So I’m a Fish, So What?

Divine.

That’s the only word worthy of describing what’s displayed in front of my eyes.

A thin violet-scaled body full of majesty and nobility.

Silky long amethyst-colored fins adorned with ash-grey mysterious runes, surrounding that body as if they were a dress woven from gems.

Shiny obsidian black spines hide under those fins, just like a rose’s thorns.

My post-evolution appearance is a living example of beautiful but deadly.

Laethoul Ramae’s base appearance is a lionfish, but they looked more like a pufferfish/ lionfish hybrid due to the spikes growing from their bodies.

The spikes jutting out from their bodies increase with age/levels, until they turn into a monstrosity similar to a hedgehog as some point in their life.

If the members of that race forced to evolve into this in order to survive their dangerous environment, then the Illsoir Mejer is the complete opposite.

It doesn’t have to hide or run from anything, its mesmerizing looks remain visible for all to see, but none are allowed to approach it.

An overlord—no, a queen.

That’s the only position fitting for this race.

However, every rose has its thorns.

My most frequently used weapon, poisonous spikes, is still there, but I now have another deadly ability to pair with it.

 

{Phantom runes: Consume MP to weave an illusion and trap any creature looking directly at you inside of it.}

 

It works the same way elemental dragon and wyrm skills do.

A magic skill that doesn’t require the Magic Perception or Operation to activate.

Not only can you fully control the effects, but you’re also able to give full play to the effects of your magic stats.

Normal magic skills can never be perfect because they  are affected by both prerequisite skills.

Magic Power Perception affects how much magic power you can sense, therefore affecting how much you can imbue into the rune circuit which determines the strength of the released spell.

As for Magic Power Operation, it affects your manipulation of magic power. 

Things like rune stability and rune construction speed are connected to this one, but Sage kinda does all that work for me.

Nothing’s more accurate than a computer after all!

Phantom Runes and elemental wyrm/dragon skills function in a different way though.

Wyrms are born with a body structure that can function like a magic circuit, those runes that just popped up on my fins after evolution also work in the same way.

Basically, such creatures have an extra organ capable of casting magic by itself.

The strength of the magic released by those organs depends only on the user's talent and their magic stats.

There's a downside to this however, the MP consumption drastically increases.

Using magic in this way means that you have to supply the magic power by yourself instead of using ambient magic power like normal magic skills.

A fireball from the Fire Wyrm skill will always cost a few times more MP than one released by the Fire Magic spell.

And the strength of the fireball would completely depend on the wyrm’s magic stats and fire affinity.

Two wyrms with the exact same stats casting the same spell would bring about different results, the concept of talent always brings about huge diversity.

For someone with the highest talent in space and heretic magics, the advantages would be infinitely magnified as I grow stronger.

At present, I think my illusions can affect monsters who have at most three times my magic stats in their resistance.

Soul Seeker’s boost to heretic skills is no joke, I tell ya!

I still believe those three reincarnation skills are completely overkill, you won’t hear me complaining though.

I ain’t gonna stop using them, I’ll use all means at my disposal to survive and achieve my goals.

Messing around and inspiring chaos comes after that.

Wait– When did I start having the desire to create chaos…?

I don’t remember, but it sounds like it’d be fun, so why not?

 

Hey… Now that I think about it, I'm exactly that rare shiny pokemon everyone wants to catch, huh?

Inteased of developing into some last boss eldritch horror from the depths, my existence has become similar to that of a golden snitch from an HP’s quidditch match…

Anyways, I might as well use those skill points I have lying around collecting dust.

I mean, I don’t see myself getting any other ruler skills except for maybe Pride, but I’m pretty sure it’s a waste of skill points to get it.

The number of experience points needed for every level has increased by an astronomical amount after repeated shackle breaking evolutions.

In fact, I would have to struggle with manually constructing magic circuits due to decreased system assistance if I didn’t have cheats…

All hail Sage-san!

Sooo, unlock Spatial Magic and Detection for me, O’ great one!

 

{[Spatial Magic LV 1] acquired. Remaining skill points: 9,900.}

{Skill [Spatial Magic LV1] has been integrated into skill [Daughter of Space].}

{[Detection LV 1] acquired. Remaining skill points: 6,900.}

{Skill [Detection LV 1] has been integrated into skill [Sage].}

 

Damn, that's a lot of information flowing in… It’s about one entire Tomoko’s worth of processing power!

