《Ocean Master》 Chapter 1 - Oceania. A pair of eyes blinked open in the unending darkness, confusion shining from the depths as the owner looked around sluggishly. The owner felt like his brain was heavy, it felt dull like pounded yam and mashed tofu. It was a freakish comparison, but it was apt for his situation. He felt as if his pituitary gland was put on the burning fire. His brain being heavy could have been shrugged off as it was a daily occurrence to him, but why the hell was his eyes feeling hazy too? "Where the f*ck am I?" "What in the name of all anatomists is happening to me?" He cursed but was surprised that no sound came out from his mouth. Ignoring that which was his second love, ignoring things, he tried to organize his thoughts through gritted teeth. "I thought I was tending to my shark pool. After that, what happened again?" "What happened¡­?" "Crunch!" He shuddered on the thought as his sluggish brain quickly became active. "I succeeded, I bred a new variant from the great white and whale shark family. But the bite¡­ Damn, I was bitten by my own pet shark?" "Did I survive, am I in the hospital?" He could not see himself yet, just darkness but he imagined himself placing his right hand to his chin in contemplation. Then a voice sounded, spooking the shit out of him. [Hello, Sebastian!] "What in the name of all anatomists is that?" He freaked out. "Who are you? A witch? Come out, none of your petty voodoo magic works on me! I already transcended all that". [Hello, Sebastian!] This time, he was really spooked as his voice lowered. "Please, I''m just a petty human with no hope in life. My flesh is not sweet, try that of Dave, I promise you that his blood is sweeter than wine". [You are dead!] "¡­" [Welcome to Oceania!] "¡­" It took about a minute but when Sebastian finally answered, it left the voice in his head speechless for minutes. "Haha, you think you can fool me right? What year is it old fool?" "You think it''s the mid-80s, you think I''m so foolish to fall for such petty tricks? Get a girlfriend bro". "Or is this even a movie trick, when did I become a movie star? Ok, jokes aside, take me out or I call the police". [You will be reanimated in 20 seconds.] [Your rebirth has given you the following starting point status:] ------------------------------------------ Level: 1 Stats: Power: 2.5 Speed: 1.2 Mind: 14 Constitution: 1.0 Luck: 0 HP: 25/25 [Skills: Bite Level- 3; Swim Level- 2; Dash Level- 1; Sharp Dorsal Fin- Level 1; Tail Fin- Level 1; Electroreceptors- Level 1] ------------------------------------- Sebastian kept quiet for a moment after seeing this. Ignoring the abnormal fact of how this was shown directly inside his head, his mental eyes instead gleamed like stars on seeing them. "Holy¡­Shit!" "That''s some impressive stuff you have there man. You really know your anatomy, a big thump up to you for that. Receive my respect man". "So, where''s the shark? You know I love sharks, unveil the beast!" [Reanimation complete.] Before Sebastian could question what was happening, he suddenly felt a prick in his brain. The darkness surrounding him disappeared all of a sudden, and he saw himself inside¡­ "Water???" He felt like pissing his pants immediately when his eyes finally saw light. He was inside water, and not a swimming pool, he was freaking under either a sea or an ocean by the density of the water. Another thing that made him even more freaked out was that he could not feel his legs nor his hands. When he tried to raise them, he felt something smooth gently hit the ocean water. Shifting his unfamiliar head slightly to the side, he saw a shadow reflection that made all his blood run cold. His eyes widened in horror, the realization of everything coming to hit him. "I am a shark?" Pissing his pants was an understatement for the current state of his mind, he almost burst-pissed his pee-pee to bits and pieces on coming to this realization. A few minutes later, he was able to reorganize his brain after thinking deeply and hard about his life. When he first came to the realization, he felt horrified but it did not impact him much again after thinking about it for a few more minutes. What more could be expected? He was an anatomist back on earth. His colleagues called him the crazy dissector because of his obsession to study the internal structure of more and more sea creatures, dissecting animals was his first love. After coming to terms with it, he finally started noticing a few more changes, such as his eyesight. As an anatomist, he didn''t exactly have bad eyesight but now all he could call his eyesight was a beast. Studies back on earth revealed that sharks have 10 times sharper eyesight than humans, and he could not agree more now. He was now in a location under the ocean that was surrounded by rocks. They jutted out of the ground like thick knives, forming a large cave network here. The water was dark blue in color which faintly revealed how deep he was underwater, he guessed that it was probably a few hundred meters under. After going through this, he went back to his status again. Going through the status again, he had to confess