2024-11-04 21:35:52Tim's sense of vengeance went down, as soon as he found a place where he could rest at. The hard outlay of coral was his best friend around here, and he used it well, as he hid beneath about four layers of this hardy coral. Nothing could get to him at that point, nothing dangerous at least, he was deep within these natural barricades!
He thought, "Harold can't get me here… and fuck that guy! Who tricks a kid by promising spooky crabs? That was borderline pedophilia there, or at least, in the real world he would've gotten in trouble for tricking a child! I'm only like twenty-nine days old, god damn it." Such accusations were way out of line, but this little outburst had a simpler outlay. He cared less and less about either Harold or Drake, the more he talked about them, and as long as he avoided them from now on, he'd be perfectly fine with forgiving them. Forgiving was an exaggerated word, even, as he simply did not care to get involved with them at all. He had a life to live. Here, deep within the coral, he found a few marble shrimp and ate them. They were about to put him to sleep, but he got four more system points out of them, and thought that now was the best time to put them into use. The system had announced, [You've accumulated a total of 233 system points. It's a decent sum for you, especially since you've only used this stingray body for a day now.] "Well, thank you. Getting into trouble all the time has its rewards, right?" He joked, and at this point he was half asleep. [High risks do have high rewards, yes.] The system agreed, and then said. [Anyway, your health bar is looking better too. It's at 79/100 ~ It could be better, but you won't be feeling anything more than a headache from now on.] "Yeah, shrimps help… but I'm falling asleep, system. Can you tell me about the stuff I can buy?" He followed along. [Certainly,] The system said, [You can upgrade your barb, and barb venom as a start. This is the cheapest option available, and you'll need your barb in the long run.] "Okay, let's go with that." He said. [Confirmed,] The system followed along. Almost immediately after, Tim felt a sudden sharp pain on his whole tail. This took a toll on him, as the pain spread like the plague, it was simply unbearable! He didn't understand why upgrades came hand-to-hand with intense pain, but it wasn't fun whatsoever! About two minutes later, the pain stopped, and the results seemed decent. The system said. [Congratulations! Your barb and barb-venom has been upgraded from level zero, to level one. In exchange, 45 of your system points have been consumed.] "That's nothing… the pain consumed me entirely, though." Tim joked. Anyway, in regards to the barb, he wasn’t really able to see it, because his eyes didn't roll that way, but truthfully, his tail was really looking better. It was fatter, sharper, brighter and had the capability to store more magic in it now, as well as utilize the magic all the more efficiently! In this world, Tim's tail was his main weapon, and he was happy that he could upgrade it so cheaply. His barb and barb-venom had been at level zero before, and now that its level was higher, he was hoping that the venom could deal some decent damage, against anything that moved. He did understand, however, that it wasn’t strong enough to kill any monstrous fish whatsoever, just small ones. He moved on quickly after, and asked. "Okay, let's keep the fun stuff going, system. Tell me about that intelligence thing? Can I afford it, and do you think I should buy it?" [You can afford it, I priced it at 90 system points. Considering your recent blunders, you definitely should buy it… ten points go a long way when you're a fish.] She said. "You are very… right." Tim added, "Okay then, spray me with brain juice or whatever!" [Confirmed,] The system said. Immediately after, she added. [Congratulations, your IQ successfully went up by 10 points. In exchange, you spent 90 system points, because as you know, upgrades like these are a bit expensive.] Tim didn't care about the price right now, no. Instead, he was offended by how quickly this upgrade was implemented into his brain, it only took a second. Tim's little headache remained the same too, he didn’t feel anything new whatsoever! "I guess I'm too dumb to feel brain pain," He sighed. The system didn't care to console him about that. There was just one other upgrade available, and she was quick to re-introduce it to him now, rather than talk about feelings. She explained, [Okay, do you care to feel a little bit more pain? I want to tamper with your organs a little bit, hollow them out by 10% maybe? Here and there, tit and tat, it'll only take a moment, and you can afford it.] "As long as it'll knock me out, I want to sleep for a while." He said. [Confirmed,] The system added. She didn’t fail to deliver. Tim started feeling weird right away, as if there were bugs running around his blood vessels! It wasn't quite painful, but along the way, he got more freaked out than ever, and even started twitching a little bit. A medieval peasant would consider this procedure to be necromancy, but in actuality, the system was doing some work that would need both a doctor, and a scientist to perform! She was optimizing Timothy's body, so he could endure water pressure for about 50% more! This was no simple task. She was quick with it too! The upgrade only took about five minutes, but Tim got knocked out half way. The system did