Second Life: Welcome to Gaia

Chapter 51: Marine life

After the party entered the underwater cave, everything becomes dark because the sunlight doesn't reach inside the cave.

When they just started to worry about what they should do, a little ball of light appeared near them, lightning their way through the cave.

Hello Kitty, luckily, know the skill [Cast Light], and she used this skill to cast the ball of light to illuminate an area 30 meters radius around them. The ball of light will follow the caster whenever she goes.

Many utility skills don't have attack power but are indispensable in various situations in the game, like [Cast Light], [Warmth], [Flash], and others.

Now that they have a way to see in the dark, they can continue their way through the dungeon.

The background story of this dungeon is about a spy among the pirates that escaped the cave where they were keeping the alchemic potions smuggled through this underwater tunnel. After escaping, he told the people from the guild about the potions and the danger they can bring to people.

The potions can make life being mutate, and became insane. If it falls into the wrong hands, that would be a disaster. Because of that, they are recruiting adventures to retrieve those potions, as NPCs adventurers from the guild are engaged in a battle against Zheng Yi Sao and the Guangdong Pirate Confederation.

As they dive further into the underwater tunnel, they can't help but stop a few times to admire the beauty of the place. Their heads keep turning from one side to the other, as they gaze in awe at the masterpiece of nature.

Sadly, it is very difficult to see a place like this in the real world nowadays because of the human impact on the environment.

The underwater tunnel is full of different types of lifeforms, from mature coral populations and thriving communities of sponges to fish, zooplankton, and other marine life.

Sponges of various bright colors cluster among the corals across the tunnel, from red, yellow, and orange to violet and even, black. There are some white calcareous sponges, but they are few in comparison with the others.

There are a wide variety of passive fish species swimming inside the cave that didn't represent a risk for them, thus Ye Yan and the others didn't attack them.

Some individual endangered red coral, also known as colonies, spread their vibrant crimson branches from the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. The ghostly polyps waving in the water current as if they were greeting all those who pass by.

To see red coral as they are now is not something that can happen in real life. Being an endangered species, red corals are rarely seen. The few red corals that scientists know are kept preserved since the beginning of the century, or else, they would be extinct by now.

Since the Neolithic era, red coral has been harvested in an uncontrolled way. They are polished and fashioned into jewelry and are considered a potent charm by different cultures. It was believed to have the property of vitalizing life energy, with his red color symbolizing 'blood'. It also represents prosperity and is both effective for business and love.

Ancient Romans used to hung branches of coral around their children's necks to protect them from danger.

The coral was a precious medicine in ancient China. They believe it could brighten the eyes and balance excess and deficiency in the blood.

Japanese believed that coral could dissolve in poison. Thus they were made into charms called ojime that were worn dangling from the waist until they were needed to test for toxins.

In the West are similar beliefs. The red coral powder, together with others ingredients could be used to cure the most violent vomitings. However, the potion was so expensive to make that their cost-benefit was questioned.

In Second Life, like in ancient medicine, the coral, mainly the red one, can be used to craft charms, amulets, and to make potions.

Sadly, the coral of this region are under Tientsin City's protection and they can't harvest them or they will become thieves in the city and be taken to jail as soon as a soldier sees them.

They kept swimming through the underwater tunnel, staying close to the temptation all the time. They know how valuable the red corals are in the game but they can't touch it. This situation is almost the same as showing a very fat roasted turkey to someone that is suffering from hunger and saying he can see but not touch.

Their value of the red coral is widely divulged in the city, thus everyone knows its value. Probably, it is to purposefully tempt players to commit theft in the areas protected by the city.

Further in the tunnel, some stalagmites are growing from the cave floor and stalactites hanging from the ceiling. And they could see fewer corals and other marine lifeforms.

All of a sudden, I Love Skooma, that was swimming in front of the others, stopped and signaled them to stop as well.

Because of his skill [Perseption], I Love Skooma could feel danger nearby. He looked around but could see nothing strange. He decided to swim further to see if he can locate the origin of the danger.

He signaled the other to wait and asked Hello kitty to cast another light ball on him, using some strange gestures, like pumping his fist in the air and opening and closing his hands. When he gave up on doing it, he tried to use his body to write the word 'light'. after a lot of contortion, Hello Kitty finally understood what he means and used [Cast Light on I Love Skooma.

Cast Light normally is automatically used on the caster but it can also be cast on another player.

With a ball of light beside him, I Love Skooma moved forward into the tunnel.

Soon, the stalactites started to move and fall one after the other. Luckily, I Love Skooma was prepared and evaded them using [Burst of Speed] to increase his speed. His legs started to move so fast that it could replace a boat's engine.

The thief needs to have nerves of steel to stand these situations. Those who chose this class and specialize in traps are the ones that took more risk in the game. These players are holier than the clerics. They need to always be ready to sacrifice themselves for their team because they can be sliced, pierced, empaled, decapitated, and burned at any time.

As the thief needs to risk so much and many times isn't recognized for his efforts, few thieves want to play as trappers. Those that do so are fought over by the stronger teams, increasing the gap between the top guild teams and normal players' teams.

After the area was clear of traps, I Love Skooma signaled his friend to move forward.

They continued swimming until they saw something that couldn't be unseen.

The females of the party started to blush uncontrollably, except by Mage of the Cold Night that got some novel ideas from the scene.

The males had a different reaction. Some of them thought they entered hell, others thought it funny. My Girl was the only one that, like always, make a show when he saw those marine creatures. he acted like an innocent girl being molested by a pervert.

What they saw are no other than dozens of Urechis Unicinctus, also known as fat innkeeper worm but mainly known as penis fish[1]. It is a marine spoon worm in East Asia, found in China, Korean and Japanese coasts.

The penis fish bodies are about 10 to 30 cm long, cylindrical in shape, and with yellow-brown color.

But contrary to real-life, in the game, they are aggressive and can throw poisoned needles from a hole in its tip that should be its mouth.

The damage is not high but if a player is hit by the needles many times, the player will get poisoned and start to take damage over time.

Ye Yan and the others started to attack the penis fishes, using their weapons and spells. Luckily they a frail and only need one hit to die.

The problem is that the males of the party started to feel pain in their hearts after slashing it. But the main source of pain in their guts was coming from Hello Kitty and My Girl. Both of them are portraying a psycho look on their faces. Their smiles while killing the penis fishes could scary any male player that sees such a scene.

After seeing Hello Kitty killing the penis fish, I Love Skooma that was interested in the girl, changed his mind right away. He started to imagine what she could do with a guy if she became dissatisfied with him.

The male party members started to ignore the psycho girl and continue to kill the penis fishes in front of them.

.....

[1] They are appreciated in Korean cuisine.