12-24

Chapter 12 - Magical Stingray!

Tim woke up after about five hours, and he was fully rested. However, the recent upgrades have tampered with his body quite a bit, so he felt really weird right now. He felt lighter, quicker, and had this urge to explore the seas and hunt anything that moved! This was how he usually behaved, yes, but today this behavior was amped up tenfold for some odd reason!

Tim felt powerful and capable, but thankfully, the coral that surrounded him managed to cage his deadly enthusiasm. He couldn't move much down here, and while he tried to slip out of the coral layers he had hid in, he found the infinite wisdom to calm himself down.

Well, his wisdom was very finite actually, but that was not the point. The point was that he could reason with himself a lot more now, it was fascinating! In due time, Tim figured out what was happening with himself; This jolting temperament had something to do with the brain upgrade he had, just a few hours ago, he was sure of it!

"I feel moodier than that human girlfriend I had, god damn! She was always hungry for some reason." Tim thought.

Just then, he noticed that he was also recalling some of his human memories all of a sudden, which was quite a surprise. He did not want to think about his past, human life right now, as he felt sure that he'd mourn those good old days. Recalling those old days would beat on his conscience viciously, without a doubt!

He thought, "Even my divorce was easier than this, new thing… I'm a fish now, god damn it!"

Tim was a bit depressed right now, however, as he dances within the lines of depression, he came to a realization. It was still amazing that he could remember fractions of his old life to begin with, regardless of how much it hurt to remember them! He was impressed.

The system promised power, and a fraction of the power she promised, was evident at this very moment. His soul had migrated here, all the way from earth, yet he still had the option to remember stuff from his past life, and this fact alone was fascinating!

There was a lot to think about, he was stumped for words! However, the system interrupted his train of thought, before these thoughts of his could run rampant, for hours and hours on end. This world certainly didn't need a stingray who had anxiety right now.

She said, [Timothy, hello. I'd like to tell you that each upgrade was a success yesterday, and as for now, you're experiencing hormonal changes, which come with impulsive urges, and some occasional mood swings. Nothing about this is permanent, it's just that the rest of your body is still adjusting to your recently restructured brain. It's no easy task.]

"That makes sense," He nodded, and accepted the fact that he just had to be patient, at least for a little while.

Moments later, he squeezed himself out of the four layers of red coral, and then had this urge to rush across the sea. This urge of his was equal to that of a feral dolphin, but then he noticed that the sea seemed darker than usual. This scared him, so he didn't feel so explorative anymore!

"I'm afraid of the dark? Glad to see that I still have some human traits… or maybe I'm scared because in this body, I'm just a baby? Baby stingrays are probably scared of a lot of stuff, they gotta be." Tim asked himself.

Right then, the system followed along. [The entirety of what you just said is… debatable. However, do not be sad because of your lost humanity, as you will get back most of it, eventually. Your 'explorative soul' ability is the first step to worldly exploration, and eventual shape-shifting; I can help you turn back into a human one day, but you have to be patient.]

"Really? Well that's a fantastic thing to say!" Tim celebrated, "I don't want to get any of my human friends back, fuck them! I want new friends, and maybe a wife that won't divorce me, just to run off with her stupid assistant! God, I just remembered how much humans make me sick… maybe being a fish is a blessing, but I just haven't realized it yet?"

[Your stances are debatable, but as far as I'm concerned, you can have it all, as long as you try to survive long enough. The magic in this world is extremely developed, so anything is possible, I promise you that!] She said.

"Survive, huh? Okay, I probably shouldn't be out here at night, then." He said, and then squeezed back into the coral reef.

Tim had wanted to hunt just a moment ago, but he couldn't see anything out here, nothing at all, it was too dark. Predators were dangerous enough during the day, so he didn't want to run into them at night, not in the slightest!

He had to kill a few hours of time, and he may get a bit hungry throughout this period of both waiting and napping, however, this wasn't a major task. He was safe within this coral, and that was all that mattered.

Besides, the system was keeping him company. After all, she had a bunch of other upgrade options which she had to introduce! After Tim settled in some coral, the system got into business right away!

She said, [Okay, Timothy. Since you bought every upgrade available yesterday, you unlocked a few new ones, five of them, to be exact. Now, some of them are pretty expensive, but they're really worth your while.]

"Let them be expensive, I'm not intimidated by your prices anymore. It's not that hard to get system points, or at least, it's easier than what I had imagined at first." He added.

Tim wasn't cocky, no, but he was very direct instead. Exploration came hand to hand with system-based rewards, and he sure as hell liked to explore, so for that matter, he didn't care about the prices anymore. The system didn't really expand on this side-topic either, but instead, she started talking about the new upgrades.

She introduced, [Your first purchase option is pretty useful, essential even. For 60 system points, you can upgrade your bodily strength and speed, to level two! This is pretty much the cheapest upgrade right now.]

"Hmm… yeah, speed is very important. Anything that keeps me away from the mouths of sharks is something worth buying." He muttered.

[Well, you can't afford to buy anything right now, but it wouldn't be a bad idea if you prioritized buying that one. Strength and speed are truly essential if you're to improve your chances of survival.] She said.

They could talk about stuff like these in detail, for hours if they could, and considering that he had several hours to waste, they just might do exactly that. However, there were four more upgrades to introduce, so the system was prioritizing that at the moment.

She said, [Your second purchase option, is what'll link you to your stingray ancestry thoroughly, and for good! For 200 system points, you can unlock the 'extingus breath' magical ability, which would help you deflect most kinds of offensive magic, as long as the opposing caster isn't too strong! This ability is very common amongst your species, and you don't need spells or mana to use it.]

Chapter 13 - The great introduction!

Tim was astounded by the concept of magic. The fact that it was available in this world, was the only thing that kept him from being suicidal. This world simply promised a lot!

The talk about magic brought back some memories, even, he said. "A protective spell, huh? I think you mean a deflective spell, system. When I was a human, I remember playing a video game of some sort, one about dragons, and it had a bunch of these deflective spells, they were pretty cool."

Tim was feeling nostalgic, it was difficult not to be. However, the system snapped him out of it right away, as she made another promise.

[Video games? Oh, they're available in this world too, in the mildly advanced civilizations at least. This world is very vast, and it's difficult to get into a good civilization, however, if you do get into one, then you can play plenty of video games there. The highly advanced civilizations have even better games, hyper-realistic ones.] The system followed along.

Tim was confused by some parts of what the other said, so he asked. "Advanced civilizations, in a magical world? I expected to see kingdoms or shit like that, not skyscrapers, system."

The other was quick to answer that, she said. [There are plenty of kingdoms too. As I said, this world, this planet is really vast, huge! Ghosts have their own dynasties, animals do too, the sea is very unique on its own, and also, there are plenty of humanoids across the planet as well, of distinct species! Some creatures are even beyond what you can imagine right now, trust me.]

Furthermore, she added. [The categories of species are vast. Due to these vast differences, there are also huge gaps in terms of technological, and magical progression, across the hundreds of civilizations on this planet! In due time, you'll get to experience some of these things first hand.]

"That sounds like a big headache, er, for me." Tim expressed, "Can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe there's too much to explore in this world. I don't want to see skyscrapers again."

Tim was still eager to explore the world, but now, he understood that he had to prepare himself, as best as he could. Since this planet was so expansive, it could also be equally dangerous as well! He didn't want to die as soon as he walked across the lands out there, and in order to prevent that, he had to be strong and prepared. It was mandatory!

With that in mind, he insisted. "Gotta play it safe… Can we talk about the other upgrade options, system? I want to go out and swim as soon as the sun rises, and I need some motivation to do that. Give me a reason to hunt for points, please."

[Certainly,] She answered, [Your third purchase option is to densify your bodily durability by 120% ~ There's no exact way to measure this type of durability, but for a body as soft as yours, any increase is good. This one costs only 80 system points, since your durability is horrible to begin with.]

"Now that's a way to survive!" He said.

Durability and an increase on it sounded very interesting! When Tim thought about it, he pictured himself withstanding many bullets at once, without suffering as much as a scratch! It was very unlikely that he'd face a line of rapidly shot bullets around here, because fish probably didn't carry any guns, however, it was fun to imagine things like these! His fantasies weren't limited to this stingray form.

