And the moment after I've completed the whole mutational process, after acquiring the {Shortfin spine} mutational trait as one of the three optional quest rewards for completing the seventh task.
I then heard the familiar sound of the system notification that resounded inside of my head, as I saw a blue screen panel then appears in front of me. So after quickly skimming through the contents of the blue screen panel that is currently floating in front of me, I was pleasantly surprised to receive another task soon after I've completed the most recent one.
[You have received your eighth task!]
-----------------------------------------------
Quest Objective: Spend 1 mutation point to buy a mutational trait from the mutational point store!
Detail: Buy 1 mutational trait from the mutational point store [0/1]
Reward: 4 mutation points
-----------------------------------------------
'The eighth task that was handed out by the system wasn't exactly that difficult, but it does somewhat reward me with a hefty amount of mutation points for how simple and easy the task is. So I don't really have any negative opinions to oppose the system with handling out easy enough tasks, with massive quest rewards, since I'm the one that is benefiting from it all.' I thought to myself.
With the mutational point store system interface still opened up upon my end, I then scroll down slowly the list of limited options that I have unlocked within the mutation point store.
My immediate first choice was the {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} for 3 mutation points, which was almost half the amount of mutation points that I currently have.
'It would certainly provide me with an ample enough level of protection earlier on, in place of not actually having fish scales for defence.' I seriously thought, which sort of makes sense.
I then thought, 'If I continued to upgrade the {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} after I've bought it from the mutation point store, with a plentiful amount of mutation points, then surely the thickness and hardness of the exoskeleton would gradually improve until it is comparable to the hardness of a crab or lobster's exoskeleton shell.'
So without further thought, for my first purchase within the mutational point store, in order to complete the eighth task that was handed out by the system. With my little side fish fins, I then lightly press upon the {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} option in order to purchase the mutational trait skill from the system.
[You have purchased the mutational trait {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} from the mutational point store. 3 mutation points have thereby been deducted from your account.]
[You have acquired the mutational trait {Soft-shell Exoskeleton}!]
The moment that I've purchased the mutational trait {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} from the mutational point store. I could instinctively feel the steady change that was being made to my body, altered by the system itself, as a translucent lump of gelatinous structure is thereby expelled from withinside my body. It somewhat resembles the puss being forcefully expelled through the opened pores.
The translucent lump of gelatinous structure then steadily thins out, as it forms a sheet of some sort, and then rapidly wraps itself around my entire body, just like body armour.
Although, the thin layer of somewhat translucent soft-shell exoskeleton covering the entirety of my fish body provides me with utmost to no protection due to how thin and soft the layer of an exoskeleton is. It is enough to somewhat block or impaired the bite of a newborn male infant Black Sea Devil Angler Fish from sinking deeply into my flesh.
[You have successfully completed your eighth task! Rewards are now being distributed!]
[You have received 4 mutation points!]
[8 mutation points.]
Continuing with whatever had previously transpired, I then bought more mutational traits from the mutational point store.
[You have purchased the mutational trait {Antenna} from the mutational point store. 2 mutation points have thereby been deducted from your account.]
[You have acquired the mutational trait {Antenna}!]
The moment that I've successfully bought the {Antenna} mutational trait from the mutation point store. I could instinctively feel the slight itchiness on my face, one that I could not scratch since I don't have any hands, and neither could my short length side tail fins ever reach the itchy area.
At the side of my head, two small studs then from underneath my layer of skin, before two long antennas then sprouted out from the two small studs at the side of my head.
'Not many people know this, but the reason why some crustaceans and small shellfish, in particular, have long antennas is that it is able to help them to perceive the movement of vibrations withinside water. Also, detecting the dispersed chemical elements, like electrolytes within the vast open waters, otherwise, are impossible to sense under normal circumstances. Or that is what presumed, from having read an article upon shrimps some time ago.' I thought so to myself.
I then thought, 'After buying the {Antenna} mutational trait. I should about have about 6 mutation points left within my arsenal.'
'Not letting the chance slip by. I then invest all of the remaining six mutation points I may have left withinside my arsenal to upgrade my {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} mutational trait skill to level 7.' I thought.
