'Oh, I see lights again,' said Ning A as he looked in the waters outside.
'Hmm… oh, is it time again?' wondered Ning B as he saw the light start to shine brighter high above them.
'It's going to do it again,' said Ning A.
The fish they were leeching off of suddenly pumped out a massive sprout of blood-like red liquid from above its head. The red liquid flowed out to the water above and completely painted the surface red.
Although the liquid wasn't blood, it still smelled like one and attracted multiple fishes and birds towards it. The giant fish would wait for a while so that more fishes would gather and when there were a lot of them, it would immediately jump out of the water, devouring the lives in the entire area.
The Nings felt the many different fishes splashing about in the giant fish's stomach. However, they weren't sad at all. In fact, they were quite happy about it. A full stomach of fishes for the giant fish meant a lot of energy for them.
The giant fish's body didn't produce as much energy as they would've hoped for its size, but it still produced about a hundred thousand energy every single day.
By now, they had been in the giant fish for over a month and had been roaming the depths of the ocean, watching the giant fish kill anything in its track and eat it.
The Nings were amazed at how diverse the creatures on the seafloor were. Also, they were incredibly high in number. Even after all the deaths and preying they had seen, they were surprised at the number of fish and other aquatic animals they would see every single hour.
'How much longer?' Ning B asked in an impatient voice.
'Should be any time now,' said Ning A calmly.
'Argh… I can't wait, Status,' Ning B shouted.
[Status
Energy: 9,986,148
Task: Collect 13,852 more energy
Reward: You unlock Shop
Shop: LOCKED
After being a month in the giant fish, they were nearly done with unlocking the shop. Just a little longer and they would unlock it.
'Oh god, it's still nearly 14 thousand energy away,' Ning B said dejectedly.
'Yeah, but the fish also just ate. He will get more energy now, just wait,' said Ning A.
As time progressed forward, they felt more and more anxious about everything. The longer it went on, the slower they felt it was moving.
'How much longer??' Ning B was getting really anxious now.
'Just a little— ' before Ning A could even reply anything, a notification went off in their head.
<Congratulation>
<The Energy System is undergoing a change>
<Current status set as checkpoint >
<Using 10,000,000 Energy to unlock Shop>
<Please Wait>
<Please Wait>
<Please Wait>
<Unlock Successful>
<Shop has been permanently unlocked>
The Nings were speechless for a second. They didn't know what to say about anything. As soon as he could speak once more, Ning A said.
'Uhh… status.'
[Status
Name: Ning Ruogong
Energy: 0
Skills: None
'…what?' the Nings were very surprised and confused. Different pieces of information were sent towards them at once and that was too much for them to handle.
'What is going on?' they tried to understand what had just happened but were failing without a single answer. 0 energy? System change? Skills? Permanent Unlocks? Checkpoint? Their speed of comprehension wasn't keeping up with how fast the questions were flying through their head.
They calmed down a little and took the problems head-on, one at a time. Ning A proceeded to question the systems about the various different things.
'System, why do I have no energy?' he asked.
<All the gathered Energy has been spent to unlock SHOP>
<Please gather the Energies once more>
'So, if I have no energies, how can I still feel, touch, smell, and sense the various different things?' he asked.
<The you just before spending all the energy was saved as a checkpoint for you>
<Meaning, if you ever lose your energies, you won't lose your unlocks>
<All the unlocks you made before unlocking the shop have been permanently unlocked>
When the Nings heard about this, they became incredibly happy. They had suffered back in the forest where after they used parasite on the wolf, they had spent a lot of energy, so their parasite skill was locked until their energy was back and past the unlock level for that ability.
Now, even when they had 0 energy, they didn't have to worry about losing their senses and energy. This was an incredible gift from the system.
'So, why did the system change?' Ning B asked.
<You are past the initial phase of the system where your purpose was to unlock the shop>
<Now, the true system has been revealed to you>
'True system? Does that mean everything we knew about the system before was fake?' Ning B asked while completely stupefied at the system's answer.
<No>
<The previous system was a tutorial, meant to teach you how the system worked>
<Now that the shop has been unlocked, you will see the true power of the system>
The Nings stayed silent. The true system was finally showing itself to them? They couldn't understand what it meant, but they started feeling a bit excited after all.
'So what happened to the tasks? Why are they replaced with the skills thingy,' Ning A asked.
<The tasks were the main methods to teach you how to gather Energy>
<Now that you know it, the tasks are no longer required>
<The skills are techniques and abilities you buy from shop>
'Huh? You can buy techniques and abilities from the shop?' Ning A said in surprise.
'Wait!! Is it like superpowers? Can we get superpowers using the shop?' Ning B asked.
<Yes>
'Oh my god,' Ning A said after hearing this. If he could become like those cultivators that flew and fought, he would be incredibly happy going forward.
'Alright, tell us right now then. What is there in the shop for us to buy then?' Ning B asked. The system simply replied.
<Nothing>