So I’m a Fish, So What?

Hey, world.

I know I said that you were getting kinda boring and all, but you didn’t really have to take it to heart, right?

Like, sending a potential god-level powerhouse after a lionfish as retaliation for a joke is too much no matter how I think about it!!

If that Ouri creature is really a god, then I’m kinda fucked.

Now not only do I have an evil god who loves to watch suffering as entertainment stalking me, but I might also have another god stalker that wouldn’t mind making people suffer herself.

I mean, my location should be the farthest away from where the main anime takes place, right?!

It’s as if someone decided to start by watching the side story OVA episodes instead of the actual anime...

And now that I think about it, there’s a high chance that Ouri was the outsider interference that induced Greed to go out of control.

Note to self: don’t offend the world or you’ll have to face its guardians.

 

Since I’m gonna be forced to go on some simple errands in the future, I’ve decided to give up the last bit of fun I was having in exchange for safety.

You see, hunting for small fries is boring and unproductive as I gain no experience from them.

Fighting mini-bosses is a completely different experience though, I get to satisfy my battle lust and get large amounts of experience points, but it’s actually inefficient.

Those guys always have very high stats coupled with some tricky fighting styles or a trump card, so a lot of time is wasted during the fight and the post-win recovery.

My time was already stretched thin due to the 7-month deadline yet it’s now stretched even thinner with the pressure of Ouri’s presence on my shoulders.

So, I’ll need to gain experience is via the other feasible method: Fighting monsters that belong to the same weight class as my own.

Problem is, same power level opponents don’t grant much experience, so I’ll have to compensate by killing larger numbers or... targeting a gregarious swarm.

Blade-fish swarms won’t work as I’ve long surpassed their strength, but there’s already a viable option nearby, isn’t there?

Snappy turtles spending their retirement sticking to the mushrooms seem like a perfect target to me.

Although their stats are lower than mine, I should theoretically be able to get experience from killing them.

My stats would normally be lower than theirs at this level, but I have a huge advantage due to Greed’s boost.

I don’t really know how this affects things in the bigger picture, but I hope my theory’s right.

Turtles are similar to neutral mobs in MMORPGs as they don’t actually attack unless you do so first. However, they’re all linked mobs.

You could dance and taunt them for hours straight, and they wouldn’t bat an eye, but accidentally bump into one of them and the sky would literally start raining green.

If Stealth actually functioned the same way it did in games and made me completely invisible, hunting those guys would’ve been a piece of cake, but obviously, it doesn’t work that way.

I could also take advantage of other monsters swimming around to conduct guerrilla warfare, but it’d be an inefficient strategy.

Using my terrifying genius, I was able to come up with another strategy that’s supposedly risk-free, but some prior preparations are required.

Picking a medium-sized mushroom, I move towards it while looking out for any hidden enemies in my Spatial Awareness sphere.

Arriving at my selected location a few minutes later, I proceed to scout the surrounding terrain.

Since turtles are neutral while eels and worms tend to stay away from their gathering place, the roots of colossal mushrooms are the safest place in this biome, and I can do whatever I want there.

But even if my plan is risk-free, things could easily spiral out of control due to unexpected situations, so better safe than sorry.

Done with my investigation and having my resources topped up, I start using Burrow a couple of times to dig a long downwards sloped tunnel.

Since a turtle’s body size is actually at least two times larger than my own when taking the shell into the equation, I specially alter the dimensions and directions of the tunnel.

I plan to fully take advantage of the size difference and make it so that my body can hardly fit through the tunnel.

This correspondingly means that turtles would be physically unable to chase me inside.

The tunnel starts with an opening facing the area where the least number of turtles are concentrated while its end would lead up to a random uninhabited area I came across on my way here.

Burrow doesn’t take much time to activate considering that my body is only a small one-meter-long one, though MP recovery exponentially increases that time.

And since the tunnel must be at least 200 meters long, the required preparation time would increase by days—maybe weeks!

