2024-11-25 17:59:53The team of seven stingrays were on the move. Marlo directed them to a spot, which was a whole kilometer away from the hidden lair, and it was laid out on a stretch of sand. Originally this spot would be really unassuming, but Marlo taught them how to find the good stuff!
He told them to follow the edges of the reef, in a very straight line, until they couldn’t anymore. This, in turn, would lead them directly towards the designated area. After separating themselves from the reef, the team were to look out for holes in the ground. The place which may contain mana roots was very well hidden, so they had to check on every noticeable hole on the sea-ground, in order to find the place. Of course, they also had to be careful, because an animal could be living in any one of the random holes, and swimming into them could be dangerous! Marlo described that they should be searching for a shrine-like, hidden temple. Religion was a thing across fishkind, apparently, and oftentimes, religious sites were built around magical items of great value, such as powerful mana roots! In a sense, mana wasn’t such a bad thing to worship, as this world revolved around magic, after all. The site which the group was trying to find was rarely visited, and almost forgotten too, which also meant that any seed of mana root had the opportunity to grow there! Tim was counting on that, he was really enthusiastic! However, he also got a bit irritated by now. Half of the stingrays in his team swam very slowly, just about as fast as a stingray could swim, so the one-kilometer trip had stretched for over an hour now. If Tim was alone, he would've gotten here in ten minutes, but for the time being, he simply couldn't separate himself from the rest of the group! "Can't believe that I'd swim that slow too, if my fins weren't magical…" Tim thought to himself. Anyway, they separated from the reef by now, and as the other stingrays were poking their heads in random holes, he felt entitled to advise them for the better. Tim knew from experience that eels loved to live in holes on the sea ground, in holes much like the holes they were seeing here! With that considered, he didn’t want his group members to be brutally pounced on. He yelled out, "Watch your head, flat asses! You wouldn't believe how many animals could hide in holes in the sand." Tim wasn't their leader by a stretch, but he still felt responsible for them! Also, he really didn't want to report any casualties back in the sect, especially since he had the feeling that he'd be the sole survivor, if any real fight occurred! That latter part wouldn't be so easy to explain, without being called a murderer in exchange. He was right to be cautious. Five minutes later, a rather unlovable creature emerged out of one of the holes which were scattered across the sand. It was a blue sea-snake, and it bit a light-brown stingray, right on and over the face! "Holy shit!" Tim yelled out, "I told you to be careful, god damn it!" The unfortunate stingray was killed. He had been a bit bigger than Tim, but he didn’t necessarily have enough endurance to withstand a bite from a one-meter long snake! That one stingray was dead, but it was important to protect the rest of the group, so Tim went into action! He knew that it would take a lot of effort to kill this thing with lightning strikes or fireballs, and he didn’t have enough mana for that kind of an approach either, as the snake was simply too big! Instead, he depended on the next best thing, which was to freeze the enemy's blood. Tim acquired this power only recently, by killing Harold the eel. He hadn't used this magical power all that much, since it was expensive to do so, however, this situation called for drastic, and efficient measures! The snake in front of them wasn't too fast, which was relieving, but if he gave it enough space to attack the group, then it might kill off the rest of the stingrays one by one, and that was less than ideal. Tim didn't want that to happen, so he approached the snake. He approached slowly at first, just to study its moves a little bit, as he didn’t want to rush towards it just yet. Ortana the stingray noticed what he tried to do, so she joined in. She said, "We have to divert its attention, kid, don't do this alone unless you want to get your face chewed off. Listen to me… I may have been a plant before, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to fight!" "We don't need to fight it," Tim answered back, "But yes, we need to confuse it, so swim that way, to the right. Use your extingus breath if you suddenly have to protect yourself, but try to keep your distance at all times! This'll be quick." With that little plan in mind, they approached the snake together, and took two different directions. Ortana approached it first, and got all of its attention, the snake wasn't so smart! Tim found a blind spot, about five seconds later, so that was when he charged forward with every bit of speed he could muster! He used his flaming fins ability to speed up, and the blood freezing ability gave him a bit of a boost too! He approached the target, at 10 km/h! The water itself started freezing up in exchange, as Tim's fins unleashed a steam-like substance, because he had activated the latter ability! Whole chunks of ice started sinking towards the sea ground, and when Tim met with the target, that icy wave clashed on the target and beat it shitless! He froze the snake's blood, quite literally! It was a three second job, and within