Chapter 27 - 1-11 I'm a Stingray? [High Fantasy, System]

Chapter 1 - System Reboot

"The hell!? Why am I underwater?"

[System reboot]

[Loading...]

[I'm your ocean survival system, you are my servant]

[Feed me points, and I'll show you the secrets of survival with the aid of body upgrades]

"Oh for the love of..."

...

[Your first task = Locate and eat any small species of the crustacea ignatius family, juveniles are preferable… less steamy.]

This message in his head was very confusing. That aside, he, Timothy Lake, a human, didn't have the slightest clue, regarding how he suddenly appeared underwater! It was nothing less than absurd.

He completely ignored what the system said. In fact he wasn't even sure what the 'system' was, and thought that craze was creeping in. He could hear the system but not see it, which was a rather radiant hint of auditory hallucination, if not other things!

"Who the hell are you? How did I get here?" Tim exclaimed, as his panic blossomed.

[I'm your inbuilt, ocean survival system. You, Timothy, are the new owner of this newborn, stingray body.] It answered.

But, it didn't stop there either. [As for me, I have knowledge equal to one world and beyond it, I can help any oceanic creature survive this cruel, magical environment.]

"Damn this thing has a lot to say." Tim thought briefly and privately, as the system's disruptive voice annoyed him shitless.

[I heard that,] It said.

"Oh so you can read my thoughts too, perfect." Tim added, he felt embarrassed, especially since the system sounded like a lady, though her tone was computerized.

[Yes,] It followed along.

Silence stretched after that point, for a whole minute, as Tim was given a lot to think about. The system eventually broke the silence, in a way that was a bit annoying; Basically, she started spamming some information.

[Available system points = 10]

[Purchase options = 1]

Tim would rather not interact with the system, but she was persuasive. Since he was almost convinced that what he was experiencing was a dream, he saw no harm in playing along for a while. Dreams must end eventually, even nightmares, and this felt like a nightmare!

He said, "Let's hear that option out, I guess."

There was no harm to that, as everything about this truly felt like a dream. He even tried to swim fast, as fast as he could, but that effort was dimmed by slow and pale results. Just like in other nightmares, he moved really slowly!

[Option number one, and the only option right now = A brochure, explaining the details of your new body, and species in depth.]

[Price = 3 system points]

"Kind of expensive for information that is solely about 'my' new body." The little stingray continued complaining, though he knew that he was becoming a bit annoying.

He knew that he wouldn't be here for long, so he gave in completely. There was no point in being all grumpy, he started playing nice-er.

He sighed and said, "Whatever, okay. I'm purchasing the first, and only option."

[Purchase confirmed,] The system said.

[Loading…]

[Species = Bluespotted Ribbon-tail Ray]

[Family = Dasyatidae extingius]

[Gender = Male]

[Age = 29 days]

[Length = 15 centimeters]

[Width = 7 centimeters]

[Weight = 0.3 kilograms]

As a closing sentence, she [Your purchase is complete, and as a result, 3 system points have been consumed. Due to this subtraction, only 7 points remain in your total sum.]

Tim ignored all that talk about points, and said. "Sounds like I'm very small."

He expected an answer, but the system wasn't very responsive. Instead, it continued spamming information that may only be interesting to her and her alone.

She said, [Because of your most recent purchase, three more purchase options have been unlocked.]

[Option number one = Learn your current location]

[Price = 14 system points]

"A geo-tagger?" Tim recalled this modern, human phrase.

Afterwards, he joked. "Yeah, fish definitely need that. Nothing like a good old GPS to get you across the Pacific Ocean."

He started being more and more sarcastic, because he was getting nervous. Everything that was happening didn't feel like a dream anymore, so he had to cope somehow.

The system, however, didn't respond to such sarcasm whatsoever. She continued going on with her business, by spamming more of her information.

She said, [Option number two = View the chart of your current capabilities. This one is essential to have and memorize, therefore it's priced cheaply, 3 system points.]

"That sounds interesting." Tim thought, he felt intrigued. "I want to buy that one."

[Purchase confirmed,] The system said.

It was nice to hear her respond instantly for once. Considering the circumstances, he'd love to be distracted right now rather than face the problem at hand. Somehow he was a fish, and he wasn't quite ready to accept that.

[Loading…]

Afterwards, the system described. [Your capabilities will be listed shortly. Levels state just how strong a specific capability of yours is, with level zero being the lowest.]

[Hunting, jaws, and natural camouflage = Level two]

[Barb, and barb venom = Level zero]

[Bodily strength, and speed = Level one]

[Sight, scent and overall senses = Level one]

[Intelligence of either, four forms = Low]

[Mana = Pathetically low]

[Magical powers = None]

[Sex appeal = Level zero]

"Wow, pretty low. Looks like anything can kill me, though." Tim pointed out, and tried to ignore the devastating fact that his 'sex appeal' was down to level zero.

[Everything can kill you, yes.] She confirmed.

Afterwards she said, [Your purchase is complete, and 3 system points have been consumed in exchange. Now, only 4 system points remain in your total sum.]

Tim was given a lot to think about. This world started feeling more and more real, and the salt water hinted at it so, but that wave of realization wasn't the worst part.

If everything was real, and as it appeared, it was, then he was given the worst cards to play with. He was just a tiny, weak, stingray! He didn't know how his soul ended up in this body, but it would be embarrassing to die in this same body, as much as it was embarrassing to own it and live in it.

In the meantime, the system didn't care about his feelings whatsoever, and continued making her sales pitch.

She said, [Option number three = Upgrade Hunting, jaws, and natural camouflage to level three. This option is priced at 28 points.]

"Kind of expensive for a pair of jaws, don't you think?" Tim asked.

Now he didn't have any idea of how these points were attained, but they seemed like a lot. Part of him considered suicide, rather than to go through with everything a fish had to do on a daily, but the rest of him was curious. Sure he was also terrified, but if this world truly had magic within it, then it was worth exploring!

The system decided to respond to his question for once. In fact, she even wanted to help him become a bit more practical.

She said, [Let me show you some statistics, free of charge. The following consists of your current state of overall health and well-being.]

[Health bar = 87/100 points]

[Hunger bar = 3/15]

[Sleep, and stamina bar = 11/35]

[Mana = 0/0]

At last, she sealed the deal off by adding. [You need to be a good hunter in order to survive. Now you can't afford 'purchase option number three' for the time being, but you can still hunt. As I said before, find a crab that you can kill, you need it and you definitely need the points that it can give you in exchange, once you kill it. Good luck, Timothy Lake.]

Chapter 2 - Enemy

"System, I've been waiting for an hour now! Where the hell are those iguana crabs you talked about?" Tim complained, and the attitude he had was fueled by anger alone.

The system didn't make things any easier for him, as she said. [You mean crustacean ignatius, not iguana? Also, you've been waiting for 37 minutes, and guests aren't supposed to lie. Please behave!]

Before he could say anything, the system answered the prior question as well, though she was a bit vague about it.

She said, [You should just continue waiting for a little while longer. Crabs will eventually crawl over here, so stop talking and rustling around, you're gonna scare them away. Don't let 'natural selection' be your worst enemy, please the oceans are already dangerous themselves. Don't do stupid stuff.]

Ironically, right now, the system spoke more than Tim ever did. She distracted him, even, so he was set quite for a surprise, after he felt a couple of doting, hot steps on his soft, fishy stingray back!

"Youch!" He exclaimed.

Then, upon an in-built primal reflex, he swung that dangerous tail of his. Afterwards, he noticed that the barb on the tip of his tail, punctured whatever crawled on his back!

That was not enough to kill the said creature, however. His back still felt very hot, as if he was the one getting stabbed. In a mode of panic, Tim pulled his tail out of the creature, and began stabbing it over and over again!

He had the slightest hint that he was attacking a crab, but throughout these few seconds, it didn't matter much. Tim fought until he won, arose from the sand he had buried himself in, and then finally got a good look of what he had just killed.

It was a crab, and it didn't take a detective to figure that out. The crab had colors equal to that of live flames, which explained why its feet had been so heated up to begin with!

But in another aspect, it didn't make sense. Tim recalled some very bland details from his past life, and before he reincarnated into this fishy body, he had never really heard of flaming crabs. It sounded insane.

Nevertheless, he was happy that he killed the puny crab. It was smaller than him, but the damage it had dealt was insane, Tim had marks on his back now, which may take a while to heal. He did not want to experience that again, the crab's death brought him peace.

He even started mocking it, calling the carcass fat. "Guess that's why they call it an iguana crab, look at that ridiculous belly."

