Chapter 20: Mutations, Again...

(Shelton POV)

"Could you tell me about mutations?"

I glance back over at the the small yet eerie octopus, as it stares at me with its black and golden rectangular eyes.

I'm not calling him creepy because he's octopus, but rather it's because of the feeling I get from him.

To be honest, now that I get a better look at him, I can see that he's not actually as big as I thought he would be.

Nonetheless, not only do I still think that he's a red rank because he didn't say anything or correct me when I labelled him as a red rank, but also because he seems to be too advanced to be anything lower than red.

I'm no specialist on octopi and to be honest this is the first time I've ever seen one.

The only reason I know what he is, was from some of the older crabs in the tribe telling me their experiences with different predators, and a few of those stories were about octopi.

They described them as terrifying ambush predators with 8 tentacles each as strong as our main pincers who are also capable of changing the color of their skin to match their environment.

And I really do have to agree with them. Something like that, sounds like its the stuff of nightmares.

Hell, when Oliver changed his sin color from the moss rocks around him into a plain greyish color, I honest to Poseidon thought I was hallucinating.

But no, they're seriously really and... definitely smaller than I thought they would be.

Or maybe Oliver just got lucky with a mutation? Maybe he got some sort of compressing mutation or maybe he's got some sort of poison that he relies on since he's so small.

'Wait, if he's poisonous... then was that shake thing we did all a lie'

I begin to sweat inside of my shell as I look back at Oliver yet again.

He notices me staring at him and looks back at me, before I move my eyes away from him yet again.

'No way, he was way too friendly with me, and if we really did rely on poison then he wouldn't have let such a physically gifted crab like myself get anywhere near him, especially for prolonged contact.'

I clear my thoughts of his potential long con trap as I begin to explain what I know about the mutation process to Oliver.

"First of all, mutations are changes in the normal evolutionary route which creatures take."

"This could be things such as a thicker shell, sharper teeth, or even innate poison which is now in a creature that it wasn't in before."

"While not all mutations are considered equal, every mutation is certainly considered to be beneficial to the one who received it."

"The only time when someone can get a mutation however is when a creature advances ranks."

"By advancing ranks through increasing our state of existence, creatures can become stronger, and surpass the limits of their own bloodline."

"Apparently, it's also even possible for some creatures to sometimes obtain even more than 1 mutation during an evolution! Although this is extremely rare."

Oliver cuts in and speaks again.

"And you said you have a mutation right? Your shell?"

I puff out my chest and raise my pincers higher as I boast.

"Yep! I myself got a mutation which is called the Darkstone shell mutation. It's main effect is making my shell much sturdier and harder to damage but it also changes the natural color of the shell to be a little darker."

"So then does that mean that you're stronger than other crabs around you rank?" Oliver asks again.

"Well... It depends on the mutation. While mutations aren't guaranteed every evolution, most creatures will receive them during their lifetimes. However, for my specific darkstone mutation, it does indeed make me more dangerous than other crabs around my rank."

I notice Oliver looking down at one of his tentacles, curling and uncurling it again, "How about you?" I ask, "Do you know if you received any mutations?"

I try not to sound to eager to find out however a bit of excitement leaks from my voice. I cant help it! Mutations are so cool, especially ones like elder Carn has...

"I'm not quite sure if this is a mutation..." Oliver begins, "But I can do this."

Oliver suddenly flexes one of his arms again and downs of different sized barbs suddenly appear from underneath his skin.

"Wow! Yeah that has to be a mutation! I've never heard of an octopus that has barbs on its body!"

As I look at his barb mutation my mind wander's back to the shake.

'I really hope he seriously doesn't have any venom'

However him having this mutation does reassure my earlier decision.

He has to be at least red ranked.

Not only are mutations from unranked to the white ranked exceedingly rare, but a mutation such as covering ones body in sharp barbs would have to be pretty strong.

'Good thing I didn't attack him due to my earlier outburst.'

I felt my shell turn lighter in embarrassment as I recalled me barging into his room as he was sleeping, and immediately proceeding to tell him that I was there to kill him.

'I might've really died if I did.'

"And you said that creatures can only get these mutations when they evolve?" Oliver snapped me out of my thoughts as he asked another question.

"Yeah, creatures think mutations happen because of excess energy in the body when they evolve, which causes additional traits to be added onto the body."

"Although that's just from what I've heard so I have no idea if it's true or not."

Oliver puts his tentacle underneath his head and rubs it back and forth

'Is he scratching an itch?' I think to myself before adding,

"To be honest I think you might have another mutation because I've never heard or seen an octopus like you before."

I chuckle to myself before adding on "To be fair, I've never seen another octopus, but it doesn't change the fact that you look much different from the norm, plus you're actually intelligent."

Oliver continues scratching his itch we carry on with traversing through the forest.

"I think I get it..." He says Oliver mutters to himself, as I keep on speaking,

"I can tell you more about it later but I think we've finally found some fellow creatures."

Oliver looked up as he saw the 6 crabs on the bottom of the rocky cliff in front of us.

"So how do you want to do this?" I looked up and at Oliver as he finally finished scratching his itch.

"How about this..." He began. "You get the attention of at least 4 of the crabs, while I take on the 2 in the back. After that I can come back and help you with the remaining 4 crabs?"

Thinking about his plan, I thought about it, before nodding my head in agreement.

While I'm no longer the only one hunting the crabs, it is true that I should be able to increase my level of existence much faster by hunting this amount of them.

Plus this plan seems pretty viable given our current situation.

With my mutated shell and Oliver's nature as an octopus, he should be able to take out some of the crabs while I distract the others.

At that point when he returns we should be able to finsih off the rest of them even with the numerical disadvantage. Most of these crabs are white ranked, but I do also think that 2 of them are red ranked like myself and Oliver.

Of course they still shouldn't be a match for us due to our mutations and intelligence, but it never hurts to be too careful.

"Alright." Oliver looks around for a moment before spotting a relatively clear section of seabed a little ways away from the crabs.

He lays himself as flat as he cat get across the ground and slowly his skin begins to wiggle and change it's original grey color into dark brownish yellow color, with little spots of black all over.

Looking at him like this I have to confess, it looks really creepy, for the most part due to his 2 golden black eyes still staring at me while looking like the ground.

I feel like I'm being watched by a living rock, but at least he blends in splendidly.

"Do I blend in?" He asks me, for some reason to which I nod my shell in agreement.

"Then go grab the attention of the crabs and bring them over. Remember, lead them past me and give me a signal when the last two crabs are near me. That's when I'll strike."

I pause for a second before asking another question, "What signal should I use?"

He looks at me (I swear he looked at me like I'm an idiot) and says, "These are wild crabs aren't they? Can't you just say like, "Now!"?"

"Ok, yeah. I'll go now." I quickly walk away towards the direction of the crabs while remembering the location of Oliver as he shuts his eyes truly becoming indistinguishable from the ground around him.

That and because my shell is again turning lighter as I attempt to conceal my embarrassment from Oliver.

As I arrive in front of the 6 grazing crabs I raise my claws, and snap them loudly.

*CLACK CLACK*

"Come and get me you ugly crabs! I shout as I see them spot me and clack there pincers loudly in return.

Seeing that they are coming after me, I turn around and run for Oliver's position...