Satisfied with my haul of meat I headed for the stairs going down.
'You know this has to be the first time I haven't gotten ambushed during an expedition, wonder if they gave up?' I pondered as I walked.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if they did end up calling off the hits after everyone they sent mysteriously disappeared all while I was still walking about without a scratch. Of course my ability to shrug off injuries was known by Hroldar as well as his familia so the information might have spread out by now.-
It was highly possible that as a result the Evilus who kept trying to kill me were ripping out their hair trying to figure out what the limits of that ability were. Then again Hroldar is a good dude so he could have ensured that the info didn't spread in which case those would be assassins just vanished for seemingly no reason. Whatever the case I was slightly disappointed that no new playthings delivered themselves to me but could only shrug and continue my delve deep into the dungeon. The nineteenth to twenty fourth floors were traversed easily and by the stairs to the twenty fifth floor I hadn't seen another adventurer for quite some time.-
The entrance to the twenty fifth floor was known as the "the second line" and was the official start to the lower floors. The water palace floors were a bit special in that technically they were all truly connected via the great fall. A waterfall over four hundred meters wide and nearly twice as high up starting from the twenty fifth floor and going all the way down to the Melen Lolog lake originally that left out to the ocean topside but had been sealed using the remains of the cataclysm class monster "Leviathan". -
While some parts of the beast were taken by the Poseidon familia after they slew it as prizes the magic stone, flesh and bones were used to magically seal the leakage from the dungeon. I admit I was VERY fucking tempted to swim down there and absorb the smoke that the corpse would turn into while claiming the stone for my self as it was a level seven to eight monster. I had little doubt that the smoke alone would be enough to let me max out my stats in one go but the cost was letting the dungeon spew monsters back out into the waters of the world.-
I wouldn't do that though as that was a real dick move and while I enjoy free gains as much as the next bloke that price was a bit steep even for me. Ironically opening the passage would sort of help in improving the strength of the world overall as the adventurers outside Orario would have monsters worth hunting finally. The amount of deaths that would come afterwards though was simply too high and I was unwilling to be responsible for it.-
'Perhaps I'll create a better seal than the corpse that was worth cities later and take the remains and stone as payment?' I thought as I felt the dampness of the air as I stepped onto the twenty fifth floor.
From the entrance I likened the area to a mix of the first few floors and a crystal cavern. The floor at the entrance was a blue colored rock tunnel absolutely covered in glowing blueish white crystals. The floors contrary to what the name suggested weren't covered in water but the typically traveled parts were these crystalline tunnels that went all through the rock behind and beside the massive waterfall.-
There were rivers here that all poured out into the waterfall and even some tributaries and ponds that held special purposes. The floors much like the previous great tree labyrinth were largely unexplored due to this as there was no point in most peoples minds in searching the place thoroughly, I was not most people. The moment I set foot on the twenty fifth floor I crouched down and pressed my hand with fingers splayed out on the floor. I closed my eyes and focused my full attention on the feedback my technique was giving me through this contact.-
Immediately I felt the strangeness of the area and grinned at what I found. These crystals all around the area weren't just there to support light but as sort of pathways for energy to flow. To my gaze a vast network of connections and bypasses became visible in the walls and floor leading to different directions. Curiously I walked along one of these flows with my fingertips brushing against the wall to keep me on course. Finding a wall in my way but a hollow space behind it I smashed through the stone and marveled at what I found.-
"Water attribute mana, being condensed and utilized to create pure water that is then sent to the designated spots. So this is how your water can support both fresh water and salt water aquatic life. What a find!" I said with a grin as I looked at the me sized crystal giving off a massive amount of water attribute mana that turned into actual water flowing down it's side into the ground to be taken elsewhere. I wasn't going to take the crystal though as my gut told me the dungeon wouldn't be very happy about that.-
The constant feeling of being watched certainly didn't help me think otherwise. That said pure water that hadn't yet been tainted by the mundane was worth it's weight in gold for the uses it had. Alchemists for example would love to get their hands on it because it would be an almost perfect stabilizing agent for their ingredients. The trick though was the water MUST be kept in an airtight container or mere contact with the air over prolonged time would reduce it to mundane water.-
I myself wanted it because it would be the perfect thing to further perfect my water rings and even any other water based cursed techniques I could create. Truly untainted water was really just that rare and useful. For this purpose I reached over to one of the crystals growing up nearly a foot long and three inches squared around. Using my technique I turned the crystal into a amorphous blob that I worked to further refine until it glowed brightly and then turned it into a crystal decanter that I held the lip of up to the side of the water mana crystal.