[No, no.] The system was quick to correct him, [It's an ignatius crustacea, which translates to flaming crab. That's why its legs fried your back a little bit, this species is your natural predator and prey at the same time.]

As the system said that, Tim remembered that he had to eat, and therefore felt nauseous. He looked at the crab, and since it was half the size smaller than him, the stab-wounds it had, made it seem all the more disgusting.

Through a mouthful of barf, he asked. "Hmm, flaming crab, huh? Does that mean it's already cooked and ready for me to eat?"

[No, its flesh is actually really wet and chewy. I recommend you wait until the crab cools down, though. However, if you don't see yourself adapting to this lifestyle, death is an option. Though, if you want to die, you have to starve yourself to achieve such a blessing.] The system followed along.

"That doesn't sound any better," Tim said, and then just decided that he was to eat this crab.

His belly was empty, and he'd rather be angry with a full stomach, rather than grumpy and hungry at the same time. This new life already seemed hard, and there was no point in making it harder. The system cooperated with him for once, she went quiet and let him be.

A few minutes went by, and he noticed how the crab's flame died out through every passing moment. He associated this crab with the shocking and sudden pain he experienced, so he was happy to see it die, fully and forever!

"Hehe," He smirked.

Anyway, now that he was more edible, he sunk those small jaws of his, on the crab. It took a moment to break its shell, but once he got a mouthful of its meat, it didn't taste as bad as he thought it would be.

In fact, he didn't taste anything at all, as Bluespotted Ribbon-tail Rays didn't have taste buds, apparently! This was a blessing, the more he thought about it. His belly started feeling full, and he didn't feel disgusted as he finished the crab off.

Moments later, the system informed him. [You successfully killed a flaming crab, so 1 system point has been credited to you. I encouraged you to murder a crab to begin with, so you recieve another system point as a reward.]

Aside from that, she also added. [In total, you have 6 system points in your sum.]

"Thanks for making me feel better about killing and eating my natural nemesis, system." He joked.

The system was quiet for a while, as it seems like she was doing her own thing again. She was analyzing some information, and prepared to talk about a bunch of stuff.

She said, [You ate a full-grown flaming crab, and that comes with plenty of benefits. Your Hunger Bar is at 7/15 points now, but that's not all; You're also amped up with a fraction of the crab's magical powers, at least for a little while, and I suggest you use it.]

"Really? That's badass!" He exclaimed.

However, as he wiggled around in excitement, he shot out the bit of power he had stolen. A tiny fireball shot out of his barb, and just diminished as it arose up the salty waters.

"Oh shit, I messed up, didn't I?" He sighed.

He felt stupid that he lost the only bit of magical powers he could attain, but rather than arguing about it, the system worked with him on this.

She said, [Your bodily conditions are working against you a bit. You can't focus, and with that tiny mind of yours, not being able to focus adds up on your stack of daily problems. With that considered, I recommend that you bury yourself as much as you can, and just sleep for a little while.]

"You don't have to tell me twice," He said.

The meat he ate was finally weighing on his stomach. It made him feel warm, a bit cozy, and surely comfortable. He could use a nap right now!

...

Upon opening his eyes, Timmy spotted a big fishy face right in front of him, that was glaring all the way down to his little soul. Worse yet, this fish carried a pair of terribly shiny jaws!

In response, he peeped a bubley complaint, and demanded to know. "What's that?"

[I recognize some species of shark, but I can't give you any specific information right now. If I am to analyze this thing properly, then you need to bite the shark.] She said.

Tim would rather not do that, and instead, he asked. "Can I outswim it? I don't want to know who its uncles are right now."

The system did not answer to that, at least not immediately. She was carrying out her own procedures, and was quite greedy with any forms of information.

Tim however, didn't have any time to waste. The shark was getting curious, it started head-budding his spine, which couldn't be a good thing at all.

He responded quite primitively, and stung the shark right on the face! This was the best he could do.

Chapter 3 - The momentum

The shark reacted immediately. Once it got stung by Tim, it jerked its head left and right, then it quickly swam away. A two-inch deep stab was quite effective from the looks of it, very painful.

"Feels like I stabbed that fucker with my ass," He joked, while in utter stress.

However, he couldn't have killed that shark with one stab alone, it was impossible. So necessarily, Tim was still in danger!

The shark circled back, within half a minute. It was either looking for trouble, or a meal, but either way this was really problematic!

The shark had to be at least two meters long, and it seemingly had powers too. Its fins left a line of fire across the water, regardless of how fire wasn't supposed to lit up down here. It was scary, and overall, Tim didn't stand a chance! He stabbed the thing, by pure luck to begin with, it had nothing to do with skill.

Seconds later, it charged towards him! The shark exploded with speed within a couple of seconds, and it would be a terrible idea to stand in its way. Tim was aware of the latter, so he sank within the sand as much as he could, and hoped for the best!

Apparently, the shark wasn't so smart. Once Tim was out of sight, it swam right above him, as it had lost track of its target completely. This was good, it bought him some time.

However, Tim couldn't hide in the sand for long. He was too deep within it, and was suffocating already; He did not want to die this way, not at all.

For that matter, he ended up emerging from the sand. He hoped that the shark had gone away already, but that was not the case. It floated right behind him, so Tim decided to swim away, with all of the power and speed he could summon right now!

"Fucking hell! Being a fish is hard." He thought.

The shark didn't notice him immediately, so he got a ten second head start. The little stingray was as enthusiastic as he was scared, and although he wasn't the fastest swimmer, he did see a potential hiding spot.

He saw a tiny hole, about ten more meters away, and got really excited about it. If he could hide in there, then virtually no one could hurt him, he'd be safe!

However, a few seconds later, he heard a couple of tail-flaps, which could only mean one thing! The shark saw him, and now it was chasing him, unfortunately!

Moments later, the enemy floated right above his head, and then dove down for some reason. This completely disrupted Tim's momentum, and he was forced to swim downwards along with the shark!

In a bizarre fashion, his barb somehow met with the enemy's flesh again, and it slid across the surface of the enemy's white belly. He scratched that belly accidentally, without a doubt, but that was enough to irritate the shark.

It tail-smacked Tim as a result, which under this setting, felt like he was just hit by a truck! He didn't suffer any broken bones, but he did feel quite disoriented.

The system announced, [Health, -22 points.]

"Fuck you, flamy-ass fish! If I survive this, I promise to find you one day and rip your guts out… I promise." He spoke, but could merely cause a few tiny bubbles, even if he shouted.

This slap, however, came with a bit of an advantage. The hole he tried to swim in, was just a meter away now. He mustered up some strength to swim towards it, but his luck may be running out soon!

The shark had made a U-turn already, and started approaching. It clapped its jaws, with this utter hunger and need to destroy the stingray in front of it. Tim was scared shitless, but right now, there was nothing he could do to stop or as much as harm the shark!

At this point, the little stingray gave up. He stopped swimming, and just waited for his death.

Within the following few seconds, however, the unthinkable happened. A strange, roundish head poked out of the very hole, which Tim had tried to swim in! At that speed and momentum, the creature managed to dig its jaws in, right into the shark.

"Fucking hell!" He squeaked, in surprise.

Everything about this clash was accidental. He was sure that this creature had tried to eat him instead, but he had no time to mutter that over right now.

The magnitude of the two, bigger animals, flipped him around like a pancake, several times! He had no orientation whatsoever, and for a few seconds, he was even back to back with that damned shark!

This situation was terrifying, so instinctively, he started fighting for his life. He started stabbing the shark, to the point where he managed to flip himself around. Then, with the best of his abilities, he started both stabbing and biting the shark as well. He wanted to cause as much damage as he possibly could!

"Who's the boss now, fatty!" He whispered, and for a short moment, he was even enjoying himself.

What happened next, however, was even more surprising than that creature's pounce. While he was stabbing the target like a maniac, the system spammed an important, and surprising notification in his mind.

She said, [Flame-finned mako shark, identified. You snagged a few mouthfuls of meat from this shark, so now you have a fraction of its power.]

"Huh?" Tim mumbled, as he continued to attack the shark.

The system followed along on what she just said, as she added. [My calculations estimate that you'll have flaming fins for yourself, for about three days. Note that every kind of power that you steal from other creatures, though useful, it's still temporary.]

Tim was distracted by the system, just slightly. This distraction, however, made him lose his grip on the shark. So he was tossed away from battle within seconds, and crashed right near the hole which he had tried so desperately to get in.

This hurt, and the system was quick to announce. [Health, -10 points.]

"Stupid hole! Stupid shark!" He complained, and then barged in the same hole he cussed.

Moments later, the system accumulated the damage he had suffered this past minute. [You've lost 32 points of health, which is almost critical for a stingray of your size.]

