Chapter 26: True Red Rank

(Oliver's POV)

As I swam out of the elder's chambers I immediately came across, Joyce and Ponto waiting for me at the entrance.

I glanced at them, confused, "Why are you both still here?"

They look at me in amusement, "You're not inducted into the tribe quite just yet Oliver." Joyce replies.

"What do you mean? I just finished the meeting with Elder Carn, and he said that it was perfectly fine." I protested, not understanding.

"Elder Carn may have approved you to be inducted but he has yet to actually announce it yet. That mean's to all the other tribe crabs, you're still a guest octopus." Jayce revealed.

"What!" I exclaimed.

"When is he going to make the announcement then?

"Calm down, haha. He'll probably make it sometime tomorrow. So in the meantime we'll be sticking with ya still." Jayce chuckled due to my immediate switch from a happy to disgruntled attitude.

Grabbing me by a tentacle, he planted me on his head as we began to head towards the feeding cavern, "C'mon let's go meet up with Shelton."

Throughout the trip, I kept my gruntled attitude until.

"Huh?"

I raised my tentacles up, tasting the water around me, as I smelled something that I hadn't smelled since my last life.

Is that... COOKED MEAT?

I immediately shove myself off of Jayce, as I launch myself towards the feeding cavern.

As I burst through the entrance, race down the tunnel and turn the corner, I run head first into a crab, while both of us are thrown off balance, and it drops it's food.

I look up, still with enough rationality to apologize to the unlucky crab ahead me, that is until I see Shelton, looking at me bewildered at my actions as my eyes zoom in on still hot piece of something's cooked flesh held between his pincers.

"Oliver! Are you oka-" He begins, however I ignore whatever excuse he's about to give me before I get that food!

[You have activated Density manipulation!]

I activate density manipulation on all 8 of my tentacles as I brute force Shelton's pincers open.

Ever since I had actually put some stat points into my magic stat and now had a MUCH much larger mana pool, I was now capable of casting density manipulation on my entire body at once. Of course while in this state I could only hold onto it for a few seconds, but in this scenario this way more than enough time.

Shelton stares at me in horror as I shove the cooked meat down my beak before he turns to his pincers and looking at them as if they had betrayed him.

"Hey, Oliver! What are yo-" Jayce and Ponto finally arrive only to see the sour face of Shelton who had the aura as if he had been cheated on, while Oliver was busy twisting and coiling around a thick piece of meat nearly the same size as himself, while ravenously ripping parts of it off with his barbs and stuffing them down his maw.

Jayce freezes up seeing the seen only to burst into laughter upon having a epiphany about what happened.

"He was a wild octopus, Shelton! Of course he would react like this upon coming across cooked and seasoned meat!"

Jayce walked over and patted Shelton on the back while Shelton stared at Oliver, still holding a grudge over how his meal had been stolen.

"C'mon let's get you another share, and the rest of us something to eat!" Jayce pulls on Shelton while the mute Ponto nods his shell, and grabs a single tentacle of Oliver dragging him along with them.

...

After a little while, rather than eventually snapping out of his eating frenzy from being full, Oliver snapped out from finally eating all of what he later learned was eel meat.

He embarrassingly had gotten lectured by Shelton only to have Jayce come and tell him to just let it go, they finished their meal and went back to one of the resting coves.

It turns out that Shelton technically has his own little "sleeping cavern" as they called it, however with Oliver, Jayce, and Ponto in tow, Shelton was forced to need to use a larger communal sleeping cove in order to accommodate his meat thief and guard dogs.

As Ponto, who was surprisingly the last one, finally fell asleep, Oliver opened up his system.

<Name: Oliver>

<Level: 10>

<Health: 80/80>

<Mana: 230/230>

<Titles: (None)>

<Age: Child>

<Vitality: 16>

<Strength: 29>

<Speed: 23>

<Endurance: 14>

<Intelligence: 13>

<Magic: 23)>

<Luck: 14>

<Mutations: Barbed Spring Loaded Tentacles (Level 1) (Tier 2), Pitch Black Ink Sac (Level 1) (Tier 2), Rushing Quick Siphon (Level 1) (Tier 2), Inky Vision Eyeballs (Level 1)(Tier 2), Density Physical Magic Organ (Level 5) (Tier 1)>

<Skills: Active: Ink Cloud (Level 4) Advanced Camouflage (Level 2) Passive: Advanced Tentacle Grab (Level 2) Regeneration (Level 3) Shredding (Level 2)>

<Tier: 1 (White Rank)>

<Species: Constricting Octopus>

<Unassigned Stat Points: 0>

<Mutagens: 5>

<Skill Points: 4>

<Evolution is now available!>

<Would you like to open the Evolution menu?>

It's time! Yes please!

