The days following my... tactical retreat have been, well, uneventful to say the least. I eat until I feel tired then sleep, after resting I wake and repeat. Although life has been monotonous these days, it is still far preferable to having lightning shot at me. And unlike before, when I could only catch small fish that swam by me, I can actively hunt down larger monsters like the Luxipira, not that I could catch many of them given that they are faster than me, but they do run from me on sight now which makes me feel better. Seeing the monsters that were once three times my size run in fear of a creature that can swallow them whole is nothing but heartwarming. But history always repeats itself, just like before I am receiving less and less experience for killing the monsters around here. At least the biomatter I get doesn't ever go down when eating the monsters here. This wouldn't be a problem if I was just a mindless beast living off natural instinct to fill my stomach and become an adult as soon as possible, I seek far more than that.
"You have slain and Adult Luna Luxipira... You have gained a total of 131 EXP and 145kg of biomatter. You have reached level 8."
Munching on a Luxipira that failed to escape from me with the rest of its brethren, I hear the System ring in my head and take a look at my improved status page.
Name: Cordelia Auspin
Race: Elite Juvenile Sea Snake (Talonian Regional Variant)
Tier: 2
Titles: Provoking Giants (-5 INT)
Level: 8
EXP: 2/1255
HP: 136/148 MP: 19/23 SP: 335/353
STR: 59
VIT: 68
DEX: 35
INT: 69 (-5)
WIS: 47
MND: 19
CHA: 11
LUCK: 5
Acquired Skills: Investigate (4)
Innate Skills: Acid Spray (6), Tail Swipe (5), Venomous Bite (6)
Natural Mutations: Toxic Scales
Mutations: Superior Eyes, Enhanced Size (See Potential Mutations)
Current Biomatter: 596kg
Lifetime Biomatter: 1,136kg
Available Evolutions: N/A (See Potential Evolutions)
Details: A reincarnated Talonian Sea Snake. Some stats have been altered to accommodate for the previous life's attributes. As an Elite monster, you gain a bonus to all stats, current bonus +5. An unusual Juvenile Sea Snake that's only slightly smaller than an Adult Sea Serpent. It's nice to have large dreams and aspirations but let's be honest, they won't come true. Like really running away from a couple of humans, what a loser.
Everything is looking good, that is until I see those last lines. Screw off, you shitty god! I didn't run away, it was a tactical retreat! A tactical retreat! I know you're listening, you piece of shit!
"A new Title has been acquired."
Hearing the system through my fit of anger I reluctantly check my status again and get even more infuriated at seeing my new title... 'Coward', my new title is Coward... FUCK YOU!
In an attempt to vent my anger I begin to chase after the rest of the Luxipira despite knowing the futility of this endeavour. And after swimming at top speeds for who knows how long, I once again find myself in a predicament. I've gone so far out that even extending my body up above the surface as tall as possible, no land can be seen. And when looking below the surface, I find that the seabed can't be seen either. I don't even know which direction I got here from anymore.
"A new Title has been acquired."
Ah shit, here we go again. Aaand my new title is... 'A Fool'. I swear he is just messing with me at this point. Moments before I close my status I notice that a new lined appeared at the bottom of my Details section, "Yes, I am. I'm bored and making you angry is fun." You- what- No! I can't let myself get upset again. It'll just end up amusing him. I need to calm down and think of what to do next.
Calming down I begin to think a little more rationally as I set out to get a better look at my new surrounding. To do this, I, of course, need to dive deeper... letting out a sigh that simply translates to me hissing loudly, I begin to think how I'm already starting to regret this idea.
After dive down straight for a few minutes, I finally catch sight of the seabed. Just being able to see more than a few metres in front of me right now is rather challenging as the light from above has difficulty reaching this low. Most of the light here comes from the bioluminescent flora and some weird jellyfish creature floating around. Investigate... failed? then try again. after failing another 15 times I finally succeed.
Race: Adult Scyphozoa
Tier: 10
Level: 9999
State: Idle
HP: 10/10 MP: 10/10 SP: 10/10
STR: 10
VIT: 10
DEX: 10
INT: 10
MND: 10
Details: A strange creature that doesn't ever do anything other than passively floats around in deep waters. Despite the Scyphozoa's inability to gain any stats upon levelling up, killing one is near impossible as the physical body is nothing more than a vessel that forms around their souls. As a soulform, they are incapable for dying of age and killing one is near impossible as a new physical vessel will begin to form following the destruction of the last. Due to their physiology and passive nature, most other lifeforms ignore them. They are some of the oldest creatures that have existed since the first era.
With little more to do now that I have scouted out the immediate surroundings, I begin to throw acid at the Scyphozoa, hoping to use its immortality as a way to increase my skill levels. As my SP begins to drops to 127 the Scyphozoa's body completely dissipates into the water leaving nothing behind. Soon a ball of hazy light appears in the form of the Scyphozoa, and a new body begins to form around it. Wow, it really does form a new body. Seeing this process, I come up with the bright idea to eat it. I use Acid Spray again as its body is still forming and swallow it whole. I swim out for a bit and find two more Scyphozoa's and repeat the process. Now as their bodies dissolve in my stomach I will never go hungry and I will passively generate biomatter without having to do anything, I'm no fool, I'm a genius.
Deciding to wait it out and see how much I gain from this, I lay upon the seafloor to rest. And I keep waiting... and more waiting... even after several hours nothing has changed. No notifications from the System, no changes in my biomatter, and I'm even getting hungry again. Well, I did manage to get something nice out of this rather pointless endeavour at least. My Venomous Bite reached level 9, and upon my Acid Spray hitting level 10, I got a prompt from the System.
"You can now choose to upgrade you Acid Spray. Choose, Acid Beam or Acid Mist. Acid Beam is a concentrated shot of your venom capable of shooting several metres away, however, the amount of targets capable of being hit is limited. Acid Mist shoots out a widespread mist of your venom, capable of hitting large groups of targets, but with low potency. Selected Choice will replace the skill Acid Spray."
Acid Mist seems like the natural progression for Acid Spray, but the range advantage I would get from Acid Beam is nice. After weighing the pros and cons, I decide on Acid Beam as the extra range helps and when in the water, the acid will disperse anyways. After choosing my skill upgrade, I begin to take off again, now that I decided to give up on my attempt at forever freeing myself from starvation and for an everlasting source of biomatter, I go out hunting in search of food. After a few more hours of chasing down the fleeing fish, I finally catch some as they run out of stamina and fill my stomach. Returning to the seafloor to rest, I at long last hear something from the System regarding the Scyphozoa, although it's not what I expected.
"You have slain 3 Adult Scyphozoa's. You have gained a total of 0 EXP and 0kg of biomatter. The Title, 'Immortal Slayer' has been acquired, gain a bonus when fighting immortals. The Title, 'Soul Eater' has been acquired. The Natural Mutation: Soul Furnace, has been acquired, you can now obtain power from absorbing the soul of your enemies."
"Due to having 3/15 requirements cleared for Ouroboros, new information is available. You have completed 1 of 3 of the hidden requirements for the Herald Evolutions. Due to having met one of the hidden requirements for the Herald Evolutions, you have acquired the Title, 'Seed of Calamity'."
"The Ouroboros has no younger phase like most other species. A singular existence that simply is. A beast that can travel the void of space and eat the stars."
This isn't what I had in mind when I ate those jellyfish, but umm... task failed successfully?
~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile in the Hall of Eternity~~~~~~~~~~~
... Wait, that's illegal!