Prologue #1

Prologue #1: Deep Seas

(Tyrone Lee)

I swam down deeper in my specially modified diving suit. I was well past 1230ft, connected, thanks to the Skill of Private Jones, to the ship on the water surface. I don't even know what I'm search for. But here I am, down below and going deeper in the Southern Ocean.

Our sensors had got a hit around here for unusual Exoquartz activity. Exoquartz, or simply Exo, was a new substance discovered soon after the System took over. It was not very rigid, but not too malleable. It was strong enough to withstand missiles and maybe even nukes (we didn't test for nuclear weapons). It was extremely valuable because of it rarity and the ability to change its hardness, based on the wishes of the one moulding it.

We got a hit at roughly 1500ft to 2500ft, Exo gave out harmless radiations for miles. I was sent along with a team of two Privates and one Specialist on the ship. And back on shore there were more officers and researchers. I used my FlameBoost Lv11 to create a geyser and shoot myself a few hundred feet below, before stopping.

We were taught about not wasting the Energy that was required for Skills, we couldn't afford to get exhausted mid-battle. The Energy would recharge itself with time. The next Main Quest #5, was due in a couple weeks. For now the System kept us busy with Side Quests to level up and get Shards. I was now Level 30. Nolan was Level 26. I was out of contact with the other two.

Soon I reached 1620ft, where I had last stopped yesterday, I started using my Pyrokinesis to blast away small rocks and seamonsters. The System had bought several Sea Monsters apparently. There were small BladeJaws of Level 2 or 3 and even huge VoidBlasters of Level 50 or so. So far, I personally didn't encounter anything larger than a DrillTail Level 34. And it was hard to fight underwater with my Pyrokinesis even if it is Level 21 now.

However today was lucky, I didn't encounter anything particularly dangerous. And killing off monsters did give me xp after all, but it was too insignificant to level up now that I was Level 30. I dived down deeper, reporting back whatever I could see to the ship above. It was pretty boring after five days of diving. It was cool at first but not anymore.

"... another Horslice shoal killed, easy as fuck to be honest, ooh wait- what's that glowing? Oh never mind it's just a sleeping Razster. Better not poke it, it's tough." I was running a commentary of everything I could see back to surface. I had infinite oxygen thanks to Private Gosler's Skill.

I swam around another reef. Razsters were normally peaceful, and usually were asleep with a bluish glow. They hummed around and were fun to be around. But if you managed to piss off one, these level 14 monsters were not a joke. They would charge u, spinning at like five hundred rotations per minute and crush you with the sharp Exo layer.

I took the turn by the Razster as it emitted a soft Reddish, glow. As I passed it by, I realised it was quiet, too quiet. Razsters usually hummed when asleep. I swam back above it's pulsing shell. There was something definitely off about it.

Razsters had a thick Exoquartz layer, usually some shade of Blue or Purple. It was shaped like an yo-yo with two discs, connected by a small thick pipe of radius two meter or so. The pipe was enveloped with a gray transparent tube, which housed the Razster. There was a orb in the shell which glowed while they slept. And vibrated with a hum to keep them alert of predators.

But this one had it's orb broken. There was a red, glowing tube in the hole made by the missing orb. It was huge, and fitted the void perfectly. The tube extended into the rock bottom. I immediately signalled up to activate the Exo scanner on my suit.

"It's on, but the Exoquartz shell of the Razster might interfere, can't u break it or something..." Jones inquired.

"Maybe Nolan back at HQ can with his skills, will I take to the the surface?"

Jones replied, "You sure you can? That stuff weighs like a few hundred kilograms."

"Maybe you're right, we should have sent in Witshire today, his Weightless Skill would be useful here. I could try Expelling it, but I'm afraid I might damage the tube. Any chance we can go back to the shore and call him in?"

There was a few seconds pause, after that Gosler's calm voice replied, "Okay, swim back up, expedition over for now."

I marked the coordinates using my Suit's GPS. Then started the ascent. I was around 1000ft when I heard a scary, angry buzz. I spun around immediately. There it was. An entire gang of Razsters. There were at least half a dozen of them, and boy were they pissed.

I started using my FlameBoost to shoot upwards. 980ft, 950, 930, 870-

BLURB! WHAM!

