Museum Core Chapter 115: Stealing Fire

BTW, if any of you are Dungeon Crawler Carl fans, it got adapted into a webtoon that releases in a few hours.

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One might say there was an element of insanity to what he was about to do. One would be wrong.

This was insane, wholly, completely, and utterly.

And yet … and yet the idea of going down there to fight a primordial sea beast and gain the power to hunt all kinds of titanic beasts, it touched some deep part of him he hadn’t even realized was there until he’d been given his opportunity.

But thankfully, there hadn’t been too many other candidates for receiving the Boon of Prometheus’ Grace.

After all, Sergeant Jeongsu Kim had been practicing freediving for most of his life, and when his mandatory military service had coincided with his superiors being gifted a trio of invaluable items that seemed practically tailor-made for someone him.

His experience had gotten his foot in the door … and the promise of staying in the military beyond his mandatory service, for decades if necessary, had sealed the deal.

He looked at himself in the sparklingly clean mirror of the tiny bathroom aboard the destroyer Yi Sun-Shin, presently en route to what had supposedly been the hunting preserve of gods.

He took a deep breath, reached down into his pocket, withdrew the leather bracelet, and slipped it onto his left wrist.

The first one had been equipped to grand fanfare in full view of the nation, to grand fanfare, after all, it had gone to a general’s nephew, albeit one who seemed halfway qualified.

The second one was presently being studied, as though an item considered to be the most magically potent artifact in the world could be understood by people without any magic at all.

And the third one would now grace his wrist for the next three days.

Then, before he could talk himself out of it, he plunged his head face-first into the filled-to-the-brim sink and inhaled. And was able to stay there.

Breathe in, breathe out, feel water flow into places water was absolutely not meant to go, not if you wanted to keep on living … all entirely safe.

Kim wasn’t sure how long he stayed like that, marvelling at … everything, but eventually, the ship underfoot hit a particularly large wave and his head bumped against the edge of the sink.

Ow.

He straightened and rubbed the spot, then headed off towards his room. It was an officer’s bunkroom, one he wouldn’t have seen for years if he’d stayed in the military, but it was a private room, albeit one smaller than most actual bathrooms, back in Korea.

And there, laid out on the bed, was his gear, with the exception of the boon he’d already equipped.

This was what he’d be fighting monsters with. A magical bracelet that let him actually survive underwater, a slightly modified wetsuit, some fins, and a simple M7 bayonet knife that was standard for the Korean army.

He quickly changed, electing to carry the fins until he reached the deck of the destroyer and reached the stern, where the small boat that would be taking him the last stretch dangled from wires.

Kim had a brief conversation with the captain, saluted, stood stock-still for one final picture taken by the Yi Sun-Shin’s embedded reporter, and then was finally lowered into the water in the boat.

The ocean above this particular transformation zone wasn’t too different visually; the zone itself lay too deep to be seen from above, but there were still countless stories of what people felt while aboard vessels traveling over it.

Of the water being black as night, of the siren song of the deep, of dark shadows traveling underneath the ships, vaster than the ships themselves … yet that was just all the more reason to go exploring.

Kim glanced back at the retreating shadow of the Yi Sun-Shin one more time, bade goodbye to the others on the boat, then put on his fins and leaned back on the railing until the weight of gravity dragged him over, causing him to plunge into the water with barely a splash.

And then he began to swim, leaving the light of the surface behind and only occasionally glancing at the manometer with its glow-in-the-dark needle strapped to his wrist.

One hundred meters.

Two hundred meters.

And a few seconds later, he broke the current world record of freediving. Well, the one presently on the books, at any rate, he was pretty sure the British lady who’d explored Atlantis had already shattered all those numbers weeks ago.

Two hundred and eighty meters.

Two hundred and ninety … now slow down …

Kim stopped his rapid descent and flipped himself right-side up again, though that concept was far less relevant in his current environment, he could move freely in all directions, practically without restriction, to the point where he’d added an inclinometer to his wrist, right next to the manometer, just so that he’d always know where up was.

Slowly, carefully, he began to pull himself down, until he hit an invisible wall. Well, not a wall, exactly, but that was what it had felt like when he’d touched it.

Water pressure wasn’t supposed to bother him, and it didn’t, yet when the entirety of his body had been under thirty-one bars of pressure save for his hand, which had been subjected to an extra two hundred meters of depth worth of pressure, or an extra twenty bars, that difference was starkly noticeable.

That was the edge of the zone.

Kim reached into one of the sleek pouches that were slung around his waist and withdrew a glowstick, then immediately dropped it, watching it spiral away into the dark.

Now, where were his targets?

Kim dove after the falling glowstick, not wanting to be holding it in case the light attracted a monster, while still aiming to be close enough to get some use out of the illumination it provided.

And even with the light illuminating the depths for the first time in aeons, he almost missed the shadow as it lunged at him.

Almost.

