Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 477 - 42: Underwater Volcano_1

Chapter 477: Chapter 42: Underwater Volcano_1

"The underwater world is a dangerous one." Lanna emphasized many times on the journey: "Don’t think that because the seabed seems extremely calm, it is safer than the land. In reality, the danger level here is no less than that of the land, it’s just hidden beneath the beautiful surface."

The last time she said this, Lanna and Lamia were leading the five-member adventure team along the seafloor towards the Devilish Sea Area. What appeared in front of them was a limitless area of the sea, continuously spewing dust and bubbles.

"This is a classic example." Lanna pointed to the sea area in front of them and said, "Here is a newly formed underwater volcano, and it is vast. You should have already felt the temperature change here. The further you go, the higher the temperature will be. If you rush in blindly, you might get cooked by the water, which could reach temperatures up to four or five hundred degrees. Don’t doubt the water’s high temperature, remember how high the water pressure here is. Four or five hundred degrees aren’t considered high. In certain specific locations, the temperature of the water can even melt some metals."

"There’s no light in there," Catherine said regretfully. "You can’t see what’s inside at all."

"We really had no choice in this matter." Lanna shook her head. "The primary source of light underwater comes from phosphorescent algae, but in this volcano area, phosphorescent algae simply cannot survive, so we have lost our tool for illumination. However, each one of you has been equipped with a backpack-style illuminator. Although they are heavy, they are usable underwater. Also, don’t worry, the Storm God Temple would take care of the crystals the illuminators use."

"This is the best news I have heard." Catherine smiled instantly, making her body gently float on the seabed, and reached back to activate the Illuminator. Immediately, a beam of light shot out from Catherine’s back, passing over Catherine’s head and extending forwards, rapidly illuminating a thirty-meter long conical zone. Within a further range, they could vaguely see an outline thanks to the faint light. At the end of their field of vision was a column of steam and debris, rising straight up, breaking through the heavy water pressure into the dark sea above without knowing how long it finally was.

"That column of gas is caused by the underwater volcano." Lanna explained, "The high temperature turns the sea water into steam even under such high pressure, and the steam forms a column like this, rising continuously. However, you can’t see it from the sea surface, it will dissipate after rising a few hundred meters, this is a spectacle that can only be seen underwater. Fortunately, the volcano here has not entered an active state."

"What if it enters an active state?" Vivian took notes in a special underwater notebook and asked, "What would the landscape look like then? Is it a vast difference from now? I know that the eruption of an active volcano on the land is quite spectacular."

"I am not sure about the ones on the land, but the eruption of an underwater volcano depends on its intensity." Lanna lowered her voice creating a tense atmosphere as if she was telling a horror bedtime story, "A volcanic eruption is when the concentration of the fire attribute energy contained underground is too high, and the pressure from the earth on them becomes greater than the pressure from the sea, thus creating an eruptive state. If it’s just a small eruption, the affected area will only be around tens to hundreds of square kilometers, and it won’t have any effect on the sea surface. But if it were a super-large eruption, it would be spectacular. The magma melted underground by fire attribute energy would continuously spew out of the volcano, evaporating the sea water and then mixing with the steam to rise, forming a mix of volcanic ash and deadly steam, its spread affects thousands, or even tens of thousands, of square kilometers of sea areas, making them turbid and even the Sea Race would not be able to breathe within its range. At that time, the entire sea area would tremble in extreme fear amidst severe earthquakes and turbulent currents. The huge column of smoke mixed with sea water would rise up, break through the sea surface and directly charge into the foggy layer above, even reaching up to five or six kilometers high. The magma from the seabed would gush out, and then, under the soothing power of the water elemental, its temperature would decrease, transforming back into rock. This process repeats continuously, and the seabed around the volcano’s mouth would rise, eventually breaking the surface of the sea to form a brand-new island. This process could last for several days."

"Wow." Vivian let out an undefined exclamation of surprise and further asked, "So, are islands created in this way?"

"Some are not, those are fragments of land that Lord Yarra could not fit together during the early part of the Fourth Epoch. Since there was nowhere to put them, Lord Yarra placed them in the sea and turned them into islands. The original form of what you land people call forest-type islands came about in this way." These stories, which might seem like legends to land races, are not so unrealistic to the Sea Race. This is because many witnesses of the remarkable changes that occurred in the deep sea in those years are still alive. The history narrated by them is much more reliable than the one that has been handed down countless times by the land races. "However, these types of islands only make up a portion, most are formed by underwater volcanic eruptions over countless years, from ancient times till now. Most of these volcanic islands initially lack vegetation, and then due to coincidence or some other reason, the first tree seed is blown by the wind to the island where it takes root and germinates. It will quickly be covered by the forest and become the territory of Forest Gods, possessing the characteristics of a land forest. Subsequently, the overly thriving magical beasts from the other islands mysteriously appear on these new islands to reproduce under the interference of Divine Power, increasing in number."

