So I’m a Fish, So What?

Laaa laaa la la laaaa. hummm hummm hm hm hummm.

Humming along to the tune of one of Aiko’s songs, I make my way north under the ocean’s calm waters.

Oh, hi there! Are you guys willing to be a part of my next snack?

Yes? Great!

 

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Synthesis LV 2] has become [Poison Synthesis LV 3].}

 

Neat!

Making use of my latest ruler title’s effect, I’ve been using Poison Synthesis quite frequently while making my way north.

It’s a very effective tool for fishing, you see. Especially since I’ve started encountering huge gatherings of marine critters in the shallower waters.

Crabs, shrimps, fish schools, etc… These waters are not only inhabited by water dragons, but also a plethora of marine creatures living in a natural ecosystem.

If I do nothing but catch fish everyday, the amount of food I can get each day can probably feed a small country in this new world.

And what’s even more ridiculous is that the effort I put in practically amounts to nothing!

As soon as I encounter a large gathering, I use Poison Synthesis to create my regular poison, then spread it around using Telekinesis.

Well, it’s basically a makeshift version of Poison Magic’s Poison Fog spell, the difference is that my poison is a whole lot more potent than the spell.

However, there is a fatal downside, you see. It only works underwater.

Poison Synthesis creates a liquid after all, they’re fundamentally different.

I’m totally gonna be fusing both of them in the future though, Poison Magic just feels wholly underwhelming when it’s not my poison.

So, yeah. My gluttony kinda led me to discover a high-tier AOE ability by accident.

Actually, my plan was to max out Poison Synthesis and derive Medicine Synthesis, buuut… I might’ve got an itsy bitsy bit distracted, tehe~!

Anyways, I think it’s about time I get that Dragon Slayer title.

I’ve been delaying it for a while now because I needed some time off after that hectic period of time I went through, but it’d be utterly stupid to miss out on the skills it grants.

Guess I’ll be on the lookout for those lone wandering water dragons then.

I would like to find one that isn’t overwhelmingly strong yet not very weak at the same time.

Life and death battles are cool and all, but even my battle maniac self wouldn’t engage in them unless forced to.

The fate of my loved ones depends on me, so I’d rather not do something foolish such as gambling with my life for the sake of pleasure.

However, I’d still love to engage in a blood boiling battle though. I think I’ll just seal some of my skills for the duration of the fight instead.

I’ll get my desired battle while leaving myself a way out in case things accidentally go to shit.

 

A slim serpentine figure can be seen shuttling between the sandy underwater dunes.

While its body is similar to a leviathan in some ways, this guy is an out and out water dragon, all right.

However, unlike the regular plesiosaur-esque body shape, this one’s appearance deviates a lot and goes straight into the eastern mythical dragon zone.

Y’know, those guys with long bodies, bizarre heads, and clawed limbs.

The reason why I picked this one is because his skillset is biased towards the magical side of the spectrum with relatively low defense and speed stats.

Only relatively though, they’re not too low that I’ll shred through his defenses like paper yet not too high that he can get away with only scratches on his scales or shrug off my deadly poison.

I’m gonna be sealing both Mischief and Expel this fight, meaning I’ll only have my newly unlocked magic and pure melee combat to depend on.

Hopefully, my plan will work and I’ll have Spearmanship by the end of it!

Taking a deep breath, I proceed to mentally visualize my ten-year old human body back on Earth.

It took me a few minutes, but I was finally able to conceive a highly detailed image in my mind. Well, as detailed as possible anyways.

Next up, I’ll have to do a bit of mental surgery… or stitching. Whatever you wanna call it.

Basically, I kinda need to take that mental image of myself, cut off the lower body, then connect a fish tail to it while also creating some gills on the sides of my neck and attaching them to my lungs.

Yep, I’m gonna be making myself into a mermaid!

As for why use my ten-year old body? Well, that’s because it’s the only way to get around Shapeshifting’s continuous stamina consumption.

Instead of using my sixteen-year old body which is around one and a half meters in height, I use my ten-year old one which is closer to one meter.

Somehow, the W system kinda ignores the difference in the size scale when I imagine a smaller body, so it becomes a one-time stamina consumption instead.

Ugh, this shit’s gonna take me a while… I’m basically creating a brand new Frankenstein’s monster right now.

I better do this inside my soul or it might take years.

 

A few days of some not so scientific body modification later, I was finally done.