these three seconds, he managed to paralyze the snake severely! The abrupt halt of blood flow restricted most of its movements, and in return, a bunch of its organs started failing as well. Its heart got damaged the quickest! The system later announced, [You just spent 24 mana points in three seconds, slow down! As of now, 240 points of mana remain in your bodily mana pool.] Tim heard that, but he didn’t care about the expenses right now. He then left the snake alone, and just watched it suffer for a while. In about five minutes time, it died off, and he reaped every benefit that came with killing a far bigger opponent! The system said, [You successfully killed a blue menace sea-snake, and won 350 system points in exchange! This snake is powerless, as it's just a normal sea snake, so you won't be able to steal any magical powers from it.] Furthermore, she added. [In total, you now have 550 system points at your disposal.] Tim was a bit upset that he couldn't steal any powers from this snake, but yet again, he had too many powers to begin with. He didn’t need a new ability, so he humbly started celebrating instead. He thought, "Hah, look at all those points! I didn't even have to use my rotter bite… it was totally worth the mana!"
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I'm a Stingray? Chapter 26 - God's Punishment Realm
Tim removed a huge barricade from the group’s way, he killed that snake! His work was appreciated by the other stingrays, by those who survived at least. They had one casualty so far, but as far as the main task was concerned, as of now, they could continue to progress!The stingrays searched the area cautiously, as they didn’t want to get pounced on by another snake. Furthermore, they hoped that there were magical mana roots here to begin with, they hoped that Marlo’s speculations were dependable. If there wasn’t anything valuable here, then they risked their lives for nothing! They weren’t sure if any mana roots were here, but odds were that they were going to figure this part out quickly. The stingrays were taking this task even more slowly and cautiously now, sure, but since there were six of them putting in some work, it was only a matter of time until they searched every nook and cranny of this fifty-meter wide area! They were bound to formulate a conclusion at some point.In t
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 27 - Stingray x Stingray battle!
Tim and the rest of the team eventually noticed that a couple of stingrays were missing. When someone was underground for more than five minutes, it was inevitable to notice their absence.Tim got extremely paranoid in response, and guessed that those two stingrays (Bob and Knob) were either dead, or they had found the roots, and were hogging them! His paranoia was valid, as for example, he couldn’t really trust a couple of fish that he had met just moments ago, it wasn't logical.With that said, he began exploring the area more thoroughly, and was amped with anxiety throughout the whole time. He stopped being stingy about mana for once, and charged his tail with both fire and thunder, all for safety's sake! He didn't want to get pounced on, but if someone attacked him, then they'd have to deal with a bit of a rash from his side.The rest of the stingrays were on high alert too, but unfortunately, one of them ran into the main problem. A sudden, soul-shaki
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 28 - Depleted Mana Roots
Tim won the battle, he killed a very dangerous stingray. However, he felt disgusted about this, because in a sense, he felt as if he killed a human being! He felt that this was a horrible thing to do, even if it was for the greater good. Normally he would celebrate for such a tremendous victory, and perhaps he should. He killed a creature that was likely multiple levels above him, in terms of mana quality, which was something to celebrate about, however, he remained idle. Tim didn’t care about the little amount of points he got in exchange, and he didn’t care about the mana points he lost either. He just floated there, almost motionlessly, and continued to contemplate. The system broke his train of thought, as she announced. [You have accumulated a total of 570 system points. Also, 178 points of mana remain in your mana pool.] Tim did not care about all that right now, but the few astounding facts remained erected. He killed a really pow
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 29 - Meditative pancakes
[Congratulations, Timothy, you found mana roots.] The system announced, [This means that you successfully completed your fifth, system given task, and won 100 points as a reward! In total, you’ve accumulated 670 system points.] “Nice,” He thought, though he wasn’t as excited about the points this time around. He was still depressed over the death of so many stingrays, as in a weird way, he considered them human, and such deaths shouldn't be taken lightly. Overall though, regardless of how he had been sandwiches between fireballs earlier on, this had been a pretty decent day. Tim got what he wanted. They found a cluster of mana roots, and although the roots were mostly depleted now, there was still enough mana for him and Ortana to share. They were to play nice about these remaining properties. Him and Ortana were the only remaining survivors within that group of stingrays, and although this part was depressing, it served a
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 30 - 54% survival-rate!
