Tales of the Endless Empire
Chapter 165: Power Leveling (5)

The pressing question was what to do next. Blood and corpses floated all around, slowly sinking into the depths. Thalion watched the dead beasts vanish into the shadows when something caught his eye—movement in the murky water.

This was bad. If more creatures were coming, he had to leave the ocean quickly. It was too dangerous here. If the massive Tidecaller Serpent showed up, he'd be in real trouble.

A larger shape emerged from the gloom, moving toward him. Thalion’s pulse quickened. What was that thing? It looked like some kind of snake-salamander hybrid. Its elongated body was segmented like a salamander’s, but with a neck and tail that stretched unnaturally long. Red spots lined its sleek form, and its slick green skin glistened like an amphibian's.

He didn’t dare try to identify it—the creature's aura alone was terrifying. This beast was at least five times stronger than the jellyfish he had just fought. Definitely one of the apex predators of the depths, likely guarding one of the largest crystals in this watery abyss.

Thalion stilled, hoping it hadn’t noticed him. He remained motionless as the salamander slithered closer, emerging fully from the depths. Its massive jaws began tearing into the dead sharks scattered nearby.

Suddenly, its hind leg twitched violently. Thalion frowned in confusion. What had just happened?

The salamander’s back convulsed, bending unnaturally as it thrashed in a wild death roll.

Then it struck him—the paper-thin tentacles of the jellyfish had sunk down, brushing against the salamander’s skin and injecting it with venom. Even this mighty predator couldn't handle the jellyfish’s poison.

This was his chance.

Thalion shot toward the writhing beast, careful to avoid the drifting tentacles. He launched four Aqua Lances in quick succession, each striking with precision. The salamander spasmed in agony but never pinpointed where the attacks were coming from. Disoriented and in pain, it swam upward, thrashing wildly and accidentally hitting more tentacles along the way. Its gaping mouth opened in a soundless scream before it went limp.

Thalion didn’t waste a second, finishing the beast off swiftly. Even with the tentacles doing most of the work, the kill granted him the full experience—likely because the jellyfish was already dead. Two more salamanders like this, and he’d reach the next level.

Their power was incredible. Alone, he would never have stood a chance.

He followed the falling tentacles, hoping they would continue hunting for him. As he descended, he practiced his body-tempering techniques, sharpening his awareness of the water around him.

This was where his title truly showed its overwhelming advantage. It made progress in cultivation almost effortless, helping him become one with the water. He reached a point where his perception extended beyond his line of sight, a significant advantage in the ocean depths.

The moment he sensed the approach of another beast, Thalion stopped cultivating and focused.

Oh, right—he’d almost forgotten. He needed to collect some ocean water for his aquarium.

He quickly pulled out the strange container, watching as runes lit up, signaling that it was full. He sealed it and tucked it back into his spatial ring.

The approaching creature was a swordfish, sleek and deadly. Unfortunately, it had definitely spotted the brief glow of the runes before Thalion had stowed the container.

The swordfish shot toward him with incredible speed, straight into the jellyfish’s dangling tentacles. Thalion wasted no time, hurling an Aqua Lance that ended the swordfish's charge.

The level 86 swordfish floated lifeless in the water. Thalion inspected it carefully for any skills and to his surprise, found one.

Abyssal Sight (Uncommon)

Harnessing the unique adaptations of a swordfish, Abyssal Sight grants the user unparalleled vision in the murky depths of the ocean. This passive skill enhances clarity and range of vision underwater, allowing the user to perceive distant objects and subtle movements with remarkable precision.

The rarity wasn’t impressive, and the skill was basic, but Thalion gladly copied it. Any passive ability that made him stronger was worth acquiring.

He stored the swordfish in his spatial ring and continued his descent, shielded by a curtain of invisible tentacles.

The next beast to fall into the jellyfish’s deadly trap was a giant manta ray. Thalion only needed to deliver the finishing blow.

