Day... three? Four? Time is meaningless when you're a blob.
I've killed seventeen brine shrimp, eight copepods, three zooplankton I can't identify, and something that might have been a baby krill.
My current status: Still blind. Still three inches long. Still have the HP of wet tissue paper.
[Level 3]
[HP: 5/5]
[Skills: Poison Sting Lv.2, Detect Vibration Lv.2, Tentacle Control Lv.1]
Five HP now. FIVE. I'm basically immortal. I could probably survive a particularly aggressive sneeze at this point.
Progress.
The good news: I'm getting better at this whole "being a jellyfish" thing. My tentacle control has improved—I can actually steer now instead of just flailing randomly. My vibration sense has sharpened enough that I can tell the difference between "tiny edible thing" and "oh god run it's going to eat me."
The bad news: I'm still in tutorial hell, grinding the weakest enemies in existence, and I STILL CAN'T SEE.
Okay, chat—I mean, self—status report. Let's review what we know about this world.
Facts established so far:
1. I'm definitely in an isekai. The system confirms it.
2. I'm in an ocean. Probably deep ocean cuz I'm a jellyfish.
3. There are things here that want to eat me. Many things. Pretty much everything.
4. The system is real but incredibly stingy with information.
5. I am, objectively speaking, the weakest link.
I pulse forward, hunting. My tentacles drift outward in what I've started calling my "murder net formation." It's not a good name. I'm aware it's not a good name. But when you're alone in the dark with no one to judge you, you can call your techniques whatever you want.
Something bumps into my tentacles.
[Prey detected: Brine Shrimp]
The familiar tingle of poison activating. The brief struggle. The satisfaction of the kill.
[+2 EXP]
Two experience points. For a shrimp. This is my life now.
I consume it—I've stopped questioning the mechanics of how I eat without a visible mouth—and continue drifting.
You know what I miss? Taste. I can't even taste what I'm eating. It's just... sustenance. Pure function. No flavor, no texture, nothing.
I miss pizza. God, I miss pizza so much. And ramen. And convenience store onigiri. And—
[Warning: Predator detected]
ABORT FOOD THOUGHTS. SURVIVAL MODE ACTIVATED.
I pulse frantically, trying to put distance between myself and whatever horror is approaching. My vibration sense is screaming at me—this thing is BIG. Really big. And moving with purpose.
The water pressure shifts. Something massive passes overhead.
I freeze. Complete stillness. Every hunting instinct in my jellyfish body is telling me: Don't move. Don't breathe. Don't exist.
Wait, do I breathe? I still don't know if I breathe.
The predator circles back.
No no no no—
[Skill Activated: Detect Vibration Lv.2]
The vibration signature shifts. It's... not coming toward me? It's hunting something else. Something small and panicking nearby.
There's a crunch. A brief flurry of movement. Then nothing.
The predator moves away, satisfied.
[Crisis averted]
I remain frozen for what feels like an eternity, too terrified to move.
That could have been me. That COULD have been me. I'm the perfect bite-sized snack for literally anything bigger than a sardine.
This is the worst battle royale game ever. I didn't even get to choose my spawn point!
But I'm alive. Still alive. That's... that counts for something, right?
I force myself to start moving again. Can't stay in one place. Sitting still means starving, and starving means dying, and I've already died once, thank you very much.
Focus, Yuki. You've played D*rk So*ls. You've beaten I W*nna Be T*e Gu*. You've no-hit run Touhou on Lunatic difficulty. You've played ge*metry dash. You can handle being a jellyfish.
...That pep talk sounded more convincing in my head.
[Prey detected]
Back to the grind. Hunting. Always hunting.
But as I'm pulsing forward, something changes.
My vibration sense picks up... a lot of movement. A LOT. Not one creature—dozens. Maybe hundreds. All small, all moving together.
A school of something?
Curiosity wars with self-preservation. The smart thing would be to avoid it. Large groups of creatures mean potential danger. But also...
What if it's prey? What if I could level up faster?
I drift closer, cautiously.
The vibrations intensify. It's definitely a school—I can feel them moving in unison, that weird synchronized swimming pattern that fish do.
