Chapter 25: Carak Tribe

As we swam back the way we came, I learned from the now chatty crab Joyce, that this was called the Nursery shaft due to the most important thing located there being the nursery.

Our next destination of course was the elders chamber's, which I think is just a fancy word for the old crab hangout but given the fact that we're about to go there to ask them if I can join their tribe, I decided that I won't be telling anyone that.

The grandp-I mean elder chambers, were also built much differently than the nursing quarters.

The nursing quarters were born from a dug out shaft, which which then had dozens of pockets available for the various which could be required for the young crabs.

The elder's chamber however, were built within a natural grotto which was already present in the enclave.

On our way there the other two red ranked crabs also parted with us, whose names I learned were from Joyce, were Sally, and Urso.

They left us halfway during our short journey to go to what I learned was called the Feeding cavern, which was what I had incorrectly guessed to be a restaurant.

I guess technically I wasn't wrong about the premise of it, but rather than ordering specific food, you kind of just walk in and they give you rations, so it's not quite as customer friendly as what I'm used to.

I'll have to go there will Shelton after we meet with the elders.

As we finally reach the aforementioned place, looking around this definitely qualified to be labelled as "chambers", cause DAMN, were they fancy.

Instead of the nursery which only really had tools, seaweed bed, and other plants, both medical and decorative around there. The Elder's chambers had actual carvings of large powerful looking crabs everywhere.

A quick lecture from both Joyce and Shelton, and it turns out that these crabs are all of the previous clan heads and notable top brass of the Carak tribe.

While both of them really did respect all of the crabs depicted, it turns out that their favorite depiction was of the current clan head who was said to be the only green ranked crab in the history of their tribe!

Green ranked? Doesn't that mean that crab evolved 5 times? Holy sh*t.

I gotta make sure to not get on these crab's bad side.

When we finally arrive at the main section of the chambers past all of the status and engravings, we're yet again met with another crab secretary although this one simply asked our reason for be here today.

She of course was met with a minor moment of shock we she was told about me, but like a secretary for the elders of the tribe she was quickly able to overcome her feelings and told us that we would be meeting an elder by the name of Carn who would oversee my induction.

As she led us past the halls or carved stone, part of me wondered if other creatures homes were like this.

Hell, the only reason I can see the crabs living in highly decorated places like this was because of the fact that they actually have pincers they can use to grab tools with.

How would a shark do that, hmmm?

Does that mean sharks just live in bland stone and wild moss?

Probably not, at least not from what Shelton has told me, he said that the higher a predator is on the food chain the better societies have so this is considered... bland?

I can't even imagine a shark city in that case.

The crab secretary, who I later find out is one of the elder's wife (I can't tell crab genders apart from their voices) eventually leads us to a curtain of seaweed and behind it is a room covered with seaweed, "books" everywhere.

There is a small desk made out of stone located in the back center of the room, and behind that desk is yet again, another absolutely massive crab.

This one is probably between the size of Monty at the gate and Teri from the nursery, so I would probably guess... 1.8 meters tall?

I don't know but I do know that this guess would crush me in a fight.

The light orange shell of the crab gleams in the green light of the surrounding moss around he looks up from his papers to greet us.

"Shelton. Jayce. Ponto, it's good to see all of you." He says first as he acknowledges the crabs he is familiar with.

"And you must be Oliver" he says as he sticks out his pincer in my direction.

I stare at it dumbly, 'Am I supposed to kiss this or something? What is he a mob boss'

His face curves downward in a frown, as he sees me freeze up, "Aren't you going to shake my claw?"

OH. Yeah they do use that as a greeting don't they.

"Sorry! I say, bringing a tentacle towards him as I latch onto his pincer and shake it gently.

I feel like a child in front of an adult d*mmit!

I mean, I know that I am technically a child and you're an adult but I'm still probably older than you mentally!

So instead YO-, wait what rank is this guy! He could actually be older than me if it takes longer and longer to get from tier to tier!

He chuckles as he lowers his pincer back to the desk and begins to address the topic at hand.

"I hear that you wish to join our tribe?"

"Yes elder" I reply, "I met Shelton, and realized how limited I am from my current position and I wish to grow more."

He puts his pincer beneath his head and scratches his nonexistent chin.

"I can understand that but I'm more concerned about the safety of the clan."

All of you, except Oliver of course, can leave now please." He commands

Each of the crabs look at one another before Ponto is the first one to turn around towards the door and head out followed by Jayce and lastly Shelton who flashes me a claws up on the way out.

