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SomethingOtherThanRain
Undersea Reincarnation - [Octopus Monster Evolution LitRPG] by calcroissant
1.45: Progress
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Maurice stared down at his limp pincer. "[It's not working. It feels… I don't know. But at least it's not shaking? It looks normal. No deformities or weird growths.]"
The crab sighed, then severed his modified pincer with his intact one. Henry picked up the severed limb and eyed it for a second before slowly cutting through the exoskeleton.
"[I can't really tell, and this isn't worth much, but the innards don't look malformed. I'm sure you'll figure something out soon.]"
Creating functional organs was a significantly tougher challenge than either of them had expected. Henry himself was still struggling with his articulated arm project, so seeing a stumped Maurice wasn't at all surprising.
Brains were extremely complex, no matter how simple or small.
"[I'm sure it's possible. I remember you creating a small tentacle on your arm when you got the Skill.]"
The human-illusion of Maurice shrugged. "[I can still do that. But it's not functional. I mean it moves, but I can't control it. It was just the Skill taking over.]"
Henry knew exactly what the crab meant. The Skill acted like some sort of artificial intelligence that took their instructions and created whatever they pictured. But integrating a new creation with their own nervous system and have it be stable? Functional? Permanent?
Much more difficult.
Henry had barely managed to create a simple working hinge-joint in one of his arms in the past five days. Sure, they weren't doing this non-stop, but progress had been slow. Henry's illusion–a woman wearing a lab coat and tortoise-patterned round glasses–frowned as she leaned over the limb he'd just modified..
"[It'll be a while for me to get wings.]"
Henry was using the image of one of his old professors. He told himself it was better for Maurice to learn from different faces, but to be honest it was better than looking at the person he wasn't anymore. He knew that was an issue he'd have to face and deal with eventually, but it could probably wait.
"[Wings will be hard to recreate,]" groaned Maurice, but Henry still felt the resolve and excitement under the thick layer of annoyance.
The crab had been fascinated by the idea of shapeshifting functional organs and limbs at first. Henry had shown him all sorts of configurations; feathered wings, membrane wings, even insectile wings. But once they started working on these long-term physiological changes they'd hit a wall pretty darn fast, and the frustration was getting to the crab.
"[I think I'm close. I can feel it,]" said Maurice, eying his discarded limb before looking down at his re-growing stump.
They both silently ate from the Stoneskin kraken they'd freshly killed and considered their recent progress.
Five days of hunting had netted Henry quite a few improvements. He'd pushed himself to level 20, which in turn raised his Spirit stats to a new threshold. Both Octominds and Arcana leveled up due to his heavy use of illusions–which unlocked the E-Rank upgrade of the latter. He'd also acquired the abilities he had in his Ephemerals from the C-Rank Goliath and as of an hour ago, he had enough to unlock his final Skill upgrade, which he quickly did before settling down for their daily shapeshift training session.
Henry eyed the joint on his frontal arm. Such a simple joint wasn't very useful, but it was a step in the right direction. Joints meant a way to exercise his strength. Leverage. Tentacles could grip and latch on, but they couldn't constrict that well. For the longest time he'd relied on Tentacle Whip–which was stronger now thanks to the Goliath's abilities–but he knew he wasn't tapping into all of his strength.
His weakness at this moment was a lack of joints, and that weakness extended to Arcane Arm. Henry had tried to change the shape of the magic limb, but he could only make it copy his current arms. Although, he could make it take the shape of a shapeshifted one. So basically, the Skill imitated what was present.
"Another limitation that'll hopefully go away once the ability evolves."
Speaking of capabilities, Henry loaded up his recent level notifications along with his newly leveled and unlocked abilities.
