I'm...
I'm...
Still alive?
[HP: 16/16]
How am I still conscious?!
I try to move. My tentacles respond—some of them. Not all of them.
Because I only have HALF my tentacles.
Wait.
I look—sense—observe myself with my Basic Vision and Detect Vibration.
I'm... half a jellyfish.
Literally.
The boss cut me clean in two. Top to bottom. And I'm the... left half? The right half?
I can't tell. I'm just HALF.
This is...
This is the WEIRDEST thing that's happened to me yet.
And I've been a jellyfish for weeks!
But then I feel something else.
Another presence. Another... me?
[Detecting secondary consciousness...]
What?
I focus on that sensation. That OTHER feeling.
And suddenly I'm aware of... myself. Again. From a different angle.
My other half.
I'm in two places at once.
[Skill Automatically Activated: Binary Lv.1]
[Species Trait: Turritopsis Line - Emergency Survival Protocol]
Both halves of me are floating in the water. Drifting apart slowly.
The Reaver is gone. It left. Probably assumed I was dead.
Or... maybe it left us for the algae? As food for the dungeon ecosystem?
But we never touched the floor. Never touched the walls. Just floating here. Dying. Except...
We're NOT dying.
SYSTEM! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!
[Skill: Binary Lv.1]
[Description: When body is severed into two parts, consciousness splits and inhabits both halves. Each half becomes an independent organism with divided stats. Cannot split further without fatal consequences. Halves can recombine using mana.]
[Current Status: Split Form Active]
[Warning: Each half is vulnerable. Recombination recommended.]
I can SPLIT?! This is a FEATURE?!
I check my stats. Both halves.
[STATUS - Left Half]
Name: —
Species: Turritopsis rubra (Divided)
Level: 7
HP: 16/16
MP: 32/32
STR: 4
DEF: 2.5
AGI: 9
[STATUS - Right Half]
Name: —
Species: Turritopsis rubra (Divided)
Level: 7
HP: 16/16
MP: 32/32
STR: 4
DEF: 2.5
AGI: 9
Everything is exactly HALF.
Half HP. Half stats. Half tentacles.
But I'm ALIVE. Both of me are alive.
This is the most broken survival ability I've ever seen!
The boss literally CUT ME IN HALF and I just... became TWO jellyfish?!
I experiment, trying to control both bodies.
Left half pulses forward. Right half pulses backward.
Okay, this is WEIRD.
It's like controlling two characters in a co-op game. Except both characters are me. And I'm both players.
My brain hurts.
Do I even have a brain? Whatever. Everything hurts.
Both halves drift closer together.
The system said I can recombine. How do I—
[Recombination available]
[Cost: 20 MP per half]
[Combine bodies?]
[YES] / [NO]
That's... that's a lot of MP. 40 total.
But being split feels WRONG. Like wearing mismatched socks. Or having two cursors on screen.
Let's do this.
[YES]
[Initiating recombination...]
Both halves pulse toward each other. The moment we touch, there's this sensation of—of MERGING. Cells reconnecting. Tissues reforming. Two becoming one.
[MP: 32→12 (Left Half)]
[MP: 32→12 (Right Half)]
[Recombination complete]
[HP: 32/32]
[MP: 24/64]
Wait, my MP pool COMBINED?!
I'm whole again. One body. One consciousness. All my tentacles intact.
[Self-Heal activating...]
[HP: 32/32 maintained]
I do a little spin, checking myself. Everything seems normal. No lingering damage from being CUT IN HALF.
Okay. Okay. That was TERRIFYING but also kind of AMAZING?
I have an emergency survival skill that literally lets me cheat death by becoming two jellyfish!
That's so BROKEN!
But I need to get out of here before the boss comes back.
Wait.
I look around the cave. At the glowing Manabloom Algae. At the rich mana concentration still lingering.
The boss is gone. The cave is empty. And there's FREE MANA and FOOD here.
My Prey Sense picks up movement—tiny movement. The mana-rich plankton and krill that live in this ecosystem.
[Prey Detected: Mana-Enhanced Krill - Multiple targets]
What if...