<Opening evolution Menu>

<Congratulations!>

<You've managed to reach the Tier 2 evolution!>

<You're potential is still limitless!>

<Here are you evolution options for Tier 2!>

<Rock Octopus (Common)>

<Obsidian Octopus (Uncommon)>

<Armored Octopus (Uncommon)>

<Crustacean Octopus (Rare)>

<Vile Ink Squid (Uncommon)>

<Wrestling Octopus (Uncommon)>

<Giant Octopus (Rare)>

<Hook Octopus (Uncommon)>

<Compressed Tentacle Octopus (Rare)>

<Tiny Condensing Octopus (Rare)>

<Lesser Demonic Snail (Uncommon)>

Nice! I have even more choices then my last evolution!

And it looks like I can also evolve to the next rarity level for it was well. The (Rare) level!

While most of my options changed I do quickly notice however that the first and only common evolution route I have, the Rock Octopus, was also an evolutionary option for my last evolution.

Does this mean it's possible for two of the exact same species to be completely different tiers?

Cause I could have chosen it for my first evolution and that would have made me a white ranked Rock Octopus, while now I could chose it for this evolution which would make me a red ranked Rock Octopus...

I'm not entirely sure but it doesn't sound like the most unreasonable thing I've seen in this world so far.

Whatever, it's not like I'm gonna chose that option anyway, especially considering the abundance of (Uncommon) and (Rare) choices I have!

First of all, lets cross out all non-octopus evolutions, I know that snails and squids are somewhat similar, but at the same time I really don't want to need to change how familiar I am with my body.

I know it's only been about 2 weeks since I was born, but I can't imagine living in a different body type anymore.

The first time was enough for me OK?

I won't lie however I am rather curious about the demonic aspect of the snail... are there legit demon's in this world? Or maybe it's just... an evil snail? Has fire abilities? Whatever, don't care, I'm not choosing it.

The next thing I'm going to do is also cross out every evolutionary option that is below (Rare).

Don't get me wrong! I do think that some of them are good, However I also think that the higher level I chose when evolving, the more powerful I will become and the more potential I will have.

That leaves me with 4 different options.

Crustacean Octopus, Giant Octopus, Compressed Tentacle Octopus, and Tiny Condensing Octopus.

First thing in order, Crustacean Octopus is out.

I don't care! I'm not quite sure why I have this option, maybe because I've been hanging out around crabs too much or maybe because of my highly crab based diet, but I am not becoming some weird shelled crab Octopus hybrid monstrosity!

So in actuality I only have 3 options.

Let's look at them.

<Giant Octopus: As a rare version of the uncommonly seen (Large Octopus) the giant octopus is a predator most known for its large size compared to it's evolutionary state. The main difference between them and other octopi are it's size which becomes large enough to eat teenage and young adult sharks, given the fact that they are able to actually best them in battle.>

<Compressed Tentacle Octopus: The Compressed Tentacle Octopus is known for it's steely grip on it's prey, and strong tentacles. This octopus is the next in line evolution of the (Squeezing Octopus), however one major factor which sets this octopus apart from others is it's manipulation to truly compress and tighten around objects which the octopus grabs. While this octopus isn't very noteworthy as a predator, no known octopi have ever fully traveled down its line, meaning that the evolutionary potential for this species of octopus is unknown.>

<Tiny Condensing Octopus: As a rare variant of the (Tiny Octopus) which is known for feasting on smaller fish and plants, this octopus hunts using the underestimation of its foes. This octopus reaches about the size of penguin, however it also has the (Compression Organ) which can shrink the size of the octopus and provide a major increase in power, both in speed and strength.>

Hmmmm... Aren't these options all kind of subpar?

I mean, they aren't necessarily bad, all of them have their own strengths and weaknesses, but none of the really have that oomph-factor that sets them apart.