her job thoroughly, and announced things, regardless of how Timothy was fully unconscious. She said, [Congratulations! You can swim up to 300 meters deep now, without receiving any damage from water pressure. This'll aid your explorative nature greatly, for every next adventure to come… I'll tell you about this, again, after you wake up. This upgrade cost you 75 system points, which is a bit hefty for a beginner such as yourself.] Furthermore, she added. [At least math isn't your trump card, though, you probably won't notice that you only have 23 system points left, after all the upgrades. These three upgrades cost you 210 points all together.] Afterwards, the system started talking to itself. [Eh, he'll be a little bit mad, but he'll get over it once I tell him about the new upgrades… Besides, he's making great progress already, the explorative soul ability he used a few hours ago, will have him inching towards humanity soon enough. Free-flying is the first, essential step to shape-shifting…]
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I'm a Stingray? 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'm a Stingray? 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 s
I'm a Stingray? 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 hung
I'm a Stingray? 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
I'm a Stingray? 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 g
I'm a Stingray? 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
I'm a Stingray? 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 thi
I'm a Stingray? 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 de
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Chapter 347 - 50/50
The merchant that was trying to bargain with the team remained calm, he didn’t lose his composure. He was old, and his body seemed dried out, so surely he had made plenty of much tougher sales throughout his lifetime. Therefore, his answer was equally sharp, “The root may be worth ten kilos of gold in the market, but it’s difficult to sell it unless you know your way around. To the right people, I can sell it for as much as thirty kilos, if we’re being honest? I’m offering to give you five kilos of gold, because I know that you won’t be able to find a better deal anywhere else across the City of Fik.”Such honesty stunned Timothy, he did not expect it. However, he had also kept his cards close to his chest, and had tried to sell a single root only, rather than more. He never revealed that he had four hundreds of them stashed away safely. With that considered, he was able to argue, and pitched, “What if I said that I have fifty of them to sell, sir great merchant?”“That’s virtually
Chapter 346 - The gold value of Mana Roots
The team was accepted into the city, as the guards didn’t cause them any trouble. They left their dragons in the stables that were close to the city walls, and the stables were quite big, as they were meant to keep hundreds of horses, so the eight dragons fit in there just well, despite their various, big sizes. Timothy got close to Billy the dragon, and said, “We’re gonna have to leave you guys here for a while. Now, I want you to behave, but if anyone tries something funny, just burn them, and head back home.”Billy nodded in response. The team then separated with the dragons, and made their way into the city. They were dumbfounded by how big this place was, and it was definitely bigger and more packed than the cities that they had visited back in the micro-universe of Valporovus! The most common thing that they could see were three story buildings, which were made both with stone, or wood. The wooden ones were likely supported by thick, wooden beams, otherwise it would be difficu
Chapter 345 - The City of Fik
In the magic world, being a team was oftentimes more beneficial than raw-dogging the challenges of the world alone. No two mages were the same, on the count on how random the magical world could be, so a team could benefit from each other’s perspectives, and arsenal.Timothy, and most of his friends, had progressed through worldly settings that were no different from complete anarchy. Timothy started out in the ocean, where laws of any sorts were unheard of. Everyone tried to kill everything, even if they felt slightly threatened, so his earlier upbringing had certainly been tough. Magical stagnation was uncommon in this magical world however, as long as one managed to survive for long enough. Whoever survived was bound to progress eventually, so Timothy had mastered a good part of the ocean already and he even had a whole coral reef to call his own. He considered himself the owner of the reef that he had popped into months ago, or at least, he was its great ambassador. He was the fi
Chapter 344 - The distribution of the Mana Roots
Timothy and the team were finished harvesting the mana roots. Individually, they got every benefit that they could get out of this farm, and despite the fact that the level of each team member was all over the place, creating a sort of unbalanced arsenal between them, they still were very pleased with the results!Neither of them knew where Genta was, or had gone to, and judging from the context of her disappearance, it didn’t look like she was coming back anytime soon, or ever. The best theory was that she had somehow traveled forwards in time, because her original timeline was several thousand years into the future, but although that theory sounded plausible, the fact remained that time travel was unheard of in the magical world. Even Garry, who was a literal Arch Mage himself now, was oblivious of such a thing as traveling forward in time!Sure Timothy could manipulate time to some degree, but he had a portal. He could manipulate time only under certain settings, through the portal
