Chapter 88: It's Clear He Loves Her

Atlas followed behind Giant Grouper and realized that this place was its home, and its eggs floated around as the giant fish started tending to them. However, something struck him as he noticed the mana was off and felt sickly, which worried him.

'This feels like the Lost Prince that Amethyst and I met,' he mused. 'Maybe Chaos is affecting the underwater world?'

He grabbed one of them, which caused the giant fish Mom to spin on him with narrowed eyes, but Atlas explained, ''Your babies need mana. I'll provide it, but you must protect me from monsters while I work. After all, you've helped me—this is the least I can do in return.''

The giant fish looked at him before nodding and swimming to the entrance while keeping an eye on him. Atlas smiled at the friendly fish as he sent mana into the egg, causing it to glow. His mana started decimating the chaos-like essence that lingered inside.

[Mana: 1658/1708]

'Only fifty mana per egg, but there are hundreds of the things here,' Atlas pondered before moving on to another.

The first egg began to glow softly, and moments later, a tiny Giant Grouper, no larger than a small plate, emerged and swam toward the entrance. As the newborn approached, the mother's eyes widened in surprise and delight at seeing her healthy offspring.

Following that, Atlas continued tending to the eggs while listening to the peaceful sounds of the water, which put him at ease, but that's when a battle erupted by the entrance. He spun around to see the Grouper mother fighting a giant eel.

'What's going on now?' he thought with a sigh.

When seeing the intruder, Atlas quickly scanned it to determine its rank.

[Trench eel]

[Rank: B+ 850 Exp]

'Is every creature down here strong!' he internally complained.

Atlas noticed the massive, pitch-black monster with glowing red eyes fighting with the Giant Grouper and wrapping around her body. The fish was struggling, but he let go of the egg he was holding before dashing toward the fight.

He drove the Nightblade into the eels and unleashed Void Bullets. Moments later, an azure glow emanated from its body, building in intensity until it erupted in an explosion. Infuriated, the Trench eel lunged at him with fierce rage.

Without thinking, he cast Void Step to avoid its teeth before casting a Void Blast at the monster's head, causing it to spasm, which gave the Giant Grouper enough time to attack and get the upper hand in the fight.

Atlas kept attacking the Trench eel, who started to panic as spells and the giant fish ganged up on it until the monster was on the death's door, and the mother Grouper looked at him as if you offered the last strike, which he took.

He thrust the Nightblade into the creature's head before casting a Void Blast through the weapon, which blew the eel apart into chunks of disgusting meat the Group and her baby started collecting.

'At least it's dead now,' he mused with a tired smile.

Following that, Atlas spotted a blue Monster Core the size of a football floating around the entrance. He stored it away before tending to the eggs but soon realized he had a minute's air left.

Before he could turn around, the Giant Grouper was there and looked up, causing him to look and see a light not far away. Atlas glanced at the fish, saying, ''I'm going to look up there and get some air once I run out of mana.''

Once Atlas finished talking, he continued healing the eggs before running out of mana. This caused dozens of baby Groupers to explode and swarm their mother, who looked happy, causing him to smile, 'So monsters aren't all brutes and bloodthirsty murderers.'

Atlas swam toward the light, realizing he had another minute left of Aqua Lung, only to discover that a large part of the ship was an air pocket. He saw a corridor with many doors on either side, which caused him to grow curious.

'Hopefully, there isn't a zombie or some form of creepy creature lurking down here,' Atlas thought.

He used Void Sight but found nothing before moving down the corridor, readying his blades for any attack, and approaching the first door. Atlas opened it and peeked inside only to see bunk beds.

'This is where the crew must have slept,' Atlas thought as he entered the room. 'The beds are dusty but look comfortable.'

Eight bunkbeds ran along the walls, with a table and chairs in the center of the room. He noticed the two chests under each bed, so he approached the closest and pulled it out.

Atlas noticed it was covered in a thick layer of dust, but that didn't deter him from opening it and seeing articles of clothing, trinkets, and other things the crew needed. He dug through the stuff and found a pouch full of gold and silver coins.

