A/N: I honestly don't know what I'm doing but I do hope I get motivated to write more of this monstrosity.
(Chapter Start)
I didn't know all of that "destiny" stuff, but I knew eel meat tastes well, so who would stop me from acquiring more?
I trusted my gut more than some mysterious voice, yet I was tempted to pursue it at a time when I would be ready but for now, I will find more eels to eat.
A few hours had passed, and I could finally move albeit slowly but that wouldn't hinder me from moving deeper into my newly conquered territory.
It still needs a bit of lighting so... I would smash the tops later...yet I still need to heal a bit.
Burdened with the pain in my tail I swam slowly and picked up some shells near the entrance, I picked variant-colored shells and starfish to decorate my new home, and I managed to gather a sizeable amount before sitting comfortably on the white sand of my home, one by one I placed the starfish and shells near the coral cavern walls enhancing the beauty it brought every time I imagined to go out of my cave.
It brought a curl into my mouth, as I excitedly lay down staring at my work before closing my eyes, my body relaxed and my consciousness to rest.
(Line break)
Tying up the last starfish on the coral ceiling with seaweeds...
Finally.
I've done it!
Interior Design skill acquired.
Sweet, I don't know what that is, but I do know it's related to what I've done.
The design of my lair was nothing short but mundane however I was satisfied with it.
Starfish swaying at the top and different kinds of shells were placed on the coral walls, I fitted them all in one place because I didn't have anything that could make them stick to the walls. The downside of this design is that if I ever take one shell off the walls then the other shells, I fitted in would fall...
I also smashed the top of the ceiling a bit just for some light to illuminate my surroundings inside, I covered it with a little bit of seaweed just enough to provide some shade of green.
And when it got from the entrance of my home, I took a lot of seaweed and bundled them at the ceiling.
Crude as it is right now, I plan to expand it and create some sort of seaweed net to hinder those stupid fishes from entering my abode.
Now that everything is finished with my home...
Time to hunt more EELS MWUHAHAHA!
Carrying with me a spear I crafted from sticks I found above water and sharp corals, tied them up with seaweed and there goes my mighty eel slayer!
Eels I found while exploring this place were rather recluse creatures, always hiding in some corals while poking a bit of their heads. Their hunting style when I observed them was just a simple wait-and-snap style which was quite lazy... but I guess they never needed to move that much due to the abundant supply of fish in the area so...yeah.
Readying my spear, I thrust forward at the sight of an eel's head poking out. It had likely been surprised at my sudden movements, so it hid inside its lair, but it was already too late as I brought my eel slayer to its neck pinning it as it struggled to move and after a few moments, it was dead.
Combat Ends.
You have killed a Poisonous eel.
25 experience gained.
Spear Mastery skill acquired.
You have leveled up! You are now level 3.
I felt a bit stronger, just a bit. I wonder how does that work? Do I just need to keep killing things or do I need to do an action? I know that I kind of do it all the time by swimming however, I only get those funny feelings when I kill something...anyways!
I found my way back home placed the eel on the coral table I made and observed it, before slicing it up with a sharp and sturdy coral knife I crafted. I peeled off the skin, separated all of the organs, and chopped its body into pieces to eat if I felt like it.
Now...time to test another brilliant thing I thought of.
Taking out the poison pouch inside of the eel, I then pierced the coral spearhead inside before tying it up tightly with seaweeds, the seaweeds tore apart a lot of times prompting me to use a more suitable thing for it but nonetheless after a few minutes I finally finished it.
It was nothing special. Just a piece of coral spearhead coated inside a poisonous eel pouch, due to the coral spearhead's structure it was more absorbent of the poison but for it to be potent it needs hours bathe in poison to be properly used.
Weapon Coating Skill Acquired.
This genius idea of mine wasn't made just because I thought of it but to prepare myself for the bigger fishes in the place.
There are many big fishes I'm wary of, the smooth-skinned fish that could thrust themselves to the other fishes faster than my spear, fishes that look like eels but have many heads and a bloated head(I wonder how they taste like?), and truly massive fishes that span the whole place...they were terrifying...for now, at least, I know I'll improve and take them down once I make stronger weapons.
Once I was done, I laid down the white sand floor and stared up with my arms around the back of my nape.
The light coming from the small hole I created shone down on me, it was the only warmth I felt in this cold place I even wondered if I could reach for that warmth to feel it touching my skin hmm...maybe I could? Just a peek above water then I'll go back. I should do it tomorrow, I'm too lazy right now. Zzz
(Line Break)
A new day, a new start!
Alright, time to see what's above this place...
Carrying some spears with me, I swam above.
My smile was wide as ever, my strides in the water faster but when I got there all I felt was warmth and a pale light dot above.
I tried to swim further seeing the clear blue above however I only kept returning below...
Does that mean that I can't reach it? Why?
I repeated it several times however I don't know why...I didn't bother anymore and returned with a frown on my face.
When I lay down again and thought deeply a thought slithered inside my mind... a familiar feeling...
A feeling of another world, a place where I walked(?)I was never meant to be in this place of full of blue but above on the ground where people(?) and buildings(?) are.
But what does this mean? What are these thoughts that struggle to let me remember?
The warmth of the sun, the breeze of the air, and the noise of some strange creature that spouts smoke.
A feeling struck me, a sick feeling of wanting to go back...home.
But my place is here, I love to be with the fish, and although I struggle a bit to understand this place, I want to be here...