[Prey detected: Larval fish (School)]
Fish. Baby fish. Lots of baby fish.
And I am a jellyfish with poisonous tentacles.
Oh.
Oh, this is about to be either really good or really bad.
I extend my tentacles as wide as I can, creating the biggest "net" possible. Then I pulse directly into the school.
Chaos.
Fish bump into my tentacles from every direction. My poison activates over and over. The system notifications start flooding in:
[You have defeated: Larval Fish][+3 EXP][You have defeated: Larval Fish][+3 EXP][You have defeated: Larval Fish][+3 EXP]
JACKPOT! I'M RICH! I'M SWIMMING IN EXP!
The school scatters, fleeing in panic, but I've already caught five—no, six!—no, SEVEN!
[Level Up! You are now Level 4][HP: 5→6][MP: 5→6]
[Level Up! You are now Level 5][HP: 6→7][New Skill Available]
YES! YES! DOUBLE LEVEL UP! THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!
I'm riding the high of my first successful hunt—okay, ambush—okay, massacre—when my vibration sense picks up something new.
Multiple somethings. Big somethings. Moving fast.
[Warning: Multiple Predators Detected]
Oh no.
Oh no no no no—
The adult fish. The school had PARENTS. And I just killed their babies.
THIS IS FINE. THIS IS TOTALLY FINE. I'M NOT PANICKING. YOU'RE PANICKING.
I pulse away as fast as my pathetic jellyfish body will carry me, which is not fast at all. The predators are closing in. I can feel them—five, no, six signatures, all converging on my location.
THINK, YUKI! WHAT WOULD THAT ONE SPIDER ISEKAI GIRL DO?!
She'd use her webs to— I DON'T HAVE WEBS!
She'd use her speed to— I'M THE SLOWEST THING IN THE OCEAN!
She'd use her skills to—
Wait. Skills. I have skills!
[New Skill Available]
The system menu is still open from my level up!
[Select New Skill]
[A) Bioluminescence Lv.1 - Emit light to attract or distract]
[B) Mucus Defense Lv.1 - Secrete protective mucus layer]
[C) Drift Camouflage Lv.1 - Reduce detection by predators while drifting]
The fish are getting closer. I have maybe seconds to decide.
Bioluminescence could distract them but also makes me MORE visible—
Mucus Defense might help but I'd still be a sitting duck—
Drift Camouflage. DRIFT CAMOUFLAGE. MAKE ME INVISIBLE!
[Selection: Drift Camouflage Lv.1]
[Skill Acquired]
The moment the skill activates, something changes. I'm not actually invisible—I can still feel my body—but there's this... sensation of becoming less present. Like I'm fading into the background noise of the ocean.
I immediately stop pulsing and let myself drift with the current, becoming as still and passive as possible.
The predators arrive at my last location.
I can feel them circling, searching, confused. Their prey was just here. Where did it go?
Please work please work please work—
One of them passes within touching distance of my tentacles.
I don't move. Don't react. Don't even think too loudly.
I'm plankton. I'm nothing. I'm just drifting ocean debris. Nothing to see here. Move along.
The fish circles again, clearly frustrated.
Then, finally, it moves away. The others follow.
[Crisis averted]
I wait. And wait. And wait some more.
When I'm absolutely certain they're gone, I finally let myself relax.
HOLY CRAP. HOLY CRAP, THAT WORKED.
I'm alive. I'm ALIVE!
Drift Camouflage is officially the best skill ever. I'm never not using this skill. This skill is going to level 99. This skill is getting married and having skill babies with me.
I check my status, hands shaking—wait, no hands, tentacles trembling:
[STATUS]
Name: —
Species: Moon Jellyfish (Juvenile)
Level: 5
HP: 7/7
MP: 6/6
Skills: [Poison Sting Lv.2] [Detect Vibration Lv.2] [Tentacle Control Lv.1] [Drift Camouflage Lv.1]
EXP to Next Level: 8/50
Status Effects: Terrified, Victorious, Questioning life choices
Seven HP. Officially tankier than a napkin now. Progress.