I've then invested all the remaining six mutation points that I may have leftover into the {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} mutational trait, thereby upgrading from level 1 to level 7 in one go, which was certainly impressive if I do say so myself.
[You have upgraded your {Soft-shell Exoskeleton Lv.1} to {Soft-shell Exoskeleton Lv.7}! 6 mutation points have been consumed for the upgrade!]
And almost instantly, the changes that are being made to my body after upgrading the mutational trait {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} to level 7 then occurred, as the thickness of the 1 mm thin layer exoskeleton then triples in thickness.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
As the soft thin layer of the exoskeleton that is constantly wrapped around my entire body then thickens, the hardness of the exoskeleton would thereby be increased, almost like adding three 1 mm sheets of paper together to make something like card paper. So in the end, the exoskeleton would begin to lose its transparency and thereby become even more opaque.
The system A. I then decided to give me some advice and information that I didn't already know, which was certainly kind of her.
[So if you manage to level up the mutational trait skill to level ten. The maximum mutational trait skill level. It would then trigger a mutation advancement in which the mutational trait skill would automatically be upgraded to the next tier level, and a possible derivative mutation trait that is related to the original mutational trait would thereby be acquired. If you are lucky enough.]
[For instance, if the {Soft-shell Exoskeleton} were to be upgraded to level 10. It would then become {Thick Exoskeleton}, with the level has been reset back to level 1, and it would then cost more mutation points to upgrade the mutational trait.]
'Cool. That is something that I don't know. I should keep that in mind whenever I spend my mutation points to try and upgrade my mutational traits.' I myself thought.
With that said and done, with nothing else to do, after finally completing all of the given tasks that were handed out by the system. I then continued to steadily hunt down the Bioluminescent Plankton in order to garner enough experience points to fill up the experience bar and levelled up to the next level.
Ding!
A couple of minutes later, I then heard the familiar sounds of the system notification ringing inside of my head, as a blue screen panel then appears in front of me.
[Experience points have reached a designated point! You have levelled up from Black Sea Devil Angler Fish {Infant} Lv.3 to Black Sea Devil Angler Fish {Infant} Lv.4!]
[All attribute stats has been increased due to levelling up growth modifier!]
[You have gained 1 mutation point!]
[You have gained 1 unallocated stats point!]
'Nice. I've managed to reached level 4 after hunting twenty to thirty or so of these small Bioluminescent Planktons. And one more level to go until I've maxed level, then I will be able to steadily advanced to the next stage of my species.' I thought.
I then thought to myself. 'The minuscule little Bioluminescent Plankton are quite small and provides almost zero little to no nutrients and biomass when consumed. So the stomach will hardly fill up. And due to their high numbers of populations within the vast deep blue sea. They make for perfect enough exp farms for small fishes like ourselves to grind for levels.'
So it took around ten to fifteen minutes for me to slaughter a vast number of Bioluminescent Planktons in order to gather enough experience points to reach level 5.
Ding!
I then heard the familiar sound of the system notification ringing inside of my head, and then a blue screen panel then immediately pops up right in front of me, thereby confirming my kill and level up notification.
[Experience points have reached a designated point! You have levelled up from Black Sea Devil Angler Fish {Infant} Lv.4 to Black Sea Devil Angler Fish {Infant} Lv.5!]
[All attribute stats has been increased due to levelling up growth modifier!]
[You have gained 1 mutation point!]
[You have gained 1 unallocated stats point!]
[You have reached the maximum level for Black Sea Devil Angler Fish {Infant}! You have thereby been promoted from Black Sea Devil Angler Fish {Infant} to Black Sea Devil Angler Fish {Juvenile}!]
[All attribute stats have been increased due to race advancement growth modifier! The user's levels have thereby been reset back to level 1!]
It was at this point in time that I can instinctively feel my body was quickly changing, as I was rapidly being promoted from the infant stage to the juvenile stage of the particularly male Black Sea Devil Angler Fish's race. The length of my fish body has grown slightly, just about exceeding the 3 cm border limit by a smaller margin.
