In a secluded part of the enchanted forest, Aqua stood testing his new powers. With the sweet taste of the victory against the sea serpent still lingering on his mind he activated his power: shapeshifting.
Instantly his skin changed, and shimmering scales grew on his whole body as his fingers grew longer with webs spreading between them. He felt how he could control water just with a simple thought. Water droplets began to dance around him following his will.
At first, he created a sphere of water which began to move around him while changing shapes and growing bigger. Then he began to try out different forms like cubes, rhomboids, and triangles. Lastly, he summoned his favorite weapon and condensed the water form into ice. He created an ice-harpoon that shined against the light of the sun as a prisma would do.
Through the passage of the years, Aqua and Shio had been forged as warriors in the battle for survival. Both became cunning and deceiving warriors. Shio was an expert with the chain, commanding it to behave like his own body, while Aqua had learned to wield the harpoon. Fighting side-by-side they became a menace as Shio restrained their foes, Aqua dealt the finishing blow. When they began to fight something in Aqua would change, his whole jovial and friendly demeanor became cold and ruthless, as a seasoned hunter.
'What should I hunt now?' Feeling powerful and renewed Aqua began to search for a foe to contend. Little did he know that no one searched for a nightmare, they found you.
As Aqua traversed the enchanting forest he kept track of the creatures he encountered and which ones he would be able to defeat. The ranks of the creatures in the Ocean Realm where as follows: Common Creatures, Minor Guardians, Elemental Beasts, Leviathan Titans, Abyssal Elders.
Those where the ones one could encounter in the region of their First Dive.
The ranks showed an almost exponential growth between them, an aspirant for example would never be able to defeat a Leviathan on a fair fight and a Leviathan couldn't even compare itself to an Abyssal elder.
The snake that Aqua had killed was a Minor Guardian for example, a creature on the level of an Aspirant.
Walking around the tall forest, Aqua found three types of creatures: Minor Guardians, Elemental Creatures and Enigmatic Creatures he couldn't classify.
Minor Guardians formed the first level of the jungle hierarchy, these creatures, were the first barrier towards the inner levels of the jungle.
The Elemental creatures he encountered seemed to channel the very essence of the elements. Aqua marveled the diversity among them – ethereal, earth-bound and aquatic, each one with their own traits.
As of now, Aqua the most interesting creatures that Aqua had seen, were two Minor Guardians and an elemental beast.
The first Guardian he saw was a mistral drake, a graceful fusion between a manta ray and a dragon. Its scales were a mix of blue and silver and its wing-span was almost 3 meters long. These creatures roamed the rivers and sky in the enchanted jungle and never were seen together or In groups. They were highly territorial and would attack anything that came in sight.
For instance, Aqua saw one of them killing a little common creature that was stupid show itself before the drake. It was ruthless and fast, one blow and done.
Aqua had been lucky enough to remain unseen till now, but no one new when the stupid little creature would be him.