that it was badass. Since all his time as an anatomist, he had never seen the stats of a shark being calculated and tabulated so clearly. He felt a little bad knowing that he only had 2 power points, he hoped that they amounted to something though. "But if this is really a fantasy world, why don''t I have an enchanted weapon like the Mjolnir?" He grumbled. "Is this favoritism?" As he fantasized about the legendary things he could achieve with his stat points, he suddenly saw a shadow flash past above him. Before seeing it, he already sensed the electromagnetic waves. Great white sharks, like all other sharks, have an extra sense given by the ampullae of Lorenzini which enables them to detect the electromagnetic field emitted by the movement of living animals. At close range, this god-like ability allows them to locate even immobile animals by detecting their heartbeat. He was not familiar with such new senses yet so it felt weird, but he admitted that it was a super useful ability. "I guess this is the electroreceptor ability". Even as he mumbled this to himself, he was already retreating deeper inside the cave. He just saw something that almost made him piss his pants again. His movements were clumsy but practical. Thud! Thud! At the top of the cave where rocks jutted out to form a thick network, a huge tiger shark was currently staring down at Sebastian, who would now be the baby great white shark. "Umm¡­, system, whatever you are, I need some help here". "Where''s my shark mom, is she so irresponsible to leave her kid stranded in the wild?" [First mission unlocked: Survive the Tiger Shark''s attack!] [Mission reward: 1 Skill point, Random Experience point, and information about the system.] "Shit! Help me, I need no information shit". Screaming anxiously, Sebastian got no response and the stripped shark fellow was now getting closer. Thud! The water rippled beside him as the huge tiger shark shook its body, bashing at the rocks to break them apart and force its way through to its prey. This was when Sebastian finally knew how little and cute he was, though it didn''t matter at this moment. He was about 1.2 meters long and compared to the tiger shark who was towering at an outrageous 10 meters, he was just prey. Thud! "Oh boy!" Chapter 2 - Run! Run! Unlike the big bad tiger shark that was bigger than the cave and had to force its way through by bashing against the walls, Sebastian was much smaller but the problem was that he could not swim. Thud! He felt like crying every time that he heard this from behind him. "Am I dying here? This is too early". "I''m dying when I''ve not even started my conquest to dissect all beasts, what a sad ending that would be!" He had all the tools to swim, the dorsal fin, the tail fin, they were all there. And he even felt like his instincts were now finetuned to be shark-like, he felt an urge from deep in his blood to swim. Despite all these urges and advantages, the problem was his unfamiliarity with the new mode of movement and organs. Adaptation to new organs and body was not something that could be done in a day. After living more than 25 years on earth as a human, suddenly being reborn as a shark and getting used to it was a herculean task that brought only tears to his eyes when he thought of it. This only became more apparent when a predator was stalking closely behind him. "Is this what those deer on earth felt when being hunted by lions and cheetahs? What a pitiable existence". They were there, but swinging the fins in the right way to propel himself forward proved to be another herculean task. Swinging it wrongly, he saw himself somersaulting like a rocking chair with no arm. He was just like a clueless SpongeBob, moving left and right in weird angles that even left the predator confused. Just like his second love, the tiger shark ignored the abnormality and continued forging forward closer to its prey. One thing Sebastian noticed that brought him some much-needed relief was that the deeper inside the cave he swam, the narrower it became which meant that it became harder for the tiger shark to move also. Despite this, the distance between them was closing at a speed that he did not like at all. He tried all the swimming techniques that he knew as a human but nothing seemed to be working. He tried bu??erfly style, br??ststroke, backstroke, front crawl, and even the backside dance but none of them worked. "Noo¡­, I don''t want to die!" The tiger shark''s head was now unimaginably close. Snap! The enormous teeth that were larger than what was expected of normal tiger sharks clapped together dangerously, making the water ripple outwards. This was underwater, but drool seemed to flow out from the predator''s wide mouth and quickly blended with the water as its snout raised up in the water surface like it was smelling the best delicacy ever. At this moment, Sebastian was already as tense and stiff as a shrimp. Seeing death stare at him in the face, he became frenzied. His small shark body wriggled back and forth, trying every means just to take that important swim downwards. Then¡­ Crunch! [You have been bitten on the