When the gigantic, fat, baracuda with an underbite snapped at him, all he managed to do was get his arm in between its jaws before it bit down on his head, suddenly feeling exceedingly glad that the arms of the wetsuit had been reinforced in anticipation of this exact kind of maneuver becoming necessary.

Thick, round, fangs punched through the kevlar lining as though were just another layer of neoprene and into his arm below, with the front teeth of the fish mere centimeters from his face and closing quickly as the monster continued to accelerate … and then the pressure of the water against Kim’s back vanished as his bracelet’s secondary effect triggered, preventing the fish’s movements from forcing him deeper into its maw.

For a long moment, far longer than he’d ever be willing to admit, he froze, staring at the monster trying to crush his arm between its jaws, but then he acted, his free hand flashing down towards where the bayonett was resting, drew it in an instant, and drove it straight into the fish’s gills, the cloud of blood that burst out as a result barely visible in the vanishing light of the glowstick.

Even on a magical monster fish, the gills were still vulnerable, and shot through with blood vessels, driving a knife through those was the equivalent of shiving a human straight in the lungs.

The fish bucked and continued to try and bite down, but it didn’t seem to be capable of properly chewing, thankfully, which gave him enough time to keep stabbing at it, until a sharp pain struck him from an entirely different direction … had he just stabbed himself through the mangled mess of the fish’s gills?

Yet even with the monster continuing to try and get him in its mouth while its blood stained the ocean, he continued to strike. He didn’t even know if he was still doing meaningful damage, so ragged and destroyed was the fish’s side, but eventually, the fight came to an end.

The fish might not have gone belly-up, but the moment it died was nevertheless readily apparent, and would have been so even if it hadn’t been for the system window that suddenly blocked his view.

Juvenile Xiphactinus (F-Rank)

The body of a young predatory fish, the size of a human, with jaws meant to swallow prey whole.

Its teeth and bones are ranked and therefore possess a certain degree of durability and value, but won’t be overly useful for crafting purposes.

Its flesh is nontoxic, but also more oily than is typically considered tasty.

That was new … but it was the next window that popped up, immediately and automatically replacing the fish’s description, that he’d been really waiting for.

Congratulations, Hunter!

You have earned the right to walk the Path of the Titanhunter, which will grant you incredible powers that will further grow as you ascend to the next rank, based on the greatness of your deeds.

As your current injuries were directly obtained while gaining this privilege, they will be healed once you walk the first step.

You will always have seven powers to choose from, at each rank, but due to the infinite variety of prey, each has an equally infinite breadth of possible evolutions.

Now, select your power:

Stab of the Sundering Needle

Falling Anvil Strike

Grace of the Hummingbird

Venomsea Art

Bloodsoaked Empowerment

Cockroach’s Endurance

Studious Hunter’s Awareness

So, which should he pick?

Cockroach’s Endurance was a basic power that would increase his durability based on the size difference between him and his foe, and Grace of the Hummingbird was the exact same, except it boosted speed instead of toughness.

Bloodsoaked Empowerment boosted him overall when soaked in blood, clearly designed to work around striking large enemies standing over you, and then gaining the strength to hurt them far more effectively once their blood dripped down onto you. It also wouldn’t work underwater, not really.

And Falling Anvil Strike was a momentum-based ability that minimized how badly he could be hurt by crashing into something, while also increasing the damage he could do when throwing his momentum behind an attack.

Great for jumping down on an enemy while leading with a weapon, or a general acrobatic and speed-based fighting style, but that was very hard to use underwater.

Which just left him with three options that deserved a better look.

Venomsea Art (F-Rank)

This is the power to drown the world in lethal toxins.

Any hunters wielding this skill gain the ability to produce a cytotoxic venom either from their skin or any weapons they wield at the cost of mana, with the amount only limited by their mana pool.

As they grow in power, they will unlock first hemotoxic and then neurotoxic venoms, before finally gaining the ability to add acidic properties to any toxin, as well as combining them.

The user themselves will be immune to their own venom, or dismiss their created venom at will, if they have at no point in time gotten more than 2km from said venom (venom can be set to automatically dissipate once it reaches this distance).

This power optimally evolves from killing toxic monsters, or by killing a foe without ever physically attacking them.

Powerful, capable of hurting everything nearby, or stacking debuffs onto a single target, potentially capable of letting him punch far above his weight class… but also minimally useful in the depths of the ocean, despite the name.

Stab of the Sundering Needle (F-Rank)

This is the power to run an enemy entirely through with a simple needle.

Any hunter wielding this skill will be able to extend the range of any weapon they wield once plunged into an enemy up to the hilt, assuming there is a vital organ or artery in its path (the weapon must be of appropriate size).

This effect may or may not bypass bones; for the greatest effect, ensure there are no bones in the way (“random” bones will likely be ignored, bones intended for protection, such as the skull or ribcage, will define any organs behind them as “not in the weapon’s path”).

This power optimally evolves from killing large or extraordinarily fast monsters.

