People always have an opinion on everything, no matter how informed, or educated they are on the topic. And by everything I mean everything.
This holds true for the deep sea as well; Many a person develops an image connected to pitch-black darkness. An image absolute nothingness. They say it's due to the lack of sunlight that reaches down there. Usually sunlight serves as a source of energy for all living beings, no sunlight means a constant pressure to preserve the little energy that is gained from other sources, like food or some shit like Mana-currents. This should lead to stillness and serenity, right?
Wrong.
The depths of the ocean are always moving and full of action, a never-sleeping ecosystem where every being is fighting for survival at all times. There's no time to worry about stupid things like preserving energy because you'll run out of it before you finished your thought. A predator is only prey in the eyes of a stronger predator after all, and both prey and predator are plenty. Continue this thought and at some point we reach the top of the food chain. And what happens when you find yourself at this very top? Simple, the truly strong gain the privilege of doing whatever they want.
And that´s where Mari comes in. She may not be the strongest — to be honest she may not even be considered strong, as of yet — but she´s definitely not the weakest. Proof of that would be the carnage before her, of the species that´s existence she just ended single-handedly.
Currently, this squid girl lies on top of a soft pile of sand, panting heavily from the extreme sensations that shot through her body from absorbing five of the strongest [Lance Sharks] in one go. Her petite hips are somewhat shaking from the aftermath.
´Ugh I can't move... this was... too much...´
Too much... Though she says that, she wouldn´t hesitate for even a second if she could do it one more time.
´Whatever smartass. More importantly, this should´ve been about enough Life-Essence, right? There were a bunch of messages I didn't have the capacity to focus on... or else I'd've gone crazy.´
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1344 Life-Essence has been Absorbed!
Level Up! You have reached: Level 93 (1224 / 920)!
Level Up! You have reached: Level 94 (304 / 930)!
Stats increased!
Absorbed Life-Essence is compatible with [Fast Swimming]: 1344
[Fast Swimming] has reached: Level 93 (271 / 940)
Absorbed Life-Essence is compatible with [Poison Resistance]: 1344
[Poison Resistance] has reached: Level 73 (537 / 740)
Absorbed Life-Essence is compatible with [Concoct Poison]: 1344
Congratulations! You have obtained a new [Skill]!
Please follow instructions for [Concoct Poison]!
´Huh? Are you kidding me? What instructions? Do you know how long it took to gather all that Life-Essence? Just give me the [Skill] already!´
---
Gathering of compatible Life-Essence for [Concoct Poison] completed. Please choose from 1 / 3 random recipes.
1. [Lance Shark Poison]
A relatively weak poison that can be lethal if injected in large amounts. 20x potency on [Acro Whales]
Rarity: SSS Lethality: C+ Effect: D
2. [Deadly Nightshade]
A strong poison that brings upon death.
Rarity: C Lethality: A+ Effect: F
3. [Curare]
A poison with paralytic properties. Concentration can be adjusted. Used in ancient times to keep prey immobile but alive.
Rarity: A Lethality: E Effect: A-
'Huh, nevermind, that's a bit simpler than I thought it'd be.'
The girl smiles happily and sweeps over the transluscent blue screen with her fingers where the three options are presented. The choice is so easy that she doesn't even need to think about it: There's no point in killing her prey outright because she wouldn't get any Life-Essence from it. And if worse came to worst, she's fairly confident in her ability to escape. But if her enemies can't move, it'd make things so much easier. So...
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Incorporation of [Curare] in progress. Please wait...
'Incorporation...?'
Suddenly, Mari's whole body falls into a spasming shiver. Her soft skin is covered in goosebumps as all strength leaves her. Then a severe pain introduces itself, piercing every inch of her being, feeling worse than the torture of a billion rusty needles. She should be somewhat used to the sensation of needles and piercing with all her time spent confronting the [Lance Sharks], but no, this is different. The anguish digs and squirms in all her weak spots she didn't even know she had, making her cry her lungs out, making her brain almost explode.
[Curare] successfully added to your Arsenal!
