2024-10-18 19:57:24"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 than hunt pelicans. Don't waste time, Timothy!] "Fair, fair." He nodded along. Tim didn't care about pelicans to begin with, but rather, in his own way, he asked a trick question. He wanted to know if his soul could fly out of the sea, and apparently, it could. He was so excited about that, because in a weird way, if he got out of the water today, then he could embrace his human upbringing a bit more! He'd love that. So far, he swam through salt for less than a day, and he was already sick of it! Tim craved to be on land, or at least out of the water, at least for a little while. His human soul craved it more than anything else! With all of that considered, the following steps were a no-brainer. He had to buy this fourth option first, and then check out every other option in due time! He didn't care about the other upgrade options as much. He said, "I want to fly, system, give me the good stuff! Don't worry, I won't bother any pelicans." [Confirmed,] The system said. A moment later, the waters around him suddenly stirred up. A white, aura-like entity surrounded him just for a few seconds, and throughout that time-bracket, it spun around him so quickly, that it stirred up a little, visible dust cloud! That was about it, this upgrade wasn't as intense. It wasn't painful like the previous upgrade, for example, but it was spooky! Thankfully, it even disappeared before things could get uncomfortable to the slightest. Tim was fine, he wasn't feeling any pain, and the system came along with a relieving message quickly after. While the dust-cloud calmed down, she said. [The upgrade was implemented successfully, and it took 40 of your system points in exchange. Now, 24 system points remain in your total sum.] "That's… not a lot, but I did buy two cool things, so it's okay." He muttered. After this point, he felt the urge to activate this new ability right away, he was enthralled to do so. He needed a bunch of points anyway, and since this new ability promised points, then there was virtually no reason to avoid giving this ability a shot. Tim was ready to separate his own soul from this little stingray body! The system encouraged him too, ever since the beginning, but now she had to give him a couple of warnings. One warning was about the dangers, and the other warning was for the sake of efficiency. Tim couldn't waste any time, no matter what the circumstances were. She said, [Timothy, if you want to try out this new ability, I have two suggestions. First, find the best hiding spot possible, because quite literally, anything can eat you or hurt you, while you're in that hibernation-like state.] "Right," He nodded, "That makes sense." The system felt that Tim wasn’t listening, so she insisted. [It's imperative that you hide properly, because if your body gets destroyed while you're in this explorative mode, then your soul can't return to it. You'd have to find a new, non-occupied body, which is a really rare occurrence, it's less than achievable!] "Well shit," He muttered, "I'll bury myself as best as I can, then… sharks can't get in here either, so I should be fine for a while. What's the second thing, though?" [Other souls can attack you,] She said, [Although that won't hurt your body directly, it still has negative sides. If your soul receives enough damage, it would be sent back here into your stingray body. After that, you'd have to go through a cooldown timer, before you can explore again. Try not to get banished too quickly, it would be really inefficient.] "Okay, well that's not so bad, then. Banished or not, at least I'll be alive." He followed along, and continued to bury himself within the sand of his den. He didn't want to suffocate, and from what he understood, as long as a third of his head was out of the sand, then he'd be fine. Tim didn't have any room for mistakes right now, rather, he only had room to reap points! Progress was inevitable, and he was willing to chase it. After Tim covered himself with sand, he said. "System, I'm gonna sleep now… when I wake up, I better be flying." This wasn't a threat, it was quite the opposite. He didn’t know how to 'hibernate' himself and hoped that the system would cover that part. The system did as she was asked, it was her job after all; Tim sunk into that hibernation-like state, in no time at all! … "Bloody hell, when did another stingray get in here?" Tim panicked. He woke up, and saw a light-blue stingray's head, right underneath him. This scared him shitless at first, but a moment later, he caught up with what was going on! "Holy shit, that’s me!" He exclaimed, and then celebrated. "It worked, muhahaha!" [Indeed,] The system added, [You're free to explore, as far as your soul permits.] "You'll be joining me too, huh?" He asked, and right then, he noticed that his soul had a mostly transparent, light-blue color. [Of course,] The system answered, [I am embalmed in your soul, for good, you can't get away from me, hehe. Okay now pay attention… as a wandering soul, you'll have a different health bar. It's called an 'essence bar' and you only have thirty points of it, so, if you lose those thirty points in battle or anything like that, your soul will return straight to your body! So, be careful.] That was a lot to take in, all at once, but Tim felt ready nonetheless. He felt agile, and had this intense urge to explore the world. If the sea had explosive urchins, then he couldn't wait to see what interesting things the rest of the world had! In excitement, he started floating right through the coral, to head towards the water's surface, as quickly as he could! Moments later, however, the system gave him another warning. She said, [Timothy, your body back there is equipped to stay two days at most, without food, you should know that. Try to keep track of time, or else your stingray body could starve itself to death!] "Okie dokie," He said, and finally escaped the sea.