Hunger of the Trickster (E): Level 8 -> Level 9
Arms of the Trickster (E): Level 3 -> Level 5
Misdirection of the Trickster (E): Level 6 -> Level 7
Arcana of the Trickster (E): Level 4 -> Level 5
Vitality of the Trickster (E): Level 3 -> Level 4
Domain (F): Level 4 -> Level 5
Dispelling Bubble (F): Level 4 -> Level 6
Unimpeded Arms (F): Level 1 -> Level 4
Amplified Impact (F): Level 1 -> Level 3
Arms of the Trickster (E) - Level 5:
Assistance of the Octominds:
Passive: Your mental faculties are improved by the individual brains in your many arms.
F-Rank: Amplify the effects of a Skill that can benefit from increased cognition.
E-Rank: Multiple Octominds can be temporarily pooled to provide a more efficient and substantial assistance.
…
Arcana of the Trickster (E) - Level 5:
Summon Illusions:
F-Rank: Summon an illusion within 65 feet of yourself.
E-Rank: Illusionary sounds can be produced.
…
Vitality of the Trickster (E) - Level 4:
Arcane Regeneration:
Passive [41 Charges]: Recover from injuries and ailments faster. While meditating, health and mana recovery are sped up further. Continuously form charges of health and mana to be used at a later time.
F-Rank: Spend mana to restore your health and recover from ailments.
E-Rank: Spend a larger amount of mana for a significant burst of regeneration.
…
Class: Krakenbane Wanderer (D) - Level 21
Skills (6/8):
Imploding Bubbles (F) - Level 1: Shoot a beam of bubbles that implode on impact.
Domain (F) - Level 5: Trigger an ability that requires touch within a nearby area. Area grows with levels.
Molten Projectile (F) - Level 1: Shoot a lump of molten-hot material.
Dispelling Bubble (F) - Level 6: Summon a bubble that disrupts Skills in your vicinity.
Unimpeded Arms (F) - Level 4: Channel mana into your arms to suppress environmental friction.
Amplified Impact (F) - Level 3: Channel mana into a limb to release on impact, significantly increasing the offensive capability of an attack.
Even his class Skills had leveled. He hadn't put a lot of focus on them, but he'd still ended up using Dispelling Bubble and Domain a few times. Considering their low rank, it wasn't difficult to level them. Henry found that Domain worked extremely well with Bite's temporary charges, for example. For other options… He was still exploring them. He knew there would be great applications, such as Maurice's imploding attacks, which were an upgrade of Imploding Bubbles. The Skill was a cornerstone for one of Maurice's Aspects, which meant it was stronger and more versatile in the crab's claws.
He only wished he could level his Aspects as easily as his class Skills. The two he needed to get higher barely moved, but at least Arms of the Trickster kept progressing well, thanks to his heavy use of the Octominds.
"We just need something powerful to fight. An encounter where I can let loose with the Ink Clones and actually make use of them."
Henry turned to Maurice, who seemed to be preparing for another try at shapeshifting a mini-brain into his pincers.
"[Maurice. Want to explore one of the caves we found?]"
The crab looked up, and it took him barely half a second to detach from the deep focus he'd been in. "[Sure! The one near the jellyfish or the other one?]"
They had found a couple of dark, deep caves where life seemed a bit sparse, which pointed toward the possibility of a large and dangerous predator living within. Henry had made note of them, saving them up for later, but now was a good time.
"[Let's start with the jellyfish. It might be a powerful Arcane kraken hiding in there.]"
Mana-draining jellyfish. Their territory had been an hour or two to the west of the island, and it had been a surprisingly good hunting ground. The jellyfish themselves weren't a big deal–outside of their painful, mana-stealing stings–but there were some large triggerfish over there. Even a couple low D-rank krakens.
"[Alright, let's go. We should spend some time there and try to train a resistance to mana-drain.]"
Maurice groaned. "[Yeah… I guess you're right. It feels bad though. It makes me sleepy.]"
"[More reason why you should build a resistance to it.]"
Henry picked up the crab and placed him on the usual spot, then launched himself up from the seabed. A quick activation of Unimpeded Arms and Slick Coat made him fly through the water.
"[Those two Skills seem close,]" said Maurice after a few moments.
"[Yeah. I bet I'll be able to merge them pretty easily on the next evolution. How's the progress with the levels?]"
