I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 212: Collector (4)

After such a question was asked, the young boy synced towards a fair amount of contemplation. Because just a few seconds ago, he had accepted that death was only minutes away; but now a contradictory option was offered.

As a start, he didn't know if this opportunity should give happiness that he could live longer, or sadness that he still could not escape this cursed life.

But after thinking it through a bit more, he recalled the reason why he avoided death in the very beginning. It was so simple but yet it carried a ship-load of emotions.

He had died once and reincarnated into this body. With the chance of a new life given to the boy, why should he die again under such a short period of time? That was the thought he embraced in the beginning, and he didn't want to steer away from it now.

So within these moments, his decisions were renewed. But one thing that he did not notice, was how much time he had spent while under contemplation of the very option that has been given to him.

The worm-gem was still waiting over his head. And judging from the front and back pacing, he was losing a considerable amount of patience.

So it might be the best time to answer the question, "Yes, I want to live!"

Satisfied towards such a result, the latter pitched. "Then I will let you live, but you will have to do something for me in return."

Remembering what circumstances enemies had given so far, the stingray was drowsy enough to associate those past situations with what was being offered now.

So he tried to yell, "I'm not letting you drill my ass!"

"Gross! Why would I want to fuck a fish?" The green-worm answered and withheld the urge to smack this boy into another universe.

Before the conversation could have submerged into deeper levels of stupidity, the same worm bashed in the proper explanation.

By simply adding, "I just need you to do me a tiny favour. As you know, my body is shattered and spread all around the world, and you can do something about it."

The last thing of which the hero needed right now was to touch every ocean for the sake of looking for body parts that belonged to a bizarre green-gem. So demotivation was striking strong enough to make a firm stand.

Of which he assured by speaking it out, "I'm not hunting for your body."

Instant with his replies, which showed a rather big wave of desperation, the worm contradicted. "You don't have to, the task is rather easy."

Once more the sea-pancake was intrigued, so he thought that this trade might be worthwhile. "Tell me more, I don't have much energy left."

Unwilling to lower himself throughout this deal, the worm recited. "I will assure that one of your lowly friends will benefit out of this. All that one friend has to do, is to touch a gem that looks like me, when they find it."

Definitely caught beyond prepare, Timothy questioned. "That's all?"

Plentiful when it came to explanation, the self loving worm described. "Yes. And the gem will benefit your friend, before it flies across the world to attach back to me. Your friend will get stronger because of it and my body will slowly grow."

Feeling that the sea-disk's heartbeat was drastically slowing down, the worm didn't allow him to reply and explained the rest of the deal.

By brushing it over at a considerably fast pace, "Also, your friend doesn't have to look for my entire body, as I just need to grow big enough to restore some of my powers. Eventually I will be strong enough to search for the body parts myself."

The stingray gave his best attempt to mumble through a sentence, but it wasn't necessarily logical. "That's a great offer, better than I expected from a green-worm."

Feeling that he had attained a tremendous win today, the worm just cut to the end. "So do we have a deal?"

"We have a deal." The latter assured, wanting to nod but simply lacking the power to do so.

"Brace yourself." The worm mumbled, and it was easy to notice a whistle on his tone that embraced menacing thoughts.

What the hero felt just a few seconds after, wasn't so different in comparison to being hit by a 40-kilogram-hammer! He felt like a massive chunk was dropped from above and hit him hard enough to barge him several feet under the ground.

But what could be recognized as even more bizarre, was the fact that nothing had connected to the boy physically. Instead, a wave of almost transparent and green light, was just directed towards the injured fish.

And whatever that thing did or was made of, it sure managed to cause a whole boat-load of pain! It almost felt bone-breaking but thankfully it only lasted for a few seconds.

But what struck afterwards made him feel that this sudden pain was worthwhile. A massive sense of calmness and wellbeing enveloped the boy's body. The bloody wound he had on the lift fin, was closing rapidly and the rest of his body was heading towards salvation.

There was no pain in his body whatsoever, and it felt like he was reborn. But that wasn't the actual case, and the system assured it too.

[Health = 110/110 bars]

[Hunger = 17/17 bars]

[Sleep = 39/39 bars]

[Stamina = 17/17 bars]

With such a statistic gained, the sea-pancake had every bit of strength necessary, to leap upwards with enthusiasm that was enough to crush a boulder.

But what he focused more on, was what commonly had haunted him, and he spoke it out loud. "I never thought that my health would be full again."

And after looking at the worm who was proud of his work, Tim spoke in a soft tone. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The latter answered, but didn't exactly want to be praised about it.

So he instantly switched topics, "Now look, I have blasted you with 5,000-millirems of highly purified radiation. That was what helped you recover and that's what's going to help you kill the collector."

It was a surprise how this worm knew of the collector, but the hero did not want to ask any questions and just wanted to dash towards battle. That was why he just nodded and aimed to swim away.

Before he could swim away, the worm pressured. "You have eaten something before that the collector is scared of. With the aid of radiation, it should be far easier for you to kill the enemy."