it went.
They turned a corner and stopped. Ahead lay a massive, circular gate of brass and iron. Docked beside it was a Submersible Leviathan—a whale-beast reinforced with mechanical plates. Workers in pressurized suits were loading crates marked with the Gear and Helix.
Jeather used the Ice Abyss Weaver's sight to peer inside. His heart skipped. Beast Eggs. Hundreds of them, glowing with the unstable violet light of the Rifthound.
"Master," Astrael's voice was like grinding stone. "The Rifthound is reacting. One of those eggs is its 'Kin'—a direct biological match."
Jeather felt a surge of cold fury. He wasn't just going to take the Kin. He was going to take everything.
"Saxum! Metal Form! Synchronize!"
A ripple of golden-brown mana exploded. Saxum materialized, looking like a miniature, bipedal tank. He didn't hesitate. He kicked off the tunnel wall and slammed into the dock's support pillars. The mechanical dock groaned, alarms blaring.
"Intruder! Section 4!"
Three armored knights on Aquatic Mantas surged out. Their spears were tipped with lightning crystals.
"Velkaria, take the Mantas. Weaver, keep the workers occupied. I'm going for the vault."
The battle was a symphony of bioluminescence and violence. Velkaria moved like a ghost, freezing the Mantas' wings mid-stroke. Jeather propelled himself toward the crates. A Gold-tier Adjuster with a mechanical eye stepped into his path, her electrified whip snapping through the water.
Jeather didn't dodge. Borrowing the Basilisk's nature, his skin turned to matte-gray stone.
The electricity grounded itself harmlessly. He punched her square in the chest-plate, shattering the reinforced glass of her suit.
"Jeather, the facility is collapsing!" Cora screamed.
"I'm not leaving empty-handed," Jeather replied.
He didn't just grab the Kin Egg. He slammed his hand against the incubation rack, manifesting a "Void Gateway" around the entire storage unit.
[System Notification: Massive Resource Intake Detected!]
[Resource Collected: 1x Kin Egg, 3x Siren-Type Hybrids, 4x Steel-Skin Chimeras, 5x Unstable Void-Walkers.]
The entire rack was swallowed whole into the [Cold Storage Annex]. He hadn't just saved a brother for the Rifthound; he had stolen years of the Aethelgard Initiative's research.
Cora grabbed Jeather's hand, her butterfly glowing with an intensity that turned the water gold.
"Chrono-Slide!"
The world blurred. The Leviathan, the screaming Adjusters, and the crumbling ruins all stretched into long, vertical lines of light.
They shot into the heart of the Saltwind Current, a massive underwater river moving at hundreds of miles per hour.
Hours later, the current slowed. They surfaced in a secluded lagoon in the Southern Archipelago, the tropical moon hanging low and fat in the sky. Jeather collapsed onto the white sand, pulling the violet Kin Egg from his satchel.
[Beast Habitat Realm: Status Update]
Stability: 79% (Decreased due to high-volume intake)
Contracted Beasts: 12
Incubating/Storage: 13 Eggs
"Jett," Saxum's voice was tired but happy.
"We save the egg-brother? He smash things too?"
"Someday, Saxum," Jeather smiled, closing his eyes.
Cora sat beside him, wringing out her hair. She looked at him with a mix of awe and genuine terror. "You realize what you just did?
You didn't just escape. You stole the High Circle's personal vault. They'll send the Founders now."
Jeather looked at the Status Window in his mind.
Rank: 42
Hostility: Global.
"Let them come," Jeather said, his voice a low, steady promise. "I've still got nine spaces left in the Top 10. And I'm not stopping until I'm at the top."
The Otter popped out of the lagoon, holding a rare tropical pearl. It dropped it on Jeather's chest and let out a triumphant chirp.
As the adrenaline began to fade, Jeather stared up at the unfamiliar stars. The Southern Archipelago was a thousand miles from the Saltwind Academy, yet he knew the world had just become much smaller. The Aethelgard Initiative was no longer just a shadow in his archives; it was a hungry predator he had just poked in the eye.
Inside the realm, the atmosphere was thick with tension. The Mutated Rifthound was pacing the edge of the [Void Fracture], its eyes never leaving the Kin Egg. The egg pulsed with a matching violet hue, the two spatial signatures vibrating in a low-frequency harmony.
"Master," Astrael approached, his demonic form silhouetted against the dark fires of his throne. "The eggs you brought back... they are not all biological. Some are synthesized with mana-cores I have never sensed before. We must be cautious as they hatch."
Jeather nodded mentally. "I know. But we're not just survivors anymore, Astrael. We're a faction. And a faction needs assets."
Cora looked over at him, her eyes reflecting the moonlight. "You really believe that, don't you? That you can take them all on?"
Jeather sat up, the sand sticking to his wet skin. He thought about the Basilisk and the Chimera, the Platinum titans hidden in his depths. He thought about the Otter and its chaotic luck. Most of all, he thought about the name he had abandoned—Viremont—and the one he had chosen.
"I don't believe I can," Jeather said, standing up and looking toward the horizon where the sun would soon rise. "I know I have to.
Because if I don't reach the top, the people who made these eggs will make sure nobody else ever has the choice to be anything but a tool."
He reached out and stroked the smooth surface of the Kin Egg one last time before tucking it away.
The system chimed one final time before fading into the background of his mind.
[Quest Log Updated: The Rise of the Independent Faction.]
[Current Objective: Locate a safe haven for incubation.]
The tide was coming in, and for the first time, Jeather Vale wasn't afraid of drowning.