Then everything is over, as if it never happened to begin with. Mari — now lying face down in the sand, and too afraid of moving — finally decides to step above her fears and turns her head to the side. There she looks at the suckers of one of her tentacles. The goosebumps she felt earlier still remain there. Or that's what it looks like at first, because after squinting her pitch-black eyes she figures the bumps are actually prickles. They look as painful as what she felt just a moment ago, so they're most likely also responsible for the torture, a billion tiny needles. She shivers, swept by a cold feeling, she wants them to disappear. And so they do. Mari stops, then tilts her head, wondering. Can she make them appear again? Yes, yes she can. It's like a cat or lion controlling its claws, putting them away or on display, but they're prickles. Prickles capable of producing paralytic poison apparently. With her characteristic stupid smile plastered all over her face, she hides them again before calling them out once more. Gone, there, gone, there, gone, there. To put it short, she plays around with her new ability for a bit.
'I'll... need to get used to this...´
´More importantly what the fuck are cats?´
-- -- --
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[Deep Tuna] 32 / 32 (Paralyzed - Low)
'Interesting...' Mari thinks, one of her limbs tightening around the unfortunate test subject. Her free tentacles squirm against each other behind her head, which is the physical manifestation of her excitement.
The [Deep Tuna] struggles in her human-like hand in hopes to get away with its life, but the squid girl doesn´t really notice their weak resistance anymore. The [Deep Tuna] have become so much smaller and cuter compared to before, she feels. That is to say, the fish aren't small by any means, it's more like they aren't as big anymore.
Being lost in her own world — as she is so often — Mari's one tentacle which has its prickles out and under the scales of the fish, has been continuing to administer poison. After a while, Mari sees her prey's window change:
---
[Deep Tuna] 32 / 32 (Paralyzed - Intermediate)
In a fit of curiosity, Mari releases her struggling science pet and lets it run. Naturally, she doesn't even need to make an effort to keep up with it. She wouldn't need to normally, so with the fish poison-infused she could call the chase a relaxing jog at most.
The [Deep Tuna] is far from happy with that. Not only will its body not listen to commands like it normally does, with each forced stroke its muscles will cramp and hurt like a bitch. At some point it simply gives up and stops moving, shortly after it begins to sink. Mari catches it before it can fall too deep, or more like grabs its fin with two fingers. One of her tentacles surges to the side of the fish's body again. Intermediate Paralysis seems like it would suffice in most situations, she notes the observed effects in the back of her mind, but the experiment isn´t over yet as her curiosity remains yet to be satiated. She wants to know what would happen if she injects more.
---
[Deep Tuna] 32 / 32 (Paralysed - High)
And even more.
---
[Deep Tuna] 32 / 32 (Paralysed - MAX)
After a good ten minutes Mari reaches what she assumes is the final stage. The poison used up quite a bit of her [Mana], furthermore it took incredibly long to show results reaching the last two stages. Not to forget her test subject was a [Deep Tuna] that doesn´t have any [Poison Resistance] — she assumes — and is weak in general. Either the poison lacks potency, or it´s just not intended to go for anything above Intermediate. Well, seeing the last stage of paralysis blinking on screen and the [Deep Tuna] dying immediately after, Mari doesn´t see any reason to waste her [Mana] for no reason anyways. Though she needs to give it a good thought how to use the poison in future fights. She took it with the intention to weaken enemies that she wouldn´t be able to hold down otherwise after all. Seeing that it´s extremely easy to infuse in close-combat, she nods her head a few times with a good feeling about her choice. The squid girl lets her lifeless prey fall out of her hand, the corpse drifts in the water as stiff as a stick. Mari shrugs as she observes it sink out of her view.
´Testing successful for now, I guess? Only I couldn´t get my daily dose of fun, so let´s fix that,´ she thinks without a care, only to choke on the water as she turns around and sees someone behind.
Upper body looks close to hers, but lower body is like a shiny fish. Furthermore, there's a bit too much Life-Essence coming from them.
---
[Merfolk Princess] - 13278/13278
Suddenly, her eyebrows furrow. The Princess carefully swims closer to Mari, she does it so slowly it feels more like she´s asking for permission to approach her than anything. Though Mari knows full well that isn't the case. She retreats just as slowly as the Princess, keeping a set distance between the two. Her tentacles reach forward in an uncoordinated manner, almost as if they had a mind of their own, taking a fighting position to protect their master. The Princess squints her eyes as if to investigate. She keeps her squint for a second before closing her eyes fully as if she understood something. Then, her eyes burst open and her face twists into an expression that makes the insides of Mari's stomach feel like a raging underwater current—it almost makes her vomit. Mari´s heartbeat quickens. There's hostility in the water. She feels a black layer of ooze excrete on her smooth skin, her very personal sweat if you will. If she wants to live, she better get out of here. Now.