I'm a Stingray?

"That looks hella expensive... common, it would only get me to level four." Timothy complained after spotting what seemed fairly odd.

He mumbled through those few words, and his friends heard a portion of that sentence. But they didn't ask any questions, as they understood that the little man was conversing with the so called system.

[Technically, it is a bit expensive in comparison to what you are used to; but this upgrade will feature bone re-molding]

[It will be incredibly painful, that's for sure. But you'll also get a new pair of jaws,]

"Wow! Really?" He was quick to follow along.

Excitement began taking root in a massive portion of his brain, and such emotion only managed to release a positive aura. His friends could notice his excitement as well, and they felt quite pleased to see him happy.

The hero has suffered long enough after that gruesome shark bite, so witnessing such a radiant smile across his face, was refreshing to say at least!

[Yes, really] The system assured, and it was slightly noticeable that she too began sharing strings of enthusiasm. Although she had more control, on an emotional scale.

And then she continued to explain, [This upgrade, will make sure that your jaws deliver a nasty cut against any enemy]

[In other words, they will have no other option but to heavily bleed]

The hero grew an urge to buy this upgrade now, but he understood that it would likely sign his own death certificate. More pain was something that he did not need right now.

Instead, he decided to openly express. "I need to heal faster then! Hope Osira comes back soon with that food."

[I recommend you to heal every bone before buying anything. Upgrades like this can make you twitch and shiver, which can hurt your wounds even more]

[Anyway. I need to remind you that upgrades will only become more expensive, especially the primary ones]

"But why?" Timmy questioned, but he didn't exactly plan to complain.

[In the beginning, it was mandatory to make the upgrades cheap for you, as it aided survival]

[But now, you can afford to spend more on an upgrade, because there's a little amount of sea-creatures in this area, who could kill you]

[Survival isn't too big of a problem at the moment, and you're also capable of killing bigger prey. Which leads us to another fact, the prices rise as you become more self-dependent]

[And of course the prices also rise, because of the level differences themselves. You can't expect the price of a level-three upgrade, to be equal with a level-four one]

After taking a moment to ponder this information, he could find many hints which helped consider everything reasonable.

In another way, bigger prices encouraged balance; as he would know when to slow down, rather than trying to bite more than he could chew.

Meaning that he would be patient in terms of piling up points, instead of urging to buy everything available.

This realisation helped the boy nod and agree, "You're right... Yes, that makes sense."

After noticing that the guest embraced an open-minded view, the system felt it appropriate to compliment.

[You shouldn't worry too much about upgrades right now. Because up until this point, you've bought thirty-five of them]

[Most of my stingray guests, could never achieve such a stunning result, under such a short period of time. In other words, you are a prodigy; so it's best to slow down a little bit]

Before Timmy could properly ponder the concept of a prodigy, the system simply continued to decipher the rest of the available purchases.

[Purchase option number-two = Increase your EQ for twenty-points more]

[Price = four-hundred system points]

[Your current EQ is at seventy-five points]

Now that was a name that he hasn't heard of for a long time, he almost forgot about it even! Which was odd enough, because he had bought such a purchase twice before.

For a moment, Timmy had trouble remembering what this type of intelligence was about. But one of its letters helped figure out, that it had something to do with emotion.

In all ways, such a purchase should be useful; especially in terms of finding inner-balance. A perk of that sort, can help evade death itself.

Simply because he would be able to think about any situation a bit more thoroughly, before making any decisions.

Once he attained such capabilities to think deeper, he wouldn't need to rely on an unhealthy amount of ego, to push himself out of any trouble.

His enthusiasm remained firm-ish after hearing out this option, although it did manage to drop just a tiny bit. Simply because he understood that an intelligence upgrade, could either bring a massive headache or knock him out cold.

Unsurprisingly, he didn't want to experience any of that. But he also understood that it was an inevitable fate to purchase it.

So right now he wanted to push it to the back of his mind, which was why he allowed the system to introduce the third upgrade.

[Purchase option number-three = Increase depth durability for two-hundred meters more]

[Price = five-hundred system points]

[You can currently swim three-hundred-and-forty meters deep, without taking damage from the ocean's crushing force]

"I really need this one," He mumbled a tad bit.

And was under the impression that this upgrade, wouldn't fail to cause intense pain. It was too big of a risk to buy it right now.

But the crave for it was still strong, especially when put together with reasoning. "If I can sink half a kilometer deep, then maybe we can figure out more about the holy-tar sect."

[That sect shouldn't really be your concern right now. As Azelaq said, the sect was only a drop in the ocean]

[There are a lot of other things to explore, a bit too much perhaps?]

[I hate to say this, but there could be things out there that even I have not discovered]

[As a start, I had no information about any god of the seas]

[Either they don't interact with fish kind, or my knowledge isn't thorough enough]

[Anyway, don't consider the enemy sect as your main priority. You need to follow the quest that Azelaq has appointed for you]

[Seek her shrine, in dead stone's path. Wherever that place is? Maybe she can help you remove this mental cloud as well]

"I have no clue where to find it," Timmy pointed out right away.

"To find what?" Gerlach broke down the long conversation with the pure aid of curiosity.

Since he didn't have a need to hide anything, the hero instantly answered. "This place that's called 'dead stone's path."

"Oh yeah, that thing... hmmm, maybe someone on the reef has heard of it?" The geezer added, as he tried to seek out a solution.

To aid that idea, he had to continue. "We'll go back home after we kill this crazy shrimp. Someone must have heard of this odd spot, they can't all be clueless."

"You're right," The dark-grey stingray assured, as he tried to tolerate the ongoing pain.

And after that point, a firm-ish plan had been fully set. They barely had anything else to do, so it was a good idea to head back home and search for information there.

It should be a good starting point, because that same reef had been struck with many oddities before; the chances of them knowing anything about some weird ocean-god, wasn't too thin.

However. Right now the hero was becoming more and more focused towards the pain, that managed to take refuge in his fins.

The wound's effects were becoming more radiant by the passing second, which managed to bring along confusion itself.

He had eaten food that raised health, so pain should reduce rather than increase. This didn't make sense for a while, but then he remembered how numb his body had been because of the same staggering pain.

Perhaps that numbness was going away entirely right now, which allowed every bit of pain to unravel themselves?

Regardless of the whole reasons behind it, this dilemma shouldn't be too big of a problem ~ because they could see Osira in the close distance, and she was dragging a long slender-fish that stretched a whole meter long!

Eventually she got close enough to bless everyone with her presence, and dropped the carcass right near the teammate who needed it the most.

The fact that she could take down barracudas this quickly, gave a good example of how powerful she has become. For a two foot long black-grouper, she was really proving herself capable.

However. Now the sea-pancake had to munch through this feast, for the sake of replenishing health; but he really wasn't feeling like eating another few pounds of meat!

Timmy's metabolism had truly grown fast due to the constant swimming, and hunger-bar upgrades, but right now he felt bloated like a balloon.

Yet that was when he felt a great portion of his stomach, putting up quite a battle which was encrusted with rumbles!

A few moments after, he blessed the salty waters with a comically large dunk. He unleashed a poop that stretched half a foot wide! Definitely a large quantity for a little stingray.

The system noticed his concern, and therefore she advised. [Don't worry about it. Your wounds are consuming every little bit of benefit from the food]

[Which forces the metabolism to work far faster than usual. If you had not upgraded temperature toleration before, your body would have over-heated by now; because your metabolism is pacing a little too fast]

[That aside, your hunger bar is down at the moment]

[16/43 to be exact]

[And it will continue to drop rapidly because of your wounds. So go ahead and feast on this carcass]