Diving into the sand ocean that was now fully visible to her thanks to the sand vision powder, Scaly found to her dismay that moving around was far from simple even with her swimming skill around to lend a hand.
Still, difficult didn’t mean it was impossible and after flailing around for a bit trying to get used to the sand, she found the correct way to move around by following the movements of the monsters and adventurers who were moving around below and around her. Soon enough becoming skilled enough that she could move around the sand not much different from swimming through water.
One of the reasons for this was not just because she managed to pick up the correct technique on how to move, but also because the sand itself seemed more like water the deeper down she went and by the time she was twenty or so meters below the surface, it felt no different from moving around underwater. Making the only difficult place within the sand ocean to move around within the top layer of the sand ocean where the sand acted more like sand instead of water.
In a way, this also seemed obvious as she observed the different adventurers jumping into the sand ocean, as they struggled like she did to descend the first twenty or so meters before reaching the cutoff point where movement became far easier. The point in question wasn’t too hard to spot, as monsters and adventurers alike were rarely ever moving above that line.
All that aside, Scaly finally had the chance to properly explore the sand ocean on the second floor of the dungeon and hunt down the monsters that had been hidden from her before...
[Sandwhirl Fish, lvl 28]
[Sandwhirl Fish, lvl 31]
[Sandwhirl Fish, lvl 29]
[Sandwhirl Fish...]
And unsurprisingly, her first target was a school of fish made up entirely of sandwhirl fish. Not holding back in the slightest as she descended upon the unsuspecting school of fish using her water magic to attack them from afar-
Splash~
Huh? My water magic... Doesn’t work!?
But just as she was eagerly watching her water blade shoot forward towards the unsuspecting sandwhirl fish, she was faced with a sudden unexpected situation, as her water blade barely moved a few meters forward before crumbling. Only now realizing that she was still in an ocean made of sand and in an ocean made of sand, water magic wasn’t exactly useful, as the water she shot out would just end up being absorbed by the sand all around her before it could reach the target.
Even if she could solve this problem by pouring more mana into the water and ensuring that it wouldn’t easily get absorbed by the sand, the mana cost would increase several times over. Making it wasteful to the extreme.
In other words, her water magic would have to be placed on the shelf for now, as it was far from useful within the ocean made of sand. If anything, it might be a detriment to her fighting, as the wet sand around her left behind where her water blade had cut through was more difficult to move through and clung to her body. Forcing her to spend a great deal of time getting rid of the clingy sand before she could start moving around normally again. At which point the sandwhirl fish she had originally planned on hunting down had already left.
Not planning to make a similar mistake again, Scaly decided to take some time to test out her other magic to find out what could be used within the ocean of sand without turning into a burden.
Starting with wind magic that could no longer be used for movement but still worked fine for battle outside of the increased mana needed to push through the sand. Followed by lightning magic that was fine if she didn’t plan to move in the direction, she had shot off the lightning magic in as a solid crystalline structure made of glass was left behind the path that the lightning travelled.
Dream magic wasn’t exactly useful, as she hadn’t found any way to use it offensively yet. Leaving ice magic, that she discovered was by far the most effective magic she could use within the sand ocean. Coming up with a simple ice spike spell by watching how an adventurer used ice magic within the sand ocean from afar to easily deal with a large worm monster that lived further down the ocean of sand.
But... To ensure that ice magic was truly the most effective magic she had on hand, she decided to first test it out against a real target after making sure that it didn’t have any flaws similar to water magic.
[Sandwhirl Fish, lvl 23]
Finding a slightly weaker sandwhirl fish that was passing by just below her on its own before she gathered her mana before conjuring up a small ice spike that shot downwards towards the unsuspecting sandwhirl fish-
Ptsh-!
[Gained 672 Exp]
Piercing straight through its head and killing it in a single blow, causing a great deal of excitement to Scaly, who had confirmed that ice magic was indeed the most effective kind of magic within the ocean of sand. Even if it also required a bit more mana to use compared to outside the sand ocean, it was still better than any of the other kinds of magic she knew. Ensuring that she continued using it within the sand ocean as long as a stronger monster that necessitated her using the stronger lightning magic or her dragon breath.
Even better, thanks to the ice spike being made of ice, it froze the blood about to leak out from dead sandwhirl fish. Ensuring that it didn’t end up being covered in sand by the time she got to it.
Still, though it wasn’t covered in sand, it was still impossible for her to eat it within the sand ocean, as the second she opened her mouth, sand would rush in. Forcing her to take a short break and ascend back to surface of the sand ocean where she found a nearby sand boat that had been left on its own with the original owners below busy hunting down monsters.
Rustle~
Dragging the sandwhirl fish along with her onto the sand boat, Scaly made full use of the opportunity to enjoy the delicious fish over the next few minutes before getting back into the sand ocean.
Of course, before she jumped back into the ocean made of sand, she didn’t forget to add more of the sand vision powder to her eyes from the sand boat, as the adventurers below hadn’t bothered to hide it or put it away before they had jumped into the ocean of sand. Clearly planning to have an easy way to reapply more when needed in the future.
Unfortunately for them, when they did return in the future, they would only find that the sand vision powder they had prepared was gone.
As for where it had gone... They would have no way to know, as they weren’t paying much attention to what was taking place up above. Busy fighting with a powerful sand monster.
As for the thief behind the missing sand vision powder? She had already made her way back down into the ocean of sand and had begun to hunt in earnest. No longer targeting the somewhat weaker sandwhirl fish but instead descending even further where stronger monsters could be found and far larger groups of monsters gathered.
From the original easy to hunt sandwhirl fish that posed little to no challenge given her current strength even if she was somewhat at a disadvantage within the ocean of sand, Scaly soon enough found herself facing off against large sand worms that were close to impossible to kill-
Bang!
[Gained 7828]
[*Ding* Reached level 14]
But with continued effort, she still managed to take them down through continued relentless barrages of ice spikes aimed at the head. Rewarding her with far more experience than any of the other monsters found within the ocean of sand. Even allowing her to reach level 14 faster than she had originally expected.
However, though hunting monsters within the sand ocean did help her grow stronger, it was nowhere near the rapid increase in strength she had grown used to during her time within the dreamscape, as after over two hours within the sand ocean, her level had only increased by 1.
Terrifying progress considering how high her strength was, but given what she was used to, this felt far too slow... And though the sandwhirl fish were delicious and made her want to stay around the sand ocean forever, she inevitably began searching for a path leading to the third floor of the dungeon where stronger monsters would be far more abundant, as although the sand worms did provide her with a lot of experience, they weren’t exactly easy to encounter and took some time to find.
Not to mention, she had clearly sensed that the adventurers hunting her back on the first floor of the dungeon had already found her location and seemed to be slowly conjugating around her...