Hmm hmm, It’s another wonderful day in this underwater utopia!

Without the tyranny of big ol’ Leviathan-san, everyone around here is enjoying their hard-earned freedom!

Criminal activity rates have lately increased though, this was a direct result of a new refugee being bullied by a bunch of old racist men.

A group of racist old men were walking around when they noticed a young lady seemingly trying to get familiar with the new environment around her.

So, they did what they have always done, picked up their guns, and started shooting warning shots while shouting Get off my property!!

Normally, when they do this, the target would either be injured or dead, if they survived, they would only feel fear when they remember the old men afterwards and never dare to come for them again.

However, they seem to have provoked a very vengeful lady this time, and to make it worse, she was able to flee unharmed and even wrote their names on her revenge list in her agenda.

She settled down a couple of blocks away from their land, surrounded by the colorful beauty of mother nature hidden inside the heart of the earth.

 

Now that I’ve found a nice place to stay and got an initial grasp on the surrounding ecosystem, it’s time to focus on leveling and pursuing evolution.

There’s no need to find strong enemies right now, that can wait until I have some actual means of fighting.

I feel that ratoharps, named wheel-fish from now on, or anything with similar combat power will do just fine for the time being.

Swallowing the last piece of my seafood snack, I leave my new den and start searching for prey to hunt.

I hum along to a song from my memory while exploring the area and enjoying the great scenery.

Actually, the sunlight completely disappeared after I went into the cavern, it’s all pitch black just like any normal cave on land.

Despite that, the environment around me was reminiscent of a modern city like Las Vegas or something along the lines of a night city.

All different kinds of neon lights around, if I hadn’t known their true face, I’d have thought that I stumbled into some nightclub by mistake.

But just thinking about checking them out would make you no different from an insect attracted to light.

Unless you have a way of identifying their true forms, you should just stay away from them.

Some of those lights were nothing but bioluminescent algae but hidden amongst them were those hunters who attract you with their mystery and take advantage of your curiosity to swallow whole, not even leaving bones.

Ignoring the eerie horror house sound effects coming from behind a highly suspicious rock formation, I lock onto the figures of a group of five wheel-fishes some distance away from my position.

Moving to their shared blind spot, I sneak up on the one farthest away from the other and incapacitate it by injuring its spinning disk.

As soon as I become sure that it won’t be moving any time soon, I swiftly dive diagonally left and downwards, effectively leaving the sights of the other four fish and retreating into the safety of Stealth.

Now that I think about it, those sniper crabs were able to find me even though I was in Stealth, huh?

I may need to invest some time into acquiring Camouflage, my vibrant magenta color should be the reason why they discovered my existence.

Back to the fight, I ignore the already injured wheel-fish and sneakily follow the fish who had the greatest momentum when they charged at me.

Waiting until they come to a stop, I use the leftover momentum and injure this one as well, then go back to lurking in the shadows.

Hmm, this fight is kinda risky, these guys don’t just charge right at me, but they assume a fan-shaped formation to compensate for their lack of directional changing ability...

I think I can cope with up to seven of them at the same time, but if I run into a denser group, I may be injured in the process.

The three remaining fish seem to have realized my danger and they went into a triangle median formation, which lets them cover each other’s backs and prepare for attacks from any angle at the same time.

Now, when I said that they look like a wheel before, I only meant that their movement looked so, but their shape is more akin to a saw.

You don’t want to be in the way of their charge, trust me.

So, I need to break up that formation before I can kill the rest of them.

It’s easy enough, most marine species are gregarious for some reason which is both a huge strength and a great disadvantage.

I ignore the three of them and head to the first fish I injured, bite off its inner layer to kill it, then start devouring it right in front of them.

 

{Condition satisfied. Acquired title [Merciless].}

{Acquired skills [Heretic Magic LV 1] [Heresy Resistance LV 1] as a result of Title [Merciless].}

{Skill [Heresy Resistance LV 1] has been integrated into skill [Soul Seeker].}

{Skill [Heretic Magic LV 1] has been integrated into skill [Soul Seeker].}

 

... That was unexpected.

So, you guys can actually feel emotions, huh...?

That explains why they all abandoned the formation and their normal strategy, rushing at me like rabid dogs.

I never cared about anyone’s feelings except for my loved ones anyways, so the title’s effect is tasteless for me.

