Though Puffer Whales offered exquisite flavor, their primary value lay in energy restoration—not Gourmet Cell activation. The caloric expenditure of capturing them barely dented Zed's reserves, rendering immediate consumption unnecessary. Without mastery of Calorie Control (eating to temporarily boost limits), he stowed them for later.
Exiting the spawning chamber, Zed descended into Cavern Lagoon's labyrinthine depths. His targets: Skeleton Moss and Demon Snakes—the latter, untainted by human flesh in these lower layers. Few ventured here; those capable of harvesting Puffer Whales rarely lingered, and Demon Snake hunting offered meager rewards compared to rarer delicacies. For Zed, it was a detour, not a mission.
Twisting passages branched endlessly, though trivial compared to the Golden Swamp Maze's later horrors. "Why didn't predecessors map this?" Zed muttered, planting a seed and dousing it with Stimulant Fluid. A 1.5-meter Path-Finding Sunflower sprouted instantly.
Its petals detached, fanning outward like compass needles. Each avoided obstacles, charting routes through the stone veins. The flower's core—Zed's position—pulsed with golden light, tracking their paths.
A small modification made by his mentor, Yosaku, allow the Path-Finding Sunflower to have a 10-kilometer radius limit. Though outdated by later navigational tools, its simplicity suited Cavern Lagoon's modest scale.
Petals ghosted through shadows, too subtle to attract Demon Snakes. Zed waited, confident they'd pinpoint the colossal cavern Yosaku described—the serpents' lair.
Thirty minutes later, the Path-Finding Sunflower's petals reached their 10-kilometer limit. Zed plucked the plant; its golden core now etched with a glowing map. The blueprint would last three days before the sunflower's energy expired—a botanical limitation, not technological.
"Need a few more tries. The main cavern's still hidden," Zed noted, studying the map's labyrinth of smaller caves. These housed ordinary Demon Snakes, not the titans he sought.
Descending deeper, he passed nests teeming with cave-dwelling prey—swift breeders sustaining the Demon Snake population. Oceanic tunnels branched below, too hazardous for Puffer Whales but perfect hunting grounds for the serpents. Without this marine buffet, the snakes would've ravaged the upper layers.
A Demon Snake lunged—Gourmet Cell Level 53—only to be bisected mid-strike. Zed's scanner confirmed its strength; unlike Puffer Whales (whose Capture Levels belied fragility), these serpents matched their metrics. Komatsu couldn't scratch their hides, and even Toriko or Coco would struggle without Zebra's Sonic Fists—though the latter remained imprisoned.
Stowing the carcass, Zed deployed three more Path-Finding Sunflowers. On the fourth attempt, the map revealed a cavern dwarfing others by a hundredfold.
The upper and middle layers paled against the deep's complexity. Twisting passages multiplied exponentially, but persistence paid off. Before Zed loomed the gargantuan nest—Yosaku's described haven for the apex Demon Snakes.