I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 26: Damaged

Following Tim the stingray, they've squeezed away from the enemy and bought a grand perk, which is time.

They were still about half a meter under the coral, using the twists, turns and openings to their disposition, safety was no longer a problem.

But when one doesn't have to think about safety, other topics have the freedom to open in their mind.

Although communication between the three stood dim, Tim couldn't help murmuring out his thoughts. "Why are they looking for the den?"

And afterwards the thought's complexion unravelled, allowing the young stingray to figure out. "Wait I know why they are looking for it. They just want to kill us all... but."

Putting his increased intelligence into use for the sake of filtering the risk factor, Tim thought. "They want to kill us all but how do they know the den exists? They aren't supposed to know about it."

Pushing the thought forward, he finally figured out. "Someone must have snitched on us, one from the group. Could Alba have done it? No no, she can't be that dark, or can she? Well shit, this is shit."

Afterwards he raged between two decisions, the risk factor seemed larger than he thought and it could need further counselling. "Should I go to the far north or go alarm Marlo?"

As he finally stopped his pace to relax a little bit, allowing stamina to regenerate, one of the puffer fish appeared in front of him and decreased burden by a quarter. "I'm Konon."

...

As they've made further towards the far north, communication between these three stood minimalist due to the language barrier.

But their presence is getting Tim more and more confused, as Marlo explained the young stingray as a prodigy.

Sending down help right after just doesn't add up, it can't be because of that thought of extra protection, Tim doesn't need it.

[Since guest has raised health, a new task can be given.]

[New task, find and kill a clown fish.]

[These species are small so killing one will grant you 1 system point.]

[Since it's a system given task, you'll earn an additional point.]

Avoiding murmuring this time so the puffer fish brothers can't hear him out, Tim thought. "I could use points right now, only have 1."

[Getting system points can be easy if you know where to find them.]

[Smaller beings don't give a lot of system points at a time but killing a lot of them can help in the long run.]

[The reef might not be the best idea to go on a killing spree, the tribe you stand in solitude with claims to have great relations with most of the reef.]

[You going around killing everything can get you a bad reputation and possibly killed from the same tribe.]

Well it became clear once more that the system was much smarter, Tim barely thought about these before. But yet he was still confused so further questions can help out. "So I should wait until I get out of the reef?"

[Yes, either that or locate another reef you can hunt on.]

[You have to remain part of the tribe, it has benefits that aid survival.]

[Furthermore it's unusual for fish to behave like his tribe so that's a further guarantee of your group's worth, you're with good company.]

"I guess you're right, the system points can wait for a while. I might hunt around my new home a little bit, I saw that there were fish there before." At this point Tim wanted to yield an easier solution.

Finding another reef seemed difficult at this point, this is the only reef he knew and finding another one might take a while, not to mention how hard it can be to travel to the hidden den and any other reef, constant sea urchin consumption would be a must.

Finally making it out of the coral, they meet with a sight that isn't so easy on the eye.

A stingray, but far different from Tim in shape and size, seemed to have taken damage on its left fin.

Hoping that this one spoke the same language, Tim slowly approached and asked. "Are you okay? I want to help you."

They were strangers towards each other no doubt but who wouldn't help someone in need? This stingray doesn't seem hostile and is about 5 times Tim's size, if they could recruit this stingray it would a nice win.

And so a feminine tone chirped, heavier in accent so Tim only understood half of the sentence. "I was running away from some sharks and cut my fin on some coral."

But yet the young stingray could understand her so he added. "You're bigger so that makes sense but don't worry, we will help you."

Getting a better look at the wound, well it's nothing pretty. There are three deep lines dug in her fin, the last one being the longest, reaching down to the fin.

The first line being half of that size and the one in the middle the shortest, Tim could see flesh and a bit of bone on the scratches as well.

Not quite knowing how to heal a stingray that doesn't have a system, Tim asked for help with a thought. "How do I heal her, system? I have no idea, should I even heal her?"

[There is no way to quickly heal a fish, they don't have systems.]

[The wound can't kill her so you just have to keep her out of danger.]

[The salt in the sea water has enough healing properties so it should fix her fin in no time.]

[You have to get her into the den, it's a safe spot and eating food would help her heal a bit faster too.]

An idea given birth, Tim approached the lady a bit closer and asked. "Can you swim? We need to get you in a more comfortable spot."

"I can." The lady answered, trying to follow Tim but with one attempt to move, they could notice how lop sided she was swimming.

And so Tim slipped under her fin and gave a bit of effort to lift the lady up, pushing her a bit as well. "We just need to get you in that hole over there, sharks can't swim in it."

After setting her in a meter deeper, he turned to one of the puffer fish and repeated. "Marlo Marlo, go get Marlo."

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