Legendary Traveler: By Earning Progress Points I will Become Supreme!-Chapter 205: Operation Set Up Cavern (3)

Feeling a little dizzy and a burning pressure in his lungs, Aoni knew it was time to try out his next idea. Stopping his downward progression, plugging his nose, and rolling in the water upside down, the Lad reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny box, one just big enough to cover his mouth.

And that was precisely its purpose. Turning the small object upside down so the water couldn't immediately rush in, Aoni slid the slotted lid off and shoved his lips into the box before inhaling a deep breath of air.

That's right, despite his stupidity, Aoni had actually crafted a means of scuba diving without scuba gear. In a technical sense, all he'd done was craft a small wooden box, make it watertight, and then expand its internal space multiple times, resulting in approximately five or six square feet of usable space.

Then he left it open so that it could fill up with air…that's it, just a tiny empty box filled with air.

So basically, he'd taken the diving bell model and made it pocket-sized. Was it efficient? Hell no, it cost like 500 progress points, but that didn't matter much to Aoni because with all the kills he was getting in every day, the price was negligible.

Regardless of the cost or processing time, the box served its purpose perfectly. After several deep breaths, he resealed the box, tucked it back into his dive belt, and was back on the move.

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This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

'Damn it, just how deep is this lake.' After swimming down what felt like an eternity, Aoni had long since left the ice bed behind as he ventured down to what he considered the deepest part of the lake, and with there being far fewer Energia Stones, visibility was steadily becoming an issue.

'I thought for sure that once the water turned salty, I would be getting close, but no, it's like this lake goes on forever…However, I suppose my theory has been proven: it's the abundant Energia crystals that filter the water, because the fewer I find, the saltier the water becomes. Kicking his legs a little harder, Aoni's mind began to wander as he acknowledged the drastic difference in the ecosystem the deeper he descended into the lake. And sometime later, after his fifth breathing cycle, he finally caught sight of the bottom.

Kicking his legs harder, he cleared the distance relatively quickly and soon found himself floating mere inches off the rocky lakebed, looking around.

'Okay, where is the entrance to the aquifer? It has to be around here somewhere…' slowly panning his eyes left to right and continuing to ignore the itchy feeling in his eyes thanks to having them open in the saltwater; Aoni observed his surroundings and, after a few seconds of this, became vaguely aware of movement off in the distance.

It wasn't much, just a hint of silver here and a flash of something there, all things that could have been easily dismissed as hypothermia hallucinations. So, without wanting to waste any time, he began swimming aimlessly around, using both his arms and legs to propel himself quickly with a breaststroke.

'Huh? Hold up, did I just pee or something?' Aoni suddenly came to a halt mid-stroke, paused, and resumed floating while looking around in confusion.

It had only been for a faint second, but he could have sworn the water temperature changed. It wasn't by much, maybe a degree or two warmer, but it was more than enough to catch his attention.

With that thought in mind, the Lad slowly waved his hands around, trying to see if he could feel the warmth a second time, and sure enough, about four feet to his right, he noticed it again.

That wasn't all either; there was a slight counterforce, minute at best, but it existed along with the warmth.

Using that as a guide, Aoni took off in the same direction and within a minute or two, the water temperature had steadily increased.

'This has to be it; there's an underwater current of warm water; if I keep following this current, I can reach the source…' keeping that thought as a driving factor, Aoni pushed on, fighting against the strengthening current until he suddenly couldn't any longer.

Not because the current was too strong, no, given his stats, forcing his way upstream wasn't difficult at all; instead, it was because he'd run out of rope.

{'Brother, is everything okay? We felt the rope tighten?'} Not even half a second later, Nyria's voice entered Aoni's head, causing the Lad to frown.

{'I am alright, but there seems to be a slight issue. I've gone too far, but it's not all bad news. I've located the direction those bugs come from, or at least I think so…'} Floating calmly in the current and allowing it to push him back in the direction he came from, Aoni stared off into the dimly lit space ahead of himself while contemplating his next action.

'What can I do? I don't want to return to the surface and extend the rope by another 1000 feet; that would waste too much time, and it was already such a hassle to come this far,' cupping his chin with his left hand, Aoni's mind raced to come up with a solution, and through all that thought, he could only obtain two ideas.

The first, of course, was to return to the surface, extend his range, and dive back into the water, while the second was a bit more complicated.

Releasing his chin, Aoni extended his left hand out and allowed it to float freely in the water in front of his body.

'Finding this place was hard enough, and took nearly a full box of air, and now here I am about to waste another important resource,' Focusing on his fingertips, Aoni willed the Energia in his body into action and imagined the water just in front of him rapidly chilling.

'Salt water freezes at a different temperature, but that isn't the only factor I'm fighting against; the current and warmth are counterproductive to what I am trying to do, so I will need to make something even colder than usual.'