He tossed the bag onto the table and resumed his looting. Amidst the scattered items, he discovered a set of armor adorned with an unusual emblem. "I wonder which realm this is from?" he mused.

Afterward, Atlas stashed the armor in storage, planning to consult the girls later. He then continued to explore the other chests, finding more of the same type of items. By the time he finished with the room, he had collected a dozen pouches of gold, silver, and copper coins.

Two dozen Minor, High Health, and Mana Potions were alongside the pouches. Atlas stored everything away before leaving the bunkroom. He headed toward the door opposite, only to see a broom cupboard.

He checked the others and found more bunkrooms with fewer coin pouches; Atlas soon found a storage room with all kinds of things. The stuff looked like some typing machines but was rusted due to the dripping water.

While walking down one of the aisles, Atlas spotted another chest and pulled it out, only to be filled to the brim with Blue Stone Cores, 'Wow. There must be hundreds in here; Amethyst said that the empires of Aridonia struggle to collect these things from the Blue Dune Desert.' S~eaʀᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Without thinking, he swiped the chest and stored it in his Dimensional Storage, only to feel a clink go off inside his mind, causing a notification to pop up.

[Dimensional Storage: 0→1]

'Oh nice, I can store more stuff now.'

Then, Atlas counted the coins he looted from the bunkrooms and ended up with 175 gold, 345 silver, and 2004 copper coins, 'This is a good haul, maybe there's more in the ship.'

Afterward, Atlas continued his search of the ship, finding only an empty bunkroom, a kitchen, and an engine room. Now standing in the corridor, he had just two more rooms left to investigate: one down a side corridor and the other up a set of metal stairs.

He tackled the closer room first, heading down the corridor and stepping into what appeared to be the captain's quarters. Atlas noticed there were suitcases placed all over the floor alongside skeletons.

They were all covered in dust, but one stood out. A skeleton in a beautiful-looking dress held a book in its arms while slumped in a chair in the opposite corner of the room, causing Atlas to walk toward it.

Atlas gently took the book and wiped the dust off it only to read, 'Princess Arianna's Dairy.'

He was taken aback but stored the information in his memory for later. He stared at the skeleton and wondered who she was. 'Well, it seems you passed away surrounded by your family,' Atlas said as an unknown sadness washed over him.

A man and woman lay on the bed holding hands, which made him smile as the couple died in each other's arms. But that's when something caught his attention. The female skeleton had strands of white hair.

'Other people with white hair,' Atlas mused. 'The girls told me It's a rare trait, so these people must be important.'

Following that, he covered them with blankets he found in the room before searching the room while only finding personal items and rotted food. Atlas soon found a picture of an older married man and woman who were nobles due to their expensive-looking clothing.

What caught his attention was that everyone in the portrait shared the same striking white hair and glowing purple eyes. Beside the older couple, a young man in his twenties stood out, wrapping his arm around a beautiful woman with silver hair and blue eyes.

Atlas observed that she looked profoundly happy as she cradled her stomach. 'They seem like a beautiful couple,' he thought. 'It's clear he loves her.'

While other figures were in the portrait, his gaze was drawn to these two, but he couldn't figure out why. Then, Atlas noticed a young woman holding the very book he now possessed. "I wonder who this family is?" he muttered. ''Maybe the girls will know."

Afterward, he settled into an empty chair, pulled out the diary, and opened to the first page. His jaw dropped as he read the title, "Arianna Pendragon, 4th Light Day of Suncrest, the season of Solaris, year 113 of Dawn's Chronicle."

'According to memory, today is the 3rd Lightning Day of Frostfall, the season of Winterfrost, year 127 of Dawn's Chronicle,' Atlas thought.

As he contemplated this, Atlas reflected on how the calendar functioned in Valoria. He remembered that a week there comprised eight days, with each month divided into four such weeks. The months were named to align with their seasonal positions.

Winter, or Winterfrost as it was known, was split into four months consecutively named Frostfall, Snowdrift, Everglaze, and Frostwane.