"[Good. I'm doing what you said. Buying Stat points. You're right, it feels like the better choice and I still have a bunch to buy.]"
Henry nodded at that. "[Same. I spent everything on unlocking the higher ranked Skills. Now I can invest in points. Hopefully whatever's in that cave is high D-rank. Or maybe low C-rank.]"
That would certainly cover most–if not all–of the points he had available for purchase.
"[You think we're ready for C-rank?]"
Henry produced an "eh" sound with Summon Illusion's new upgrade, which made Maurice jump. "[Sorry. That was me. Also yes, I think we can take one if it's in the same vein as the Goliath. If it's that simple. Otherwise… it might not be worth the risk. Not yet.]"
Maurice was quiet. Henry expected a comment about the sound-illusion, but the seconds stretched. From his Mind Weaver's Tongue, he felt shock. A constant hum of excitement and astonishment.
Henry was about to speak when Maurice broke through. "[Chimeric Assimilation just finished working on the turtle shell. I got two Skills.]"
"[Oh!]" Henry immediately landed on a large rock and looked up. "[What are they?]"
In response, Maurice detached from his head. The crab beat his pincers to gain some distance then turned to face Henry, and then–
Maurice disappeared in a puff of purple light and immediately reappeared a few yards to the right. "[It's called 'Blink'! The second one is 'Find the Path'.]"
And with that, a world of possibilities opened up ahead of them.
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Royal Road
SomethingOtherThanRain
Undersea Reincarnation - [Octopus Monster Evolution LitRPG] by calcroissant
1.46: The cave's resident
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The multicolored shell popped out of a swirl of purple light, and a fraction of a second later Henry felt crab legs land on his arms. But only for a moment, before they disappeared again, just to pop on top of his head next. Then on a rock. Then back on Henry's head.
"[Please stop. You're going to be out of mana and we might be getting into a fight.]"
Maurice had been using the ability non-stop for the last few minutes. An unlike Henry, he didn't use up a lot of mana for it. Which wasn't making him envious at all.
The duo were resting a few minutes away from their targeted cave. This area was similar to the one Henry had woken up in a few weeks ago, with richly populated reefs and clear waters. The difference was, this area was pretty deep and most of the light wasn't coming from the sun, but from the countless glowing pink jellyfish floating above them.
When Maurice had gotten the new abilities, they'd come to a stop. The crab was about to start the transferring process when Henry–feeling a bit of guilt–suggested they give shapeshifting training another try. That way, he could munch on the discarded limbs instead of a perfectly healthy pincer.
He hoped it wouldn't matter for the Skill transfer, and thankfully it didn't. The process still took four tries.
Blink had immediately transferred. To Henry's chagrin, when he tried the Skill he burned through roughly 20% of his mana pool. A monstrous amount of mana. While it barely consumed 1% for Maurice. The lucky little gremlin.
Henry assumed weight had something to do with it.
As for the second ability, he'd begun worrying it wouldn't work, but it transferred on the fourth try. Henry now had both. Two Skills that had once been in the arsenal of a world-hopping turtle.
Blink (F) - Level 1: Teleport to a nearby location you can see.
Find the Path (F) - Level 1: While focusing on a destination, activating this Skill has a chance to point you toward your desired destination. Chances of success increase with level, proficiency, and clarity of the destination.
"[I could never move this fast before! I'm going to be unstopp–oh? It leveled again!]"
Henry glowered at the crab, and as both a test and a mild expression of his annoyance, he clasped on the crab when he reappeared with Telekinesis.
Maurice was caught in purple pink-hue. His limbs strained, trying to break through the restraints. "[That… won't… work–it worked. Let me go!]"
Henry hummed. "[Maybe it's because I'm seeing you. Try using some ink?]"
Maurice stopped trying to force himself out of the Skill and a wave of embarrassment began wafting off the crab. His eyes shifted down as he sheepishly examined one of his claws. "[I… kinda had to remove it. I didn't have slots anymore! For these? Plus, it's not great on me. So what if I can hide myself in ink? I couldn't swim away fast enough.]"