"Wouldn’t the expansion of territory by the Forest Gods cause conflict with the deities of the Ocean God System?" Lina asked expressionlessly, "Considering the War of the Deities at the end of the Third Epoch, the deities should be quite concerned about these conflicts."

"When an island forms, that area no longer belongs to the Sea Gods. It becomes no man’s land." Lanna shook her head. "Whoever arrives first at no man’s land becomes the owner. However, for all these years, only the Forest Gods can accomplish this. The deities of other God Systems are unable to do so. Of course, even if they did, there would be no real use."

Lina considered this seriously, then clucked her tongue. "Sure enough, it’s absolutely useless. No wonder no temple has been intending to do anything in this regard for thousands of years. Those who have been exploring the outer seas usually evacuate when they encounter a desolate island. With no forest, no water, no creatures, and unable to conduct normal traffic and transport with the outside, a deserted island has no value."

"Wait, I’m not sure if I’m seeing this wrong." Suddenly, Catherine grabbed Lanna’s hand, pointing towards the sea area affected by the volcano. "It seems that I saw some little fish swimming in there. Didn’t you say that there’s a high-temperature environment of several hundred degrees there?"

"Oh, you’re not mistaken, there are indeed fish that can live there." Lanna casually glanced and said, "These fish can only survive in high-temperature environments, they never leave that area. When a submarine volcano extinguishes, they will die off."

"Hmm, so how did they appear?" Vivian quickly noted in her notebook, "They couldn’t have just popped out of nowhere."

"Who knows." Lanna spread her hands helplessly, "No one can probably answer that. In fact, they always mysteriously appear in the sea near new volcanic vents."

"So, some people speculate that there is a layer of seawater between the stratum and the magma layer, these fish migrate through this layer of seawater, but no one can prove this." Mr. Pannis said from the side, "By the way, the skeletons of these fish are excellent forging materials, but they are of no use."

"Why?" Mentioning materials for forging, Catherine immediately thought of its commercial value and asked, "If it’s so good why is it useless?"

"Because they are too small." Pannis suddenly deployed his shield and charged into the sea area full of bubbles and smoke, swam back hurriedly after more than a minute, and landed back on the seabed. He opened his hand, with two fish frozen stiff in the normal water temperature, "If they were half a meter long, their high-temperature-resistant characteristics could be used to create excellent daggers or spell items. But they are only a few centimeters long, and they are bone materials which can’t be smelted. So all you can do is watch these excellent materials become a pile of waste."

"I told you before," Catherine glared angrily at Pannis, "Can’t you think about our feelings before doing such a scary thing? You know you will be fine, but do you know that even if you won’t get hurt, others will worry?"

"My apologies, please do forgive me." Mr. Pannis blinked innocently and raised his hands in apology, "Please forgive my momentary recklessness, I promise I will never commit it again, and I will always keep Catherine’s teachings in my heart. Your will is my will, and wherever you point your gaze, that would be my path to follow."

"Mr. Pannis, you’re really something." Lina habitually pushed up her non-existent glasses, a mocking smile surfacing on her usually indifferent face, "You admit your mistake faster and faster, and when you do, it just comes out naturally. Sometimes, I can’t help but question the sincerity of your words."

"My sincerity is heavier than the water pressure here." Pannis said solemnly, "Lina, you can’t insult my sincere character like this."

"Sincere character?" Vivian closed her notebook with force, looked at Pannis with the corner of her eyes raised, and chuckled sarcastically with an emotionless face.

"Poor Mr. Pannis." Freya said sympathetically, "The pure hearts of young girls are as soft and fragile as gossamer and can’t stand a bit of roughness. Yet you cruelly hurt their hearts, trampling their delicate feelings underfoot. I feel sorrowful just watching, I can’t help you this time."

"Hey, hey, hey, you can’t do this." Pannis looked aggrievedly at the girls, "I really am innocent."

"Humph, innocent?" Catherine snorted coldly, "We’ll settle this after the mission is over."

"Alright, stop messing around." Lanna finally couldn’t stand it, creating a water current with her fishtail as a reminder, "We still have to get past this volcanic ocean area, let’s speed up." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to give a recommendation at qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)