To think it took this much time when I was doing it inside my soul while being supported by Thought Acceleration…

I can’t even begin to imagine how many years it would’ve taken me if I did it the normal way!

The results are very satisfactory though, I might keep on using this form depending on the results of the fight.

All right, Manager-san. Use Shapeshifting with this image as a target!

I immediately feel the changes.

It feels similar to the body reconstruction that comes with evolution, but in a more… forceful way.

You see, evolution restructures the body from the inside out, and feels more like and out of body experience.

It’s like my soul gets temporarily isolated from my body yet still remains connected in a strange way, all while my physical body gets disintegrated and rebuilt from scratch at an insane speed.

I should really work on my soul manipulation proficiency, huh? It’s kinda shameful for me to not understand what actually happens when I’m the one being affected.

Shapeshifting takes a more brute force approach, if I have to describe it.

The physical-metaphysical connection isn’t affected during the process, so it’d probably feel hella painful if I didn’t have Suffering Nullification.

Also, the expertise of whoever’s responsible for the destruction and rebirth process feels like it changed from a professional surgeon to an amateur butcher at best.

If my guess is correct, Sariel is the one who does the reconstruction for the system-related evolutions while Shapeshifting depends solely on myself.

Pretty sure Sariel gets system assistance as well… Maybe the system has some recorded templates from previous evolution records?

It’s very likely she does, she has been helping creatures evolve for probably thousands of years after all. 

There should be numerous detailed records and a bunch of established evolution trees for each race, just like the Taratect monster family.

Then you have me, a complete amateaur who’s attempting to modify a body with magic for the first time with weak information from a modern human civilization.

I mean, this world’s ancient civilization invented ways to enhance the human genes using MA energy back then, yet Earth is still struggling with cancer, y’know?

I’m waaaay behind when it comes to scientific advancements.

So, not only am I fiddling with the brand new fantasy field of magic, but I’m also forced to compensate for my knowledge deficiency with an extremely dangerous trial and error approach.

Thankfully, I can simulate the results through Sage, otherwise I’d have probably ended up as a pile of mush floating in the ocean as soon as I tried to activate Shapeshifting…

Terrifying as fuck, I tell ya!

Y’know what? I ain’t even gonna complain about D’s bad taste in skills anymore.

Judging by how ridiculous the side effects of everything she gives me, that woman probably did it too many times in the past that it became second nature for her.

Anyways, the transformation is finally over, so it’s time to judge how effective this cheap version of Humanification is.

As if reading my thoughts, the ever so thoughtful Manager-san pulls up a window with a 3D model of me without me asking her.

Shown on it is the upper body of a cute petite girl with violet wavy shoulder-length hair and piercing amethyst eyes with thin vertical pupils.

Hmm, yeah yeah, that’s me! Definitely the most precious girl in this world and beyond!

However, those characteristics are the only one that can be considered human about my current appearance, and that’s only if you ignore the obvious anime-esque color scheme as well.

Starting from my waist is a mermaid's half-fish body with smooth metallic violet scales lining the entirety of it.

The tail is long and silky with ash-grey runes etched on it and obsidian black spines supporting its weight. It basically looks the same as it does in my base Illsoir Mejer form.

My upper body is also filled with a bunch of hidden and visible inhuman characteristics as well.

Two long amethyst silky fins can be seen growing from my elbows and hanging down just like veils, they’re also filled with dense runes.

My teeth have changed from the multiple row saw-like fish teeth to a normal human jaw, but the teeth themselves are sharp and pointy.

Other than that, there’s a layer of scales hidden under my soft skin for defensive purposes and a pair of unnoticeable gills on both sides of my neck.

Well, even if the way I describe it sounds cool and intimidating… people would probably think I'm adorable.

It kinda looks like I’m cosplaying some anime character, to be honest.

Uhhh, I don’t know if I should be glad that I didn’t end up looking like some ugly freak or if I should be depressed that the possibility of me being underestimated by future enemies is about 101%...

The fact that I can’t for the love of god, change my chest size has me sulking though.

Like, why? Why give me that false hope, only to crush it?

…Am I gonna be stuck with a loli body for eternity? Have I been unknowingly cursed?

Such a cruel world we live in.

Hey, big dragon guy, the way you’re flaunting your slick body is pissing me off.

Let’s just fight already.

I wanna vent all my grievances – cough, accumulate combat experience by fighting you!