tail by a tiger shark, you have received -6 damage with additional -1 damage from bleeding.] [Your tail fin bones have been injured, movement speed impaired by 10%.] Sebastian felt pain waves hit hard at his brain, forcing him to let out a soundless wail as his bitten tail quickly wriggled free and retaliated on instinct. His originally harmless tail suddenly hardened and whipped upwards viciously like a sharp knife, cutting a shallow hole through the thick skin of the much bigger tiger shark. [You have activated skill: Tail Fin attack.] [You have cut your opponent with your tail fin, you dealt 0.2 damage.] The tiger shark did not have much of a reaction to his attack, it tried to attack him again by aiming at his body this time but he was not such an easy target despite the huge difference in size. He may not be familiar with swimming yet, but moving his body to dodge required much less complicated methods. He timed the tiger shark and moved to the side every time that it tried to crunch down on his juicy flesh. As he dodged, he did not forget to retaliate with his tail every time, dealing little bits of damage. Of course, he was bitten again as the tiger shark got more irritated. As this tug of war continued, he was surprised as he suddenly saw the water below him ripple a bit. He looked closer, he thought he just saw something long like a rope but he was not sure. Not willing to divide his attention, he turned back to focus on his weak against strong battle but what happened next scared the hell out of him. Whoosh! He was not able to react as something swooped past him with mind-blowing speed. As he could not react, so was the tiger sharp not able to react too. In just a second, the tiger shark suddenly stiffened as the long intruder wrapped it up tightly in a firm hold. Before Sebastian could blink, the tiger shark shrank as it was squeezed tightly. This was when he saw it clearly. "A Viper!" The over 20m long black Viper sneak attacked the tiger shark before it could react. After squeezing it a bit, it quickly dipped its enormous head inside its coiled body and started swallowing the shark whole. Its coiled body shook a bit from the inside like something was resisting against it, but with its body tightly pressed against the walls of the cave, it suppressed all the tremors with its elastic skin. Seeing this, Sebastian almost fainted in shock, he was already dying from a tiger shark but now another. He was not disgusted by the scene as his previous job was much more disgusting than this, he was rather horrified. Before, he looked down on such a scene from the superior perspective of a human. Now, seeing it as an equal beast too, he feared for his life. Squelch! A disconcerting sound reverberated accompanied by a bubble in the water as the Viper''s abdominal muscles contracted the prey while swallowing, Sebastian gulped from his position. "This is my time to run". He could only thank his God for being reborn as a young shark now, the Viper clearly left him because he was too small a prey to fill its bottomless stomach. Even if it was just shaking his sharky body, it was something as the water current would carry him down. He pumped himself. "You can do it! Sebastian, run! Run!" Chapter 3 - The World Outside The Cave. [Mission accomplished: Survive the Tiger Shark''s attack!] [Mission reward: You have gained 1 Skill point; information about the system is now available.] [After completing a mission: You have earned random Experience points] [Congratulations for completing your first mission: You have earned additional random Adaptation points {5-10}.] [Points randomizing¡­, randomization complete.] [You have gained an additional 5 Adaptation points.] [You are under the mild bleeding status; you''ll lose 0.01 health points every 2 seconds until you fill your stomach with food.] [As a shark, most especially as a great white shark, you need food to survive in Oceania. Without abundant food to sustain yourself, your chances of easily dying to hunger are greater than dying to a predator.] "Oh, shut up!" Only a little bubble came from his mouth, but in his mind, Sebastian felt that he just yelled angrily at the interface thingy. He didn''t know what to call it yet, so he just called it whatever he liked. Though the bubble that came from his mouth was b?r?ly noticeable, he still freaked out as he tucked himself tighter into the hole while secretly praying in his mind. "God, help me please. If I survive this, I''ll sacrifice anything for you". After running from the scene of the carnage where the enormous Viper snake swallowed the tiger shark, he sought a place to hide his small body from the shining eyes of the predators in the ocean. When he was escaping, he really wished he had a map to navigate the cave but unfortunately for him, no genie was here with him to fulfill his wishes. In the end, he had to grope his way downwards with no prior knowledge of his location nor if other predators like the Viper were below. With trepidation and a rapidly pounding heart, he continued his SpongeBob-like swim downwards, trashing the water left and right until he finally got to