With hundreds of Essence Points at his disposal, George was a ball hair away from experiencing several important evolutions! He could definitely afford it, point-wise, but regardless of how eager he was to have these upgrades, he couldn't do so, because there was no place for him to hide in these purple dungeons. He couldn't take the risk of fainting, or being physically disabled for several hours, because he could get killed by whatever else lurked within these clouds.
With that considered, he avoided evolving altogether, and just asked the system to spend a few points, in order for him to get rid of the spinal pain that he was feeling as of recently. He got his tail bitten off just moments ago, and generated a new tail out of nothingness, so naturally, there were flaws to that regeneration, so he wanted to get rid of those flaws. The system went ahead and pushed fractional bits of his spine into place afterwards, and this didn't cost him too much.
[-35 Bone Essence points]
[-19 Blood Essence points]
The system did a good job. Not only was the healing inexpensive to him, but the positive effects that followed were almost immediate. He was pain-free ten minutes later, and this was a pace that would beat most healing spells that fish kind had to offer!
Once his pain was gone, he moved around more freely without worrying about his spine getting inflamed. He wanted to get out of these purple dungeons as fast as he could, for multiple reasons, and he believed that he'd escape them quicker if he swam faster, and this was where it came handy for him to be pain-free. The logic behind his decision to swim faster was reasonable, he even used his Burning Muscle ability to swim faster, but it didn't look like he was getting out of here anytime soon despite the advantages that he built for himself!
"At least I'm not being attacked anymore. Maybe the dungeons know better now, and learned to leave me alone?" He tried to remain positive, but then his train of thought switched to a different track. "They should leave me alone! I'm an Assfish, it's a miracle that I made it to the dungeons in the first place, so the dungeon shouldn't fight me as violently as it has! Stupid dungeon."
George kept swimming, and hoped for the best. He had plenty of mana to spare, so he beamed through the dungeon at speeds that no assfish had achieved before! He swam at up to 15 km/h, which was a few times faster than what the common assfish of his size could achieve! He enjoyed such speeds thoroughly, and the beautiful color scheme of the endless purple clouds here, provided a once in a lifetime experience for him!
"I am George!" He shouted, as the adrenaline made him dumber for a moment, which was odd, because he was supposed to be sharper upon experiencing it.
If he was sharper, or in other words more attentive, he would notice that he was being followed, and the latter was the last thing that he would want to experience! He was being followed, but thankfully his negligence didn't come with a hefty price, because the fast-moving thing that chased after him, was not a fish, but rather, an essence!
This wasn't the kind of essence he was used to, as it didn't have anything to do with evolution, but rather, it was the very, ghost-like essence of the dungeon! A conscious, transparent essence chased after him, and it eventually caught up.
When it caught up, it didn't hurt George, but rather, it engulfed him. He was suddenly surrounded by this transparent essence, which from afar, would seem like he got trapped in a transparent pod of sorts! It was creepy, but it seemed so insignificant that he didn't even notice it up until a minute later.
By then, the transparent essence had assumed the color of the clouds around it, switching into a light, lavender shade. This was when George was 'engulfed' entirely, he was isolated by the pod, and at this point, it didn't matter which direction he swam towards, because the essence followed him, ultimately isolating him from the dungeon!
Moments later, this essence pushed him out of the dungeon, purposely, and consciously! When George saw the purple clouds disappear in front of him, he almost shat himself because he instantly feared for the worse! He feared that he was tossed below the magical barrier, and if he was tossed there, it would mean that every bit of progress that he had made throughout those purple dungeons, would end up meaning nothing!
The system helped him calm down a moment later, however, as she explained. [You're currently 1,869 meters below the sea surface, and considering that you were 2,100 meters deep before you went into the barrier, it necessarily means that you crossed the barrier, congratulations!]
"I did it? Haha, yes!" He celebrated, yelling out as loudly as he could. "I thought that I failed."
[You succeeded,] She insisted, [A simpler way to confirm that you succeeded, is for you to look down. You haven't noticed it yet, but the purple barrier is below you now, and not on top of you like it was before.]
"Oh, right…" He mumbled, and thus, he understood why intelligence upgrades were important. "Yup, that's the barrier! No wonder I didn't see it at first, it's not so glowy from up here, so it has to be about two kilometers below me!"
[134 meters,] The system corrected him.
The details didn't matter much right now, especially those regarding distance. He made it across the first, Magical Barrier, and that was all that mattered, so he ignored every other detail about what he just experienced.
Conceptually, if a deep fish crossed the barrier, especially a genetically weak assfish such as himself, then that fish showed great promise! Most fish who were born below the first barrier, were doomed to die there, either by old age, or by being hunted by a dominant species, and he was very aware of that, he had thought about the concept of destiny a lot before, so he knew what he achieved here today! He felt beyond lucky that he escaped the miserable existence of the common assfish!
Not only that, but he also felt a lot more confident about himself now, and his abilities, so for once he was eager to hunt other fish! He was eager to hunt whatever fish swam in the waters, here above the first barrier, he was eager to massacre them, but before he could take off, the system stopped him! She caught his attention.
[George! Considering that most fish of the sea avoid the barrier below you, you might as well camp here for a while, because no one will bother you here, possibly for hours at a time. You can hunt later, but for now, try to relax, so I can help you go through a few more important evolutionary upgrades! Do note that I will spend all of your points, except for the Mana Essence points, because the rest are no good to you if you just let them accumulate endlessly. Be prepared for the toughest upgrades yet!] She explained.