Tim felt more ready than ever to explore the odds and ends of the ocean, which was advantageous because he had a couple of things in mind. He was often fixated on souls these past few days, for example, because he had discovered that, much like magical powers, one’s soul could be altered as well, or in other words, upgraded.

It was an interesting topic at the very least, but at its very best, it was also great for one to upgrade their soul, for multiple reasons! There was a whole micro universe of souls out there, crammed within this very same planet, and in order to explore that universe properly, he needed a strong soul, one which would battle the staggering tides of the paranormal universe.

Tim even had a task which was associated with soul upgrading, specifically, task seven. The system promised that if he found a soul tampering cave, by any means necessary, he’d win one-hundred and twenty points in exchange. The points were a minimal, but handy reward, however, the greatest reward which tagged along with the completion of this task, was the raw opportunity to develop one’s soul. That’s what he cared about!

Souls, much like magic, came along with realms (levels) of power, and if he was to propel through these mysterious realms, a soul tampering cave seemed absolutely necessary. He had to find one of those, of course, he didn’t have the slightest clue regarding where he could look for them. In order to get a hint, he planned to ask the other sect members about soul caves.

About three hours later, four members of the sect returned from their hunting session. Tim asked them about these soul tampering caves, and without missing a beat, they gave him an answer. These particular members didn't even bother asking why Tim was half the size all of a sudden, they didn’t care.

One of them simply answered, “Gotta go top-side, bud. Only air breathers have the blessing of visiting a soul tampering cave. Well, air breathers and all those bastards down in the deep sea. Since we’re neither of those, we won’t be visiting those spooky caves anytime soon, not unless we need to.”

“It’s not that I need to upgrade my soul, it’s just that I want to do it…” Tim followed along, “Call me crazy, but based on what you said and how you said it, you’re making air breathing sound pretty easy. What do you suggest I do, if I want to tamper with my soul, sir fish? What’s your advice?”

The lair was dead silent for a moment. The fish didn’t know if Timothy was joking, but come to think of it, it’s not like they were willing to ask a bunch of questions either, as they didn’t possess any dot of intellectual, abstract thinking, regardless of how the quality of their mana was better than his, in bleak comparison. They had the same attention span of a human baby, and thanks to that attention deficit, they were quick to give an answer.

One of them added, “Well, you need to breathe air first, and have legs also. You’ll need those couple of advantages for a while, to get things done… Have you ever shapeshifted into another animal?”

“No,” Tim answered honestly.

“You gotta kill a bubonic shifter, then, and steal their powers. Have you ever heard of them? They’re rare, but you’re more likely to find them two-hundred meters below the air, erg, sea surface.” The other followed along.

“I’ve heard of those bastards! They shoot darts out of their nostrils and shit, right?” He asked.

The four fish nodded along to his answer, and that was basically where the conversation ended, as no one had anything more to add. These fish were especially brief, they didn’t waste time.

Anyway, the task that Tim had wanted to pursue, inflated into something greater than he had expected, just like that, within a snap! It was very apparent that in order to tamper his soul, Tim had to kill a bubonic shifter first! This was no easy task, it was really dangerous too, because if he was even slightly clumsy, then he could contract some version of the plague from those very darts that the shifters could shoot out of their nostrils! The task he wanted to chase was dangerous and perplexing.

Regardless of that, he wasn’t willing to back down, so he mumbled. “Fuck it, I’m going out to hunt a shifter, I guess,? No bother, I’ve killed worse things, so how bad could it be?”

Tim was motivated to progress, regardless of what the means were. He had undergone some changes in order to adapt with this overall environment better, and since he had made such changes, he felt less overwhelmed to pursue a task or two. He felt ready.

Speaking of tasks, the system offered him a reward if he was to find and kill a bubonic shifter, four-hundred system points, to be precise, which wasn’t a tiny amount. She had introduced this task a couple of days ago, task eight, to be exact, and Tim couldn’t ever have guessed that these couple of tasks would end up getting intertwined! Killing a shifter was imperative, if he was to tamper with his soul in the near future!

Tim was aware of that fact now, but he wasn’t any more intimidated by that fact, he thought. “I’ll get shit done. Besides, how bad could those needles be? My skin is as tough as a nail now, I hope. It should withstand a stupid plague dart.”

…

Timothy went out to the open sea, alone. The members of the blistering mana sect, didn’t really want to deal with a bubonic shifter now or anytime soon, especially after they considered the massacre that had happened a couple of days ago. They weren’t willing to take any risks.

Because of all of that, he was out here alone, and ready to brave the elements! He worked better alone anyway, so he wasn’t really offended by how the sect members chickened out moments ago, by refusing to help him. His nerves were pretty tame.

Timothy browsed the sea, and hoped to find a shifter whom he could pounce on. He wished to have the element of surprise, but considering the environmental circumstances that he faced here, it may not be possible for him to have the advantage.

He was two-hundred meters below the sea right now, and at this mark, he was barely able to look a couple of feet in front of him. Most of the sea was dark, after all, so he had to depend on his other senses more, if he was to navigate across this darkness safely!