Cael took out his gun, he looked deep into the pond but found nothing.
The way to the right is not the way for him to go, he remembered the first two faces of the cube.
'Left is the path to go, I cannot go to the right and there's is also a liquid symbol. So, I have to go inside the pond'
Despite all this, it's easier said than done. The pond is not ordinary. He cannot go inside the pond as it's not ordinary water from what he can see.
Cael cast the origin analysis and couldn't see anything. The only reason is It contains mystery.
Going into there might have unknown after-effects.
He could feel it, just as he was thinking about what to do.
He saw a figure fall inside the pond.
'Daphne?'
Although, Daphne's appearance is surprising.
Cael didn't jump into the pond and observed Daphne drowning slowly.
'She's fine, so I guess I can enter'
Cael jumped into the pond and soon felt heavy pressure from all sides of the water.
'Shit!'
He immediately used Reinforcement magecraft strengthening all of his body.
'I have to save her!'
Daphne is a noble, he'll be in trouble if something happened to her whether he's responsible or not.
He swam quickly and held onto Daphne's body that's getting crushed by the unreasonable water pressure.
He took her out of the pond and removed all of her clothes.
When he used origin analysis on her, he found number of broken bones, damaged muscles, and organs.
In short, her body is a mess.
He used healing magecraft on her to repair her damaged body.
Due to the increased potency of his spells after the successful ritual with Belerona. His healing magecraft is potent enough to heal her close to her perfect health.
As she slept, Cael absorbed prana from the surroundings.
Due to potent mystery, the mana in the air is dense. After restoring his prana. Cael reinforced his body once again.
'There was something in the bottom of the pond'
As soon as he entered the pond, he felt the crushing pressure but his reinforcement is powerful enough to avoid that.
As he got deeper, the pressure is reduced, unlike the general situation where pressure should increase.
As he got down towards the pond, the surroundings changed as he entered the empty area.
He could not breathe but he could somehow feel comfortable.
'The power of mystery'
"You could sense my presence?"
Cael heard a voice, it was not in any language he knows of yet he can understand.
"Yes"
He replied simply.
"How are you shamans so evil? You dare to make me suffer and still expect me to allow you to use the spirits under me. All of you humans are the same!"
"Huh? Shamans?"
Shamanism is the magic system followed by America. Instead of relying on thaumaturgical formulas like British mages or mages from the Magus association.
Shamans make contracts with natural spirits. Cael heard of it. Spirits are powerful entities compared to humans. He doesn't want to end up on the bad side of them. So, he decided to end the misunderstanding as soon as possible.
"I am not a shaman. In fact, this is the first time I'm making contact with a spirit. Let alone forming a contract with them"
"Hmph! Liar! I can tell when a person made a contract with a spi- oh! Oh, oh you don't have any contracts "
Hearing the gradual change in tone, Cael felt relief.
A blue light appeared in front of Cael as he communicated.
"why are you here?"
" I was exploring this place, my companion nearly died falling into this pond. When I was saving her, I sensed something and ended up here"
The spirit didn't speak for a while before it said " Make a contract with me, I will be your contracting spirit. You have to take me out of this place without alerting @+##!$ and help me with something"
'Aren't you just taking out your frustrations on shamans? Anyway, the fact that I can't hear whatever this spirit is referring to means that whatever is in it is dangerous. The spirit is also willing to make a contract despite appearing a high-level one.'
Cael didn't agree to it immediately and asked about the benefits of the contract.
"You will not suffer any mortal disease in your lifetime. I can also replenish your prana, If you didn't encounter bad luck and die, I can make sure you will live up to 150 years. This is just basic, as I'm the higher spirit of normal water spirits, they won't harm you as long as you are in contract with me, you can even breathe underwater once you formed a pact with me. There are water elemental spells you can do with my help"
Cael is surprised by the advantages, getting power is extremely difficult in modern-day Nasuverse.
Even with cheat-like magic circuits, Cael can't do much.
Nasuverse sucks when it comes to obtaining abilities.
The difficulty is hellish to get even the most basic ability. However, once you get them, there are absurdly strong.
So, Cael decided to accept the contract.
"I agree. I will make sure to get you out of here no matter the cost."
"Great!" A pretty small girl made of water appeared in front of Cael.

'Ugh! One more girl character. I forgot almost everything is a girl in this world'
"Let's get out of here, Cael"
"How did you know my name?" Cael is not surprised but wanted to know how.
"We just made a contract. You verbally agreed to the contract. The pact is done. So, Now I know about you"
"I see" Cael looked at the Ring. If not for it, he's sure she will recognize that he's a reincarnated person. He doesn't want anything or anyone to know about his status as a reincarnated person.
"Let me get you to the top of the pond"
Cael didn't feel any change but when he looked up, he saw that the surface is just above his head. The water pressure is also nil.
Getting on the shore, he saw Daphne still knocked out cold.
"Shall I wake her up?"
"Let her be. Anyway, I will be calling you Nixie from now on for convenience's sake"
"Okay"
"Nixie, I have some questions. What did you mean when you said Shamans made you suffer?"
"Shamans summoned a being of another plane. It raided my home and polluted it making it un-habitable. That's also the reason why I want to leave this place, the one thing I asked you is also purifying my spirit."
"Then why make a contract with me? From what I can understand, you are an elemental"
"Hey, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not an elemental. I agree, I boasted a bit but I will never dare to claim that I'm an elemental. I am what you call a high spirit, I am nothing more than that"
Cael got into deep thoughts after gathering Information from Nixie.
'This is too much trouble, a being summoned from the reverse side of the world. It's the only place where all the other planes are present. Whatever, I'm sure it is a weak one even if just a little bit stronger than humans. Otherwise, the counter force would already slaughter everything in North America.'
Cael already gained a lot just by contracting high water elemental but the chance of reaching the root is impossible to obtain again.
He decided to take the risk.
"Cael....I..what happened?"
Daphne woke up feeling sour, she remembered being crushed by something. She did realize that she was naked and wanted to know if Cael raped her So, she wants to enquire first
"You fell into the pond. That pond has unnatural amount of water pressure and crushed your internal organs. I used healing magecraft on you. Your clothes see drying up there"
'I can change the pressure' Nixie told Cael telpathically.
'Don't, just leave it as it is' Cael replied.
Daphne remembered the feeling inside the pond and the pressure. She's relieved that Cael didn't take advantage of the situation. She could also feel remnant prana inside all over her body not just her vagina proving his claim.
As for being Naked in front of Cael, she didn't think much of it. It is acceptable for her.
"So, how did you end up here?"
"I triggered a trap and ended up here. I gave a mystic code to Zacrius that will lead him to me. He will find us soon. So, we just have to wait"
There's a subtle threat in her speech, it's a warning to Cael to crush any funny ideas he may have.
Cael didn't mind it. A Clever woman is better than a pitiful woman.