I slowly made my way through the beautiful incandescent land(aqua?)scape whilst looking out for anything big enough worth chasing. My first thought was the massive eel that scared the shit out of me earlier, but then I realized that my balls ain’t big enough for something like that. Yet.
Small groups of even smaller fish steered well away from me, which is pretty smart considering I’m a hundred times their size, but it's also quite assuming of them since why the fuck would they think their worth my time? Feelers.
After a minute of wandering around, I spotted a few of, what looked like, a frenzied group of about a meter-long sharks that had glowing, leopard print skin just a couple tens of meters ahead of me. As I slowly got closer, they seemed to be feasting on a fresh grouper carcass. If I had a nickel for every dead grouper I’ve seen today, I’d have two nickels, it’s not much but it’s weird that it happened twice. Also, I’m pleasantly surprised by how good my eyesight is.
I sped up a bit, partially cause’ I can’t handle being hungry any longer but also because I wanna get some experience leveling up. I remembered that I only had one out of ten experience points needed to get to level two so far. Where did that one point come from? As always, I have no idea. I’ll just ask Sam later and if I’m lucky she won’t bitch too much before actually answering the question.
“Why aren’t you using your skill?”, Sam asked without the usual contemptuous tone. “Echolocation could’ve helped you with finding decent food faster.”
‘Sure it’ll help me find more prey faster, but I kind of feel like getting my first meal the old-fashioned way, you know?’, I answered while slightly speeding up. The rumbling in my stomach getting louder by the minute.
“You do know that echolocation is something whales normally have, right? You really are a dumbass, huh? I really should lower my expectations from you.”, she said, back to her usual bitchiness. But this time, she’s actually right. Shit. Why the fuck didn’t I think of that?
‘Well, how do you use the skill anyways?’, I said, not slowing down for anything. The sharks can probably see me now, but they might be dumber than me since they’re still preoccupied with the poor grouper.
“Forget it, I’ll tell you later, just keep your mind on hunting for now. You’ll need to somewhat focus whenever using a skill, or rather invoking it. You could do it the old-fashioned way which will help a lot in the long run since you seem to like how that’s going for you, but since you’ve never done it before, it’ll take a lot of brain power, something you so obviously lack.”
Ouch. I hate my dumbass now. Is this karma for how I treated her in Chapter 1?
The sharks were now just a stone’s throw away from me, or whatever that would translate to underwater. The dumber members of the group, now aware of the danger they’re in, nibbled on the last of their meal before they started to dash off. The smarter ones knew better than to stick around after seeing me start swimming towards them at full speed. Heaps of sand, shells, fragments of dead corals, and smaller creatures were blown away with every flap of my fluke. Other fish knew better than to stay close after witnessing a few get rammed by a 900-kilogram whale eager for its first meal. I opened my mouth wide to welcome the unlucky bastards. The first victim was the dumbest and hungriest of them all, staying behind to make sure that none of the grouper bits went to waste, only to become my appetizer. As soon as I caught hold of it, I began to chew. Crushing and munching on the tail, then moving up to its innards, which spilled a bit as I kept my pace while eating like my life depended on it, which it did. The scattered entrails soon became a blessing for the smaller fish on the sidelines, probably thankful for my wondrous blessing upon them, or just grateful that they weren’t big enough to be chased by me. The shark moved and thrashed as much as it could even after having half of its body gone, but all of its strength quickly faded as I reached its head and swallowed. It’s kinda gritty, definitely not my taste.
But just like a certain little mermaid, I want more.
I advanced towards the nearest terrified shark, uncaring for their rather subpar taste, rushed it, and got myself a mouthful. I’m too hungry to be picky about what I eat right now, but I might have an idea as to what a sperm whale would deem delicious…
I continued gorging myself on the dumbasses that were too dumb and gluttonous to start swimming away earlier, making quick work of one gritty piece of shit after another until the water around was murky with blood and the bystanders had all had their fill of the bits and pieces. Just like that, a total of six sharks ended up feeding me and around a hundred or so other fish in just one night. Their sacrifices were definitely not in vain. I, for one, now have the leisure to continue exploring the reef, the system interface, me and my trusty partner's dynamic, as well as planning for the future. Despite how much of a dumbass I may seem, I know the importance of planning for the future instead of candidly idling my days away. Although I do like being candid, a healthy mix of both would help in making sure that I survive.
