I'm a Stingray?

Giving attention to the friends whom were still waiting nearby, Tim shouted. "Get out of here, I will teach this one a lesson and be with you after."

Afterwards he swam across the coral's back, slow and low-key enough to make it appear like he was sliding down. It went so on for about 20 seconds before he had finally reached the bottom.

This coral reef matches his mostly yellow skin colour so greatly, not to mention the sand over it. How foul and dumb would it be if such natural gifts wouldn't be accepted, especially in situations like this.

But once he landed over the sand, the first thing that went through Tim's mind was the blue lip's claim about sand. He had thought that all sand was natural, but no... one would never expect for poop to be mixed with it unless spotting the process happening with their own eyes.

Slowly but surely, he made it about 5 meters closer to the enemies and dreaded every little burst of energy while getting there, all the time thinking about how the sand rubbed on his belly.

The human he did not yet attack became much more alive once the boy got too close. For a second it made him think that the enemy had acknowledged the presence, but no that wasn't the case.

The newcomer had noticed that his friend had been attacked and therefore made a hell lot of gestures until the injured one swam for the water surface.

Such an act made Timmy think that the later would follow, but no. The new enemy was still down here, trying to focus as much as possible through the radius of which a limited underwater vision typically provided.

It took the sea disk a minute to understand what was happening, so he decided to second a thought for the sake of safety. "System, when do you think is the best time to attack this enemy?"

[Definitely not now!]

[This humanoid has reloaded its speargun, you do not want a spear through you.]

Curious, he expressed with absolute certainty. "You've seen examples before ha? I trust you on that, it poked the coral like a madman."

[14% of the stingray guests of mine, have died because of a human attack.]

Staggered at this point, that little stingray face curled as he thought out a question. "You keep stats on that? How much to know what else can easily kill me here?"

[This is general knowledge that you can use any time, may it serve as a motivation to heed my word.]

[But do you really want to hear these out now? That human wants you dead and probably has more spears.]

"He has no idea where I am, look at that fool, looking around like a hungry chicken." Timmy felt half confident about such a claim but yet was tremendously curious to hear this out, for the banter.

[Loading carefully analysed causes of death amongst stingrays...]

[Data fetched]

[Throughout my 1,385 year of continuous function, I had 74,916 stingray guests.]

"That's a lot of stingrays. How did you have time to manage it all?"

[I hosted many animals at once, but that was proving chaotic so now you are the only one with a system.]

[The system has to perfect and remold techniques to reduce the death rate after reincarnation. Because after all, human souls are given a second chance of life here, not a death trap. I know that as my motive ever since hosting my first animal.]

"So I'm basically a lab monkey now?" Tim asked, able to catch up with what the deal was.

[In a way, yes. But take it this way, the research I reap out of you can equal to a massively reduced death rate for others that can and will share the same fate someday.]

Feeling a bit prouder but yet still curious, he for once kindly requested. "Okay, that's fair. Can you continue with the statistics now?"

[Gender and species regardless, death was caused thanks to the following carefully built up examples...]

[Animal attack = 16%]

[Human attack = 14%]

[Starvation = 12%]

[Beached = 10%]

[Disease = 9%]

[Failure of durability towards specific temperatures = 8%]

[Depth damage = 7%]

[Squished by natural structures = 5%]

[Suicide = 4%]

[Poison = 3%]

[Venom = 3%]

[Killed by a lover = 2%]

[Plastic consumption = 2%]

[Killed by a potential mate = 1%]

[Pre mediated **** = 1%]

[Stupidity = 1%]

[Parental abuse = 1%]

[Burned by lava = 1%]

[Data successfully briefly specified.]

[This information won't change for a while, depending on how long you can survive. But guest can use this information without any said limit, upon request.]

As the system ended her statistics, all Tim could say was. "Damn, you really kept track on all of that."

[I did. As you noticed, neither of them died because of old age so that portion is particularly concerning. It means that 14 hundred years of work isn't enough to keep a stingray alive long enough to have it die due to old age.]

Finding a flaw, kinda. Tim decided to point it out, "Maybe because they feel special?"

[What does guest mean?]

Thankfully tad more specific, the boy expressed. "They feel special to have a system and stuff so they take big ass quests too early."

[That is a great reason yes.]

"Maybe limit just how much they can do in the beginning. Control their minds or something and add 20 beginner tasks, that only give a single point and stuff."

[That's... genius. How can your small mind think of something smart enough to tinker 14 hundred years of cultivation?]

"Because I'm a boss." Tim answered, although heavily unable to give any further explanation because he didn't know either.

[Your recommendation has been adapted in the system. Any new marine animal after you, will have to go through more tasks.]

[But mind control will be excluded, they need freedom to think and act.]

"Works for me but... is there a reward for this tip?"

[Apart from me calling you smart, there is no other reward.]

"Peachy." Tim answered and remembered why he came here to begin with.