Anyway, the system didn't care to talk about this matter, as she continued to introduce the few of the other upgrades. The rest of them were quite interesting as well.

[The fourth purchase option is to upgrade your emotional intelligence by 10 whole points.] She said, [This one will cost you 130 system points, which is expensive, but it's an intelligence-based upgrade after all.]

"An intelligence upgrade, again? System, I still feel queasy from the last one." Tim complained, he didn't look forward to anything like that again. "Go easy on me."

[Upgrades like these are essential for you, especially this one that is based on your emotions. After you buy this upgrade, you'll be less likely to make dumb decisions, also, you'd fit in within social crowds a lot easier; It's essential for your survival.] She answered.

Afterwards, without waiting to hear Tim's opinion on this, she continued to introduce the last purchase option. This one was the most expensive, and perhaps, the most important upgrade so far!

The system introduced, [Purchase option number five = Unlock and deepen your internal mana pool, for it to accept 300 points of low-quality, magical mana, exclusively. This one costs 400 system points, but it will fully introduce you to the world of magic!]

"Oh, I can't afford that anytime soon… but at least it's something to look forward to." Tim followed along.

There were still plenty of more hours to kill before the break of down, however, the system gave him a lot to think about. Though he still needed plenty of points to buy anything, he still wanted to spend some time thinking, in order to decide which upgrade he was supposed to get first! He had to prioritize the most practical one, whichever one that may be!

Since the system was done with her introductions, she now had some time to talk with Timothy. The system understood how confused and yet excited he was, so she wanted to help, even if slightly.

She said, [You should prioritize either the durability buffing, or the upgrade on your bodily strength and speed. They're both cheap, and they'll help you avoid most threats across this shallow reef. In terms of practicality, it's a no brainer; Speed and strength have always been the centerparts of survival… intelligence comes second.]

Tim agreed with that, however, he had to argue. "Hm… but wouldn't that deflective spell help me survive as well? It's expensive, yeah, but magic is much harder to dodge. I don't want to end up as a toasted, sea pancake."

[That is also a very good point,] She said.

Chapter 14 - Panzer Crabs!

Tim was intrigued by the new purchase options. He and the system discussed them for a long time, just so he could pick the best option there was. They came to the conclusion that the cheapest upgrades were the best option, as though they weren't as effective as the rest of the upgrades, they still were the most accessible!

Accessibility, on its own, was really useful in terms of ensuring survival. Tim was convinced about what he was supposed to buy, and now, there was only the matter of getting system points, a bunch of them.

For safety's sake, he waited until dawn, just so he could see and analyze his surroundings better, as it was really stupid to hunt in the dark, and he simply wanted to avoid getting killed. Tim took a couple of naps, just to kill some time, and when it was finally the break of dawn, he emerged from within the protective layers of the coral reef.

Tim swam for a few meters, and then mumbled. "God damn… I am really hungry! My stingray belly can't fit much food, huh? That kinda makes sense, I shat four times in a day, so, no wonder I'm hungry."

In the following couple of hours, he carefully, and thoroughly explored the odds and ends of the coral reef. Tim was hungry, and needed a lot of points as well, for that matter, he was focused, lazer-sharp, beyond what he was used to, even!

For exploration's sake, he even swam beyond the invisible borders he was used to. Tim hunted across an estimated radius of 60-70 meters this time, and quite frankly, he had to! This whole area was as depleted out of life, as Harold the eel had explained. The feeding spree which happened a few months ago, before Tim was born, really messed this place up.

Anyway, within the two hours of hunting, he found two, separate groups of crustacean species, specifically, crabs and shrimps. He firstly found the shrimp, a few marble shrimp to be exact, and he recognized them instantly, because he was accustomed to their weird bodily forms. Tim wasn't intimidated by their weird legs anymore, so he chewed through all five of these shrimp, mercilessly!

Once he had done so, the system announced. [Hunger bar = 7/15]

Furthermore, she added. [Health bar = 89/100]

With that said, Tim felt better than he ever did. He ate enough shrimp to replenish his health, which in return, got rid of any kind of pain he had; The few points he got out of them were really important too!

However, regardless of how rewarding these little shrimp seemed at the moment, this was not the most fun or rewarding part of his morning, no. The crabs he found, moments later after he found the shrimp, were all the more amusing! He found them within a layer of yellow coral, and they were priceless!

The crabs were blistering red, had big claws, and were two-foot wide! They were plate shaped, had three pairs of short legs, and had a horrible attitude which vouched for their survival.

They could pinch almost anything without suffering any consequences, because they could hide within the numerous coral cracks really well, due to the weird ways they were shaped. Tim had approached them carefully, because simply, he didn't want to get killed by them! He was fairly intimidated.

These crabs were three times his size, at least, and he feared that any pinch from their big claws could snap him in half. He did not want that to happen, it would be embarrassing, so he came up with a little idea.

Tim harassed them quite a bit, just to lure them out. He pooped near the entrance of their den, smacked his tail around to make some noise, and made just about any sound that a little stingray could make. That way, he lured a couple of them out, and then primarily used his speed to finish the job!

His fins were still flaming with magic, he could fly really fast. For that matter, Tim used this speed to sneak up on them multiple times! He found their blind spots, pounced on them, and used his sharp little jaws to bite their whole claws off! To do so, he targeted the thin arms these crabs had, which was very efficient!

Tim even stabbed them a couple of times, with his tail, so they'd die off faster. The venom in his tail wasn't the strongest, but the internal organs of a crab weren't so strong either, so they died off in minutes!

He repeated this whole process a few times, until he killed six of these crabs! They weren't so smart, and for that matter, each of them fell victim to his repetitive tactics!

Once he killed all of them, the system announced. [Good job! You yielded 22 system points, out of each of these crabs! In total, you now have accumulated 160 points!]

"Oh, hell yeah!" He celebrated, "My hunting tactics worked… I was wondering when that old hunting upgrade would come in handy."

Anyway, the true celebration began, once he started munching on one of the dead crabs, it was when he figured out that they were truly priceless. Tim got a few mouthfuls of raw meat, and moments later, the system blurted out a very important notification!

[Congratulations, Timothy. It looks like you're eating a really dense, and magical, panzer crab. Their kind of nature is relentlessly aggressive, but eating them gives great rewards for newborns like yourself. Eat as much of it as you can, camp near it if you must, because these crabs will encourage your very first growth sprout!] She said.

"Growth sprout? So you mean… I could grow bigger?" He asked.

[Precisely!] She agreed, [The sprout could change your body size, anywhere from 14% to 291% ~ So, please take this situation seriously.]

Tim was very intrigued by the idea of growing up to be a bigger stingray, especially if he could do that in a day or so. However, he really hated the idea of camping near these crabs, because he didn't want to wait for hours on end, until he was hungry again! That would be inefficient.

His stingray belly was really small, so it could take ages before he ate one of these crabs entirely, not to mention all of them! He didn't want to spend several whole days in hiding, so he came up with another idea.

"They're special, it's almost like I found a few special crabs of my own, but I gotta ditch them for now. I'll just push them back in their hole, right there." He muttered.

Tim had filled his belly entirely by now, and he didn't really want to eat the same meal for days, so this plan was perfect. Sharks couldn't barge in thin coral cracks either, which made this plan of his seem all the more efficient!

"I'll get back to them as soon as I can," He planned, "But for now, I gotta keep hunting!"

Chapter 15 - "I hate you, Harold"

Tim searched the reef for any other kind of creature for him to kill. His belly was full, so he wasn't really desperate for food, but he did need to gather up a bunch of points!

The panzer crabs he had killed gave him plenty of points, yes, but they weren't enough. Some of the upgrades were really expensive, and if he was to afford them, then there was no benefit in slowing down right now. Tim wanted to hunt for a few more hours at least, and then get back to those panzer crabs afterwards, once he got really tired.

The idea was to get points, and then to find a safe spot where he could rest afterwards. He could eat a few mouthfuls of crab meat as well, to encourage his growth sprout. If the area near the crabs was safe enough, then he planned to buy an upgrade or two as well.

There were a lot of things on his plate today, but he didn't mind it. Tim enjoyed working under pressure, it gave him this overwhelming, and constant adrenaline rush! He enjoyed it quite a bit.

This time around, he was working hard in order to progress as well, rather than to just survive, like he did so far. Life was far more interesting, when he didn't have to worry about food for once! He wanted power.

