Compared to the Ryen and his companions who were relaxing in the sun, chatting on the surface while watching the children dance with dolphins, Lumine and her team in the Ocean Monument were anything but leisurely.
As soon as they stepped into the monument, they were met with a chorus of high-pitched shrieks from the Guardians. It was a race against time. Based on the sound, there had to be at least twenty of them. A direct confrontation would not be life-threatening, but it would certainly be a torment. A single hit from a Guardian would inflict the "Mining Fatigue" debuff, rendering them unable to mine blocks or even swing their weapons with any vigor. Given how much the underwater environment already hindered their combat effectiveness, unnecessary team fights were best avoided.
They navigated the temple corridors, united in their exploration, careful to seal off their path behind them. They remembered Ryen saying that the monument's treasure was at the very center, so they pushed forward in a straight line.
The journey went without major incident. While an occasional Guardian would dart out for a sneak attack, no one had been struck yet. For Lumine and the others, it was an exhilarating experience. There was no lethal threat, but the dark, winding corridors held a constant sense of danger, like a real-life room escape. At least, that was how Lumine felt about it.
They pressed on, cutting through walls and defeating monsters. Eventually, the space in front of them opened up. Their Night Vision potions had worn off, but the spacious chamber was illuminated by the soft, ethereal glow of Sea Lanterns. It was dimly lit, yet mysterious and dreamlike, much like an underwater city.
Diluc signaled the group, then paused, momentarily forgetting they could communicate via their comms. Just as he was about to instruct them on how to mine the resources in the space, he froze, staring blankly at Aether and the Khaenri'ahns at the rear of the team. His expression shifted instantly, turning tense.
"Quick! Block the path behind us! Guardians! Countless Guardians are coming!"
Aether was startled, and in the next instant, he noticed strange gray lines connecting himself and the seven or eight Khaenri'ahns around him. Before he could react, a sharp pain struck from behind. Aether and the others were instantly sent flying.
Glancing back, Aether turned pale with alarm. Dozens of Guardians were flooding into the corridor behind them. Most absurdly, the chamber itself was already teeming with over a dozen smaller Guardians and seven or eight larger elites. The sheer numbers far exceeded their own. If they were swarmed, they might be forced to teleport back and start over, or at the very least, lose several Undying Totems.
Diluc and Wenti surged backward, moving past Aether and the Khaenri'ahns. "You've been hit with Mining Fatigue! Install the doors! We'll block the rear, you guys dry out the sponges! Get the water out of this space!"
Aether didn't hesitate. He led the Khaenri'ahns to the floor, pulled out a spruce door, and placed it. Instantly, an air pocket appeared on the seabed, allowing them to breathe freely. Diluc and the others collaborated, fending off the surrounding Guardians while walling off the path behind them.
Aether opened his personal panel, a look of frustration on his face as he saw the "Mining Fatigue" debuff icon. To be honest, the previous attack hadn't been heavy. Protected by their enchanted diamond armor, they hardly felt it, and their hunger bars allowed for quick regeneration. But Mining Fatigue was far more irritating than losing health.
"Milk!" Aether ordered. Everyone took out milk to cleanse the debuff, then placed furnaces to dry the sponges they had gathered.
"Endis, lead the team in drying the sponges! Everyone else, come with me to intercept the Guardians and seal this chamber!"
The team nodded. Four Khaenri'ahns followed Aether, tridents and stone blocks in hand. Diluc and the others were facing dozens of Guardians, finding it difficult to keep up. It wasn't the number that was the problem, but the fact that they were coming from every direction. If they had all attacked from one side, it would have been simple. Were it not for their Riptide-enchanted tridents making underwater movement effortless, they would have been tossed around like a ball by now.
With Aether's team joining the fray, the pressure on Diluc lessened significantly. They focused on the Guardians, leaving Aether's group to block the rear passage. With that, only the dozen or so Guardians inside the chamber remained.
Endis and his team finally went to work, swimming to the top of the chamber and constantly tossing sponges. The water was being drained rapidly. A few minutes later, the chamber was completely dry. Without the water, the once-ferocious Guardians, while still capable of attacking and moving, lost their fluid grace.
With the biggest threat neutralized, the group swarmed them and quickly finished them off. Fearing that the remaining Guardians might breach the stone wall, Diluc simply reinforced it with a layer of obsidian. After finishing, Diluc looked at the obsidian in his hand and went silent.