The whole thing with the tentacles was almost too good to be true. Most beasts never even saw them and were killed instantly. The stronger ones lasted a little longer, but Thalion always finished them off quickly.

Some of those creatures were incredibly powerful and gave so much experience that he was now close to leveling up. Just ten more kills, and he would hit level fifty-five. This was going far better than he'd ever expected.

It was probably because all these kills counted as solo victories, granting him the full experience. From time to time, Thalion would dive below the poisonous tentacles to drop a few corpses as bait, drawing in more prey. The tactic worked flawlessly, though he wasn’t sure how long his luck would hold.

He was pretty deep now, and if a predator came from above, it would be bad news. The further he descended, the stronger the beasts became—something he hadn't thought possible after facing creatures like the salamander and the swordfish, whose auras had been absolutely nauseating.

Then came the next beast.

Thalion froze. It dwarfed anything he had seen before.

It looked like a massive mosasaurus, only larger and covered in jagged spikes along its back. He didn’t dare move or identify it until the beast was struck by several tentacles, weakening it considerably. That’s when he blurred into action, launching a flurry of Aqua Lances until the monster collapsed and sank into the abyss.

He wondered how such a thing even existed. Maybe it came from another planet? Then again, he was trying to evolve Eagly into a wyvern, and those definitely hadn’t existed back on Earth. Perhaps some crocodile had evolved into this nightmare.

The only thing that truly annoyed Thalion these days was the lack of useful skills from even the strongest underwater beasts. Most were related to biting or brute force. What he really needed was something to improve digestion—like the skill from that tiny fish—or any passive ability. Surely there had to be more passive skills that could enhance one of his forms.

So far, the only useful one he had found was Abyssal Sight. Not bad, but hardly groundbreaking.

Still, the sheer amount of experience he was gaining made up for it. If he didn’t have his title, this hunt would have pushed him close to level eighty. But the title’s benefits were too valuable to complain about—it granted him danger sense, better energy control, and countless other advantages.

Yeah, he was definitely stronger with it, and there was no point dwelling on what could have been. He liked things just the way they were.

Deciding to go big this time, Thalion hacked the mosasaurus into pieces and scattered them beneath the tentacles. Blood clouded the water, thick and enticing. It didn’t take long before he felt another bigshot approaching.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

But this time, it wasn’t a fish or salamander—it was another jellyfish.

Thalion's heart sank.

This one was even stronger than the jellyfish he had previously killed. Worse, it was immune to the poison, completely unaffected as the tentacles draped over its umbrella-like body.

Well, there goes the experience glitch, Thalion thought grimly as he began to swim upward, moving slowly and cautiously.

He had already edged backward when he first sensed the approaching threat, but now it was time to retreat for good. There was no way he was fighting that thing or any of the other apex predators down here.

As he ascended, he glanced back—and froze.

Emerging from the depths beneath the jellyfish was an enormous crab-like creature, unlike anything he'd ever seen. Its body was elongated, covered in tentacles that propelled it through the water like an octopus. Strange turbines jutted from its claws and legs, driving it forward with terrifying speed.

The jellyfish didn’t stand a chance.

In mere moments, it was torn to shreds and devoured by the monstrous crab.

Thalion forced himself to stay calm, swimming steadily upward. That thing had to be a high-level variant, easily around level ninety. If it spotted him—or worse, caught up to him—he was one hundred percent dead. No doubt about it.

The creature's pincers were massive, and its entire body, including the tentacles, could easily be over forty meters long. The jellyfish’s tentacles didn’t seem to harm it at all.

Time to call it a day, Thalion thought. The progress from this hunting trip had been fantastic, so it wasn’t too bad to stop for now and come back tomorrow.

He had plenty to do anyway—body-tempering practice, checking on the darkness elemental, feeding some blood to the Sanguine Thorn, and finishing his aquarium. Oh, and he really needed to eat some of those pearls again.

Damn it, how did I forget about those again?

He almost pulled a glowing blue pearl from his inventory but stopped himself just in time. If that monstrous crab spotted the glow, he was done for.