Anyway, after snooping around the reef for less than an hour, he found himself floating back towards his den. The den he called home was more of a ditch, which was hidden under coral and sea plants. It was an interesting and useful place, because a bunch of tiny critters often ended up there, and he was hoping to find a few more of them today, for the sake of getting some quick points!

However, before he got there, Tim's senses tingled. He was suddenly more alert, as he noticed some commotions in his very den!

"Something big is in there, fucking huge…" He thought, and then immediately found a place to hide.

Tim was a small stingray, so he managed to nosedive, and slip deep within a coral crack, almost immediately. His senses were tingling, and they advised him not to face whatever was lurking in his den. Common sense encouraged it as well!

Instead of confronting the beast, he simply stalked the spot, for about half an hour. Throughout this time bracket, he got a couple of glimpses of what lurked in his den.

"That fucker is large, long and very dark skinned… or, blue-ish? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Harold stole my fucking house! The fuck would he do there? He wouldn't fit… unless he has a kink for tight places now, or something?" Tim thought.

Regardless of what was happening, Tim had to keep his peace, and play it safe. It was a terrible idea to confront a three-meter long eel right now, especially since he didn't have an ounce of destructive magic to his aid! He only had a bit of venom on his tail, but that wasn't enough to kill an eel, no. It was best if he avoided his home, his den, completely!

Tim was furious about it, he thought. "This fucking vendetta just got real… I'll be back for you, Harold. I will mount your head on my wall, eventually!"

Afterwards, he carefully snuck out of that crack within the coral, and made some distance away from his den. Survival was the ultimate goal, after all, and if he was to get his revenge, then he needed a lot of points first! Points and upgrades, that is.

For the sake of points, Tim planned to swim deeper within this massive, coral reef this time around. He hadn't found anything to kill so far, and figured that he had to expand his hunting grounds in order to progress. However, before he made it twenty meters away from his den, the system spammed him with a little announcement, which made him reconsider his course.

She said, [Timothy, I have three new tasks for you, official system tasks, that is. You're in a hunt for points right now, so it's appropriate to introduce you to some tasks that pay well.]

This was the best announcement he could've hoped for, it definitely shifted his mood for the better! Anyway, in order to carefully listen and focus on what the system had to say, he hid in a little hole within the stretch of red coral, and then listened to her patiently.

The system then went into detail about the matter, she added. [Task number three = Locate and kill at least twenty sardines! They swim in schools of fish, and often are really easy to kill, so good luck with that. If you succeed, you will get fifty system points as a reward, and of course you get to keep any point you make by killing the sardines.]

"Alright, that's fantastic!" He celebrated, "I'll get that spooky, magical breath in no time!"

The system didn't celebrate with him, instead, much like a computer, she continued to explain the couple of other tasks that were available. She was efficient, so she avoided small talk once more, as she often did.

The system added, [Task number four = Put your depth durability to the test and to its limits, by swimming three hundred meters under water. This task is a bit dangerous, but otherwise it's rather easy to do, so it'll only get you thirty system points.]

"Okay, that's fair." He thought.

That task may even be the easiest task he ever had to do, because he'd be able to achieve it within minutes! A task like this was definitely easier than poking at random, explosive or bubonic urchins in exchange for a couple of points, so he didn't complain about this low-paying task at all! The next task, however, sounded a lot more interesting.

The system said, [Task number five = Locate and meditate near a bulge of thick, undersea mana roots! This species of roots is a bit rare, so if you find a bundle of them, you'll be rewarded with a hundred whole points!]

Chapter 16 - Sardines; Deadly, or not?

"Wow…" Tim gasped in amazement.

He was astounded by the idea of magical, mana-oozing roots. He guessed that they'd only make him more powerful, but overall, he also got this explorative, adrenaline rush after hearing about them! This world had so much to offer, so he couldn't wait to escape his current physical limitations, in order to explore things that were beyond, and greater than magical roots! He was desperately eager.

Anyway, the system broke his train of thought shortly after. She announced a little warning. [Timothy, pay attention! Before you go near any roots, you need to unlock your mana pool at first, specifically, the most expensive upgrade available right now. Mana roots excrete mana, and in order for you to harvest it or accumulate it, you need to unlock your mana pool. You don't need to rush on about this task, however, you probably noticed that each of these tasks encourage you to explore the world more, so one way or the other, this hunt will be good for you, even if you don't find the mana roots immediately. Be careful, Timothy, and happy hunting!]

Tim needed a moment to process everything that the system just said, and once he did process it, he figured out that the best idea was to leave this coral reef for a short while. The edge of the reef was really close to his den, so he could leave this place easily.

Furthermore, the waters here, around the reef were very shallow, which meant that he couldn't put his depth durability to the test over here. He had to head for the open seas instead, and hoped to finish more than one task along the way!

Later on, he was to return to the reef before nightfall, as he had stashed a bunch of panzer crabs there. He needed those crabs for his growth sprout, so it was important to swim back to them.

Overall though, today's goals were fascinating! He was to explore the seas more than ever before, and hopefully win a bunch of points along the way!

…

Tim swam two hundred meters away from the reef, and it didn't take him so long, but it was a bit boring for him along the way. There was barely any life out here, apart from seaweed and a few dozen urchins here and there, which didn't really appeal to him. The area outside (and in front) of the reef, was mostly a stretch of desolate sand.

He could've stopped by to try and poke at one of those urchins, but the risks associated with them weren't worthwhile, especially since he didn't have any ranged attacks to use against them right now! Urchins were one of the most dangerous creatures across the sea ~ Some of them were explosive, and he could even contract the plague virus from other species of urchins, so it was best to leave them alone.

Besides, the open seas were far more interesting! Tim swam all the way to an elevation drop, and there, he could see how deep the waters could truly be! He only saw utter darkness, as this portion of the sea was at least a kilometer deep, it wasn't shallow, like the reef whatsoever!

Tim looked at these depths, and couldn't help thinking. "The deep sea…. I wonder what kind of jackasses swim down there. Back on earth, deep sea creatures were terrifying! Can't imagine how weird they are in this world, I wouldn't be surprised if there were humans down there… this place is too weird."

He was tempted to swim towards this deeper area, just to figure out how it felt like, however, something else caught his attention. Tim's hunting senses tingled, as he noticed some intense vibrations, which were above him, towards the water's surface, rather than towards these depths underneath him. His instincts made him prioritize this huge commotion over anything!

"There you are, you fishy bastards…" He grunted.

It didn't take him long to locate the source of all this commotion. There was a cloud-like thing in front of him, about fifty meters away, and this cloud stretched further than the eye could see, it was perhaps over two kilometers wide! Within this massive cloud, there were a bunch of silver dots, which flickered aggressively for some reason!

Tim was scared shitless for a good moment! The color gray didn't scare him, no, but he had this irrational fear that the large cloud of fish in front of him, were actually a crowd of sharks! It was unlikely that he was facing sharks right now, but still, he'd rather be safe rather than depend on his luck in this situation.

With that considered, he even thought. "Maybe I should hide somewhere? The sharks had a feeding spree in the reef before, maybe they're coming back for a second dinner? Can't risk it… it's not like I'm the protector of the reef or something, I don't have to be heroic here."

This latter part of his thoughts wasn't as stupid. He was being quite rational, in fact, so he slowly started swimming backwards, just to avoid any and all attention.

The system scared him to hell and back afterwards, as she suddenly said. [Timothy, those aren't sharks! You're getting spooked over nothing, it's kind of pathetic.]

"Survival is pathetic? I have to disagree with you there, system." He countered.

[The underwater cloud in front of you, is most likely a school of small sardines, very small. They should be docile as well, because sardines of this size cannot and won't hunt most species of stingrays. They don't bite.] She followed along.

With that said, Tim calmed down a little bit, and then added. "Can't be too safe, when something as stupid as an urchin can kill ya."

Tim then spent a good moment observing this cloud, which was presumed to be a school of fish. He doubted the system's expertise for once, because the cloud in front of him was far too large, so it couldn't be as harmless as she presumed. He didn't want to die there, however, it wasn't any more efficient to hide from fish that were smaller than him. He needed points, and this was a great opportunity to get said points!

Chapter 17 - The murder spree!