But more importantly: I'm level 5. I have four skills. And I just survived my first real encounter with actual dangerous predators.
This is it. This is the turning point. I'm not just surviving anymore—I'm adapting. Learning. Getting STRONGER.
Take that, tutorial zone! Your girl is LEVELING UP!
I drift for a while, letting the adrenaline fade, processing what just happened.
Okay. Lessons learned:
1. AOE hunting is effective but attracts attention.
2. Always have an escape plan.
3. Drift Camouflage is a life-saver.
4. I need to be more careful about what I attack.
5. I really, REALLY need to evolve soon.
Speaking of which...
When do I get to evolve? In that spider isekai, she evolved pretty early. I'm level 5 now. That's gotta be enough, right?
I pull up my status screen again, looking for evolution options.
Nothing.
Come ON! What's the evolution requirement? Level 10? 15? Do I need to collect special items? Complete a quest?
THE SYSTEM NEVER EXPLAINS ANYTHING!
I'm about to start mentally ranting about game design when my vibration sense picks up something new.
Not prey. Not a predator.
Something... different.
It's moving strangely—not like a fish or a hunting creature. The vibrations are irregular, almost... mechanical?
What the hell is that?
Curiosity overwhelms caution. I drift toward it.
The vibrations get stronger. There's a rhythmic quality to them. Pulse, pulse, pause. Pulse, pulse, pause.
And then I feel it: a current. An artificial current. Something is moving the water deliberately.
[Unknown Entity Detected]
That's not helpful, system! WHAT IS IT?!
I get closer. The vibrations become clearer. There's a structure here—something solid, something big, something that definitely doesn't belong in the open ocean.
My tentacle brushes against it.
It's... smooth? And hard. And definitely not organic.
Metal? Is this METAL?
[Warning: Entering Dungeon Zone]
DUNGEON?! THERE ARE DUNGEONS?!
[You have discovered: Sunken Ruins - Outer Gate]
[First Discovery Bonus: +100 EXP]
[Level Up! You are now Level 6]
[Level Up! You are now Level 7]
WHAT.
WHAT?!
A HUNDRED EXP?! FOR JUST FINDING A PLACE?!
[New Skill Available]
My brain is melting. Dungeons. There are DUNGEONS. Underwater dungeons. And I just stumbled into one while running away from angry fish.
This is... this is...
This is EXACTLY like an isekai light novel! Stumbling into a hidden dungeon early game! This is where the protagonist gets OP skills and legendary loot!
Or dies horribly to dungeon monsters they're not prepared for.
...Probably dies horribly.
But MAYBE legendary loot!
I hover at the entrance—if you can call it that when you can't actually see what you're hovering in front of—trying to decide.
Smart Yuki says: You're level 7. You have 7 HP. You can't see. You should leave and come back when you're stronger.
Gamer Yuki says: LOOT. DUNGEON. ADVENTURE. DO IT.
[Warning: Dungeon difficulty unknown. Proceed with caution.]
Thanks, system. Super helpful.
I drift there, tentacles twitching with indecision.
On one hand: I could die.
On the other hand: I could get stronger.
And I'm so, SO tired of being weak.
Okay. Okay. Compromise. I'll just peek inside. Just a little look. See what's there. If it's too dangerous, I'll bail immediately.
This is a terrible idea.
This is absolutely going to get me killed.
I'm doing it anyway.
I pulse forward, crossing the threshold into the dungeon.
The water changes immediately. Colder. Stiller. The vibrations here are... wrong. Muffled. Like the sound is being absorbed by something.
[You have entered: Sunken Ruins - Outer Gate]
[Dungeon Type: Ancient Structure]
[Recommended Level: 10+]
Level 10+?! I'M LEVEL 7!
ABORT ABORT ABORT—
Something moves in the darkness ahead.
[Enemy Detected: Dungeon Guardian - Juvenile]
Oh no.
A massive vibration signature. Bigger than the fish from before. MUCH bigger.
And it's between me and the exit.
[Boss Battle Initiated]
BOSS?! THIS IS A BOSS?! I JUST WALKED IN HERE!