For the giant octopus, while I definitely do want to increase my size, I don't think I need to be big enough to eat sharks yet, from what Shelton has told me most sharks are at least a yellow ranked creature, and this is only my red rank evolution. The evolution also has no other major benefits than immediate size, which would also probably decrease my potential farther down the line.

The Tiny Condensing Octopus is on the other side of the spectrum in this sense. I really don't like this option especially however, because despite the fact that I would become stronger and faster while using my (Compression Organ), I would be... well... Tiny!

I don't want to be tiny! How am I supposed to hunt larger prey when I'm turning smaller, hmmmm?

Plus! Two of my mutations, my ink sac, and barbs, would both become weaker by decreasing my size! So that one is an immediate no.

My final option and what I think I'll finally go with is the Compressed Tentacle Octopus. This one doesn't focus on either side of the size spectrum, but rather just focuses on base abilities of my tentacles, and that sounds fine to me!

I won't lie, the "unknown evolutionary potential" kind of scares me, I mean what if it gets absolutely nothing down the line, but at the same time the system hadn't mentioned this for any of my previous evolutions, even the ones during the 1st tier.

Thus, I think that the system calling it's evolutionary potential to be "unknown", is actually a good sign!

Alright! System!

<Are you sure with your evolutionary choice of [Compressed Tentacles Octopus]?>

<Yes/No>

Yep! Do it!

As my consciousness is fading, I look around to see the crabs sleeping.

'What if they see me evolving?' I think drowsily, feeling kind of embarrassed at the thought.

[You have activated Ink Cloud!]

[Ink Cloud has leveled up to level 5!]

[Ink Cloud has evolved into Improved Ink Cloud!]

Ewuck...

I thought to myself as I tasted the ink as those were the last words I heard before my consciousness faded into the background.

...

(Shelton POV)

...

Bleugh...

My mind gradually woke up as I tasted something absolutely horrible in my mouth.

"Huh..?"

I opened my eyes only to be greeted by pitch black darkness in front of me.

"What's going on?" I thought as I looked around only to see that the darkness wasn't actually encompassing me but rather was just a simple... cloud... of darkness in front of me.

I can see Jayce, and Ponto snoozing away over in the corner of the cove and looking around I can see that this darkness is specifically in the corner of the cave where a certain octopus was last night, so... is this Oliver?

I look back at the cloud and rack my still muddled brain in thought.

'Is this some sort of mutation of his? Or maybe an ability he has?' I think to myself before it finally clicks.

'Ink! This has to be his ink!' I realize as I look back at the cloud.

'Why would he release his ink here though?' I wonder as I keep my distance from the unpleasant taste and smell of the dark sphere in front of me.

'Was he attacked? Did a member of the tribe want to hurt him because he isn't truly a part of us yet?' My thoughts slowly began to divulge into crazier and more dangerous theories as my anxiety began to get the best of me.

'I should check on him then, right? To make sure that he's fine.' Shelton eventually decided as the made his way over to the cloud which was covering about a quarter of the room at this point.

Shelton closed his eyes, since he didn't want to get any ink in them, and shut his mouth as he entered the cloud, waving his pincers around randomly in the water

A couple of times he hit them on what was definitely not Oliver, as he immediately pulled them back grumbling about smacking his shell on a rock until...

*Squish*

'Aha!' Shelton, grabbed onto ahold of the bouncy textured thing and began to make his way back in the direction of the rest of the room.

Shelton assumed that he had grabbed ahold of one of Oliver's tentacles due to how it was long, and coiled around his pincer (Shelton learned the hard way that they do that unconsciously even when Oliver is asleep after he tried to prank him the first night he met him), however now that he really felt the limb while pulling on it, something didn't feel quite right.

'Isn't this much bigger than Oliver's tentacles?' He thought to himself, as he finally saw the rays of light from the moss around them come back into view before opening his eyes.

Turning around however, Shelton froze, and looked at the limb and the unconscious octopus at the end of said limb.

'H-Huh?! Since when was there another octopus here? Do we have spies?!' He began to think before noticing little barbs poking out of some of the tentacles coiled around one another.

"OLIVER?" Shelton yelled in doubt as he looked at the creature who he could only assume to be his friend, because of one of his signature mutations.