Chapter 343 - Fortana, the Dragon Slayer
Fortana was the last to rise from the farm of mana roots. She had taken longer than everyone else to level up, which was a bit understandable on the count that most of her mana pool consisted of dark mana, but her friends were still concerned. They braced themselves, and fully expected that Fortana would find some random reason to attack them! At the very least, she was likely strong enough now to not depend on anyone else anymore. Once she rose out of the farm, her long blonde hair followed suit, waving across the waters. To their surprise, she seemed quite calm, she wasn’t hostile, but her calm composure was almost like a trick, because moments later, she did something weird.Somehow, she created a small squid within seconds, and then destroyed the squid moments later. She didn’t just kill it, she disintegrated it, and the only thing that was left behind was the squid’s ink. She then poked her head into the free-floating ink, waved it, and in turn, a bunch of the black ink went int
Chapter 342 - "I did this thing"
Amongst the three mages that were still harvesting the roots of the farm, Gustav was the first one to stand. Ortana, and Fortana remained in the farm, and were still harvesting every drop of mana that they could get.It was concerning that the two of them were still harvesting mana, but the rest of the team couldn’t do anything about it. It was best not to interrupt them, and if they somehow died while harvesting, then they would die in the best way possible. The euphoria that any mage would feel here, in this farm, topped the euphoria that any other type of death could cause! At some point, everyone expected that Fortana and Ortana would die today, and they started believing this after every other minute that passed without these couple of ladies rising from below the roots. Everyone waited in anticipation, but when Gustav arose, he managed to distract the rest of the group quite thoroughly!“How are ya, Guss?” Tim asked, as he noticed that his friend had this crazy look in his eye.
Chapter 341 - 5-5-6-7
Genta disappeared. The reason behind her disappearance was difficult to figure out, but for now, no one in the team really cared to know. They were all busy reaping the benefits of the great amount of roots that she had left behind, and Genta had spent most of her time here yelling at everyone anyway, so no one really cared if she never came back. She was a great stepping-stone for everyone’s progress today, and so they were to remember her as a great old mage whose mere willpower alone changed several, or potentially tens of lives for the better good. However, they’d also be happy to never see her again. Soon enough, Garry was done leveling up, so he stood up and swam away from the farm. He sat close to Arvena, and tried to balance the sheer amount of great, euphoric emotions that the roots gave him.“At whit realm did ye git to?" He asked.“The sixth one,” She answered.Impressed, he said, “Och sae you’re a stoatin, Expert Mage noo huh? That’s gey crakin'!”Arvena nodded in respons
Chapter 340 - Genta's disappearance
The farm of eight-hundred mana roots bore benefits that a handful of mages could not fully harvest by themselves. The roots were fullgrown, they were adult roots, so the amount of mana they bore each was within the millions, so they wouldn't even be able to harvest them even if they were all Arch Mages!Odds were that a mana bracket would hit them ages before they could harvest the roots. Genta had planted many of them, because she had expected to harvest them once they were just a few months old, where the yield would have been about ten times less, if not lower. She didn't account for a giant jellyfish to come and boost the roots into later adulthood, though, she wasn’t complaining either, because now they didn’t have to be savvy with the roots.The mana roots were so big that they had intertwined with one another. Their thick, three-foot wide arms slithered across the farm, and at this point the farm even looked like a labyrinth that had no beginning or end! It was difficult to eve
Chapter 339 - The Yield
The team had eight-hundred full grown Mana Roots at their disposal. It was time to harvest the fruit of their labor, and it so happens that their labor included immense battles and worldwide travel, so the rewards that they were about to reap seemed all the more meritable!However, they were also aware that eight-hundred roots were too much for them to harvest all together, as the roots outnumbered them around ninety to one! They couldn’t harvest the entire farm even if they tried, so after chatting with Genta for a little bit, they came to the agreement to let the goblins, Coral Destroyers, and basically every other species who had helped form, or protect this farm one way or the other to have a slice of this goodness! It was only fair, as by all odds, the nine of them wouldn't be able to harvest even half of the roots, nonetheless all of it.Anyway, In order to avoid messing with each other's mana intake, the group spread apart from each other, laid in the comfortable, sandy ground
