George's hunting session was still ongoing. The trouble he put himself in came with slow, but consistent benefits. For example, he stacked yet another ability on his arsenal, which was useful, and he could survive a battle or two with it as he could grow his fangs on command, but realistically, he wasn't anywhere close to the top of the food chain.
He could die at any given time, as all it took was for him to run into the wrong fish, at the wrong time. He was vulnerable, so the slow progress of this hunting session was outweighed by the unpredictable risks. The few essence points, and the couple of abilities he stole from other fish, were not enough of a compensation.
The only great thing that might come out of this session, was if he'd be left alone to evolve his body. At least then he could evolve into a greater beast, relatively speaking, and that was what he worked towards.
Regarding that matter, he had a lot more work to do, more fish to kill. He kept hunting. During the hunt he ran into three fish of various species that were smaller than him, and they weren't exactly a threat, but they were violent.
George killed all three of them easily, without even using magic, but the points he got out of them weren't great. They ranged from ten-to-thirty points each.
[Your total essence points are as follows…]
[Blood Essence = 570 points]
[Bone Essence = 305 points]
[Mana Essence = 75 points]
"That's… poopy." He sighed, though, he tried to refrain from cursing. He tried to be a gentleman, as to him, it made sense to be calm and collected. "Very poopy."
Afterwards, he pitched, "System, it's getting harder and harder to find big guys to kill, so how about we take a short break? Can you possibly make my scales tougher, or something like that – but can you do it quickly? At least then I wouldn't have to worry about being bitten in half."
[Your scales, and your body can currently withstand pressures of 15 pounds per square inch, which is good, but please understand, if you're to withstand stronger bite forces, you're going to need a lot more essence points than you currently have. Even then, most fish who are three-or-four times your size can kill you. Spending essence points on durability right now would not be effective at all.]
George didn't like how fast his idea was shot down. He had been thinking about it for a while, especially after he was bitten by that hound fish, so it was irritating when the system rejected it so quickly. He wanted to insist on it, but he was distracted by something that crossed his eye.
He said, "Okay, system, we're gonna talk about it later."
Afterwards, he tried to get a better look of what he had spotted. He saw something big in front of him, perhaps twenty meters away, and it grabbed his attention. His eyes had adapted to the general darkness of the deep sea, yes, but he still couldn't see that far ahead, so he had to swim closer towards what he spotted.
Once he got closer, he was absolutely terrified when he saw the tail of an absolutely massive creature flutter in front of him! His underdeveloped heart almost stopped beating!
"Crap crap crap crap crap shit shit shitty shit!" He cursed inwardly, losing his calm, and tried to swim away slowly. "How can something so big exist!"
[Relax, that's just a Greenland Shark. Although they're opportunistic hunters, they're also intelligent, so ultimately, to them, you'd look too weird to consume. Most sharks would see you as venomous, and unfulfilling, so they wouldn't take the risk.]
"Would you bet my life on that assumption?" He asked, as he continued to back away slowly, as to not grab the shark's attention. "Why would anything even grow to be so big?! You mentioned dragons before, are dragons as big as sharks?"
[Dragons are much bigger, actually. I guess you haven't fully grasped how big fish, or animals in general can grow up to be. That's understandable considering your surroundings, but now that you saw an example, you have a point of reference.]
If George had sweat glands, he'd be covered in sweat by now. He was terrified, and rightfully so, but he was doing well. Thankfully, the four-meter long, one-ton shark wasn't going after him, which was a good thing in any perceivable possibility. It was the best thing he could hope for right now.
He thought, "The sea has more big fatties like this one? Okay, alright. I can work around that, starting with not being eaten whole by fatty green here. I'm okay, I'm good."
George escaped a deadly encounter. If the shark had chosen to attack him, he'd be dead in seconds, and he couldn't have done much to protect himself other than maybe try to swim away. Even then he was sure that the shark would catch up to him, so overall he was thankful it didn't attack, because he could not have fought back, not a chance!
Anyway, as he swam away from the shark, he thought about why it was here to begin with, and developed a theory. A strong one at that.
"This can't be a coincidence," He insisted. "The big guys probably sensed the increase in fishy activity down here. That has to be it."
As he thought about it more, he decided, "I gotta get out of here, system. More fatties will come, and then it'll be a feeding frenzy! Who in their right mind would pass away free food? I wouldn't."
[That's a strong observation, and you're right. Swim as far away as possible, but try not to swim too fast. Let the fish around you attract predators, it'll only make it easier for you to escape.]
"I'm glad we agree, then." He said. "I can't fight those big, scaly fatties! No chance."
George made his way out of the hunting grounds, and he planned to keep swimming until he was sure that he wouldn't be bothered by anyone. He wanted to find a truly desolate area, that was generally void of all life. Only then would he be able to evolve in peace.
After he saw that Greenland Shark, the essence points he accumulated looked like they were more than enough. He wasn't as greedy about them anymore.