Shrouded Seascape

"Hahahaha! I'm just speaking the truth as it is. Here, cheers!" Dipp replied.

In the lively bar, the boatswain and the second mate of the Narwhale continued their conversation. They chatted about anything and everything. Before they realized it, their bond had grown considerably.

Nico heard from Dipp about how he had come to know Charles and the various extraordinary adventures they had been through together. As Nico heard the Deep Dweller's recount, he could only marvel at how Charles seemed to have a knack for surviving the impossible.

"Thanks, buddy. It feels so much better to have someone to talk to. Alcohol is surely wonderful, you just got to drink enough, and all your worries will fade away," Dipp concluded.

Nico pulled out a long, white cigarette from his pocket and lit it up with a nearby flame. The smoke began to swirl from the tip.

Dipp swallowed hard as he watched the glowing tip of the cigarette. "I used to smoke too, but I quit eventually. Captain said it was bad for my health."

"You're really loyal to him to even listen to him on such small matters," Nico remarked.

Dipp returned a smile. "I never had a father, so he's like a father to me. I will go wherever he goes.

"Previously, I even prepared myself to live on the surface. But who would have thought that the surface world had become like this?"

Nico placed his jug down and peered out of the bar window. "I've looked into his past. He always told people that he was from the surface and that he'd lead the people of the seascape back to the land of light. Many thought he was crazy, but to think that he'd actually achieve it."

"That's just how Captain is. Whatever he sets his mind to, he won't stop until he accomplishes it." Dipp then slammed his jug down on the table with a thud. "Hic! That's enough for tonight. I should head back now."

However, Nico didn't even turn to look at Dipp. His cheeks were flushed with a rosy hue as his eyes stared intensely at the rear of a bald sailor in the distance.

"Look at how perky that is. Say, if I slip a handful of Echo bills into his pocket, do you think he would take me up for a round?"

"Uh…" Dipp wasn't sure how he should respond. Instead, he made his way to the bar's exit.

He turned around to see that Nico had risen to his feet and was digging into his inner coat pocket for his wallet.

Feeling a bit woozy, Dipp finally stumbled back into his room. He flopped onto his bed, ready to turn in for the night. However, something crossed his mind all of a sudden. He staggered over to the small wooden table, sat down, and opened a book.

These were textbooks from Hope Island's school, which he had secretly kept a copy of. His progress had been steady, and in just about ninety days, he would graduate from his own self-learning curriculum.

After completing his study session for the day, Dipp collapsed into bed and entered a deep slumber. In his dreams, he saw that he had retrieved the darkness with Charles, and they successfully brought it back to the Subterranean Seascape.

On Hope Island, rows of people lined the streets as they cheered for the returning heroes. Meanwhile, Dipp's attention was only on his wife standing within the crowd. He saw no one else but her radiant smile.

Slowly, he walked toward her, but with each step he took, a terrifying scene began to unfold. He watched in horror as his wife's skin started to peel away to reveal the azure scales and red gills underneath.

"Dipp, it's been a long while. Did you miss me?" The female Deep Dweller said with a smile.

Dipp's face contorted in fear. This wasn't his wife! It was his sister he had once seen in the depths of the sea!

"AHHHH!" He stumbled back, but a powerful force from behind shoved him forward, and he landed right into her arms.

"Dipp, come back. This is your place of belonging. You can't run. You're not one of them. They're not your kind. You're on the wrong side.

"Our Lord is awakening. The moment He awakens, we, the ones closest to Him, will receive His greatest rewards."

Dipp's features contorted in rage as he pushed his sister away. "Get lost!"

Seeing the disappointment on his sister's face, Dipp clutched his head in pain and shouted, "Go away! I don't want to see you!"

"Dipp, this is your fate." Another family voice echoed in his ears—it was his mother.

Dipp shut his eyes tightly, clamped his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out all the voices, and curled himself up into a fetal position. The family he had in the depths of the sea was something he desperately wanted to forget.

"Our Lord's awakening can't be stopped. Whatever the humans are doing now is pointless. Child, you should stand on the winning side and not follow down the wrong path alongside the losers."

"SCRAM!" Dipp shouted in raw desperation. His eyes shot open, and he was momentarily dazed. After a while, he realized he was still lying on his own bed, but the blanket on him had been torn into two from his earlier thrashing.

"This won't do! I have to let Captain know immediately!" Dipp jumped out of bed and ran toward Charles' cabin.

The moment Dipp burst through the door, he saw Anna in the room. She was holding some documents in her hands while conversing with Charles.

A hint of annoyance crossed Charles' face as he looked up and said, "How many times have I told you to knock first before entering? And have you been drinking? You reek of alcohol."

Dipp was about to mention that he had just seen his family, but then he suddenly paused. He wasn't sure if he had truly seen them in his dreams or if was it just a nightmare.

"Shorty, I know what has happened to you. You can leave now," Anna commented nonchalantly as she crossed one leg over the other.

Dipp cast a brief glance at Charles before turning to leave the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

"Someone is trying to reach Dipp in his dream and turn him into an informant. That's all the Fhtagn Covenant is capable of now. Their people can't leave the Eastern Seas."

"Is there any way to stop Dipp from dreaming? If he continues to interact with those sea creatures, I'm afraid something will happen to him," Charles asked in a concerned tone.

"I'll think of something; don't worry yourself over that. Focus on the bigger issues at hand," Anna replied as she tossed the document in her hand toward Charles' face.

Charles caught the document and scanned the written content. It was a telegram from Cat Island that detailed how Julio rose to become a Level 15 expert.

His ascent was not only due to his position as the governor of Cat Island, which allowed him to amass powerful relics easily. More importantly, he had once struck a deal with some entity within the darkness.

It was a woman wrapped in black bandages and holding a cat in her arms. She was the entity who had bestowed great power upon Julio.

Cat… Woman in bandages…Charles remembered her. Years ago, she had appeared in his dreams.

Who is this woman? Charles wondered to himself. He had initially thought that she was just a figment of his dream, but now, it seemed like she truly existed.

If she could easily grant an ordinary human the power to advance them to Level 15, her own power would surely far exceed Julio's by dozens or even hundreds of times.

"A Divinity? No. Divinities would never help humans, let alone converse with them. Plus, there's no follower of this woman in the entire seascape," Charles muttered to himself.

Anna tapped Charles's leg with her high heels, breaking his train of thought. "Regardless of who she is, the fact remains that Julio's enhanced power can't be replicated. We've been shortchanged in this technological exchange with Cat Island.

"For now, we can only see if there is any usable information we can find elsewhere."