At the same time, my race-level has been reset back to level 1, whilst I still get to keep all of my overall stats changes prior to my racial advancements, and after the race advancement growth modifier when I've evolved into the Black Sea Devil Angler fish juvenile phase.
'Status.' I then recited the keyword withinside my head in order to conjure up my status window. So that I could see what definitely change after I have been promoted from the infant to the juvenile stage of the Black Sea Devil Angler Fish race.
-----------------------------------------------
{Status Window}
Name: Arthur
Age: 1 day old
Gender: Male
Race: Black Sea Devil Angler Fish (Juvenile)
Class: Sea Creature
Family: Melanocetidae
Body Width: 1.62 cm
Body Length: 3.12 cm
Level: 1/20 {0/200 exp}
Titles: Reincarnator, Kin Slayer, Cannibal
Rank: F
Combat Power: 27 cp
-Stats/Attributes-
Health Point: 23/23
Stamina Point: 67/67
Hunger Point: 72/72
Magical Power: 46/46
Body Condition: Healthy {Stable}
Strength: 9
Agility: 12
Endurance: 11
Defence: 17
Dexterity: 8
Vitality: 12
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 12
Willpower: 12
Charisma: 6
Spirituality: 6
Luck: 6
2 unallocated mutation points!
4 unallocated stats points!
87 bio growth points!
---------------------------------------------
Traits:
Small Jaw Lv.1/10, Small Teeths Lv.3/10 Small Side Fin Lv.2/10, Small Top Fin Lv.1/10, Small Tail Fin Lv.5/10, Underdeveloped Stomach Lv.1/10, Enhanced Nose Lv.1/10, Narrow Vision Lv.1/10, Acid Saliva Lv.1/10, Shortfin Spin Lv.1/10, Soft-shell Exoskeleton Lv.7/10, Antenna Lv.1/10
Active Skills:
Bite Lv.1 (0%), Basic Mathematic Lv.1 (0%)
Passive Skills:
Night Vision Lv.2 (27%)
---------------------------------------------
'Not bad. My overall stats have risen by a large margin when compared to when I've first started, just right after I've first hatched out of the egg.' I thought so to myself.
A thought then occurred to me, as I then suddenly remembered something. 'Oh, that's right. I've completely forgotten about the whole bio growth points thing, and I've managed to accumulate a vast sum of bio growth points after killing a large number of bioluminescent planktons.'
'If I recalled correctly, you can exchange bio growth points for unallocated stats points in order to increase your stats attributes withinside your status window.' I thought.
The System A. I then immediately gave me the exchange rate for bio growth points to stats points of her own accord.
[10 bio growth points = 1 unallocated stats point]
I then invest all four of my unallocated stats points, that I've earned gradually as a level-up bonus, all into the endurance physical attribute stats to increase my overall health.
[4 unallocated stats points has thereby been invested into your endurance physical attribute stats. Your endurance attribute stats has been raised to 15. Your overall health points have thereby been raised to 27.]
Afterwards, I then exchanged 80 bio growth points for 8 additional unallocated stats points. In which, I will then invest all of the recently gained unallocated stats points into the Agility stats attribute in order to boost my maneuverability withinside open waters.
[80 bio growth points has been exchanged for 8 unallocated stats points!]
[You have gained 8 unallocated stats points!]
[8 unallocated stats points has thereby been invested into your agility physical attribute stats. Your agility attribute stats has been raised to 20!]
A fish swims by moving its tail fin (caudal fin) side to side. Whilst, each motion provides thrust and lift to propell the fish body forwards, it also creates a drag when the fin is angled to the side of the body as a stroke is being completed.
It takes more than just a simple fin to make a fish fast within open waters.
Fish swim by flexing their bodies and tail back and forth. The stretch will temporarily expand the muscles on one side of their body, whilst relaxing the muscles on the other side. This motion moves them forward through the water.
Fish use their back fin, called the caudal fin, to help push them push forwards through the vast opened waters.
So by investing alot of unallocated stats points into the agility stats attribute. Naturally, my body will actually adapt to these changes being made by system, by becoming alot more leaner and slightly developed to reduce tiring myself out, like the muscles within the legs of a marathon runner.