"Did we... also bring lava down with us?" he asked, turning his head with some hesitation.
The others nodded, lost in thought. A moment later, everyone fell silent. They had lava... and yet they had spent half the day laboriously blocking the path with stone?
"Tch... it seems we haven't explored in so long that we've forgotten all these little tricks," Wenti shrugged, helpless.
After a brief, conflicted moment of reflection, they decisively turned their attention back to the chamber. The main hall of the Ocean Monument was small and empty; aside from the Guardians, there was nothing else. Only the center area, with its Sea Lanterns and Prismarine, shimmered. It looked like a large, stone stele.
"The treasure box should be in there, right?" Lumine muttered, handing her Fortune pickaxe to Aether.
"What for?" Aether asked, bewildered. Lumine replied matter-of-factly, "This kind of dirty, tiring work is exactly what a brother is for! You brought so many people, what else are they supposed to do if not this?"
Aether's face darkened. He stared at Lumine for a long moment before grumbling, "Now I'm suddenly your brother again..." Complaining aside, he signaled his men to start mining the Prismarine.
Lumine and the others didn't stay idle, scouting the main hall to ensure there were no other breaches or monsters. Before long, Aether's team successfully broke open the prismarine stele, and a dazzling golden light rippled through the hall. Everyone gathered around to look.
The first thing they saw was a block of gold. However, no one cared much for it. Aether stared at the gold, lost in thought. As Ryen had said, once Khaenri'ah was restored and settled in this world, their main life would be in the MC world. Mora wouldn't be very important anymore, which meant they would need a new monetary system. Gold, while not exactly rare, carried a weight of importance ingrained in everyone's bones.
"Gold nuggets, gold ingots, gold blocks... perhaps it's feasible," Aether mused. He realized that by controlling gold mining, they could establish a new trading currency for Khaenri'ah. But he wasn't in a hurry to discuss it yet. There was only one gold block, and no one cared. They had brought two stacks of them anyway.
He mined it with his Fortune pickaxe. The real treasure was revealed behind the gold block: an unassuming wooden chest. Seeing it, the group perked up. Aether instinctively reached for it, but Lumine slapped his hand away, looking proud. "With your luck, you'll just open it and get nothing!"
Aether glanced at her silently. He did the dirty work, and now she said he wasn't worthy of opening the box? "It's not like yours is any better!" he huffed.
Lumine lifted her chin triumphantly. "My luck is average, but before I left, I borrowed some luck from Ganyu!"
Aether rolled his eyes and ignored her. Lumine whispered a quick prayer and opened the chest. Inside, aside from the usual diamonds and enchanted weapons, the most eye-catching treasures were in the bottom slots: a staff, two scrolls, two books shimmering with strange light, and a small vial.
Most surprising of all, the vial contained a swirling, flowing thundercloud, looking like a bottled world from a fairy tale. Lumine didn't recognize any of these items, save for the staff: a Thunder-attribute Advanced Staff, "Tamer of Thunder."
After a moment of thought, Lumine decisively packed the items into her inventory. "Let's go up. The harvest seems to be quite large, we'll have Ryen appraise these."
With that, she led the way, jumping up to the top of the main hall, shattering the ceiling of the monument, and swimming out. The others followed, and soon, they returned to the surface.
In the distance, Ryen and his group were still lying on their boats, sunbathing leisurely. Lumine accelerated toward them, but suddenly, she felt something swimming rapidly behind her. She was about to draw her weapon when she paused, stunned.
Behind her, four dolphins were dancing gracefully on the waves. And on their backs were none other than Klee and the others. Their happy, crisp laughter carried through the air. As the dolphins brought the children alongside them, Lumine finally reacted, astonished.
"Klee? Dolphins? How interesting! I want to ride too!"
Lumine waved her hands frantically. Klee heard her and cheered, "Yay! It's the Honorary Knight sister! Honorary Knight sister! Klee is a Dolphin Knight now!"
Klee gently patted her dolphin. "Little dolphin, can you swim over to the Honorary Knight sister?"
The dolphin nodded obediently and surged toward Lumine. One was splashing through the water to stay afloat, the other was riding a dolphin across the sea. Suddenly, Lumine felt that going to explore the Ocean Monument had been a mistake.
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