Stingray to Godly Magus

Chapter 40 - Sandwiched Dangers

“There is, huh? Looks like there's a fucking upgrade for everything!” Tim partially celebrated.

He was also angry, however, so he then added. “Why didn't you tell me about the upgrade before, instead of making me eat a bunch of panzer crabs just to get bigger!?”

[The upgrade wouldn't have done you any good before,] The system answered, [It's pretty expensive, and it can only make your body smaller than it already is. The upgrade wouldn't help you become larger, and it would have stunted your already impressive progress. I'm sure you would've wasted a lot of time, if you went around fighting bacterias rather than mages.]

Tim was still irritated, however, he was also somewhat reasonable, he embraced common sense. He didn’t argue with the system, but instead, he became solution oriented about the issue.

He asked, “Okay then… how much am I supposed to pay for the upgrade?”

Tim asked that question while he swam. The situation he was in had multiple problems, and thanks to these problems, he couldn’t quite afford to have a lengthy conversation. He had to be on the move, in order to find and kill anything edible. For the sake of that issue, he just hoped that other fish would be scared of him, in any confrontation to the point where they would just give up, rather than the other way around, because he didn’t really want to chase after them, especially not for a long time.

Anyway, the system did answer his prior question, she said. [The micro shift ability, otherwise known as the third upgrade on the row, from the new badge of upgrades, costs 1,800 system points to unlock. Its price is like nothing you've seen before, because the upgrade is very useful in this new world, it's simply essential for any great mage. Furthermore, since this ability is highly dependent on magic, the price is also adjusted in accordance to your current quality of mana. It's pricey for those couple of reasons!]

“Let it be expensive, it’s not like I can haggle for a cheaper price.” He added.

There was no room for bickering, Tim had things to do. Although it was imperative to buy the upgrade that the system mentioned, there was no rushing it, he couldn’t forcefully complete this goal. For now, he could only hunt things and try to survive!

Surviving and hunting was all he could do, and since hunting itself came hand-to-hand with the possibility to get plenty of system points, then his hunger-induced rush was both essential and efficient. He could stack up points, and also, not starve to death!

…

Tim was on a hunt for food, but he avoided the reef. He knew that place well, and understood that it was not a spot where he could hunt ‘big game’ at. The reef mostly featured critters, as far as he knew, and that wasn't enough to fill and sustain his new, massive stomach, which was equal to that of at least nine human stomachs. He had to kill bigger stuff, in order to survive; That was the deal.

Thanks to that fact, rather than going to the reef, he headed out for the open waters. The sea was massive, so as he explored it, he wasn’t necessarily limited to the reef and its close vicinity. He took a risk to explore the open seas, only now when the odds were staking up against him, as in the heat of the moment, he felt that this additional burden of exploration was worth the baggage.

The train of thought behind his decision sounded wise, but the actual thoughts he was having, weren't so wise. His brain had grown and expanded along with his body, but he was so malnourished for the time being, to the point where coherent, smart thoughts were almost illegal for him!

He thought, “Wonder if I can run a barbecue around here? I'm sick of eating raw meat.”

Tim didn’t either have the body or the proper environment to host a barbecue right now, but regardless of facts, that was what his brain was pressing at for the time being. The line between malnutrition and retardation was only so thin!

The open seas were more boring than he imagined, which explained why he was so easily distracted. Tim swam only around ten meters below the water’s surface, and although this gave him the opportunity to explore for as long as he wanted, he was still bored as a result, because there wasn't an ounce of thrill to work with anymore. Thrill was what usually kept him sharp-minded, and in its absence, his brain was so smooth that it was indistinguishable from his fin!

Then suddenly, thrill was exactly what he got, and thankfully so. The reason behind the thrill was predictable, he saw a school of small fish, roaming tens of meters away from him! The school was massive too as the open seas supported it.

Tim was a whole kilometer away from home right now, and the risk of this decision came with its rewards. He could finally have a decent meal, as long as he ate enough of them, regardless of how tiny any singular fish was within that school! He felt excited about it, food seemed like a reward.

With that excitement, he beamed towards the school of fish at full speed. He didn’t care about scaring them off with his enthusiasm, because he wouldn't really have to chase them in order to get fed. The fish in front of him were so many in numbers, that their group seemed more like a huge cloud rather than a school, and this cloud stretched about a whole kilometer wide. Tim had plenty of fish to nibble on, plenty of options, and since his swimming speed had increased along with his body size, it was easier than ever for him to catch a bunch of tasty fish!

Tim eventually mixed within the school, and then he started chopping. He killed seven fish within a minute, and since most of them were only under a foot long, he managed to swallow them whole!

He killed three species of fish so far, none of which were magical, yet regardless of how plain they were and looked like, these fish served two purposes for him at the moment! They fed him, and gave him system points!

The system then announced accordingly, she said. [You successfully killed 7 fish, and got 82 points as a reward. Do not stop there, though, because you need over twenty times the amount of points, if you're to unlock the micro shift ability!]

“No shit,” He thought, and then chased after a couple dozen more fish.

Tim was hyper focused to get food for himself, the situation demanded it so. He was surrounded by food, but little did he know, schools of fish were also extensively diverse! Along with food, danger was oftentimes sandwiched between such crowds.