Tim finally filled up his pool of mana. It took him about twenty minutes, because the root was degenerating more every second. He also couldn't concentrate all that much either, which stunted his progress, but the important thing was that he succeeded, even if he did so eventually. His pool now had a full, one-thousand points of mana.With that said, now and onwards, he could decide on two things. He could either save these points up and use them sparingly in the future, or, he could try to upgrade the quality of his mana now, and for good! The latter part seemed more appealing, however it was also the most dangerous option right now!The latter option had a fifty-percent survival rate, as it was said to be physically and mentally challenging, so it could quite likely kill him. He wanted to have better mana, but the thought of death scared him dearly.At some point, he decided to ask the system for a second opinion. She was much smarter than him, so it was
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 31 - Begging the Gods!
Tim helped Ortana get out of trouble. He lifted her away from plain sight, and hid her in some random hole on the ground. There were plenty of such holes surrounding them, and they could hide within any of them, just because they were very small-bodied stingrays. They were safe for the time being, or at least, Tim wanted to believe that he and Ortana were safe. He muttered, “Those fuckers are probably coming after the mana roots, so, if we’re quiet enough, then they won’t bother us.”“They will bother us, Thomas, they will.” Ortana suddenly added. She hadn’t spoken much for a while, as the upgrade session took quite a toll on her. She had been preserving her energy, but now, the situation demanded otherwise. She had to add, “You’re full of mana, so they’re gonna sniff you out, and then try to eat you whole! Your mana is pretty weak, but that doesn’t matter for them; Those sharks will still benefit a lot from eating you…”“Well that’s fucking peachy,” He whispered.Timothy was in da
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 32 - Rustic Mana upgrade
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I'm a Stingray? Chapter 33 - Sneaky Stingray!
The risks that Tim took, came hand-to-hand with advantages. The quality of his mana was greater now, so he managed to pave an escape route for himself as a result. He beamed through the waters at an astounding speed!Tim swam low, pretty close to the sea-floor even, so he managed to escape the danger zone successfully. The sharks didn’t notice the commotion he caused across the waters, and since his mana pool was scarce of points too, they couldn’t smell the mana on him either. The scent on him wasn’t noticeable, not at all.“Peww… I made it. Fuck those sharks, I ain’t fighting them, and odds are that they’ll never find me either.” He mumbled.Tim had reached the coral reef in seconds, and he was relieved. He had swum towards safety, with the aid of his flaming fins ability, which had allowed him to swim at a speed of up to 24 km/h! This part of the experience was intense, due to numerous reasons. The said speed was the reason why he had caused a tiny commotion across the waters a mo
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“Freedom… it outweighs everything in the world, be it mana or gold.” She thought, as she breathed in the crisp air at the crack of dawn.Fortana was up in the sky, along with her dragon, and she was now about forty-kilometers away from the City of Fik. She decided to leave the city for a short while, for two reasons.Firstly, she and her team were stuck in the city for an undetermined amount of time. Timothy said that they’d be stuck in the City of Fik for around a month, but she figured that they’d be stuck there for several months, and she could not remain stationary for that long. She spent most of her life stuck in the Dungeons of the Old, and now that she had gotten a taste for freedom, she could simply not remain in one place for long, otherwise she would either sink into depression, or suffer through wave after wave of anxiety. She didn’t like it.The second reason why she left the city was primarily related to her self-absorbed need to improve her arsenal. Most Expert Mages ha
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Chapter 368 - 800 Expert Mages
