Looking behind me I see it, a beast of titanic proportions. Without a second thought, I swam faster than I ever had before. Occasionally looking back to see if I escaped and to Investigate the beast. Every time I looked back the monster got closer and closer, and each Investigate attempt ended in failure. With what felt like hours, I finally arrive at the shallower waters near the island. Turning back once more I see the creature just sitting still, staring at me. Even with it no longer chasing me I still move towards the island, and once I confirm it really isn't going to continue I at long last take a break. Now that the imminent danger has passed I take the chance to get a good look at what has been chasing me. At first glance, it seems to resemble some kind of cross between a whale and a shark, yet that still doesn't quite seem like it should fit but that's the closest visual similarity I can see. However it's size dwarfs that of even the largest of blue whales, seemingly many hundreds of times larger. The whale, shark, thing, finally decides to leave and as I continue to use investigate on the retreating beast, I finally hear a notification.
"Skill: Investigate has reached level 10. Skill: Investigate has been replaced with Skill: Analysis. This skill path has reached its natural limit."
So even failing the skill can contribute to its level up, good to know. But more importantly, Analysis!
Name: Cetus
Race: Cetus
Tier: Legendary
Titles: Northern Guardian of the Water, Monster of Folklore, Immortal
Level: 75(Max)
State: Healthy
HP: 1,891,934,560,775 / 1,891,934,560,775
MP: 1,351,381,829,125 / 1,351,381,829,125
SP: 1,621,658,194,950 / 1,621,658,194,950
STR: 1,795,175,621,810
VIT: 1,810,851,651,027
DEX: 1,351,381,829,125
INT: 1,546,791,641,616
WIS: 1,756,796,377,862
MND: 1,351,381,829,125
Details: One of the two ancient monsters that surround the waters of the forgotten Isle of Eon. Cetus roams the northern waters of the island. A monster that has been nearly forgotten and relegated to folklore. Due to its large size, Cetus can and will not approach shallow water as the risk of grounding as too high. Sailors say that if you see a spire that pierces the heavens you must sail away lest you be food for the monstrosity that rest beneath the waves. Because of the four legendary monsters that call the island home, people have yet to share their findings on the island, as no one has ever returned alive.
WHAT THE HELL! How is anything supposed to compete with that!? All of its stats are above one trillion!
"Authority level, cleared. The Guardians of Eon were meant to be unstoppable forces to 99.99^99% of all life in Grauntia, at the level of Grauntia's Gods. They are bound to the space in which the stone formation is visible to the average man."
I DON'T CARE! I didn't literally mean that I wanted to know! Wait, this isn't actually that important, this lines up with what I've seen and how absurd things are around here. Moreover, there was a very important bit of information there. If these Guardian monsters are at the level of Gods then that also means I know how strong I need to be to fell the Gods. I changed my mind, good job System. But the most important part of all this is that there are three more monsters that are just as crazy as Cetus, and one of them is in the water. Meaning I'm probably stuck here, in the shallows of this island, the Isle of Eon, as the System called it.
Closing in on the shore during my exploration of the island's shallows, I found monster I am much more familiar with visually, I have seen the movies after all. No matter how I think about them, these are clearly dinosaurs. From the edge of the shoreline where I can remain in the water, I see sauropods grazing the treetops, many small dino-like monsters are surrounding the shrubs. Looking further up into the sky Pterosaurs fly around the mountain below the clouds.
While circling around the island and being careful to not stray too far, I hear the System award me with a new title, 'Brave Explorer', a title that is apparently awarded to those who explore the yet unexplored areas of the world. It, unfortunately, is just a titular title, so I ignore it and move on. Eventually, I find a deep river leading inland. Since it is more than large enough to contain my size I follow the river to see just what secrets lie ahead, perhaps even catch some monster off guard as they drink. Through my journey up the river, I spot a snake that's as large as me, maybe even longer, as it is squaring off with a mammoth. Using my Analysis, I learn it's a monster called Gigantathon, or Gigantic Python, and like nearly everything around this island, it was also thought to have gone extinct. This place truly lives up to its namesake with all these monster from varying time periods.
Several hours have gone since I began travelling up the river until I finally come across the river's end, or rather, its start. The origin of the river I travelled was a large lake at the base of the mountain. Here there are four other rivers that meet, all stemming from this lake. Right off the perimeter of the lake are many monsters drinking from the lake, several of these seem to be large predators. As if there was some tacit agreement to not fight around the lake, of course, I'm not one to follow something like a silent rule... although I'm not one to follow an actual rule either. Stalking around the bottom of the lake, I look for a monster that's a little more isolated from the rest. Finding a few sufficiently weak velociraptor-like monster called a Nimaptor, I take a page from the Eurypterid and swiftly rise to the surface, much to the raptor's surprise, to eat them where they stand. With the success of my first surprise attack in who knows how long, I return to the lake's bottom, leaving not even a feather behind.
The horrendous screeching and annoying scratching begin to die down after a few minutes. Once it completely comes to a stop the System rears its head- er... voice once more.
"You have slain 2 Level 6 Adolescent Nimaptor and 1 Level 7 Adult Nimaptor. You have gained 801 EXP. Because you have slain a monster of a higher tier, you have gained and an additional 10%(80) EXP. Because you have slain a monster of a higher evolutionary state, your total EXP has doubled. You have gained a total of 1,762 EXP and 140kg biomatter. You have reached Level 9."
That was unexpected. I didn't think those three weaklings were worth so much... oh I forgot, I get a bonus to my experience thanks to the 'Seed of Calamity' title.
Name: Cordelia Auspin
Race: Elite Juvenile Sea Snake (Talonian Regional Variant)
Tier: 2
Titles: Provoking Giants (-5 INT), Coward, A Fool, Immortal Slayer, Soul Eater, Seed of Calamity, Brave Explorer.
Level: 9
EXP: 716/1,630
HP: 107/167 (+34) MP: 17/26 (+34) SP: 321/399 (+34)
STR: 66 (+34)
VIT: 77 (+34)
DEX: 40 (+34)
INT: 74 (+29)
WIS: 53 (+34)
MND: 21 (+34)
CHA: 11
LUCK: 5
Acquired Skills: Analysis (1)
Innate Skills: Acid Beam [1.6% max HP/5 sec, 1.8% out of water] (3), Tail Swipe [STR/2 - E.VIT/3, minimum damge = STR/5](6), Venomous Bite (6) [1.6% max HP/5 sec]
Soul Skills: Language Comprehension
Natural Mutations: Toxic Scales [1% max HP/5 sec], Soul Furnace (+34)
Mutations: Superior Eyes, Enhanced Size (See Potential Mutations)
Current Biomatter: 1,359kg
Lifetime Biomatter: 1,857kg
Available Evolutions: Adolescent Sea Serpent (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 unusually strong Juvenile Sea Snake that's only slightly smaller than an Adult Sea Serpent. I hope you enjoyed your meal.
Thanks to the upgrade of Investigate to Analysis, two new sections have been added to my status. Soul Skills and the damage calculations for my offensive abilities. With the abundance of extra experience, I'm even halfway to level 10. And I'm not even being insulted or made fun of with the last line in my details section... something about that smells fishy and it's not the fish swimming around. OH NO! My stomach! Shit! this is what he meant... food poisoning.