Volume One Arc 01: Blue Star Chapter 1: Respawn
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The date is June 23rd 2019. A world-defining event has occurred that would forever change the course of mankind's history. One that is on par or even greater than the scale of that one big meteorite that has managed to successfully wipe out all of the existing dinosaurs.
In the blink of an eye, everything that we have managed to simply build up till this point; the thousands of years of history, starting from the mere first stick-wielding primates in the jungle to the now highly advanced technological science civilisation as we know it today. The hundreds of meters tall skyscrapers and fancy architectural buildings are simply washed away by the Great Flood.
An ever-rising Great Flood that has managed to terraform the entirety of the planet Earth; within a matter of seconds, everything was indeed buried beneath the thousands of kilometres of deep ocean waters. Mankind has become like the old sunken Titanic ship, a mere relic of the old distant past and an ancient modern civilisation that has gone extinct.
And it all seems to have begun with the sudden appearance of a huge gargantuan dimensional gate, a doorway that seems to connect Earth towards another dimensional plane of existence. the size of more than half of the largest continent in the world (Asia), appeared above the western regions of the Atlantic Ocean.
As gigantic sea monsters and oceanic creatures began to rapidly spawn out from the dimensional gate. They invade both the Earth's large oceanic eco-system and the land wildlife, thereby bringing great changes.
A colossal sea serpent, roughly over a kilometre long in length, the size of four average size ferry combine; its mere presence alone is enough to stir up ocean waves, causing sea storm, and create turbulent winds. When its huge body drops drown from the sky and hit the large body of water, the massive impact was enough to cause a large ripple within the ocean waters, which invoke a huge massive tidal wave which swept over the entirety of the United Kingdom.
The giant tsunami wave, generated by the colossal sea serpent, crashed into the west coast side of the British Isles and quickly made its way towards the mainland. Within seconds, it swept across the entirety of Ireland and the south side of the British Isles.
The momentum of the tsunami didn't even slow down a bit, as it continues to rise even more, and sped up, under the control of an outside external force that is much stronger than mother nature herself.
The wave struct the many metropolitan areas in some major cities; uprooting some trees, destroyed houses and buildings, as they are forcefully carried on over by the strong turbulent currents. Clashing amongst each other, until they are reduced to a pile of rubble.
In under an hour, the entire population of the UK was submerged under the water, their long-living existence was extinguished from the face of the Earth. As millions of lives were lost as result, but no one was able to stop it nor prevent it, with the water sea level continue to rise rapidly, affecting all continental areas and countries, reducing the size of their mainland to a fraction of what it once was.
Everything was swept away by the oceanic sea waves; the long-standing architectural history of what mankind has made up to this moment, slowly crumbled down like wet sands. And in its wakes, the numerous dead bodies of humans and animals alike, in death they are one of the same, suspended underwater until they float to the surface by themselves.
It happened in an instant, as a large body of seawater soon covered the mainland. The painful sensation of being under intense water pressure, as the partial weight of the ocean waters, is pressed completely against my body.
Saltwater touching every inch of my body, as I slowly sink into the depths of the ocean waters, trapped underneath the debris of some collapsed building. I have no way to escape.
Small air bubbles escaped from my mouth, as my lungs are quickly being displaced with seawater. I quickly resigned to my fates, without question asks. My field of visions impeded for being submerged underwater, as I stared upwards, glancing at the fleeting paths of sunlight; white swirls of light refracted off the surface of the water.
There are numerous shoals of fishes, some that I have never before seen, are swimming amongst the upper sea levels of the sunken British Isles.
'So this is death, huh?' I thought so to myself.
Continuing on where I left off, 'Where I will be killed off by some kind of unnatural disaster...'
'Goodbye world...' The last words of my voice (thought) before departing from this world.
Day 001
Ding!
A mechanical beep resounded inside my head. From within the pitch blackness of the mind, a visual blue pop up screen then appears before me.