Then again, decreasing the planned tunnel length is out of the question.

The turtles might dig me out like some chick snatching a worm without the extra retreat distance I plan on digging.

However, I also don’t have the time to leisurely hang around the turtles while recovering naturally.

But don’t you worry! This goddess has already used her genius brain to come up with the optimum solution, hehehe!

In my status, there is actually a very useful skill that has the highest synergy with me, but I often overlook how broken it is because I take it for granted.

 

{Satiation: Allows the user to ingest food beyond normal limitations. HP, MP, and SP will recover accordingly. In addition, the excess can be stocked as surplus. Surplus is stored as pure energy, so the user will not gain weight. The amount that can be stocked increases with higher skill levels.}

 

As long as my red SP bar is full, it converts the extra energy produced from food into HP and MP.

Even more exaggerated, if all three bars are full, the extra energy can be stocked as extra.

I mean, I would’ve probably been dead ten times over without the extra SP its pre-evolution version, Overeating gave me.

Applied to my current situation, I can drastically reduce the recovery time required while earning a good bit of experience on the side.

I only need to hunt and eat till I’m full in the downtime between digging sessions.

My normal routine basically remains unchanged except for a minor amount of time dedicated to a new task.

 

 

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Acquired skill [MP Recovery Speed LV 1].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Acquired skill [MP Lessened Consumption LV 1].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Acquired skill [Magic Mass LV 1].}

 

Hooh? That’s nice.

For some reason, I seem to often forget about the fact that Ruler of Greed grants +ve Corrections to stat skills...

That title also increases the HP and Strength abilities, but I’m getting a very low increase compared to what Wisdom granted Kumoko.

Maybe that particular effect scales with levels...?

Well, I guess I’ll invest a bit of time into using Burrow later.

Focusing on these skills is the best way to build a solid foundation for my future magical girl career!

All right then, back to digging!

 

 

{Acquired skill [Motion Perception LV 1].}

{Experience has reached the required level. Individual laethoul ramae has increased from LV 5 to LV 6}

{All basic attributes have increased.}

{Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.}

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

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Satiation LV 1] has become [Satiation LV 2].}

{Skill points acquired.}

 

Chomp. Munch Munch.

Thanks for the meal.

I really wonder how strong the underwater monster will eventually become.

Recalling the different appraisal results shown in the anime, I’m quite shocked to discover that my strength is already considered above average in this world.

I could probably fight that fire dragon in Elroe labyrinth middle stratum by myself and successfully flee or survive.

When considering the land inhabitants’ strengths, that fire dragon is pretty high on the ranking list. There’s probably only a bit less than 1000 creatures stronger than him.

Normally, I should be happy about being able to survive against such an opponent, right?

Nope! I ain’t the least bit happy about it.

You see, the land dwellers’ rankings don’t mean shit to me.

I mean, look at those freaking eels leisurely swimming over there! Each one can easily demolish that fire dragon by itself.

Yet I’ve counted more than a hundred distinct eels ever since the first time I swam through this biome.

Even more ridiculous is the fact that each monster that survives in the boneyards can easily kill an eel!

I still have a long way to become among the elite tier amongst land dwellers not to mention my immediate habitat, the ocean.

Fear overwhelms me the more I think about it. Just imagine if there are Demon Lord level monsters everywhere down in the depths...

Hastily cutting off my thoughts, I go back to digging.

If I stand there and overthink every little thing, I’d eventually go mad in this environment.

My sanity is already struggling as it is, but I must hold on until I at least safely rescue Aiko and Segawa.

Even if it was their fate to be reincarnated here someday, I did had the opportunity to prevent that fate but I didn’t.

They’re my responsibility now!

Humph, the great Tomoko-sama will never be overwhelmed by you, inner demons! Be gone!

Ahh, let me soothe my fragile maiden heart by eating some magical sea turtles.

I’m wonder what they’ll taste like... Turtles were mostly used in soup and aphrodisiacs back on earth after all.

Do your best to make it worth my time now, would ya?