a different location of the cave. Through an opening that looked like a tunnel, he finally saw outside the cave for the first time since he came into this world. With just one look, he confirmed all his conjectures, he was in a real ocean. From the tunnel-like opening, he saw that the cave outside surface was a long slope that led all the way from the top to his current position, and it still went deep inside the darker parts of the seawater. At a distance away from where he hovered in the water, he saw a large rock surface that towered up into the sky like a mountain. He couldn''t see where it started from, he could not see its end also. He remembered that these were called Seamounts. Though in his position, the water was a little darkish blue in color, he was still able to appreciate the ocean bed surface before him. He saw trenches that led deep into the ground. After seeing past a certain point, he only saw darkness inside the trenches. Inside the trenches, he saw abnormally huge eels going up and down. What actually shocked him was that the biggest eel that he saw had electric sparks spiking and snaking around its smooth body eerily. "Holy moly!" He exclaimed but only bubbles came out of his mouth without a sound. Looking a little farther into the distance, he saw a place looking like a coral forest. From time to time, he saw marine creatures like sea urchins swimming about at a leisurely pace there. The phenomenon that fascinated him most about this sea was that from what he saw, there was clearly no sunlight shinning down here, but some blueish-green mysterious light illuminated the ocean constantly. He already tried looking for its source but he could not find it. "Is this magic?" He thought. "A sea lion!" He shrank immediately on seeing this, subconsciously moving back towards the tunnel that led him out of the cave. The sea lion didn''t notice him, but all his enthusiasm to explore the ocean directly evaporated on seeing it. He finally remembered his number 1 objective, which was to find a hiding place. Outside here was clearly too vast for a young shark like him, he figured that there would be better hiding places inside the cave. Struggling with swimming again, he turned his body before finally trashing it left and right into the cave again. When he got back inside, he was relieved to see that the Viper was not coming yet. Encouraged by that, he continued his trashing journey downwards to find a better place to hide. Counting in his head, he noted that he was swimming down for a few minutes already and the deeper he went the narrower the cave walls became. Another few minutes later, he was surprised to find the cave leading him into a 3-way crossroad tunnel below. Seeing the 3 tunnels, his gut feeling deterred him from entering any of them. Shocked and spooked, he started searching for an alternative to hide immediately. With the speed of the snake relative with his speed, swimming back down was not an option. He didn''t know if it was dumb luck, but he surprisingly found a shallow hole at the side of the cave wall. His eyes lit up as he quickly shoved himself inside and tried to squeeze himself in. Paired with his dark blue skin which was a natural camouflage under the ocean, he easily blended with the dark grey color of the cave walls. Now, here he was, trying to make the interface thingy keep quiet while secretly praying for his life. He was silent, his body was motionless, but his mental state was as shaky as a volcano on the verge of erupting. His breath seized as he suddenly saw a shadow come closer. He could hear the hissing sound of the snake as its tongue flickered left and right, feeling the water surface like a detective Conan snake. As all this happened, Sebastian felt like he was in a hot pot of soup. The enormous Viper spent about 4 minutes hovering around the place before it finally turned back, it couldn''t go downward because of its size in relative to how narrow the tunnel was below. As it finally started swimming away, Sebastian peeked a glance. Sebastian wondered if it even digested the food before moving again. "Phew! It left". He felt like leading a praise song immediately. He was not exactly the church boy, but after surviving a life-and-death situation, there was nothing impossible that he can''t do right now. He took 10 minutes to calm his rapidly beating heart and his mental state before finally giving attention to the interface thingy again. "I''m sorry for being rude, interface thingy, I was kind of in a pinch there. And it''s not like you helped matter''s either". "So¡­, I received a bunch of gifts for surviving, right?" "How does this even work? Is it like Santa Claus gifts, Merry Christmas, it''s that how it''s done?" [System Reminder: You''re under the mildly bleeding status.] "¡­" "Ok¡­, that''s progressive. You said you''ll tell me more about yourself". He decided to try another approach. [Host is finally qualified to know the basic information of the system and Oceania. To get information, spend 5 Adaptation points.] "F*ck, that''s basically robbing me of what you just gifted me. What type of Santa Claus are