Chapter 957

After spending some time underwater, Anton noticed that his buffs were being affected. That meant he was probably deep enough that, if he were an ordinary human, the environment and pressure would have already damaged his body.

His physical stats and resistances were high enough that the environmental damage didn’t even reach his skin. Anton knew that even if it did, his natural health regeneration would be enough to keep his health pool full, even without the healing aura from his Paladin character.

As the darkness deepened, Anton knew that he had reached sufficient depths. He was glad that his Oak Sage spirit summon was able to provide enough light for him to see his immediate surroundings.

After some time, he thought of the movie Avatar, in which the protagonist used a torch to light up the jungle after night arrived. When the torch was turned off, however, the natural light of the jungle made the entire place seem magical.

Anton commanded his summoned Oak Sage spirit to turn off the light it was emitting, and everything went dark.

Anton didn’t panic. Even if something attacked him, his Grizzly and Clay Golem could see the surrounding area and would be able to defend him without any issues.

Once Anton thought his eyes had adjusted enough, he realized that although there were some natural sources of light, the deep ocean didn’t have anywhere near the same brightness as the jungle in Avatar.

He could only see a short distance around himself, which meant that he would need to continue using either the Oak Sage Spirit or the Light spell to illuminate the area around him.

It would have been better if he could swim a little higher, where sunlight could still illuminate the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the mission log stated that the purple corals could only be found deep on the seafloor.

After a while, Anton checked his spells to see how they were affected underwater. He concluded that they would still work, although with reduced effectiveness. In his opinion, that didn’t really matter since the lower quality could be compensated for with quantity.

So far, Anton hadn’t encountered any wild sea animals or monsters that could threaten his safety. Anything that had enough sense to recognize the danger would usually avoid him. The mindless creatures that tried to attack him and his summons were quickly dealt with by his summons, to the point that Anton didn’t even need to cast spells to destroy them.

After swimming for several days, Anton began wondering why he hadn’t encountered anyone or anything he could befriend. The first time he had explored the sea near New Drennor, he had stumbled upon a group of sea elves.

He had been hoping that he would stumble upon an underwater kingdom filled with sea elves, merfolk, or any other sentient people living underwater. So far, however, he hadn’t encountered any of them.

Anton had even prepared several spells that would help him communicate underwater, such as Tongues, Sending, and Telepathy.

When the time finally came for one of his ravens to encounter a group of sea elves, Anton felt relieved.

Looking at the sea elves through his raven’s eyes, he saw that there were four of them, and each was accompanied by a sea animal.

What surprised Anton was the diversity of their animal companions. One had a large manta ray, another had a dolphin, the third had an octopus, and the fourth had some kind of large fish.

These sea elves were different from the ones he had encountered near New Drennor. The ones in New Drennor still looked like elves, albeit with unique coloring, while these had actual physical characteristics of creatures adapted to living underwater.

Their fingers and feet were webbed, and there were obvious gills on their necks.

Anton wondered if these physical characteristics were the result of evolution or something magical, such as a shape-changing spell.

The raven started swimming toward Anton, and as expected, the four elves followed it. More than likely, the fact that a bird was swimming deep in the ocean had made the elves curious.

The elves were taken aback when they discovered that the raven was leading them to a human accompanied by a huge bear and a golem.

The elves prepared themselves by readying their weapons, which were spears. Once they were close enough, Anton sent a message to the elf who appeared to be leading them using the Sending spell.

He chose Sending because the spell only sent a whispered message to the recipient, who could reply in the same manner. Unlike Telepathy, at least Sending wasn’t invasive.

When the leading elf received Anton’s message, the male elf looked startled.

Anton sent a message explaining that he was a Traveler from Traveler’s Haven and was currently on a gathering mission. He also told the elf that he could reply in the same manner.

Based on the elf’s reaction, Anton could tell that he understood the message, which meant that the sea elves could understand the common language. Anton didn’t need to cast the Tongues spell to make himself understood.

The four elves suddenly started talking to each other using their own version of sign language. Their hand movements were so rapid that Anton assumed their sign language wasn’t a simple one and was probably a complete language in its own right.

The male elf Anton had assumed was their leader finally replied.

“You said you’re a Traveler. What do you mean by that?”

Anton was a little startled. He knew he had made a mistake by assuming that stating his affiliation would be helpful.

He wondered why he had made that assumption when he and his friends aboard the Melinda hadn’t even heard the term Traveler used in relation to a magical organization in Izmorta.

He sent an explanation of what Traveler’s Haven was and its main goals using the Sending spell. While listening to Anton’s explanation, the elf didn’t stop using his sign language to share the conversation with his teammates.

When Anton stated that he was also a Supreme-Rank wizard, the four elves suddenly looked alarmed, despite his repeated assurances that he had come in peace.

He suddenly wondered if collecting the Purple Corals was some kind of taboo among the elves. If that was the case, his mission could turn into something extremely complicated.

When the elf finally asked what resource he was searching for, Anton hesitated for a moment but decided to be honest. He mentioned that he was willing to trade for them using gold coins, mana stones, or magic items.

Anton watched the four sea elves closely as he talked about the purple corals. Based on their reactions, it seemed that they didn’t recognize the name.

The elf then asked how long Anton would be staying in the area.

He replied that he would be there for several more hours. He also admitted that he had several creatures searching for the resource he was looking for.

They asked what those creatures were, so he told them about his wolves, ravens, Poison Creeper, and three humanoid summons.

Anton saw the elves’ eyes widen when they learned that several land creatures were swimming underwater, searching for some kind of magical coral.

The elf asked for his name, so Anton introduced himself, and the elves reciprocated. The elf told Anton their names and informed him that they would report his presence to someone with more authority in their kingdom.

They then asked him to wait for those people to arrive.

Anton replied that he would comply and wait for them.

He wasn’t worried that the sea elves would suddenly betray or capture him. He considered himself powerful enough to escape even if they attempted to surround him.