The purchase he bought didn't go easy on him. Tim had hoped to have a painless experience, but that request was out of the system's hands. She tried to grant his little wish, but inevitably, it was the brute pain that knocked him out, rather than anything else!
He did not have a fun time, especially in the beginning. However, he was sound asleep throughout most of the implementation of said purchase, which all facts considered, was the only type of mercy he got as a result. The process itself took four hours, it wasn't fun!
Tim woke up, about two hours after the purchase was implemented. He felt both well rested and worn down, at the same time, which was quite a sensation! The process had put his body into a strain, so it wasn't a surprise how he felt chewed up and spat out! It mattered more that he was alive, however.
The system cheered him up even further, as she bashed a couple of notifications on his face. One was relative to the previous task, and the other notification was more of an ego boost.
First, she announced. [Congratulations, Timothy. Though it cost you a vast amount of points, the micro shift ability has been implemented into your body successfully. In total, you have 3,013 system points remaining in your sum.]
Afterwards, she also announced. [Also, while you were asleep, you accumulated over twelve-hundred mana points. It's quite the amount, and in total, you now have 2,098 mana points to your name!]
“Well shit, getting mana is easier than I thought! At this rate, I'm gonna become smaller again, soon…” He celebrated.
[In about five more hours, you will be able to micro shift, yes.] The system followed along, and then she added. [But you've burned 50 bars of hunger points while you were asleep, so I'd suggest that you hunt for whatever's in that reef in front of you. You don't want your hunger bar to go down, especially while you're this awfully anorexic version of a stingray. You need more meat in you.]
Tim understood what the system meant, he understood her well, but yet he was hesitant to explore the reef. In a weird way, he was more scared of the tiny critters within the reef, than the big guys within the open waters behind him. He wasn't as scared of big fish anymore, no.
This train of thought he had, was fueled by trauma. He had a lot of bad experiences in the reef, so he would rather approach it as a tiny stingray, rather than a SUV-sized one. A portion of his fear was illogical, but even though he was aware of that, he simply couldn't adapt with the idea of entering the reef now, in his massive body size. He just couldn't do it.
He even thought, “Maybe I should sleep some more? Five hours is nothing for me, I definitely won't starve to death.”
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The system picked up on his hesitation, so she swooped in to try and save the day. There were only a couple of ways she knew of, where she could motivate the stubborn mule of a stingray that was Timothy.
[I know that you don't want to hear about the two other purchase options on the list, and rightfully so, you're sick of upgrades. However, do you wanna hear about a couple of new tasks I got for you?] She asked.
“Hell yeah!” He answered.
All and all, the idea of following and completing system-given tasks, didn’t scare him as much. He remembered having fun with tasks, because he got to discover explosive urchins and stuff like that, along the way. Tasks fed his curious, explorative nature, so he was more than motivated to follow and complete any task that the system offered.
The system went right into business, she introduced. [Okay, so the following task is the sixth task I've ever given you, and it has to do with the unusual stuff we left behind, out there across the open sea. Something weird is going on, with fish having green, poisonous features. It's unusual, and it's even weirder how you saw a green brick before, who had a similar, if not identical aura to those dolphins. If you find more information for me, regarding the weird green stuff, you'll win 250 system points in exchange! That's the sixth task.]
Tim only nodded along to that proposition. He didn’t really need system points right now, but he was also curious about why those dolphins had a green, seemingly ‘corrupt’ belly. With that considered, he was willing to explore the ocean further, for exploration's sake itself.
The system was proud of the inspiration and motivation that she was able to encourage, and for that matter, she didn't hesitate to introduce the following task. She didn't waste a single second!
She continued, [Task 7 = Find a soul tampering cave. A cave like this, as the name suggests, may help improve your soul's strength. Your new body size alone is bound to affect your soul as well, but it's still a good idea to find a soul tampering cave and harvest its beneficial properties, just so you won't waste tens of hours the next time you're up in the sky, like you did last time. If you complete this task, you will earn 120 system points.]
“That's a hell of a task,” He expressed.
The idea of strengthening his soul motivated him quite a bit. He barely had any idea how that concept as a whole worked, neither did he understand how one soul was stronger than the other, but he was willing to progress. Confusion and progress could go hand to hand at times, if one was willing to explore their options.
He also muttered, “I will find a soul cave, I'll try my best. It's embarrassing to get enslaved, so there's no point in going back up there in the sky, if I'm not ready to fight. Those slithery plague bastards weren't even strong, I was the one who was too fucking weak… can't let anything like that happen again.”
The worries he had were valid, but the system wasn't willing to pause and discuss the matter. She moved on to the next, and only other task that she had to offer right now. This one, was bound to poke his natural curiosity even more!
She introduced, [Task number 8 = Find and kill a bubonic shifter. If you do so, you will be rewarded with 400 system points!]