2024-10-18 19:58:51Tim 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, which made the reef all the more expansive! So just like that, he got occupied for a solid two hours, within a puny, thirty-meter radius across the reef! He barely reaped any fruits from this labor. There were plenty of fish across the reef as well as other species, ones which may or may not give him points, but he couldn't catch either of them, as they were too fast and very good at hiding! "Bloody hell! Why don't they just give up? They can’t be having fun here!" Tim referred to those fish, he was very irritated. Throughout this time span, Tim only managed to find about seven marble shrimp, and four ignatius crabs. Such a haul wasn't too bad, but these creatures only gave him a point per kill, and that was what made things difficult. He didn’t manage to accumulate as many points as he hoped for, and that aside, he could barely even eat half of these critters either! Tim wasn’t so hungry, and the shrimp would put him to sleep if he ate them, so he only bit their heads off, and left their carcasses to float around. It was cruel, but a bit efficient. Considering the overall results, however, he wanted to call it quits here, and check out what upgrades he could buy from the system. Small-time hunting wasn't getting him anywhere. The system said that he had gathered 225 system points in total, and in hindsight, that amount did seem like a lot. He was eager to use them all, for progression's sake! Tim slipped through a bit of coral, and sought out a comfortable spot to rest on. He wanted to lay down on some sand, and have a layer of protection surrounding him as well. Safety was important, after all. However, it would appear that he slipped in the wrong hole. He swam into a wide place which was quite dark, but yet, it wasn't empty! Tim spotted a pair of light-blue eyes in the midst of darkness, and could only assume that these eyes belonged to some monstrous fish! He was getting stared at directly, and it was nerve wracking! "Hello, I'm Harold. Please, don't leave..." The inhabitant suddenly spoke out. "You can talk to stingrays… so, are you one? Let me see your tail." Tim followed along. Tim didn't trust this one, it was difficult to. That aside, he would only feel comfortable around other stingrays, so if this was another creature instead, then he planned to beam out of here! "I'm not a stingray, I'm an eel, kid. A shivering var-blood eel, to be exact." It said, and then added. "But please don't be scared, I'm not gonna hurt you… I need your help." Tim had tried to position his thunder-charged tail, the moment this thing said that it wasn’t a stingray. He wanted to burn the eel's eyes off, if not kill it, just to protect himself! Then again, a creature who pleaded for help wasn't so easy to kill or attack. He ended up asking, "Help with what? Also, how do you understand me? You're not a stingray… not even close." Harold got a bit irritated there, though he did answer. "I'm an eel, kid, and your language isn't that hard to understand. But please, listen and focus… I'm stuck here, have been stuck for months because this place really managed to fatten me up. I'm not as small as I used to be, and that's what's killing me now." With that being said, Tim was intimidated even more. He barely saw the eel's body, apart from small portions of its head, and yet he was still intimidated. If this thing was as big as it described itself to be, it could kill him in a blink! For that matter, he didn’t really feel comfortable about another eel being loose across the reef. It would be hazardous! Tim's better judgment convinced him to back away, and meanwhile he said. "I can't help you, Harold, sorry. Eat less and exercise… maybe that'll get you out of here?" "Oh, you'll help me." Harold insisted, and his voice sounded quite sleazy now. "You're looking for food, right boy? The sharks went on a feeding spree a few months ago, and they devastated most of the reef… damn, it's why I hid here to begin with, but, I do know where to find good food, special crabs, if you know what I mean…? Help me get out of this shithole, and I'll show you where the blue-clawed crabs are, I promise!" "Oh…" Tim sighed, and he was enthralled by this offer. "Well, how can I help you then?" With a hint of joy in his tone, Harold answered. "Look, sharks are assholes, but I did manage to make friends with a few of them. There should be a shark with flaming fins here, around the reef. Find him, and tell him to come and get me… his name is Drake, mention his name, and he won't eat you." "Shit… I saw that guy. This idea can kill me, Harold, so those crabs better be worth it." He sighed, and then left, by squeezing through a couple of short tunnels within the coral. On his way out, he even asked the system about these special crabs, but she didn't respond kindly. He would have to bite on those crabs himself, in order for the system to talk about said crabs. There could be many species of blue-colored crabs, and they couldn’t make any speculations without seeing, and tasting one of them, first hand. He couldn't cheat his way towards the good stuff. Anyway, Tim was very nervous about approaching a shark, as things could go horribly wrong along the way. He was excited though nonetheless, and couldn't wait to taste these special crabs as soon as possible!
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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
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
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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