Once the crabs evacuated elder Carn's chamber, the large crab rested himself upon a lump of suspiciously crab shaped seaweed.

'My money is on that being a crab chair' Oliver thought to no one in particular, as the elder gestured towards a similar lump opposite to him.

As Oliver sat down as gracefully as he could as an octopus in a clearly crab shaped chair, the elder spoke,

"Now Oliver, before we get started I would like to show you this." The large crab reached grabbed a kelp bag much similar to the food bags that they had used while returning except it was much smaller.

As the large crab reached inside of the bag, he pulled out a milky white ball which would look similar to a marble if not for it's baseball size.

"We call this artifact a truth ball, and as you may have guessed it helps us not be tricked by individuals."

I gulped as the elder continued while holding the ball for me to examine, there are three conditions to use it however. First it can only be between two individuals, it will not work if the sides attempting to communicate are more than these two people.

Second, it needs full consent of both of the sides to properly work as well, this means that if a person doesn't want to use this, then no matter what the other side does it won't work on them. It also will not force someone to answer a question if they don't want to.

Finally, this artifact does not determine fact from opinion, simply truth from lies. Say I was to ask you how old you think I am. If you were to reply 10 years old when in actuality I am 100 years old, the ball would not react because what you said was what you believed to be the truth.

This meeting suddenly felt a lot more like an interoggation then it did a induction.

"While I won't force you to do this, I do want you to know that if you want to truly become inducted into our tribe, then you must."

"This is a requirement set by our predecessors in order to protect our tribe from trickery."

"So I will ask this first, do you consent to using the truth ball?"

Normally I wouldn't accept this whatsoever, I mean, what if I get in a situation where I am forced to mention my reincarnation?

However contrary to that thought I speak, "I do." And for one main reason.

The second rule of the truth ball, "Tt will not force someone to answer a question if they don't want to."

Because of this rule, not only do I truly have nothing to hide in terms of who I am or who I'm connected to, I really don't plan on betraying this tribe, however this can also mean that I can play the pity card if he asks something that can relate to my reincarnation.

Elder Carn dips his head in gratefulness as the ball lights up from a bland grey to a light white, and he speaks again, but this time with a much friendlier tone.

"First of all I don't think I quite introduced myself have I? My name is elder Carn and I am one of the 11 elder's within our Carak tribe's population excluding our leader, and I am also a yellow ranked plant mage for our community."

He once again grabs and raises the truth ball, "This artifact works, by glowing white once it has been activated as you can see now."

"If one of the sides says a lie the artifact shall light up red."

"I am a 1 year old crab." He says as the ball suddenly turns a bright red for a few second before turning back to its glossy white appearance.

"Here", he hands me the orb.

"Try telling both a truth, and a lie."

I ponder for a second before opening my beak, "I am a female octopus."

The ball suddenly turns bright red again as the scene from a few seconds ago repeats itself before turning back to white.

"Shelton is my first friend in this life."

However, when I speak this sentence the ball remains white, as the crabby smile on elder Carn's face widens.

"Good! Now let's get down to the actual talking."

"My first question is do you truly seek to join our tribe, with no ulterior motives other than wishing to become stronger?"

"I do" I respond as elder Carn glances at the orb, happy that it stays white.

"Second, are you really a wild octopus?"

"I am, I was born in a lone cave with no parent's nor siblings in sight, and have grown up alone since my birth." I say as Carn looks at the orb ensuring that it stays white.

Here's the neat part about this, is I can technically lie, but at the same time it's the truth. For example, when I said Shelton is my first friend, I also added the "In my life" in which I specifically noted that I was talking about THIS life.

The first and second question were honestly less risky to answer because they don't have any partial lies in them at all.

Elder Carn continues, "Do you have any relation to any other tribe, family, kingdom, or empire?"

I shake my head, "No. Shelton was the first intelligent creature I ever met aside from myself, and I've never met another intelligent creature that wasn't specifically a crab from your very own tribe."

Seeing that the orb remains white, elder Carn puts the orb down and leans in for one last question.

"Finally, what rank of a creature are you?"

I freeze up momentarily as I instantly see a proper path through this question.

"I guarantee you that I am absolutely not higher than the red rank."

This time, the Elder straight up turns and looks directly at the orb, only for it to remain white.

He puzzledly looks back and me and then the orb almost as if thinking it's delayed before laughing.

