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2024-11-04 18:31:55"The hell!? Why am I underwater?"
[System reboot] [Loading...] [I'm your ocean survival system, you are my servant] [Feed me points, and I'll show you the secrets of survival with the aid of body upgrades] "Oh for the love of..." ... [Your first task = Locate and eat any small species of the crustacea ignatius family, juveniles are preferable… less steamy.] This message in his head was very confusing. That aside, he, Timothy Lake, a human, didn't have the slightest clue, regarding how he suddenly appeared underwater! It was nothing less than absurd. He completely ignored what the system said. In fact he wasn't even sure what the 'system' was, and thought that craze was creeping in. He could hear the system but not see it, which was a rather radiant hint of auditory hallucination, if not other things! "Who the hell are you? How did I get here?" Tim exclaimed, as his panic blossomed. [I'm your inbuilt, ocean survival system. You, Timothy, are the new owner of this newborn, stingray body.] It answered. But, it didn’t stop there either. [As for me, I have knowledge equal to one world and beyond it, I can help any oceanic creature survive this cruel, magical environment.] "Damn this thing has a lot to say." Tim thought briefly and privately, as the system's disruptive voice annoyed him shitless. [I heard that,] It said. "Oh so you can read my thoughts too, perfect." Tim added, he felt embarrassed, especially since the system sounded like a lady, though her tone was computerized. [Yes,] It followed along. Silence stretched after that point, for a whole minute, as Tim was given a lot to think about. The system eventually broke the silence, in a way that was a bit annoying; Basically, she started spamming some information. [Available system points = 10] [Purchase options = 1] Tim would rather not interact with the system, but she was persuasive. Since he was almost convinced that what he was experiencing was a dream, he saw no harm in playing along for a while. Dreams must end eventually, even nightmares, and this felt like a nightmare! He said, "Let's hear that option out, I guess." There was no harm to that, as everything about this truly felt like a dream. He even tried to swim fast, as fast as he could, but that effort was dimmed by slow and pale results. Just like in other nightmares, he moved really slowly! [Option number one, and the only option right now = A brochure, explaining the details of your new body, and species in depth.] [Price = 3 system points] "Kind of expensive for information that is solely about 'my' new body." The little stingray continued complaining, though he knew that he was becoming a bit annoying. He knew that he wouldn't be here for long, so he gave in completely. There was no point in being all grumpy, he started playing nice-er. He sighed and said, "Whatever, okay. I'm purchasing the first, and only option." [Purchase confirmed,] The system said. [Loading…] [Species = Bluespotted Ribbon-tail Ray] [Family = Dasyatidae extingius] [Gender = Male] [Age = 29 days] [Length = 15 centimeters] [Width = 7 centimeters] [Weight = 0.3 kilograms] As a closing sentence, she [Your purchase is complete, and as a result, 3 system points have been consumed. Due to this subtraction, only 7 points remain in your total sum.] Tim ignored all that talk about points, and said. "Sounds like I'm very small." He expected an answer, but the system wasn't very responsive. Instead, it continued spamming information that may only be interesting to her and her alone. She said, [Because of your most recent purchase, three more purchase options have been unlocked.] [Option number one = Learn your current location] [Price = 14 system points] "A geo-tagger?" Tim recalled this modern, human phrase. Afterwards, he joked. "Yeah, fish definitely need that. Nothing like a good old GPS to get you across the Pacific Ocean." He started being more and more sarcastic, because he was getting nervous. Everything that was happening didn't feel like a dream anymore, so he had to cope somehow. The system, however, didn't respond to such sarcasm whatsoever. She continued going on with her business, by spamming more of her information. She