you?" Grumbling but not getting any response from the system, he finally gave it the approval to take 5 skill points. It''s not like he even knew their use, they may be useless so no problem. [5 Adaptation points have been taken: System-host information exchange unlocked.] Yes, he was a baby shark now, but Sebastian still found a more comfortable angle in his small nest to rest at to better listen to the story. "I wish popcorns are here, they''re the best for movies and stories". Chapter 4 - Ocean Domination System. "I''m waiting". [Host should ask any question for clarification.] "You didn''t tell me to ask first, why are you so f*cking hideous? And who''s your host, are you a parasite?" [Sebastian, welcome to The Ocean domination system!] [I am not a parasite; I am the system that has been ?ssigned to you to lead you through the perilous waters of Oceania.] Sebastian went silent for a moment; an you mean that expression on his face. "You mean, you''re like those system shit that those shit authors write about? How''s that even real?" "Now, if you don''t know that''s degrading your image to me. I find it hard to trust strangers, this will only make me have a harder time trusting you". [Host''s decision to trust or to not trust me is none of my business.] [You''re the one who was reborn into Oceania, live a few days here and the realization of everything will come to you. If you still don''t believe, you can as well just die.] "¡­" Sebastian was speechless. "That''s impolite". [Host has been more impolite to the system since you were reborn. If you want, I can list the scenarios of your impoliteness down to you.] Sebastian didn''t know what to say about that. Coughing a bit, he finally decided to ask some real questions. His talks about not believing the system were just bullshit, he already confirmed long ago that this was real. "So where is this exactly, Oceania? Is it in Europe, Africa, Asia?" [This is Oceania, not Earth.] "Dammit!" After taking deep repeated breaths which seemed strange in his sharky body to calm his mind down, Sebastian asked again. "So, if this is not Earth, then this world, Oceania, what is it? What is it made of, how did it come to be? And where am I? I''ll appreciate a map, you know". [Information about how Oceania came to be is locked, reach the requisite level before you can access the requirements to unlock it.] [Oceania is a world, just like your previous world, Earth. The only difference is that, unlike Earth, Oceania is completely submerged in water with no presence of dry land.] "Ooook, that''s insightful". [Just like your Earth is divided into 7 continents, Oceania is divided into 7 seas. They are the building blocks of this world.] [The combination of all 7 seas forms an ocean, that''s what is called Oceania.] [The 7 seas are The Green Mist, The Red Cove, The Black Veil, The Blue Sea, The Dungeon of Souls, The Hot Realm, and The Atlantian Domain.] "Holy shit, that''s some badass names you got there". "But wait, Atlantian¡­, Atlantis?" [Yes, the current ruling hegemon of the 7 seas is Atlantis.] "You mean the ancient story is real? The lost city is real? [Such information is not recorded in the system''s database; host has to find that out himself.] "Ok, I understand". Sebastian sighed exaggeratedly which only resulted in bubbles in the water. "Thanks for all the information, but I''ll really appreciate knowing where I am currently among the 7 seas". [Information locked: Pay 20 Adaptation points to buy a comprehensive map from the system store.] "F*ck, I knew it!" Fuming, Sebastian organized his thoughts. "Ok, how did I come to this world?" [Information locked: Reach the requisite level to know the requirements to unlock such information.] "¡­" He took a deep breath. "How about my status, I want to see it again. Is that locked too?" [No, host status can be shown at any time.] "Ok, show me". ------------------------------------------ Name: Sebastian Level: 1 Power: 2.5 Speed: 1.2 Mind: 14 Constitution: 1.1 Luck: 0 HP: 12/25 [Skills: Bite Level- 3; Swim Level- 2; Dash Level- 1; Sharp Dorsal Fin- Level 1; Tail Fin- Level 1; Electroreceptors- Level 1] [Species: Young Great White- Shark] ------------------------------------- "Damn, why is my health so low?" [You are under the mild bleeding status, fill your stomach with food to wear effects off.] "Ok, I get that. But why is my luck 0?" [Because you''re unlucky.] "¡­" "Is that why I got the lowest random 5 points from the Adaptation points given as my reward for the mission?" [Yes.] Sebastian''s face darkened, he didn''t know how it looked on his new sharky face but it darkened. He took a deep breath of the underwater oxygen again before asking his series of last questions. "You call yourself the Ocean domination system, what does it mean?" [Yes, that is my name. I was created to aid whoever becomes my host to get the ability to dominate all 7 seas and become the ocean don, the Ocean master of Oceania.] "Ok, I get you". After getting the answer to the last series of questions that he asked, Sebastian finally left the system and fell into deep thought. From all the evidence that was