Small But Terrible

After many days of flying across the mystical violet sky of the Elemental realm, Elric has finally arrived at the land of the Water Elementals. Before him is the wide expanse of a deep blue ocean. Not a single land can be seen wherever his gaze directed.

Elric is now back in his normal human form. He stood atop the giant turtle's head which was the size of a small car.

The land of the water elemental is indeed what he had expected - it is covered in water. Elric could see the deep blue sea and could not help but wonder about what to expect in this new world. He scanned the surroundings but despite his extraordinary vision, he could not see a single lifeform deep in the ocean.

Perhaps, it is mainly due to the limited light produced by the other Elemental planets that he could not see deep enough. But for some reason, his instinct keeps on ticking him to stay on guard. Whatever is down there, he must remain vigilant.

"Alright, now that we are here, I want you to swallow this." The giant turtle suddenly threw up a shiny black pearl the size of a marble. Despite its solid looks, it was quite light that it ended up floating in the air. Elric looked at the black pearl with a mixed feeling of awe and disgust.

It may be a beautiful black pearl, but it was also covered from the slimy juice of the turtle's saliva dripping over it, and the arrogant turtle just asked him to eat it like it was a piece of candy.

"What do you mean swallow this?" Elric asked with the slimy black pearl in his hands.

"Swallowing that black pearl will allow you to breathe while in water. Unless you have lungs big enough to allow you to stay forever underwater, then don't do it. I want you to know that the pearl you are holding now is a special pearl exclusive only in this world. Can you even imagine the value of the pearl if it also allows you to breathe underwater?"

"I do understand that this is indeed rare, but, don't you have any other objects that I can swallow that doesn't come out of your mouth?"

"Take it or leave it. Do you want to go in or what? You should know that pearl is no ordinary one you can find from your human realm. That is the special ultimate OMG Dash's air pearl we are talking about!"

"I guess I have no choice then." After quite a bickering, Elric steeled himself and swallowed the slimy black pearl. After all, he does need to get in the world of the water elemental whatever it takes.

Elric knew that the sealed corrupted Ancestral Dragon's essence inside him is like a ticking time bomb that could bring unwanted disaster once he fails to control it. And the only solution he knew by far according to the Great Seer Mhata is by getting all the Elemental Authority and eliminate the corruption himself.

Slowly, Elric felt the slimy black pearl slide in his mouth, despite swinging it to get rid of the slime, it was still as gooey as ever and he had an incredible urge to spit it out. It was small but very hot when it touched his tongue. He suddenly felt that the air he was currently breathing became more fluid in his lungs. Elric managed to swallow it down quick by thinking of his goal in this Elemental world.

With the black pearl inside his system, Elric suddenly felt like he was a fish. A pair of gills immerged out on both sides of his neck. The air he was breathing suddenly felt uncomfortable for his body and he was unable to hold it anymore. He dived at the blue water and started desperately inhaling a mouthful of water.

Slowly, his fingers and toes widened like that of a frog and Elric now looked like a merman!

Even his vision changed and he was now able to see clearly inside the water. Looking deeper, he was able to spot several weird-looking rocks forming a giant circle with the giant hole that looked like an entrance as the center. Each of these giant rocks has huge holes in them big enough to let a train pass.

Peering closer, his instincts keep on warning him to stay away from these giant holes.

"Now for the first test of this world, we need to get pass against these Water Guardians."