It didn't take much effort for Timothy to grab the attention of the fish that he gave powers to. In fact, he caught everyone's attention as soon as he waved his hand. Considering the powers he portrayed recently, they saw him as the most powerful sea creature that they've ever met, so it was difficult not to revere him. As quiet as fish were, they became practically mute the moment he spoke!

  Firstly, he introduced them to their duties. “Okay, volunteers, I gave all of you the means to protect yourselves, and your friends. You mainly have to watch out for sharks that don't belong in the reef, any big shark actually, you don't need to identify their species to figure out who to attack, as any shark that's over two meters long, doesn't belong here. Most big predators of any sort, do not belong here in our reef! You can either shoot at the predators to scare them away, or you can try and kill them, though I don't advise the latter. Wounding them is enough to do the trick, that's all it takes to protect your friends.”

  Secondly, he guided them appropriately. “The reef is huge, so you can take refuge wherever you please, though it's to our best interest if you guys don't band together, and lead your defenseless friends in isolated areas of the reef. It'll be safer for them that way, and the reef has plenty of shrimps for you to munch on, so your communities don't have to risk their lives much when they want to get food. Regarding communities, I suggest that you split into ten communities, consisting of your closest friends, as it is in our best interest if the lot of you split up. Smaller communities don't attract predators as easily."

  Lastly, he warned his volunteers. “I gave you guys powers, and responsibilities, and I expect you to act accordingly. We have a lot of work to do so I don't want to chase after you guys all day, but believe me, if I hear that any of you are abusing your powers, you won't live for long. I'll come after you, and turn you into pelican food, that's a promise! If you behave well, however, meet me again after three months, right on this spot, so I can refuel your powers.”

  The volunteers had been listening to him very carefully, so they heeded his warning. Timothy believed that they were scared straight, so he didn’t bother spending any more effort on them. Upon Genta's suggestions, he pointed them towards the directions that they were supposed to head towards.

  The entire group of fish, apart from the blobfish, were seperated in ten groups, and they were to live across various spots in the reef, as suggested. The reef was big, so it could fit thousands of other fish like these ones if it had to! Timothy and Genta were yet to recruit other species, however, as those tasks were separate from this one.

  “I hope my points won't go to waste, Genta.” He expressed, and then he asked. “Will you be dealing with the blobfish? You better be, because I don't know what to do with them.”

  “Of course I'll be dealing with the blobfish!” She exclaimed, and she was very direct this time. She emphasized a few points, “They're going to help me make a welcoming environment where quality mana roots can sprout, so I don't need a nincompoop messing with my affairs. Now, I'm going to need a couple of weeks to set the Grundus Blobs up properly, and I don't want to be distracted, so you're free to do whatever you want.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Timothy didn’t want to be called useless, be it directly or indirectly, but he did appreciate a short break. They've gone through everything epic, and dangerous for months now, as Valporovus had been filled to the brim with such challenges, to the point where it was beyond tiring! With that considered, he was very eager to just sit in the reef, and relax! He even toyed with the idea of visiting his old dens within the reef, as he missed them dearly!

  Timothy ended up visiting his old dens, but he couldn't fit in them properly, because he got the best use out of them months ago, when he was a half-a-foot long stingray. He couldn't fit in them now, because he had assumed the shape of an Aqus Goblin!

  “Eh, I can probably shapeshift into a smaller species of stingray if I tried to. Though, I'm sure that I can never be a small, Ribbon-tail Stingray again… that's kinda sad.” He spoke to himself. The memories he had here made him feel nostalgic.

  Anyway, even though he wanted to find a spot where he could relax in, he couldn’t do so, because he suddenly saw a bunch of dragons flying above the waters! He was less than forty meters below the water's surface, so he spotted the dragons without even putting any effort into it - His eyesight was sharp!

  “Only half an hour late! It looks like they were able to follow us after all, good good, cause I was starting to get worried.” He mumbled, and quickly swam towards the surface.

  The dragons, consisting of Georgie, and the eight dragonflies, had followed them through the portal a couple of hours ago. The team has bonded with the dragons quite a bit, so they left Valporovus together, so as to not get separated from each other!

  However, the dragons weren't the greatest swimmers, so they followed the team from above, up in the air. It was easy to lose sight of a bunch of goblins when one was in the sky, so it wasn’t a surprise that the dragons came here a bit later than the team did.

  “Over here, Billy!” Timothy yelled out, as soon as he poked his head out of the water. “You finally made it! I was getting worried there.”

  Bolivamus Tal the Greater, or Billy for short, flew over to Timothy afterwards, and had him hop on for a ride. Dragonflies were tiny creatures, only about four-feet long, so they could manage to fly very close to the water's surface, without falling into the waters. Timothy was up in the air in no time!

  Afterwards, he pointed towards the sea shore, which was about two kilometers away from the reef, and said. “Let’s go over there! I'm going to make a nice den for you all, cause we can't have you guys getting wet!”

  Timothy was certain that the dragons would be safe near the beach, even if they were left alone there. They were smart, capable creatures, and he could swim over to them in mere minutes whenever he wanted to, regardless of the two-kilometer distance between his home and the beach.

  Timothy had explored the beach before, when he had shapeshifted into a spider. He had almost been killed several times back then, but he had been a tiny spider after all, so that was only understandable. The beach should be a lot safer for dragons, in bleak comparison, because unlike spiders, they didn't have to fear running into a common seagull.

  Furthermore, he was very excited to walk into those shores as a goblin, just to see what those lands had to offer. He figured that he'd be able to find at least a town of sorts nearby, and he was willing to explore it, as long as goblins were welcome there. Based on the system's calculations, he could only turn into a greater creature, in this case, a human, if he agreed to sacrifice a level off of his mana quality. There weren’t any other alternatives as far as he knew, so he decided to remain a goblin for a while, even though he realized that it was totally possible for him to turn into a human!