Furthermore, she added. [Your Health Bar now is 55/100. You'll feel numb for a while.]

"It's not that bad, it's not that bad..." Tim tried to convince himself.

His Health Bar was low, yes, but at least he won't be hunted anymore. The shark and that creature will end up killing each other, most likely, so he had this little den all to himself.

This hole was bigger than he imagined, about a meter wide, so it was a good spot to live in. It was a little ugly, but that didn't matter much.

However, as Tim tried to distract himself from the pain, he noticed something very interesting. He saw a whole, green brick on the bottom of this den, which radiated a faint light of the same color.

It was just a bit bigger than him in size, but as far as common sense was concerned, bricks weren't supposed to be green! He wanted to touch the brick, but its light, although faint, still managed to hurt his eyes.

The system warned him too, she said. [Stay away from that, I have no idea what it is.]

It sounded unusual for the system to not know something, Tim was stumped. Nevertheless, he heeded her advice, and just steered clear of the brick. There were plenty of other spots to lie down on, and he was no experimental scientist, he wasn't so curious.

Within a few seconds, he decided to heed the command and just floated away. He had no idea what exact purpose such a brick could have. And it was even more difficult to understand why it was in this den, but right now he did not want to think about it.

He wanted to feel home here, but something wasn't right. The brick burned his eyes a bit, yes, but he could feel that something else was wrong.

With the little power he had, he floated towards the exit, to have a look at the surroundings. He saw that two-meter long shark, and noticed that the creature it was fighting was an eel.

That eel had lived in the very hole Tim was in right now. It protected the brick for some reason, and by that alone, he figured that it wasn't the best idea to live in this den himself. At least, not for long. There was just something very odd about that brick, and he didn't want to find out what it was!

Right then, the system interrupted his train of thoughts. [That fight won't last long, Timothy. If you want to swim away, now's your chance.]

"Right right," He thought.

Afterwards, he busted out of the hole, and then spotted a glowing, red coral reef close by. A coral reef could give him more advantages, when it came to avoiding huge predators, as it was a mazzy, rugged place.

Tim was beaten and bruised, so technically, he shouldn't be able to swim all that much. However, he did steal a bit of power from that flaming mako shark, and subconsciously started using it.

The flaming tips on his fins made him swim faster all of a sudden. Tim barely sloshed around, yet he swam at a steady pace of 10 km/h! This was a lot for a tiny stingray, so he reached the coral reef in seconds!

Afterwards, he slipped through a bush-like sea plant, and then swam down further within it. This reef offered tiny tunnels, and within this tunnel, he found a sizable, foot-wide spot where he could properly relax in.

Five minutes later, he could see that same mako-shark, poking its nose on the bushy sea-plant, which Tim recognized as the entrance. Fortunately the shark couldn't fit in, so he remained safe.

However, Tim couldn't fall asleep if a shark was poking around, so he found a much safer escape route. He found another tunnel within this foot-wide den, and this tunnel was much smaller than what he was used to already.

The snug tunnel wasn't a problem for him, however, as he was a squishy stingray. He practically crawled through this tunnel, only for a short moment, before another opening revealed itself.

This place was far bigger, about three meters wide, and it was mostly isolated. Big shark's wouldn't be able to get in here.

He was surrounded by red, protective coral here. But at the very bottom of this cave-like place, there was sand, and he noticed how a bunch of small, spider-like critters crawled around down there. They didn't seem dangerous, and Tim was still hungry, as the damage he withstood took a lot out of him! He had to munch on the spiders!

Chapter 4 - Pinpoint

Spiders always looked creepy, the ones of the sea even more so. However, Tim tried to put his discomfort aside for survival's sake. He did so, and ended up eating seven whole 'sea spiders'!

He ate so many of them, because they weren't so filling, they didn't have any fat on them. Their long legs were inedible, so he only chomped through their small, red main bodies. He didn't have to fight them in order to eat them, as these 'spiders' were as stupid as one would assume! This was an easy, but surely creepy meal.

The system spammed him with some information afterwards. [You successfully killed and consumed seven marble shrimps, so in total, you get 14 points of health out of them. Of course, your hunger needs have been fulfilled as well.]

"Health, huh? So that's why I was feeling better… This isn't temporary, right? I don't want to feel like crap after an hour or, whatever." He asked.

His concern was valid. A tiny stingray didn't have a complex system of pain receptors, but the few that he did have, had numbed most of his movements up until moments ago! He didn't want to return to that.

Thankfully, the system answered. [These points aren't temporary, no. You replenished your health bar, and unless acted upon, your health bar will be 69/100 from now on.]

"That's good, you know? Finally, something to be happy about." He thought.

However, from the looks of it, these shrimp also had a negative effect. He ate seven of them, and each shrimp took a point away from his sleep and stamina bar. He felt pooped, and therefore looked for a tidy place on the sand, where he could sleep on.

This place was pretty safe, or at least, huge creatures wouldn't be able to get in here. He shouldn't find himself facing any enemies here, none which he knew of, so this time around he could sleep peacefully.

While he dug himself into the sand, the system came along with another chunk of information. [The kills you just made, also reaped you 7 whole system points. In total, you now have 13 points at your disposal.]

That didn't sound bad at all, but TIm didn't care about points right now. The lack of stamina knocked him out cold, just moments after he dug into the sand. He felt safe, stronger, and he even dreamt about killing that mako shark who chased him. This wasn't as bad of a day as he made it out to be.

...

About five hours later, Tim woke up and he felt fully rested. He was alive, there weren't any enemies in sight as surely, sharks wouldn't be able to squeeze in here. He was safe, and felt strong for once as well!

He had dreamt about being the strongest stingray in existence, which was far from the truth right now, but it was something good to aim for. Before he went asleep, he remembered the system talking about points, and now, he figured that it was time to use them.

"Gotta get stronger somehow," He mumbled, and then asked. "System, what can I buy right now?"

The system was quick to answer that, she said. [There are currently two available upgrade options, and you can't afford either of them.]

[Option number one = Learn your current location. This option is priced at 14 points]

This option seemed bizarre, and for a single reason only. Location, or knowing one's own location, shouldn't matter much for a little stingray. He could travel to another sea or anything like that, he was really small and slow. He hoped that there was more to this purchase, otherwise it would be a waste of points.

Anyway, the system continued. [Option number two = Upgrade your Hunting, jaws, and natural camouflage capabilities to level three. This upgrade is priced at 28 points.]

Tim wanted to buy this option instead, it seemed really useful. However, it was also expensive, too expensive for him. It would probably take a while to get another fifteen points to use, and under the current circumstances, he didn't really want to put the work in. He didn't want to eat those spidery shrimp anymore, especially not fifteen of them all together!

For that matter, he had to decide. "Oh well, can't buy the cool stuff, but might as well buy something. I want to learn my location, system, maybe it'll show me the good stuff, like where to find better food?"

[As I mentioned before, you lack the required points to purchase this option. Go kill another one of those 'spiders' as there are plenty of them in your den. If you don't want to eat any of them, just bite its head off, as it will still give you a point, though, it won't affect your health or stamina at all.] The system said.

Tim was irritated right now, he didn't want to move, but he had to comply. He found a marble shrimp, and killed it without remorse!

[Purchase confirmed,] The system immediately said. [Finding host…]

Suddenly, a map appeared in front of Tim's vision! It stretched from one end of his vision to the other, and it looked a lot like a computer screen! Interesting for sure.

"Wow!" He exclaimed.

Plenty of moving images flashed in front of him afterwards. An earth-like planet appeared on that screen, except the planet's atmosphere, unlike earth, had a stroke of red mixed between its overwhelming blue gas. It was beautiful!

The globe spun quickly within the screen, and once it stopped spinning, it zoomed in on a specific part of the ocean, which had a stretch of land nearby. Tim wasn't on earth right now, that aside, he was a stingray, so he didn't really recognize landmasses by their name. All of that looked like miscellaneous information to him.

The computer-like screen ignored the landmass as much as Tim did. Instead, the screen zoomed into the sea water, submerged within it, and started taking numerous quick turns below the water.

TIm felt as if he was being chased by a camera crew right now, one which had superpowers, because eventually, the screen showed him the very coral reef he was hiding in.

It found that stretch of red coral, and he only assumed that the 'cameras' were above his head now. He was too scared to swim upwards and look at them, but the system still impressed him nonetheless.

The system then explained, [[You are in the Strait of Teutana, near the city of Trekanas. The area is mostly safe, but I advise you to exercise caution. You're too small, so a small injury can snowball into a deadly infection. This coral reef can be your friend for a while, explore carefully.]