The outside world is truly the mightiest enemy…

On another note, I can now teleport back to that snake burrow where I hatched… Should I go back to kill the demi-leviathan and the water dragon?

I do want to take revenge on that scare they gave me back then.

 

{Alert: Pending request from Upper Administrator Sariel.}

 

Huh? What’s that about?

 

<...Bzzzt…Pshhh…>

Uhhh, I can only hear static noise if you’re speaking.

<Bzzt… Connection Success.>

Hello, I guess?

<Greetings. Requesting assistance>

So, that’s how divine voice-san sounds like, huh? Anyways, ‘sup?

<Request to grant skill proficiency to individual Illsoir Mejer.>

<Middle Administrator Ouri&#%^! And Upper Administrator D have accepted the request..>

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Taboo LV 9] has become [Taboo LV 10].

{Condition satisfied. Activating the effect of Taboo. Information now installing.}

{Installation complete.}

 

And that’s how I got my very first experience of a roller coaster ride without putting on the seat belt. 

In fact, there wasn’t even a cart, it was a bit like bungee jumping without a rope.

What the hell! You could’ve warned me, y’know?!

Even if that amount of information only takes a couple of minutes to fully process with my mental processing speed, the skill itself still induces extreme nausea!

If you don’t have Heretic Nullification or something similar, the skill can and will drive you insane!

More than that, the information itself is despair-inducing, to say the least…

Even if I knew about the planet collapse beforehand, seeing those images of the past makes me doubt my decision of coming to this world.

Was allowing my loved ones to come here the correct choice…?

Bang!

Snap out of it, Tomoko! You made the decision, you take responsibility for it!

I’ll protect them all and make sure they survive!

“What do you want, Goddess Sariel?”

<Requesting assistance in maintaining system operation.>

“How am I supposed to do that?”

<Requesting limited access to skill [Sage].>

Are my ears playing tricks on me right now?

You must know that Sage is inside my soul core like my other reincarnation skills.

Her words can easily be understood as  asking for access to my soul core, which is something no sane person would ever agree to.

“I’m gonna give you one chance to rephrase that.”

<... Requesting permission to borrow individual Illsoir Mejer’s excess processing power.>

Ahhh, I get it now. She wants to borrow my unused soul power.

My actual mental processing capabilities are actually huge, but they’re limited by my physical body’s brain.

Maybe not Laplace’s Demon level, but I might be able to predict about a couple of hours into the future with nothing but information from the surroundings!

However, my brain can only handle about 1% of that when running on overdrive.

“What do I get in exchange?”

<Skill [Sage]. Upgrade.>

“Not enough. Both of us know how ridiculous the amount of unused mental power I have is.”

I’m not exaggerating. If employed correctly alongside Sage’s assistance, my excess mental power can easily handle the load of the entire W system.

<... Inquiry. Individual Illsoir Mejer’s requirements.>

“I want to access the system’s skill database on top of that upgrade!”

With shiny eyes, I make a ridiculous and unacceptable request while readying myself for the most intense negotiation of my life.

However, my hopes for a fun session of bargaining are promptly dashed by Administrator Sariel’s cold voice.

<Accepted under condition of saving humanity from imminent danger.>

“Absolutely impossible! I’m not wasting my time saving those rubbish under any circumstance and you know it! Why’d you even want that?! Those guys wanted to sacrifice you, y’know?!”

<... Condition revised. Save the planet from it’s collapse.>

“Change that to imminent collapse and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Since Kumoko is the protagonist of this world, fate will probably force her to do so in the future anyways.

I’d basically be getting free access to analyze and copy every skill in the system’s database for free.

Administrator Sariel doesn’t know about this though, nor does she know about the fact that I can analyze the system from inside out.

From her point of view, she gives me access to information that’s useless for mortals and I save the world once in exchange.

It’s a deal in which she profits for free.

<Accepted.>

See?

That’s why information is the strongest weapon.

Never share your personal information with strangers, kids!

Now that this ancient history arc is over, I will be taking a bit of time off, thank you.

A lot of things happened over a relatively small period in time which took a huge toll on my mental health.

I’m gonna teleport back where I hatched and wander around in shallow depths for a bit…

Who knows, I might get lucky and find land!