“Water Fist!” Derek shouted as he punched the fish coming for him with all his strength. The water around him responded immediately, condensing into a powerful vortex that encased his hand when the punch landed. The concentrated force of the water, combined with his own physical strength and the surge of mana, slammed into the fish with the power of a battering ram, and the fish did not stand a chance.

[Ding! You have defeated Razorfin]

[Ding! You have gained experience points]

Derek sighed in exhaustion as he stared at the corpse floating in front of him. This was the fifth fish he had killed in less than an hour. His body’s condition was becoming worse with each kill. He looked down to see the deep gashes and bruises that marred his limbs. His breathing was ragged, each inhale and exhale a painful effort as the cumulative toll of the fights weighed heavily on him. He was dangerously close to his limit.

But he was still alive.

Derek flinched as he moved forward and grabbed whatever remained of the dead fish. He hesitated for a moment before he plunged his hands into the fish's flesh, tearing off a chunk of the meat. The raw, bloody texture made his insides churn, but he knew he had no choice. He was out of options and energy, and his body needed fuel to keep going. His stomach was burning with hunger. Technically he should also feel extremely thirsty but for some reason, it was the hunger that was overpowering. He was also starting to feel weaker. He was not going to get any break or find something else edible in this endless expanse of water. This will have to do.

He washed the piece as much as he could in the water and steeling himself, he bit into the flesh with determination. Instantly, a repulsive taste filled his mouth. The meat was tough and chewy, the taste metallic and briny. He willed his status screen to show up and forced himself to swallow the mouthful quickly to avoid gagging. Thankfully, his health did not decrease any further with the raw fish in the stomach.

Derek took a moment to confirm this and when nothing changed for the next couple of minutes, he once again tore out some more chunks of flesh from the dead fish and swallowed a few more mouthfuls until he couldn’t anymore. It was just enough to stave off the gnawing hunger that was driving him crazy. He left the rest of the corpse to float around and swam away from that spot.

After swimming for a while he received another notification.

[Ding! Swimming - lvl 2 > Swimming - lvl 3]

[Ding! You have gained experience points]

Derek swiped it away and continued to swim. This was the second skill upgrade notification for swimming that he had gotten in this short time. While he welcomed the free experience points, he was a lot more concerned about the other skills in his repertoire.

Water fist!

Derek tried to mentally summon the skill once again. He punched out the water in front of him but nothing happened. Another failure. It turns out that learning the skill is different from executing the skill. The skill might be listed in his status screen but he couldn’t bring it out as and when he needed it. After a lot of trial and error, he found that a sort of loud declaration was the only way the skill seemed to be working out for him.

He had to shout out the skill name, meaning it with all of his heart and mind. It was extremely close to a small child enacting a superhero fantasy, yelling out attack names as if the words themselves held power. But after surviving multiple life-or-death encounters, pride was a luxury he could no longer afford. If shouting the skill's name was what it took to activate Water Fist, then he would shout until his throat was raw. He would have preferred to do something so embarrassing but that was the only way he could get this skill to work.

The problem was that even with this method, the skill was only activated sometimes. Derek knew it had to do with the extent he understood the skill which was next to nothing. Heck, he even learned the skill accidentally having nothing to do with his understanding. This inconsistency made every battle a gamble, where his survival depended not only on his fighting skills but also on his ability to activate the skill when he needed it most. It was a dangerous situation, one that could easily lead to his death if he didn’t find a way to get the skill under his control.

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Derek stopped when he felt he had put enough distance between himself and his trail of fish corpses.

Water fist!

He tried activating the skill mentally again only to fail. He did not push it anymore, deciding to give that a break. He had a feeling his efforts needed to be elsewhere for him actually to start understanding shit. Water Manipulation and Mana Manipulation, this was where his focus needed to be. If he could get a better handle on controlling these fundamental aspects, he might be able to summon his skills more reliably without the need for loud declarations or desperate focus.

He slowed his swimming, allowing himself to float for a moment as he concentrated on the water around him. The sensation of the cool liquid against his skin, the way it flowed and moved, was familiar yet strange now that he was trying to actively control it. Water was fluid and ever-changing, and Derek needed to learn how to make it bend to his will without forcing it.

He closed his eyes, tuning out everything else, and focused on the sensation of mana within him. Seconds ticked by slowly and nothing happened. The last time he felt mana was when he had leveled up and mid-battle had managed to learn a new skill. Derek frowned and opened his eyes. Maybe he needed another level up to once again grasp that feeling. This time he would not be caught off guard and would be in better control of his senses.

He pulled up his status screen to recheck his health and mana. They were slowly improving. Derek was surprised at first to see his health and mana regenerating on its own, albeit slowly but he chalked it up to magic and left it at that. Maybe later he needed to tinker with how to improve this recovery speed but for now, he had other pressing concerns.

His health was now slightly over 100 and his mana was close to 150. Though it was not ideal, it was better than before. He looked at his hands to see that a few of his wounds were also starting to look better, except for the big nasty injury on his side. This was the only stubborn one that refused to let up. Overall his condition had somewhat stabilized, especially after eating that disgusting raw fish. The exhaustion still lingered so he decided to take it slow for some more time.

Derek lay floating for almost fifteen minutes when he started feeling slightly anxious. Sure, he appreciated the ample time to rest but why hasn’t another razorfin popped up? The calmness felt unnatural, and it put him on edge. In the past hour, he had been in constant battle, and now, the sudden silence was almost more unsettling than the fights themselves. Something wasn't right.

He glanced around, the horizon still empty, the water still as smooth as glass. Despite the peaceful surface, Derek couldn't shake the feeling that something was out there, watching him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The thought made his skin crawl, and his exhaustion was now mixed with a growing sense of dread. His mind flashed to the last few fights in which he had barely won. If something stronger came at him, he definitely wouldn’t last. He did not think this through.

Derek decided it was time to stop floating aimlessly. He turned around and started swimming back in the direction of his trail of corpses. As far as he knew in video games there was a concept of territory. Maybe in real wildlife, too something like this existed. What if he was currently outside of the territory of razorfin and that’s why he was not coming across those pain-in-the-ass fishes anymore?

Those fishes were dangerous but they were opponents he could handle and he even had some experience fighting them. Derek did not want to let go of this chance. The system didn’t exactly give experience points details but he shouldn’t be too far away from another level up. Maybe he needed one or two more kills? He needed to head back and see if he could get these couple of kills. If he simply kept running he was going to run into something more dangerous sooner or later. No. That was not going to work out for him. He needed to use these Razorfins.

He cautiously swam back to his previous spot. This was a gamble considering that the blood might have attracted something more dangerous but he decided to give it a try anyway. Every other second he made sure to check if he could sense anything at all in the distance. The slightest clue could be the difference between life and death for him. He slowly approached the area for some time when he suddenly stopped.

Derek stood still, not daring to make a single move forward. The water in front of him looked completely harmless but he knew that wasn’t the case. As the sunlight reflected on the surface, he had seen it. There it was for a fraction of a second. The entire area in front of him was glowing in a shade of dirty green, the exact color of the scales of that same nasty fish.