Tim was more than enthralled to spend a bunch of points right now. He wanted to implement the durability upgrade in his body immediately, because the literal explosion that he survived a couple of hours ago motivated him to do so. He was petrified, and wanted to feel safer once more!
He thought, “I need upgrades, immediately. Hell, I might get paralyzed for a day or so, it could happen? I don't remember if durability upgrades hurt, maybe they do, but that’s a risk I'll have to take! Shit… I can't mess around and ignore this upgrade for too long, that would be dangerous as shit.”
This was perhaps the best time to buy an upgrade too, as the team of ten were resting right now. They had found a five-meter wide cave to hide in, and odds were that they wanted to stay here for a few hours, to replenish their mana, mainly, and to hide away from any and all danger for a while. Tim planned to use this break to his advantage.
He sank within the sand, to act like he was resting, and then he went into action. The system then approved his request for an upgrade rather quickly, she was cooperative. He only heard a ding in his head, and then he felt immense pain across his back, along with his fins as well! It wasn't any fun.
He was undergoing a bodily durability upgrade, so it wouldn't be a surprise if this upgrade affected the very structure of his being, including his skeleton, and nervous system too. It wasn't a light process, it was meant to be painful, and the upgrade gradually intensified as well, mercilessly!
Once he was ten minutes into the process, his skin started burning too! It wasn't a surprise that his skin was affected by this upgrade so violently, because after all, the skin was to withstand any and all damage, from external, opposing forces. Tim's skin was his first line of defense, and if it wasn’t tough enough, then this durability upgrade wouldn't be much of an upgrade to begin with.
Anyway, the upgrade took a whole hour to complete. Luckily though, he didn't experience any muscle spasms along the way, nothing of that variant, so no one noticed that he was undergoing something so intense! He hid in the sand, and seemed peaceful. The other nine members rested similarly, so no trust-oriented complications arose.
Once the upgrade was done, the system then announced. [Congratulations, Timothy, the durability upgrade has been implemented into your body successfully! It took 1,100 points in exchange, as discussed, so in total you now have 863 points left to your disposal.]
Tim didn’t care about the points right now. He was barely conscious, so he didn’t have the grand freedom to be greedy. Though he didn’t react at all, it was apparent that he needed more system points for himself if he was to progress, and soon.
The recent upgrades had been very expensive, and the following upgrades were sure to have staggering prices as well. With that considered, he had to be on the move, and kill things, in order to buy each upcoming upgrade as quickly as possible. At this rate, he had to kill a whale or something, in order to have good purchasing power, which itself signified that he might fall behind with his upgrades once more. It was a vicious cycle!
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Anyway, later on, he regained his consciousness, and noticed that he was running low on points. This had a paradoxical effect on his feelings, as he felt both stressed out and relieved as a result!
Tim was stressed out because he was obviously very poor, point-wise, but at the same time, this was what also made him happy. At this slow pace, he could master the powers he already had, thoroughly, before he'd move on to another promising purchase. If he mastered his current powers properly, he wouldn’t feel as overwhelmed by the idea of having several kinds of power within his arsenal, he'd be all dandy!
Likewise, he also thought. “I can’t rush with them upgrades, it’s not so easy to buy all of them anymore. Gotta slow down at some point, I guess? Also, I have to merge my powers at some point, though not anytime soon, so it’s good that shit’s starting to get more expensive, cuz I can focus on all the powers I stole as well, they're plenty!”
What he thought didn’t make much sense in hindsight, but in actuality, he said something very smart. Tim was attentive of the past, and strategic towards the future for once. Right now, he even tried to balance the use of his powers, in order for these powers to fit the present situation, and whatever issues were attached to the present!
Tim mentioned power merging, because of a relatable reason. He had stolen several powers from animals before, and he still uses those powers to this day. The point was, since these powers were several in number, he didn’t want to get overwhelmed by them in the future, on the occasion where he stole even more powers from other animals.
Power merging helped one keep the number of stolen powers under control. He’d be able to squish two powers into one, and attain an even better ability in exchange, an ability which would be a mix of the two selected powers he was to merge.
The ability to merge powers was very useful, though, he couldn’t use this to his advantage right now, because the quality of his mana was terrible. This was where his worries intertwined, and related with one another; This was where things started making sense.
Tim couldn’t buy any upgrades as regularly now, because they were too expensive, as a result, the system won’t be overwhelming him with any new powers and or abilities anytime soon. This necessarily meant that he could steal even more, new powers from other animals, without feeling overwhelmed by his own arsenal of powers in exchange. He didn’t have to care about power merging either, because at this rate, stealing powers from other animals was one of his main ways to progress, Tim didn’t have to worry about getting rid of his numerous powers for a while.
This was how his worries intertwined, and kept him calm as a result. His arsenal was balanced for the time being and he acknowledged that. He felt relieved!
It took a lot of brainpower to process the arsenal-orientated situation he was in, and Tim mostly lacked his brainpower, yet he was reluctantly able to do the math this time around. He acknowledged his disadvantages, and hoped to fix them soon, but he also acknowledged his advantages, which was a really thrilling feeling!
Anyway, the system picked up on his train of thought, efficiently. She understood what Tim was worried about, and focused on those worries, rather than focusing on his positive feelings. Afterwards, she gave him a comforting recommendation!
She said, [Tim, I know you don’t want to handle one too many system upgrades, but I recommend you to purchase this one, solely because it’s affordable. Now look, it won’t keep you alive any better than the other upgrades did, or make you any more powerful either, but it’ll help boost your luck with the ladies! For 600 system points, you can upgrade your sex appeal to level three!]