said, [Option number two = View the chart of your current capabilities. This one is essential to have and memorize, therefore it's priced cheaply, 3 system points.] "That sounds interesting." Tim thought, he felt intrigued. "I want to buy that one." [Purchase confirmed,] The system said. It was nice to hear her respond instantly for once. Considering the circumstances, he'd love to be distracted right now rather than face the problem at hand. Somehow he was a fish, and he wasn't quite ready to accept that. [Loading…] Afterwards, the system described. [Your capabilities will be listed shortly. Levels state just how strong a specific capability of yours is, with level zero being the lowest.] [Hunting, jaws, and natural camouflage = Level two] [Barb, and barb venom = Level zero] [Bodily strength, and speed = Level one] [Sight, scent and overall senses = Level one] [Intelligence of either, four forms = Low] [Mana = Pathetically low] [Magical powers = None] [Sex appeal = Level zero] "Wow, pretty low. Looks like anything can kill me, though." Tim pointed out, and tried to ignore the devastating fact that his 'sex appeal' was down to level zero. [Everything can kill you, yes.] She confirmed. Afterwards she said, [Your purchase is complete, and 3 system points have been consumed in exchange. Now, only 4 system points remain in your total sum.] Tim was given a lot to think about. This world started feeling more and more real, and the salt water hinted at it so, but that wave of realization wasn't the worst part. If everything was real, and as it appeared, it was, then he was given the worst cards to play with. He was just a tiny, weak, stingray! He didn't know how his soul ended up in this body, but it would be embarrassing to die in this same body, as much as it was embarrassing to own it and live in it. In the meantime, the system didn't care about his feelings whatsoever, and continued making her sales pitch. She said, [Option number three = Upgrade Hunting, jaws, and natural camouflage to level three. This option is priced at 28 points.] "Kind of expensive for a pair of jaws, don't you think?" Tim asked. Now he didn’t have any idea of how these points were attained, but they seemed like a lot. Part of him considered suicide, rather than to go through with everything a fish had to do on a daily, but the rest of him was curious. Sure he was also terrified, but if this world truly had magic within it, then it was worth exploring! The system decided to respond to his question for once. In fact, she even wanted to help him become a bit more practical. She said, [Let me show you some statistics, free of charge. The following consists of your current state of overall health and well-being.] [Health bar = 87/100 points] [Hunger bar = 3/15] [Sleep, and stamina bar = 11/35] [Mana = 0/0] At last, she sealed the deal off by adding. [You need to be a good hunter in order to survive. Now you can't afford 'purchase option number three' for the time being, but you can still hunt. As I said before, find a crab that you can kill, you need it and you definitely need the points that it can give you in exchange, once you kill it. Good luck, Timothy Lake.]
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I'm a Stingray? Chapter 2 - Enemy
"System, I've been waiting for an hour now! Where the hell are those iguana crabs you talked about?" Tim complained, and the attitude he had was fueled by anger alone. The system didn't make things any easier for him, as she said. [You mean crustacean ignatius, not iguana? Also, you've been waiting for 37 minutes, and guests aren't supposed to lie. Please behave!]Before he could say anything, the system answered the prior question as well, though she was a bit vague about it.She said, [You should just continue waiting for a little while longer. Crabs will eventually crawl over here, so stop talking and rustling around, you're gonna scare them away. Don't let 'natural selection' be your worst enemy, please the oceans are already dangerous themselves. Don't do stupid stuff.]Ironically, right now, the system spoke more than Tim ever did. She distracted him, even, so he was set quite for a surprise, after he felt a couple of doting, hot steps on his soft, fishy stingray back!"Youch!"
