Tim finally filled up his pool of mana. It took him about twenty minutes, because the root was degenerating more every second. He also couldn't concentrate all that much either, which stunted his progress, but the important thing was that he succeeded, even if he did so eventually. His pool now had a full, one-thousand points of mana.With that said, now and onwards, he could decide on two things. He could either save these points up and use them sparingly in the future, or, he could try to upgrade the quality of his mana now, and for good! The latter part seemed more appealing, however it was also the most dangerous option right now!The latter option had a fifty-percent survival rate, as it was said to be physically and mentally challenging, so it could quite likely kill him. He wanted to have better mana, but the thought of death scared him dearly.At some point, he decided to ask the system for a second opinion. She was much smarter than him, so it was
[Congratulations, Timothy, you found mana roots.] The system announced, [This means that you successfully completed your fifth, system given task, and won 100 points as a reward! In total, you’ve accumulated 670 system points.] “Nice,” He thought, though he wasn’t as excited about the points this time around. He was still depressed over the death of so many stingrays, as in a weird way, he considered them human, and such deaths shouldn't be taken lightly. Overall though, regardless of how he had been sandwiches between fireballs earlier on, this had been a pretty decent day. Tim got what he wanted. They found a cluster of mana roots, and although the roots were mostly depleted now, there was still enough mana for him and Ortana to share. They were to play nice about these remaining properties. Him and Ortana were the only remaining survivors within that group of stingrays, and although this part was depressing, it served a
Tim won the battle, he killed a very dangerous stingray. However, he felt disgusted about this, because in a sense, he felt as if he killed a human being! He felt that this was a horrible thing to do, even if it was for the greater good. Normally he would celebrate for such a tremendous victory, and perhaps he should. He killed a creature that was likely multiple levels above him, in terms of mana quality, which was something to celebrate about, however, he remained idle. Tim didn’t care about the little amount of points he got in exchange, and he didn’t care about the mana points he lost either. He just floated there, almost motionlessly, and continued to contemplate. The system broke his train of thought, as she announced. [You have accumulated a total of 570 system points. Also, 178 points of mana remain in your mana pool.] Tim did not care about all that right now, but the few astounding facts remained erected. He killed a really pow
Tim and the rest of the team eventually noticed that a couple of stingrays were missing. When someone was underground for more than five minutes, it was inevitable to notice their absence.Tim got extremely paranoid in response, and guessed that those two stingrays (Bob and Knob) were either dead, or they had found the roots, and were hogging them! His paranoia was valid, as for example, he couldn’t really trust a couple of fish that he had met just moments ago, it wasn't logical.With that said, he began exploring the area more thoroughly, and was amped with anxiety throughout the whole time. He stopped being stingy about mana for once, and charged his tail with both fire and thunder, all for safety's sake! He didn't want to get pounced on, but if someone attacked him, then they'd have to deal with a bit of a rash from his side.The rest of the stingrays were on high alert too, but unfortunately, one of them ran into the main problem. A sudden, soul-shaki
Tim removed a huge barricade from the group’s way, he killed that snake! His work was appreciated by the other stingrays, by those who survived at least. They had one casualty so far, but as far as the main task was concerned, as of now, they could continue to progress!The stingrays searched the area cautiously, as they didn’t want to get pounced on by another snake. Furthermore, they hoped that there were magical mana roots here to begin with, they hoped that Marlo’s speculations were dependable. If there wasn’t anything valuable here, then they risked their lives for nothing! They weren’t sure if any mana roots were here, but odds were that they were going to figure this part out quickly. The stingrays were taking this task even more slowly and cautiously now, sure, but since there were six of them putting in some work, it was only a matter of time until they searched every nook and cranny of this fifty-meter wide area! They were bound to formulate a conclusion at some point.In t
The team of seven stingrays were on the move. Marlo directed them to a spot, which was a whole kilometer away from the hidden lair, and it was laid out on a stretch of sand. Originally this spot would be really unassuming, but Marlo taught them how to find the good stuff!He told them to follow the edges of the reef, in a very straight line, until they couldn’t anymore. This, in turn, would lead them directly towards the designated area.After separating themselves from the reef, the team were to look out for holes in the ground. The place which may contain mana roots was very well hidden, so they had to check on every noticeable hole on the sea-ground, in order to find the place. Of course, they also had to be careful, because an animal could be living in any one of the random holes, and swimming into them could be dangerous!Marlo described that they should be searching for a shrine-like, hidden temple. Religion was a thing across fishkind, apparently, and oftentimes, religious site
Tim may be the busiest stingray out there right now, as he wholeheartedly accepted to be part of the blistering mana sect! He was to be very busy soon, because Marlo introduced him to a lot of things today, regarding magic, and he wanted to try out everything that was available!He wanted to merge his powers together, for example, just so he could hopefully spend less mana on them. That was a good idea, however, Marlo instructed otherwise.He said, "Timothy, let me say that I'm glad you joined our sect, but, please don't rush things. Power merging requires 500 points of decent quality mana, it's really expensive, so don't merge your powers unless you're absolutely sure that you'll need them that way.""Oh, I need them." He said.Tim wanted to merge his flaming fins ability, with his recently acquired, shivering blood ability. Both of them were great individually, but when he used them together, there was a resulting dual effect, which seeped his mana twice as fast! He'd lose eight poi
From the looks of it, TIm really ran into a sect, whose members were primarily fish. Odds were that this sect was more of a cult, but he didn’t want to point fingers like that just yet. He was offered to join the sect, and therefore, he hoped that there were some benefits from joining said sect. If there were benefits to it, then he wouldn’t mind putting himself at risk for them, in whatever means those risks would occur. If however, this sect was both dangerous and useless, then he had all of the power necessary to make an escape for himself. Tim aimed to be efficient. “They can’t kill me… not unless they’re really sneaky, so, I’ll be fine.” He thought.Anyway, Marlo, the headmaster of this sect, invited Timothy to visit their secret, hidden lair, and he accepted this invite. The concept of a hidden lair sounded even more cult-like, but then again, Tim had a lair of its own, kind of. Lairs can't all be inherently evil.Fish needed places to hide in, for survival’s sake, so it was u
The upgrade he bought cost him six-hundred and thirty points. It was costly, but at least now he had a greater advantage, in terms of his overall hostility against the world. Under the right circumstances, he could attack anyone he wanted, and that was all that mattered in the end.He didn't care that he only had two-hundred system points now, no, and if anything, he had a greater reason to explore the ocean now, because of how vastly depleted his points were!Anyway, Tim still ended up wasting seven hours afterwards, because he had to wait for the sun to rise, so he had been less than productive. He found a couple of good ways to waste time, as the upgrade he bought, for example, had him obsessing over the mana points! He stared at a faded out computer-like window in front of him, for hours on end, and watched as the points increased!He was absolutely mesmerized! For a stupid little stingray, he sure was obsessed with numbers for a good moment, it was an interesting reaction from hi