Chapter 5

Sui Xiong discovered that this world possessed a power that could probably be called "magic."

The icy power that giant whale could use was innate, but the reason it could become strong enough to freeze such a vast stretch of sea in an instant was not purely due to nature. More of it came from acquired cultivation.

Its method of cultivation was to absorb the abundant magic in a certain trench in the deep sea.

Sui Xiong truly wanted to reach land as soon as possible, find signs of civilization as soon as possible, and figure out what this world was really like. But he understood even more clearly that no matter when or where, preserving oneself was most important. If he could not keep his curiosity in check, even a freakish cat with nine lives would eventually get itself killed.

This world was not safe. Even a mere giant whale in the sea knew how to use schemes and tricks, so the human world needed no further explanation.

Moreover, magic existed in this world. Who knew how many extraordinary people there were, or how many bizarre methods they possessed?

Therefore, he needed to further strengthen himself and increase his power, ensuring that he could establish himself in this world. He did not need to become invincible across the land, but at the very least, even if he could not win, he had to be able to escape.

After patiently waiting for the ice to melt, he absorbed the enormous whale as nourishment and once again repaired and refined this temporary body of his.

This time, he made his body larger and more resilient, added many more tentacles and several sets of propellers, hollowed out its interior, and left numerous outlets.

The hollow body and those outlets allowed the pressure inside and outside his body to balance, preventing him from being crushed by the pressure of the deep sea. When necessary, those outlets could also become water jets, allowing him to rapidly change direction and adjust his posture by spraying water.

In fierce combat, that was extremely necessary.

Sui Xiong remembered that before his transmigration, a world-famous large-scale Japanese animated series had featured powerful robots that fought with earth-shattering intensity. They all seemed to be equipped with several "attitude control nozzles," which, put plainly, appeared to be this sort of thing.

It was said that the technology in that animated series was highly sophisticated, so much so that one could actually build the robots according to the designs, though whether they would be impressive was another matter. In that case, these water jets should really be useful, right?

In any case, they were not difficult to make. There was no harm in preparing them even if he never used them.

The hollow body had another purpose as well: it could store things.

The One-Horned Giant Whale had left behind quite a few spoils: a sharp horn containing powerful cold energy, an icy gemstone from the area where its brain had been, unexpectedly sturdy bones, and hide that remained tough even after death.

Sui Xiong made full use of these resources to rebuild his fleshly body. Even so, he had not used everything up, so he bundled the remaining portions together and stored them inside his body.

Other people carried backpacks on their backs. His backpack was hidden in his belly. That counted as innovation, didn't it?

Once his preparations were complete, he plunged into the deep sea and swam toward the trench from the giant whale's memories.

The deep sea was dark and unfathomable, with almost no light at all. Traveling along the seafloor was not safe. In the giant whale's recollections, it had encountered danger on the seabed more than once. Thus, although it knew that trench was a treasured place that could greatly increase its strength, it had not gone there often.

After all, though whales were called "fish," they were not actually fish. They still had to surface to breathe. This giant whale differed greatly from Earth's whales in fighting ability and intelligence, but in this respect, it was quite similar.

After taking in enough air, it could dive for a long time in one breath. But if it encountered battle on the seafloor and became entangled, it would still be in grave danger.

Sui Xiong had no such concern. A soul did not need to breathe air, and jellyfish had no concept of breathing at all—let alone a dead jellyfish. Even Sui Xiong himself did not understand why a body that had clearly died had not only failed to rot, but could still jump around so energetically. In any case, he had absolutely no need to worry about running out of oxygen while diving. He could remain submerged for as long as he wished.

Jellyfish could not see in the dark, but the greatly strengthened Sui Xiong could sense his surroundings with his soul, which was even more convenient than the giant whale's abilities. Other than surfacing to feed, he spent all his time swimming through the deep sea, searching for the treasured place in the giant whale's memories.

Along the way, he encountered deep-sea Giant Beast Mountains several times, but no more battles broke out. His body, rebuilt once again, was exceptionally powerful, enough to make those giant beasts think twice before attacking. Since Sui Xiong had no intention of competing with them for territory, he always detoured around them whenever he saw them, ensuring that they did not become enraged.

After swimming for who knew how long, he finally reached that trench.

It was a strange stretch of sea shrouded in a pale blue-white glow, situated at the bottom of a broad, shallow fissure in the seafloor.

Within that not especially intense light was a chill so cold that even his soul could feel it. The jagged rocks on the seafloor were covered in thick Frost. Looking closely, he realized that the pale blue-white glow actually came from that layer of frost.

"What in the world is this?" Sui Xiong muttered. Carefully, he extended a tentacle he had prepared in advance and tried touching the glowing frost.