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 3 - The momentum
The shark reacted immediately. Once it got stung by Tim, it jerked its head left and right, then it quickly swam away. A two-inch deep stab was quite effective from the looks of it, very painful. "Feels like I stabbed that fucker with my ass," He joked, while in utter stress. However, he couldn’t have killed that shark with one stab alone, it was impossible. So necessarily, Tim was still in danger! The shark circled back, within half a minute. It was either looking for trouble, or a meal, but either way this was really problematic! The shark had to be at least two meters long, and it seemingly had powers too. Its fins left a line of fire across the water, regardless of how fire wasn't supposed to lit up down here. It was scary, and overall, Tim didn't stand a chance! He stabbed the thing, by pure luck to begin with, it had nothing to do with skill. Seconds later, it charged towards him! The shark exploded with speed within a couple of seconds, and it would be a terrible idea to s
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 4 - Pinpoint
Spiders always looked creepy, the ones of the sea even more so. However, Tim tried to put his discomfort aside for survival’s sake. He did so, and ended up eating seven whole ‘sea spiders’! He ate so many of them, because they weren’t so filling, they didn’t have any fat on them. Their long legs were inedible, so he only chomped through their small, red main bodies. He didn’t have to fight them in order to eat them, as these ‘spiders’ were as stupid as one would assume! This was an easy, but surely creepy meal. The system spammed him with some information afterwards. [You successfully killed and consumed seven marble shrimps, so in total, you get 14 points of health out of them. Of course, your hunger needs have been fulfilled as well.] “Health, huh? So that’s why I was feeling better… This isn’t temporary, right? I don’t want to feel like crap after an hour or, whatever.” He asked. His concern was valid. A tiny stingray didn’t have a complex system of pain receptors, but the few
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 5 - Just in time
Tim squeezed within the reef and its many contents, in search for easy points. He swam around for three hours, quite carefully, but hadn't managed to find as many creatures as he hoped to find. He just found a few more marble shrimps, and half of them had been in his den. They seemingly were the most abundant creatures in a fifty-meter radius, but their numbers weren’t infinite. He only killed twelve of them, but avoided eating most of them, because he didn’t want to exhaust himself too quickly with their negative side-effects.Tim avoided utter exhaustion as long as he could, but yet again, swimming around slowly and carefully for three hours straight, wasn't easy at all. He got tired, and used his last bit of energy to swim back to his den. Then, he fell asleep.It was a good idea to relax for a while. Tim wasn’t hungry, and his health went up by six points too, because of the few shrimp he ate. For that matter he could sleep peacefully.He went to sleep while hearing a brief notif
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 6 - Health, -10
Tim searched the flat sea-floor for about five minutes, and within this time bracket, he found three urchins. Each of them had different colors, one of them was even purple, so without risking his own health in the process, he had to figure out which urchin was the bubonic one.He wanted to charge towards one of the urchins like a barbarian, but he had to resist those fishy urges. The urchins couldn’t crawl away, after all, so he didn’t have a reason to rush things. He approached one of the urchins, and almost took a bite out of it. Common sense advised him otherwise, however, at the very last second. The urchin’s spines were spiky, so undoubtedly, it would be dangerous to put his mouth on its spines! It was beyond dangerous, actually, it was stupid.“Hmm… can’t trick me!” He exclaimed. Tim debated on how he should approach this urchin, and after half a minute, he remembered that his tail was practically charged with thunder! It may be useful against an urchin, but only if this shoc
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 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
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 8 - Semi-automatic Stingray!
Tim was astounded by what this world had to offer. The air, apparently, wasn't as bland as he imagined. It looked clear, yes, but further away the sky had more to offer!"Fucking hell, everything looks like a rainbow…" He thought.Tim could see multiple colors across the sky, and these colors were spread randomly. They looked like clouds, even, and each of these huge clouds were divided by color. Some clouds appeared softer, while a smaller percentage seemed very concentrated, and dense. They were interesting.Tim eventually flew into one of the latter! He flew into a pink, five-meter wide cloud which was dense in color, as it was fairly concentrated into that limited, five-meter wide space. He was really curious about it, and at that pace, he figured out what it was for!One would assume that it was stupid to fly towards a funny-looking cloud, but it wasn't so bad after all. Tim experienced the cloud's effects first hand, and thankfully, it didn’t kill him, neither did it try to.
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 9 - Special Crabs?
Tim returned to his stingray body, and now, he had a lot of time to kill before he could explore again. The wonders which were sandwiched between the sky enthralled him, so he couldn’t wait to get up there again, a week from now! Exploring the skies may get boring at some point, but the rewards were plenty! Tim gathered up a bunch of system points while he was up there, for example, and that was the best reward of all. He intended to use those points fully, but he wasn't in a rush right now. Upgrades were expensive, so he hoped to find a couple more critters to kill first, before going on a shopping spree later on! It was a responsible idea. "Ah, this'll be more than boring, it'll be exhausting…" He sighed. It wasn't easy to swim for extended periods of time, but right now, he didn’t really have anything better to do. Tim stretched his fins a bit, and then started exploring the reef! This place was massive, especially since it had complimenting cracks and tunnels within it, whic
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- I'm a Stingray?
