On the shore of a great sea, there lay a small, unremarkable little town. It wasn’t big enough or placed in a good location to be a point of trade, so most of the townsfolk made a living through fishing, in one way or another.
One of these fishing families was just about to set sail for another day on the open sea. There was, however, something special about this day after all.
The youngest of the family, the small Hubbe, was also aboard. It was to be his first day learning the family trade.
“You ready, Hubbe?” asked his father. Old man Wilkompf was only one of many in the town, but his years of experience were nothing to laugh at.
“Mm,” Hubbe nodded his head. Like most children of the town, he’d long been fascinated by the sea, though in a bit of a different way to the other kids.
While they wanted to sail over mighty waves and catch giant fish, he was more fascinated by what lay beneath the surface, what mysterious creatures lurk beneath the sea.
With everything prepared and ready, the duo finally set sail.
“Now, for today I’d mostly just like you to watch from the sidelines, alright Hubbe? That way you can see how it’s done and have an idea of the whole process.”
Hubbe nodded once more, already fantasising about other things. For example, what he may find if he leaned overboard, surely then he’d get to see the denizens of the watery depths.
The day passed, slowly but peacefully. With the sky as clear as can be, there was no worry over being caught in a storm or being flipped by large waves.
Meanwhile, Hubbe was bored. He had been since pretty much the very beginning, when Wilkompf admonished him for not paying attention to him but the water. So, he had to resort to his usual tactic, appear attentive while secretly daydreaming.
Only once the sun began to fall from the sky, and they gradually turned around to head back, could be do what he wished. Which ended up simply staring into the water again.
This time, however, it wouldn’t be for nought.
Just as they were approaching full speed on their way back, Hubbe spotted something. There, deep beneath the water, shimmered a faint light. Only barely strong enough to be seen in the setting sun, it would have been invisible during the day.
“Dad! Dad, look! There’s something in the water!” Hubbes face took on a childlike glow. This is exactly what he’s always dreamed about.
His father, ever the stoic fisherman he was, didn’t let that shake him. The ocean was a strange and mysterious place and there’s no telling what one might find within.
“What is it?” he asked, “Is it moving?”
“No, I think it’s still!” said Hubbe, still excited.
“And do you think you can reach it?”
Hubbe was a bit taken aback by this question. No one had ever really understood his fascination with what lay in the water, so his father actually being on the same wavelength as him came as a surprise. Still, he didn’t let it bother him for long, much more excited about the prospect of seeing what he discovered.
“I think I can.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Then what are you waiting for, daylight’s wasting.”
That was all the encouragement Hubbe needed. Barely waiting for a moment more, he jumped straight in, swimming down as fast as he could.
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Ahhhhhh, eating corals is such a long and arduous process! If only I could be a different starfish species, something with actual hunting capabilities. But alas, I have to sit still and let time do all the work. Once again.
I know this is only my third life so far, but it isn’t really promising that two of them have relied on afk strategies so far.
> You killed a level 1 Coral. You gained some experience.
>
> You reached level 3!
>
> You gained 2 Attribute Points!
Yes! Took me long enough. There are still two more levels to go until I get to select a path again. At least I gain more points per level now. Maybe it's based on my starting attributes? I think those were 2 too this time.
Oh well, onto the next one. Levelling doesn’t just happen by itself.
I slowly untangle myself from the now dead coral and begin moving. My next target isn’t that far away, they are corals after all, but I’m also not exactly the fastest creature in the west. Is west even a thing in the ocean? Actually, does whatever world I’m in even have a west?
Anyway, progress report!
> Name:
>
> Creature type: Starfish (adult)
>
> Level: 3
>
> Strength: 2
> Dexterity: 2
> Constitution: 10
>
> Skills:
> >> Meditation level 31 (64)
>
> Abilities:
> >> Harden
> >> Mucus Production
> >> (innate) Metamorphosis
>
> Traits:
> >> Water Breathing
> >> (innate) Regeneration
> >> (innate) Bioluminescence
> >> (innate) Past Life Holdover
> >> (innate) Reincarnator
> >> (innate) At Least A Little Human
Yeah, just as I’d expected. Meditation is growing much faster than it did previously, faster than it has any right to be. I mean, I’m almost halfway to my previous best and it definitely hasn’t been half of my last life.
And, hopefully without jumping too far to a conclusion, I can guess this expedited levelling is going to stop at my previous max, so 64. So that’s pretty neat.
It does mean I have another option for more or less permanent strength other than my innate abilities. This avenue does however need time to ripen, so I shouldn’t focus on it to the detriment of others.
In other news, I decided no to dump all of my attribute points into constitution this time. I’ve graciously allowed one of them to go to dexterity. In the hopes of just a little bit more speed and maybe, if I’m lucky, also in the hopes of gaining enough fidelity in my arms to do some crafting.
I’m ripped out of my musings by a sudden shift of the ocean currents. Something new is swimming in these waters, and it’s big. Several magnitudes larger than me.
A bit panicked now; I do my best to look around. The visibility isn’t the best, but surely, I’ll be able to spot something with all my eyes. Yet, there’s nothing. Just the same old coral landscape.
Despite what my sight is telling me, the currents do not lie. There’s definitely something large in the area and worst of all, it seems to be getting closer to me.
What could it be? An octopus? I think those eat starfish? But why now of all times? Surely, I would’ve known of it sooner it this were the hunting ground of an octopus.
Then something grabs me, and lifts me off the ocean floor. Shit, I forgot about looking up.
I can’t properly make out what it is, but I think I see a sort of humanoid silhouette. Oh, I’m really screwed now, aren’t I?
We start moving up. Up, up, towards the surface.
C’mon, there must be something I can do here! What abilities do I have? Harden, mucus production, metamorphosis… wait, that’s it! Harden!
I really, really, really wish this works and isn’t just a badly remembered factoid I read once.
I concentrate and harden just one of my arms, the one by which the creature is holding me. Then, with a bit of trepidation, I flex and twist my muscles.
Riiiiiiiip.
Oooooh, ouch! God damn it that hurts! But at least I’m falling back down to the floor. With one final look back, I notice something I almost forgot about.
The arm held by the creature, the one I just ripped out of myself, is emitting a soft, bluish-white glow. How I could I have forgotten about that! My stupidly selected trait!
Oh, I must’ve been a beacon for any predators the entire time I’ve been here! It’s a miracle no one’s bothered me until now. Great, that’s another problem on my plate now.
Not only do I have to figure out the whole “becoming a better creature” thing, now there’s also worrying about missing an arm (and how long until it regrows) AND I have to figure out how to stop my bioluminescence.
At least with regeneration I don’t have to worry about my arm missing permanently.
Alright, whatever. I’ll deal with this all tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep. With that I crawl into a crevice just small enough for me to enter, use harden to increase my size so that nobody will be able to pull me out, and promptly fall asleep.