Realizing his predicament, Jacob decided to try another method to keep himself from exhausting. He begins to use the magic gem to absorb the energy into his body and then again starts to swim.
Although it was working, it was mentally exhausting. But he had no choice but to persevere since stopping meant going back again and remaining trapped in the ocean forever.
After swimming for another ten miles, Jacob suddenly felt the gravity begin to lessen bit by bit, which meant he was approaching the surface albeit slowly, but he was getting there.
Many hours passed, and at some point, Jacob felt like he might fall asleep any moment because of the mental exhaustion. With bloodshot eyes, he continued to persevere, and the G-force was already lessened by half, so his speed was also getting faster.
'Just how deep is this damn ocean?' Jacob wondered, full of resentment. He mused that he had already swum over a hundred miles, yet there was still no trace of the surface, and if not for his cursed blood's help, he might've never been able to make it. He was very happy that he found this ability when he did.
The darkness was slowly wearing down, and at this moment, Jacob finally used the Spirit Water Escape to sprint. The G-force was already less than a hundred, so the distance he was able to cover was also four times more than before his mana ran out.
At this moment, he can finally see the light, and he never thought he would be this excited to see the light in his life. He was exhausted, and all he wanted was to sleep. Preserving with his full willpower, Jacob finally broke out of the water's surface. He felt the sunlight on his skin and breathed fresh air.
Without wasting any time, he took out a large ship and activated its stealth function before falling into deep slumber.
He didn't know how long he had slept, but after he awake, all the mental fatigue was gone, and before doing anything, he began to eat like crazy. It has become a habit of eating, and he somehow begins to enjoy the flavor of high-quality flesh.
After eating almost all the epic-rank meat in his storage space, which was around a ton, he finally felt alive again and began to recharge his mana.
Once he was at his peak, Jacob finally came out of his cabin. It was already night, and the ocean was calm.
'Where am I?' He thought.
He didn't see any islands or any radioactive smog as far as he could see, so he guessed that he had drowned pretty far away from the Dead Faction territory because of the blast radius of the bomb.
But it wasn't like he was completely helpless; he activated the star watch and the map, and with the active star network, he easily found his exact location, and he was astounded.
'I'm this close to Unique Plains?' Jacob's eyes shimmered elation, and he quickly steered the ship in the east direction.
After setting the sails and location route, Jacob was at ease. At this moment, he finally noticed a notification he had received fifteen days ago about the time he lost consciousness.
Opening it, he was shocked to see the familiar notification.
"Star Administrator Artificial Intelligence (SAAI): Congratulations, Faceless Ancient, for completing a hidden achievement of the Unique Plains by killing over 5,000,000 Dark Beings and Destroying the Dead Faction's 40% territory alone!
"Achievement Reward (1): Lone Hero of Life (Honorary Identity Badge)
"[Lone Hero of Life: An Honorary Title granted by the Life Faction to those who have guts to enter the enemy terrify alone and killed until the blood runs like rivers!]
"[Honorary Identity Badge (Effect): On equipping this badge, you will be exempt from any entry fees in the territories of Life Faction. You can enjoy a 5% discount on any item purchased with ZC by showing this badge anywhere in the Life Faction. You are also granted Honorary Hero Privilege in Life Faction and can browse and buy any knowledge of Magic present in Life Faction up to Unique Rank with Hero Shop.]
[NOTE: Hero Shop is only available in the Unique Plains]
"Achievement Reward (2): 500 Million ZC & 1 Life Substitute Doll (Advanced Unique)
"Life substitute Doll Description: Needs Mystic Signature to acknowledge an owner. The Life Substitute Doll can take the place of the owner in the cause of death and send the owner 100 miles away in a random direction and recover 10% of health!"
Jacob was still in disbelief when suddenly, something out of thin air popped up in front of Jacob.
It was a palm-size yellow mannequin engraved with complex rune patterns.
'Life substitute Doll?' Jacob grabbed the doll as he was very familiar with the scene. He had recovered a scroll this way in the rare plains when he eradicated the King of Dark Beings and his army.
Jacob never thought causing that explosion would also trigger this hidden achievement. After thinking about this Life substitute Doll's effects as well as the new Honorary Identity Badge benefits, Jacob found all that hardship and suffering he had gone through completely worth it.
'What is this hero shop?' Jacob quickly looked at the Star Watch interface and found a new application, 'Hero Shop' was written under it, and he quickly opened it.
The allure of knowledge from the Life Faction was something Jacob couldn't resist, and now he was getting all the knowledge regarding magic without even doing anything. This was really the first one for him.
"Hero Shop (Exclusive): Unique Rank
"Life Faction Knowledge Library:
"Magic Knowledge (Aura & Spirit)
Jacob only found two sections divided into aura and spirit. He quickly selected the Magic Knowledge of Spirit, and then another list divided into spells and scriptures appeared.
Upon opening the spell section, it was again divided into elements. There were many, except for legendary elements like life, space and time elements. As for elements like the Curse, Darkness, Death, and such, they were taboo among the Life Faction since they were the symbol of Dark Beings, so no one dared to practice them.
Jacob opened the water element section, and a huge list of spells appeared.
"Spell Section (Spirit Type): Water Element
"Water Wave (Basic Unique Rank Spell)
"Price: 10,000 ZC
"Water Sword (Basic Unique Rank Spell)
"Prince: 15,000 ZC
"(Basic Unique Rank Spell)
"Price: 10,000 ZC
…
"Compressed Water Bullets (Intermediate Unique Rank Spell)
"Price: 50,000 ZC
…
"Spirit Water Lake (Advanced Unique Rank Spell)
"Price: 250,000 ZC
"Spirit Water Chains (Advanced Unique Rank Spell)
"Price: 400,000 ZC"
Jacob saw many such spells of water type of unique ranks, and he was excited since there were simply too many of them, and he was free to choose.
After going through the magic knowledge section, Jacob knew he had stumbled upon an absolute treasure, and he even wanted to thank the Dead Faction for giving him such a gift!