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Chapter 13: Water Breathing

Rathgar moved quicker than Silas thought someone could move in the water, his harpoon taking out two tigerfish nearly simultaneously. His movements were precise and efficient, with no wasted energy.

The last two tigerfish must have finally realized they were in danger, because they tried to dart away from the two men. With powerful kicks, they gave chase, determined to silence the threats.

With the light of the moon, Silas was able to keep track of the fish. As it tried to swim past him, he buried the harpoon deep into its side.

The last tigerfish tried to flee past Rathgar, but he was ready to meet it, plunging his harpoon into its eye socket. The creature convulsed before floating lifelessly in the water.

[Quest Completed: +10 Exp]

Finally out of combat, Silas and Rathgar surfaced and gasped for air. They tread water for a minute to catch their breath and then turned their attention to the fallen tigerfish. Rathgar gestured towards the nearest one.

His voice was gruff, but approving. "Well done, lad. Now, let's see about collecting those mana cores."

Silas and Rathgar worked quickly and methodically, harvest the mana cores from the bodies of the tigerfish. The cores were roughly the size of marbles and pulsed with a faint blue glow. When they were done, they had gathered nearly three dozen glowing cores.

Whenever Silas harvested a mana core, his skill 'Drain' would activate, sucking up the residual mana left in the core, leaving it dull and lifeless. He noticed the mana cores of the tigerfish were not only of a smaller size than his leviathan core, but they also had a silver grey hue.

Silas also noticed something else that was strange. Roughly every fifth tigerfish had two mana cores in them. Sort of. Silas would see the mana core, remove it, but then after removing it, another one would be in its place, and he would remove that one.

Rathgar carefully stored half the cores in a leather pouch, securing it to his belt. The other half he allowed Silas to have. He didn't know about the duplicate cores.

"A fine haul. These will fetch a pretty coin at the market, or serve as excellent components for magic weapons and armor."

"Oh damn!" Rathgar exclaimed. "My lucky hammer sank with the boat. I never leave home without it."

"I have an idea. I think I can get it," Silas said.

"How? This lake is deeper than you think, and there's much more dangerous beasts than just tigerfish."

"Hold on. Let me check something." Silas pulled up his notifications, and sure enough, he had leveled up again, giving him an additional 20 affinity points on top of his unspent 10 from the last time he leveled up.

He searched through the biomancy skills until he found 'Water Breathing' and purchased it with his points. He noticed he also had 9 ability points to distribute. 5 from his previous level up, and 4 from his recent one.

At this point, he wasn't sure whether to put his points into luck again. He was starting to reach the upper limit of what he could do with his physical stats.

Ultimately, the allure of having outrageous luck was too strong. He put the 9 ability points into luck, bringing him up to a frankly ridiculous 29. Assuming 10 was the normal luck for most people, he had nearly three times as much luck as other people.

The only person he knew had more luck than him was Tiffany, and at the rate he was leveling up, he would catch up to her soon. Her luck probably had something to do with the fae magic she was imbued with, and not something normal people had.

After closing the system menu, he felt a strange sensation in his neck. He put his hand to the side of his neck, near his clavicle and he could feel slits in the skin. The system must have made him grow gills so he could breathe underwater.

"I'll take the harpoon. It's hard to explain, but I can adapt my body to different environments."

"Some sort of transformation affinity?"

"Something like that."

"Ok, if you're confident you can get it. Be careful."

"I'll see you in a few minutes."

Silas submerged himself in the water, swimming down towards the bottom of the lake. It was quite dark, but his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and he could see the light of the moon shining through the water.

Instead of breathing as he normally did, he breathed through his gills, taking in water and expelling it. He didn't feel the need to take a normal breath so he figured it must be working.

Using his powerful legs to slice through the water, Silas propelled himself deeper. The depths of the lake were quite dark. Silas went into his system setting menu, something he hadn't even touched before, because he had a feeling there would be a brightness or gamma setting.

As he suspected there was a brightness and a gamma setting. He decided to turn up the brightness. This was a trick he used quite often when playing computer games with his mom.

