Pain.
The world was pain.
Everything was pain.
Thomas could feel his body remodeling itself, an excruciating effort. He could feel his jaws growing, which required larger muscles to operate the jaws, which required a larger head, which required a larger body. He felt his skeleton shifting, new bony teeth forcing their way threw his mouth, with 4 growing especially large, growing an inch past his head on the top and bottom. It was complete agony. Despite the pain tolerance going much farther than what Thomas could handel, he was forced to stay awake, something preventing him from losing consciousness. Eventually, the pain began to fade away, going from world ending torture to a minor ache. Exhausted, Thomas fell asleep, his body shutting down to the bare minimum. As he slept, life went on in the reef, the large slaughter of his shoal meaningless to the vast ocean. Once he woke up, the first thing Thomas did was check his status;
Race: Silver Baitish (Minnow)
Level: 2
Health: 7/12
Skills: Swift Swim (Lvl 1)
Mutations: Fanged Eels Teeth
Strength: 4
Agility: 8
Fortitude: 2
Toughness: 1
Will: 15
Intelligence: 25
He was shocked by some of these things he found. So my health doesn't recover over a night's sleep.. I even gained points in strength and fortitude! How the hell did that happen?!' Thinking over it, Thomas remembered back to his painful mutation, and how he could feel some of his muscles growing, and even his body growing. Looking around his little coral cave he could see that it was just the tiniest bit smaller, which meant he grew a small amount. The biggest change he could feel were his teeth. Inside his mouth, he felt razor sharp teeth, almost cutting himself as he ran his tongue across them. He could see his brand new fangs as well. Two going down from the top, and two going up from the bottom, the extended a half an inch down his face. Thinking about how he looked, Thomas realized he looked fairly ridiculous. Despite that, he was extremely happy with his purchase. 'Now I can actually dig into things.. Didn't I have another possible mutation?' Looking back through the menu, he spots it;
Brine Shrimp Exoskeleton. 1 Muta Point: A hard exoskeleton that all crustaceans possess. It is of the lowest quality, only being slightly tougher than a minnow's scales.
Gulping hard, Thomas remembered the pain he felt mutating the first time. 'I really don't want to go through that again anytime soon, but I need to survive!' Gritting his now real teeth, he purchased the mutation, and prepared himself for the pain. Once again, Freeman spoke to him;
Confirming purchase of Brine Shrimp Exoskeleton Mutation. One Muta Point spent. Mutation Proceeding Now. Error! Host body has low compatibility with Mutation! Searching for resolution… Host has high enough Intelligence to choose Alternate Mutation Routes:
1. Bone Plates Mutation: Bony plates will grow, protecting vital areas in the head and chest. Vastly increases Toughness, with a minor increase to Fortitude and Strength. However, due to added weight, Agility will drastically decrease.
2. Toughened Scales: A Mutation common with adult sea creatures, toughens scales along entire body, increasing Toughness.
3. Brine Shrimp Exoskeleton (Degraded). A weak exoskeleton that doesn't match up to many fish scales. Because the body is highly nonoptimal to it, a drop of Agility and Fortitude are to be seen.
If he could slow blink, he would. Thomas' head hurt after the rush of information, Freeman's sweet voice not helping much as he listened. 'So I can have an exoskeleton, but Morgan is basically telling me not to go for it. I guess that makes sense, I am a fish after all, having an exoskeleton would be strange..' After a moment of thought, Thomas made his choice.
'I'll take option two please!' It was so simple! A vast increase of Toughness, (which Thomas assumed had something to do with defence) would be great, but he's a fish! He's meant to be quick!. Option three was right out too; if the voice in your head basically tells you not to do something, why go against it? Freemans voice sounds once more;
Confirming purchase of Toughened Scales Mutation. One Muta Point spent. Mutation Proceeding Now.
This time around the pain wasn't too bad. It still felt like his skin was rolling, thickening up, but it was nowhere NEAR as bad as having brand new teeth grow into your mouth. A few minutes later, Thomas swam out, his scales a slight shade darker after thickening. He was on the hunt, his stomach now empty after his mutations. He checked his status again as he swam, keeping an eye out for anything he might be able to sink his teeth into.
Race: Silver Baitish (Minnow)
Level: 2
Health: 7/12
Skills: Swim (Level Max)
Mutations: Fanged Eels Teeth
Strength: 4
Agility: 8
Fortitude: 2
Toughness: 4
Will: 15
Intelligence: 25
'A whole 4 points! If this evolution just raised my Toughness, what would've happened if I took Bony Plating?' Thomas fantasized for a moment about having natural armor like that, and then remembered the massive loss of Agility he would have to deal with as a result of all that Toughness. 'Enough of worrying, I need to hunt!'
Swimming along, Thomas couldn't wait to use his new teeth on something, and soon his wish was granted. A Brine Shrimp cloud was hanging in front of him, already being attacked by the other reef dwellers. He wholeheartedly dove in, teeth flashing. Many shrimp were chopped in half and eaten. After the 10th shrimp, Thomas was finally starting to feel full, when he heard a pleasant surprise;
Experience gained. Experience Cap reached. Level up! 1 Skill Point awarded, 3 Stat Points awarded.
'Thanks Morgan! I'll wait until later to spend my points, don't want to rush it.' His appetite satiated, Thomas turned to return to his cave to spend his stat points, when he caught a flash of red and white out of the corner of his eye. 'No fuckin way..' He turned, and saw lazaly swimming around and red and white striped fish, with spines and spikes that covered almost all of its most important parts. 'A lionfish! It's a goddamn lionfish!' The food in his stomach was already forgotten when he laid eyes on it. In that moment, Thomas decided something; the first prey, the first REAL prey that he hunted in this world would be a lionfish!