#048 – At least I have a map this ti
First, I summoned John, because I was still wary of using all my Intra on Gargles. My dumb self would probably get herself killed in that state.
I shuddered, but shook that thought away.
“Okay, John. Here’s the plan.” I nodded at the caraman that I couldn’t see in front of . “You take my beloved chat and try to dive into that spot over there and we’ll see if it actually leads anywhere.”
I had John wobble up and down as if he was nodding and I returned his nod.
“Off you go, then!”
I made John spin around with a hop and then fly off into the pool.
John made to dive into the pool, but just before he hit the surface, space warped around him and then he was suddenly inside the flooded tunnels again.
“...Huh. It really worked. Alright then!”
Feeling sowhat confident now, although still a little concerned, I stepped forward after John, put the map into the backpack, and brought out the towel just in case before hopping off the edge into the death water.
It felt wrong, just plunging into it after avoiding it for so long, and part of thought the space warping wasn’t going to work for whatever reason and I would be screwed. But luckily, it did, and I soon found myself in the tunnels, splashing right next to John.
I quickly got my bearings and looked around with both my own eyes as well as John’s. The tunnels were similar to the ones that led to the boss, as in, I was at a crossroad. Although instead of four pathways, there were six now.
“Alright… What now? Can the magical map tell ? Ugh, wait, is the thing waterproof? It should be, right?”
It would have been very stupid if it wasn’t waterproof, but just in case, I swam to a nearby wall before carefully pulling the map out and holding it out of the water.
Not that that helped much since my backpack was constantly subrged anyway. Eh, the map looked fairly waterproof at least.
Jeofffff: gogglessss
“Oh, right! How did I forget about these?”
I pulled the goggles over my eyes and then suddenly I was falling.
I squeaked in surprise, but my voice was imdiately muffled by the water I fell into. In about two seconds, I found myself splayed at the bottom of the flooded tunnel, blinking in surprise.
I stared at my surprisingly bright surroundings through the goggles for a few seconds before opening my mouth.
‘Uh, right. Water acts like air around . I see,’ was what I ant to say, but it only ca out as wet gurgles.
‘Oh co on!’ I gurgled so more.
GeorgeDoshington: the swamp monster got her lol
KaiEbikoOfficial: nana??!?!
JamieWasTaken3: holy shit wtf
‘I’m fine, Ebi,’ I tried to say as I stood up, expecting water physics, but failing to get them.
This was really tripping up, and I couldn’t help but scowl at my sudden inability to communicate with chat.
On the bright side, I’d held onto the map and it seed to be doing just fine underwater. Small rcies.
I looked up at the surface with a frown and contemplated my situation for a mont.
I couldn’t exactly swim back up, since the water behaved like air. And I wasn’t entirely sure whether removing the goggles now would instantly drown or sothing.
What to do…?
I could just… continue my journey while subrged, but that would an I couldn’t speak to chat, ugh…
…I could try using the swimsuit. It supposedly allowed to control the water around to swim better, right? So even if it behaved like air right now, if I could still sowhat control it…
Ugh, was I really going to change into a swimsuit right here underwater?
Hell no.
Instead of changing clothes, I put the map into my backpack – ugh, that thing was probably full of water by now – put my glove under and began creating a bubble.
Once I judged it to be large enough, I grabbed it with both hands, stepped on it, and then briefly ignited my hands around it.
The thing popped and sent flying upwards, although with a lot less force than it usually did – the physics were seriously weird with these goggles – but still enough for to reach the surface.
I imdiately reached up and moved the goggles to my forehead again and then suddenly, I was floating again.
I opened my mouth to speak and automatically coughed up so water that I’d been apparently breathing down there. Gross.
I cleared my throat, spat the last bits of water, and then finally spoke.
“Hey, chat. I’m back. These goggles, uh, work exactly as advertised,” I inford everyone. “So unless I learn how to fly or wanna chill at the bottom all the ti, it’s probably not the greatest… And I can’t even speak when underwater! It’s a total scam!” I sniffed in annoyance.
GeorgeDoshington: use the swimsuit
Jeofffff: wait that’s aweso
Jeofffff: you should use them all the ti
KaiEbikoOfficial: wait can’t you use chat yourself?
I humd.
“I an yeah, it will be pretty useful if I ever need to go underwater, but… Heck no, George. Maybe later. Maybe after I fuse it with my normal clothes or sothing… Huh, I don’t know, Ebi. I don’t think so…?”
I frowned and tried to summon a way for to type my own ssages, but the system ignored .
“Yeah, probably not. Kind of a sha.” I huffed. “Anyway! That was enough distractions. Let’s see now…” I positioned John – who I’d just realized must have watched suddenly sink into the water – just behind and made him look over my shoulder at the map as I studied it. “...Wait, it changed again. I guess whenever I go to a different area, it changes? Hmm, makes sense. Classic dungeon warping nonsense.”
The map featured the red dot – – and six arrows leading outwards. One of them was green, another one was blue, and the rest were red.
GonguuH: red is probably the wrong way
GeorgeDoshington: try red first
JamieWasTaken3: go blue cuz water is blue
I humd and glanced over my shoulder at John with a slight frown.
“Yeah, I’m assuming red is no good. But then between green and blue… I an, you would think that green is the correct way, right? But this dungeon keeps throwing unexpected stuff at , so the blue arrow might be it… Hmm…”
Jeofffff: send John into blue and go green
“Oh, that’s an idea! Wait, but John has limited range. He probably won’t get very far… Well, let’s try it anyway.” I looked at John again. “Alright, John. Blue or green? Which one are you picking?”
Jeofffff: are WE john?
JamieWasTaken3: poll it!
KaiEbikoOfficial: any actual Johns in chat?
“Yes, chat. You are John.” I nodded sagely. “Eh, sure. Why not? Let’s put up a poll, I guess…”
PrestoFive55: jovial observant helpful naggers JOHN
GeorgeDoshington: lmao
I snorted and shook my head. “You got that naggers part right. Not sure about the ‘helpful’ bit though…”
Naturally, other people imdiately ca up with their own acronyms for JOHN, and I couldn’t help but co up with a few myself while the poll accumulated votes.
A few minutes later, I glanced at it again to see the results.
Poll: ‘Which path should John take?’
Blue: 53.76% (22589)
Green: 46.24% (19432)
Close poll
“Hmm, looks like John will be taking the blue–” I blinked as the numbers registered. “Wait, hold on. How many votes in just a few minutes?! What the heck?! Just how many people are watching right now?!”
PrestoFive55: 113k on snitch
GonguuH: it says 730k
GeorgeDoshington: wtf no it doesnt
JamieWasTaken3: yea its 730k
“...Why do we have two different numbers? Chat, what is going on?”
Was so space-ti nonsense happening again? Or–
GonguuH: 730k on the strear website, 113k on snitch
“...Oh. Okay, makes sense, I guess?”
Although it felt weird that more people were watching through that mysterious website than through Snitch. Maybe it counted everyone watching from all the websites sohow? Actually, yeah. Probably. That would hardly be the craziest thing this skill had done.
“Okay! Enough getting distracted!” I pointed dramatically at John. “You, jealous obnoxious handy noobs, go that way, and I’ll go this way!” I said as I pointed at the tunnels corresponding to the blue and green arrows in the map. ”Let’s go!”
GeorgeDoshington: thefuck did you just call
JamieWasTaken3: lol
KaiEbikoOfficial: hey I’m not obnoxious
“Well, sotis…” I drawled.
KaiEbikoOfficial: D:
Reviews
All reviews (0)