As the system spoke, Tim looked at the screen in front of him, and tried to make sense of the area. The screen wouldn't zoom in any further, but from the short glimpses he had gotten earlier on, it was obvious that this reef was absolutely massive!

There were infinite hiding spots here, and he guessed that plenty of other small animals used this place to hide in. With that in mind, if he tried enough, then he'd plenty of spots to farm points on. It was inevitable!

Anyway, the system sealed this whole topic off, as she explained. [This purchase consumed all of your points, so I'd say that you should take your explorative aspirations seriously. If you're to progress, you will need many points.]

Tim was aware of that, so he didn't get demotivated when the system pointed it out. He was a poor little stingray right now, but since he didn't want to die anytime soon, it was best to just work and aim for progress!

The system added one more thing, [That aside, about ten minutes from now, you won't be able to look at this map anymore, so pay attention and try to not forget your surroundings.]

"Okay, guess I can't swim fast unless I need to, huh?" Tim came to those terms, "Hate to waste these flaming cunts, but oh well…"

Chapter 5 - Just in time

Tim squeezed within the reef and its many contents, in search for easy points. He swam around for three hours, quite carefully, but hadn't managed to find as many creatures as he hoped to find.

He just found a few more marble shrimps, and half of them had been in his den. They seemingly were the most abundant creatures in a fifty-meter radius, but their numbers weren't infinite. He only killed twelve of them, but avoided eating most of them, because he didn't want to exhaust himself too quickly with their negative side-effects.

Tim avoided utter exhaustion as long as he could, but yet again, swimming around slowly and carefully for three hours straight, wasn't easy at all. He got tired, and used his last bit of energy to swim back to his den. Then, he fell asleep.

It was a good idea to relax for a while. Tim wasn't hungry, and his health went up by six points too, because of the few shrimp he ate. For that matter he could sleep peacefully.

He went to sleep while hearing a brief notification, from the system's side. [Your health bar now is 75/100 - Good job!]

…

"Wow, I woke up and there ain't no shark trying to kiss my face." Tim joked.

He tried to move around afterwards, but he had slept like a rock, potentially for six hours, so it wasn't easy for him to move. Even as a fish, he had to stretch first!

He took a peek of the surroundings, and noticed that mother nature had blessed him. A bunch of marble shrimp had crawled into his home, so quite literally, there were a few easy points in front of him which he could reap. Tim felt a bit hungry too, so this was a very good scene to wake up to.

Six of them had crawled in his large den, and within a couple of minutes, he bit all of their heads off, and then ate them. His sharp little plate-shaped jaws were quite efficient for the job!

Throughout that murder spree, he even jokingly yelled. "You're in my land, hehe!"

Moments later, the system announced. [You successfully killed and ate six marble shrimp, and now, you accumulated 18 system points.]

[Health bar = 87/100 points,] She added.

"Nice, I feel a lot better too. Need me more shrimps though, I still need like six points to buy that hunting thing." He expressed.

The system was quick to correct him, she said. [You need 10 points, not 6.]

Tim wasn't the best at math, that was obvious. As a stingray, it was astounding that he recognized numbers to begin with. Anyway, although he wasn't smart enough to do mathematics, he was smart enough to ask good questions.

He asked, "Why can't I buy anything else, though? Like tail venom and stuff like that."

The system was prepared for questions like this, so she broke the topic down slowly. There were a few aspects to cover.

Firstly, she said. [You'll upgrade your tail eventually, amongst hundreds of other powers and attributes that are also available. However, it's best to take things slow, and buy the simple stuff first, before you move on to anything dangerous and advanced.]

Furthermore, she added. [For survival, your options are bracketed to what your current bodyform and size needs, you'll only get a few purchase options at a time. Specifically, this will keep you from making irresponsible purchases. I took the privilege to organize every available option for you, based on your overall weaknesses and strengths.]

"That's good," Tim nodded his flat head along, and added. "I wouldn't trust myself either."

The system didn't comment on that. She maintained a standard line of professionalism, and focused on more important things.

Just moments later, she announced. [You've made progress, Timothy. For that matter, based on your current overall state, you can proceed with a task, task number two, to be exact.]

Then she explained, [Your official, second task is to locate and kill a bubonic sea urchin. Upon completion, you will receive twenty system points as a reward.]

In all seriousness, he asked. "Bubonic, huh? Does this mean that the urchin has boobs?"

The system was stumped by that question. For a second, in her infinite wisdom, she couldn't figure out if the other was joking or not.

Eventually though, she answered. [No, it's called bubonic, because a stab from its spiky spines can make you gravely ill.]

"Oh," He mumbled, "I'll avoid its booby spines then, hopefully."

For a second he wanted to avoid this task altogether, but a reward of twenty points sounded great! Number-wise, he'd have to kill twenty shrimps to get that same amount, and surely, he'd rather not waste hours hunting for shrimp. This would even be a good opportunity to buy that upgrade, and even have points to spare afterwards!

He found a string of enthusiasm just so he could follow this task, and then recalled. "I saw plenty of urchins while I was looking at that flashy map of yours, system. They were in the sand out there, out of the reef… so let's hope I can find the right urchin, before that stupid shark finds me instead."

Moments later, he squeezed through a tunnel, and poked his head out of those red, bushy sea plants. With his limited vision, he wanted to check if the perimeter was safe. He found himself being all the more careful recently!

There weren't any dangers to speak of, so he left the reef, and used the flames on the tip of his fins to swim quickly. Tim felt as if he was a fighter jet, because he didn't have to move his fins much in order to travel quickly, it was very fun!

He swam twenty meters away from the reef in seconds, and right then, he saw a carcass on the sandy sea-floor. It was an eel, and its body was almost split in half, so the scene was gross and pretty graphic! Tim however, was feeling opportunistic, so he quickly took a bite off of the eel.

To his utter surprise, the system then announced. [You just killed a thunderous moray eel, and as a reward, you received 40 system points! In total, you've accumulated 58 system points, which are to your full disposal.]

Tim freaked out, and quite joyfully, he asked. "What the hell? But, it was already dead!"

The system ignored his questions for a moment, and instead, she said. [There are 20 volts of thunderous electricity stored in your barb, and you can use half of that amount in a single second. You can either use that amount sparingly, or continue to eat the eel carcass in order to accumulate more voltages.]

Tim felt like the luckiest stingray in the world right now, but also, he had so many questions. Plenty!

At first, he insisted. "So I accidentally killed this eel… and got all those points? Please answer me, system, don't play with me."

Finally, she expanded on that question. [I'm not 'playing' with you. It looks like the shark had bitten the moray eel badly yesterday, but it didn't exactly kill it. The eel used its voltages of power to stay alive, but it had exhausted most of its powers already. You're lucky, because in any other setting, you would've been fried dead.]

"Now that's luck," He celebrated.

Tim could buy that big upgrade now as well, which was phenomenally advantageous, but chose to push the upgrade away for later. He was out here with a goal to find an urchin, and he intended to complete that goal.

However, to protect himself from the potential dangers, he took a few more bites off of the dead eel, and accumulated a total of fifty points of voltage on his tail's pointed barb. Tim would love to figure out just how dangerous this 'thunderous voltage' was, so for once, he hoped to get attacked by a shark. For once, he felt powerful, rather than helpless!

Chapter 6 - Health, -10 points!

Tim searched the flat sea-floor for about five minutes, and within this time bracket, he found three urchins. Each of them had different colors, one of them was even purple, so without risking his own health in the process, he had to figure out which urchin was the bubonic one.

He wanted to charge towards one of the urchins like a barbarian, but he had to resist those fishy urges. The urchins couldn't crawl away, after all, so he didn't have a reason to rush things.

He approached one of the urchins, and almost took a bite out of it. Common sense advised him otherwise, however, at the very last second. The urchin's spines were spiky, so undoubtedly, it would be dangerous to put his mouth on its spines! It was beyond dangerous, actually, it was stupid.

"Hmm… can't trick me!" He exclaimed.

Tim debated on how he should approach this urchin, and after half a minute, he remembered that his tail was practically charged with thunder! It may be useful against an urchin, but only if this shock was a ranged attack. Otherwise, if he had to impale the urchin in order to kill it, then he may get poked by its spines as a result.

He decided to give it a shot, and remembered to be cautious. His tail could shoot out ten points of voltage a second, so if he wasn't mindful about it, he could lose every point of this magical attack almost instantly!

Tim lifted his butt-cheecks upwards, to aim at the red urchin, and then flapped his tail forward. His tail, in response, shot a string of thunder towards the target; He didn't even have to 'summon' this thunder, in order for it to dart forward, it shot out naturally!