Over the course of a couple of minutes, Tim gathered all the courage he needed to approach this odd and massive cloud. Sure this approach made him a bit nervous, however, he gathered a bit more courage, as he kept insisting that this was a golden opportunity, one where he could reap a lot of system points!

If these sardines were easy to kill, then he could just slip between this school of fish, and stab them left and right with his tail. This could turn out to be his greatest, point-farming opportunity yet, and he was aware of it! Tim also noticed a hint of suspicious, green dots within the cloud as well, but decided to ignore that for now, as he didn't want to back down.

He wasn't given much time to think about that either, as now the cloud was approaching him by itself, rather than the other way around. This sudden approach intimidated him a lot, but he wasn't even given any time to think about swimming away from the approachers, no.

A few seconds later, he was surrounded by the same, speedy cloud! At first, he had it difficult to comprehend all of this commotion around him, but he eventually calmed down, because he wasn't threatened within this school of fish whatsoever. A few small fish bumped into him, but they didn't really hurt him whatsoever, as this massive group seemed pretty coordinated.

Tim eventually attacked one of the fish. He charged towards one of them, and bit its head off. These silvery fish were a few inches long, each, so it wasn't really a challenge to kill them.

A moment later, the system announced. [Congratulations, you just killed an alefin, rotter sardine, and won 5 system points as a reward. If you kill nineteen more of them, then you'll also be rewarded for completing a system-given task, the one which is about killing sardines.]

Furthermore, she added. [If you consume these sardines, their oil will make you feel very drunk. However, in this drunk state, your bites will become beyond venomous! You'd be able to force your living targets/enemies to rot, just by biting them! The intensity of this magical ability, entirely depends on how many sardines you consume.]

"Holy shit!" Tim exclaimed, "That's borderline necromancy… and I know exactly who to use it on! Watch out, Harold, I'm coming to take my home back."

Tim got overly excited afterwards, for two reasons! The sardines couldn't hurt him, so he felt like a god here, and could hunt any of them freely. That aside, he could also and finally exact his revenge!

He didn't want to get drunk now, because he wanted to kill as many sardines as possible, as he couldn't miss this opportunity. However, as far as goals were concerned, he was set towards one direction, and knew what to do for the rest of the day. With that considered, Tim stopped plotting those little plans of his, and then got into work!

He charged at everything in sight, just to rack in as many points as possible! Upon every kill, the system kept spamming him with information about the points he won over. This part was a bit annoying, especially since he couldn't mute the system, however, he was still having the time of his life!

This murder spree made him feel high, Tim was feeling a cluster of mixed emotions that no tiny kid should ever feel. He raged through the cloud, for a whole, half an hour, and throughout this timespan he killed fifty-two sardines! Such an amount was insane, but yet again, it wasn't enough to buy every available upgrade there was right now. He had to work even more to buy them all.

Anyway, Tim completed one of the tasks that the system gave him, regarding killing more than twenty sardines, and this in turn came with a reward of fifty points. However, the cloud of sardines outswam him by now, so he couldn't kill any more of them. That huge cloud went away as quickly as it arrived, and for now it was floating across the huge reef he called home.

That latter part was alarming, but it was unlikely that they were going to the reef just to live or feed there. Odds were that these sardines were just migrating, if fish even did that.

Tim didn't think about it much, and instead, he celebrated the points he won over, throughout this time-bracket. The system went into details about it.

She first said, [You killed fifty-two sardines, and as a result, you accumulated 260 system points from them. Aside from that, you also get 50 points as a reward, because you completed the associated task that I gave to you, regarding the sardine hunt.]

Afterwards she added, [In total, you now have 470 system points at your disposal.]

"Now that's badass! It's definitely a way to end the day." He celebrated, however, the end of the day was nowhere near.

It was still a few hours after the crack of dawn, so he could use the rest of his day to get some other work done. He didn't want to buy any upgrades yet, because he was too far from home… or at least, too far for comfort.

Instead, he wanted to seek out the few sardines that were littered across the sand, around the shallow area near the coral reef. He wanted to get drunk and then hunt Harold afterwards, but then he remembered that he could do another task here, before going all stupid in the middle of the morning. The task was rather simple.

The deep sea was right behind him, so he decided to swim towards it, and sink as deep as he could. He won plenty of points today, yes, but he wouldn't mind winning thirty more of them, just by swimming three hundred meters deep under the sea. Tim's fins were still flaming with power, so he could get down there within minutes!

Chapter 18 - Drunk Stingray!

Tim was quite speedy. He swam three hundred meters deep, under the sea, and completed the task as a result. He didn't get hurt either, as at some point he swam really slowly, just so he wouldn't cross any physical bounds. His disk-like body was upgraded to endure three-hundred meters of ocean depth, specifically three-hundred, and he wasn't willing to try his luck on the matter.

The system confirmed his success, the moment he hit the mark, she said. [Okay, that's enough. You're 300 meters deep, so we can mark the task associated with it as complete. Congratulations!]

Furthermore, she added. [As promised, you just got 30 system points as a reward. In total, you've accumulated 500 points, which isn't bad at all for a guy your size! Good job, Timothy, very good.]

"Thank you," He said, "You deserve most of the credit, though, for getting me out here. I got a hell lot of points, without working much for them… and I guess that's why I need you as a guide in this new life. However, I have a question, system, why did you bring me all the way down here. It can't be because of the points or the view, plus, I feel really weird right now, kinda tingly too."

The system didn't expect such a question from Timothy, and fairly so. He was presumably too dumb to ask such deep questions, so for a short moment, the system was stumped for words!

The system didn't answer immediately, but when she did, she said. [The whole idea behind those three tasks I gave you, was to help you become more explorative. The reef is nice, and safe for a little guy like you, yes, but it would take an eternity to earn points there. You need to feel the sea weighing on your back, if you're to become a true, powerful explorer. It's as simple as that.]

Tim couldn't argue with that ideology. The water pressure made him feel weird, yes, but then, at a certain point he didn't mind it anymore. He found it interesting even, and spent a moment looking around. The depths he was in, featured utter darkness, so although he didn't get to see much, it was still pretty interesting to be down here.

Eventually though, he spotted a little freckle, far below the sea, that was both interesting and intimidating! He saw many tiny, green dots, which were likely at the bottom of the ocean for some odd reason. They were at the bottom, yet they shone so luminously, which was the most interesting part about this, as simply, the light was powerful enough for the average eye to notice it!

Tim didn't know what to think about them, he was really stumped, and so he asked. "System, why am I seeing those green dots? Are they dead sardines, because I saw a few green dots in that sardine storm as well…? I know I'm new to this world, but all this green stuff can't be normal. It shouldn't be."

[Such sightings are becoming quite a pattern, aren't they?] She followed along, and also added. [I fear that the smartest fish across the sea are planning something evil, they have to be. Now I don't have evidence on this, but nothing about this world encourages such a constant appearance of green… products? Something is going on, and it's new, so it's too modern for me to know about it.]

Tim was amused by this, he even cackled as much as a stingray could cackle, and then he said. "I never thought I'd hear you talk like a conspiracy theorist, system, but I'll take your word for it. We'll probably run into the jerks who're sprinkling this green shit around."

With that said, they could move on with their day. Tim had a couple of other things to do, and the next little task, included getting drunk. He wanted to eat a bunch of those rotter sardines, and then hunt Harold the eel to death. He planned to settle his vendetta today, and was happy that he had discovered the cruelest way to do so! He was ready to have some horrendous fun.

…

Tim had a good-ish, working memory. He was able to memorize where a few of the dead sardines had floated down at. He found several of them across the sand, somewhere in front of the reef. After he found them, he didn't eat the sardines immediately, no.

Instead, he pushed and fin-slapped the sardines, just to form a big pile of them, all in one place. He figured that he wouldn't be able to find so many of them if he was dead drunk, so he was preparing against that, before time. He pushed nine sardines together into a pile, and now, he was ready to eat them.

"I spent half an hour slapping these motherfuckers around, let's see if they're worthwhile. Harold won't see what's coming, hehehe!" He muttered.

The idea was to eat all of these sardines, and that was quite possible too, because they were really small, a few inches each, actually. He wanted to get really drunk, or in another word, really amped with power! Tim was quite hungry too, as he had been swimming around for a few hours now, so he ate all nine of these sardines within minutes!

At some point, he complained. "Hmm… where is the drunkenness?"