System Notification [Welcome newcomer to the great world of Croettiosos...]
A greeting message welcoming me to the new world appeared before me, but my mind was a bit too hazy and clouded, unresponsive to that short of a stimulus. So I passively ignored it without a second thought.
After some time has passed, I then felt something, as the lingering sense of unending tiredness and weakness began to fade away from my body. A resounding heartbeat, though quite quiet but is still beating slow, therefore proving that I am alive.
'The feeling of being alive...' I thought so to myself.
'I'm happy knowing that I'm able to move my body, but somehow my body felt somewhat different and I can't just put my hands on top of it.' Moving the parts of my body, I noticed that I have several limps. 'Too much to even count...'
Unaware of the fact that I have been reincarnated as a Ghost Shrimp. The Ghost Shrimp species fall under the decapod crustacean section, as their bodies are segmented and consist of 10 pairs of legs. The first four sets of legs have tiny claws at the end of them that helps it pick up things, one ordinary, and the last 5 pairs are swimming legs.
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I noticed that my crustacean-like body is submerged in some kind of fluid. It felt a bit sticky, as it sticks to my soft bare skin (shell).
I am trapped in some sort of tight space, surrounded by a soft gelatinous translucent like spherical structure, that resembles an amphibious egg of some kind. 'Have I been reborn?' I started to question myself. It was then, did I remembered that I did die.
'Is this an egg, or am I in some kind of pod. What am I even? Am I even still logically human anymore?' I inferred, jumping to baseless conclusions, based on the recent information that I've collected.
This still does not yet quell my sense of unrest. I still haven't gotten over my death yet, but since I was not that too attached to my last life. It didn't take me that long to accept the fact that I've died and been reborn in someplace.
A first-hand experience of reincarnation, with my memories and personality left intact, that must be something of a great fortune. 'I am now curious about what I have now reincarnated into, seeing as how I am now submerged underwater, in a gelatinous semi-transparent egg. I must be some kind of aquatic animal.' I thought to myself.
'A fish, probably not.' I immediately rejected that idea, 'Since I could feel that I numerous limps; countless legs, but no fins. So it's gonna be some sort of shellfish/crustaceans.' I assumed.
Tapping my many feet against the translucent eggshell, I could feel a strange sensation. It's not like the typical sensation of having skin touching against a smooth surface. It's more like wearing exterior clothing, in a sense, it's more akin to armour.
'I am a shrimp.' I came to a logical conclusion based on my findings.
It was time for me to emerge out of my shell, as I twist and turn, with my numerous spiney lance-like legs, I pierced into the eggshell interior. It putting a strain on the pale translucent oval cage of organic material. It then ripped apart like paper, piece by piece, it broke.
'I am now free.' I happily exclaimed.
Emerging out from the translucent oval-shaped eggshell, my body floats suspended in the body water. Instinctively, relying on my instinct, my body reacted, as my many arrays of feet start kicking, spurring backwards in motions, propelling me forwards. This sort of feeling...
'It is amazing. Now I understand why aquatic life feels so interesting. Its way of life is certainly quite different compare to us land mammals.' I thought.
Swimming across the ocean seabed, my interest in aquatic life is piqued. With my sense of curiosity fulfilled, I raised my legs upwards, seeing many spiney like spider legs. I can only come to a logical conclusion.
'I am a Shrimp. Well, life as a shrimp won't be too bad. It would at least be interesting for a start.' I thought.
Amidst my discovery, a small aquatic critter, crescent body shaped, covered in translucent white shell armour, swims steadily past me.
A creature that resembles a shrimp. It's tiny and young, pure white, with semi-developed shell exoskeleton. Fully black pupils. It's developed whiskers swirling around as it moves. The creature is of the same kind of species as me.
'It was not alone.' I thought as I saw more of my brethren.
