I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 34 - "Who gonna drown me?"

Timothy wasn’t the brightest fish in the world, not by a stretch, but under any hostile circumstances, he knew what had to be done. He listened to the system, and bought the upgrade that she recommended. Since he could afford it too, there was virtually no reason for him to avoid this upgrade.

The extingus breath upgrade, was implemented into his arsenal of powers in a snap. It was quick and painless!

The system confirmed, [The extingus breath upgrade, has been implemented into your body successfully. You can now shield yourself from a certain degree of elemental powers, which in this world, is a very good attribute to have, congratulations.]

Furthermore, she said. [The upgrade cost you 600 system points, so now a total of 70 points remain in your sum. The upgrade was expensive, admittedly, but that's only because you recently upgraded the quality of your mana also. I have adjusted the upgrade and it's power-volume, for it to fit that said, rustic mana quality.]

Tim liked the sound of that, he liked the idea of being generally more powerful too. He also understood that his upgrade in mana quality, has tweaked every magical power he already had as well. It took him a moment to realize this part, but basically, he was more dangerous than ever now!

That fact alone was a bit absurd, even the ocean wasn't used to it, because stingrays of his size and age were typically very prone to getting slaughtered. With that considered, from this day onwards, he may shock other enemies and stingrays alike, because his powers were surely explosive!

Anyway, although he wanted to celebrate such success thoroughly, he couldn’t do that just yet, because his mind was preoccupied. The tiny amount of system points he was left over with, wasn't what bothered him, no, but he was focused on his newly attained ability upgrade instead.

Tim asked himself, “Elemental powers, now what the hell is that… I'm supposed to deflect elemental shit now, yes, but what am I protecting myself against, exactly? Water is an element, but how the hell could a fish weaponize a bunch of salt water? What, is someone supposed to drown me or something? That can't be right.”

The questions he asked were interesting to say the least, but the system did not answer them. He had bought the upgrade and could protect himself better now, which was all that mattered for the time being. Besides, he had other things to do right now that were of greater importance.

It was advantageous that the upgrade had been quick and painless, because now, for example, he could get back to munching on those panzer crab carcasses. He had found his stash of food, and took several bites of them already!

Tim expected to have his growth sprout now, he really needed this to happen as soon as possible, so he got this great motivation to fill himself to the nose with crab meat. This idea wasn't easy on his body, because at some point he felt as bloated as a balloon, but he felt enthralled to take such extreme measures nonetheless, as he really wanted to become bigger! Ultimately though, he got all worked up over nothing.

He ate until he brought himself into a food coma, and eventually fell asleep too. When he woke up about two hours later, the only big thing in his close vicinity was the vast amount of food he passed through his body. Tim took a physically astounding shit!

Obviously, this was not the result that he had hoped for, so he was quite angry about it. His first instinct was to put the system under a microscope, and question her about this failure that he experienced.

He pressured, “What’s happening, system? I’m still as small as an asswipe, even though I devoured an entire fucking panzer crab! Do you even know how harsh its legs were on my sensitive tummy? I could’ve punctured my gut, for christ’s sake.”

[You’re the one that’s rushing things, Timothy.] The system countered, and she also added. [Growth sprouts can’t be forced on or controlled, as even I can’t do anything to control them. You're being obsessive, though I also have to admit that in your case, the sprout is taking a bit too long. This could either mean that your body isn't processing the magical side of these panzer crabs for some reason, or…]

“Or?” He pressured.

[The sprout may end up crossing the average growth volume that stingrays experience by this. I encourage you to believe the latter, because it’s a really great thing to look forward to. We’re talking about a growth sprout from 200% and up to 451%, it’s a rare but phenomenal occurrence.] She said.

“Well… that doesn’t sound bad,” He sighed, and also relaxed a bit. “You sure know how to sell an idea, system! Mattress stores would love to hire you, I just know it.”

[But they wouldn’t let me sleep on the mattresses, so that isn’t a job for me, I can't be a saleswoman.] She joked.

Furthermore, she added. [If you’re looking to kill some time though, I’m glad to announce that a week has passed ever since the last time when you used your explorative soul ability, so you can use it again now, as the cooldown timer went out. Explore the skies, Timothy and get some points for yourself, because you’re as poor as one would expect a fish to be. Have fun!]

Tim was excited about this. The last time he used this ability, he got to fly across the skies and shoot at a bunch of stuff too. It was a fun experience, but this time around he hoped to discover more than a couple of sparkly clouds. He wanted to find one of those soul based civilizations that the system had mentioned before.

To prepare and use this ability, Tim ate a bit more food, because he had to indulge in a meditative, hibernation-like state. His soul would be detached from his body for a while, and in order to prevent his body from starving and fading away, he had to fill up with food.

…

Tim floated across the skies. The explorative soul ability, in theory, promised a lot, but for the time being he was indefinitely bored. The sky was wide and seemed endless, which would make one think that its opportunities were endless too, but that latter principle didn’t apply to everyone.

Tim was small and admittedly weak, which meant that his soul was weak too. Not only was he prone to attacks from other souls, but it was also a miracle to meet another floating, conscious soul out here, because it took him a lot of time to get from one spot to the other!

He flew for hours at end, until he finally found a colorful cloud which only slightly promised opportunity. This cloud may only have a few drops of phantomized mana stashed in it, but for the time being, this was as much as the world was willing to offer to him. Tim had to be patient and opportunistic in order to progress!