7 Essence Points?

"Explorative soul, huh? What's that for?" Tim asked.

He was stumped. In fact, for a good few hours he even believed that stingrays didn't have souls to begin with, he had been convinced about that. For that matter, he didn’t have the slightest clue now, regarding what a little stingray could do with a soul of their own! He was confused.

Thankfully, the system shed a bit of light on the matter, she said. [The explorative soul ability, allows you to go into a hibernation-like state, and after that you can detach your soul from your body. Overall, it's a very good method to accumulate system points quickly, and explore this expansive, magical world as well, without hurting yourself in the process.]

"The world… you mean, I can float out of the sea, and hunt birds or some shit?" He asked.

[Yes, although that would be unproductive.] The system followed along, [There are whole, invisible kingdoms made out of souls and soul-based energy, so it's best if you go visit one of those spots, rather than hunt pelicans. Don't waste time, Timothy!]

"Fair, fair." He nodded along.

Tim didn't care about pelicans to begin with, but rather, in his own way, he asked a trick question. He wanted to know if his soul could fly out of the sea, and apparently, it could. He was so excited about that, because in a weird way, if he got out of the water today, then he could embrace his human upbringing a bit more! He'd love that.

So far, he swam through salt for less than a day, and he was already sick of it! Tim craved to be on land, or at least out of the water, at least for a little while. His human soul craved it more than anything else!

With all of that considered, the following steps were a no-brainer. He had to buy this fourth option first, and then check out every other option in due time! He didn't care about the other upgrade options as much.

He said, "I want to fly, system, give me the good stuff! Don't worry, I won't bother any pelicans."

[Confirmed,] The system said.

A moment later, the waters around him suddenly stirred up. A white, aura-like entity surrounded him just for a few seconds, and throughout that time-bracket, it spun around him so quickly, that it stirred up a little, visible dust cloud!

That was about it, this upgrade wasn't as intense. It wasn't painful like the previous upgrade, for example, but it was spooky! Thankfully, it even disappeared before things could get uncomfortable to the slightest. Tim was fine, he wasn't feeling any pain, and the system came along with a relieving message quickly after.

While the dust-cloud calmed down, she said. [The upgrade was implemented successfully, and it took 40 of your system points in exchange. Now, 24 system points remain in your total sum.]

"That's… not a lot, but I did buy two cool things, so it's okay." He muttered.

After this point, he felt the urge to activate this new ability right away, he was enthralled to do so. He needed a bunch of points anyway, and since this new ability promised points, then there was virtually no reason to avoid giving this ability a shot. Tim was ready to separate his own soul from this little stingray body!

The system encouraged him too, ever since the beginning, but now she had to give him a couple of warnings. One warning was about the dangers, and the other warning was for the sake of efficiency. Tim couldn't waste any time, no matter what the circumstances were.

She said, [Timothy, if you want to try out this new ability, I have two suggestions. First, find the best hiding spot possible, because quite literally, anything can eat you or hurt you, while you're in that hibernation-like state.]

"Right," He nodded, "That makes sense."

The system felt that Tim wasn’t listening, so she insisted. [It's imperative that you hide properly, because if your body gets destroyed while you're in this explorative mode, then your soul can't return to it. You'd have to find a new, non-occupied body, which is a really rare occurrence, it's less than achievable!]

"Well shit," He muttered, "I'll bury myself as best as I can, then… sharks can't get in here either, so I should be fine for a while. What's the second thing, though?"

[Other souls can attack you,] She said, [Although that won't hurt your body directly, it still has negative sides. If your soul receives enough damage, it would be sent back here into your stingray body. After that, you'd have to go through a cooldown timer, before you can explore again. Try not to get banished too quickly, it would be really inefficient.]

"Okay, well that's not so bad, then. Banished or not, at least I'll be alive." He followed along, and continued to bury himself within the sand of his den.

He didn't want to suffocate, and from what he understood, as long as a third of his head was out of the sand, then he'd be fine. Tim didn't have any room for mistakes right now, rather, he only had room to reap points! Progress was inevitable, and he was willing to chase it.

After Tim covered himself with sand, he said. "System, I'm gonna sleep now… when I wake up, I better be flying."

This wasn't a threat, it was quite the opposite. He didn’t know how to 'hibernate' himself and hoped that the system would cover that part. The system did as she was asked, it was her job after all; Tim sunk into that hibernation-like state, in no time at all!

…

"Bloody hell, when did another stingray get in here?" Tim panicked.

He woke up, and saw a light-blue stingray's head, right underneath him. This scared him shitless at first, but a moment later, he caught up with what was going on!

"Holy shit, that’s me!" He exclaimed, and then celebrated. "It worked, muhahaha!"

[Indeed,] The system added, [You're free to explore, as far as your soul permits.]

"You'll be joining me too, huh?" He asked, and right then, he noticed that his soul had a mostly transparent, light-blue color.

[Of course,] The system answered, [I am embalmed in your soul, for good, you can't get away from me, hehe. Okay now pay attention… as a wandering soul, you'll have a different health bar. It's called an 'essence bar' and you only have thirty points of it, so, if you lose those thirty points in battle or anything like that, your soul will return straight to your body! So, be careful.]

That was a lot to take in, all at once, but Tim felt ready nonetheless. He felt agile, and had this intense urge to explore the world. If the sea had explosive urchins, then he couldn't wait to see what interesting things the rest of the world had!

In excitement, he started floating right through the coral, to head towards the water's surface, as quickly as he could! Moments later, however, the system gave him another warning.

She said, [Timothy, your body back there is equipped to stay two days at most, without food, you should know that. Try to keep track of time, or else your stingray body could starve itself to death!]

"Okie dokie," He said, and finally escaped the sea.