Neville’s tail fin flicked in irritation, sending small waves sloshing against the sides of the tub.

How did Ethan get his private company contact details? Wasn’t that hidden if one didn’t scan the QR?

He had already heard from Grayson that Ethan was concocting something, but this continuous monitor was making him crazy.

Time and time again, he tried to pull away from being involved with him. Could the man not take a hint?

Neville considered blocking him immediately, but another message appeared before he could act on the impulse.

LiamR.: I already got your superior’s confirmation. Don’t forget to get a check-up, okay? :)

The irritation in Neville’s chest eased slightly, replaced by something warmer. Liam was really kind, one of those rare people who seemed to care about those people below them. They had only interacted a handful of times, but Liam always left a good impression on him every time.

Neville couldn’t help but smile slightly as he closed his light brain and set it back down. But then his smile didn’t last long as he looked around him, his tail, and the fact that he couldn’t move around as he wanted to.

How was he supposed to change his water if he couldn’t even stand up?

Then, Neville noticed something strange. One of the black pearls at the bottom of the tub was...white. He looked at the other pearls and saw a few that hadn’t turned completely white yet.

The inky sheen seemed to gradually fade away from its surface, draining its color until it gleamed pearly white instead. Then another pearl changed right before his eyes. The change happened on multiple pearls around him at the same time.

"What the—"

Neville leaned closer, watching with fascination as pearl after pearl turned from black to white. And as they changed, he noticed the water level in the tub dropped. Not dramatically, but gradually at the same time, as if the pearls were the ones absorbing the water.

He moved himself closer to observe closely. This explained why the water level had dropped so much overnight, even though there wasn’t much that spilled outside.

Well, that was strange but somewhat useful.

Neville opened his inventory and pulled out a bucket. He began scooping and sorting out the white pearls, leaving the still-black ones to absorb the water in the tub completely. The white pearls clinked pleasantly as they fell into the bucket, and Neville found himself thinking practically despite the absurdity of the situation.

Even if these pearls couldn’t do anything else useful, he could probably sell them as regular pearls and earn a decent amount of star coins. Every little bit helped, especially given his current expenditure.

It took several minutes to collect all the white pearls. By the time he had fished out the last white one, the tub was completely dry. He put the remaining black ones in a separate bucket to reserve them for tomorrow. Neville became keenly aware of how uncomfortable it felt to have his tail scraping against the tub.

He needed water as soon as possible.

He navigated to the system mall with practiced ease, pulling up the inventory list and scrolling to the ocean water option.

The price made him wince.

50 points per liter? Even the Basic Secretarial Skills were only 50 points! This was daylight robbery!

But then again, what choice did he have?

He selected a sufficient amount for a full tub and confirmed the purchase.

The water magically poured mid-air, completely soaking him from head to toe. Eventually, the tub was filled up with clean and slightly glowing ocean water that felt blissfully cool against his scales.

Neville sank into it with a relieved sigh, his fins spreading in the liquid. Then his light brain chimed with a new notification. His brief moment of relief evaporated in an instant.

He stared at his banking app, reading the total amount deducted from his hard-earned. It was frankly an offensive amount.

Thousands of star coins, gone in seconds.

He glanced at his points balance in the system mall: ZERO.

Right, how could the system mall deduct points from zero? Negative?

The system clearly wouldn’t operate in a negative balance, given how Shelly had to spend a lot of his points on multiple occasions. Which meant the system had gone and deducted everything straight to his bank account instead.

"No," Neville whispered, scrolling through the transaction history with mounting horror. "No way—"

The conversion rate glared at him from the screen: 100 star coins to 1 point. And ocean water costs 50 points per liter. Which meant every liter of this supposedly convenient system-provided water had just cost him 5,000 star coins.

Five. Thousand. Star coins.

For a friggin water.

Neville let his head fall back against the rim of the tub, staring at the ceiling while his mind tried to process what had happened.

Sure, his salary from Maxwell Corporation was generous.

Sure, he had been living in company-provided housing and barely touching his earnings all this time.

Sure, he had his side income from his laborious cooking work.

But looking at the large chunk of his carefully accumulated wealth vanish in literal seconds for a few liters of ocean water. It made him want to throw his light brain across the room and then immediately fish it back out because he couldn’t afford to replace it.

Why did it have to be ocean water anyway? Couldn’t the system have just provided a recipe for the right salt concentration and let him use tap water? Couldn’t Shelly have arranged for some sea salt and a hose?

But no, given Shelly’s occasional disappearance just to save points, she wouldn’t just spend it lavishly on something with a much cheaper option. It seemed that this transformation saga required genuine ocean water as a survival supply.

The worst part was knowing he would have to buy more. This tub full of overpriced seawater would have to last him... how long? Overnight?

If he had known about this beforehand, he could’ve just rented a room at an establishment near the ocean. Then he would sneakily dive and disappear into the depths of it. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

But there was no room for regrets over spilled milk.