Chapter 956

Anton checked his status one last time and was satisfied when he saw that his body was protected by almost all of the spell buffs and auras from all of his Diablo II characters.

He went to the beach and entered the ocean. Soon, with the help of his Telekinesis spell, Anton was swimming fast enough that he began moving farther and farther from the starting island.

Anton wasn’t worried about getting lost. He could return to Remuth or the Gale continent using his spatial spells whenever he wanted. He was delighted to discover that, with the protection of the Anchor spell, the Gate spell could be cast even underwater.

It still had the same limitation as his Town Portal, though: the Gate spell couldn’t be established on a moving platform.

Because of the buffs and auras he had active, as well as the resistances his body possessed from being forged by the physical capabilities of melee characters from the world of Diablo II, the underwater environment didn’t affect his movement very much. The temperature didn’t bother him either.

Anton knew that he would need to dive deeper to begin his search. He was still swimming in an area where sunlight could reach him, so he began diving.

Soon, he found himself back in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by the denizens of the deep ocean.

The first creatures he saw were ordinary fish swimming leisurely through the water. Soon, larger ones appeared, but they avoided Anton.

Since he was still relatively close to the small island where he had started, he reached the seafloor soon enough and saw a large number of corals. The surrounding area was still bright enough for Anton to see, but he knew that sooner or later, he would reach a depth where he would need magic to illuminate his surroundings.

Anton wasn’t disappointed that he hadn’t seen any of the purple corals that were his target. The mission log had specified that he would find them deep inside the ocean.

He wondered if he could summon his summons underwater, so he decided to test it. He first summoned a Spirit Wolf.

When the wolf appeared, it didn’t seem to have any difficulty breathing. That reminded Anton that his summons weren’t actual living beings but some sort of mana constructs, which meant they didn’t need to breathe.

The issue was that his summons’ combat abilities were probably halved by the underwater environment. Still, he didn’t need them to fight. He needed them to search for items that contained spatial energy.

Anton summoned all of his summons. Their presence comforted him.

He kept the Grizzly and the Oak Sage by his side and sent everyone else out to search for the purple coral. Thankfully, his summons already knew what to look for. They could recognize spatial energy because they had spent quite some time digging for the spatial-energy-laced mithril ore in that wild dungeon in the Xinati Wilderness of Huoxi.

Thankfully, his summons didn’t require a light source to see, which meant they could continue searching even when they reached depths where sunlight couldn’t reach them.

Anton didn’t have that ability, but the Oak Sage spirit summon provided enough light for him to see his surroundings.

After several hours, they had reached a depth where Anton felt as if he had entered a different world. As expected, the ocean remained bright enough for him to see because it was illuminated by various light sources, such as sea plants that emitted a faint glow and some kind of sea stones that emitted fluorescent light.

The underwater world was beautiful.

Curiously, Anton hadn’t encountered any wildlife or monsters that were aggressive toward him. He did see some larger creatures, such as sharks, in the distance, but they seemed to sense his aura and immediately avoided him.

When Anton sent his summons out to search, he made sure they went in pairs so they would have a partner with them if they were attacked by something. The only ones who searched alone were the Valkyrie, the Shadow Master, the Shadow Warrior, the Poison Creeper, and the ravens.

He thought the ravens were small and fast enough that they could simply avoid any attackers that targeted them.

The Grizzly and the Golem remained beside him. Anton was curious about the Clay Golem. He had expected it to be slow underwater, but it was actually just as fast as his other summons.

While his summons searched for the coral, Anton leisurely swam around and admired the world beneath the ocean. He would stop and stare at particularly beautiful corals or stunning-looking fish.

Thankfully, he remembered to activate his Globe of Browser Sharing so that his journey underwater would be recorded.

After several hours, Anton thought he had traveled far enough from any land that he was probably deep in the middle of the ocean. He was comforted by the fact that he could leave whenever he wanted using his spatial spells.

After some time, his Valkyrie communicated to him that a group of Sahuagin had suddenly appeared and ambushed her. Anton’s Valkyrie was powerful enough to destroy the group of five Sahuagin without any difficulty.

After a while, Anton became tired enough to start thinking about surfacing so he could use the small lifeboat in his inventory to rest. It was the same lifeboat that he and his family had used to escape the Undead Coalition’s attack on the Amelia.

When Anton, Anders, and Anna had arrived on the Gale continent in that small boat, he had repaired it using a spell and then stored it in his inventory. He hadn’t bothered to throw it away.

Anton wondered if he could sleep underwater. His Underwater Breathing spell had a long enough duration that he could fully rest, especially with the help of his Pearl of the Ocean magic item.

Since he had been swimming for almost twenty-four hours and was feeling tired, Anton decided to test his theory about sleeping underwater instead of surfacing. He found a nook and made himself comfortable while his Grizzly and Clay Golem guarded him.

His other summons continued searching the surrounding area while he slept.

Anton woke up after three hours and was fully rested. He knew then that his test of resting underwater had been a success.

His summons reported that they had fully searched the nearby area, so Anton moved on.

As he swam, he continued observing the underwater world and was glad that he hadn’t been attacked by any monsters. He didn’t want his journey to be marred by violence.

He knew, though, that the main reason he had remained undisturbed was that the buffs and auras he had activated remained active, and he kept the visual effect active as well.

The issue was his need to eat and drink.

Anton had initially thought that since he could rest underwater, there would be no need for him to surface. However, he realized that he still needed to leave the water to take care of his body’s other needs.

He swam upward, and it actually took him a while to reach the surface of the ocean. Thankfully, the ocean was calm enough.

He retrieved his small lifeboat and climbed aboard. He ate and drank his fill, took care of all his bodily needs, and then swam deep into the ocean again.

While swimming, he thought about his alternatives and experimented with using his Energy Shield by expanding it enough to create sufficient air space for him to eat, drink, and defecate.

He spent several hours experimenting, and after some time, he successfully expanded the Energy Shield.

That meant he really didn’t need to surface anymore. He could continue living underwater while his summons searched for the purple corals.