Henry wasn't sure why the crab felt embarrassed. Slots were limited, and Henry never expected him to keep a copy of everything. Henry himself had discarded a Skill or two already. Still, he couldn't help but point out the hole in Maurice's argument as he let go of the crab, letting him fall to the seabed. "[Maybe not in the past. But now you could move fast enough to make use of it. You could pop in and out of ink clouds. You could be a nightmare for whatever we're fighting.]"
Henry and the crab stared at each other for a moment before the crab covered his face with a pincer.
Henry and Maurice came to a stop above the cave entrance and looked down. It was a wide entrance with a smoothed lip. Big enough for Henry–who was at least 30 feet long from head to tip–to comfortably swim in without triggering his claustrophobia too badly.
It was both alarming and exciting. Something seemed to live here. Henry tried to feel for it with his telepathy but he only felt static. There could be something, but it was either hiding deep enough to be out of range, or it wasn't feeling anything particularly powerful for him to pick up on.
"[Sense anything?]" he asked Maurice.
"[Yes. There's something in there. It's sleeping. I think.]"
"[Is it far?]"
"[Nope.]"
Henry looked down at the crab, raised an arm, then nodded toward the cave. "[Want to go down there and take a peak?]"
Maurice slowly looked up. "[Why don't you be bait this time?]"
Henry chuckled and began activating his defensive Skills in preparation. "[I'm joking. Come on, let's get to work.]"
The crab grumbled as he anchored himself to Henry's extended arm. "[What is it called when someone makes fun of you but only they are finding it funny?]"
"[Teasing. Taunting. Ribbing,]" Henry listed as he touched the seabed. In front of them, their shadows stretched toward the darkness and melded with it.
Maurice looked up at him, and Henry was sure, if the crab's human-form was here, it would be narrowing its eyes at him. "[Sounds like a scam.]"
Henry leaned backward, preparing to send a Molten Projectile to wake whatever was in there when Maurice spoke.
"[It's waking up. It sees us. It's comi–]"
Out of the pitch darkness came the sharp teeth. Then purple skin and elongated body. It took Henry only a moment to recognize the shape, though its size was extremely unexpected.
[Mesmer Eel (C) - Lvl ?]
A familiar hue surrounded Henry, matching the glow of the eel's four eyes. Henry's limbs immediately locked up, and no matter how much he tried to force his way out, he couldn't. The eel's Telekinesis was like nothing he'd experienced so far, and it made his heart flutter with excitement.
The ability felt like a vice around him. His muscles wouldn't even twitch, as if the eel's ability completely and utterly blocked his brain's signals to his limbs.
The eel loomed above him. Its head was almost as large as his own, and it might even match him in length. Four glowing eyes took him in, its jaw opening and closing as it approached.
A most familiar scene, and this time, no ink was squirted–intentionally or not.
"[Henry. What are we doing? I can't move. I can't do anything!]"
Maurice's emotions were like an ever-roiling blob of excitement and worry, with neither ever gaining over the other. But Henry wasn't too worried. This was a being with somewhat known abilities and weaknesses. He felt good about this. But before giving the signal, he wanted to do a quick check. "[Just a second, Maurice.]"
Henry looked up at the eel and spoke in its mind. "[Can you understand me? If yes, let us go.]"
In response, the eel opened its jaw wide, and its second jaw poked out of its throat, ready to bite down and start dragging whatever it could down its gullets.
That was an answer Henry could work with. "[I'll dispel the Telekinesis then hide us in ink, then we rush it. I've met these kinds of eels. A weaker version. But it shouldn't be too different.]"
The eel approached, and Maurice tensed. Then Henry spoke to the crab. "[Now!]"
Henry activated Dispelling Bubble and centered it away from Maurice. The Skill pushed through the telekinetic grasp, but didn't break through. Another activation weakened it enough for Henry to regain control of his limbs, at which point he filled the space with ink. That immediately taught Henry about a difference this eel had from the one from his first days: this eel's abilities didn't need eye contact.
