When their bodies rematerialized, they were still submerged in water. But unlike the abyssal void the Emperor Bone Sea's waters emulated, this water was crystal clear.
It was light as a feather; if it wasn't for the refracted sun rays shining around them, illuminating the water's movements, they wouldn't have even noticed its presence.
"Amazing…" Zara muttered in astonishment.
Damien's expression, on the other hand, was strange.
'Isn't this…a massive fishbowl?' He thought to himself.
With the All-Seeing Eyes fully activated, Damien could see the flow of mana around him. He could vaguely make out the presence of a nigh-invisible dome that expanded far past his perception, covering the entire area they were now in.
"Let's go see if we can find anything interesting. Even if this place isn't a Mystic Realm, it's at least an ancient ruin. There's bound to be some goods hidden somewhere." Damien said after glancing around for a few more moments.
"Okay. We can split up and search as far as we can. Our spiritual link is enough to contact each other within a few thousand kilometers, so it should be enough to signal if we find anything." Zara agreed.
"That's true, but you can never be too careful. Take a transmission slip with you as well. I got these from that old man Tian Yang. They're top-notch items with a Demigod's guarantee, so they should work better if we stray too far apart."
Zara took the transmission slip Damien handed her and nodded. The two soon separated, heading in different directions to investigate.
Unfortunately for them, their current environment was much grander than they originally expected.
***
Hours passed to the point where the sun rays lighting the water disappeared, leaving it submerged in blackness.
This blackness, however, was decorated with majesty. With the sunlight's disappearance, many creatures began to emerge from their hiding spots. Fluorescent-colored fish floated through the water and algae and plant life of the same color painted the ground.
This grand display of color was truly magical, but in this environment, it was the most common of sights.
Unfortunately, despite being newcomers, Damien and Zara weren't able to enjoy these wonders. Their entire day of searching left them without any results.
'This place can't be empty. For there to be such a mechanism guarding it, it has to be special somehow…'
Damien's brows furrowed as he tried to figure out the problem.
"These…these fishes didn't come out at all when the sun was up…does it harm them in some way?" Zara suddenly asked.
"I'm an idiot," Damien said immediately after.
"Hm?!" She exclaimed in confusion.
"Ah, nothing," he shook his head. "You're a genius, though, I don't know if you realize it."
While Zara smiled happily at the compliment, Damien truly smacked himself inwardly. Right, the sea life in this environment didn't respond well to sunlight, otherwise, it wouldn't have been so desolate when they first arrived.
He finally took the time to appreciate the wonders around him, and at the same time, his eyes lit up.
Perhaps…the nighttime was the key he was looking for.
"Zara, let's go investigate again." He suddenly said.
"Hm? Will anything be different this time?" She asked.
"I don't know, but I have a hunch. Let's just try it out. Either way, we don't really have the option to leave."
Damien explained his reasoning to Zara, causing her eyes to light up in agreement. She'd been the one who originally put forth the theory, though unknowingly. Only, she'd already stopped thinking about the search by this point so the solution didn't cross her mind.
The two split up once more and began searching. Completely unlike their first attempt, they found results almost immediately.
"Traces of civilization…" Damien muttered under his breath as he used All-Seeing Eyes to thoroughly investigate the environment. Within the ground below, Damien could see clear traces of intelligent life.
'It seems Zara is finding traces too, but nothing significant. If I keep following this trail, though…'
Using the traces as a compass, Damien began traversing the strange realm at immense speeds. His body passed through the blackness like a rocket, and within a few hours, he found himself gazing into the distance at something that looked like a pack of fireflies.
After close inspection, he realized that they weren't fireflies at all. Instead, they were lanterns!
His body turned into a blur, rushing towards those lanterns. As he drew closer, the image of a small village became clear to his eyes.
The architecture mainly used clay as its base. The structures themselves weren't too complicated, but their dome-like shape stood out from the common architectural styles that Damien became used to seeing.
The village was, as implied by the lanterns, inhabited.
Damien watched a few hundred people go about their days. These people had pale blue skin with colored splotches covering their bodies. They had fanned ears and scales running up their forearms and necks. Not to mention, the gills.
'It's them...!' Damien exclaimed inwardly. The civilization he'd been searching for in the Emperor Bone Sea…he finally found his first trace of it in this strange realm!
He wasn't subtle in his approach at all. By the time he arrived, a group of strong guards was already awaiting him with their weapons drawn.
Unfortunately for them, their definition of strong wasn't the same as Damien's.
"I don't want to fight you guys. Here, watch this."
Damien's hand shot up into the sky. Spatial and Void mana combined as one, creating a terrifying black hole emitting an aura that far surpassed what these guards were capable of.
They looked at Damien and back at the vortex, but didn't move. They steeled their wills and prepared to fight. As long as their sacrifices gave others time to escape, their deaths would be worth it.
"Halt. Do not fight him." An aged voice stopped them from attacking.
An old man wearing nothing but a lower-body covering and a pair of ornate bone earrings appeared behind the men and looked at Damien.
"Hmm, a human…I haven't seen a human in several millennia. Boy, what is your purpose here?"
Damien sheepishly scratched his head. "To be honest, I have no clue. My companion and I were randomly transported to this realm after being sucked into a vortex, and now I've finally explored enough to find your village."
"And your companion?" The old man asked.
"Ah, she's on the other side of the realm, probably around 20,000 kilometers away. We split up to cover more ground, you see."
"Mm, she must have found the Oga village. If it's the Ogas…never mind. Boy, come in. Let's talk for a bit."
Damien nodded suspiciously and followed the elder. While he was wary, he wasn't afraid. By his estimation, the old man's strength should be similar to his own.
Damien and the elder entered a nearby dome hut and sat across from each other with a small sand table between them. A young woman brought them tea to drink as they spoke.
And while their conversation would surely be interesting, Zara's experience was far, far more hectic than either of them could've ever imagined.
She stood in the midst of the Oga Clan, massive explosions going off all around her.
This clan…seemed to be at war.