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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
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 10 - Fish Vendetta
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
I'm a Stingray? Chapter 11 - Upgraded Stingray
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
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
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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
Chapter 338 - Garry's banter
After Timothy and his friends sat down with each other, he caught up with what had happened to them. They were caught by surprise by two waves of attacks, and hadn't been able to fight back properly.Timothy was beyond surprised that even a two-headed demonic dragon hadn't been able to help them, but then he remembered that serpentine creatures of any sort were difficult to deal with. They were tough, and more often than not, the average fireball wasn't enough to kill them. A good example was that he hated Sea Orcs for the very same reason!Sea Orcs may not be one-hundred feet long like those three amphipteres that he just killed, but they were widder, bulkier. He would need to use a very specific combination of his abilities in order to kill them, and the fact of the matter was that he hadn't even killed a Sea Orc yet, despite the fact that he had run into a few of them in the past.With all of that considered, he decided to go easy on his friends. He didn’t tease them as much after
Chapter 337 - "Let me unseal your butt-cheeks!"
Timothy found the rest of the team, two kilometers away from the beach. Essentially, he saved them from the grave danger that those Arctic Amphipteres posed, or at the very least, he saved Skendus from essentially being eaten alive. The amphipteres had caught up with the team a moment ago, and they would have only needed to pick up on the team’s scent, in order to emerge out of the water and finish what they started.The monsters met their match. Timothy even stopped them from heading towards the reef, and due to this fact alone, he had prevented a massive battle that could’ve erupted back home, if he hadn’t ran into the monsters here! He saved more than one life today, that was for sure.Anyway, he noticed that Skendus wasn't in top form right now. A short conversation with him helped confirm that he wasn’t healthy, and that there was something wrong with his brain.“They bit my noggin,” Skendus said.Confused, Timothy rubbed his giant mole of a friend's head, and said, “Well, I don'
Chapter 336 - Timothy Back-breaker!
Gustav, Skendus, Ortana and Fortana made their way along the coastline. They walked west, because the reef was in that direction, so they knew they’d be a lot safer soon, under the protection of their many friends and allies. The battle that they had gone through today was traumatizing, and they were still feeling the cold despite being more than a kilometer away from the battle scene, so this was a day that they weren’t going to forget anytime soon. They were happy that they survived, but the humiliation they felt grew stronger after every other minute. Most of them had dealt with dragons before, in fact they’ve fought dragons that were a lot deadlier, such as Iron-Claw the Wicked, but they had not suffered such humiliation. When they remembered that those three amphipteres tried to kill them in the most simple way possible, solely depending on instincts rather than any advanced combination of magical know-how, they felt even more embarrassed.Gustav even wanted revenge, but he was
Chapter 335 - "Where Skendus?"
