8 Sea Legs I : Rewards & Swim

When I opened my eyes I discovered I was still on the raft. But I was drenched from with water and the person responsible was the stupid elephant. Since I've been logged off, it has been trying to wake me up, hence the reason why it's been splashing sea water all over my body.

"Okay fine! I'm up. What's the problem." I asked glaring at the elephant in he process.

The disproportionate mammal sat on it's hunches and looked up at me with it's silver eyes glistening. An earth shaking rumble was heard from within it's stomach, so I knew it was hungry. I carried a handful of the fire ruby and sat at the edge of the raft, staring intently at the ocean. It didn't take long for another stray fish to swim past us, and I shot my hands down.

"Shoot!"

[You have attacked Jitusat ocean Tuna. Critical hit -400HP. You have slain Jitusat ocean Tuna.]

[You have gained 700 XP for killing a monster seven levels above you. Shoot is now level 2 basic. You have reached level four. You have gained one skill point, and one stat point.]

I ignored the system message and pulled the fish out of the ocean. It was a little bit bigger than the last one, almost my complete height. Though I don't understand why fish this big would only be level 10. But it works well for me though, as of this moment I had no class, no skills, no weapons, and there was not a single starter city in sight.

I could use the fire ruby as ammunition, and grind my skills and increase my level until I get to land. As a bonus I don't get hungry either. I shared the fish, giving the elephant the lions share, because even though it looked smaller than me, I had a feeling it could out eat me any day.

[You have eaten grilled Jitusat ocean Tuna (poor).+5% to attack, defense and speed for the next two hours. + 20% extra damage against aquatic monsters for the next three hours.]

Well would you look at that. I lookedat the elephant who had completely gobbled up the Tuna and was looking at me with an even more pitiful gaze. Then I smiled and asked it.

"Are you still hungry? Well today is your lucky day, you're going to eat so much you'll explode."

I dragged one of the bag of fire rubies closer to myself. These things were expensive no doubt, and somewhere out there, someone was probably spitting blood with the knowledge that I was using it as ammunition to fish. This was just crazy. Either way, until I'm strong enough to kill the fishes using the used rubies, I have to keep on using the fire rubies.

Usually after the fish is dead, the fire essence within the ruby would spread and cook the fish, leaving the previous ruby a transparent crystal stuck in the fish's forehead. I could still use this as ammunition, but only at a higher level would I be able to take the fish out.

I could use the stat points and skill points to enhance my strength, but I wanted to hoard them for now. I shouldn't be too hasty to allocate my stats, especially when I'm not in too much danger. Well then let's begin.... "Shoot!"

THREE HOURS LATER.

[You have reached level 10. You have been given 5 stat points, and 2 skill points. Shoot has leveled up to basic level 5.]

[For reaching level 10 without allocating any stat point or skill point you have been given the title: Hoarder. +1 extra skill point every level, +2 extra stat point every level.]

[You have killed over 50 aquatic monsters in a row. You have been given Augmented Racial trait: Gills (I): can breath underwater for two hours.]

[Shoot has reached level 5,please choose secondary active or passive skill. I: Precise Aim basic level 1= +5% To Aim when moving, +10% to aim when stationary./ II: Power Shot basic level 1= +50% total damage when used. Cost 20 MP, cool down 30 seconds.]

At this point I had totally forgotten what my mom had told me about this game when I first started it. Every good thing in here was not found, it was earned.

Though I don't see the difference. There were a variety of scenarios and conditions a player had to meet to earn any of the good skills or equipment. What I've gained from not seeing the need to allocate stat or skill points, or attacking fishes was something other players won't get unless they fought tooth and nail for it, or where extremely lucky.

This was amazing, and I don't think there were many players that have discovered this function. Even if there was, I'm sure none of them would want to expose it, choosing to monopolize the benefits for themselves.

After dinner with Kira and Aaron I had done a little research about the game. Skills had extra sub skills that were unlocked after the skill has reached a certain level.

This skills are only ever unlocked at level 5 of the skill mastery. And once you give up on a skill, you won't be able to learn it again, unless you paid a trainer a ridiculous amount of money, and even then the skill would not be as powerful as it would have been if you chose it. So if I choose one skill, the next time I would be seeing another secondary skill is at level 5 advance of shoot, or level 5 basic of which ever skill I choose.

Between power shot and precise Aim, I was a little confused about what to choose. If I choose power shot, an active skill no doubt, I would be able to use the ordinary crystals, saving the fire rubies for a rainy day. But recently the fishes have gotten a lot faster, and it's hard for me to keep track of them. The rubies provided enough power to take the fishes out in one hit, and if worse comes to worse, I'll just allocate the stat points. Precise aiming was the better choice.

Name: Aaren/ Level: 10(33.008/102.400)/Class: N/A

Race: Dragon Kin Tribrid(Dragon/High Elf/Human)

Title: Hoarder

Attack: 10/Defense: 5/Speed: 10/Magic: 15

Hp 10/10MP 7/30

Stat points:17Skill points:8

Passive skills:

• Nature buff (level 1) basic + 2% to all nature oriented skills, spells, or tasks.