Now that I’m full, I’m starting, what’s the point of surviving in here anyway? I know it’s a second chance at life, but I doubt I was a person that would have many regrets. I’m starting to realize that spending a hundred years as a whale might become stale soon enough, save for the many, many dangers lurking in the waters.
Look at me getting a mid-life crisis at the young age of a few hours old. I almost forgot that I had the system to count on spicing things up, as well as Sam to give me moral support. Scratch that last part, I feel she’s gonna be the one to drive me to my grave.
‘Open.’
Level: 2
Experience Points: 4/25
Race: Sperm Whale
Physeter macrocephalus
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Stats:
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 9
Charisma: 12
Stat Points: 3
Abilities:
Echolocation: Level 1
Description: Your keen sense of echolocation allows you to navigate through the underwater environment with ease, detect prey, and sense potential threats.
Range: 10 Meters
As I thought, I got stat points for leveling up. I may be acting all cool about this, but if I had legs, I’d be jumping up and down and all around already while giggling like an idiot. Or well, at least more of an idiot than I already am. Realizing my brain’s shortcomings, I decided to consult Sam on which stat I should use my points on.
‘So uhm, Sam, any advice on which stats I should invest in first?’, I asked sheepishly.
“Why not go for intelligence first since calling you a dumbass is already a huge understatement.”
True, but ouch. I’m really feeling the karma.
‘Well said bitch. But may I ask, what’s the difference between wisdom and intelligence? I think I might have an idea but I’m probably wrong anyway so yeah.’ I said. I’ll just bear with the verbal beating for now, it‘s only the third chapter so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to have my revenge.
“Since you’re asking so nicely, I’ll happily oblige. Where were all these niceties when we first met, huh?”
‘Just get on with it.’ I said as I hovered around the reef and familiarized myself with its ins and outs. A closer inspection led to a discovery of a series of caverns formed after several generations of corals piled on top of each other, with some of these caverns having enough space for even me to swim into.
“Intelligence is simply the ability to think logically and some might even claim, learn quickly. Higher intelligence lets one conceptualize ideas faster and even improves the quality of said ideas. Wisdom, however, most often refers to insight into one’s or other’s nature, as well as life experience. In even simpler terms, wisdom is the ability to understand the self and others, through the lenses of the individual’s experiences and knowledge.”, she said matter-of-factly.
‘I see… I guess you could say that intelligence is being book-smart whilst wisdom is being street-smart, yeah?’
“You could say that.”
‘Well then, although I haven’t explored the entirety of the reef, and I doubt I ever will, I don’t think anything could threaten my life right now aside from the eel and myself.’ I said as I swam up the surface to breathe. This business of having to resurface every hour or so to breathe is kind of worrying, what if my dumbass forgets that I don’t have gills?
I input my available points into intelligence and wisdom, making sure that both of them are at least in the double digits. I thought that maybe investing in my brain would yield better results when strategizing.
Level: 2
Experience Points: 4/25
Race: Sperm Whale
Physeter macrocephalus
Stats:
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 12
Abilities:
Echolocation: Level 1
Description: Your keen sense of echolocation allows you to navigate through the underwater environment with ease, detect prey, and sense potential threats.
Range: 10 Meters
The available stat points section vanished the moment it dropped to zero. I stared blankly at the system’s screen, still partially not believing that I finally had my own. Of my reaction and attitude toward the interface, I probably consumed LitRPG content like crazy.
‘Close.’
As I hovered near the surface, countless stars littered the night sky, making sure that every blotch of darkness was pierced by starlight. The distant moons gave an ethereal glow that I could only describe as enchanting. Nearby galaxies made themselves seen through the little patches of color; I could see at least five at a glance. Their beauty is apparent even light-years away as if they were spatial beauty pageants competing with each other for the attention of anyone that would give the time to ruminate upon the scene. One might get an existential crisis from witnessing this otherworldly wonder, but I found myself being grateful. Grateful to whoever decided to have him here, for this scene is enough compensation. If I had to become nocturnal just to have more time to stare at this view, I would.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I guess improving your brain’s stats gave you the ability to appreciate the pureness of nature.”, she said teasingly. I think, with respect for the grandness of the sky, a truce is needed.