What if I just... stayed here for a bit? Just a little bit. To recover. And maybe hunt. And level up.
The boss won't come back RIGHT away, right? It thinks I'm dead.
And this is literally the best grinding spot I've found!
I'm probably making a terrible decision.
But I'm making it anyway.
Eight hours later, I'm having the best grinding session of my second life.
[You have defeated: Mana-Enhanced Krill]
[+12 EXP]
Twelve EXP! Per kill! The mana enhancement makes these krill worth more than double normal krill!
[You have defeated: Mana-Enhanced Copepod]
[+15 EXP]
And they're EVERYWHERE. The Manabloom Algae ecosystem supports a huge population of these things.
[You have defeated: Mana-Enhanced Krill]
[+12 EXP]
I've been hunting systematically, staying alert for the boss's vibrations, but keeping up a steady kill rate.
My MP has been slowly regenerating from the ambient mana too, though not as fast as when I was right next to the corpse.
[MP: 24→26→28→30]
[You have defeated: Mana-Enhanced Amphipod]
[+18 EXP]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 8]
[HP: 32→34]
[MP: 64→68]
[Skill Points: 1→4]
YES! Level 8! And I have FOUR skill points now!
Time to go shopping.
I pull up the Skill Shop while continuing to hunt—multitasking like a pro.
[SKILL SHOP]
[Available Skills: 847]
[Current Skill Points: 4]
[Filter by: Utility / Storage / Enhancement]
I browse through the options. There are SO MANY skills. Attack skills, defense skills, movement skills, sensory skills...
But I need something practical. Something that'll help me long-term.
[Search: Storage]
[Results: 23 skills found]
[Spatial Storage Lv.1 - Cost: 10 SP - Create pocket dimension for storage]
Ten points?! I don't have ten points!
[Item Box Lv.1 - Cost: 8 SP - Store non-living items in magical space]
Still too expensive!
[Stomach Inventory Lv.1 - Cost: 3 SP - Store consumed items in specialized stomach chamber. Warning: Adds mass. Requires MP to maintain.]
Wait. Stomach Inventory?
[Description: Allows user to consume and store items/materials without digesting them. Stored items add to total body mass. Storage capacity based on size consumed. Costs 1 MP per hour to maintain. Items can be regurgitated intact.]
This is...
This is PERFECT.
I can store things! Like food! Or materials! Or—
My Basic Vision focuses on the glowing Manabloom Algae covering the walls.
Like MANA ALGAE.
If I take some with me, I can create my own mana generation system anywhere!
[Purchase: Stomach Inventory Lv.1?]
[Cost: 3 SP]
YES!
[Skill Acquired: Stomach Inventory Lv.1]
[Skill Points: 4→1]
Immediately, I feel something change. A new... space? Inside me? It's hard to describe.
[Stomach Inventory: 0/??? capacity]
I drift over to the nearest wall covered in Manabloom Algae.
Okay. Let's test this.
I extend my tentacles and scrape some algae off the stone. Instead of consuming it normally, I focus on the new skill.
Store. Don't digest. STORE.
The algae disappears into my body—but I can still FEEL it. In my inventory. Taking up space but not being broken down.
[Stomach Inventory: Manabloom Algae (small clump) stored]
[Mass increased: +0.1 kg]
[MP consumption: 1 MP per hour]
IT WORKS!
I spend the next hour carefully harvesting algae from different parts of the cave. Not too much—I don't want to damage the ecosystem—but enough to have a good supply.
[Stomach Inventory: Manabloom Algae (large supply) stored]
[Mass increased: +2.3 kg]
I'm definitely heavier now. I can feel it. My movement is slightly slower.
But it's WORTH it.
This is my ticket to faster leveling! Portable mana generation!
I'm a GENIUS!
[Warning: Prolonged stay in boss territory not recommended]
Yeah, yeah. I'm leaving. I'm leaving.
Just... one more sweep for krill.
[You have defeated: Mana-Enhanced Krill]
[+12 EXP]
Okay. NOW I'm leaving.
