So I’m a Fish, So What?

I think I’m gonna change classes from a magic assassin to a bloodthirsty berserker from now on.

There’s no need to care about which prey to hunt from now on since everything I kill will provide me with extra stats, let’s kill everything I see!

By the way, how many stats do I gain per kill, Manager-san?

{Answer: A percentage of the enemy’s stats dependent on your Divinity Field, holds true for skill points as well with a minimum of 1 per each entry.}

Hooh...? Divinity field had something to do with the soul’s core if remember correctly.

How do I increase the percentage, Manager-san?

{Answer: Host’s Divinity field is considered non-expanded according to W system’s standards. Possible solution retrieved from memory: Use skill [Greed] until skill [Divinity Expansion] is acquired.}

Oi oi, doesn’t that mean that I can just kill thousands of small fries for thousands of stats...?

Well, out of all the ruler skills I know about, Greed, Pride, and Wisdom are the most overpowered anyways.

What about the skill plundering function, Manager-san?

{Answer: Due to the synergy between skills [Sage] [Soul Seeker] [Greed], skills beneficial to the Host are prioritized when skill [Greed] is used unless the host actively interjects.}

Gotcha. So, my reincarnation skills removed all downsides to the skill while making it even more broken, huh?

Let’s test it then!

And right in front of me is a very good test dummy.

 

 

It seems to be one of the slow and bulky guys, referred to as a tank in online games.

However, this guy not only has high HP and Resistance, but also attack power, so Juggernaut is a better term to describe it.

I wouldn’t have been able to even break its defense before, but now, it’s nothing but a live target.

Still, I can’t underestimate it, arrogance is fine, but you gotta have the strength and wisdom to actually back it up.

So, let’s inspect this guy and find the vulnerabilities in his defense, the stats shown with Appraisal don’t apply to the entire body. After all, only the highest-value parts would be shown.

If you asked me to describe how it looks, I can only tell you it’s an armored blobfish.

Yep, those ugly guys with huge noses living in the depths, but with scales added to their bodies in a similar style to that of full-plate armored knights.

So, from here on after, I will bestow upon you the name Sir Blobfish!

Anyways, its weakness seems to be the underbelly, the number of scales covering it is lower compared to the rest of its body, and they seem to be weaker as well.

I don’t have a suitable angle to attack it though...

 Sigh... No other way, I sneak up from below it and bite it at an awkward angle.

My lower jaw teeth easily penetrate the blobfish’s underbelly while the upper ones are blocked by the scales.

Luckily, Ruler of Greed increased my HP and Strength, or my jaw may have gotten cracked due to my own power.

The blobfish has no means of attack other than body slams, so I keep an eye on the distance to the nearby walls while clamping my jaws with all my might, can’t let this guy slam me into some rock.

My teeth are sharper than knives, so any movement from it increases the severity of its wounds, but this guy’s intelligence seems to be kinda low as he’s still desperately struggling to get me off of him.

Hey, it’s heading for a sharp rock protruding from the cave walls, is it gonna do what I think it will...?

Yeeep, he’s charging towards it with my body right in between.

Humph, what a stupid guy, so long, sucker!

I open my jaws and swim away at the last moment, resulting in Sir Blobfish’s weak underbelly slamming right into the sharp pointy end of the rock with his entire body’s momentum.

And that’s how you prepare fish Kebab, wahaha!

 

{Acquired Skill [Iron Defense LV 1].}

{Experience has reached the required level. Individual serratum saven has increased from LV 8 to LV 9}

{All basic attributes have increased.}

{Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Swimming LV 9] has become [Swimming LV 10].}

{Condition satisfied. Skill [Swimming LV 10] has evolved into skill [High-Speed Swimming LV 1].}

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

{Skill points acquired.}

 

Oooooh! This’s some nice progress if you ask me!

My swimming speed nearly doubled with that skill evolution, and I’m now closer to getting Telescopic Sight.

Also, the plundered skill was the most useful one out of his repertoire indeed, I can feel my scales hardening a bit, they may even turn metallic if I max out this skill!

The stat gain is fairly nice as well, leapfrogging levels in fights doesn’t seem like such an impossible task anymore.

I’m pretty sure the only remaining downside to Greed is that I can’t get skills that are impossible to be associated with my race, a fish can’t use spider threads, y’know.

