Timothy ate a bunch of small fish, about sixty of them. After that, he had to put an end to his seafare. He had dared to explore the open ocean, because hunger had encouraged him to do so, but now, it was time to go back home. He didn’t necessarily have to go back to the reef, but he still had to hide somewhere, preferably a spot where there wasn't a dark, bottomless pit below him. He wanted to feel safe, because there was a purchase option that he wanted to buy.
Timothy wanted to, and quite frankly, he had to buy that micro shift ability. The ocean was treacherous and unforgiving, even more so, to the 3.5 meter long, swimming disk that was Timothy. For that matter, he simply had to buy this ability, and alter his size to fit any environment better.
The system encouraged his motives as well as she could. She even gave him the greenlight from her side, regarding the purchasing matter. Apart from that, she also had something else to say.
She said, [Congratulations, Timothy! You've accumulated 4,813 system points! You have more than enough points to buy the micro shift ability, and because of that, it's due time we recount the warnings that come with this upgrade, and its use. This power is ‘cool’ as some would call it, but this isn't a superhero movie, so the use of this power has quite the consequences and limitations!]
“That's peachy,” Tim remarked, as he ogled the sea for a flat, shallow floor.
Following along, the system specified. [Two peaches, actually! There are two things that you should be worried about. The first one is the most important, so please try to remember it, Timothy!]
“I will try my best, I can promise you that.” He answered honestly.
[Okay then,] The system sighed, and then continued. [The micro shift ability allows one to reduce their body mass and size, that is its premise, and there is no formal limit of how small you can become, that is your choice. However, this freedom of choice comes with repercussions! There is this unofficial, and very dangerous limit, that may erase you from existence if the said limit was crossed. It’s deadly.]
The system hadn't even gone into full detail yet, but Tim was already terrified. He wanted to know what this dangerous limit was about, so he remained quiet for the sake of it, he didn’t interrupt the other.
Such a quiet atmosphere allowed the system to continue with her warnings, she emphasized. [After unlocking this power, you can reduce your body size as you please, but know that if you reduce it by a hundredth of your current, original body size, you will die, there is no coming back from it. You'd become so small, that you'd literally be erased from existence itself! That is the unofficial limit to this power, so unfortunately, you can never battle any bacteria, not with the micro shift ability, at least. Stay safe!]
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“Fuck me… now I gotta do math too?” Tim sighed, but then, he said. “Thank you for letting me know, system, I'll do my best.”
Math wasn't his trump card, it never was, but he had to take it under consideration now. He had to be thoughtful with the utter power that he was about to purchase, there was no working around it.
Anyway, the system had mentioned that there were two important things that she wanted to talk about, regarding the micro shift ability. The first point terrified him already, so he was very anxious to hear about the second part. The concept of doing math terrified him already, but if he had to do something like physics as well, then the best option for him would be to just give up. He may purposely erase himself from existence!
The system continued, [I think we went into enough detail, regarding the dangers of the micro shift ability, so let us talk about its downsides also, the one related to mana.]
“So it isn't a downside to literally die? That's kinda hilarious.” He muttered, stressfully.
[Death is swift and oftentimes painless, it's not a burden, not technically.] She followed along, and then she added. [However, the downside of having to accumulate mana, constantly, is a huge burden, and this is what I wanted to talk about. Whenever you wish to use the micro shift ability, you'll have to spend half of the mana that you can formally carry. In this case, since you can carry 6,000 points of mana in total, you'd have to spend half of that amount, if you wish to use the micro shift ability. It is an expensive power, without a doubt.]
“You're shitting me! How the hell am I supposed to get three-thousand points? There aren't that many mana roots in the ocean for me to play with, you know.” He complained.
[As I said, the burden of accumulating mana can be immense.] She added, [However, you'd be glad to know that thanks to your recent growth-sprout, you can generate 250 points of mana every hour, naturally. So if you're savvy with how you spend your mana, you will have the opportunity to use the upcoming ability more than you think.]
“Hope so…” He said.
…
Eventually, Tim reached the vicinity of the reef. He was glad to remember his way back home, but actually, he didn’t care about the reef all that much. It was the stretch of sand that he valued the most here, because sand was the only thing that allowed him to hide properly for the time being. He couldn’t hide in the reef, because any creature that was over three meters long, couldn’t really fit in within any nook and cranny that the reef had to offer. It was impossible.
Tim buried himself within the sand as well as he could, so now he was almost invisible to the naked eye of the average fish. With that done, he was ready to buy the most expensive thing he had to buy, the micro shift ability!
He said, “Okay, system, I'm ready to buy the shit. If you have to knock me out, please do it painlessly. I've already made peace with shitting myself in my sleep, ever so often, but I don't want to get used to hellish pain…. Gotta draw the line somewhere.”
[I will try my best,] She said, and then, things went into motion. [Implementing your purchase…]