Winston decided to not buy any more upgrades. He already invested in the weakest aspect either in his arsenal, or his body. He had level-ten strength now, and thanks to an earlier purchase, he had a big gun to wave around as well.
To say that he felt content was pushing it, in fact aside from his new rifle, everything about him reeked of vulnerability, and he could be shot dead or eaten alive at any minute, but he tried to ignore that fact, as there was nothing he could do about it. If he manages to survive, however, it would be ideal to have a sum of system points to spend in the future, because if he kept hanging on to survival by a thread like he was doing now, there would come a time where he wouldn't be as lucky.
That's where more system points would come in handy, he wanted to have hundreds of them as a backup. He wanted to sculpt his own luck, to the best of his abilities. Thanks to the years of slavery he experienced, he nearly manically clung on to the idea of carving out his own destiny.
"If I could hunt a couple of barracudas I'd have a lot more points to spend," He thought. "Can't hunt now though, for fuck's sake. If my suspicions aren't crazy, a single gunshot would draw in every red fucker across the reef. I can't bother fighting them now."
With that in mind, he remained in his hiding spot. He waited for a day there, actually, and although he got bored of sitting around at some point, he was also growing to love his freedom even more. There was something so liberating when one had the option to do nothing but sit around. No work, no direct threats, and food was easy to find as well. He ate a sea urchin, which to him was a delicacy. He was happy.
However, other than hiding in the reef comfortably, there was more to life for sentient creatures such as himself, so he couldn't hide forever. He'd hate to waste his potential like that. After waiting for more than a day, he waited just a little more until it was midnight again, and used the camouflage of the night to head into the City of Fik. He couldn't afford to hunt in the coral reef anymore, as too much attention has been drawn to it. He had to return to civilization.
Slowly but surely, he made his way out of the coral tunnels. This task, at the dead of night, may be a challenge to other creatures, but as a starfish, he was nocturnal, so he could see in the dark quite well. It wasn't a challenge.
"This feels right," He nodded. "Can't believe those red bastards used to make us work up until late noon. They have hurt themselves as well. It doesn't make any sense."
Winston was aware that enemy starfish, and other species could see him in the dark, but he was willing to risk it. Regardless of how many creatures were nocturnal, he figured that any random hiding spot he found along the way, would help cover him better compared to results on broad day, so he was confident.
"I haven't slept much," He grunted. "Gotta keep my shit together, otherwise I'll mistake a stingray's booty as a hiding spot."
…
With enough effort, Winston carefully made his way to the city. He was quite nervous about stepping into a public place such as this, but contrary to his paranoia, nobody cared about seeing a starfish in a city full of starfish. No one was suspicious of him, and this became especially the case when he saw a bunch of Worker Starfish, which were members of his own species, walking freely in the city.
Apparently, the people he used to work with were right. There were plenty of Worker Starfish who were not in fact enslaved. Granted, most of them were rich, but that didn't matter now, as no one here would have plausible cause to assume that he himself wasn't rich. There were thousands of starfish in the city, of many species even, to the point where the city looked like a rainbow, so relatively, he was safe.
"God fucking damn, this feels nice." He thought. "Too nice… what do I do now? System?"
[That's up to you. I can't answer existential questions for you, buddy. Freedom is yours, and this means that it is up to you to decide how to experience it.]
"That's not very helpful now, is it?" He argued. "I was a slave from the day I could walk. I don't know what normal starfish do. If we're being honest, I didn't think I'd make it this far."
[I can't help you.]
"Okay?... Stibus, fuck, I just remembered, I haven't had sex in a while!" He thought. "Well, not since the guys in the mines found that suspicious looking mud a few years ago. I almost got bit. Maybe I should romance a fair lady, then? A guy needs love."
[...]
"Don't give me that sound, system. This is a normal, healthy idea. Everyone needs love." He argued.
However, despite his solid logic, at this point it looked like he was talking to himself, and he became aware of that, so he dialed it down. People were watching him, so he pushed his existential crisis to the back of his brain for now, and explored the city to try and gain even the faintest impression of what he was supposed to do with his life next. He was open to ideas.
Most of the citizens here were having fun, enjoying dinners at restaurants and such, which wasn't very helpful to him. He kept exploring.
Some starfish were straight up shooting some substances up their feet, which was where their mouths were. Not quite useful to him, so again, he kept exploring.
Eventually he ran into a group of people who caught his attention. They were dragging a large, dead barracuda across the city.
For a second he suspected that they found the barracuda that he killed, but that was not the case. They had hunted it down, and were planning to sell its meat. For small guys like starfish, selling a barracuda was almost like selling a whale, so they seemed quite happy, and proud of themselves.
He approached them, and asked, "Hey guys, how's it going? Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"This better be good, lad," An older starfish answered. "We're a bit busy hauling fish ass here."
"I can see that, and your ass hauling is related to my question." He followed along. "Do you hunt as a group? Well it's clear that you do, but, are you looking for more hunters? I'm pretty handy with a gun."