I gasped out loud as a Razster crashed against my suit. The noise went through the comms and Jones sounded the alarm on instinct. Within five minutes a fully equipped submarine would be here to save me.

Five minutes, was a DAMN LONG TIME.

I had to fight off six Razsters for 5 minutes. It was almost impossible, even with Expel Skill. I took aim and used Pyrokinesis to shoot out boiling hot geyser at the one nearest. It didn't damage of course, but it shot it away, off course.

Two more spun towards me, shoot and shoot. One wheelied away, the other slowed down, but kept charging. I aimed, pulled up around twenty five percent of my Mana, and- EXPEL!

I shot out dark, black, eternal flames, that enveloped the Razster. Even underwater, these flames would break away at anything. These flames didn't burn technically, but they gave the illusion of burning as they slowly ate away something and transferred it to a void, where no one could reach.

But I could only use three Expel Blasts at a time, before I would black out and needed at least an hour to regain my senses and another six to eight hours to fully recharge my Mana. I used Pyrokinesis to shoot the burning Razster and hit another one. The dark flames spread. The other Razster caught on fire and started spinning around violently. I just hoped it wouldn't touch me.

I pulled out my new, improved Mana Infused Spear. I willed around seventy percent of my Mana into it. It burnt a bright gold shade. But this also meant that I could use another Expel at most, but even that would be stretching it.

I spun my Spear and used the FlameBoost to control my body. The Mana drain was terrible. But I just had to keep around five percent in me and survive for five minutes. All I had to do was break their core Orbs. But the spinning around in the water didn't help things.

I shot around the remaining four Razsters and dodged them as they attacked me. Thankfully, they weren't fast enough to change their paths. But they were too fast for me to stab or hit at the orb. The Exoquartz shell protected them and the transparent tube could heal infinitely.

Thankfully my Spear still raged on, even underwater. I grabbed it in my right hand and pulled back my arm, and charged. The Razster spun towards me, with its friends attacking from behind. I used a burst of geyser to my left to shoot right, and turned towards the left, at the core of the Razster.

I thrust my Spear in it. It scratched a line on the orb and went in right at the edge. I boosted myself to the left and pushed in the Spear.

It went through the monster and the glow died down. I gained some quick XP. But what I forgot to account for were the remaining three SeaMonsters. One charged and hit me in the ribs from my right. I think I broke something.

I willed back some of my Mana from the Spear into me. I put the Spear back in Inventory and started boosting up again. I had like a minute left before backup would be here. I kept looking down and dodging the shooting Razsters. They were not going to give up so soon.

I was nearly at 450ft, when BAM!

One Razster finally got in a proper hit. It hit me right in my left arm. It floated up uselessly in the water. Jones yelled encouragement to me and told me to fend them off, a few more seconds till the Submarine got in range, they could already see it on the radar.

I aimed my working, right hand at the Monster that hit me. I charged up my remaining mana, I put my bets on the Submarine being here as soon as possible or I was dead meat.

FWOOOSHH!

I shot another final blast, my muscles tightened up and my vision became black. I could feel myself floating up, due to the Suit's emergency protocol. But I lost my senses before I reached the surface.

When I came to, I was lying in the Medical Bay of the HQ. A Healer type Player had already fixed my ribs and broken arm. I was still sore though. And looking out the window into the vast ocean was,

"NOLAN!"

He turned around, looking worried. But he slowly smiled as he saw me sitting upright and looking healthy. He came over and debriefed me on what happened after I passed out. Apparently, he was on the sub and quickly crushed the Razsters himself with his MuscleBoost Lv 18. His Skills were definitely useful in fighting heavy hitters. He had then gone down to that reef and pulled out the tube.

However it was shocking that the Weightless Skill didn't work on the tube. He used MuscleBoost and the Submarine pulled him up as he dragged up the tube. It was quite heavy, he said.

After talking a bit more, I decided to go and see the tube for myself. He grabbed my as I got up, and supported me as we walked to the Lab.

The tube was truly something to be admired. It was indeed giving out the Exo waves. It glowed bright red. It was a cylindrical capsule with an Exo layer of covering. It had a door like hatch in it, also made of Exoquartz. Little did we know that this shit would change the course of the entire world.