Both Jayce, and Ponto sprang up, first in drowsiness from being woken up so abruptly, but then in alarm as they realized the reason for the noise.

With both of them arriving at Shelton, the three crabs looked, down upon the now equally same sized octopus as Shelton, who remained snoozing away in front of their worries.

"This is Oliver?" Ponto asked in confusion, surprising both Jayce and Shelton as the crab spoke for the first time in a few days.

"I-I think so?" Shelton stammered back, "When I woke up I noticed the distasteful cloud of ink in the corner where Oliver was sleeping last night so I went to pull him out of it."

"When I finally found ahold of him I pulled him out, but now he looks like this!" Shelton finished as the 3 crabs once again looked down on the sleeping octopus.

Compared to his previous pale grey body that was about half the size of Shelton, the octopus in front of them was a darker grey color, and was roughly the same size as Shelton as well.

Of course Shelton still absolutely weighed more, however it wouldn't be unreasonable to say that This octopus could easily cover his Shelton's shell at this point and probably a little more.

Both Jayce and Ponto were probably fine with the size change since they were still only a little under around 1 meter in height, however Shelton was not having it.

'Does this mean that Oliver evolved? It must be!' as he deduced since there was no other way that Oliver could have grown in size before his mind wandered to a more important topic.

'So Oliver is... bigger than me now? This is absolutely unforgiveable! I refuse to be the smaller one of us!' Shelton thought, his mind getting fired up as he had a sudden urge to go out and hunt.

"Oi, Oliver is that you?" Jayce said as he poked the sleeping octopus, only for it's body to turn in the other direction as it grumbled in defiance.

"Hey! Get up!" Jayce eventually resorted to physical force as the grabbed ahold of Oliver to shake him awake.

"what do you waaaaaannnnnnt..." Oliver whined as his eye's slowly opened exposing his still black and golden rectangular retina's to the three crabs confirming that this was indeed their small octopus friend from the night before.

However right as he said that, it looked like his brain finally got off autopilot as, the eyes suddenly shot wide open and he looked down at his tentacles and up at the rest of the body.

"I evolved!" He shouted as the studied his new build before suddenly noticing something very important.

Shelton inadvertently shivered, as he could see the gears turning in Oliver's head as he processed that he was now larger than Shelton.

The octopus turned to face Shelton his beak curved upwards, as a glint in his eyes appeared .

"Just you wait Oliver!" Shelton shouted in defiance before the octopus did anything. "When I become an orange ranked creature as well, I will be so much bigger than you!" Shelton pouted before inwardly smiling at his friend's evolution.

...

(Oliver POV)

Hahaha! I knew that I would grow to be large but I didn't know that I would be bigger than Shelton!

My mind reels in laughter as I see the dumbfounded look on the crabs face, before he shouts

"Just you wait Oliver! When I become an orange ranked creature as well, I will be so much bigger than you!"

Oh yeah... they think I'm an orange ranked creature instead of a red one. Part of me really wants to tell Shelton this just to see his astonished gaze as he realizes that we're both of the same tier, however I quickly discard the idea, as my strength compared to my rank would raise too many questions if it were to be exposed.

System! Status!

<Name: Oliver>

<Level: 10>

<Health: 155/155>

<Mana: 360/360>

<Titles: (None)>

<Age: Child>

<Vitality: 31>

<Strength: 63>

<Speed: 45>

<Endurance: 28>

<Intelligence: 31>

<Magic: 36>

<Luck: 39>

<Mutations: Barbed Spring Loaded Tentacles (Level 1) (Tier 2), Pitch Black Ink Sac (Level 1) (Tier 2), Rushing Quick Siphon (Level 1) (Tier 2), Inky Vision Eyeballs (Level 1)(Tier 2), Density Physical Magic Organ (Level 5) (Tier 1)>

<Skills: Active: Improved Ink Cloud (Level 1) Advanced Camouflage (Level 2) Passive: Advanced Tentacle Grab (Level 2) Regeneration (Level 3) Shredding (Level 2)>

<Tier: 2 (Red Rank)>

<Species: Compressed Tentacles Octopus>

<Unassigned Stat Points: 0>

<Mutagens: 5>

<Skill Points: 4>

Staring at my status in amazement I hear Shelton yell out, "Let's go hunt!"