The game designers prefer the player balance the brightness of their game so you can see what you're supposed to see and you can't see the traps or hidden enemies.

But they almost always left the player with the option to crank up the brightness or the gamma, which illuminated dark areas and made it easy to see in dark places.

With his turned-up brightness and the light of the moon, he was able to make out the shape of the rocky bottom below with ease.

Silas could sense the presence of other creatures around him on his way to the bottom of the lake. Massive shapes slowly drifted past him. With the increased brightness, he was able to see far more detail of these creatures than he wanted to.

He turned his eyes away and just tried to pretend they weren't there. Silas was in no shape to fight these creatures, so he focused on his objective.

Finally, he laid eyes on the wreckage of Rathgar's sunken boat. It lay mostly intact on the lakebed. Still laying in the back of the boat was Rathgar's lucky hammer, the head glinting dully in the faint light.

Silas grabbed the hammer. He performed essence revelation on it out of curiosity.

Stats:

Name: Rathgar's Lucky Hammer

Enchantments: Forgemaster's Blessing

"Hey mom, what does Forgemaster's Blessing do?" Silas thought.

"I'll let the system answer that one," She said.

[Forgemaster's Blessing: Allows a skilled wielder to make equipment that is up to two tiers higher than the materials provided]

"Whoa! No wonder Rathgar wants this thing back."

With the hammer secured, Silas turned his attention back towards the surface, his legs propelling him upwards.

As Silas got near the top, he was able to make out Rathgar's silhouette. The old man was just bobbing in the water as he waited patiently for Silas to return.

Silas broke through the surface, gasping for air and adjusting to the change in mode of breathing. His gills were still there, but they no longer functioned as they did underwater.

"I got your hammer," he said, offering the hammer to Rathgar.

"Lad, you've done me a great service. This hammer has been in my family for generations. I wouldn't be where I am today without it."

"No problem, Professor," Silas replied.

"Name your desire, Silas Blackwood," Rathgar rumbled. "Whatever you require, be it a weapon, armor, or a tool, I shall forge it for you."

"I appreciate that, Professor. I'm sure there will be a lot of items I'll have you forge for me in time. If that's alright with you, of course," Silas replied.

"I'd be glad to forge anything you need," Rathgar said.

"Thank you. I assume you must know your hammer is enchanted," Silas ventured.

"No. Is it? How can you tell? Most enchantments have markings or runes," Rathgar said, a little confused.

"I have a spell that lets me inspect the magic within items," Silas replied.

"Do you? You seem to be a man of many talents, my friend. You can grow gills at the drop of a hat, and you can identify magic? What else can you do? Fly?" Rathgar joked.

"Not yet," Silas replied seriously.

"Well if my lucky hammer is enchanted, I owe you a greater debt than I imagined!" Rathgar exclaimed.

"Yeah. It lets you craft higher tier items than the original materials," Silas said.

"Huh. I just knew I did my best work with this thing and I could never replicate it with any other tool. Interesting. No wonder it's been in my family so long," Rathgar said.

"Well, now that we've established I owe you my career, let's swim to shore," Rathgar laughed.

"Let's," Silas replied.

Silas and Rathgar swam back to the shore, their movements cutting through the still waters with practiced ease. As they neared the shallows, Silas could make out the flickering lanterns that marked the path back to the university gates.

The cool night air caressed Silas's skin as he and Rathgar emerged from the lake. They hoisted themselves onto the dock, rolling onto their backs. Water from their wet clothes, soaked the planks of the dock. As they began their long walk back to the school, water streamed off of them, leaving a trail behind them.

Rathgar handed Silas his pouch with his share of the mana cores inside. "I think I owe you these. Take the pouch too. You could use it while you're out adventuring, and I have a ton in my workshop."

"Thanks!" Silas exclaimed. Silas took the mana cores he had loose in his pockets and stored them in the pouch, and tied it to his waist.

They made their way up the winding path that led back to the towering gates of Arcanium University. The flickering torchlight cast dancing shadows across their path.