What I care about though, is that it’s fine for me to kill the rest of you guys now.

Repeating the same strategy, I start picking them off one by one, I only incapacitate them instead of going for the kill though.

A few minutes later, the only moving creature remaining in the vicinity is me, while the four wheel-fishes are floating there glaring at me with... hatred? Something like that anyways.

Now I would absolutely love to partake in a banquet right here and now, but I’m not sure if I’d be interrupted by any welcome visitors so I execute them all before actually proceeding to devour them.

 

{Experience has reached the required level. Individual serratum saven has increased from LV 7 to LV 8}

{All basic attributes have increased.}

{Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Resistance LV 8] has become [Poison Resistance LV 9].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Overeating LV 6] has become [Overeating LV 7].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Evasion LV 4] has become [Evasion LV 5].}

{Skill points acquired.}

 

Finally, some progress. Hell Yeah!

The Heretic Resistance from the title is very welcome as well, I had a headache thinking about where to find a soul-attacking fish before delving deeper.

Now I’m free to swim around anywhere in the ocean without the risk of my soul collapsing due to some weird monster’s scary appearance, and the rest of my mental skills can be upgraded to max level without caring about the insufficient brain capacity thingy.

Manager-san, please start analyzing this ability and try to apply it to my soul without the system’s assistance, will ya?

{Analyzing ability “Soul Attack Resistance”. Estimated time till completion: 5 years.}

Ahhh, fucking fish brain, it takes such a long time to analyze an ability that’s already working in my body...

I need to get stronger or else I won’t have enough time to analyze the system!

Now though, it’s time to use my 110 skill points to get me some useful skills.

Pulling up my Appraisal results, I start looking through the skill shop.

Hmmm, I can’t find anything eye-catching—Wait what the hell...?!

 

{Greed (Skill Points Required: 100): n% of the power to reach godhood. Causes the user to randomly take stats values, skill points and skills from slain opponents. In addition, the W system is surpassed and the right to interfere with the MA field is obtained.}

 

Oi, you really want me to swim right into the middle of this world’s dirty waters, huh, D?

I’m 100% sure that there’s some fucking important secret behind ruler skills and those weird terms listed in the skill description.

The fact that even Manager-san with Sage can’t provide me with more information is a very bright and clear red light.

But... The temptation’s just too great for me, and my intuition’s actually encouraging me to get it unlike what happened with Wrath...

You win, I sure as hell won’t miss out on such a powerful skill out of extreme cautiousness.

I’d like to preserve some of my dignity though, so I will word it this way.

I, the great Tomoko-sama am not afraid of any challenges! It’s only more interesting this way, wahahaha!

Before that though, I should quickly go through the list and mark interesting skills.

And done, nothing worth paying attention to compared to Greed.

All right, I would like Greed, thank you!

 

{Number of skill points currently in possession: 110. Number of skill points required to

acquire skill [Greed]: 100. Acquire skill?}

 

Ya betcha!

 

{[Greed] acquired. Remaining skill points: 10.}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Taboo LV 1] has become [Taboo LV 3].}

{Condition Satisfied. Acquired title [Ruler of Greed].}

{Acquired skill [Appraisal LV 10] [Conquest] as a result of title [Ruler of Greed].}

{Skill [Appraisal LV 10] has been integrated into skill [Sage].}

 

Now we’re talking!

Manager-san, first pull up the description of the Ruler of Greed title and tell me what happens to the integrated max-level Appraisal skill.

 

{Ruler of Greed: Acquired skills [Appraisal LV 10] [Conquest]. Acquisition conditions: Obtain [Greed] skill. Effect: Each ability of Strength and HP rise. +Correction to Status strengthening skill Proficiencies. Grants ruling class privileges. Description: A title granted to one who has conquered Greed. Note: Title’s mental effect disabled due to Soul Seeker and Sage.}

{Answer: The integrated skill [Appraisal] increases the computing power and successful appraisal chance of skill [Sage].}

 

Hold up right there!! What’s that about the mental effect of Ruler of Greed??

 

{Answer: Ruler of Greed has a hidden effect: Causes the user to become obsessed with their desires, to the point of doing anything to fulfill them.}

{Effect was negated due to skill [Sage]’s hidden effect: user’s complete sanity is the highest priority, and skill [Soul Seeker]’s integrated Heretic Nullification.}

 

...FUCK!

How many holes have you dug for me, D?!!