At the southeastern corner of Black Horse Island lay a barren stretch of beach, dotted here and there with wooden huts.
Though crops could not be grown here, the beach was rich in seafood resources. Port Town's skiff fishing teams often came here to harvest seafood for the territory's food supply.
At that moment, Liszt, dressed only in fitted leather armor and shorts, sat personally in a skiff, rowing out toward the sea.
All his attendants remained on the beach. He had come alone to explore the underwater giant kelp forest. Since he needed to communicate with the sea siren A Ke at all times, bringing attendants along would have been inconvenient.
With A Ke guiding him beneath the sea, he easily reached the waters above the giant kelp forest. He lowered a rope and had A Ke secure the skiff.
Before preparing to dive, Liszt asked, "A Ke, I may know how to swim, but it's difficult for me to use my strength underwater. After all, my battle qi is fire-aspected. I'll need you to guide me well."
"Don't worry, Brother. A Ke will protect you, just like Brother protects A Ke!"
"My current limit for holding my breath is fifteen minutes. To speed up the exploration, I'll need you to tow me as we swim."
"Mhm."
A Ke swam incredibly fast. If Liszt had swum on his own, more than half of his fifteen minutes of breath-holding would likely have been spent just swimming, leaving him hardly any time to explore the giant kelp forest.
He took a deep breath.
Splash.
Liszt jumped straight into the sea and, following the current controlled by A Ke, quickly dove toward the seabed. His powerful physique allowed him to use battle qi to slow his consumption of oxygen—assuming the physical laws