The creature moves. Fast. Faster than anything I've encountered.
I activate Drift Camouflage on instinct, freezing in place.
The boss passes by, searching.
It can't see me. Please tell me it can't see me—
[Warning: Dungeon Guardians can detect intruders through multiple means]
THAT'S NOT REASSURING!
The guardian circles back. It's not using sight. It's using... something else. Echolocation? Magic? I don't know and I DON'T HAVE TIME TO FIGURE IT OUT.
I need to move. But if I move, it'll sense me.
If I stay still, it'll eventually find me anyway.
Think. THINK! What would— wait.
My new skill. The level 7 skill I haven't selected yet!
[New Skill Available]
[A) Paralytic Venom Lv.1 - Upgrade poison to temporarily paralyze targets]
[B) Pulse Burst Lv.1 - Rapid movement ability for quick escapes]
[C) Regeneration Lv.1 - Slowly recover HP over time]
The guardian is getting closer.
Paralytic Venom won't work on something this big—
Regeneration won't save me from getting one-shot—
Pulse Burst. SPEED. I NEED SPEED!
[Selection: Pulse Burst Lv.1]
[Skill Acquired]
The guardian lunges.
I activate Pulse Burst.
My body EXPLODES forward with speed I didn't know I was capable of. The water rushes past me. For one glorious moment, I'm actually FAST.
The guardian's attack misses by inches.
I pulse again, shooting toward where I remember the exit being.
The guardian roars—or whatever sound a dungeon boss makes underwater—and gives chase.
FASTER FASTER FASTER—
Another Pulse Burst. My MP is draining fast but I don't care.
[MP: 6→3]
The exit! I can feel it! The change in water pressure, the threshold—
I shoot through the entrance and out of the dungeon.
The guardian SLAMS into something—a barrier? The dungeon boundary?—and stops.
[You have exited: Sunken Ruins - Outer Gate]
[Dungeon Guardian cannot leave dungeon zone]
I don't stop. I keep pulsing, putting as much distance between myself and that nightmare as physically possible.
Finally, when my MP is almost depleted and I can't sense the dungeon anymore, I let myself drift.
[MP: 1/8]
What.
WHAT WAS THAT.
I ALMOST DIED. I ALMOST DIED SO FAST.
That was a JUVENILE guardian! JUVENILE! What the hell is the adult version like?!
But I'm alive. Somehow, impossibly, I'm alive.
And I'm level 7 with a new skill.
[STATUS UPDATE]
Level: 7
HP: 8/8
MP: 1/8
Skills: [Poison Sting Lv.2] [Detect Vibration Lv.2] [Tentacle Control Lv.1] [Drift Camouflage Lv.1] [Pulse Burst Lv.1]
I drift in the open water, exhausted, terrified, and somehow exhilarated.
Okay. New rule. No more dungeons until I'm AT LEAST level 20.
Maybe level 30.
Maybe never.
Definitely maybe never.
But even as I'm swearing off dungeons forever, a thought occurs to me:
I found it. A dungeon. At level 7.
Which means there's a world out there. A BIG world. With dungeons and bosses and probably other isekai protagonists and magic and—
I'm not just surviving in tutorial hell anymore. I'm in the ACTUAL game.
And sure, I almost died. Multiple times. In the span of like twenty minutes.
But I didn't.
Progress.
Terrifying, nearly-fatal progress.
But progress.
I let myself drift with the current, too tired to hunt, too wired to sleep (do jellyfish sleep?), and start planning.
Next goals:
1. Get to level 10. Maybe then I can evolve.
2. Max out Pulse Burst. Speed is survival.
3. Find safer hunting grounds. No more ambushing fish schools.
4. Eventually—EVENTUALLY—come back to that dungeon and clear it.
5. Figure out if there are other reincarnated people in this world.
6. GET. EYES.
Somewhere in the dark, a fish swims by, completely unaware of the jellyfish having an existential crisis nearby.
Day... whatever. Time is still meaningless.
Status: Alive. Terrified. Determined.
Current objective: Don't die.
Long-term objective: Everything else.
Let's do this.