"Haha! You really aren't higher than a red rank? Honest to Poseidon, I really thought you were an orange ranked creature, you're abnormally powerful to be a red rank after all."

As he says this I immediately know that I answered correctly cause I don't want to even think about how he would react if he knew that I was a white rank.

As he continues chuckling he hands me the truth orb, before it disintegrates into dust around me.

"H-huh?" I speak densely, thinking I had just broken it.

"E-Elder! I swear I didn't mean to brea-"

He cuts me off as he laughs even louder.

"Hahaha! Don't worry about it kid, I didn't tell you this about the artifact, but it also breaks after being used, I just wanted to see how you would react. Haha!"

This old crab! He's trying to scare me to death!

"Alright, alright, enough of this though. I think it's safe to say that you're more than welcome to join our tribe young Oliver. While this does mean that you are apart of our tribe, it doesn't mean that you can't join other tribes. However keep in mind if you join another tribe whom we aren't friendly with, we and other tribe have full power to remove you from it."

"So while you won't be tied down with us, you also can't do whatever you want with absolute disregard for us. Understood?"

I nod excitedly as I finally receive confirmation that I've joined a tribe.

"Then get out of here. Since not only are you and Shelton friends but also around the same age, you can follow his schedule for now. I'll make sure to announce to the tribe about your presence. I think you should probably be able to find Shelton and the others in the Feeding cavern so hurry up and go join them!" He shouts as I nod gratefully, and I turn around to swim away towards the exit.

Right as I am about to pass the seaweed curtain however, I turn around facing directly at Elder carn and bow down, or at least move my head down, "Thank you for this opportunity Elder Carn!" and then I dash out of his chambers...

...

(Elder Carn POV)

'What an interesting kid', the elder thinks to himself as he activates a plant spell sprouting a specific flower in front of a crab who happened to be inspecting Oliver not too long ago.

A few minutes later, Teri arrives in my office, as she respectfully closes the curtain behind her.

"So what were the results Teri, is he a tide candidate?" I ask as I look at the motherly crab.

"I looked at his entire body and found no sign nor indication that he is a tide candidate whatsoever." She replied while sitting down in the opposite crab chair.

"Seriously? That octopus is on the verge of being able to fight a yellow ranked creature and you're telling me he's not even a candidate? I ask incredulously.

"I take it then, that he used the truth ball and it said he really was red ranked?" She shot back.

"Yes, it would appear he really is a red ranked creature, but that just further cemented the idea that he was probably a tide candidate. There was really nothing about him? What about his eyes? I ask.

"If you are talking about his rectangular irises, then no, those are simply what octopus eyes looks like. In fact, if he had normal, spherical irises, then I would have considered those to be a mark of a tide candidate.

We both sat in silence mulling over our thoughts before I spoke again.

"So then... he's just... talented?" I question.

Teri looks at me and nods, "It would appear so, after all if he really is a tide candidate, then at this point, only time will tell."

I sigh as I sink back into the kelp behind me, "I suppose you're right, whether or not he's a candidate won't change if we know about it or not, rather I should focus on the current problems that we have."

"Like the announcement that you're going to have to make that an octopus has joined our tribe?" Teri says, as I slouch even further into my chair.

"Don't mention it, I don't mind that we're getting a high tiered predator in our tribe even if he mainly just wants to explore and grow stronger, but everyone else is going to go crazy considering the highest predator we've ever conducted in our clan before was a turtle."

"I do have some equally interesting news however." Teri mentions as I reach into one of the pouches lying near my desk as I reach in and grab a few cubes of meat to munch on.

"We found a tide candidate in one of our crabs."

Elder Carn's eyes shine in both glee and worry as he hears her say that.

After revealing the identity, of the tide candidate crab, Teri finally decides that it's time that she departs.

"In that case I suppose I should be going then, since you're going to be so busy and all." Teri gets up from her chair as I swallow the snack in my mouth.

"You're right, thank you for helping me Teri" I respond as she walks out of my room while speaking.

"Don't thank me. Just hope that Oliver succeeds, he's quite the nice boy you know." and with such she leaves.

I open the pouch and put another cube in my mouth, 'I wonder how long it'lll actually be until Oliver leaves us?'

Of course I don't think Oliver will betray us based on the truth test I just had with him, but I will admit that with his current growth and progress it will only be a matter of time until he needs to move to a greater civilization.

'I can only repay his debt's in kind, no matter which kind they be' I think to myself as I keep on snacking until I eventually doze off...