around him, the system was right. He died to the bite of his own shark, his soul through whatever magic was trapped and brought to this world, Oceania. Now, he had to survive and dominate this world and become the so-called Ocean master. He just didn''t know where to start from, no contract, nothing of the sort, how was he sure that the system was not deceiving him? As the great anatomist that he was, one of his greatest antics that he lived on was to only believe what he saw with his own eyes than what even his President told him. He already made up his mind to confirm what the system said, he had to go out into this world himself. He was an anatomist and anatomists were invisible scientists, there was no way he was going to die. Wait¡­, this suddenly brought his mind back to something crucial. "System, what if I''m killed, I''ll be reborn again right?" [¡­] "I¡­, I''ll be reborn again right?" [¡­] "¡­" Chapter 5 - A Bluefin Tuna. "Ok, everything is fine, absolutely fine. All I have to do is wait here, I''m sure a prey that I can kill for food will swim along. This is a wide ocean Afterall". A few minutes ago, after asking the system repeatedly and not getting any reply Sebastian finally gave up. He hated to admit it, but he guessed that this silence meant that dying here was really dying. After being reborn once, it was not too much of a plea to ask for another right? But the loathsome system just decided resolutely to ignore him. He wanted to go out to explore this world before after listening to the information given by the system, but because of the real possibility of death, he decided to play it cool. Slow and steady wins the race, that was his motto now. Even a maniac anatomist like him was afraid of death, even if he was just but a shark now, he still appreciated the feeling of having life. His HP was remaining only 12 from the initial 25 and it was still reducing bit by bit as he bleeds, the blood flowing from his body was not too obvious but he knew that he was bleeding due to the slight itch he was feeling. He was still unaccustomed to his new body, he wanted to get to understand it well before taking on any risky adventures. So there he laid, against the wall in his small hideout, waiting for food to swim along. It felt funny, as a human he just needed to go to the market and get some fish, but now he had to hunt one by himself. Well, as far as he had the opportunity to dissect it everything was good. He positioned himself in the hole in a way that his head faced outside a bit, thereby seeing all the way to the tunnel that led outside the cave. Like this, he could see whatever creature that was coming in. So, the wait started. He counted at first in his head but after 20 minutes he got tired, he was just too distracted to focus on the concept of time. He didn''t know for how long he was waiting already, but he was beginning to get tired of it. He was about to start thrashing in frustration when his eyes caught something suddenly pop into the cave through the small tunnel. He froze, eyes widening a bit as he made sure that his body remains as still as possible. Focusing his eyes, he finally narrowed down on the fish that just swam it. It was a small fish, a little smaller than he was. Despite the darkness of the cave, he could see how colorful the body of the fish was. It was purplish-blue in color, with a little bit of yellow and black lining the sides of its caudal and tail fins. It looked extremely beautiful at a glance, but that was not what Sebastian cared about at this moment. "Food!" His eyes glittered like stars but he was able to hold himself back from looking too intensively to not spook the small fellow. The fish let out bubbles from its mouth as it surveyed the surrounding of the cave in a lookout for any threat. Seeing none, it looked up and down, probably contemplating where to go. Having made its decision, it abruptly turned and started swimming leisurely upwards, up in the direction that Sebastian hid. "Come on, come on baby! Daddy is waiting for you". Droll practically started dropping from his face on seeing this, his imaginary hands already wide open to welcome the prey. Sebastian''s mouth was practically wide open in a big 0. "The heck?" Forget about his health points, personally, he was feeling hungry already. There was no way he was letting this prey go, he had to eat. Before he could move out from his hole, he suddenly felt the water stir. Whoosh! From the same tunnel, a newcomer came with such fast speed that all he could see was a blur. It collided with the much smaller fish, then the next second half the fish entered this new fellow''s belly. Sebastian was shocked. "That''s a¡­, Bluefin Tuna!" Seeing the tuna that was slightly bigger than him swallowing the prey that he patiently stalked, he suddenly felt angry. The tuna was bigger than him, but he was a freakish great white shark. Without careful thought into it, he suddenly burst out of his hole and hauled himself at the big ?du?t tuna. The tuna saw him and reacted, it tried to turn its body but Sebastian already got to its side. Consumed by the d?s?r? to kill and eat his