An explosion erupted in response! Tim was tossed away a whole foot, he survived the explosion, but for a good moment, he had no idea what went on. He didn't know what just happened!

[Health, -10 points.] The system announced, and also added. [Health bar = 65/100]

"Fucking hell, that hurt!" He complained, "I only used like five volts, that was insane."

Tim didn't have the slightest clue regarding how powerful a single volt was, but he figured that it shouldn't cause an explosion! Nothing made sense at that moment.

The system helped make sense of things, as she added. [You successfully killed a sulfuric urchin, and got 7 system points as a reward. In total, you now have 65 points.]

Furthermore, she added. [These urchins are a really explosive species, and don't really offer anything in return, apart from points and health loss. Your attempt was good, but, B- for caution though.]

"So I didn't even find the right urchin, huh?" Tim asked, and sighed in disappointment. "Good thing I didn't bite that bastard."

Tim's belly hurt, it burned even. However, he hadn't really completed the task that the system gave to him, so he couldn't quit now!

He quickly moved over to the next urchin he had found, and this time, he kept a distance of one meter from it. That red urchin exploded on his face, so quite frankly, he didn't want to know what a purple urchin was capable of. This one was a hunch bigger than him as well, which intimidated him even more!

"Here we go…" He mumbled, and shot ten volts of thunder against the target.

Thankfully, this one did not explode! He killed it successfully, and split it in half, even. Unfortunately though, this one wasn't the right urchin either.

The system specified that, as she said. [You just killed a normal sea urchin, and as a reward, you've received 2 system points.]

"Two points for that fat fucker? That's not fair," Tim said.

Then again, he couldn't do anything to reverse this small reward. He just moved onto the last urchin in his close perimeter, and shot ten volts of thunder towards it.

This one exploded as well, but in another, special way. Upon the explosion, its spiky spines spread across the waters. Tim didn't want to be anywhere near those spikes, especially since they were green, so he swam a couple more feet away from them.

Afterwards, he asked. "Did I get the right one this time, system?"

[Yes,] She said, and then added. [The reward is yours, but this urchin doesn't offer any powers either… Instead, consider this as a community service, as any slaughtered bubonic urchin is only a positive contribution to the oceans. Anyway, in total, you've accumulated 92 system points!]

"Yay!" He celebrated for once, "Mission accomplished, huh? Good, I gotta get back home and eat a shrimp or two, cuz my belly is fucking barking!"

Tim referred to the pain. He completed the task successfully, and did so without contracting a disease, however, he was still hurt in the process. He didn't feel comfortable with his health bar being this low, so he started rushing home, all for comfort's and survival's sake!

...

Tim got home, and found three more marble shrimp there. He ate them all, and replenished six points of health as a result.

[Health bar = 71/100 points,] The system notified him.

"Ahh… that feels kinda better." Tim said, as the pain on his belly reduced by half.

He laid down on the sand afterwards, just so he could relax for a little bit. This had been a busy day, so he needed a break.

While he relaxed, however, he remembered something important. "I think I'm ready to buy that upgrade now, system."

[Confirmed,] She said.

In an instant, he felt a large sensation of pain on his jaws, and around his mouth too. That pain spread out in other ways afterwards, and by now, he could only assume that all of this pain came from the upgrade! It had to.

He developed a strong headache moments later, and then, his whole body started aching hellishly! He wanted to shout once or twice, but the pain muffled his voice. That aside, his body was so numb that he couldn't move at all!

He went through a whole minute of soul-tearing pain, until finally, the system said. [Congratulations! Your hunting, jaws, and natural camouflage capabilities have been upgraded to level three.]

[This upgrade consumed 28 of your system points, and 64 of them remain.] She added.

"Finally." The boy sighed.

The pain went away as fast as it arrived, he was glad to survive it even, but it had been terrorizing! Little did he know, the pain he went through had an indirect reward, one which would encourage a 'shopping spree'.

[Four new purchase options have been unlocked,] The system announced, and the following options, for once, actually seemed interesting rather than daunting!

[Option number one = Upgrade your barb, and barb venom to level one. This option is priced at 45 system points, expensive but infinitely useful.] She described.

"Hmm…" Tim sighed, as he debated if he should buy this upgrade, right on the spot.

However, no matter how much he wanted to, he resisted buying it. The system spoke about the rest of the upgrades quickly after, which made him bicker with himself intensively; He didn't know what to buy!

[Option number two = Endure water pressure for 100 more meters. This option is priced at 75 system points.] She added.

"What the hell is water pressure…" He bickered with himself.

He didn't expect an answer, but surprisingly, the system described. [It means you can swim 100 meters deeper, without taking damage from the sea's water pressure. This is essential to your progress and survival.]

Tim didn't even know that water itself could hurt him, but he was curious about it now, so he asked. "How deep can I swim now then, system?"

[For the time being, your maximum depth durability is 200 whole meters.] She said.

That sounded good enough, and it was great that there were special upgrades like these, ones that could fight against the effects of water pressure. They were expensive, sure, but he felt safer nonetheless!

Anyway, the system continued listing the upgrades out. [Option number three = Increase your personal IQ by 10 points. Upgrades like these are special, so this one is priced at 90 system points.]

The price intimidated him, but he felt that he didn't have to buy this one right away. He considered himself to be smart, smart enough, which fairly was a delusional perspective, but he believed it thoroughly.

He even asked, "How huge is my IQ now, system? Gotta be over 160… right?"

She answered that question very quickly, [Your current, personal IQ is 45 points.]

That was not what he expected, at all. However, he had enough reasons to be positive today, and in the midst of his numerous active delusions, he found another lie for himself to indulge on, one which he could believe easily.

He exclaimed, "Well of course, that makes sense! I'm a stingray now, not a human, so I have a smaller brain, way smaller! I'm still smart though, for a fish at least. Yeah, I'm a genius, no debate on that hehe!"

Tim's point of view was interesting, but it didn't really matter much. The only thing that mattered now were the new upgrades that the system introduced. They were important, but for a minute or two, he forgot about them completely; He still bickered about his own intelligence, which was a topic that could last for hours, if not interrupted!

The system interrupted him, thankfully, as she listed the last, new option. [Purchase option number four = Unlock your explorative soul abilities. This option is your birthright, so it's priced cheaply, 40 system points specifically, just so you can purchase it easily.]

Chapter 7 - Essence Points?

"Explorative soul, huh? What's that for?" Tim asked.

He was stumped. In fact, for a good few hours he even believed that stingrays didn't have souls to begin with, he had been convinced about that. For that matter, he didn't have the slightest clue now, regarding what a little stingray could do with a soul of their own! He was confused.

Thankfully, the system shed a bit of light on the matter, she said. [The explorative soul ability, allows you to go into a hibernation-like state, and after that you can detach your soul from your body. Overall, it's a very good method to accumulate system points quickly, and explore this expansive, magical world as well, without hurting yourself in the process.]

"The world… you mean, I can float out of the sea, and hunt birds or some shit?" He asked.

[Yes, although that would be unproductive.] The system followed along, [There are whole, invisible kingdoms made out of souls and soul-based energy, so it's best if you go visit one of those spots, rather than hunt pelicans. Don't waste time, Timothy!]

"Fair, fair." He nodded along.

Tim didn't care about pelicans to begin with, but rather, in his own way, he asked a trick question. He wanted to know if his soul could fly out of the sea, and apparently, it could. He was so excited about that, because in a weird way, if he got out of the water today, then he could embrace his human upbringing a bit more! He'd love that.

So far, he swam through salt for less than a day, and he was already sick of it! Tim craved to be on land, or at least out of the water, at least for a little while. His human soul craved it more than anything else!

With all of that considered, the following steps were a no-brainer. He had to buy this fourth option first, and then check out every other option in due time! He didn't care about the other upgrade options as much.

He said, "I want to fly, system, give me the good stuff! Don't worry, I won't bother any pelicans."

[Confirmed,] The system said.

A moment later, the waters around him suddenly stirred up. A white, aura-like entity surrounded him just for a few seconds, and throughout that time-bracket, it spun around him so quickly, that it stirred up a little, visible dust cloud!

That was about it, this upgrade wasn't as intense. It wasn't painful like the previous upgrade, for example, but it was spooky! Thankfully, it even disappeared before things could get uncomfortable to the slightest. Tim was fine, he wasn't feeling any pain, and the system came along with a relieving message quickly after.

While the dust-cloud calmed down, she said. [The upgrade was implemented successfully, and it took 40 of your system points in exchange. Now, 24 system points remain in your total sum.]