A third Dispelling Bubble broke through the Skill, and Henry rushed forward.
"[Aim for the head and spine, Maurice. Its Telekinesis is really powerful, so I'll grab on. Hold on tight. It won't be happy.]"
"[Can it heal?]"
Henry's first arm barely landed on the smooth, dark-purple skin when he felt his limbs lock again. He used another Dispelling Bubble, lowering his reserves even further, and began activating his suckers. "[It shouldn't. But it might.]"
Which was when he learned his second lesson: this eel could drain mana.
Henry felt the precious resource begin seeping out of his suckers and arms, but it was too late to back away. They should be able to take this one down, even without mana.
"[It has mana draining! Dang it. We should have worked on those resistances more!]"
Henry bit down and pumped the eel flank full of venom. It was tough, but not as tough as the kraken. Maurice brought down a large ghostly pincer and tried to snip through it, but the ghostly arm only shoved the eel for a moment before it began losing consistency. Instead, the crab activated his Domain and began summoning Imploding Bubbles on top of the eel's head, taking great care to aim as Henry's arm moved him away from the snapping jaws.
"[Maybe this will help us get it!]"
A bubble formed against the eel's forehead for a moment, but right before the implosion, a purple barrier-like panel shone across the eel's skin. Once the churning water left by the implosion cleared–there was no damage.
"[Lots of tricks,]" said Henry as he dug deeper with his beak, delivering more venom all the while. "[Seems like it can defend against Skills well, but not so well against physical attacks. Aside from the mana draining.]"
The eel twisted and rolled with rage, trying to get a grip on Henry but thanks to his positioning and his defensive Skills, it couldn't latch on. Then, as it made another attempt to snap its jaw on one of Henry's limb and missed–
Its pharyngeal jaw came out.
Maurice was first to react. "[Ugh. What's that–]"
The fleshy, purple alien-looking thing shot toward Henry's limb, twisted and pulled, biting down.
A jolt ran through Henry's body, and his eyes widened. His suckers relaxed. The strength he had been using to grab on and secure himself instantly dissolved, as if his muscles were made of hot air for a moment. He felt himself begin to slide off the back of the eel.
Then Toxin Resistance kicked in. Strength flowed back into him, and he activated his suckers, with great pain. All of his body was tingling, like a limb that had had its blood flow restricted.
The little gross jaw was pulling at his limb, dragging it down to the eel's gullet. When it stopped, Henry could swear he felt shock from the Eel.
"[You okay? You seem to have gotten… Relaxed for a second. Too relaxed even. It looked nice. Beside the gross little mouth trying to eat you.]"
Panic seemed to be settling over the eel, and it began trying to retreat deeper into its cave. Henry latched on with three tentacles to the walls of the cave. He could activate his suckers, and enough of them should anchor him well. He couldn't pull the eel, but he was sure it couldn't pull him off the wall or off its back, and there's no way it could cause his limbs to tear. In fact, he barely felt them stretch as the monster tried to get away from them.
"[Paralytic agent. Wait, no. More like a muscle relaxant. But Toxin Resistance blocked it from taking over. I'm still tingling all over.]"
It would be a nice venom to add to his arsenal. Along with anything else this predator might have.
"[Alright Maurice, let's get to work!]"
Two large pincers appeared and slammed down on the eel's neck, and Henry activated Razor Tentacle. A moment later, blood surged out of the cave like smoke from a chimney.
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A note from calcroissant
Hope you all enjoyed this week's chapters!
Also, I see that the people who favourited this story (I love you) are nearly double the amount of people who rated. If it's one of your favourites, please rate it! It helps me a lot.
As always, If you to chat and discuss the chapters, there's a Discord for that. Click here to join
See you all next week!
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About the author
calcroissant
calcroissant
09/08/2024 06:58 10/08/2024 09:15 Canada https://www.patreon.com/calcroissant
Bio: I like stories. And coffee. And pastries.
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