George was right when he decided to steer away from the magical barrier below him. It didn't take long for more creatures to pierce through its dungeons. Since he had massacred perhaps half of the monsters that lurked the dungeons in a one-hundred meter vertical radius, more and more species had used the opportunity to slip through the dungeon.
Those who made it through were mostly unscathed, and odds were that a few fish didn't survive the transition, but that at least sounded beneficial to him. He didn't know how many fish died there, but he didn't care either.
The fact remained that a lot of creatures did survive the dungeons, too many of them. It took an hour for the area he was in, which was about two-hundred meters above the barrier, to become too crowded! He knew that it was too crowded, because he swam in relatively the same waters for an hour now, slowly inching upwards as he explored the surrounding waters, and he hadn't ran into anyone during that period, until now. Fish from below him were catching up!
"They must have passed the barrier," He figured. "There's no other explanation! I don't remember much from before, but still, I'm sure I saw a bunch of these guys at the sea floor at some point in my life. They crossed over!"
George's observation led to the realization that he had messed with the natural order of things. Apparently, he had destroyed the monsters in the dungeons so efficiently that tens of creatures had already taken the opportunity and crossed the barrier successfully! Most of them weren't even supposed to be here. He figured that some fish had even gone back to the sea floor, and had convinced other fish to cross the barrier, which was the only theory he had that could explain these numbers.
"This is gonna become a problem," He sneered. "I'm gonna be hunted nonstop!"
George avoided the fish he ran into, be it big or small. Initially he wanted to make observations before hunting any of the fish, but when the numbers around him suddenly exploded with familiar species, he put two and two together, and avoided fights until he could decide on his next move.
He was steaming with anger, and thought, "I can't swim forever, and yet I can't stop and evolve… What a darn joke!"
After a bit more of swimming around, and avoiding fights, he reached a decision. He calculated that the best way for him to progress was if he killed the particularly violent fish one by one. Big fish especially, since they were a bigger threat to him.
He plotted, "If I kill enough big boys, I'd have both the points, and peace of mind to evolve. Yes, that sounds good. Sounds smart."
With that in mind, he attacked the next big, problematic fish he saw. He crossed paths with a big fish that willingly got too close to him, so he used the Molecular Torsion ability, and shot the fish at its spine.
This one was an anglerfish, and it was bigger than him. He didn't recognize its exact species, but he didn't care either. The Molecular Torsion shot rendered the anglerfish's spine useless, as it deleted its muscles, and after that point, the kill was swift. He bit the fish a few times, it died, and he collected its essence afterwards.
[+70 Blood Essence points]
[+30 Bone Essence points]
[+3 Mana Essence points]
"Good enough," He nodded. "I expected more mana out of him, he was a big guy, but I guess even the big guys don't know how to use magic sometimes."
George was done with the anglerfish now, so he moved along, and eventually found his next target. This one was as big as him, as it was a species of eel, and it seemed particularly frantic.
The two of them started fighting right away, but George was a lot stronger in comparison, as he had a thicker muscle mass to support him, so he rammed against his opponent! He didn't expect much of a battle, but he was mistaken.
The head-bud made the eel unleash some sort of electricity, which shocked George almost senseless! He wasn't dead, but he needed a few seconds to gather his thoughts together.
He then shouted, "Bastard!"
Luckily, the enemy eel was also disoriented thanks to George's thick skull, so he had a moment to figure out his next move. George figured that the best idea was to rely on ranged attacks, because this eel might be entirely electric, so he'd likely get shocked upon contact if he bit the eel, or rammed into it again.
With that considered, he shot at the eel using the Molecular Torsion ability, right at its head, because he figured that after that collision from earlier on, its head was its one, and only weak spot! He wasn't wrong, the eel stopped moving.
[You 'deleted' its brain. Good job.]
George shook his head, as he tried to reduce the aftermath of the prior shock, and then he said, "Hopefully, there wasn't much to delete. Delete means destroy, right?"
[Conceptually, yes. Or erase, whichever word sounds easier.]
"I'll probably be deleting a lot of brains today, then. It's kind of sad, but it's the only way to push through." He said.
[+80 Blood Essence points]
[+40 Bone Essence points]
[+20 Mana Essence points]
[Absorbing magical ability…]
[Absorbed Electric Skull ability]
[The creature you just killed is called a Faceless Cusk-eel. Its round head explains the name, but other than that, it bore an electric ability. It's yours now, so this is your lucky day.]
"Please tell me that I can shock other fish with it," He grinned.
[Better than that, you can use your head to shock them! You seem to enjoy ramming into your enemies, and the main difference now is that you can continue to ram into them, but also give them an electric shock if you want to.]
"Heck yeah!" He celebrated. "That sounds so cool!"
[It costs five Mana Essence points per shock, though, so use it sparingly.]
[Your total essence points are as follows…]
[Blood Essence = 350]
[Bone Essence = 150]
[Mana Essence = 35]
"We're looking good now," He said. "I sure wish mana wasn't so hard to come across, though. This is turning out to be a problem."