‘So, I have already transmigrated and lost over a billion.
Where is my Golden Finger?!’ After much internal deliberation, Kevin, finally accepting his current state of transmigration, began searching for his Golden Finger.
According to common tropes, shouldn’t having a Golden Finger after transmigration be a given?
Kevin didn’t need any special Golden Finger; just something to get rid of those cursed gills on his chest would be enough!
Just as Kevin thought this, a blue point of light appeared before his eyes.
When he focused on it, a blue tree grew from this point of light, and something extraordinary appeared before him.
It was a skill tree, very similar to a skill tree from a video game.
Starting from the light source at the roots, various skills branched upwards toward the canopy.
‘Just as I expected!
I knew a transmigrator couldn’t go without a Golden Finger!
Let me see what kind of Golden Finger this is…
Hmm?
Why are there so many boxes that I can’t see…’ Kevin excitedly examined his Golden Finger.
However, he discovered that on this skill tree, except for the skill slots at the roots and a part of the trunk, the skill slots located higher up were hidden by fog.
No matter how hard Kevin looked, he couldn’t make out any skills behind it.
‘I get it.
The prerequisites haven’t been met, so they aren’t unlocked.
Heh, a classic gaming trope.’ Kevin had a vague idea of why these skills were hidden by fog.
When the necessary conditions for acquiring a skill are not met, high-tier skills are not displayed.
Many games use this mechanic, and Kevin, as an experienced gamer, perfectly understood how it worked.
Well, let’s ignore the locked skills for now; first, let’s look at the highlighted skill blocks and the ones that can be unlocked.
The first thing Kevin noticed was a single illuminated point located at the base of the skill tree.
It was a basic skill icon.
The icon depicted a cartoon avatar of Kevin in The Deep’s superhero suit.
Next to the icon was the name of this skill.
[Profession: Superhero] ‘Uh, is this a profession?
What about these three below?’ After confirming that the root position reflected Kevin’s current profession—something similar to a mage or a phantom swordsman—Kevin stopped paying attention to it and turned to look at the three skills branching off from it.
[Passive Skill: Superhuman Physical Fitness, Level 3] [Passive Skill: Max Underwater Breathing] [Passive Skill: Aquatic Creature Affinity, Level 4] ‘My God, three passive skills at once!’ Seeing the descriptions of these three skills, Kevin exclaimed in his mind.
He had never seen a profession that didn’t provide a single active skill right away, but instead granted three passive skills.
However, thinking carefully, these three passive skills truly encompassed all of The Deep’s abilities.
A physique capable of withstanding deep-sea water pressure, the special ability to breathe freely underwater, and the ability to connect with aquatic animals and win their favor.
These three abilities formed the core of the superhero, The Deep.
Aside from the base profession, only three skills were currently active on the skill tree.
Among them, except for Underwater Breathing, which was likely already maxed out, the other two passive skills seemed to need leveling up.
Kevin was particularly intrigued that next to the abilities [Superhuman Physical Fitness] and [Aquatic Creature Affinity], there were glowing plus signs.
This proved that Kevin…
could allocate points to them!
‘No rush, let’s see what skills can be developed.’ Suppressing the urge to distribute points between these two skills, Kevin looked further up the skill tree.
Behind the three passive skills, gray rectangles were visible.
Next to them, glowing plus signs also shone, contrasting sharply with the dark minus signs, proving that Kevin could allocate points to these skills to learn new abilities.
Branching from the [Superhuman Physical Fitness] ability, two paths stood out: [Accelerated Healing] and the other was [Super Strong Heart and Lungs].
One skill was active, and the other was passive.
[Underwater Breathing] also branched into two abilities: [Water Manipulation] and [Form Switching], both of which were active skills.
The [Aquatic Creature Affinity] ability extended to only one ability, [Summon Aquatic Creatures], which was an active ability.
Kevin carefully read the skill descriptions, then used the plus and minus signs to check how many skill points he had, after which he began to ponder.
Since he couldn’t see the exact number of skill points, Kevin could only estimate it roughly.
First, Kevin’s skill points allowed him to upgrade his level 4 skill, [Aquatic Creature Affinity], by one level.
He could also raise [Superhuman Physical Fitness] by one level, from level 3 to level 4.
But he couldn’t level up the [Superhuman Physical Fitness] skill from level 4 to level 5; he didn’t have enough skill points.
After allocating points to increase [Physical Strength] from 3 to 4, Kevin would be able to upgrade one of the subsequent skills to level 3, which would allow him to unlock another skill.
Alternatively, he could distribute them separately, upgrading two skills to level 2, which would also allow him to unlock two other skills.
‘If that’s the case, does that mean I currently have 15 skill points?
Unlocking the first level requires one skill point, reaching the second level requires two more points, and going from the second to the third requires another four…’ ‘I see, exponential growth, right.’ Having roughly calculated the number of skill points and how many were needed to unlock things, Kevin quickly made a decision.
Based on the skill descriptions, Kevin decided to first upgrade the [Form Switching] skill to the second level.
This skill was exactly the ability Kevin dreamed of—the ability to get rid of the gills.
After unlocking this skill, Kevin would gain a mermaid form.
The gills on his chest would be hidden within the mermaid form; when Kevin didn’t change forms, he would look like a normal human.
This skill wasn’t very useful at the first level, as the gills remained in place.
Only at the second level could Kevin grow webbed hands and feet after switching forms, helping him move faster underwater.
At the same time, the gills would completely disappear, fusing into Kevin and becoming an internal organ that would no longer be visible from the outside.
At this point, Kevin would be able to breathe underwater in both of his forms; the difference was that in his alternative form, he would be faster and stronger underwater.
If he maxed out this level, Kevin would become a true merman, and his appearance would also improve to some extent.
However, whether his appearance improved or not was a matter for the future; what Kevin cared about the most was the disappearance of the gills on his chest.
Upgrading the [Form Switching] skill to the second level cost three skill points.
Kevin evaluated his remaining twelve skill points and first used eight of them to upgrade the [Superhuman Physical Fitness] skill to the fourth level.
It couldn’t be helped; the world of The Boys was truly dangerous.
Homelander’s heat vision, which he could unleash at any moment, would pierce through anyone with ordinary defenses.
In the second season, there was also Stormfront, and the lightning she unleashed could easily cause serious injuries to superheroes with weak physical strength.
In the series, The Deep seemingly barely used his physical attributes, which made Kevin feel insecure.
Therefore, upgrading his physical fitness was extremely important; at the very least, if he couldn’t win in the future, he could withstand a couple more hits and manage to escape.
Having finished this, Kevin evaluated his remaining skill points, invested three points into [Water Manipulation] to unlock it and upgrade it to the second level, and allocated one point to [Accelerated Healing].
Since he had decided to make himself capable of taking a beating, why not go all the way?
In this dangerous world of The Boys, it never hurts to have multiple ways to survive!