Tim waited for about ten minutes, but he didn't really feel drunk yet. This was weird, so he briefly considered lurking around for more sardines, in order to eat them and encourage drunkenness even further, but that may not do him any good either. His stomach was full now, so he couldn't fit more sardines in there, even if he tried.

With that considered, he started getting really irritated. For a second, he even wondered if the system had been wrong about the sardines and their promised powers. It was unlikely for her to be wrong, yet at the moment, he couldn't help thinking about it.

However, what happened next was quite spontaneous! He was suddenly drunk, very drunk, to the point where he didn't notice that he was floating upside down!

Tim noticed that he was drunk, about two minutes later. There were some key factors that convinced him about it, for example, his vision was very blurry, and he couldn't bear a single, coherent thought!

That aside, he was also floating upside down right now, and because of that, he had spent a good moment bickering with himself about the reef he was seeing. Tim didn't know that he was upside down, so he kept thinking if the reef in front of him was new or not. He didn't know if it was a new arrival, and these questions boggled his mind for ten whole minutes! He was bewildered.

Chapter 19 - Vengeance, exacted

Tim was severely drunk, however, he did eventually find his way to the reef, and even closed in to the den, where Harold the eel was living in. He had spiraled like a WW2 warplane for a while, but at least he swam near the spot that he had aimed for.

He was as confident as a drunkard could be, so at some point, he shouted. "Harold, get outta there and face me, you retard!"

Tim's intent was clear, and some may even think that what he was doing was suicidal. However, regardless of how dangerous his idea was, he didn't plan on backing down! Anyway, since his vocal cords were very limited volume-wise, Harold didn't hear him whatsoever, he wasn't in trouble.

This gave him a bit more freedom to attack, and he did exactly so! Just moments later, in that drunken state, he came up with an idea that was both crazy, and perhaps effective. He simply rushed into the snug den, and aimed to bite anything in immediate sight!

Harold was still in there, in the den, by pure luck! With that considered, Tim managed to ambush this horrid eel, quite efficiently!

Harold couldn't move much, as the den was snug, so Tim pounced on him, and then bit him several times in seconds! His speed was very dependable, thanks to the flaming fins that he still bore, and since he was drunk, every move of his was very unpredictable! Harold couldn't stop him.

Within seconds, he noticed how Harold's dark-blue flesh started changing its color. It adapted this pungent, bright red color at first, and then, that color switched into a pitch black, odorless shade! Whole patches of Harold's flesh, dried off and then broke down into millions of pieces, right off of him!

When a few of Harold's bones started getting exposed, Tim was very sure of himself, and this victory that he just bagged. He won, as he beat this fat, and three-meter long enemy, in the cruelest, and most unfair way possible. Everything had been to the little stingray's advantage, and he didn't feel bad whatsoever about that, or of the way he ambushed the other. He was victorious, and that was all that mattered!

Moments later, while floating upside down, he faced Harold head on, and watched him as he passed away. In that drunken state, he had a couple of words to share with the other.

"Harold the eel, let me just say one thing… I'm so happy that your long ass is dying, I killed your ass, and you deserved it. You tricked me, and stole my home too; That's a horrible way to treat a kid, and in my world, you'd be in prison right now for it. Fuck you, and i hope you go to hell!" He mumbled.

What he just said wasn't so easy to comprehend. He jumped from one topic to the other, but considering the circumstances, it wasn't like anyone could stop him from blabbering on like a baby. A third of Harold's skeleton was exposed, for example, so he couldn't really react all that much.

"What the flip…" Harold grunted, and then, his conscience faded away forever, and for good. Those were his last words.

However, Tim was in no condition to celebrate. He ate one sardine too many, perhaps, as he crashed down two minutes after his enemy died off. The drunken state he was in, was what knocked him out.

He was safe here, nonetheless. Most creatures didn't know about this den, as it was hidden within some sea plants, so it was unlikely that he'd be eaten in his sleep. Tim could spend many hours here, safely!

…

Tim woke up, possibly several hours later, and once he did, he felt as heavy as a rock. The rotter sardines he ate had really worn him down, and now, he was experiencing what had to be a hangover. He felt this splitting headache that no fish should feel, and as for a child, this headache was almost crippling! It wasn't right.

The system didn't seem to care about his condition, as Tim was alive and that was all that mattered. Instead of talking about his pain, she made an important announcement.

She said, [Congratulations, Timothy! Through some drunken effort and also dumb luck, you successfully killed a shivering var-blood eel ~ In exchange, you won 1,200 system points as a reward.]

"Holy shit!" Tim celebrated, while he looked at the eel's carcass. "I killed him out of spite, not for the points… I did not expect a reward, not at all."

The system then followed along, [Well, you got the points, and now you've accumulated 17-hundred of them, so, you better buy those upgrades as soon as possible. Also, you stole the eel's powers, and can use them for a whole week. You can swim faster now, basically, and can freeze the blood of anyone you swim close to! Have fun with that.]

Furthermore, she added. [Though, I advise that you don't eat the eel… his flesh is mostly rotten by now, and you already absorbed a fraction of its powers, just by sleeping near the eel for several hours. Find something else to eat, you have other food stashes.]

"I stole his powers, huh? Vengeance can't get sweeter than this… I really am the best!" Tim muttered with himself, he was excited, and even ignored his crippling hunger for a moment. He was happy!

Anyway, the drunken state didn't allow him to celebrate for long. He needed twenty minutes to pull himself together, which was a whole challenge on its own, as he felt very worn down.

Tim noticed that dusk was just a couple of hours ahead, so it meant that he had been sleeping for at least eight hours here, in his den. That alone, would be enough to disorientate him, even if he hadn't gotten drunk hours prior!

Hunger-wise, he won't be able to last any longer. His digestive system had already processed all the sardines that he ate, and he even had excreted a massive piece of shit in the den. He was really hungry now!

"Gotta get to my crabs now… let's hope I don't get lost. Harold is done for, so I don't have to worry about anything else today." Tim muttered.

He was nervous about swimming right now, because he was still disoriented, however, he didn't have another choice. Harold was stripped out of life, as half of his skeleton was exposed by now, and that rotter venom really messed him up. In other words, it was considerably safe for Tim to swim across the reef now, carefree. He started moving!

Chapter 20 - 5x Upgrades!

Tim found the panzer crabs he had stashed. It took him a moment to find them, since he was both hungry and disoriented, but he did succeed nonetheless. Without wasting a second, he started munching on them.

He got a belly full of crab meat in less than ten minutes, and from the looks of it, he wasn't going to run out of food anytime soon. Tim was still pretty small, so his belly could only fit so much food. Survival felt a lot easier this way, and Tim guessed that if he killed anything as big as a shark, then he'd have food forever around here!

Of course, he wasn't so great at math, so he didn't consider that meat would rot quickly. There was no such thing as an infinite food glitch, even in this odd world, but it was fun to fantasize about it nonetheless. Anyway, as for the panzer crabs that he had stashed between a crack of coral, he was eating and protecting this stash for a greater reason, as he remembered what the system told him about them. These crabs were precious!

Regarding them, he had a question. "System… these panzer looking motherfuckers are supposed to help me, right, I'm supposed to have my growth sprout? How much more of them do I have to eat, because I'm tired of being this small! Any motherfucker could kill me, and I'm sick of being scared of that! If it wasn't for my venomous, rotter bite, Harold would've eaten me like a pancake by now! I don't feel safe, not at all..."

His concerns were valid. Tim had a stroke of luck so far, because he ran into the right magical creatures at the right time, and stole their powers, however, this type of luck may not last forever. In every beating second, he was a mistake away from getting mauled!

The ocean was not safe, so he couldn't count on his luck forever. Instead, he needed both physical and magical strength to survive, or more simply, he needed every kind of advantage there was. The system was quick to give him an answer, about the prior matter.

She said, [You need to be patient, Timothy. The growth sprout is a body altering, and bone toggling mutation, that isn't easy either to achieve or endure. Stingrays aren't supposed to double in size within a day, but when that happens it will be effective, and also really painful. Bottom line, if you're to encourage this growth sprout, you need to consume a lot of the alternation encouraging proteins that the panzer crabs contain, right within their meat. You have to eat more of them, as much as you can.]

