It took me a while, around one or two hours, but eventually, I managed to unlock the first of my new abilities, aura manipulation.

Well... It sounds fancy, but it's not actually all that difficult nor useful. It's more or less a combination between stealth and intimidation, where you can project or hide your own presence in a way that can scare off opponents or hide you from them.

I highly suspect that the so-called mighty being I came across during my early days had a skill like this, and it'd been manifesting its aura... for whatever reason.

Anyways, once the system finally recognized that I did, in fact, have the skill, and gave me the appropriate skill in the menu, it became a lot easier to manage. I don't know exactly what the difference is between having a skill not supported by the system and one that is, but I do know it's a lot easier to do things if they are recognized.

Does it make sense? Hell no, it defies all laws of reason. Do I care? Eh. Not particularly. I just want to be able to stroll through areas acting like a pompous bitch and making all lower life forms bow to me.

Petty, thy name is me.

Anyways, once I got the skill, I decided that I might as well laze around a bit for now. I'd been in somewhat of a rush since my rebirth, but now that I was confident in my survival ability, well...

For the rest of the day, I slept happily, curled into myself. I was however rudely woken up by a screeching intruder, a scorpion-like crustacean with red eyes and a spooky hook on the tail.

However, it's spookiness paled to my justified wrath that I didn't actually feel for waking me up. It tasted like curry chicken.

For the rest of the month, I acted quite lazily. Whenever I felt like it, I would take strolls through the beautiful corals of the reef, or if I was hungry, I'd hunt down some monsters in the Killzone and eat them with impunity.

Otherwise, I slept. There really wasn't much to do, I had no access to books nor the internet, and even if I had them I wasn't too sure how I would use them. For a 21st century ex-human, it was quite the dilemma.

Still, life went on regardless of my boredom. Even if I complain a bit, I do have to admit that it was an enjoyable period. I also managed to get a couple of new fancy skills, which included those I received during my dreams.

Skill (Aura Manipulation) gained

Skill (Venom Cloud) gained ---> Merged into general skill Venom

Skill (Colossus Scales) gained

They weren't anything life-changing, but the scales ability, which I inherited from my dreams, more or less made my scales a hell of a lot tougher, and also resistant to temperature changes, pressure, and just generally made me much more of a tank than I already was.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Venom cloud is, just like the name, a venom cloud I spew out. It's not very strong, but it is useful in quickly killing a bunch of small fries for quick snacks. This one I made myself, which made me quite happy.

Anyways, my life became quite repetitive and boring, but also very tranquil and calm, which was fine for me. Still, I knew that, eventually, I would have to once again take a plunge and go out of my comfort zone and into the real ocean.

Yes, I might have procrastinated a bit, but can you blame me? I'd just fought for my life like a madwoman on drugs, constantly fighting and stealing and fleeing from and against everything. Now that I was the strongest, the most badass around, I liked my new peace.

Still, perhaps it was my instincts driving me to constantly seek out improvement, or perhaps it was my boredom or hell, perhaps some god or goddess decided to corrupt my mind, but here I am now, making the final preparations for my entry into the great blue.

I was very apprehensive. I had absolutely zero information on whatever I should expect, but I did know that whatever monsters lived there were leagues ahead of even the absolute strongest beings in the Killzone, not to mention the by now pathetically weak reef.

Nonetheless, as I swallowed up yet another weird abomination of a monster, I made my choice. Tomorrow morning, I would head out.

... Did I say making preparations? Sorry, I meant to say procrastinate for the last time. What the hell kind of preparations should I even do?

And indeed, the next morning, I made my way towards the deepest and deepest parts of the Killzone. The deeper I went, the fewer monsters there were, but they were all much stronger than the usual cannon fodder that lived in the intersection between Killzone and reef.

Still, they weren't any real threat. I kept on making my way, and eventually, I reached the dreaded place.

The ground had been steadily going down as I went forward, but here... It plummeted. I could see no end to it, and the only thing that remained was water. No corals, barely any sunlight, and definitely no caves to sleep and/or hide in.

I felt as though I should be scared, but... I felt nothing. I still wasn't sure if I should be thankful for my emotional suppression or not, but perhaps it is for the best.

Steeling my nerves, I took the plunge and began to swim my way down to the bottom of the ocean. I would explore that area first, and then, I'd try to see more. For now, though, I simply needed more strength so that whatever horrors lived in this place didn't kill me with a blink of their eye.

Was it a smart choice? Maybe. Was it dangerous? Probably. But I'd already resigned myself to a life of almost constant danger, without any structure, laws, or police to keep me safe, only I could be my own lawmaker, my own bodyguard, and my own gun.

Furthermore, it would be a lie to say I didn't enjoy the feeling of constantly growing in strength, and it was undeniable that I'd stagnated in the Killzone, the exp and worth of my prey giving me little more than nothing.

Still, as darkness overtook the world around me, I could feel the cold claws of dread that I should arguably be immune to grasping at my sides.

Nonetheless, I pressed on, diving deeper and deeper. It took me well over three hours to reach the bottom of the ocean, and by that point, I was at serious risk of being squashed by the sea pressure.

Which, actually, was very beneficial to me. It helped me level up... Err, master my Colossus Scales a lot faster than any of the other training ideas I'd tried before.

Still, I was also effectively blind, which kinda sucked. Still, I had my nose and ears to rely on, and so I did.

Although I couldn't see anything with my eyes, the place was eerily quiet and devoid of any life I could tell of. I cautiously made my way forward, intent on exploring this new and strange place.