prey, Sebastian forgot himself and left control to his instincts. Crunch! [You have activated skill: Bite attack.] [You have bitten your opponent, you dealt 1.8 damage.] As soon as his sharp teeth dug into the tuna''s body, he shook his body from left to right, shaking the tuna along as his razor teeth sawed across the flesh of the bigger fish. The Tuna opened its mouth probably from pain as bubbles erupted but it could do nothing as the fish got stuck in its throat. Removing his teeth from its flesh, Sebastian bit down again but this time something surprising happened. A blueish white light glowing like a shield suddenly surrounded the tuna''s body, blocking all the damage from his bite. His teeth bounced off its skin, making his jaws become numb for a moment. During this time, the raging tuna finally removed the stuck fish from its throat and turned around. Wom! A blue light shone around its mouth, before a stunned Sebastian could react the light accumulated to the peak before being shot at him. A blue glowing ring-shaped energy manifestation flew at him. [You have been hit by a magic skill; you have received 5 damage.] Despite being horrified by what happened, Sebastian did not run as he knew that it would only lead to suicide. From his calculations, despite its magic skills and larger body mass, as a shark, he had an advantage over the Tuna. Quickly swimming to its side, he unleashed another vicious bite close to its tail. After biting through, the blue protective shield shone again but he quickly removed its teeth before it came into effect fully. Blood flowed freely from the already badly injured Bluefin Tuna. As soon as the shield went back, he bit the tuna again this time close to the head. As soon as he saw the Tuna''s mouth glowing, he backed off. Using such a strategy, he slowly chipped the opponent''s life away until the Tuna lay limp like frozen fish. Blood dripped down the corpse''s body, blood also dripped down his. [Congratulations! You have killed your first prey.] [Reward: You have gained 4 skill points and 2 Adaptation points. You have gained random Experience points.] [Bonus Reward: +2 Adaptation points.] [It''s advisable that host start eating immediately, your HP already went below the critical stage.] Hurriedly checking his health points, he saw that he had only 2 HP left. He could not think of anything at all, suppressing the pain that was afflicting him he snapped his jaws up and down at the Tuna, taking huge bites from its flesh and eating rapidly. A few minutes later, he already finished the Tuna. [Congratulations! You¡­] He couldn''t hear what the system said, he was too exhausted for that.. Hauling himself up, he stuffed his frame inside his hole again, hid well before falling asleep. Chapter 6 - Going To The Tunnels. Bleh! "The heck did I just do?" Sebastian woke up from his nap feeling spooked by the sight that presented itself before him. Bits of flesh and blood left by the Tuna that he ate, alive! He practically got a stroke thinking about it. In his previous life, he was a lot of things but a carnivore was certainly not one of them. After waking up, he felt energetic and refreshed but the memory of him ravaging the flesh of the Tuna could not leave him at all. Remembering something, he quickly stole a peek around the area. The small fish was gone. He didn''t know what heaven-defying luck the fellow had; 2 predators were going after it but shockingly they ended up battling each other to the death while it escaped easily. This was when he remembered that the system was about to say something to him before he slept. "System, what did you say?" [Congratulations! You have eaten the meat of a low-tier predator: Mutated Bluefin Tuna- Level 11. Basic profile information of the Bluefin Tuna has been unlocked.] [The mutated Bluefin Tuna is one of the higher surface oceans'' fastest, and strongest predators. It eats a variety of prey but prefers pelagic fishes and invertebrates that they can swallow whole.] [As a mutated fish, it already has the power to make use of the lowest-tier magic. Beware of its glows before attacks, you never know when you''ll get crushed by one of them.] [You have leveled up once.] [You have leveled up once.] Seeing this, Sebastian quickly checked his status again. He was surprised by what he saw, he was level 3 now. And not only that, his critically low health was now back to full. Asking the system, he quickly got the hang of the use of all the points that he was given. Apparently, the skill points were for him to purchase new skills later when he was about to evolve. According to the system, he had to get to level 5 before he would become eligible for an evolution. And according to it, he would have the option to learn magic skills then too. Thinking of the magical abilities that were used by the Tuna, he felt himself salivating. Thinking back to the battle, it was really a close fight that any mistake could have led to his death. At the heat of the battle, he was not even the one in control of his body again. All his reactions then were all based on instinct. Maybe it was because he prayed for survival