When I exit the shrine, it is raining. But not a thunderstorm. The rain lets up after a short time. Near the shrine, there’s a rock formation, what looks like something that fell from the sky realm. I go over to investigate, climb it using Ascend, which works better in the rain than does conventional climbing, and find a fire seed plant at the top, and a rock, under which I find a Korok.
I take the vantage offered from atop this small rock to peer around in the dark using the Pura Pad’s telescope ability. I’m in the middle of a pretty much wide open field, with gently rolling hills and lush meadows surrounding me in all directions for a good distance. Off in the distance, there are numerous points of interest, and I try to pin as many as I can, but the Purah Pad doesn’t allow more than 6 or so pins. I spot several shrines off in the distance, and try to pin each of them. There are several towers, and some buildings, mostly ruined looking places, some interesting looking geological formations, fallen rocks from the sky above, and a Bokoblin camp or two.
Near the Gloom hole I passed by on my way to this shrine I just completed I notice that there is a hot air balloon, and I wonder whether that had been there before, and if so how I could have missed the thing. I walk over to take a look, and there’s another Hylian standing near the edge of the chasm. I talk to him, startling him, and he tells me he’s on the Chasm Investigation Squad, or something. He’s trying to discover what’s up with the chasms and the gloom, and is working with one of the guys who I talked to back at Lookout Landing, who is working with Hoz and Purah.
I decide since I’m here, I might as well jump down the dangerous looking hole and find out what I can. I leap off the edge and fall quite a long way. It is very dark and I can’t really see the ground below, which must certainly be rushing up to me at an unsafe rate. I unfurl my glider, and try to assess where I’m at, but it’s no good, too dark, and I really can’t see how much farther I might have to go.
I don’t want to run out of endurance so I drop again, risking everything, and then re-deploy the glider. I do this two or three more times. I pass through a sparkling mist about midway down, and then I get the idea that maybe I can take one of those glowing seeds and drop it, and it will help me see the bottom. I can’t quite figure out how to do this, though, but as I am continuing to fall I eventually see a light that I’m heading towards — must be the ground — so I pop the glider one more time and land safely.
So this is how I learn that TOTK has a THIRD map level, for the underground. I might have guessed, it wasn’t too much of a secret, really. But man is this game going to be extra super big.
It’s very dim, but the Gloom doesn’t seem to be too abundant right here, and I’m not feeling any ill effects. I wonder how I will return to the surface, or what I will end up finding down here. I look about and see some glowing fireflies, which I stealth sneak up to and capture. They’re a new species, native to the underworld. Then I spot something that looks like a large plant pot, almost reminding me of the fairy ponds from BOTW. It looks like I can walk up to it and do something with it, so I try to do that, and it lights up, illuminating a small part of the area surrounding it, and also fills in a bit of the map on the Purah Pad. So it’s a little like a Tower.
I wonder, can my Ascend power really take me through so much rock to the surface of Hyrule? Is that the way back? Or can I use the Tower transport system, even from way down in these depths? Or will I have to climb out? Or find a route to the surface through caves? How am I going to survive?