Chapter 65 - Devilish Ants, reborn!
[Before you go mental on those fireflies, you should know that you’ve spent 10 mana points already. That’s a lot for a little guy like you, do I have to keep reminding you? Be careful with how you spend your mana, please.] The system scolded him.Tim looked at the ‘fireflies’ in the meantime, the same ones who soared above the grass, and as he watched them approach, he couldn’t help getting nervous. He also ignored the system entirely, as this was not the time to be greedy or cautious with his points! He had to survive! Tim then looked down at the circle of grassy ashes, the very graveyard-like pit that he had caused. It was a foot away in front of him, and as he looked at it, he couldn’t help but piece a certain puzzle together. He guessed that the intense fire that he caused was what attracted these specific fireflies!It was a firm theory, and it made him really nervous, so he thought. “Look at them go! I’d be damned if they were here to have a picnic, those bastards want fried, s
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Chapter 64 - Devilish Ants!
Tim was in a lot of trouble, for multiple reasons, and on top of that, he also felt incredibly disturbed! He noticed that unlike any other insects that he had seen before, these ants that were attacking him, had feet!Now of course these feet weren't as full and as detailed as the feet of a human's, but it was disturbing enough nonetheless, when he saw that their legs bent outwards near the very tip of their legs, it was odd. These red bellied ants had feet, each and everyone of them, and he didn’t know how to feel about that. On top of feeling disturbed, he was irritated as well.“This is why they run around so fucking fast,” He thought, and then pouted. “Why didn't I get a pair of flappy feet? I need a pair. They sure as hell would've gotten me out of that sand quicker, I almost died there!”There was a lot to think about here, however, he didn’t have the luxury to pause and complain about things, not for long, at least. Tim was still being hunted by these ants, regardless of how he
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Chapter 63 - Spider Wizard
Tim wanted to be a human again, he craved to be one as soon as possible! However, for the time being, he was an itsy-bitsy spider, and like most spiders, he was very vulnerable to all sorts of danger! Aside from that, he also had certain limitations now, power-wise. His arsenal of power had been severely weakened at the very moment when he turned into a spider! The system started getting into detail about the matter, as best as she could. While Tim strode forward and across the sand, she unraveled a bundle of information, in a computersized manner.She called for attention, [I respect your aspirations, Timothy, however, let us get back to reality for a while. Your current statistical, and or arsenal-oriented capabilities are the following…][Health Bar = 32/32][Hunger Bar =11/12][Sleep&Stamina Bar = 10/16][Mana Pool = 120/120]“Well shit! Looks like I gotta go ninja-mode for a while, because at this rate, I can’t risk running into something as little as a cricket, it’s not safe! G
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Chapter 62 - "Scared of Seagulls!"
Tim Was very self-motivated for once. Such a feeling was rare for the likes of him, because he was usually motivated by fear, rather than such an indomitable progressive will. It was a new feeling, and he was willing to chase its euphoric highs for as long as it was physically possible. He urged to do so!Physics may be his biggest enemy throughout the following few days, come to think of it, and the reason behind this conclusion was obvious, he was a spider! Spiders weren't quite heavy, not at all, and Tim was an anorexic spider, too, which although it sounded hilarious in certain contexts, it still served the prior point; He was very light, and perhaps vulnerable too!Now there were certain physical disadvantages when it came to being a spider, even when things weren't going wrong. In this case, things were going very wrong at the very beginning, because Tim was a wet spider! The ocean waves had hit him a couple of times ever since he shapeshifted, and those same waves almost killed
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Chapter 61 - "Three-inch Spider!"