"That's… not a lot, but I did buy two cool things, so it's okay." He muttered.

After this point, he felt the urge to activate this new ability right away, he was enthralled to do so. He needed a bunch of points anyway, and since this new ability promised points, then there was virtually no reason to avoid giving this ability a shot. Tim was ready to separate his own soul from this little stingray body!

The system encouraged him too, ever since the beginning, but now she had to give him a couple of warnings. One warning was about the dangers, and the other warning was for the sake of efficiency. Tim couldn't waste any time, no matter what the circumstances were.

She said, [Timothy, if you want to try out this new ability, I have two suggestions. First, find the best hiding spot possible, because quite literally, anything can eat you or hurt you, while you're in that hibernation-like state.]

"Right," He nodded, "That makes sense."

The system felt that Tim wasn't listening, so she insisted. [It's imperative that you hide properly, because if your body gets destroyed while you're in this explorative mode, then your soul can't return to it. You'd have to find a new, non-occupied body, which is a really rare occurrence, it's less than achievable!]

"Well shit," He muttered, "I'll bury myself as best as I can, then… sharks can't get in here either, so I should be fine for a while. What's the second thing, though?"

[Other souls can attack you,] She said, [Although that won't hurt your body directly, it still has negative sides. If your soul receives enough damage, it would be sent back here into your stingray body. After that, you'd have to go through a cooldown timer, before you can explore again. Try not to get banished too quickly, it would be really inefficient.]

"Okay, well that's not so bad, then. Banished or not, at least I'll be alive." He followed along, and continued to bury himself within the sand of his den.

He didn't want to suffocate, and from what he understood, as long as a third of his head was out of the sand, then he'd be fine. Tim didn't have any room for mistakes right now, rather, he only had room to reap points! Progress was inevitable, and he was willing to chase it.

After Tim covered himself with sand, he said. "System, I'm gonna sleep now… when I wake up, I better be flying."

This wasn't a threat, it was quite the opposite. He didn't know how to 'hibernate' himself and hoped that the system would cover that part. The system did as she was asked, it was her job after all; Tim sunk into that hibernation-like state, in no time at all!

…

"Bloody hell, when did another stingray get in here?" Tim panicked.

He woke up, and saw a light-blue stingray's head, right underneath him. This scared him shitless at first, but a moment later, he caught up with what was going on!

"Holy shit, that's me!" He exclaimed, and then celebrated. "It worked, muhahaha!"

[Indeed,] The system added, [You're free to explore, as far as your soul permits.]

"You'll be joining me too, huh?" He asked, and right then, he noticed that his soul had a mostly transparent, light-blue color.

[Of course,] The system answered, [I am embalmed in your soul, for good, you can't get away from me, hehe. Okay now pay attention… as a wandering soul, you'll have a different health bar. It's called an 'essence bar' and you only have thirty points of it, so, if you lose those thirty points in battle or anything like that, your soul will return straight to your body! So, be careful.]

That was a lot to take in, all at once, but Tim felt ready nonetheless. He felt agile, and had this intense urge to explore the world. If the sea had explosive urchins, then he couldn't wait to see what interesting things the rest of the world had!

In excitement, he started floating right through the coral, to head towards the water's surface, as quickly as he could! Moments later, however, the system gave him another warning.

She said, [Timothy, your body back there is equipped to stay two days at most, without food, you should know that. Try to keep track of time, or else your stingray body could starve itself to death!]

"Okie dokie," He said, and finally escaped the sea.

Chapter 8 - Semi-automatic Stingray!

Tim was astounded by what this world had to offer. The air, apparently, wasn't as bland as he imagined. It looked clear, yes, but further away the sky had more to offer!

"Fucking hell, everything looks like a rainbow…" He thought.

Tim could see multiple colors across the sky, and these colors were spread randomly. They looked like clouds, even, and each of these huge clouds were divided by color.

Some clouds appeared softer, while a smaller percentage seemed very concentrated, and dense. They were interesting.

Tim eventually flew into one of the latter! He flew into a pink, five-meter wide cloud which was dense in color, as it was fairly concentrated into that limited, five-meter wide space. He was really curious about it, and at that pace, he figured out what it was for!

One would assume that it was stupid to fly towards a funny-looking cloud, but it wasn't so bad after all. Tim experienced the cloud's effects first hand, and thankfully, it didn't kill him, neither did it try to.

He didn't feel anything bad, but instead, he could suddenly see the dense cloud dissipating! Its rich pink color faded away quickly, as Tim had apparently swallowed this cloud wholly, just by flying into it.

He got very confused, and grunted. "Huh… Were those system points or some shit? Is this how hunting works?"

Almost immediately, the system answered. [No, that was just a cloud of phantomized mana. You reaped every ounce of it, and you'll definitely need this kind of mana.]

"Oh, so ghosts have magical powers too? Yeah, that makes sense." Tim nodded his transparent head along.

The system didn't have to describe things any further, because he experienced the power of this special mana immediately. He suddenly got this urge to shoot stuff, and then, right in front of his head, some sort of ball which was filled with magic, appeared and shot out randomly, across the sky!

The ball was a foot wide, and it beamed across the air very quickly! Its confidence was as rich as its silvery color, Tim was impressed.

"Well damn, that looks so cool! Did you see how it spun, system? It looked like a damn fighter jet for a little while!" He exclaimed.

Tim was as excited as a child, which at this point was difficult to excuse, because his soul was that of a full-grown human's. He was excited beyond bounds, and couldn't wait to figure out what other kinds of powers that his mere, stingray-shaped soul had.

He shot a couple of other magical balls, just for the fun of it. Immediately after, he was scolded by the system.

[Don't be wasteful with your phantomized mana, Timothy! It's not limitless, and although that cloud which you dried out was dense with mana, you're still making expensive shots right now. These balls of 'silver razors' you're shooting, are very rich in color, and therefore, really rich in mana.] She said.

The system took the initiative to explain that magic system as thoroughly as she could, because clearly, what Tim just did was a bit clumsy. He was out here to hunt for system points, and therefore, he couldn't afford to waste mana like that.

For that matter, she also added. [You have 207 points of phantomized mana left in you, and each 'silver razor' you're shooting, takes 12 points of such mana away from you. Use them sparingly, please.]

"Okay, okay, I get it now." Tim said.

The system was very logical, he had to agree with it no matter what he thought. Though as far as math was concerned, he was oblivious to the fact that he just wasted thirty-six phantomized mana points, for fun. He ignored the math, even, and floated around the sky as happily as an unsupervised child would. There was more across the sky to explore!

He spotted an area, perhaps five kilometers away, which seemed like what the system had described before, as a 'ghostly kingdom'. Tim assumed so, because there was an astounding variation of color there, even black, which intertwined with one another! From afar, it seemed as if three rainbows had clashed with one another; Scary, but beautiful.

Tim wanted to go there, but the more he traveled, the further away this 'presumed kingdom' appeared. He flew for ten minutes, and got really irritated already!

Even the clouds of mana were farther than he assumed they were, he couldn't reach any of them. Now, he understood why the system scolded him about mana, because as it would appear, it was really lucky to run into a dense cloud of mana to begin with!

"Bloody hell," Tim grunted, like a fish. "I should get back home… there's nothing for me out here, I'm too slow."

His enthusiasm about this whole, 'explorative soul' business had dimmed down quite a bit. He was irritated, bored of flying, and grew this sudden urge to bite things. Of course, he couldn't bite anyone right now, because he assumed the form of a transparent soul. Though, his aggressive attitude still idled by, it was there.

Tim traveled for five more minutes, just for the fun of it, but then suddenly, he spotted what could've been mistaken, as a fast-flying flock of pelicans! A wide, pipe-like line of white, faded out souls flew off right in front of him. Well, it was about fifty meters away from him, but the scene was still accelerating and all the more terrifying!

If he had flown across that spot, two seconds ahead of time, then his soul would've been destroyed! Tim didn't know what to think about this fast-traveling line of seemingly infinite souls, but the system on the other hand, had a thing or two to say.

She exclaimed, [Shoot at them, Timothy!]

He was confused for a moment, but, since this all-knowing system encouraged him to go rogue, then he had no reason to fight the urge at all. Tim started shooting 'silver razors' of mana against the crowd, as quickly and as recklessly as he could!

Tim shot several razors within five seconds, and as he did so, the quality of his attacks decreased. That latter part wasn't entirely a bad thing, because his shots were still taking out handfuls of tiny souls at a time! The quality of the 'razors' decreased, yes, but in total, he should be able to shoot about thirty times!

At some point, he even started laughing like a villain about it. "Muhuhaha, die, sperm souls!"