‘It’s gorgeous. But I doubt that anyone would need much intelligence or wisdom to appreciate this scene.’
“That’s true. But then again, you never would have seen something like this back on Earth cause’ of all that pollution around.”
“I mean, yeah, but… yeah you’re right. We missed out on this.”, I said solemnly.
A couple of minutes passed by in comfortable silence. The occasional comet zipped through the starry sky. I’ll make sure to cherish moments such as these because, in this hellish abyss, you’ll never know until your someone’s next meal. Just like how those sharks fell prey to me, nothing is stopping anything from doing the same to me.
‘Hey Sam?’, I asked still in a contemplative mood.
“Yeah?”, she said. She seems to be enjoying the view as much as I do. That thought alone leads to a bunch of questions about her, mostly about who she works for, what her work really is about, and if she's seeing things from my eyes.
‘Could you tell me about this world? I realized I know way too little about the planet I live in.’
“This planet is officially called the 34th Coliseum. But no one really calls it that. We call it the G-34.”
‘Mhm… the fact that this is the 34th means that there are numerous variants of this world.’
“Right. There’s not a lot I’m cleared to tell you. But I can tell you this, surviving will get you freedom. It will be a terribly long journey, but if the endgame is as they say it is, you’ll get your freedom.”
‘I’m guessing you’re not allowed to tell me what you mean by “freedom” too, right? It’s a rather vague term in this sense. Also, there must be more of these Beta-Testers like me.’
“Both of the assumptions you made are correct. There are currently a total of 3,418,567 living Beta-Testers in G-34 as of this moment. The oldest having have stayed here for at least 200 years, whilst the youngest being you.”, she said. Her usual bitchiness was replaced with professionalism.
‘Are all the Beta-Testers deceased humans?’
“No. We source the souls we use from various worlds housing intelligent life. That means you will encounter hyper-evolved alien life in the future if you get to live until that point. The nearest Beta-Tester to you is approximately 600-750 nautical miles away from you. Assistants are barred from giving out the specific location of other BTs to theirs, except for some very special circumstances.”
‘I see. I’m not hoping, but are you allowed to tell me why there are BTs in the first place, why we’re put into these planets, and why we’re called “Beta-Testers” in the first place?’
“I can’t answer your first and second question, at least I can’t answer it outright… The third question, I can’t give a sure answer, but I do have my guesses.” It seems she’s warming up to me if she’s willing to give me context clues in order to answer my questions.
‘I guess there’s some things about this situation that even you’re not aware of. I can already guess the answers to my first two questions, but I’m sure you won’t be able to confirm them anyway. But are you allowed to share your guesses with me? Or at least a hint.’ As much as I hate to admit it, improving my intelligence and wisdom is proving to be really helpful.
“The 34th Coliseum is the last of the G-34 series.”, she blurted.
‘That’s… how many more Beta-Testers will there be after me?’
“”You're the last one."
The waves crashing was all that was heard as little bits and pieces began clicking together. A theory slowly formulated inside my mind. A theory that I’m quite unsure of the implications of, if it is true.
‘Thanks for answering my questions, Sam.’
“No worries. You seem to be picking up on things pretty fast now.”
The sunlight peeked from the edge of the ocean, eager to lead to begin the day. The starlight faded whilst the moons were swallowed by the ocean as the sun overpowered them all. The glow of the corals dimmed, signaling for the nightlife to retreat into their homes.
I felt the drowsiness creeping up on me as I realized that I hadn’t slept yet.
‘Good morning bitch.’, I said wearily.
“Looks like you’re back to your old self.”, she snarked, but a hint of amusement could be sensed underneath.
‘Yeah fuck off.’
“Will do.”
I still have a bunch of questions that badly need answers to. And the theory I thought up of isn’t helping either.
But that’s just a theory.
A whale’s theory.
And cut.