• Wind child(level 1) basic. +5% to all wind oriented skills and spells.

• Adaptive(level 1) basic. +2% speed to learning skills and leveling up.

• Precise Aim(level 1) basic. +5% to aim when in motion, +10% to aim when stationary.

Active skills:

• Shoot(level 5) basic. +10% damage and speed for projectile weapons. (Cost 5 MP) (cool down 20 seconds)

• Glide(level 1) basic. Glide in the air for 15 seconds. + 5% to speed during flight. (Cost 20 MP) (cool down 40 seconds)

• Hard punch(level 1) basic. Hit your opponent for 40% extra of your total attack. Speed +5% during skill.(cost 10 MP) (cool down 20 seconds)

Augmented racial trait:

• Gills (I): Breathe underwater for two hours

Well all is well that ends well. I've been doing this for a few hours, and the repetitive actions was begin to weigh on my sanity. Something needed to happen fast or I would loose my mind. The elephant was passed out, can't blame it though, the little guy had been eating none stop for an entire hour.

There was no shortage of fish as I caught them and delivered them to it's waiting jaws, though there's something that I'm a little confused about.Aren't elephants herbivores? I get that the fishes became grilled and cooked, but still...…forget it, my boredom is making me question things I don't really care about.

Maybe I should go for a swim, yeah that would help me cool off. I plunged into the ocean, and for a moment I couldn't see anything. But being an elf and a dragon meant I had superior senses, not the best, but good enough to see in it. I looked up and saw the raft floating away, I panicked, and paddled towards it. It was a little hard to move in the sea, I only had on a simple shirt, trouser and sandals. But I felt weighed down, and the only thing capable of doing that, were the wings on my back.

It also struck me at that moment that I wasn't really breathing, and I was already out of air. I took a deep breath and nothing happened. I was breathingjust fine. I felt movement on both side of my neck, and then I stupidly slid my hand over my skin.

The blinding pain I felt almost made me pass out, and I learnt an important lesson, done mess with the gills, they were an exposed part of my body, and they seemed really fragile. I moved my hands and kicked my feet, looking around me at the fishes happily going about their merry business.

The raft was still floating away, and was about fifteen meters away from me now. My wings were heavy, and wet, being part feather and part skin did not make it any less susceptible to the dangers of water. But I had to figure something out, and fast.

A fish swam past me, lazily moving it's fins as a propeller or to be more exact. It was moving its fins like two hands. It was as if a light bub came up on top of my head. The resistance from the water made it difficult, but I maneuvered my weak wings, fighting for control as I flapped them.

Glide was an active skill rather than a passive one, and at the moment I was running low on MP after three hours of intense hunting. But there was a silver lining, and that was the fact that the current of the ocean was moving in the direction I wanted to go, rather than opposite it. It was like learning how to walk, only this time it was flying, underwater.

Flap, swipe, kick, flap, swipe, kick. I moved my hands and legs in tandem with my wings, finding my balance. It was a little awkward moving at first, but slowly but surely I rapidly became accustomed to it, and swimming with my wings became easier. In fact I didn't notice it at the time, but I had swam/flown past raft. This was not the sky's, but under the sea. I've heard so many people describe flying; and said that there was freedom to it, you could never explain.

Your worries, pains, and all of the hurt you felt faded into nothing and it was just you and the wind. But who knew the freedom was pretty much the same under the sea, there was an endless amount of space, fishes to be your companion, and it was a world all on its own. The reefs, the huge whales in the distance, and the angry shark with a silver horn that was heading right for me...…..Oh Shit!

I flapped my wings, my panic made me loose control of my rhythm, giving the shark ample time to catch up. I swerved, dived and ascended, hoping to loose the shark, but it was rather persistent. Thankfully the raft was not too far away, so I shot towards it, putting all of my strength and attention in getting away from the shark.

I got closer and closer to the surface, and with each centimeter I gained, the predator behind me gained an inch. And then I shot out of the water, going up almost six meters into the air in a beautiful air pirouette, twirling in the air with my wings wrapped around me, spraying droplets of water around.

The shark also jumped out, snapping it's jaws into the air in an attempt to bring me down for dinner. It barely passed the four meter mark before it fell back into the ocean with a splash waking up the elephant, who let out a loud roar of anger at being disturbed. I fell to the raft, spreading my wings and using it to catch air in much the same way a parachute would be used.

I landed on the raft, and rolled onto the elephant tangling both ourselves in a heap of wings, trunk, grilled fishes and my limbs. It's face was right over mine, and based on how it's silver eyes had turned red, it was really angry.

"So let's not do that again." I said with a bright smile, the response I got, was.

THWACK! -1HP

THWACK!-HP

Hah.....story of my life.