The solid system points he won along the way, encouraged him to deplete every bit of phantomized mana he had. The system kept spamming him with notifications about the system points he won over, which in a sense, made Timothy feel high!

He was on a murder spree, and shot 'silver razors' as if he was an automatic weapon! However, this spree met with an end.

From within that crowd of seemingly migrating souls, a massive ball of fire shot out. Now Tim didn't know if it was fire, but the ball of mana got to him, as soon as he depleted his own phantomized mana. The fireball shot him out of the sky, and depleted his essence-based health bar almost immediately! He was shot down in 'cold blood'.

Moments later, he suddenly woke up below the waters. It took little time to figure out that he was a stingray again, a physical form! Tim recognized his den too.

"Bloody hell," He cussed, "That was fun… but the system did warn me about this, and now I gotta go through a damn cooldown timer, probably forever… stupid sperm souls!"

The system intervened right after, she said. [Don't panic, the cooldown timer only takes a week. That aside, congratulations! Your murder spree was efficient, as you accumulated 192 system points throughout the wild shooting. In total, you have 216 points at your disposal.]

"So that's all it took, huh? I had to shoot at stuff… damn, cruel world." He muttered.

Chapter 9 - Special Crabs?

Tim returned to his stingray body, and now, he had a lot of time to kill before he could explore again. The wonders which were sandwiched between the sky enthralled him, so he couldn't wait to get up there again, a week from now!

Exploring the skies may get boring at some point, but the rewards were plenty! Tim gathered up a bunch of system points while he was up there, for example, and that was the best reward of all.

He intended to use those points fully, but he wasn't in a rush right now. Upgrades were expensive, so he hoped to find a couple more critters to kill first, before going on a shopping spree later on! It was a responsible idea.

"Ah, this'll be more than boring, it'll be exhausting…" He sighed.

It wasn't easy to swim for extended periods of time, but right now, he didn't really have anything better to do. Tim stretched his fins a bit, and then started exploring the reef!

This place was massive, especially since it had complimenting cracks and tunnels within it, which made the reef all the more expansive! So just like that, he got occupied for a solid two hours, within a puny, thirty-meter radius across the reef!

He barely reaped any fruits from this labor. There were plenty of fish across the reef as well as other species, ones which may or may not give him points, but he couldn't catch either of them, as they were too fast and very good at hiding!

"Bloody hell! Why don't they just give up? They can't be having fun here!" Tim referred to those fish, he was very irritated.

Throughout this time span, Tim only managed to find about seven marble shrimp, and four ignatius crabs. Such a haul wasn't too bad, but these creatures only gave him a point per kill, and that was what made things difficult. He didn't manage to accumulate as many points as he hoped for, and that aside, he could barely even eat half of these critters either!

Tim wasn't so hungry, and the shrimp would put him to sleep if he ate them, so he only bit their heads off, and left their carcasses to float around. It was cruel, but a bit efficient.

Considering the overall results, however, he wanted to call it quits here, and check out what upgrades he could buy from the system. Small-time hunting wasn't getting him anywhere.

The system said that he had gathered 225 system points in total, and in hindsight, that amount did seem like a lot. He was eager to use them all, for progression's sake!

Tim slipped through a bit of coral, and sought out a comfortable spot to rest on. He wanted to lay down on some sand, and have a layer of protection surrounding him as well. Safety was important, after all.

However, it would appear that he slipped in the wrong hole. He swam into a wide place which was quite dark, but yet, it wasn't empty!

Tim spotted a pair of light-blue eyes in the midst of darkness, and could only assume that these eyes belonged to some monstrous fish! He was getting stared at directly, and it was nerve wracking!

"Hello, I'm Harold. Please, don't leave..." The inhabitant suddenly spoke out.

"You can talk to stingrays… so, are you one? Let me see your tail." Tim followed along.

Tim didn't trust this one, it was difficult to. That aside, he would only feel comfortable around other stingrays, so if this was another creature instead, then he planned to beam out of here!

"I'm not a stingray, I'm an eel, kid. A shivering var-blood eel, to be exact." It said, and then added. "But please don't be scared, I'm not gonna hurt you… I need your help."

Tim had tried to position his thunder-charged tail, the moment this thing said that it wasn't a stingray. He wanted to burn the eel's eyes off, if not kill it, just to protect himself! Then again, a creature who pleaded for help wasn't so easy to kill or attack.

He ended up asking, "Help with what? Also, how do you understand me? You're not a stingray… not even close."

Harold got a bit irritated there, though he did answer. "I'm an eel, kid, and your language isn't that hard to understand. But please, listen and focus… I'm stuck here, have been stuck for months because this place really managed to fatten me up. I'm not as small as I used to be, and that's what's killing me now."

With that being said, Tim was intimidated even more. He barely saw the eel's body, apart from small portions of its head, and yet he was still intimidated. If this thing was as big as it described itself to be, it could kill him in a blink!

For that matter, he didn't really feel comfortable about another eel being loose across the reef. It would be hazardous!

Tim's better judgment convinced him to back away, and meanwhile he said. "I can't help you, Harold, sorry. Eat less and exercise… maybe that'll get you out of here?"

"Oh, you'll help me." Harold insisted, and his voice sounded quite sleazy now. "You're looking for food, right boy? The sharks went on a feeding spree a few months ago, and they devastated most of the reef… damn, it's why I hid here to begin with, but, I do know where to find good food, special crabs, if you know what I mean…? Help me get out of this shithole, and I'll show you where the blue-clawed crabs are, I promise!"

"Oh…" Tim sighed, and he was enthralled by this offer. "Well, how can I help you then?"

With a hint of joy in his tone, Harold answered. "Look, sharks are assholes, but I did manage to make friends with a few of them. There should be a shark with flaming fins here, around the reef. Find him, and tell him to come and get me… his name is Drake, mention his name, and he won't eat you."

"Shit… I saw that guy. This idea can kill me, Harold, so those crabs better be worth it." He sighed, and then left, by squeezing through a couple of short tunnels within the coral.

On his way out, he even asked the system about these special crabs, but she didn't respond kindly. He would have to bite on those crabs himself, in order for the system to talk about said crabs. There could be many species of blue-colored crabs, and they couldn't make any speculations without seeing, and tasting one of them, first hand. He couldn't cheat his way towards the good stuff.

Anyway, Tim was very nervous about approaching a shark, as things could go horribly wrong along the way. He was excited though nonetheless, and couldn't wait to taste these special crabs as soon as possible!

Chapter 10 - Fish Vendetta!

What Timothy was about to do, took a lot of guts. He was about to encounter that big mako-shark, and this encounter could end up badly, but he was simply mesmerized by the idea of 'special crabs'! He wanted them.

He found the shark lurking about fifty meters away from the reef, and then approached him. Tim felt uncomfortable about this plan, but he had to get close in order to catch the shark's attention.

"Hey, flame-ass! Harold the eel needs your help, he sent me to find you!" He shouted.

However, a stingray's vocal cords were very limited, so he couldn't make any loud noises. For that matter, he had to approach even closer, and then yell out once more.

He called out, "Hey, fish face! Harold needs your help! Can you hear me?"

Tim was about ten meters away from the shark now, and this was as close as he could get. If he swam any closer, then Drake the shark may attack, and he surely didn't want to get bitten today.

Thankfully though, the shark seemed to have heard him. It turned around, and then headed towards Timothy.

"Nope," Tim grunted, and then instantly swam towards a little hole nearby.

The hole was snug, but it was made out of stone, so he figured that the shark wouldn't be able to bite him there. This was the safest option he had right now.

Moments later, he heard a gravelly, manly tone calling for him. "You're that menace that bit me… get outta there, I saw your flaming fins, jackass!"

"Yeah, it's me." Tim answered, and yelled as much as he could. "Get your dumb nose away from my hole, buddy! My tail is amped up with fire and thunder, so I'm not afraid to use all that on you, Drake."

"How do you know my name?" The shark gasped, much like a shark would gasp.

"Pull your ears out of your ass and listen to me," Tim yelled out, "Harold the eel sent me here! He's trapped in some coral, and he needs you to get him out!"

Drake sounded confused afterwards, as he asked. "That fucker's still alive? I haven't seen him in ages!"

The conversation that followed was more of a long session of bickering. Tim didn't want to get eaten, so he made Drake promise on his mother's watery grave that he wouldn't attack whatsoever. It took about ten minutes of bickering to reach an agreement of that nature, but they did meet with mutual terms eventually.

Tim slipped out of that hole in the ground eventually, and swam side by side with this two-meter long mako-shark. It didn't attack him, and Tim couldn't be happier about it!

