I'm a Stingray?

[Guest has 2 remaining purchase options.]

[Option number 1 = upgrade barb to level 2]

[Price = 80 system points.]

"Oh right... the non venomy thingy. Wish I had this before fighting that beast lady, her skin was like rock." At this point the holy protection effects had almost worn off completely, so remembering stuff from the near past became much easier.

But once more the system ignored the boy's banter and continued with her own recitations, stating the following.

[Option number 2 = upgrade emotional intelligence (EQ) by 5 points.]

[Price = 110 system points.]

Scared by that massive price, he brushed it off with a half reasonable thought. "I'll leave this one for later, no need to be smarter right now."

[The current task that had been given to you by the tribe, massively depends on how well you perceive and interject emotion.]

[Speechcraft plays a heavy role in this task, you need to know what to say in order to continue this task with the current success rate.]

[So system recommends you to upgrade emotional intelligence.]

At first Timmy wanted to directly refuse such a recommendation, but it only took a brief recall of memories to understand how a bad idea that was.

So while half willed, he pitched. "Okay, I'll upgrade my EQ but after I eat what's left of this fish."

Gazing at the tiger grouper's tail, Timmy went ahead to dig them jaws into it, one munch at a time to avoid exhausting himself even more.

...

Over more than a hundred bites later, he heard the system give a summary of the stingray's overall state of being.

[Health = 71/100 bars.]

[Hunger = 15/15 bars.]

[Sleep = 18/35 bars.]

[Stamina = 12/15 bars.]

After trying to give out a burp but inevitably failing and spitting out a small chunk of meat instead, his attitude focused towards a bit of positivity. "Aye, things are starting to look up. Right now I realise that having 100 health points is too much to ask for."

But then remembered what he got down here to begin with, therefore requesting. "Okay system, upgrade my EQ now. Please."

[Purchase confirmed]

[Loading purchase...]

Unlike the last time when Timmy upgraded intelligence, this time the young one could feel just a slight pain right in the middle of his forehead. An impact that can be brushed off as too light to care about.

But yet it helped him remember, "I'm so happy that increasing intelligence is painless. Why doesn't everyone do this?"

[They don't have systems and going the long way around isn't preferable by most masses.]

"Easy, sassy system." Tim answered but then came into a firm realization, he can understand sass!

Such a capability didn't even exist in his sense of being before, and now suddenly understanding it became a foot closer.

[Upgrade complete]

[Your emotional intelligence has been upgraded by 5 points.]

[Your emotional intelligence = 65]

[110 system points consumed.]

[33 system points remaining.]

At the moment he could almost feel grief for all those points lost, but the thought of becoming smarter itself, helped snap out of the mood.

And instead of grief, cockiness began to overwhelm his conscious, making the boy utter. "Now I'm a super genius!"

[Technically, now your emotional intelligence is considered average.]

[If you were a human, that number would still be below average.]

[But amongst stingrays, you're basically smarter than most others that are your age.]

Able to understand half of that information, the boy shook his head to comprehend everything and added. "So you made me take that upgrade just to call me dumb? Peachy."

"Intelligence ha? You're still a baby, a juvenile." He heard a familiar tone softly speaking from an unknown location, illuminating this 7 meter cave with an echo enough to make that soft tone sound rageful.

Taking the effects of the holy protection as a thought, he complained. "Great, now the cave started speaking to me. A cave with a system? What's next? A rock? A needlefish? That hag we killed?"

"You're dumber than I remember." That same tone spoke out, feminine in every aspect and sassy no doubt.

A few seconds later, he spotted a wider winged disk shaped fish emerging from one of the many tunnels that took refuge in this cave.

Completely gray by colour, her long tail whipped against the water as she added. "I want to kill you and that system that hides in your head."

Finally recognizing the lady, Tim cited. "Alba, my biggest enemy. I was wondering when I would get to kill you."

"I'm still wondering how you survived but my guess is that the system had something to do with it." The stingray lady answered, completely dark grey by aura.

Looking at the enemy now, young Timothy came to a realisation that he might have overestimated what power the other side of the stick can throw.

Fuck's sake, him being 15 centimetres long actually managed to succeed against bigger bader enemies. A prime example was the same one whom's den had been repossessed.

So confidence as if his middle name once more, the sea pancake tried to threat with all of his being. "I'm trying so hard not to kill you, take that opportunity to fuck outta here."

Swimming just a little bit closer although still 3 meters away, the lady whom definitely interjected a strong front, dictated. "I see the system in your little head has made you too confident. I own this reef and you going against me is just playing idiotic. But your intelligence isn't big enough to understand that just yet."

With intelligence involved, the boy rushed through a ray of thoughts, trying to filter out. "Okay Tim, it's your turn to say something smart! You can do this!"

And such internally built up confidence, portrayed around him with a prime vocal reply. "You might have taken those points but you can't touch this groin."

Absolutely staggered, all the other side of the stick could answer after firmly processing such words, was. "What?"