First, get back home. Then pearls and everything else, Thalion thought, feeling a bit drained as he continued his steady ascent.

Maybe it was time to switch things up. The nights were far too dangerous. He had descended pretty deep but still hadn’t reached the level with the massive blue crystals.

Perhaps hunting in the ocean during the day and focusing on cultivation and experimentation at night would be a smarter approach, he mused as he swam toward the surface.

Or perhaps hunting above the mountains as Eagly would be a better idea. Thalion wasn't sure what the best course of action was, but one thing was certain: hunting in the ocean at night was off the table for the foreseeable future. The risk was simply too great, even with the precognition his title provided.

Thinking it over, he realized he also needed darkness-based abilities to fuse with the termite skill. That might be something he could pursue at night. Hopefully, Kaldrek or Maike had suggestions for finding such creatures—he really didn’t want to waste time searching aimlessly.

Reaching the surface took a little longer than expected. He was careful not to swim too fast and reveal his position. The journey back to the skyship was uneventful; not a single beast appeared, which wasn’t surprising. Most were probably hiding after the carnage below.

Once aboard, Thalion instructed the captain and remaining crew to ascend a few meters higher for the night. Being only five meters above the water wasn't safe—those oceanic powerhouses could easily reach them.

Next, he contacted Kaldrek and Maike. Unfortunately, they had no leads on where to find beasts with high darkness affinity, but they promised to call if they came across anything. They had stopped scouting the third stage and were now focused on leveling up and strengthening themselves. A wise decision—every bit of power would be essential against the undead threat.

On his way back to the tower, Thalion gathered several prepared plants, vials of blood, the container with the air elementals, and a stash of pearls collected by the shapeshifter. Ignoring all the messages from the council, he returned to his cultivation chamber.

He started by checking on the darkness elemental. It was doing remarkably well, already at level nineteen—a solid achievement for a newborn. It was close to finishing off the last remains of the air elementals Thalion had previously killed.

Things were progressing better than expected. After devouring the fifty or so remaining elementals in the container, the darkness elemental should be strong enough to hunt for itself. But for now, Thalion didn’t want to take any risks. He killed the elementals in the container himself, feeding them to the darkness elemental.

Next, he poured the additional vials of blood into his pond to enhance it further. The sheer power contained within the blood was mesmerizing. Thalion couldn't help but anticipate feeding it all to the Sanguine Thorn. It would thrive on such potent energy.

He had also figured out what made the blood so powerful. Initially, he thought the affinity within the blood mattered, but that was wrong. The only thing that truly mattered was raw power.

Knew I was an idiot for not realizing it sooner, he thought.

With that revelation in mind, he added roughly thirty wind crystals and a handful of pearls to the blood pond. The influx of power would elevate the blood's potency, and with it, hopefully, the Sanguine Thorn's strength as well.

Next on the list was his giant aquarium—a towering cube over sixty meters tall. Thalion filled it completely with ocean water he had collected and then dumped everything water-related into it: tiny pearls, massive blue crystals, all of it.

By the time he was done, the aquarium was nearly full. There was still room to swim, but it wouldn't accommodate much more—especially not more giant blue crystals.

This is going well, Thalion thought, already planning to gather more small crystals next time to further fill the aquarium and consume them as the Tidecaller Serpent. He could already feel the energy flowing faster through his body, making his movements much more fluid.

Okay, maybe I can't quantify it, but it definitely feels faster. Like the water isn't resisting me as much.

Then it was time to feast on more enchanted plants to boost his stats. This session granted him ten points in vitality. A nice boost across all his forms.

Until he could feast again, Thalion trained with the sword to maintain muscle memory. The fluid motions, practiced just as he had learned them in the Golden Palace, were both relaxing and grounding. After all the chaos of the ocean, this brought a sense of calm.

It had been a productive day, and he looked forward to what the next one would bring. Maybe he'd even break his record and gain even more levels in a single day.