At a glance, reducing gold to dirt may seem counterintuitive, but we weren't making just any dirt. This was going to be fertile soil. That's what Cira said, anyway.
We took the ship down a different branch in the river until the place where it split into many different directions. The choke point of each began to glow bright cerulean while her shining orichalcum staff floated above it all with an increasingly large cloud of what Cira claid were minerals floating around it. It looked like glittering dust with specks of dirt in it.
Cira recalled how Kuja and I figured out how to craft the essence loom from before and tasked with making us two more crystal glasses to drink from while we waited for this stage of the process to finish. Part of didn't want to drink again for the rest of my life, but it was also very tasty, so I obliged.
I struggled to conjure mana crystal in general, having only played around with it following a single to with an old woman a thousand tis wiser than , but symtrical objects felt like child's play compared to giving it an open top and putting a handle on it. I started to wonder whether it was all a dream, and I had never actually conjured mana crystal before.
She chuckled watching struggle, "There is no sha in taking it slow, but I am thirsty… Just forget about the handle for now."
It only took ten minutes or so after that to make two cheap looking cups, slightly misshapen, then a stream of ale floated from sowhere over the hill.
Cira took a long, satisfying sip, "And now we wait…"
We drank and we waited, and we ate until there was a large enough shroud of dust above us to dim the sun. At this point, Cira flipped us around and we followed the river back down. All the way down. The dust was blown away sowhere else.
It was a relatively straight path and picked up speed as we descended, as if Cira had chosen this path specifically. We launched off the edge and I once again held on for dear life, failing to suppress a scream as Cira just sat there with a grin until we hit the sea.
"There's two main ways to go fishing," she said, "I could craft us so fishing poles and harpoons, or we could get on down there and handle the matter personally. I, for one, am curious to see how deep it goes."
"I, for one, am not!" I took the drink away from my face to display my frown. "Fishing pole for , please…"
"Good idea, we'll split up." Dammit… it's my fault this ti. "We don't have any bait though, so the best I can do is enchant you a shiny lure.
She did as much then attached it to a hook. The rod seed flexible despite being solid titanium by the looks of it, from a pouch at her waist, and the line was more of a thin cable. She also crafted a little basket hanging off the side for to put the great amount of fish she expected to catch inside and keep them fresh, then she disappeared with another step and a watery plop.
___
Cira descended through the water until light no longer reached her. Fighting the storm fiend, she didn't realize how quiet and lonely it felt down here. It was an all-encompassing darkness that reminded her not of Archaeum, but of the depths of her own sea of consciousness.
The pressure all around her only beca greater as she fell ever deeper, but it bore no curses, nor the sins of her past. It was just a sea like any other, if a little more potent. The weight wasn't uncomfortable this ti. It felt like she was bundled up in bed, wrapped in a heavy blanket.
She passed a lot of fish of various sizes and species, plucking a few out here and there, and noticed they grew thinner the further she sank.
It's surprisingly pleasant down here… I've already gone a mile below the surface, and I still can't see the end. What an incredible amount of water.
It was no simple matter maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem—outside of the actual ocean. Cira had seen a fishing village with a saltwater pond for raising fish in the off-season, and it was constant work to keep stable. If they slacked off, all their food could die, and they may starve.
Fish produced a lot of waste, especially if they were supposed to grow for generations in the sa pond. Sea water existed in a delicate balance, and this realm's sea was no different from a massive pond. Sure, it really was massive, but to still be so healthy and beautiful after untold centuries was a feat that left Cira breathless—despite the fact she had been underwater for a while now.
Not only did he conjure this realm, but he wove it together such that the natural laws persist in perfect equilibrium even after all this ti. I can't begin to imagine the vast wisdom this person must have possessed.
Cira always knew there had to be other legendary casters on par with her father. He claid there were, for one, but this was the first ti she was faced with the result. With undeniable proof, rather. It was sowhat humbling, but she beca a little frustrated. Dad was still the best…
The thought soured her mood a little, and she started fishing to keep her mind off it. She didn't want to decimate the population, so she only took every third fish, leaving so of the cooler looking ones alone.
Cira ca across a spot of light and found a luminescent jellyfish with glowing pink tentacles that hung like ivy. She contemplated taking a seat on it and riding it around for a little, but didn't want to fight it in case it got made. The jellyfish was like a flower on the shore of a passing island.
Thus continued her descent. The fish she gathered had amassed a school behind her, safe from the varying pressure within Aquon's flow. Then a rumble in her stomach opened her eyes to what might be dinner later.
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She passed up a great many fish, because they were boring ones she had seen or eaten before. A couple rare specins, but nothing that looked particularly aty.
She was beginning to think it was ti to head up and settle for more tuna when a little yellow squid darted past her face and disappeared below.
Are there bigger squids…? Maybe I just have to go deeper.
Luckily, there was no sign of another giant snake, and she was able to catch up to the tiny squid. By Cira's estimate she had to be a couple miles down and it was getting spooky imagining all the water between her and the boat.
Squid Junior and his sorcerous sidekick passed by another one of those pretty jellyfish, and Cira was beginning to get irritated that the fish variety hadn't seed to change much despite the depth. She was getting plenty for her agricultural plans, but wanted to find sothing she'd never eaten before calling it quits. Also, it was disturbing that she still hadn't reached the bottom. How big could a conjured realm be?
Around the ti she passed yet a third jellyfish, Cira stopped for a second and placed her arms on her hips, peering thoughtfully into the abyss.