There were as many as hundreds or even thousands of us, baby shrimps, floating around beneath the ocean seabed. Thousands of empty or sometimes broken translucent eggshells filled the ocean seabed. It left a moment of awe in me, as I gazed back at my birthplace, the place of my birth.
Sometime later, my small belly began to rumble, as I've felt a slumbering sense of hunger behold me.
'I'm hungry!' I thought.
The first obstacle that arrived after my reincarnation and that is acquiring food. Where would I get the food? What do shrimps even eat in the first place?
'If I recall. I remembered watching a nature wildlife video, that wild shrimps in the ocean would eat plant matter, dead fish, clams, snails and crabs, worms and any other decaying organic matter they find. Basically a scavenger. Pure omnivores, as they would eat anything they would find...' I thought.
'Finding dead carcasses of deceased animals would be quite difficult, but not impossible. However, wandering away from the nest is a safe idea.' I thought.
An idea suddenly came to mind, as I eagerly swam down deep to the ocean seabed, landing on the rocky ground. My landing then sends a small flurry of sand in all directions. Curious to test the experiment, I eagerly made my made to the area, that is packed full with broken eggshells.
With my small tiny mandible, I start to nibble and devour on the broken bits of the shattered gelatinous translucent eggshells.
System Notification [You have consumed the broken remains of the Ghost Shrimp's eggshells...]
System Notification [High Calcium concentration detected...] [Due to being in an early infancy stage, 48 hours after birth, the host will experience accelerated evolutionary growth...]
'Evolutionary growth...' I commented.
System Notification [Due to being in an accelerated evolutionary phase. The high concentration of calcium detected in the host's body has hastened the development of the host's exoskeleton. The prerequisite racial skill { Weak Armour Lv1}{ Reinforced Exoskeleton Lv1} { Tier 1 Defence up Lv1} acquired...]
'Well, cool! I've obtained skills and abilities. This is so much more like a game than I thought.' I commented.
Feeling contented, I continued to happily devour on the remains of the eggshells, till I am full. Though the taste may be a bit mild and tasteless, the salty contents of the ocean waters, somehow affected my tastebuds.
'I will have to make do with this for now until I've levelled up my defences, sufficient enough to increase my chance of survival.' I thought.
As my small belly starts to grow bigger, I'm becoming a lot fatter. Me, a fat shrimp. However, due to the accelerated evolutionary phase, my growth rate is being accelerated, and the calories I've built up are being burned at an extreme rate, converting the excess nutrients into organic material to strengthen my exoskeleton.
Slowly, as I continued to diet on the eggshells, my semi-transparent white exoskeletons then become a lot thicker, stronger, and durable. Enough to be able to withstand many blows. However, there is no guarantee that there is no such predator that could easily devour me in one bite, because of the size differences.
'It is only logical to think of this kind of situation, as the deep ocean is extremely vast.' I commented.
System Notification [You have reached the maximum skill proficiency. The skill { Weak Armor Lv1} has become { Weak Armor Lv2}...]
System Notification [You have reached the maximum skill proficiency. The Skill { Reinforced Exoskeleton Lv1} has become { Reinforced Exoskeleton Lv2}...]
System Notification [You have reached the maximum skill proficiency. The skill { Tier 1 Defence up Lv1} has become { Tier 1 Defence up Lv2}...]
The original semi-transparent white exoskeleton starts to become a lot more opaque, losing the transparency, as I increased the levels of my {Reinforced Exoskeleton} skill.
System Notification [You have reached the maximum skill proficiency. The skill { Tier 1 Defence up Lv2} has become { Tier 1 Defence up Lv3}...]
When night vastly approaches, darkness soon covers the underwater seabed. The only source of light in this vast aquatic life area comes from the moon. The crescent-shaped moon, though it gave off the minimalist amount of light, it is still far from enough to light up a path for the nocturnal creatures of the night.
Similar to others, I alongside my other siblings, burrowed our bodies into the grounds. The dirt soil stuck to our bodies, camouflaging us from incoming predators.