"Well, this is gonna be an annoying couple of days." He sighed, "But then again, I do get hungry pretty often, so maybe I don't have to wait that long…? It's getting easy to kill time as well, cuz the hunt for points is endless… speaking of which system, I want to buy every upgrade you have for me right now. If all the pain that comes with the upgrades knocks me out, then so be it, that's good too. I'd wake up as hungry as a shark, ready to chow on more of these hard-assed crabs!"

It wasn't typical of him to think ahead, but for once, he had an idea that was quite effective. The system granted his wish right away, because she knew that this decision couldn't kill him. Since he had enough points to buy every available upgrade anyway, then there was virtually no barricade that went against his wish. Timothy dug deeper in a hole within the corals, and waited for the upgrades to unfold upon him!

The first thing he noticed was a couple of bodily spasms on his fins. Tim's muscles twitched quite a bit, so this meant that his muscles were being tampered with directly! He automatically assumed that his speed and strength were being upgraded right now, because he had thought about this upgrade for a long while, since it had been the cheapest. It was the first thing that crossed his mind right now.

Thankfully though, this upgrade didn't hurt him too much. Although he did twitch more than a stingray ever should, the spasms were totally manageable. The next thing he felt, however, was more unrelated and far more challenging!

Tim's skin was suddenly burning, to an extent where brazilian waxing would be considered pale in comparison! The pain knocked every logical thought out of his head, so he couldn't really figure out which upgrade caused this immense pain! He was clueless for a moment.

Moments later, he also felt a couple of sharp pains within his head, and this wasn't easy to deal with, but there was a bright side to it. This was likely an intelligence-oriented upgrade, and since his head hurt because of it, it meant that he was finally smart enough to feel brain pain, directly, right on the spot! This was a new sensation for him, but a terribly painful one nonetheless.

He kept feeling sharp pains within his head, and then his headache developed to the point where it was so severe, that it managed to knock him out cold! Tim went unconscious.

This was what he wanted to begin with, as apart from being a bit of a time skip, getting knocked out, was also an escape from all of the pain that he was experiencing right now! After this point, he'd wake up possibly hours later, and hopefully experience less jittery or horrendous feelings afterwards; It was a good way to handle such multiple upgrades!

The system went on with her work, and after about ten minutes, she implemented all five of the available upgrades, successfully. The upgrades had beaten Timothy's body quite badly, but she didn't care about that right now. He was alive, and would also wake up later, as a stronger, and likely more destructive stingray, and that was all that mattered to her right now.

With that train of thought, she shamelessly left a couple of notifications for Tim to hear, as soon as he woke up later on. She went into a few specifics.

[Upgrades complete,] She notified.

Furthermore, she added. [These upgrades consumed a total of 870 of your system points, Timothy. Although the upgrade session was expensive, you still have 830 more system points remaining in your sum.]

Timothy had progressed a lot today, and this progress had been expensive in many ways, but at least starting now, he'll be more magical than ever. He could accumulate his very own, low-quality mana from now on, which could keep him busy for a long while. As for the upgrades that were yet to come, even though he may be able to buy a couple of them soon, the pain he just experienced, may have him ignore these upgrades for a while!

Chapter 21 - Mana/Voltage conversion rate

Tim woke up feeling like a sack of shit. It wasn't the brightest idea to handle five upgrades all together, and quite frankly, it was stupid to handle five of practically anything! It was too much, and in this case, the upgrades have beaten on his body relentlessly, to the point where he may have been halfway close to death! It had not been an easy process.

Tim woke up in the middle of the night, which meant that he had been knocked out cold for seven hours at least, and yet, his skin still burned a little bit. The reason behind this mild pain was obvious, some of the upgrade's after effects have stuck with him, apparently, which further vouched the intensity of the upgrades! The pain was overwhelming, but yet again, he was happy that he hadn't been awake to experience most of it.

Now, he even joked around. "Fucking hell, I feel like I've been put through the ringer. If I was back on earth, a massage like this would do me good, but today I feel like I lost my virginity, that was beyond a massage. I remember my friend Steve talking about butt-sex… erg, what I went through earlier is probably rougher than that."

[Hello, Timothy.] The system suddenly interrupted his train of thought.

Tim squealed, as much as a stingray could squeal, and then also exclaimed. "You scared the shit out of me! Damn it, system!"

[You've defecated prior to waking up, so don't blame me for that.] She argued, and then asked. [What was that butt-sex you were talking about? It's unheard of in the animal kingdom, you especially, shouldn't think about it, as you are both a kid and a stingray.]

"My body may be that of a puny little stingray's, but my soul is still that of a middle-aged human's, system. Also, forget about the butt stuff, it's nothing to worry about." Tim followed along.

For a moment, he had forgotten that there was a literal lady (system) living in his head, so he was a bit embarrassed right now. For that matter, he tried to skip that questionable topic as a whole!

With that train of thought, he then hastily asked. "What kinda upgrades did I buy, system? I can't really remember anything you told me about them, I just remember that they were really expensive. Tell me more."

[Well, they were expensive.] She followed along.

Afterwards, throughout the next couple of minutes, she explained each of the five upgrades, how much they cost him, and what the main highlights of this upgrade session were. There were two highlighted upgrades, which were the most important out of the bunch; One was the extingus breath magical ability, and the other was the mana accumulation pool, which he unlocked!

The extingus breath ability was a form of deflective magic, which a great majority of stingrays had, regardless of their branch of species. Stingrays were an evasive species, who depended on their hiding skills to survive, and likewise, they depended on deflective magic if they were in any tight, and dangerous situations!

Tim was to use this spell, perhaps for an eternity, as it would be useful regardless if he was a stingray, baboon or a human, in whatever point of his life. It was always handy to have an ability, which would deflect dangerous magical spells from an opponent! He needed it.

Anyway, as for the mana pool, it was equally useful. He could use it to accumulate mana, and with said mana, he could power up spells that he stole from dead or injured opponents. For example, he could start shooting thunderous bolts out of his barb again, and those tiny fireballs too! Those powers weren't lost.

Originally, he accumulated said powers in voltages, for example, from fallen creatures. But now and onwards, he didn't need to munch on another thunderous eel, in order to harvest its powers, no. He could summon those thunderous bolts, regardless of how he had run out of them a couple of days ago!

The voltages were to be converted into mana from now on, and although the lighting bolts were to be less than original, and therefore less dangerous, they were still offensive powers! Tim's low quality mana wasn't strong enough to challenge a shark, but as far as details were concerned, he could endlessly power up every magical ability he stole from enemies, as long as he had enough mana to do so. Even the flaming fins he bore weren't just temporary anymore, no, as he could power them himself from now on!

Anyway, with these massive benefits, came an equally large challenge. Tim had multiple powers to his advantage, and most of them were stolen, yes, but he still had to power them all by himself from now on. It may not be easy to use magic, when his own, accumulated mana was on the line!

The system described that since his newly bought mana was of the lowest quality, he'd need to put double the amount of mana, on a simple, magical ability, in order for it to work. For example, if he wanted to shoot out ten volts of thunder, he'd need to use twenty points of mana for it to work!

The entire process was expensive, and he wasn't looking forward to that part of the journey. Worse yet, his body couldn't produce enough mana to support a steady use of his powers, which was a very demotivating thing to discover. The system described that he could only produce ten points of mana an hour. This demotivated him.

Specifically, he could only produce two-hundred and forty points of low quality mana a day. In hindsight, that sum sounded like a lot, but in any hazardous situation, he'd waste every single one of those points within a minute! It wasn't enough.

Tim couldn't produce enough mana, not naturally at least, and with that said, he started paying attention to a little task which he had avoided for a few hours; It was the one about mana roots!

The system promised a reward, if Tim could find some mana roots within the ocean, and now, from the looks of it, he needed those roots more than ever. He wanted to hunt down a bundle of them, as soon as the sun arose! It may take a while, but he was ready for it.

The system could read his thoughts thoroughly, so she was quick to make a little offer. It was an offer which may motivate Tim even more.

She casually introduced, [Timothy, hello again. I can see that mana points and their accumulation are proving themselves to be a challenge to you a lot, at least in comparison to the average stingray, so I have a recommendation for you. Since you bought everything a few hours ago, you've unlocked five more new upgrades, and one of them promises to deepen your mana pool by 700 points! I recommend you buy it, as it's a painless upgrade, inherently painless, and you can afford it as well.]