Sothing's not right. These jellyfish sure get around, but… I've gotta be over three miles deep by now. One whole league under the sea. Even my five percent undine content is starting to feel a little stiff. Why are all the fish the sa…? And why does the jellyfish look identical every ti?
Co to think of it… the pressure has barely increased in so ti. Nothing like it should be down here—
The mont she had that realization, Cira had to resist gasping a few million pounds of ocean into her lungs. She floated there and shuddered for a mont as a wave of discomfort washed over her mind. She swore she was keeping track of her movents, but the map she had in her head suddenly beca much smaller.
Impossible… This whole ti—It's been repeating? Cira's eyes went wide as it all beca clear under her gaze. Ever since around the mile mark, she had actually only traveled about a hundred feet or so, but the edges of this realm was comprised condensed space so distorted she hadn't even noticed she was caught within it. For all she knew, it could have trapped her forever if she let it, or if her undine senses hadn't tipped her off.
Cira was still reeling from the shock. The sense of disorientation dissipating in an instant was jarring to say the least. Squid Junior was long gone.
I think that's quite enough of that… Cira ca face to face with an eel that seed to be sizing her up, "I guess you'll do." She spoke into its mind.
___
"I can't believe she left here again!" I shouted to the loneso ocean. "Fishing sucks."
I caught one drab looking fish about the size of my hand, but I was under the impression we needed mass quantities of fish. How long would this take exactly?
Suddenly, I felt a tug. Much more powerful than that pathetic little thing earlier, like soone had tugged on it with their hand. I pictured a small shark or sothing as big as that tuna. Even if I failed to catch much, a single impressive catch would at least make look half-competent.
Who knew fishing was a skill a sorcerer needed?
I was ready for it this ti. I had been waiting quite a while, after all. I reeled it in carefully, tugging on it and speeding up when I felt it weaken, then letting it ease away a bit to tire it out when it started to struggle. Just like Jimbo taught . It was strong, and it took everything I had to stop from getting ripped off the boat, but this fish was mine.
My spool whined as I watched it fill up and I could tell we were close to the surface. I couldn't see through the glare on the waves, but I was in the ho stretch. I felt it wear out again and reeled it in for one last effort, feeling like my arm was about to fall off when I finally watched it break the surface.
"A—a hand?!" I shrieked as blonde hair broke through the surface.
"Ahhh, you got !" Cira popped out of the water and flopped over the edge into the boat, holding her belly and cackling while I stared at her dumbfounded.
"You… you can't be serious!" She could hardly look at in the midst of her snickering. "I—I thought I finally had one! That took like half an hour!"
I threw the pole in frustration and it quickly sank, then I sat down across from her, fuming and speechless.
"Oh, lighten up." She found her ale again and inhaled awkwardly afterward, "Oh yeah, I can breathe again."
"Did you even catch anything?!" I was about to pull my hair out. If we were relying on my fishing skills this would take until the end of ti.
"Of course." She smiled as a river rose from the sea holding hundreds if not thousands of fish from smaller than my catch to bigger than the tuna yesterday. Then a massive eel that looked like it could swallow rose up, "And I caught lunch."
I sighed my frustrations away and did my best to look past the irritation. If I thought about it, it was pretty funny. Can't say I expected to catch a sorcerer…
A few glasses, and I had forgotten about my anger entirely. I intently listened to her regale over her tale of the depths.
"Still, I can't believe there's really casters out there as powerful as my father…" Cira shook her head.
"No offense, but, looking at this place… are you sure the creator wasn't more powerful than him." I an, Breeze Haven was amazing and all, and the training hall gave a similar feeling to this place, but this was an entire world—at the very least it was a small, but entire world. That was sothing on an altogether different level, I thought.
"There's nothing to suggest he was a talented master in anything other than space!" She slurred, spilling her glass over the side. It almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself. "My father, you see, was the great sage! All known elents and many more were like butter in his hand."
"Why was there butter in his hand…?" I mused, watching the golden plains co back into view as we resud our ascent.
"I-it's not about the butter!" She turned red and I got to witness another rare flustered mont from my master. "It's… it's—never mind! It's ti to begin."
We stopped at a clearing set against the river. Nothing but flat sand for a good couple hundred feet.
"Take notes, Tawny." She said, tossing her notebook at . Whatever she had written was in a language I had never seen before. Why can I read it though…? How strange. "You never know when you're going to have to terraform sothing. It could be a matter of life and death on any other day."
I flipped the page before getting too upset at the creepy letters. "O-okay."
"Consider this. Gold is rely our base dium. Keep in mind that it will do nothing for our plants. Typically, I would say tal dust is far too fine, but this particular sand of Paradise is well suited to allow aeration, drainage, and root expansion. Can you tell why?"
"Uh…" My face went stiff as I drew a blank.
She rolled her eyes at , "Because, as you pointed out earlier, the grains of sand are all different sizes and, if you noticed, different shapes. This is to mimic true sand, but it also makes it a viable base. Now first I must mix in our loose minerals."
The silver-speckled dust we strained from the river, which I had forgotten about, fell from the sky in streams, enshrouding her staff that I guess was just hanging out sowhere while we went fishing. It followed countless paths to spread through the sand evenly, then I watched the entire field begin to churn like a rough ocean in a storm.
"Now, the idea is to mix it until we have a rich, consistent substrate, but we won't get very far without introducing organic compounds." The river of fish swirled before us and ford a seawater sphere to cast ripples of light across the landscape. "Can you tell what makes fish and, well, all living beings decompose?"
"Um…" This is an easy one, right? I got this. "Death?"
Cira wagged her finger with a slight grin, "Close, but not quite."
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