Chapter 8 - Primeval Shallows

Primeval Shallows (Yellow Zone), Southwesternmost of the Map.

They deemed the topographic profile of the Primeval Shallows in Floor Map the lowest compared to the rest of the areas, where the water that came from the mountain accumulated and became a vast shallow lake with towering otherworldly trees.

It had a swampland-like appearance, providing a soothing yet terrifying ambiance because of the monsters that might spring up from the polluted shallow waters.

Liam had seen otherworldly water plants resembling lotuses, water lilies, frogbits, and other floras that grew in profusion on top of the polluted shallow waters.

However, the plants' appearances compared to their earth counterparts were deformed and so unsightly.

The shallow water was deep enough to drown a full-grown human, judging by how deep the pebble that Liam hurled sunk in.

Peered deeper into the turbid waters, vague enough to notice the silhouette of some unknown water creatures against the dimming shallow waters moving underneath the water surface.

Noticing the humongous trees, even bigger than the tallest sizes on Earth, they sprang out from the shallow waters.

Their roots nurtured from the consistent supply of water from the precipitous mountain, covering the entire forest with its widespread branches.

Vines were weaved and cascaded by the branches and phylum of moss-like non-vascular plant blanketed on every dry rock surface therein.

The appearance of the environment astounded Liam as he became wary of the monsters the system informed him about.

At that exact moment, he heard a strange voice.

"What are you doing here?"

A sonorous voice came from a bulbous bipedal amphibian player, who suddenly emerged from the waterways that descended from the steep mountain.

Its enormous pair of eyes and an expansive jaw full of sharp teeth gave it a terrifying impression despite being about 4 feet tall only.

Liam instinctively aimed at the player, which compelled it to raise its hands in the air, nervous to get shot anytime.

"Ahoy! I'm not here to fight. I'm merely investigating the area!" The player cautiously explained as it instinctively took a step back.

Liam's eyebrows furrowed as he responded, "Yeah, I heard that before. Would you mind telling me how did you get here?"

"I was climbing the mountain using the waterways when I felt with my gills that sea creatures swarmed this place. Please lower your weapon and let's be friends," the amphibian player strongly suggested.

Right after, the player summoned its system, typing something on the screen as Liam narrowed his eyes without lowering the gun pointing at it, heeding at the amphibian player's actions.

[Chatroom Tab]

[/add friend #A81-69-8411-2-2]

After the amphibian finished its actions, Liam's system interface popped up in front of him.

**Ding!**

[Shark_Teeth sent you a friend request]

- Codename: Shark_Teeth

- Gender: Male

- ID: B54-34-8411-2-1

- Player Level: Novice

- Species: Murloc (lesser species)

Shark_Teeth smiled gleefully with its horrifying teeth, getting friendly to its foe.

Just like how the system explained it to Liam before, the system would show the basic information of the requestor to the requestee.

Below the message, there was a green 'check' icon and a red 'cross' icon to accept or decline the friend request.

Once Liam accepted the friend request, he knew the Murloc would see all of his information and the other way around.

So it was something that you would absolutely not do to a player you just met.

Besides, if they were to fight, Shark_Teeth would have the advantage because of the environment they were in.

"By the way, you can call me Murkee, that's my actual name. I saw you demonstrated the holy fire earlier. Having an affinity to any basic elements is extremely rare at the beginning, but you showcased your deep talent with one of the strongest types of fire elements. Are you perhaps a higher species?" Murkee carefully queried.

Liam shook his head in response and looked at Murkee with a deep gaze.

Murkee flinched from the gaze that looked like peering deep into his soul.

He scratched his head with his frog-like hand and confessed, "Forgive my rudeness, if that's too personal to ask. I didn't know what was the thing on the upper floors where you came from so... Please forget that I ask."

Liam instantly realized the nervousness Murkee felt because of his aim, the same nervousness the other creatures felt when he joined their conversation whilst radiating the holy fire.

Because of the holy fire his fists emitted, they concluded he was a native in the and descended from the upper floors to become a player.

Since the was built several millennia ago, some recruited species prevailed from the harsh environment of the tower and managed to create their clans or other groups consisting of similar species in the after selective breeding.

From the system's brief explanation, there were two main types of the 's residents, and .

As the name suggested, were the creatures descended from the first few batches of players.

They didn't know their home planet and most of the 's creatures were .

On the other hand, were the creatures who were summoned from their home planet into the due to the lack of .

For most species, it was hard to ascend without the help of others.

If they were too afraid to join guilds because of lack of trust or excessive discrimination to lesser species, they would mostly stop challenging the trials and live a life with creatures with the same species they found.

Before they could even grow their numbers, players eradicated their species in the .

While some held their ground or escaped to a better place.

Judging by Murkee's behavior, his tribe must be one of the poor suckers starving to death, waiting for their demise once their tribe was found by players who loved to obtain valuable items from non-players or .

Without answering any question, Liam deliberately replied, "Can you kindly tell me which floor did you come from?"

"Forgive my rudeness once again, but I couldn't tell you the specifics and get nothing in return. But I believe you could assume that I'm from the lower floors based on the information you found out about me," Murkee lowered his head to the wet ground after he answered to give respect.

If Murkee's assumption that Liam was a higher species was correct, Liam might crush his entire tribe on his own after ascending a few floors.

So he behaved with utmost respect and delicacy, terrified to offend a creature he thought with a deep talent that surpassed even the Gargoyle earlier if the Gargoyle didn't have an affinity to any elements yet.

"Do you mind telling me how many kills do you have?" Liam continued asking as if he was interrogating a criminal.

"I patiently waited in the water and stole three kills from other players before I came here. I am not damaged at all because of my erratic movements," Murkee indicated to let Liam know he would put up a fight if in case Liam attacked him.

Liam lightly chuckled, acknowledging the creature's will to survive despite believing that he was a talented individual.

"If you would like me to accept your friend request, this higher creature might trouble you a bit about something," Liam mumbled without looking at Murkee.

"Speak your terms."