As they walked, Rathgar's voice cut through the quiet, recounting the events that had brought him to find Silas. "I was out late at night, fishing. It helps clear my mind. Then all of a sudden I heard a huge splash out on the lake."

His brow furrowed as he recalled the memory. "I didn't know what it was. I knew it couldn't have been a fish. The sound was too loud and violent."

Silas listened intently to Rathgar's recollection of the events. "I rowed my boat as fast as I could. And that's when I saw you floating face down in the water."

Rathgar's eyes found Silas's, concern making its way across his weathered features. "You didn't fall from the university, did you, lad?"

Silas nodded, his expression somber. "I did."

Rathgar's brow furrowed deeper. "But how in the Forge Mother's name are you still alive? That fall must be at least a hundred feet!"

A tired smile found its way onto Silas's face. "I can regenerate using mana. It's part of my affinities."

"Hmm. Your talents are never-ending it seems," Rathgar said, as he stroked his beard.

As they approached the gates of Arcanium University, Rathgar followed up his question. "But that still doesn't explain how you ended up taking a plunge. You didn't jump, did you?" Rathgar looked concerned.

"No, I didn't jump. I was thrown off," Silas admitted.

"By who? If I get my hands on them, I'll wring their necks. I don't care who they are." Rathgar growled, his jaw clenched.

"I only saw one of their faces. His name is Damien Devereux. He's a second year student here," Silas revealed.

Silas and Rathgar trudged through the gates of Arcanium University leaving a trail of water in their wake. Their exhaustion was beginning to get to them. Every step was a struggle.

They were met by a contingent of guards shortly after setting foot within the university grounds. Their armor glinted in the torchlight. One of the guards stepped forward, a stern-faced man with a little bit of stubble.

"Professor Ironforge," the guard greeted, inclining his head respectfully towards Rathgar. "We've been searching for someone fitting the description of this young man. Are you Silas Blackwood?"

"Yes," Silas replied.

"You must come with us immediately. There are questions that need answering," the guard said.

Rathgar bristled. "What's this about, Sergeant Halford?" he demanded.

"It concerns a student, sir. Damien Devereux. He was found unconscious, mumbling incoherently. The only thing we could make out was the name 'Silas Blackwood'," Sergeant Halford said, turning his attention back to Rathgar.

"We need to take him in for questioning," Sergeant Halford stated firmly, looking at Silas.

Rathgar's brow furrowed, his eyes narrowing as he regarded the guards with a mixture of defiance and calculation. "Now, see here, Sergeant," he rumbled, his voice carrying a warning edge. "This lad has been through enough tonight without being subjected to your interrogations. And as I've heard it, Mr. Devereux is the reason I found myself fishing Silas here out of the lake."

"What are you saying Professor?" Halford asked.

"I'm saying Damien Devereux and some other students threw Silas into the lake. From the university," Rathgar stated.

"That is a mighty big accusation. Do you have any proof?" Sergeant Halford's expression hardened, his jaw set in a firm line as he regarded Rathgar's defiance.

Rathgar stood firm. "No."1

"Well then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. But those grave accusations will have to wait. This questioning isn't up for debate," he stated, his tone leaving no room for argument. "The Devereux family is a major benefactor of this institution, and they demand answers regarding their son's condition."

Silas felt a surge of anger as the reality of the situation became clear. The Devereux name carried weight, and their influence extended far beyond the boundaries of the university. If they were determined to uncover the truth behind Damien's current state, there would be no shortage of resources at their disposal.

For a moment, Silas thought Rathgar might defy the guards outright, but then Rathgar's shoulders sagged, and he let out a weary sigh.

"Very well," Rathgar grumbled, his voice laced with resignation. "But I'll be joining you for this... questioning. The lad's been through enough tonight without having to face your interrogations alone."

Sergeant Halford nodded curtly, his expression betraying no emotion. "As you wish, Professor." He turned his attention to Silas, his gaze unwavering. "Come along, Mr. Blackwood."