That tentacle immediately turned into an ice pop, and the freezing rapidly spread up it toward his body. Fortunately, he had prepared for this. The tentacle was not only far longer than his other tentacles, but also had several weak points, allowing it to be severed at once.

The long ice pop slowly sank through the seawater. When it landed on the glowing frost, it did not bounce back. Instead, it silently crumbled into powder and scattered across the ground.

Sui Xiong's scalp prickled as he watched, and he instinctively moved away from that cursed place.

No wonder that giant whale had known it could strengthen its magic here yet still dared not come often. This place was far too terrifying! One careless mistake, and it would lose its life!

After hesitating for quite a while, Sui Xiong ultimately approached the pale blue-white Ice Trench once more.

This place was indeed dangerous, but as long as he was cautious and maintained enough distance, the danger was actually controllable. It was like the world before his transmigration. Everyone knew electricity was dangerous, yet no one stopped using it.

"All right, this distance should be about right." After moving a little closer, Sui Xiong refused to advance any further. Using several sets of propellers to spin in different directions and hold his body steadily in the water, he began trying to absorb that icy aura.

It was not easy. After all, he was not that giant whale, born with the ability to control icy power. But perseverance paid off. After who knew how much time, he finally managed to absorb the icy aura smoothly and store it within his body.

The process was somewhat slow, but fortunately, he became more and more skilled, and his speed of absorbing cold energy also grew faster. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly discovered that a gemstone similar to the one inside the giant whale's head had condensed within the jellyfish's body.

"This... could this be the legendary Magic Core? Or perhaps some kind of magic crystal? Does that mean this jellyfish has evolved into a magical beast?" Sui Xiong found it rather amusing. A mere fleshly body that had long been dead could not only move around energetically, but even evolve into a magical beast... This world was truly bizarre!

After condensing that gemstone that could probably be called a Magic Core, his speed of absorbing cold energy noticeably increased. As vast amounts of cold energy were absorbed and stored inside the gemstone, Sui Xiong began considering how to use it.

The giant whale had three methods of using cold energy. The first was to turn it into a line and transmit it through the seawater, freezing its enemy. This was the method it had used when it ambushed Sui Xiong earlier.

The second method was to spread the cold energy around its body, forming a layer of Frost Armor. When it fought Sui Xiong before, it had not had time to use this move—though even if it had, it certainly would not have helped.

The final method was to release the vast amount of cold energy stored within the gemstone all at once, completely freezing a large surrounding area of sea. This freezing was controllable. Once the giant whale escaped danger, it could absorb the cold energy in reverse and easily thaw the waters around itself, making escape or counterattacks extremely convenient.

However, this move came at a great cost. Once used, it would completely lose its icy power for a short period of time, so the giant whale had always treated it as a life-saving trump card.

In Sui Xiong's view, these three methods were indeed good, but they were still far too monotonous.

Drawing upon the experience of his "previous life," he explored repeatedly and developed two more moves.

The first move created sharp blades from ice. These blades could serve as swords, spears, and other weapons, or transform into claws and fangs. Their applications changed according to his will, making them extremely useful weapons.

The second move constrained the icy power and blasted it out directly without turning it into ice. Once it struck an enemy, it would freeze the enemy's body from the inside out. Although it consumed a considerable amount of power, it was far stronger than the giant whale's ice line—practically a one-hit kill.

Following the principle that "even a dog ought to have a name," Sui Xiong gave names to these five moves—or rather, spells.

Frost Ray, Frost Armor, Great Deep Freeze, Ice Blade, Ice Bombardment.

Honestly, these names were not cool at all. Even Sui Xiong, who had come up with them, thought they were rather stupid.

Stupid names were fine. As long as the moves were useful, that was all that mattered.

All these moves consumed icy power. With the formation of the Magic Core, Sui Xiong could now continuously accumulate icy power. But relying on his own daily accumulation, the amount he could save was not much. Compared to the speed at which he could absorb and accumulate it in the Ice Trench, the difference was like heaven and earth.

Through experimentation, he also confirmed an interesting fact: in this world, the farther down one went, the higher the concentration of magic, or in other words, the faster he could absorb and accumulate icy power. The farther up one went, the lower the concentration of magic naturally became. But once one emerged from the water, the situation reversed. The higher one went, the denser the magic became, while it grew thinner the lower one went.

Overall, the magic concentration at this world's water surface was the lowest. No wonder the fish and shrimp in shallow water were so pathetically weak.

What a marvelous world!

After who knew how long, Sui Xiong felt that the cold energy he had absorbed from the Ice Trench had nearly reached its limit. No matter how much more he absorbed, the Magic Core could not store any more. It would only leak away as though from a leaking container. That escaping cold energy would not only be useless to him, but would instead damage his fleshly body.

He understood that his cultivation time had ended. Now it was time to head for land and search for signs of civilization.