I take one last look around the cave. The dead Abyssal Gulper is almost completely covered in algae now, still glowing faintly.
Thanks for the levels, buddy. Sorry I killed you by choking you with my body for several hours.
That was weird for both of us.
I pulse toward the exit, staying invisible, moving carefully.
[Intermediate Camouflage active]
[MP: 68→66]
The corridor is empty. No sign of the Reaver.
Good. I do NOT want a rematch with that thing.
I navigate back through the dungeon, retracing my path. Past the chamber with the smaller monsters. Past the guardian crab still patrolling the entrance.
[Pulse Burst activated]
[MP: 66→61]
I shoot past the guardian during its patrol rotation and out the dungeon entrance.
[You have exited: Sunken Ruins - Outer Gate]
[Dungeon Clear Status: 15% explored]
Fifteen percent?! That dungeon is HUGE!
Note to self: Come back when I'm level 50. Minimum.
I'm back in the open ocean. The water feels warmer. Safer. Less likely to contain ancient murder crabs.
[Current depth: 380 meters]
I'm at a decent depth. Not too deep, not too shallow. The goldilocks zone.
Time to find a safe spot to set up my algae farm.
I drift through the water, using my Prey Sense to scout for areas with good water flow but low predator activity.
Eventually, I find a small rocky outcropping with some natural crevices.
Perfect.
I carefully regurgitate some of the Manabloom Algae from my Stomach Inventory.
[Stomach Inventory: Manabloom Algae (portion) removed]
[Mass decreased: -0.5 kg]
The algae immediately begins attaching itself to the rock, glowing softly.
[Manabloom Algae: Establishing new colony]
[Estimated time to maturity: 48 hours]
Two days and I'll have my own mana generation system!
I store the rest of the algae back in my inventory for safekeeping.
[MP consumption: 1 MP per hour for storage]
[Current MP: 61/68]
My MP regeneration should keep up with that easily.
Okay. Status check.
[STATUS]
Name: —
Species: Turritopsis rubra
Level: 8
HP: 34/34
MP: 61/68
Skills:
[Poison Sting Lv.1][Detect Vibration Lv.3][Tentacle Control Lv.3][Intermediate Camouflage Lv.1][Pulse Burst Lv.2][Prey Sense Lv.1][Self-Heal Lv.1][Basic Vision Lv.1][Appraisal Lv.1] (NEW)[Binary Lv.1] (NEW)[Stomach Inventory Lv.1] (NEW)
Skill Points: 1
EXP to Next Level: 156/450
Level 8. Three new skills. A farming operation starting. And I survived being cut in half.
Progress.
Terrifying, traumatic progress.
But progress.
I settle near my algae outcropping, hunting nearby krill while I wait for the colony to establish.
[You have defeated: Krill]
[+5 EXP]
Back to normal EXP rates. The mana-enhanced ones were definitely special.
But that's fine. I have time. I have a plan.
Step 1: Level to 25 (Complete first evolution)
Step 2: Get actual eyes that can see details
Step 3: Level to 50 (Evolve to Turritopsis dohrnii - True Immortal Jellyfish)
Step 4: Continue grinding to level 100
Step 5: Get human form
Step 6: Build monster nation
Step 7: Live happily ever after
It's a good plan. A solid plan.
Nothing could possibly go wrong.
I drift in the current, hunting, healing, slowly growing stronger.
The ocean is vast. Dangerous. Full of things that want to eat me.
But I'm not the helpless level 1 jellyfish anymore.
I'm level 8. I have skills. I have strategies.
I have ALGAE.
And most importantly...
I have determination.
Because I'm Tanaka Yuki.
Former shut-in. Former streamer. Current jellyfish.
And I'm going to SURVIVE this isekai.
No matter how many times I get cut in half.
I pulse through the water, my tentacles trailing behind me like ribbons, my Basic Vision picking up the faint light filtering down from above.
Somewhere up there is the surface. The sun. The sky.
Someday, I'll see it.
Someday, I'll walk on land.
But for now...
For now, I hunt.
I level.
I survive.
One krill at a time.