"Fucking hell… that's exactly what I need. A thousand points of mana does sound better, a lot better, hehe." He said.

Chapter 22 - Want s#x?

The upgrade he bought cost him six-hundred and thirty points. It was costly, but at least now he had a greater advantage, in terms of his overall hostility against the world. Under the right circumstances, he could attack anyone he wanted, and that was all that mattered in the end.

He didn't care that he only had two-hundred system points now, no, and if anything, he had a greater reason to explore the ocean now, because of how vastly depleted his points were!

Anyway, Tim still ended up wasting seven hours afterwards, because he had to wait for the sun to rise, so he had been less than productive. He found a couple of good ways to waste time, as the upgrade he bought, for example, had him obsessing over the mana points! He stared at a faded out computer-like window in front of him, for hours on end, and watched as the points increased!

He was absolutely mesmerized! For a stupid little stingray, he sure was obsessed with numbers for a good moment, it was an interesting reaction from his side. Tim also napped a lot.

Anyway, within this time span, he gathered up seventy points of mana. His body stored the mana, so naturally, it was also able to generate it on its own! Tim didn't want to use this mana, unless he absolutely had to, but overall, he was happy that he could produce it to begin with, that expensive upgrade was worth it! This was a huge step towards some greater means of survival.

However, since his body could fit a thousand points of mana now, he needed a faster way to accumulate them, preferably within a few hours too, rather than within several days! He aimed to look for a cluster of mana roots, as mentioned, because it was mandatory to find some of them now!

Tim waited until the sun rose, and with a belly full of crab meat, he started floating across the waters, in search of the roots. He had spent a lot of time eating and or napping, so he was more than ready to put some work in right now.

"Okay… if I was a valuable mana root, where would I hide…? This is a stupid question. Hell, I'd hide in coral even if I was a fucking ostrich, I like this place." Tim bickered with himself, while he was on the search.

This massive, possibly two-kilometer wide coral reef, seemed like the best place to hide valuable stuff. He was convinced about this, regardless of how much the system encouraged him to explore places outside the reef.

He guessed that mana roots were somewhat conscious, and if they were, they wouldn't be stupid enough to be in plain sight, especially across the sand. That wouldn't make any sense! He was enthralled to sniff through the reef, and he did exactly so.

Anyway, about half an hour later, he ran into a couple of creatures that seemed more than odd. They were roundish, a bit bigger than him, and had this alarming yellow color on their skin! Tim's hunting senses tingled due to this flashy color, and he was put between a primal fight or flight response afterwards! He could be in danger over here!

"What the hell are those?" Tim asked himself.

The system then answered him almost immediately, she said. [Those are pufferfish, and they seem to be toying with a couple of crabs. I'd recommend keeping your distance, as these pufferfish could be very poisonous.]

"Yeah, no shit." He said, and tried to back away from the scene, slowly.

Tim had a bit of magical power stashed in his tail, and every ounce of it was powered by his mana. He could use it against the pufferfish, but he didn't want to waste it on them. It didn't sound sensible, since they weren't attacking him anyway, so he just kept backing away instead. This was the best option.

"I'll save my mana… because I probably need to flee one moment or the other. My flaming fins are fucking expensive too, so I don't have any mana to waste." He muttered.

Just then, he was eyeballed by one of the pufferfish. The said pufferfish approached him slowly afterwards, which hinted that it didn't want to pose a threat. It wasn't malicious.

Then, it vocally asked. "Are you a stingrat?"

"Sting-ray," Tim emphasized, "But yeah, I am one. What do you want from me, puffy?"

"I am Koob Tonon Bonon, very pufferfish. Do you want to join sex?" It asked.

Tim realized that Koob wasn't the most fluent, in terms of the stingray language. He couldn't help but laugh, however, he was also intimidated, because he didn't want to mate with a literal pufferfish! It was absurd.

For that matter, he countered. "Sir, that is rape! I am a child, so I will not have sex with you, not now and not ever!"

"Sect!" The other pufferfish came along, and corrected the other. "Forgive my brother, he stupid. I am Konon Tonon Bonon, also very very pufferfish, so, do you want join sect?"

"I'm glad you're a bit more fluent," Tim followed along, and then asked. "What's your sect about? Can you help me find cool shit?"

"The poopiest," Koob interrupted, quite shamelessly.

Afterwards, Tim spent ten minutes bickering with these pufferfish. He wanted to understand what they were rambling about, and eventually, he figured out that they truly were part of a sect. Koob even went far enough to fetch the sect's master, which surprisingly, was a reef shark!

Tim got intimidated by the idea of consulting with a shark, but since this one was only a single meter long, he felt less threatened. If things got bad, he could just nail the shark on the head with a lightning bolt, and then make his escape. He could also rot any enemy's flesh now, upon will, so he'd use every tool at his disposal if things didn't go the way he wanted them to. He was safe.

The shark seemed very friendly, however, it said. "Hello there, I am Marlo. I hope my friends didn't scare you, as their stingray vocabulary can be wobbly sometimes."

"Well, they offered to have sex with me, so I'd say they could use a bit more studying." Tim followed along.

"Oh, yes, you aren't the first stingray they offered sex to. They can never really get the pronunciation right… Anyway, I'm the headmaster of the blistering mana sect, and I officially invite you to join us. We need guys like you, kid… I could smell your rage from the other side of the reef." Marlo said.

Chapter 23 - Blistering Mana Sect

From the looks of it, TIm really ran into a sect, whose members were primarily fish. Odds were that this sect was more of a cult, but he didn't want to point fingers like that just yet. He was offered to join the sect, and therefore, he hoped that there were some benefits from joining said sect.

If there were benefits to it, then he wouldn't mind putting himself at risk for them, in whatever means those risks would occur. If however, this sect was both dangerous and useless, then he had all of the power necessary to make an escape for himself. Tim aimed to be efficient.

"They can't kill me… not unless they're really sneaky, so, I'll be fine." He thought.

Anyway, Marlo, the headmaster of this sect, invited Timothy to visit their secret, hidden lair, and he accepted this invite. The concept of a hidden lair sounded even more cult-like, but then again, Tim had a lair of its own, kind of. Lairs can't all be inherently evil.

Fish needed places to hide in, for survival's sake, so it was unlikely that the hidden lair that Marlo promised, had some sort of doomsday devices in it, no, that was unlikely. Tim felt safer, the more he thought about the odds and ends of this invite. He'd just look at the place, and if the sect had nothing to offer to him, then he'd just leave! It was simple.

He was a bit excited, and they had to swim for about two-hundred meters to reach this place, which wasn't much of a challenge, so his excitement remained radiant. Distance-wise, it wasn't so far away from Tim's den, so it was a surprise that he hadn't met these guys before.

Anyway, once they got there, the group of four had to go through some maze-like tunnels for a dozen few meters, in order to enter the lair. A couple of twisty rights and lefts later, they swam into this vast, pit-like area that seemed very dark at first. Tim's eyes needed a moment to adapt to the darkness here, but once he did adapt, he could see tens of creatures swimming around in here!

"Fucking hell," He sighed, and then thought. "These jokers weren't kidding! This feels like finding Atlantis, except this shithole has nothing but fish."

It was an interesting place. Some of these creatures even kept this place lit, occasionally. Their magic shone radiantly, which gave this place a bit of light to work with. With that considered, Tim noticed that this place was truly shaped more like a deep pit, rather than anything else; It was fifty meters deep, it was also equally wide, and it had a stretch of blue coral at the top, which acted as its protective and very dependable roof!

Tim liked this place, he had to admit that. There was an evident smile on his face, and for a moment, he fantasized about leading these fish some day, preferably towards a bloody battle! This seemed like a fun thing to do, but in actuality, he swam in here for very greedy reasons to begin with, he wasn't looking to build an army, but he yearned for more power instead.

With that considered, he looked at Marlo the reef shark, and wanted to ask him a couple of questions. He wanted to steer the conversation towards a way that would benefit him the most.

Subtly, he asked. "Quite the number of fish you got here… but, what do you need them for anyway? More importantly, how can you afford to feed them all? I'm asking you this, because I can't even feed myself sometimes, so I can't imagine feeding a bunch of other fish. It sounds impossible!"

