[Congratulations, Timothy. You found me some information about all that ‘green stuff’ and therefore, you completed system task number six!] The system suddenly announced.
Tim did not expect this. In fact, he had completely forgotten about this specific task, and had spammed Marlo with questions about the anti-mana, only out of curiosity! He hadn't done it for points, or for the task’s sake, not nearly.
For that matter, he was in a mild shock, when the system then further announced. [Due to the completion of this task, you've won 250 points as a reward. So as of now, you've accumulated a total of 3,263 points.]
“That's nice,” He added, “I should take a moment to spend all those, right? I have this nagging feeling that I'm running behind on upgrades, it’s a really annoying feeling.”
[In an imperfect world, you'd be far behind, yes. But this is a perfect world, in a magical aspect, at least.] She followed along.
Furthermore, she added. [You need to remember, every upgrade offered from my side is adjusted, in accordance to any type of progress you make. Your growth-sprout, and your mana quality upgrade had indefinitely affected your entire body, which means that you're stronger now, even though I wasn't the one who gave you that strength directly.]
[In other words, a lot of your attributes have upgraded themselves already, so you don’t have to tend to each and every one of them at a time, in order to progress, that’s not necessary. With that said, every following upgrade will just make you stronger than the average stingray, so you’re already ahead. You're good!] She emphasized.
There was no arguing with those hard facts, not logically. Tim could probably find something to argue about, because he simply wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he chose to stay quiet. He was simply happy right now, because he had plenty of points, and was apparently powerful too, so he didn't have anything to complain about! He was tame.
With all of that considered, it was best for him to focus on the issues at hand. There was a lot going on, still, so he had to be attentive!
The sect's prime fish, for example, were still battling the massive pool of anti-mana that had overtaken the lair. The quantity of mana these prime fish bore was baffling, yet still, it may not be enough to tame the green anomaly below them! There was a lot of anti-mana at the bottom of this lair, and for that matter, these good fish couldn't take a break, not even for a second, as they were nearly overwhelmed by it!
If they took a break, then the anti-mana would bounce back in power, there was no questioning that, so they couldn’t relax just yet, not to the slightest. The sect's members were watching in contempt, everyone was pretty nervous!
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Tim thought, “I’ve never seen fish act so focused… makes you kind of think that they aren’t so stupid after all. I should keep an eye on them, cuz they might attack me at some point, no matter what bullshit Marlo spews about unity.”
It was reasonable to fear an attack, regardless of the situation. The ocean was unkind, he knew that first hand, so it was always great to keep an eye out for danger. However, this time around, he was focusing on the wrong thing, the dangers didn’t come from below him, not from these sect members, no; Instead, the dangers suddenly shone from above!
He looked up randomly, and then got scared shitless, once he saw multiple dots of green, tens of meters above them. Typically he wouldn't get spooked out by some random dots, but recent experiences had taught him that dots of this nature were anything but random! Fish were approaching the lair, and he was as sure as ever that these fish had gone insane with anti-mana. Their bodies were corrupted!
Tim was scared, but in this situation, he didn’t have to handle the problem by himself. He wasn't alone, and since the sect had far stronger fish who could fight instead, it was best if they did the heavy lifting, rather than him alone! No one expected him to fight to the death.
For that matter, he ended up shouting. “We're being attacked! Marlo! Corrupt fish are coming, look at all that green shit over there!”
“Right,” Marlo sighed.
The entire sect was tense already, so no one really wanted to battle right now, they didn't want to feel any more tense. They didn't want to feel stressed, but the situation demanded otherwise. Half of the sect members had to get involved!
This was a unique situation. The toughest fish were taming the anti-mana, so they couldn’t help in battle, not to the slightest. With that considered, the fish whose mana quality was level-three and under, had to fight!
Nothing was expected from the fish whose mana was level-one in the quality scale, as they were the weakest and therefore were systematically protected within this sect. They were protected, even now while the lair's walls and portions of its ceiling were down!
Marlo led his platoons of fish thoroughly. He had the platoons of weaker fish (with level 2 mana quality), guarding the several entrances that the recent quake had caused, as it was very important to guard these spots. This platoon was higher by number, there were about sixty of them, so naturally, they were the best option in terms of withholding the main line of defense. Collectively, they could cause a lot of damage!
In the meantime, a handful of stronger fish (with level 3 mana quality), were on the offensive. There were about twenty of them, and they were facing the threat head on. They were sent out to kill stuff, and they didn't have room to do anything else!
It wasn't a coincidence that green, fishy enemies appeared here and were approaching the sect. It wasn't a coincidence, because there was an entire pool of anti-mana here within the sect, and that had to be important for these attackers. They either sensed the anti-mana, or were called by it, but either way the situation was problematic. There was no reasoning with corrupt, zombie-like enemies, the sect had to fight for the sake of their home!