He convinced a whole shark to behave properly, and with that part done, most of this little mission was completed already. He just had to show the shark where Harold was trapped at, and that was about it.

Both of them swam quite fast, as Tim was still bearing the 'flaming fin' powers he stole from this same shark. They got to the reef within less than a minute, and then, he showed Drake where to go.

He explained, "That's the spot, under the sea-bushes there. Now… how are you gonna help Harold, huh?"

The mako-shark didn't answer that question. Instead, he just charged towards the coral and bashed his head against it!

That bash wasn't enough, though. The coral was tough, especially since Harold was stuck under a couple layers of them, so it won't be easy to break them! Drake didn't stop trying, however, he continued to bash the coral with his head, even though each bash was piercing through his skin!

This was painful to watch, there was blood everywhere! At some point, Drake struck the coral with the left side of his body, a couple of times, instead of with his head. This was more comfortable, and seemingly more effective too!

The layers of red coral shattered into four, huge pieces, so Drake's barbaric approach was now a success, as they saw a huge, dark-blue eel emerging from within the coral. The eel was three-meters long, half as fat as his shark friend, and surely seemed terrifying all together!

"There you are," Drake celebrated.

"Here I am!" Harold followed along, "This place almost drove me crazy, I was cooped up in there… and could barely move."

"And now you can move," Tim interrupted the two, quite shamelessly. "How about you stretch with me a little bit? Show me where those special crabs are, eh?"

He was intimidated by these huge beasts, however, he had a tail packed with power, which made him feel a tad protected. He was willing to threaten these beasts if he had to, in any given second.

Harold didn't seem amused, however, he said. "Get out of here, dumbass, there's no such thing as special crabs!"

With that said, Tim realized that he had been tricked, so yelled out. "What the fuck? But we had a deal, you big fat liar!"

Drake intervened afterwards, he said. "Fuck off, kid. Quit harassing my friend."

Timothy did not let that slide. This new fishy life made him really greedy over these past few hours, so he wasn't willing to do free labor, even for a minute! This betrayal angered him quite a bit too, so he was quick to respond.

His tail spun around a couple of times, as if it charged with power. He was just finding the best way to aim at these beasts, and moments later, he attacked.

Less than half an hour ago, he had eaten flaming crabs, so his tail was charged with a bit of fire too. Paired with the lightning he had stolen from that slaughtered eel, the attack he unleashed left a mark!

Tim shot Harold right on the forehead. This shot was powered with twenty volts of thundering electricity, so surely, it left a mark!

Harold squeezed backwards in response, and then shot a gust of cold wind from his mouth. This wind was meant to hit Tim, but it was too slow, so he got away from it quickly!

Afterwards, he poured every ounce of offensive powers he had, both against the shark and the eel. He didn't manage to kill them, no, but at least he managed to pour his anger out on them! It felt nice.

Afterwards, he swam away quickly, and started squeezing within the many layers of coral close by. The beasts were both too fat and too tired to follow him, so he escaped effortlessly! He even mocked them along the way.

Anyway, though he got a bit of revenge on these traitors with his attacks, it was certain that he and them had a vendetta from now on. A vendetta, which wouldn't stop unless either side was dead!

Tim bickered with himself, "They will die by my hands, well fins… soon enough Vengeance is the only way!"

Chapter 11 - Upgraded Stingray!

Tim's sense of vengeance went down, as soon as he found a place where he could rest at. The hard outlay of coral was his best friend around here, and he used it well, as he hid beneath about four layers of this hardy coral. Nothing could get to him at that point, nothing dangerous at least, he was deep within these natural barricades!

He thought, "Harold can't get me here… and fuck that guy! Who tricks a kid by promising spooky crabs? That was borderline pedophilia there, or at least, in the real world he would've gotten in trouble for tricking a child! I'm only like twenty-nine days old, god damn it."

Such accusations were way out of line, but this little outburst had a simpler outlay. He cared less and less about either Harold or Drake, the more he talked about them, and as long as he avoided them from now on, he'd be perfectly fine with forgiving them. Forgiving was an exaggerated word, even, as he simply did not care to get involved with them at all. He had a life to live.

Here, deep within the coral, he found a few marble shrimp and ate them. They were about to put him to sleep, but he got four more system points out of them, and thought that now was the best time to put them into use.

The system had announced, [You've accumulated a total of 233 system points. It's a decent sum for you, especially since you've only used this stingray body for a day now.]

"Well, thank you. Getting into trouble all the time has its rewards, right?" He joked, and at this point he was half asleep.

[High risks do have high rewards, yes.] The system agreed, and then said. [Anyway, your health bar is looking better too. It's at 79/100 ~ It could be better, but you won't be feeling anything more than a headache from now on.]

"Yeah, shrimps help… but I'm falling asleep, system. Can you tell me about the stuff I can buy?" He followed along.

[Certainly,] The system said, [You can upgrade your barb, and barb venom as a start. This is the cheapest option available, and you'll need your barb in the long run.]

"Okay, let's go with that." He said.

[Confirmed,] The system followed along.

Almost immediately after, Tim felt a sudden sharp pain on his whole tail. This took a toll on him, as the pain spread like the plague, it was simply unbearable! He didn't understand why upgrades came hand-to-hand with intense pain, but it wasn't fun whatsoever!

About two minutes later, the pain stopped, and the results seemed decent.

The system said. [Congratulations! Your barb and barb-venom has been upgraded from level zero, to level one. In exchange, 45 of your system points have been consumed.]

"That's nothing… the pain consumed me entirely, though." Tim joked.

Anyway, in regards to the barb, he wasn't really able to see it, because his eyes didn't roll that way, but truthfully, his tail was really looking better. It was fatter, sharper, brighter and had the capability to store more magic in it now, as well as utilize the magic all the more efficiently!

In this world, Tim's tail was his main weapon, and he was happy that he could upgrade it so cheaply. His barb and barb-venom had been at level zero before, and now that its level was higher, he was hoping that the venom could deal some decent damage, against anything that moved. He did understand, however, that it wasn't strong enough to kill any monstrous fish whatsoever, just small ones.

He moved on quickly after, and asked. "Okay, let's keep the fun stuff going, system. Tell me about that intelligence thing? Can I afford it, and do you think I should buy it?"

[You can afford it, I priced it at 90 system points. Considering your recent blunders, you definitely should buy it… ten points go a long way when you're a fish.] She said.

"You are very… right." Tim added, "Okay then, spray me with brain juice or whatever!"

[Confirmed,] The system said.

Immediately after, she added. [Congratulations, your IQ successfully went up by 10 points. In exchange, you spent 90 system points, because as you know, upgrades like these are a bit expensive.]

Tim didn't care about the price right now, no. Instead, he was offended by how quickly this upgrade was implemented into his brain, it only took a second. Tim's little headache remained the same too, he didn't feel anything new whatsoever!

"I guess I'm too dumb to feel brain pain," He sighed.

The system didn't care to console him about that. There was just one other upgrade available, and she was quick to re-introduce it to him now, rather than talk about feelings.

She explained, [Okay, do you care to feel a little bit more pain? I want to tamper with your organs a little bit, hollow them out by 10% maybe? Here and there, tit and tat, it'll only take a moment, and you can afford it.]

"As long as it'll knock me out, I want to sleep for a while." He said.

[Confirmed,] The system added.

She didn't fail to deliver. Tim started feeling weird right away, as if there were bugs running around his blood vessels! It wasn't quite painful, but along the way, he got more freaked out than ever, and even started twitching a little bit.

A medieval peasant would consider this procedure to be necromancy, but in actuality, the system was doing some work that would need both a doctor, and a scientist to perform! She was optimizing Timothy's body, so he could endure water pressure for about 50% more! This was no simple task.

She was quick with it too! The upgrade only took about five minutes, but Tim got knocked out half way. The system did her job thoroughly, and announced things, regardless of how Timothy was fully unconscious.

She said, [Congratulations! You can swim up to 300 meters deep now, without receiving any damage from water pressure. This'll aid your explorative nature greatly, for every next adventure to come… I'll tell you about this, again, after you wake up. This upgrade cost you 75 system points, which is a bit hefty for a beginner such as yourself.]

Furthermore, she added. [At least math isn't your trump card, though, you probably won't notice that you only have 23 system points left, after all the upgrades. These three upgrades cost you 210 points all together.]

Afterwards, the system started talking to itself. [Eh, he'll be a little bit mad, but he'll get over it once I tell him about the new upgrades… Besides, he's making great progress already, the explorative soul ability he used a few hours ago, will have him inching towards humanity soon enough. Free-flying is the first, essential step to shape-shifting…]