Pioneer of the Abyss: A Deepsea Livestreamed
Book 2: Chapter 2

Aqua

After dropping off my usual haul at the Hunter’s Guild warehouse, ignoring the distressed looks sent my way by the harvesters in the process, I head back to the inn I’m staying at. Then I head to sleep before waking up in the morning and doing my usual jobs.

But the last of the three jobs ends up being a rather interesting one.

It’s a quiz show about Bloodliners. With me being one of the judges since I myself am a Bloodliner.

“For our first question of the day, I think we should start out simple!” the host exclaims with a grin on their face. “How many Bloodlines have been discovered and added into the Bloodline Database?”

One of the four contestants – an idol I believe – answers with clear excitement in her voice, “Twenty-four!”

A dinging sound echoes through the quiz show studio, followed by the host excitedly shouting, “That’s correct! On to our second question!”

This time their co-host asks, “List every Bloodline currently known!”

Each of the contestants go quiet at that as they show surprise at the sudden increase in difficulty.

After that, they all try one after another, but in the end a different sounding buzzer echoes through the studio as they all get it wrong. Then the correct answer appears on a screen in front of everyone.

Abyssal Orca. Kraken. Phoenix. Glacial Fenrir. Hydra. Thunderbird. Ouroboros. Titan. Revenant Dragon. Ashwraith. Sphinx. Nryog-el Variol. Kirin. Lesh. Bloodbone Tree. Ripper. Camazotz. Soul Reaper. Devil. Voidwalker. Heavenly Spirit. Wendigo. Gorgarok. Scyllaria.

Yeah, I don’t really blame them for not remembering every last Ancient Monster. Considering how many of them there are.

Most of the Ancient Monsters are remembered by people only when someone brings them up just because of that.

“Too bad, no one got the answer!” the host says with a grin on his face. “So how about we dumb it down with an easier question next?” He spreads both of his arms to his side and exclaims, “How many Ancient Monsters use the ice element?”

This time someone hits the buzzer right away. With the person in question being an actor.

“Two of them do,” the tall yet skinny man says with a straight face. “The Glacial Fenrir and the Wendigo.”

Another dinging sound echoes through the studio as the host claps and exclaims, “Correct! Now how many of the Ancient Monsters use the blood element?!”

A couple seconds pass before an actress with short hair hits her buzzer and answers, “The Bloodbone Tree and the Camazotz.”

“Correctamundo!” the co-host exclaims as the dinging sound echoes through the studio again. “But which of those two are still alive and with their presence known to the entire Alliance to this day?!”

All four of the contestants try to buzz right away, only for the actress with short hair to do it first.

“The Bloodbone Tree,” she says right away without any hesitation.

A dinging sound echoes through the studio as the host says, “And you’re correct!” Then the large screen changes to show a single planet from space. One with a massive tree stretching all the way into space with nothing but blood flooding the entire planet that it’s growing on. Along with flesh and blood making up the tree’s body instead of roots, and crimson leaves covering the branches. All with blood constantly flowing from within the tree to continue flooding the planet. “The Bloodbone Tree is one of the very few Ancient Monsters whose whereabouts are confirmed at all times and are still confirmed to be alive to this day! All because the tree can’t move!”

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After that, the quiz continues with one question after another.

And every last question is about the Bloodliners and Ancient Monsters. Which actually serves as a good reminder course for me.

One question after another.

How many Bloodliners are known to have the Bloodbone Tree’s Bloodline awakened? One.

How many Bloodliners are known to have the Devil Bloodline awakened? None as of now.

How many Ancient Monsters are immune to one type of attack entirely? Two. The Devil is immune to all magic but can’t use magic and the Heavenly Spirit is immune to all physical damage but can’t touch anything or cause physical damage itself.

How many Ancient Monsters are considered undead? Two. The Lesh, which is a creature with the body of a panther made of roots and vines and the skeletal head of a deer, and the Revenant Dragon, which is pretty much just an undead, skeletal dragon. Completely made of bone.

And last but not least, what is the most powerful Ancient Monster in terms of physical strength alone?

The Abyssal Orca and the Titan are known to be tied in that area.

Honestly, it really does serve as a nice refresher on the Ancient Monsters. Even if I don’t actually need a refresher right now.

It’s not like I’ll be running into any Bloodliners for a very long time after all.

After the quiz show, I go ahead and leave the city and head pretty far away. Far enough that I feel safe even if the dungeon breaks in the future.

Then I activate the item at last, making the cube open up to reveal a Gate inside that quickly expands into a normal sized Gate.

The reason I haven’t gone inside until now was because of the cooldown on my amulet. But now that a week has passed since the migration battle, I can finally take on the dungeon. Which should give me more EXP and REGEN stat points than places I could’ve taken on outside of it.

And more importantly, unlike regular dungeons, this is a special dungeon that allows people to enter and leave it as they please. The Gate will also stay for a lot longer before breaking. Lasting an entire month.

As for the monsters in it? The weakest monster in it should be the same level as the one who used the cube. So they should be at my level.

And with this I should be able to reach level one hundred by the time I defeat the boss.

Most likely.

The only question is how the dungeon will deal with the cube being used underwater. Since I’ve never heard of someone using one underwater before.

Then there’s the Special Core at the end.

Regardless of what Hidden Stat it unlocks, it should be helpful to me.

Everyone’s Hidden Stats are completely random, and very few people get the same ones. So there isn’t really a list of Hidden Stats out there. Especially since most people who do get them keep them secret.

The only ones that often end up public are the Hidden Stat traits given through Bloodlines. Like my REGEN Hidden Stat trait.

Still. I hope the Hidden Stat has something to do with my mana capacity. Since I need more mana to use Abyssal Ruler properly.

After all, that skill only lets me summon them at the cost of mana. And I only have a limited amount of mana.

It would also be nice to get a mana alteration trait later on too. One of those traits that change how much mana you get per level.

I’ve heard that most Bloodlines have at least one mana alteration trait. And the Heavenly Spirit Bloodline gives the most powerful mana alteration trait in existence.

It’s so powerful that it quintuples the amount of mana someone gets per level.

So for me, who has eight hundred and seventy mana right now, that trait would increase my total mana to four thousand three hundred and fifty mana. With just a single trait acquisition.

And every level after that would also give me fifty mana instead of ten.

It would be incredibly useful. But I doubt the Abyssal Kraken has a mana alteration trait as powerful as the most powerful being in the universe when it comes to magic.

Maybe a trait that triples my mana?

That would be great too.

Either way, I won’t be getting my next trait until I reach level one hundred and fifty. Which is a pity.

And I won’t get my next skill until level one hundred either. After every twenty-five levels now.

I let out a sigh at that thought before finally reaching for and entering the Gate.

Ready to take on whatever I find.

Only to find myself in an enormous cavern filled halfway with water along with hundreds of pirate ships. Some of which are damaged, others completely sunken deep down in the water, and others completely undamaged.

But one thing they all have are monsters on them.

Drowned pirates this time.

Huh.

Interesting.