“A fraction? What does ‘fraction’ mean?” He asked.

Tim was in no condition to think. It wasn’t easy to escape two deadly threats at once (the other being hunger), and with that considered, it wasn’t a surprise that his mind was absolutely scrambled right now. He felt burned out.

The system never felt tired, however. She was far more superior than a computer, and therefore, the work she did was tireless. For that matter, she was quick to come up with an answer, she was sharp!

She said, [A ‘fraction’ means that it’s a tiny portion. Specifically, you only absorbed a tiny portion of the shifter’s powers. The shifter was far stronger than you, in terms of mana quality and although you killed a much stronger opponent, it doesn’t mean you’re strong enough to absorb all of its powers, you won’t be able to shapeshift as greatly or efficiently. I hope that makes sense to you.]

“It does make sense, and it also doesn’t. How was I able to kill a stronger guy… erg, girl?” He followed along.

[Luck, I suppose? You must remember that better mana quality doesn’t necessarily equal profound, bodily durability. The shifter was likely soft-skinned, which would explain why she was avoiding those thunderbolts like the plague, she was really scared of getting hit. Distracting her with your nonsensical rambling, bought you the greatest advantage imaginable for a guy of your level. Not to forget, you did hit her forty times!] She said.

“Haha, stupid squid!” He giggled, while he had a bunch of food in his mouth, and after that, he said. “So that’s why she needed fifteen arms then, huh? She wanted to scare me, cuz she wasn’t the shit, she was just shit. Scaring other fish half-to-death was probably the only way she managed to kill stuff.”

The system was surprised that Tim picked up on that, for once, he really put things into perspective. However, as unusual as his insight was, this wasn’t the time to praise him. Tim was barely conscious, so there was no point in talking to him all that much.

Instead, the system remained quiet. She only started speaking again after thirty minutes, when Tim had recovered from his hunger-driven exhaustion a little bit. He ate some food, and the protein within the food was helping him become both stronger, and more attentive, his body responded well to it. He wasn’t half dead anymore, he was doing well, and therefore was able to talk.

The system made a little announcement afterwards, she said. [I’m glad you’re back, Timothy, as I have some statistics to share with you. The shifter you killed was both rare, powerful, and inherently evil, so the reward for killing it is great. You won 1,500 system points just for killing it!]

“Damn! That’s probably the most points I got from a single kill.” He celebrated.

[Correct!] She said, and then added. [Furthermore, you earned an additional 400 system points thanks to the same kill. Task number 8 encouraged the slaughter of the shifter, so you won the associated award, congratulations! In total, you’ve accumulated 2,163 system points.]

Tim felt happy that he bounced back, point-wise, but he didn’t pay too much attention to the wealth that he had accumulated. He didn’t care enough, because of two solid reasons.

The first reason was that he knew how expensive each future upgrade was. He had only bought two purchases from the bundle of seven, and had been broke for a while as a result. He needed thousands of more system points if he was to progress properly, and this was a sour fact!

The second reason why he wasn’t minding the points all that much, was because he was focused on the interesting topic of shapeshifting. Shapeshifting was going to help him immensely soon, because it would allow him to find a soul tampering cave, out there on the dry lands! Finding such a cave would be a highlight of this new life, and if he was to reap its benefits, his personal arsenal may increase thoroughly! He’d be one of the greatest fish out there, without a doubt.

With all of that considered, his next couple of questions were predictable, he followed along. “Okay, system, thanks for all the points! Now will you tell me more about shapeshifting? Give me some good news, please. Will I be able to turn into a human?”

[No,] She answered bluntly.

Tim’s life goal was to be human again, even if a wizardly one. He'd even be happy if he shapeshifted into something that resembled humans, like an ape, or a goblin, he'd be over the moon in joy! This was the most important life goal he had, as he didn’t want to be a fish forever. No one would, even the other fish, they had such great aspirations. This was his life goal, however, the system insisted otherwise!

She said, [You only absorbed a fraction of the bubonic shifter’s powers, I mentioned this before. The powers you’ve absorbed are pretty weak, and since the quality level (2) of your mana isn’t that great either, you can’t shapeshift into anything bigger or greater than yourself. You can shapeshift into a shrimp for example, a spider, or even a seagull, but a human? Absolutely not!]

“Well shit!” He complained, “No power in the world will convince me to turn into a seagull, no, never! I’ll be a spider, a very cool one!”

[A cold spider? I don’t think those things exist.] The system followed along, as she took the other’s words very literally.

What followed along was a ten-minute debate, regarding what Timothy should shapeshift into. He had plenty of ideas, but at the end, he was convinced to shift into an average, not-so-cool spider.

Tim felt devastated that he couldn’t turn into a palm sized, super venomous spider, but at some point, he made his peace with this crippling disadvantage. He had to be an average spider, for the sake of cooperation, so no, he won’t be venomous at all.

Anyway, as he swam towards the surface, in order to search for some dry land, the system mentioned a couple of conditions to him along the way. She explained that the moment Tim turned into a spider, a bunch of statistics of his, including powers, were to decrease, and to minimize. The science behind it was confusing, but basically, if he wasn’t careful, then he could die due to the most random reasons, like getting stepped on, for example, because he wouldn't be powerful enough to protect himself.

This made him furious, so he mumbled to himself. “So this is what a fraction means, huh? I can’t do shit!”