Tim was an explorative guy, by nature, his soul craved it. However, today those explorative senses of his were beaten down and abused. In the search for land, he had been slapped shitless by the ocean waves, who refused to cooperate with him. He was near the ocean shores, which meant that the waves could be more violent once in a while. He was flipped around like a pancake, tens of times, as his body seemingly wasn't designed to browse the ocean surface, out here near the shores, not at all!Things were tough, but at least the trip he took wasn’t entirely bad. The coral reef below him, for example, had softened up the intensity of the waves, at least for a little while, and this gave him some peace. The reef was complex enough to protect the ocean shores from tougher waves, which was beneficial to him, but this itself hadn’t been enough to tame Tim’s scrambled nerves. In fact, other than helping him, the reef also irritated him.The reef was huge, so it had taken a while to cross it.
- I'm a Stingray?
Chapter 60 - "I'll never be a Seagull!"
“A fraction? What does ‘fraction’ mean?” He asked. Tim was in no condition to think. It wasn’t easy to escape two deadly threats at once (the other being hunger), and with that considered, it wasn’t a surprise that his mind was absolutely scrambled right now. He felt burned out.The system never felt tired, however. She was far more superior than a computer, and therefore, the work she did was tireless. For that matter, she was quick to come up with an answer, she was sharp!She said, [A ‘fraction’ means that it’s a tiny portion. Specifically, you only absorbed a tiny portion of the shifter’s powers. The shifter was far stronger than you, in terms of mana quality and although you killed a much stronger opponent, it doesn’t mean you’re strong enough to absorb all of its powers, you won’t be able to shapeshift as greatly or efficiently. I hope that makes sense to you.]“It does make sense, and it also doesn’t. How was I able to kill a stronger guy… erg, girl?” He followed along.[Luck,
- I'm a Stingray?
Chapter 59 - Fully-automatic Stingray!
The octopus wasn’t as cruel as Tim had imagined. This thing stopped charging at him all of a sudden, for example, which was a really confusing course of action. Then, the octopus just stared at him!Tim stared back of course, and then he asked about what was on his mind. “What the hell do you need fifteen arms for, man? You could kill me with like, four of them if you tried hard enough.”This was not the greatest time to ask such a question. Come to think of it, it never was a good idea to converse with an enemy, when both sides were so close to battling! Yet he did ask questions, quite shamelessly too. Even the bubonic shifter was confused by Tim’s questions, as he appeared overconfident while he spoke! Scared folks weren’t supposed to ask casual questions, it was just the natural order of things. With that considered, the shifter was enthralled, and felt really motivated to converse. This was a unique encounter without a doubt.It said, “I have twelve arms, guy, not fifteen. Also,
- I'm a Stingray?
Chapter 58 - Twelve-armed Octopus!
[You have no choice, Timothy, you must fight.] The system said.At first, even Tim second guessed the logic behind her words, but then, she also added. [The ambusher will likely follow you, especially if it’s a bubonic shifter, so it’s pointless for you to swim away. That aside, even if you escape with your life, you don’t really have the privilege to waste another hour. You need food immediately, and it so happens that the ambusher is edible, well, most likely edible. Kill it, and eat it!]With that said, Tim didn’t put up a debate. He heeded the system’s recommendations, and in effort to intercept the ambusher in a safer manner, he made a sharp turn to the right, and then started swimming as fast as he could. He had intercepted the electrical signals behind him, and in order to launch a proper, defensive attack, he had to make some distance away from the ambusher. He had to get a bit more comfortable, if he was to have a fighting chance!Tim used both the flaming fins ability, and
- I'm a Stingray?
Chapter 57 - Mouth sensors, and a halved mana pool!
Tim’s sight, scent and overall senses were upgraded to level four most recently, but that may not be enough to battle the utter darkness that the sea possessed. He had to be very attentive, just to have a brief understanding of what was going on around him at all times! It wasn’t fun. However, there were a couple of things working to his favor out here. It didn’t take much effort for him to maneuver through the darkness, for example, which was a good thing, as he technically didn’t have any physical obstacles out here on the open waters. The advantage behind this was that he could focus on heightening his senses, other than sight, as vividly as possible, without having to worry about bumping into something along the way! This was great, and surely, he had to use every advantage there was, if he was to succeed. Tim tried his best to focus, but he was also getting really hungry, yet, there wasn't any food around for him to eat. With that considered, at some point later on, he ended up