"Oh, everyone just feeds themselves, so we almost never worry about food. Sometimes, we travel for days to hunt, but the hunt never really bothered us. The feeding spree devastated the reef, yes, but there are plenty of other reefs out there… reefs, and other stuff, more stuff." Marlo followed along.

"More stuff?" He emphasized, "What do you mean by that? What are you hunting, Marlo?"

"We hunt everything, and by doing so we expand our understanding of the world. We are not just fish, Tim the stingray, we are mages, mancers, wizards, witches even, you name it! Much like most sea creatures out there, we aspire to be more than just fish, we aspire to be much respected, and loved humanoids. Full on!" Marlo added.

"So, I'm not the only one chasing that dream, huh?" He aksed.

"No, not at all." Marlo said, and then added. "I started off as a shrimp, a marble shrimp, to be exact. But I collected enough mana, and then transformed. I've been a shark only for a year, it's been fun… but I want to be more than a shark. if not human, I want to be a blistering eagle, at least!"

Tim was astounded by the idea that anyone could shape-shift in this world. For a moment he was disappointed, even, because he realized that the grand goal for transformation he had, wasn't his exclusive experience to keep, as apparently everyone here chased the same goal. He felt irritated by that!

However, this also meant that this world was even bigger and perplexing than he had presumed, and at the very least, he could steal so much more magical abilities than he had imagined! The opportunities were limitless, and mana was supposedly everywhere, waiting to be discovered.

Anyway, he chatted with Marlo for about ten more minutes, just so he could get a better understanding of how other fish behaved. Apparently, most of fishkind had ambitions which were huge, as big as Tim's ambitions, even! Some of them wanted empires, and this part was really interesting, he did not expect it whatsoever!

However, as ambitious as these fish were, it would appear that they didn't have the one advantage that Tim had, which set him above everyone else; They didn't have an all-powerful system to guide them!

The latter may be what defined Tim from the rest, he believed so! He poked around throughout multiple conversations, to figure out if these fish got any major external help from someone, that being, help from a system. He didn't mention the system directly, of course, but from what he understood so far, these fish were mostly on their own!

They hunted alone, meditated alone, and progressed with their powers, mostly alone. This sect in particular, used this den to relax once in a while, without having to worry about getting attacked by other creatures, but cooperation-wise, that was about it. That and, they shared a lot of information here!

Tim loved the idea of having yet another expansive source of information. He had the system to help him, of course, but if he joined this sect, then he may be able to find the good stuff he lurked for, even faster.

With that said, he started asking what this sect did, when they wanted to progress with their magic. Headmaster Marlo gave him an appealing answer.

Marlo said, "We look for mana roots, mostly, I bet you heard of them? Also, we try to figure out the best combinations… or, recipes when it comes to power-merging. We merge our less than necessary magical powers, to attain stronger powers as a result, understand? We treasure our magic, hence, we're called the blistering mana sect, we love mana too!"

Afterwards, Marlo also asked. "So… are you convinced by now, Timothy? Will you join us? If you do join us, I can hook you up with a dozen of other stingrays. You can work together with them for as long as you'd like!

Chapter 24 - "I used to be a plant"

Tim may be the busiest stingray out there right now, as he wholeheartedly accepted to be part of the blistering mana sect! He was to be very busy soon, because Marlo introduced him to a lot of things today, regarding magic, and he wanted to try out everything that was available!

He wanted to merge his powers together, for example, just so he could hopefully spend less mana on them. That was a good idea, however, Marlo instructed otherwise.

He said, "Timothy, let me say that I'm glad you joined our sect, but, please don't rush things. Power merging requires 500 points of decent quality mana, it's really expensive, so don't merge your powers unless you're absolutely sure that you'll need them that way."

"Oh, I need them." He said.

Tim wanted to merge his flaming fins ability, with his recently acquired, shivering blood ability. Both of them were great individually, but when he used them together, there was a resulting dual effect, which seeped his mana twice as fast! He'd lose eight points of mana every second, and that wasn't affordable whatsoever, especially since he needed a whole hour to replenish about the same amount of points! Bottom line, he needed a loophole, and power-merging may be it.

Anyway, he didn't talk about specifics with Marlo because he didn't trust him so much. Instead, he asked a couple of one sided questions.

He asked, "I need to merge a couple of my powers, Marlo. How long do you think it would take to upgrade my mana quality, huh? I can only generate low quality mana, and that's probably not good enough to merge things."

"Oh, it's not. It looks like you haven't even reached the second level of mana quality, which is called rustic mana… and with that considered, you won't be merging your powers anytime soon. However, I can help you get there." Marlo followed along.

"You can, huh?" Tim asked.

In actuality, he only wanted help from the system, regarding mana, so he didn't want to adapt any external ideas. However, he was willing to hear out what the other said.

Marlo added, "You just need to fill up your mana pool, and then, I'll give you a spell to cast on yourself. You'll either explode as a result, or you'll start gathering up rustic mana! One can never tell, so I hope you're lucky."

Tim thought this idea over afterwards. He really wanted to start gathering up better quality mana, however, he didn't like the idea of simply exploding. No one would like that, as in this world, there were a lot of things to look forward to, rather than just die! He didn't want to die, so as he nodded along to what Marlo was saying, he also waited for any word from the system's side.

The system did not disappoint, as she followed along quickly, and said. [Marlo is somewhat correct, Timothy. That is one way to upgrade the quality of your mana, however, you can also buy the upgrade from me, which is a far safer option. It all depends if you want to be patient about this upgrade or not, but, if you want to be cheap about it, then you can take the dangerous, spell-casting route, the one that Marlo offered.]

He did not answer to that immediately, no. Tim was thinking about his options here, and he was also listening to Marlo as he spoke. The reef shark had a lot to say, and eventually the conversation led to something good; He wanted to introduce Tim to a bunch of other stingrays!

He was really enthusiastic about the latter part, because in this new life, he never saw a stingray before. Anyway, as for the mana levels, he made a simple decision! If a mana upgrade wasn't available in this new set of upgrade options, then he'd choose whatever was closely available!

In his head, it was less dangerous to risk an explosion, rather than to spend time gathering up thousands of system points, just to advance towards the upgrade that he wanted. The system didn't give him the upgrades that he was curious about, no.

Instead, she aligned the upgrades based on what Tim needed the most, and in other words, he'd need to work a lot, just to get to the super interesting, rustic mana upgrade! He was not willing to wait that much.

Anyway, about ten minutes later, he met a few stingrays. He was happy about this, especially since he noticed that one of the stingrays looked exactly like him! He saw a bluespotted ribbon-tail ray, and he couldn't be happier about it!

Tim eyeballed the said stingray, and then asked. "You look like me… a lot like me, are we brothers?"

"You mean am I your sister? I'm a girl." The other emphasized, and furthermore she added. "Also, no we are not related. I used to be a stinging nettle plant, erg… about a hundred years ago. I assumed the form of a stingray only recently."

"Gosh, you're old." Timothy expressed himself, carelessly.

What he said was a bit offensive, but in his mind, he had complimented the lady. It wasn't easy to survive in this world, and he couldn't even imagine how a plant could shapeshift to begin with, so what he said was purely meant as a compliment. However, the other understood his words differently.

She said, "There's no need to call me an old hag, sir… yes, I am old, but age doesn't matter much nowadays, does it? In fact, it is my understanding that age never mattered! There are immortals flying above our heads, after all, so please, don't be rude."

Tim then bickered with the other for about five minutes, but eventually, they agreed that what he said was meant as a compliment. He didn't mean any harm, and now, since they put that topic aside, the team of seven stingrays (Tim included), could focus on what mattered the most; Magic!

Apparently, this specific team of stingrays were on a mana root hunt, since they too were pretty weak, and needed to be overloaded with mana in order to progress. They were a collection of the weakest members in the blistering mana sect, and it was time to change that!

The little old lady that Tim talked to, who went by the name of Ortana, was pretty weak too! Her mana was as weak as Tim's, it was level one (low quality), and she urged to change that. She had been powerful enough to shapeshift multiple times throughout her life, but that damaged her mana quality quite a bit, and now she was looking to fix that.

Collectively, these seven stingrays had a goal now, and they were willing to follow it with every ounce of willpower they got. Marlo gave them the directions of where a cluster of mana roots may be hidden in, and now, they had to follow these directions carefully, if they were to reach the said cluster! Attention to detail was key, if they were to succeed.