Reborn with the Conquest System-Chapter 51: Sea

A pain shot through Magnus’s body, his eyes abruptly opening as he let out a pained groan.

A dark sky greeted him, a blanket of clouds covering everything as far as he could see. His eyes shifted to the sides, revealing an endless sea of dark blue—almost black.

’Where... Am... I...’

His entire body was in pain, the occasional wave sweeping over him causing layers of agony to surge within him.

He didn’t even dare move his limbs that were bent at odd angles, knowing a world of pain awaited him if he did.

Occasionally, he saw a shadow in the corner of his eyes, yet by now what little fortitude he had had long since waned.

’If I have... To Die... Make it quick... How is it, system?’

[... Bad, very bad, but you can survive.]

’Why?’

[Why what?]

’Why hold... On... Pain... Suffering... It hurts...’ His unfocused eyes reflected the skies, devoid of any light.

[Don’t you want to know why you’re here? What you can achieve? What you might get?]

’I don’t... care...’

Seeing no system reply after a while, Magnus tired eyes closed shut, his consciousness drifting off to sleep.

Only after a few hours did he wake up again, his eyes opening to the sounds of thunder echoing in the distance. Feeling slightly better than before, he glanced at the darkening skies ahead of him, his eyes shining with light once more.

’A storm? Wait... Where am I even?’

His map revealed nothing, only that he floated countless kilometres away from where he had originally surfaced. Yet all of it was just a deep shade of blue, causing a chill to settle in his heart.

’Don’t tell me, I got teleported to another world that’s just sea?’

[That’s not the case, you’re still in Centria. But I don’t know how big the sea is...]

’How many times is Centria bigger than the earth if you’re saying that?’ His heart sank.

[... Three digits.]

’... Are you... Shitting me? The gravity could easily crush me alive then so there’s no way that’s true, right!? Right!???’

[It’s true, but the core is dead so it’s pull is even slightly weaker than earth’s.]

Seeing the message, a sudden headache came over Magnus as he closed his eyes once more.

Repeating the cycle of sleeping to recover and talking with the system to pass time, his injured body had been healing itself.

One agonising movement after another, he began to readjust his dislocated arms. After an hour of grueling twisting and screaming, his right arm was in a semi functional state. His left was still messed up, and he didn’t dare touch his legs.

Yet even now, pains were wreaking havoc in his body, assaulting him at irregular times. Worse still, he occasionally twitched without cause, causing him to suspect a deeper condition that might need a doctor or treatment of sorts.

When asked, even the system refused to answer his questions regarding his condition.

Magnus sensed something, his instincts warning him.

Suddenly, Magnus’s working arm lashed into the water, a torrent blasting upward.

The dark seawater underneath him began to turn red, and a ferocious smile was on Magnus’s lips.

His hand was pulled out of the water, deep bite marks visible on the skin as his defensive boost hadn’t been active.

Blubblub.

A body floated up from underneath.

Nearly as long as Magnus, where it’s head should’ve been was a flat indent in an U shape with the imprint of a fist. The scales that covered its body made it apparent it was a fish species, though the odd red color made it stand out.

’System...’

Reading Magnus’s mind, the system replied.

[I’ve checked. It’s edible, no parasites.]

Not hesitating anymore, Magnus was about to open his mouth when he noticed a problem.

His mouth was currently holding the flowstone.

Thinking about it for a moment, he put it in his dislocated hand and grabbed the fish with his working hand.

Crunch!

His teeth bit into the flesh, crushing scales and bones in their wake. Though they stabbed into his gums, he was too preoccupied right now.

’Food...’

He had starved for almost a week, so he was offering silent prayers to whatever higher entity sent this fish to meet its end in his stomach.

After his meal, he held onto the half eaten fish corpse as he hoped it would invite more friends to find him.

Within an hour, 4 other fishes came to him, each one getting their head bashed in and being dragged along by him.

To his surprise, it wasn’t just fishes that existed in these oceans, as some sort of squid had tried to grab his food.

He had spent three whole days at sea, whacking any fish that came too close. The water wasn’t a problem as he rained, and the fish served as his food source.

Three days turned into a week, with the only thing that happened being a distant sound that he couldn’t quite identify.

On the 8th day, as he was taking a bite from his fish he sensed something stirring in the water. Yet unlike before, when he was considering just smashing things, his mind shot out a thin thread underneath.

’Wonder if this is going to work...’

He thought as he used monster control, trying to find the new arrival.

After a minute spent fishing, he felt the thread land on something.

’Oh...’

His eyes grew unfocused as he looked at the seawater in front of him. With a few bubbles a shape began emerging from underwater, it’s bright green color making it stand apart from the rest of the sea.

’A fucking sea turtle? Seriously?’

Looking at the sea turtle that was barely bigger in front of him, he suddenly had an idea.

[Can’t you just use it as a boat?]

’Exactly my plan. But they’re slow as shit so I don’t think it’ll be that helpful, and I’m starting to get bored of seafood.’ He thought as he eyed the turtle hungrily.

The turtle shrank back, eyes wide and blinking slowly — yet Magnus felt its will was already bent.

"Well, you better be useful. I’ll let you go if you find me a piece of land."

Saying so, Magnus hauled himself into the turtle, his body spasming in pain as his dislocated limbs began aching.

’Ah... I’ve had enough of the joint pains, time to begin readjusting this shit.’

Saying so, he put the flowstone in the turtles mouth and told it to hold on.

He placed his hand on his dislocated arm...

Ten minutes later, he fainted while foaming at the mouth, having adjusted an arm and a leg. The turtle carried him on its back towards an unknown destination.