Bothok’s Cruelty

"Soldier, you will address me with a minimal amount of intelligence and decorum while giving me the report. Our species crawled out of the darkness to spread our tendrils out into the stars. You will not insult our race blithering like an idiot saying that "big rocks" took down one of the collector ships. Now, pull yourself together or I will send you to the cook. The crew and I would love to have some meat back on the menu." Bothok coolly stated.

Swallowing the fear in the face of the threat, the soldier decided that the commander in front of him was a more immediate danger than what was seen on the last recordings of the ship's video log. Taking a breath of stagnant water, the poor octopus continued.

"According to our search and the last update from the collector, it seems that several things happened before the explosion. First, the hull detected enough physical matter atop it to engage the sweeping protocol. This removed the debris from the surface of the ship. Nothing too unusual. The suction settings are still on the lowest end to absorb the elemental particles from the air and surroundings first before moving onto bigger objects. Second, the maintenance shaft was breached. Video logs show some sort of catastrophic failure. We suspected a local entity was behind the damage, but our logs saw no such thing. At least until later. A level 0 water elemental managed to get into the ship. No damage was done inside the area. Soon the water elemental left. It was then that several earthen projectiles large enough to overwhelm the collector system collided into one of the ends. This overloaded the permitted levels of materials allowed to be collected, causing a backlash in the system as it tried to compensate. Power levels were diverted from the gravity magic boosters to try to force the material to be processed, which lead the ship to crash and cause an implosion destroying the collector."

Quickly going through the report, the soldier was purposefully using an even tone to give the impression of calm. Mentally, the report made him panic inside. The amount of power needed to cause any of the phenomenon listed would need a level 7 entity to pull off so easily. Within the Squitopus race, only a handful of current individuals had that level of magical power. Each one of them could wipe out a Titan class battleship single handedly. They were regulated to either the front lines when highly advanced civilizations were encountered and deemed important enough to harvest resources from or to protect the core home worlds. Of course, the Squitopus race for references of power was quite skewed due to their weak bodies. Had the species learned of other elementals and races that could be the size of mountains, perhaps they would have retreated into their dark crags at home. But ignorance was bliss.

"So, you are telling me that a WATER elemental was responsible for EARTH attacks on the ship? Did the scanners detect any powerful earth elementals near the site of the explosion?" Bothok questioned with annoyance.

"No sir! That's the strange thing. The nearest rock elementals are several leagues away and are also level 0 in the power ratings. We are not able to discern where or what the entity was that made the attack. As such, I suggest we go on immediate lockdown and-"

"Are you giving me an order, soldier? May I remind you that the choices in front of us are either glory or death? Going into lockdown will deprive us of food, fuel, and time we don't have for an extended stay. Perhaps I should remind you why the stakes are so high and that failure to bring results will only condemn every single one of us here to an early grave." Bothok cut off the rambling warrior with ice in his voice and shimmering shards in the water. Small crystals of frozen water started to appear around the commander as the impossible situation being described made him more and more angry.

To him, the report was sounding more and more like a roadblock for Bothok's salvation. If the planet had just minimal resources, Bothok was guaranteed one of the spots for the return trip home. However, the "reward" for such a discovery would be another trip shot out into the stars to find more. After all, an accomplished commander would be necessary for the species survival to discover more resources. Given that Bothok was unable to get stronger individually without a massive amount of cash he didn't have, accomplishments were the only thing left to ensure his retirement. And for him, this planet was his ticket out of years of service and into a life that he could only have dreamed about before. Nothing, not even his men and women in his charge, would get in the way of that.

Quickly, the ice formed a cage around the soldier. Sharp spikes grew inward, making the already cramped area even smaller. With the unique dexterity that came without having bones, trapping a fellow Squitopus would require a complete box. But for punishment, an open cage filled with razor sharp edges would be used. The unfortunate captor would have to contort themselves in an awkward manner to avoid impalement. Once finished, escape meant hours of careful navigation filled with cuts at every wrong turn. It was up to the talent of the creator of these Razor Cages that would separate the cruel and clever from the weak. Bothok was famous for his Razor Cages. His talent, mediocre as it was, ensured that each cage made would require that the prisoner would have to sacrifice at least several arms before escape. Not to mention that the surrounding bars were so close together that the very last push would require one to purposefully cut themselves deep into their flesh for freedom. None had died from Bothok's Razor Cage, but the amount of injuries sustained would put one in the med bay for a solid month at least.

No screams were heard was the completed cage was sent into the med bay. Breathing too heavily would just bring pain. So as the door shut and the poor soldier was taken away, Bothok turned back towards the crew.

"As I said, no lockdowns. Those who aren't here will be put on patrol fully armed to ensure that nothing comes into this ship to stop us. I've already sent a message through the gate that we have found a Magic Source Core. Returning will allow all of us here to live our wildest dreams back home. If we don't, protocol states that the gate will implode in case of a surprise danger that we cannot afford to warp back to our planet. We either succeed, or we die. Now, up the timetable for our departure. We have five cycles to strip the surface, find the core, and get back to the gate. Anyone caught slacking off will be put in a Razor Cage or chained to their station with a Coat of Thorns. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Commander!" The other soldiers echoed, immediately turning back to their desks with renewed zeal. Some out of fear, others out of excitement. Below the main deck, personnel streamed out of their doors armed to the teeth. Every arm carried either a weapon or defensive item. Squishy bodies were crammed into metallic suits becoming living walls of metal that slowly passed through the hallways. The thousands of Squitopus workers turned into a massive offensive force in a blink of an eye. Yet, all would be for naught.

----

In the main hanger, in a forgotten corner, a small rock lay in front of an empty bucket. To the casual observer, it was just a mess that someone had forgotten to clean up. No one would know that it was a place of shock and mourning. Blake needed to know what exactly had occurred. The Handbook hadn't told them that the new perk gained was like an instant death spell for poor Tsunis. As usual, the Handbook replied to the question completely ignoring the somber atmosphere.

"Reply to Participant. Since your choice of partner was too weak in terms of potential, the addition of so many skills and perks caused an overload to the body and soul. This resulted in immediate termination. However, the perk "Skill Share" can ensure the evolution of a chosen recipient provided that the materials are in place to do so. The base of the recipient of Skill Share was a water elemental. Concentrated water elemental particles, system points, and/or magic from Participants own form can be used as compensation. Notification will alert participant when the threshold has been met."

A glowing orb visible only to Blake appeared in front of them. With haste, the magical elements in the surroundings started to gather at Blake's command. The ship was densely packed with magical elements to sustain the spells of the Squitopus soldiers. Now though, the magic seemed to rush towards the corner of the hanger with glee. Soon, the saturation of the particles in such a tightly packed space reached a point where they were visible to the naked eye. Yet it still wasn't enough. With the direction of the System, Blake removed a single percentage of their transformed magical body. It would regenerate with the exposure of another Mana Geyser, but for now, Blake's mana took a near permanent dock of 1,000 points. With the piece of magic stone as a catalyst, the System took over. Using the stone as the core, the water elements gathered into a more solid form. The shape was a cross between a shark and a manta ray. Beautiful clear crystal wings spread out from a narrower tube-like body. A long thin tail covered in barbs came out the back as the wide mouth filled with rounded teeth emerged from the front. With the evolution complete, the newly evolved Sea Angel opened its eyes with curiosity.

"Well, that was unexpected." Tsunis commented