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 shock was a ranged attack. Otherwise, if he had to impale the urchin in order to kill it, then he may get poked by its spines as a result. He decided to give it a shot, and remembered to be cautious. His tail could shoot out ten points of voltage a second, so if he wasn’t mindful about it, he could lose every point of this magical attack almost instantly! Tim lifted his butt-cheecks upwards, to aim at the red urchin, and then flapped his tail forward. His tail, in response, shot a string of thunder towards the target; He didn’t even have to ‘summon’ this thunder, in order for it to dart forward, it shot out naturally! An explosion erupted in response! Tim was tossed away a whole foot, he survived the explosion, but for a good moment, he had no idea what went on. He didn’t know what just happened! [Health, -10 points.] The system announced, and also added. [Health bar = 65/100] “Fucking hell, that hurt!” He complained, “I only used like five volts, that was insane.” Tim didn’t have the slightest clue regarding how powerful a single volt was, but he figured that it shouldn’t cause an explosion! Nothing made sense at that moment. The system helped make sense of things, as she added. [You successfully killed a sulfuric urchin, and got 7 system points as a reward. In total, you now have 65 points.] Furthermore, she added. [These urchins are a really explosive species, and don’t really offer anything in return, apart from points and health loss. Your attempt was good, but, B- for caution though.] “So I didn’t even find the right urchin, huh?” Tim asked, and sighed in disappointment. “Good thing I didn’t bite that bastard.” Tim’s belly hurt, it burned even. However, he hadn’t really completed the task that the system gave to him, so he couldn’t quit now! He quickly moved over to the next urchin he had found, and this time, he kept a distance of one meter from it. That red urchin exploded on his face, so quite frankly, he didn’t want to know what a purple urchin was capable of. This one was a hunch bigger than him as well, which intimidated him even more! “Here we go…” He mumbled, and shot ten volts of thunder against the target. Thankfully, this one did not explode! He killed it successfully, and split it in half, even. Unfortunately though, this one wasn’t the right urchin either. The system specified that, as she said. [You just killed a normal sea urchin, and as a reward, you’ve received 2 system points.] “Two points for that fat fucker? That’s not fair,” Tim said. Then again, he couldn’t do anything to reverse this small reward. He just moved onto the last urchin in his close perimeter, and shot ten volts of thunder towards it. This one exploded as well, but in another, special way. Upon the explosion, its spiky spines spread across the waters. Tim didn’t want to be anywhere near those spikes, especially since they were green, so he swam a couple more feet away from them. Afterwards, he asked. “Did I get the right one this time, system?” [Yes,] She said, and then added. [The reward is yours, but this urchin doesn’t offer any powers either… Instead, consider this as a community service, as any slaughtered bubonic urchin is only a positive contribution to the oceans. Anyway, in total, you’ve accumulated 92 system points!] “Yay!” He celebrated for once, “Mission accomplished, huh? Good, I gotta get back home and eat a shrimp or two, cuz my belly is fucking barking!” Tim referred to the pain. He completed the task successfully, and did so without contracting a disease, however, he was still hurt in the process. He didn’t feel comfortable with his health bar being this low, so he started rushing home, all for comfort’s and survival’s sake! ... Tim got home, and found three more marble shrimp there. He ate them all, and replenished six points of health as a result. [Health bar = 71/100 points,] The system notified him. “Ahh… that feels kinda better.” Tim said, as the pain on his belly reduced by half. He laid down on the sand afterwards, just so he could relax for a little bit. This had been a busy day, so he needed a break. While he relaxed, however, he remembered something important. “I think I’m ready to buy that upgrade now, system.” [Confirmed,] She said. In an instant, he felt a large sensation of pain on his jaws, and around his mouth too. That pain spread out in other ways afterwards, and by now, he could only assume that all of this pain came from the upgrade! It had to. He developed a strong headache moments later, and then, his whole body started aching hellishly! He wanted to shout once or twice, but the pain muffled his voice. That aside, his body was so numb that he couldn’t move at all! He went through a whole minute of soul-tearing pain, until finally, the system said. [Congratulations! Your