“Where's my reward system? I killed a giant fucking jellyfish here, haha!” He asked.Quick as a flash, she answered, [The mana god killed the Luminous Terror Jellyfish, not you. You must understand that without divine intervention, your fireballs would've been useless in the prior situation.]“Well, shit.” He grunted. “I would've probably gotten a million system points if I killed this bastard myself. I picked a bad time to go on a fucking picnic in Mundi.”Timothy wasn’t happy about the matter at all. Not only did he walk into a raging battlefield, and helped deliver the killing blow to a giant monster, but he also had to do all of that with his butt-cheeks frozen shut! He felt that he had to be compensated better, but he pushed those sour feelings of expectation down, and was happy that he experienced a level-up in his mana pool instead.Anyway, once the battle was over, everyone made good use of the jellyfish insides. Its insides only contained a fraction of what was left of its ma
Chapter 334 - Fintelus' Blessing
“Fire is unity, fire is the peacekeeper, and we seek such peace! We ask the mana gods to bind our fire, and so we shall destroy the great evil that is upon us!” Genta recited.The situation had developed into where they had to use a spoken-word spell, because as it happens, their mere powers alone weren't enough to kill the beast, before it killed everything in a three-kilometer wide radius. They had to be quick!Timothy wasn’t so keen on begging the mana gods, he wasn’t in speaking terms with them. Well, he hadn't begged them in a while.However, the situation they were in required some sacrifice, even though his ego was the only thing that he had to sacrifice in the exchange. He had popped up into the battle scene just a moment ago, but he trusted Genta enough to follow her lead. For that matter, he repeated, “Fire is unity, fire is the peacekeeper, and we seek such peace! We ask the mana gods to bind our fire, and so we shall destroy the great evil that is upon us!”Timothy was al
Chapter 333 - Desperate Jellyfish!
Once the Luminous Terror Jellyfish was ‘beached’ at the front edge of the reef, the happiness that Genta felt was beyond measure! If joy was a measurable gas, she would've exploded already. Better yet, the jellyfish was stuck, and it was too heavy to move itself on the count that most of its body was already out of the water. It tried to use its hundreds of remaining tentacles to set itself free, but its efforts were futile, as its body was officially too heavy to move without exerting some great effort! The jellyfish blew out more than half of its mana pool while it was airborne, and now, it wasn't keen on wasting the rest of it just to break loose.“Shocked, aren’t ya? Ya big bastard!” Genta shouted, as she beamed back and forth the edge of the reef, cutting off as many tentacles as she could, further immobilizing the jellyfish. “Did you really think I'd give my farm up that easily? You gross bastard!”Genta, and everyone else in her command surely had an advantage now, and they we
Chapter 332 - Five-hundred meters long tentacles!
The Luminous Terror Jellyfish was dangerously close to the reef. As of now, it was eighty meters away from it, and it was mere seconds away from meeting with the long wall that the Coral Destroyers have put up. The temperatures as of now had dropped down to -30°C at the front edge of the reef, and this was enough to kill off most species in no time. However, Genta and everyone else around her stood strong! They used fire to keep themselves warm, and were wise enough to know that the jellyfish couldn’t afford to drop the temperatures of the water around it any lower, because it would end up blocking its own path with thick layers of ice. With the current temperature, the jellyfish would have almost an hour of wiggle room to go to the Mana Root farm, and back, without breaking much of a sweat. Its demeanor was much like a floating megatank, and it was confident that nothing could stop it. It had plenty of reasons to believe in its own capabilities, because the two-hundred Aqus Goblins
Chapter 331 - "What the frick?"
Gustav became desperate once he came to the realization that he and his friends might not survive. They weren’t only dealing with cold water and ice here, but they were also dealing with temperatures that continued dropping, despite how illogical that may seem. Fire wasn't enough to keep them warm. He unleashed every bit of fire that he could, without having to kill his friends in the process, but they had felt the warmth of the burning fire only for a second, before the temperatures dropped back down to -50°C!Things were not getting better. The only thing that would save them now, was if they escaped this icy trap, and fled. No matter how great a mage one could be, there were little ways to fight such intensive cold temperatures, and live to tell the tale! They had to act quickly. Gustav blasted fire out of every limb that he had, and he even blew a lot of it through his mouth, and just like that, he bought the group the slightest chance to survive. He melted the ice and water that
