I peeked out from under the shell.

The school had left the reef for the day, but the sharks were hunting for the blood that spilled out of my meal. Lots of sharks, ranging from 3 S1O to 10 S1O in size. I needed to hope my brown skin would fool them. Also I needed to make sure that I did not stank of blood.

‘How does one wash themselves underwater? I am starting to ask questions that I never knew needed answers. First things first. What will this shell give me?’

I take a quick nibble. The sharks did not react to my movement.

    You got 0.002 BM

‘why?‘

    It barely contains organic substances.

‘Makes sense. So to escape. Stay close to the ground and assume the sharks are stupid? Sounds like a plan.’

I waited until the sharks were a bit away from my position. I swiftly moved over the seafloor and moved along the ditch to a different part of the reef that I could consume.

The sharks did not follow me. Luckily for me.

After I arrived at a shark-less part of the reef I tried eating some corals.

    You got DNA for the following:

    Sting cells (Clashing, beneficial, 1.570 BM)

    Stomach tissue (Non clashing, beneficial, 137 BM)

    Calcium carbonate producing cells¹You know, the hard shit corals are made from. (Clashing, usable on tentacles, beneficial, 682 BM per tentacle)

‘Maybe I should just start a feeding frenzy on all the corals and see what other fish might get caught in it. Although I should not raise my expectations not too much. Last hunt ended with me not catching anything. I hope I get some improvements for my size upgrade to use.’

I went and ate every coral and other thing I could get my tentacles on. I watched out for any other predator that might hunt on me. I was not that keen on getting eaten.

I ate blue, green and orange corals. I also got some other fish and microbes it was eating.

I came across a strange semi transparent coral as well. It was shimmering past all the colors while being partly see-through. I was amazed at its beauty that had some mystical vibes. I still ate a part of it so I could also make it. I also ate some small fishes that made their move near or in some corals and other sea plants.

I got many things from this hunt, I just could not be bothered to look at the long list of DNA things I got. I forgot about it in a moment or two anyway.

    You got 492 BM

    Size: 1

    Passive daily upkeep: 605 BM

    Biomass stored: 4.712 / 6.283

    Biomass for the next size: 10.000 / 32.808

    All beneficial non clashing DNA upgrades: 5.759 BM

    Clashing and non beneficial DNA upgrades: 28 new, 37 total

‘Well that does a lot for my status, let me scroll through all the upgrades I can get without clashes.’

    Teeth (48 BM)

    Grills tissue (36 BM)

    Liver tissue (50 BM)

    Heart tissue (13 BM, 38 BM, 16 BM)

    Bone tissue (104 BM, 54 BM)

    Muscle tissue (2.917 BM, 2.026 BM)

    Skin tissue (572 BM, 682 BM)

    Stomach tissue (295 BM, 173 BM, 385 BM, 184 BM)

‘So, that seems to improve quite a few things. Question, will I notice these improvements at all?’

    Barely, total reduction for them all is 0,005826423323%

‘Should have expected that. But I am hoping that the discount at sizing up will make it worth it.’

I hunted down some more coral types and other water plants. At this point some fishes were trying to use me as a feeding source and stealing and eating parts I had dropped. I waited until a fish was close enough for me to pounce on. And pounce I did. It was dead before it could panic, which was a welcome change of pace from my usual fights. The other fishes I ate were already caught in the corals, so this could be considered my first fully successful hunt on a smaller fish.

‘It all worked out for once, my DNA stockpile is doing great. I really hope for some useful extra tidbits. I have already seen some extra parts that might be useful. Like those sting cells. Could I incorporate those cells into a bigger structure? So my tentacles can expand and retract?’

    Yes you could, but no adaptation for multicellular structures because:

    (̸̹̱̈́̓̉D̴̯͊ę̷̪̓͆ͅt̶̡͍͋̋͗a̷͇̟͎̐̚ì̶̢͙̾l̷̬̝͓̋̚ḙ̷̗̑̓d̷̳̤͙̀̐͒ ̶͖̲̥̾̅i̵̖͂ṇ̵̠̈́̂͂f̵̪̀̀o̷̳̮̮͌̏̿r̵͇̬̬̄̈̎m̸̤̆̕͘a̴̗͙̻̋̈́̑ṭ̶̛̋i̶̲͛o̴͍̗̒n̴̡̜̋ ̵̛̟̾͠ǫ̷̤͇̇͠n̵͈̈ ̴̡͕͆h̸̬̼͓̒͂̅o̴͎̿͒w̴̥͝ ̷̺̉t̴̠͉͉̓͑h̶͔͔̪̃ė̴͉͌ͅ ̷͇͕̀͌̄͜s̴̲͚͕͋̆ẗ̵̪͖́r̵̜͍̠̄̋̽u̵̦̹͊̽c̷̳̲͝t̵̗̩̉́̿ú̴̞͓̙ŕ̵̹̰e̴̻͊̾͘ ̷̡̤̬̊w̴͍̝͔̒ö̵͓̠̗́̓̄r̸̻͛ḱ̵̯̣̄s̵̹͈̱͛ ̵̼͛ȧ̵͍͍̜̚͠n̴͍͕͐̊d̴̛̻̹̮͂ ̵͙̜͌̈̉w̸̙̓̕h̶̹̦͖͊y̶̼͕͊͜ ̵̘̆͐͝ỉ̵̠͎̈́ẗ̴͖̻̟́̿̒ ̶͍͈͙̄̊͂i̷̭͆̚s̵̥̄̚ ̵̿ͅn̸̼̓͝o̶͉̚t̷̛̟ ̸̥̺̙͐̈́̅u̵͈̼̲͛̑͆s̶̹͂͌͋ả̸̫̟̹̽b̵̩͍̠̉l̴̜̈́͂̚ě̵̲̼̥͋͠ ̸̹̝̀f̴̰͇̆o̶̡͖̥͂͠r̴̞̫̃ ̸̯͙͂͂͂m̶̘̌̔ͅụ̵̃͜l̷̜͔̫̿t̵̙̩͈͆i̷̧̜̲͊̚͝c̷̰͆͗̉e̵͉̿l̸̖̠͍̈́ḷ̸̟̫̒ǔ̸̢̮͊l̴͔̮̆ą̷͓̱̓͗r̷̩͗̌ ̸̢͔͙̌̀s̷̢̝͋ç̴͔͂̓͜á̴̠̽͝ļ̷͓͍͒̌ë̵͔͉̦́s̴͇͂͐)̸̰̦̈̆̀²(Detailed information on how the structure works and why it is not usable for multicellular scales)

‘So the short of it is that because I have no muscle template that allows for retraction and a skin type that is able to stretch or fold in on itself I can not do it. But if I picked up on the explanation correctly I need to initiate combinations of different structures and combinations in order to use them. On one side, it is nice that I only need to do the suggestions and that Sysy will help me get it to work. On the other hand, I hate that it does not try every combination automatically. Well seeing how much Sysy helps me I am kinda overpowered for my species as well. That is unless they got way better DNA than me. I am kinda raising a flag aren't I? Oh, well shit happens when it happens. Nothing I could probably do about it, unless I was SD and could know the quantum state of a planet (can she even do that? Might be better to leave that as a question instead of trying to get an answer.) and could know what effect my actions have on the planet. Wait, that would mean recursive calculations. Every piece of knowledge would affect your actions after all. I better drop this thought train, not useful at all. There is another fish that tries to eat some of the pieces I dropped.’

CosmicDragon

Sorry for the wait, I was distracted my other novels on this site, you should check them out, they are great.