hunting, jaws, and natural camouflage capabilities have been upgraded to level three.] [This upgrade consumed 28 of your system points, and 64 of them remain.] She added. "Finally." The boy sighed. The pain went away as fast as it arrived, he was glad to survive it even, but it had been terrorizing! Little did he know, the pain he went through had an indirect reward, one which would encourage a ‘shopping spree’. [Four new purchase options have been unlocked,] The system announced, and the following options, for once, actually seemed interesting rather than daunting! [Option number one = Upgrade your barb, and barb venom to level one. This option is priced at 45 system points, expensive but infinitely useful.] She described. “Hmm…” Tim sighed, as he debated if he should buy this upgrade, right on the spot. However, no matter how much he wanted to, he resisted buying it. The system spoke about the rest of the upgrades quickly after, which made him bicker with himself intensively; He didn’t know what to buy! [Option number two = Endure water pressure for 100 more meters. This option is priced at 75 system points.] She added. “What the hell is water pressure…” He bickered with himself. He didn’t expect an answer, but surprisingly, the system described. [It means you can swim 100 meters deeper, without taking damage from the sea’s water pressure. This is essential to your progress and survival.] Tim didn't even know that water itself could hurt him, but he was curious about it now, so he asked. "How deep can I swim now then, system?" [For the time being, your maximum depth durability is 200 whole meters.] She said. That sounded good enough, and it was great that there were special upgrades like these, ones that could fight against the effects of water pressure. They were expensive, sure, but he felt safer nonetheless! Anyway, the system continued listing the upgrades out. [Option number three = Increase your personal IQ by 10 points. Upgrades like these are special, so this one is priced at 90 system points.] The price intimidated him, but he felt that he didn’t have to buy this one right away. He considered himself to be smart, smart enough, which fairly was a delusional perspective, but he believed it thoroughly. He even asked, "How huge is my IQ now, system? Gotta be over 160… right?" She answered that question very quickly, [Your current, personal IQ is 45 points.] That was not what he expected, at all. However, he had enough reasons to be positive today, and in the midst of his numerous active delusions, he found another lie for himself to indulge on, one which he could believe easily. He exclaimed, "Well of course, that makes sense! I'm a stingray now, not a human, so I have a smaller brain, way smaller! I’m still smart though, for a fish at least. Yeah, I’m a genius, no debate on that hehe!" Tim’s point of view was interesting, but it didn’t really matter much. The only thing that mattered now were the new upgrades that the system introduced. They were important, but for a minute or two, he forgot about them completely; He still bickered about his own intelligence, which was a topic that could last for hours, if not interrupted! The system interrupted him, thankfully, as she listed the last, new option. [Purchase option number four = Unlock your explorative soul abilities. This option is your birthright, so it's priced cheaply, 40 system points specifically, just so you can purchase it easily.]"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
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.
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
What Timothy was about to do, took a lot of guts. He was about to encounter that big mako-shark, and this encounter could end up badly, but he was simply mesmerized by the idea of ‘special crabs’! He wanted them.He found the shark lurking about fifty meters away from the reef, and then approached him. Tim felt uncomfortable about this plan, but he had to get close in order to catch the shark’s attention."Hey, flame-ass! Harold the eel needs your help, he sent me to find you!" He shouted.However, a stingray’s vocal cords were very limited, so he couldn't make any loud noises. For that matter, he had to approach even closer, and then yell out once more. He called out, “Hey, fish face! Harold needs your help! Can you hear me?”Tim was about ten meters away from the shark now, and this was as close as he could get. If he swam any closer, then Drake the shark may attack, and he surely didn’t want to get bitten today. Thankfully though, the shark seemed to have heard him. It turned aro
Tim'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
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!
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
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