This, on the other hand, had immense potential, assuming he could pull off a clean strike. The limitation of “appropriate size” was concerning, but this power would certainly ensure that the size mismatch of his knife vs the titans of the deep would be mitigated. And the more he grew in strength, the more dangerous this power would be. All he’d have to do was aim between an enemy’s ribs and skewer the heart, even if the injury he’d inflicted was the equivalent of a paper cut, at least in theory.

But in the end, there was a single power that perfectly fit his current circumstances.

Studious Hunter’s Awareness (F-Rank)

This is the power to observe all enemies, in all circumstances … and ruthlessly murder them by exploiting their weaknesses.

Any Hunter wielding this power can see under almost all circumstances, uncaring of such issues as a lack of light or smoke, only solid physical impediments, such as walls or a blindfold, will block their sight.

In addition, while observing an enemy without being actively engaged by them, you will start to gain insight into their physicality, which will, in turn, begin to yield insight into their power, capabilities, and weak points. Analyzing enemies requires a small amount of mana.

This power optimally evolves from killing extraordinarily large monsters (after fully analyzing them), killing a heavily armored foe, or overall fighting in low-visibility conditions.

Simple and purely utility-based, but also utterly necessary in the deep dark of the ocean. He could choose more powerful damage-dealing powers once he hit the next rank. This would allow him to properly start hunting and growing.

Yet when he picked it, yet another window appeared.

On the Path of the Titanhunter, you will gain growth energy by bringing down powerful foes, which will automatically be assigned based on pre-assigned directions.

These directions can be changed at any time, but already spent energy will not be redistributed.

Where/how would you like to focus your growth energy?

Brawn

Resilience

Celerity

Perception

Magic

He quickly assigned values, and yet another screen blocked his view.

Name: Jeongsu Kim

1st Step on the Path of the Titanhunter (0% Progress to next Step)

Significant Kills: 1

1st Power: Awareness of the Studious Hunter (unevolved)

2nd Power: not yet unlocked

3rd Power: not yet unlocked

Self-Empowerment Status

Brawn 20%

Celerity 25%

Magic 5%

Resilience 25%

Perception 25%

Mana Pool: 100% full

Without his power barely requiring any magic, he was free to focus on his body, so that was where he’d put his focus.

And when his vision was finally no longer obstructed, he realized he could see far better, the deep ocean lighting up … though it was still empty, nothing there.

But before he did anything else, he had to report back and drop this fish off at the Yi Sun-Shin.

So, where was up … there.

Kim oriented himself correctly and began to swim in that direction, grasping onto one of the fish’s gills with one hand while holding a glowstick in the other. Honestly, with a bleeding fish literally attached to him, the light’s danger of attracting predators didn’t seriously increase the risk of an attack.

And then the manometer’s needle jerked.

That was to be expected; the pressure of 51 bars was constant in the entirety of the transformation zone, or at least as far as had been possible to explore/scan with sufficiently low-tech means, and he should have exited the area at around 300 meters deep, which should have been reflected by a pressure of 31 bars.

Instead … instead he’d somehow found himself almost a kilometer beneath the surface. But that wasn’t the truly strange part.

Because he’d followed the needle of the inclinometer straight up, and left the transformation zone at a right angle relative to the border, or at least as much of a right angle as one could achieve relative to a curved surface, except that now that he was orienting himself relative to the ocean’s surface, the edge of the transformation zone was a sloped incline, as a few rapid explorations revealed …

Did gravity work differently in there?

And how far had that damn fish dragged him?

Either way, there was only one way to find out: swim to the surface and have someone pick him up.

Flare first, then unroll the inflatable tube buoy, blow it up, and push one end underwater to lift the other end straight into the air so it will be seen.

And wait. Wait a damn long time.

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In the end, it barely took a minute to be spotted, five to get picked up, and seven more to find himself in the officers’ mess to give his report and hand over the fish to the researchers who’d set up in this particular room, as it was the biggest that could be “spared.” Well, the officers certainly wouldn’t be happy about the situation, but that was probably their fault for choosing to join a branch of the military prone to cramming its people into metal cans as though they were sardines.

And then, there were the endless conversations, many of which went over topics he’d already covered, and it took him reminding everyone of his time limit, the fact that he could only explore and grind levels down there for seventy-two hours, and that he was finally let go.

But oh no, he hadn’t had to say that once, but five separate times, before he was allowed to make his escape.

Sometimes … sometimes it felt as though the endless wheels of bureaucracy wanted the nation they were supporting to fail.

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I'm a little bit on the fence about writing and releasing a second chapter about Sergeant Kim, if you'd like that, or rather want the book to return straight to London, comment down below.

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One more thalassobia story, vis a vis the inflatable buoy (or safety sausage, as some call it):

When I was doing the beginner's Open Water Diving Certification, me and my instructor went out on the same boat as a group who was doing the Advanced Open water. They went into the water twenty meters away from us, twenty meters further out.

They wound up getting caught in a current, and got fished out of the water two kilometers from the coast.

First, last, and only time I ever saw one of those things used.