Do I want to be here? or was I just here?
This personal dilemma brought me an aching head, so I stopped and immersed myself in hunting more eels.
Combat Ends.
You have killed a Poisonous Eel.
25 Experience gained.
You have killed a Poisonous Eel.
25 Experience gained.
You have killed a Poisonous Eel.
...
...
...
You have leveled up! You are now level 4.
I was troubled maybe because it was the stress at the thought of those things, but why should I even think of them? Why should I ever think of my home? When my home is here and here, I belong right?
I am happy. I am still happy.
No one's ever going to change that from me.
Alright! Back to doing what I love.
I stored up all the eel's meat inside my storage after cutting them up. I ate some of them in different ways until I got sick of it.
And in the days that gone by, I felt bored and that single thought in my head annoyed me so much that it brought forth a guilt inside of me. A feeling of leaving behind my identity, a call of my misgivings to my past which was a sign of why I stopped singing (?) I was tempted to know more about myself and to explore this wide place but...
Should I abandon this little home I've found? In search of a call from the voice inside of me?
I was stumped and felt despondent about the things that I once found motivation in, now this feeling was eating me up and I found myself guilty as the voice that echoed in my head got stronger.
But I trudged on albeit a bit stressed from the mess inside my mind.
I made it my stress relief to hunt eels and horde them inside of my place which I kind of felt unnecessary as I couldn't eat them all up, I discarded some so that the small fishes could eat them.
Hunting eels made me more cautious as I noticed that they didn't just come from a single species. I met eels that could shock my insides and eels that could grow spikes, there was even a time when there was an eel that was bigger and had more fangs than necessary. They were dangerous and I only managed to hunt them successfully due to the reason that I always observed them before hunting.
However, I didn't know that what I was doing would bring forth an unforeseen danger.
In one of my hunting sessions, I was quite happy to hunt a big eel. I had a few close calls from it like being constricted and I only managed to free myself from its grasp by using one of my poisoned spears, it took about a minute for it to take effect on the big guy due to its massive constitution, unlike the smaller eels which only take about 20 seconds to succumb to its effect. It was truly effective, and I even wondered why it was taking effect on them when I found those poison pouches inside of them in the first place... another question of the day that I didn't want to answer.
I swam in a zigzag direction with a smile on my face while returning from my hunt when I noticed at a distance a huge black and violet sea serpent baring its fang at me, hissing in anger while demolishing my lair by wrapping its body. I quickly swam towards it, spears ready imbued thinking any second of delay would end up destroying my precious lair which I invested almost all of my time and effort.
Noticing my arrival, it gave more effort to destroy my lair which made me hasten my flippers.
But unfortunately,
I was too late.
The coral cave, my precious lair, my little "Home" cracked under the pressure, shells and starfish became additional debris to the corals.
I stared in agape and disbelief at what happened.
But the huge black, violet mother of an eel didn't empathize with my suffering but only made it worse when it straightened its body and thrust towards me.
It was...fast.
I didn't even have time to raise my spear and I was sent flying by its whip-like tail.
Pain erupted from my stomach which made my mouth cough up blood that tasted like metal(?).
I gathered my bearings when I noticed it was moving again.
Dodging`
Moving
Dodging again
I didn't even get to see any openings when it attacked, it was simply too fast.
I felt cold, my mind was shouting at me to move, move, and MOVE.
I only got to breathe when I hid inside a dense coral however it only took a second for it to reposition itself.
It was surely still pursuing me, so I poised my spear if it ever came into view and it did.
MMMUUUAAAK!
I hit its eye.
It staggered back, twisting and wailing in pain which I followed up with another strike to its belly, I missed due to how erratic it moved around but I continued and finally landed a hit on it.
I once again felt pain when I got slapped by its tail, sending me barreling towards the corals. My mind got numbed and everything looked weird, but I endured, coughing up more blood. I stood up still recovering from the concussion, but the large eel finally shrugged the pain off and dashed towards me, it only took seconds to wrap me in its body.
I already imagined what would happen next, so I weakly stabbed it with the weapon in my hand, but it squeezed my body so tight that I suddenly lost my strength and accidentally dropped my weapon.
My body resisted the squeeze with all its might, and the Giant Eel answered with a growing shock outside of its body.
Fear gripped my mind, images of a life I've never had flashed in front of me, but I wasn't able to relive those memories, a life of a normal human and a life of a royal, all converged into one and brought clarity to my mind of who I was.
But,
It didn't do anything except bring forth a reminiscent memory.
In my utter desperation, I could only sing my throes of agony with the remaining air I had inside my chest.
Three times, my life forfeited.
A beautiful home I longingly made.
When shall I get what I deserve?
If in injustice I am served?
The shock came abruptly and forced my mind to blank out.
Combat Ends.
You have killed Squ'ak the Eel Guardian.
2500 Experience Gained.
Title Gained: Nemesis of the Eels.
Pain Tolerance leveled up to 23.
Blunt Tolerance Skill Acquired.
Blunt Tolerance leveled up to 8.
Spear Mastery leveled up to 13.
Shock Tolerance leveled up to 11.
Call of the Sea leveled up to 35.
You have leveled up! You are now level 6.
You have leveled up! You are now level 7.
You have leveled up! You are now level 8.
You have leveled up! You are now level 9.
You have leveled up! You are now level 10.
Experience Cap Met!
Unable to gain more experience.
Requisite for Class Ascension Met!
Class Ascension Available.