Also, Ruler of Greed’s title stat increase is incredible, and I’m certain the stat skills +Correction will start a snowball for my stats in the future.

Maybe I can become one of those anime little lolis who swing around a great sword triple their size...? That’s an amusing thought, haha.

I don’t wanna become a loli again though, but monster reincarnations are affected by their previous life’s appearance.

Except for maybe the colors of my hair and eyes, I’ll look the same as before.

That’s depressing, I’ve always wanted to be a mature gorgeous lady...

Imagine the scene of Alkreya going off about her capable knowledge goddess friend to some other gods, then getting interrupted by the entrance of a little girl with an oversized robe, a book in her hands, and round glasses.

The gods get surprised and inquire about her identity, but then they are astonished by the revelation that this child is the capable knowledgeable wise Tomoko-sama that Alkreya was just describing.

I must get a mature form, otherwise, I’ll be facing the danger of literal divine social death!! I will never allow that to happen!

 

It’s been a few hours since I killed Sir Blobfish and I’m starting to get annoyed.

I gained more than enough experience for a level up from Sir Blobfish because it was considered a leapfrog battle, the guy had more than double my highest stat in his weakest one after all.

The problem is that I can’t find any lucky catches like him since then, even if I’ve covered a large area with my new High-Speed Swimming.

Fortunately, this time wasn’t wasted as my stats increased by a good amount from killing harmless fishes along the way, I wonder when I’ll get the Monster Slayer title, I have a feeling that I’ve already satisfied its conditions a long time ago.

It’s as if all stat-enhancing skills are locked in my current race’s skill tree or something...

My thoughts are cut off by the alarms of both my intuition and Future Sight.

Something fast and strong is heading right in my direction.

Although it’s not targeting me specifically, the trajectory of its movement certainly collides with my Stealth’s vulnerability point, so I’d be detected.

I only know of one monster that could be this fast around here.

Sure enough, what appeared in my vision a few minutes later verified my conjecture, it was an evolved blade-fish.

But the circumstances of our encounter are different this time.

As soon as I realized what was coming at me from Future Sight, I utilized these precious minutes to catch a couple of fishes swimming around dumbly and put them in its route.

Future Sight works weirdly sometimes, if it’s a fixed future then I can predict it from a mile away, but if it’s a future due to a result of a split-second decision, the prediction limit could be decreased to a minimum of one second.

Like how I only had a few seconds to dodge the sniper crab’s shots before, yet I had entire minutes before this evolved blade-fish reached my position.

Now, this guy took the bait as soon as it detected the fish in front of it, rushing at them and literally splitting them into two halves with its sharp fins.

Then it made the biggest mistake of its life, it slowed down and started eating.

It’s the same mistake I did back when I was chased by the swarm of blade-fish.

Remember when I said that stats only show the highest strength of specific parts of a body?

Well, this guy’s stupidly high defensive stats are all focused on his blade fins, a sword needs to have more durability than sharpness after all.

Currently, the blade-fish isn’t worried about anything, it’s even distracted by the quick snack it managed to hunt.

A nice Chinese metaphor can describe the current situation: The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

I wait until it takes a couple of bites so that it completely relaxes its vigilance, then I use my new higher speed to rush at its head while in Stealth.

My body might be weak enough to be split into two with one hit like these fishes, but my attack power sure as hell is enough to take off this guy’s head after Greed’s enhancements.

And that’s exactly what I do, I bite off its head with my newly increased strength and the damage bonus of Assassin, instantly killing it.

 

{Acquired Skill [Evasion LV 1].}

{Skill [Evasion LV 1] has been integrated into skill [Evasion LV 5].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Evasion LV 5] has become [Evasion LV 6].}

 

{Experience has reached the required level. Individual serratum saven has increased from LV 9 to LV 10}

{All basic attributes have increased.}

{Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Resistance LV 9] has become [Poison Resistance LV 10].}

{Condition satisfied. Skill [Poison Resistance LV 10] has evolved into skill [Deadly Poison Resistance LV 1].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Thought Acceleration LV 5] has become [Thought Acceleration LV 6].}

{Skill points acquired.}

{Condition satisfied. Individual serratum saven can now evolve.}

 

It’s finally time for another power-up!