Timothy needed about ten minutes to explain to Cornelius everything that had happened over the past hour. It was quite difficult to explain such a complex matter to a man that did not care, but he got through to him eventually. At the end, Cornelius bluntly added, “I understand. You accidentally killed what, like five-hundred soldiers? It happens.”Furthermore, he added, “But if you want to mask your mistake properly, you best add a couple more frozen giants. You can sell your story easier to the city officials if you say that five giants went neck to neck with the city’s best mages.”“Right,” Tim nodded, and then he communicated with Fortana telepathically, and got the tip across to her, even though she was forty meters away. “Add two more frozen giants. It’ll be more believable.”While Fortana got into work, he turned to Cornelius, and asked, “You don’t care about this city at all, do you? Genuine question. Are you only loyal to yourself?”“I’m only loyal to my pool progression, an
Chapter 367 - Ablutions
“What the hell was that! Aren’t your giants supposed to be under your control?” Tim pressured.Rattled, Fortana answered, “They are under my control. However, if hundreds of people charge at them, they’re gonna defend themselves no matter what I say. Those stupid bastards dug their own grave.”“We have a big problem here,” He said. “Anyone who can put two and two together will think that we killed the soldiers. We cannot afford to be banished from the city.”Fortana was aware of that, and for a moment she felt helpless, however she then came up with an idea that sounded plausible. She swiftly created a giant, one that looked a lot like the Ancient Sea Orcs that they’ve been killing, but she avoided giving life to the giant, and just froze it in place.Afterwards she created two more of these replicas, and placed all of them in front of the soldiers along with the first, frozen giant. By all means, she was trying to fake a battle scene.“There you go,” She said. “The sea orcs froze the
Chapter 366 - 10 Dark Giants x 700 Humans
The barricade of ice that Timothy had created was holding strong. Now the barricade wasn’t much taller than the sea itself, but it was dense, it reached almost at the bottom of the ocean for the most part, so it was a great tool in terms of keeping the Ancient Sea Orcs away. The ice barricade may even last several days, on the count that the temperature around, and within the ice was quite low. The mild summer rays would need days to melt through it.Anyway, Timothy had hoped that the system would inform him that he had successfully killed one of these sea orcs, through the barricade alone. He was hoping that he had frozen one of them solid, but this did not appear to be the case.By all odds, any of the remaining sea orcs who originally planned to walk their way out of the sea, were scared off as soon as the temperature of the water around them dropped significantly. When Timothy thought about the matter this way, he further confirmed his theory that the creatures he was dealing wit
Chapter 365 - Hydro, tainting
Timothy initially wanted to take the battle to the sea, and kill every last Ancient Sea Orc out there. That was his idea this morning, however, they had barely thought about what they would do if the sea orcs brought the battle up here beyond the shores!It was normal that they hadn’t thought about it, because in a normal situation, sea creatures shouldn't walk. It wasn’t natural. Timothy was dumbfounded, however, he also understood that it was imperative that he and the team stayed here, in front of the beach, so as to prevent any remaining sea orc from attacking the City of Fik. They had to stay, until backup arrived.Today, the city had proved themselves utterly unprepared when it came to managing a disaster. It was evident, so the team couldn’t, in good conscience, leave their spot until a bunch of soldiers arrived here on the beach, and manned the frontline. “Don't be discouraged, guys.” Tim tried to motivate his team. “Remember all the gold we're gonna make. At the very least,
Chapter 364 - Timothy Tentacles
The team killed a shapeshifted Ancient Sea Orc a moment ago, and they were proud of it, as the battle had been swift, and their moves were effective. However, they did not expect to see four more of these giant monsters pop out of the sea! They were petrified.“Dragons, cover fire!” Timothy yelled out again.The dragons understood what those words meant now, so they didn’t have to be taught as much this time around in order for them to contribute. They started blasting fireballs towards the giants, and even though it was more difficult to push all four of them away, the contribution the dragons were putting into the battle was worthwhile! If not anything more, it served as a great distraction. Timothy then gathered his team of goblins, and the two giants that were also on his team, them being Garry and Gustav, and then they rushed into battle! The giants were less than forty meters away from them, and they wanted to take control of the situation before these monsters got the chance t
