Lionfish were venomous creatures. Their venom was released from spines all along their bodies. It was made of neuromuscular toxins, which would freeze a creatures muscular system. However, because the lionfish was venomous and not poisonous, its flesh could be safely eaten. The trick was avoiding the spines that COVERED its body. Thomas knew that the only creatures that would eat the lionfish were much larger than it, like sharks and large groupers. 'But, I don't need size. I'm a human! There's a reason intelligence triumphs all!' With that, Thomas began to stalk the lionfish, closely observing its habits. The fish would casually drift around, its fins not made for speed. However, once a fish was close enough, it would dart forward, sucking it into its mouth. Despite his observation, Thomas never noticed the fish being pricked with a spine before being sucked up. 'The spines are for defence..' Thomas followed the lionfish for close to an hour, until he was sure he found the area where it spends most of its time. Armed with that, he left it alone, going to prepare his trap.
Once he was done preparing, Thomas swam back to where he last saw the lionfish, thankful that it hadn't left the area yet. Slowly swimming under it, appearing to all the world like another resident of the reef, Thomas slowly angled himself to be facing under the lionfish. With a burst of speed, he swam up, and bit hard on the fish's soft underside. His fangs dug in deep, causing blood to start gushing out. The lionfish spasmed, its fins automatically moving to stab Thomas. He tried to let go, but found he bit too deep with his fangs, causing them to be locked in, preventing him from letting go. He began to thrash back and forth trying to pull himself out. The spines on the bottom of the lionfish twitched, reaching out to stab at him. Thomas felt the spine run against his scales. Luckily, they glanced off, not being able to penetrate his natural armor. 'But that was just a glancing stab. If it's able to get a straight stab in, I'm done for!' Thrashing even harder, Thomas finally freed himself, pulling a chunk away from the lionfish. He immediately swam down as fast as he could, fleeing the fish. Turning around, he could see that the lionfish was approaching him as fast as it could, which wasn't very fast. He swallowed the hunk of meat in his mouth, ignoring the announcement from Freeman for the moment. On and on the lionfish chased him, all the while Thomas made sure to stay juust outside of its reach, baiting the fish into following him. Eventually, Thomas reached his prepared area; a coral that was fairly special. He nipped at the lionfish again, and then darted into a tunnel in the coral. The enraged lionfish followed shortly after. Reaching the end of the tunnel, Thomas darted down a smaller tunnel, which lead back outside. Activating Swift Swim, he flew back to the front of the first large tunnel, striking a rock he had placed atop the entrance. His speed made the rock teeter and then fall in front of the tunnel mouth. 'Yes!' Slightly woozy, Thomas waiting for the skill cooldown to end, before heading back to his escape tunnel. Slowly approaching, Thomas could see that he caught the lionfish's tail with the rock, pinning it to the ground and preventing it from moving forward. He was still wary of the spikes, but Thomas was certain that the fish was his. 'The only problem now, is how to kill it.' Facing him with no small amount of anger was the ugly maw of a lionfish. As a human, he was attracted to to the vibrant red coloring, along with the long and deadly spines. Despite not being fatal to humans, their sting would still be extremely painful. Now that he was substantially smaller than it, the lionfish was much more scary looking. It was around the size of his adult form! Thomas waited until it grew tired of thrashing, and dashed forward. Remembering the first time he took a bit out of the fish, he was careful to not lock his fangs together again. He bit down hard on its face before backing off again. He left 4 slightly deep holes in its face, which immediately began to gush blood. Once again the lionfish thrashed back and forth, struggling to escape. For 10 minutes this game would go back and forth, until finally the lionfish stopped struggling, balefully staring at Thomas once more before laying still.
Leonfish Killed. Experience gained. Level up! One Skill point gained. Three Stat points gained.
'Another level? Didn't I just level up? And what the hell is a Leonfish?' Remembering that he got the alert for Muta points and the bio earlier, Thomas pulled up the Leonfish description;
The Leonfish, named after Leon the Paralytic, is a common reef dwelling fish, characterized by it's paralytic venom. While a large quantity is needed to completely paralyzed a human, it is more than capable of freezing the smaller reef fish.
'Right, this is a new world, I can't expect everything to be the same as back home. Paralysis huh? I guess that pretty close to neuromuscular venom of Earth.' He stared at the dead fish, his stomach growling. It was easy to eat the tiny shrimp, he had eaten shrimp in his old life. Same with eels. But, Thomas had never eaten a fish before. He loved them too much! He couldn't bear the thought of eating something that was so magical to him. He pulled up the Mutation list, and read as he ate to distract himself from WHAT he was eating. At the top of the page were two new mutations;
Leonfish Spines: A form of both offence and defence, the Leonfish's spines protect it from predators, while enabling it paralyze its prey. Each spine is hollow to allow for the flow of venom, making them quite fragile. This fragility results in a lowering of Agility.
Leonfish Venom: A weak paralytic venom, it is not very effective against larger creatures. However, it still possesses enough potency to paralyze at least part of a human for a time. Requirements: Leonfish Spines.
This conflicted Thomas greatly. He originally hunted the Leonfish to get its venom and spines, but after finding out that the spines lowered his Agility, he was less enthusiastic. Eating until he was full, there was still a substantial amount of food left. He also gained three Muta points, bringing his total points to 10. 'Muta points are so easy to obtain, are they really worth anything?' Getting new mutations was cool, but if each one only cost one point, were they at all valuable? Getting more and more conflicted, Thomas could feel himself starting to panic again, until the soft voice of Freeman sounded in his ears;
Muta Points have reached 10, possible Mutation advancements available.
'WHAT?'