I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 345: The sea-pancake's insecurities.

"How are we supposed to find the source then? My memories say that we need to go right through here." Timothy lightly complained.

He wasn't particularly mad at anyone, but since there weren't any other ideas visible, he would prefer to bash this door a few times until it shattered.

"If you waited a little bit more, I would've told you the solution already." Haze followed along.

And then she revealed, "This door is unbreakable, but it can still be moved."

The hero sighed and for once put his ego aside. Afterwards he tried to find the best phrase which would feature cooperation.

He could feel that a cloud creeped into his mind already, so he had to put in extra effort just to focus.

At the end he questioned, "What can we do to open it?"

His sibling smiled lightly afterwards, and then chirped. "Do you see those four holes, right in the middle of the door? That's how we will move this thing."

"Huh... you mean those holes can move the door?" Timothy asked.

He had it difficult to catch up with the whole concept. As regardless of the intelligence upgrades he had before, this door seemed beyond his current understanding.

Thankfully Haze remained cooperative. She noticed the hints of effort, so she became more than happy to continue.

"Yes and no. Those holes need some type of globes in them." She pointed out.

And then continued, "There's an extensive amount of branching tunnels right in the core of this door. These branches are as thin as e vein, but there's an advanced cooperation between them."

At last she sealed this concept off by reciting, "If my theory is correct, then some sort of energy will pass through those veins. This energy should trigger the door's mechanics enough to move them."

Most of the team was quite dumbfounded after that point. Yet they already felt faithful towards the lady, just because everything she said sounded intelligent.

Most of the team understood that thanks to the fact that Haze had nine-dimensional sight, she could easily see through objects and people.

Paired with an extensively high IQ, she could formulate a base of understanding, around the very thing she observed.

So she most definitely knew what she was talking about, that was why the team trusted this fine woman.

But yet they still had it difficult to understand what she just said. Haze picked up those signs, and decided to make everything seem easier.

Likewise she requested, "Just look around and see if you can find some orbs. You know what orbs are right? They're like circles but three-dimensional."

"We know what they are," Snoopy cooperated.

In an instant the genius lady continued, "Okay then let's all look for them. These orbs shouldn't be bigger than us."

After that point the team went ahead to fulfill the odd request that the lady had made. And from the looks of it, there was a lot of work to be done.

The prime example was that tens of small tunnels stood steady around them. These tunnels had carved stone supporting them, which aided to make these grey features look less scary.

So with barely any hesitation, the team spread across various tunnels right away.

They wanted to get this over with already, so neither of them wanted to lag behind.

But since the quantity of tunnels was too many, all four of the team members split up so they could cover more ground quicker.

Timothy had the same intent, but this time he wanted to be more prepared. So as soon as he dwelled a few meters in one tunnel, he laid across the sand in order to consult with the system for a little while.

"System, I think it's time to buy a few soul upgrades." He uttered.

[But you barely tried out the soul upgrades you already have, you're rushing into this]

Within an instant he argued, "Am I? Pretty much everything here almost killed me. I can't do anything if I'm too darned scared to swim."

In this case the boy made a lot of sense. On the outside world he was perhaps one of the toughest creatures in existence...

But down here, he would have been severely hurt if these friends and siblings weren't around.

[You have a point there, but I still advise you to approach these soul upgrades appropriately. Or else you'll be in further danger in an actual battle,]

"I hear ya," He cooperated instantly.

And then assured, "I'll be careful. But more powers would help me a lot right now."

Such an idea was comfortable and Timothy was insistent to head towards such comfort.

Simply because he felt insecure. As for once, ego wasn't enough to push through a dilemma. He couldn't use such stubborn motivation to rough-handle any intense situations.

As even though it didn't seem befitting, less complicated creatures were more capable around here.

Most creatures in the area they've seen so far, could use every bit of their power to assert dominance in a battle.

Timothy was extremely creative, but he simply couldn't find enough solutions against these opponents.

So this was ultimately a paradox of odd battle scales, it was never easy to figure out who would kill who.

However, the system fulfilled the hero's wish and listed down what she could offer.

[You currently have three available purchase options,]

[Purchase option number one = Upgrade barb venom to level two]

[Price = one-hundred and fifty system points]

"I forgot all about that thing," He muttered.

And such a statement felt reasonable at least. He didn't have any reason to use his barb throughout the journey back home itself!

Not to mention once they entered the massive tunnel behind them. No, venom simply wasn't enough against these odd enemies.

Nonetheless he felt happy to purchase such a primary upgrade. As it necessarily would toughen up his bodily arsenal.

But before he could properly focus on this upgrade, the system captured his attention with another upgrade.

[Purchase option number two = Unlock the soul reaping attribute]

[Price = two-hundred and fifty system points]

"Now what the hell is that?" Timothy was swift to question.