Chapter 6 – Nothing to Worry About

Days passed, one by one, and the sadness slowly faded. Over time, my routine started to take shape. At dawn, Krahs would go hunting and return with one or two fish. He would turn them into a paste and feed me. Then, he would lie down, apply something foul-smelling to his wounds, and rest for the rest of the day. Krahs spent hours in the nest, sleeping under the sun. At night, he fed me again and sang lullabies.

I never thought I’d hear a mermaid sing so badly in my life. As pleasant as his voice was, his singing was so awful that it felt like my ears were going to bleed.

The rest of my life was simply the routine of a baby. My body couldn’t stay awake for long. I still don’t know how I managed to stay up so much on the first day, but now I just can’t. It’s strange, but I make the most of the time I have when the shark is out to drink my daily bottle or browse the shop. It’s hard to save money and not buy unnecessary things. I also discovered that, over time, just one bottle of milk wasn’t enough. Fortunately, I don’t go hungry thanks to the paste Krahs makes, though it tastes awful.

And so, a week passed. The biggest change was that I had grown too much to sleep inside my eggshell. Before, I fit in the shark’s hand, but now I was the size of a normal newborn. Grandpa filled one of the pools with soft algae, and now I sleep in the same pool as him. Also, he’s much better now, no longer smelling of blood every day.

There was another change: we now had new inhabitants in the nest. One of the pools was filled with small fish that helped clean the water. The shells that made up the pools had tiny gaps where water flowed in and out, but not all the dirt could escape on its own. So, these fish did the work of purifying it for us. That’s how we bathed and used the pools for our needs.

— I miss a normal bathroom and having control over my bladder… It still grosses me out to think about the time I spent inside the egg, not realizing I was peeing in there.

The time for disgust had passed, but the time for boredom remained. I had no idea what to do. As a baby, leaving the nest was dangerous, and there wasn’t much to do inside except sleep, attack some crabs, sunbathe, and swim.

— I’m dying of boredom… If this keeps up, I’ll end up thinking about bad things. Maybe I should buy something to entertain myself… But first, let’s check my status.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

I thought while chewing on a crab and then opened my interface.

[Crystal Scale Mermaid]

Name: Nexha ("Tears of a New Beginning")

Age: Newborn

Status: Normal

Lv: 0

HP: 20/20 MP: 5/5

Attack: 1 Defense: 20 (+15) Intelligence: 10 Luck: 7 Beauty: 30

Title: First of Many

Skills: Analyze, System Shop Access

— I’ve realized I have good genetics to be a tank… Just a little more, and I’ll surpass Krahs in defense.

I sighed, disappointed to see that I still hadn’t leveled up.

— I still haven’t figured out how to gain XP, but I did notice that I can get extra points from the crabs. Per day, I gain one point, and if I’m really lucky, two or even four. It’s not the best thing in the world, but it’s what I have for now.

I opened the shop and started browsing again. I hadn’t looked at it much in the past few days. After all, I wasn’t living alone anymore, and the shark always encouraged me to play in the afternoon, so I didn’t have much time for it.

— So many things, but nothing that looks like wood… Since I need to build a civilization, the primary material should be wood. The problem is, I have no idea which of these plants could be a substitute.

I sighed and kept searching. Building a city requires, first and foremost, food and a versatile, abundant material.

I opened the shop’s plant section and started reading descriptions, looking for something useful.

— "Night Rose," a very beautiful algae that glows in the dark. It grows near the coast but is fragile and dies when touched.

— That’s not very useful for now… I also noticed that most descriptions in the shop are very brief. I probably need a botany skill to get more detailed information.

So, I opened the technology tab and searched for botany.

100 – Basic Botany

200 – Apprentice Botany

400 – Experienced Botany

800 – Master Botany

1600 – Advanced Botany

This technology section is different from the others because it has rankings and is much cheaper in comparison. The system probably wants to encourage buying these skills more than the others. Powers that can’t be acquired any other way are more expensive, but technology can be developed over time with effort from a group.

I looked at the skill again and tilted my head. It would be useful, but I was really reluctant to spend my money. It was too little compared to my big goals.

— If I were Asian, I would have been born with all the hacks unlocked…

Pouting, I slapped my tail against the water, making it splash. The small ripples caught the attention of something else.

As I grumbled, a small creature swam toward me. Its face was round, with big greenish eyes, a lilac tail with blue fins, short blue hair, and plump cheeks.