before the Tuna came, he was glad that he emerged victoriously. For the adaptation points, according to the system, they were for him to buy utilities such as the map and body mutations. He needed 20 of those just to get the map, he felt like crying on thinking of it. To improve his skills, he didn''t have to spend his skill points on them again. All he had to do was to use them in battles, and they would level up after they have been used enough. It felt unreal, but after undergoing one battle in this new world, he suddenly started craving it. It was a close battle, but the rewards that he got from it were worth it for him to find it himself. He needed to grow strong, which could not be debated. For him to explore this world, dissect all its creatures, find the Atlantis said by the system, and a lot of other things, he needed strength. Obviously, he was still not strong enough to explore the outside world beyond the cave yet. Despite this, he was confident that he could explore the depths of the cave without dying. He hauled his body from his hole, the seawater washing the dirt away from his body as he took that important swim downwards. He didn''t know if it was because his swim skill upgraded in the last battle, but his swimming ability improved a lot. He suddenly felt like he could swim better, which was evident in his movements immediately. He was still moving like a thrashing SpongeBob, but come on, compared to the previous time he''s improved by a lot. Encouraged by that, he continued taking that crucial swim downwards. From the gains of the last battle, he finally believed the words of the system. Perhaps, maybe it was really called the Ocean domination system and could help him become the overlord of the 7 seas. Even if it was a scam, bro, a shark could dream. ¡­ Swimming much less thrashingly than before, Sebastian''s eyes saw the underground that was at the bottom of the cave again. Not panicking like the first time that he came here, he was able to notice a lot more details that he couldn''t before. He noticed that the water here was rushing faster than the one at the top. The dirt here became less, the walls and floor mostly covered with stones of various colors, making it more beautiful the deeper he went. As the cave became narrower, he also saw the features more clearly. He saw a few blood marks that stained the sparkling rocks with a few cuts too, he guessed that this was caused by some other aquatic animal. The perplexing thing was that as he got deeper, he noticed that instead of the surroundings becoming darker, it was instead glowing in a green color. The exact same as the one outside the cave. This made him wonder about the energy that was powering the green light. A few meters below, he saw colorful grass growing underneath the cave just in front of the 3-tunnel junction. With their different colors blending together, it formed another beautiful sight. He didn''t know what was waiting for him at the end of these tunnels, but what he saw already gave him a good feeling about it. Getting to the tunnels, he didn''t do any complicated maths. A little alert now, he entered the tunnel that was closest to him. If he did it one at a time, he was sure he would achieve results. And from his previous battle with the Tuna, he already confirmed that the creatures in this world were like those on earth. Humans still dwarfed them in intelligence. Plop! Not hesitating again, he plunged into the tunnel at the far-left side before quickly disappearing in. Chapter 7 - Primordial Cave Snake And New Discoveries. The first thing that Sebastian discovered on entering the tunnel was that it was narrow, far narrower than he estimated seeing it from the outside. This did not stop him though; he continued his smooth glide downwards. As the water here flowed fast like a rapid, he didn''t have to put much effort into swimming, he just let his body glide with it like an eagle sailing the wind. Like he already observed, despite being so much deep inside the cave now it didn''t get darker but instead glowed more. The blueish-green glow of the ocean became more apparent here. It seems that his glide downwards was destined to be cut short as from his position, he could already see the end of the tunnel. And from what he saw, it was fairly expansive. Plop! The rapidly flowing water quickly threw him out into the expanse that was before him, as soon as he arrived the water changed from rapidly flowing to gentle flowing. The switch was so abrupt that he found it a chore to adapt to it with his new senses, he lamented. "Stay still, body; stop wobbling!" It was not easy being a shark, don''t let anyone deceive you otherwise. After b?r?ly stabilizing his body in the water, he finally looked carefully at his surroundings while staying alert. Inside the cave, down the tunnel was a sight that he did not expect, it looked like a coral reef down here. The only difference was that the colorful corals were glowing, making it an even more beautiful sight. Down here was a huge expanse of water, far bigger than he expected. Apart from the corals that lined the floor, illuminating everywhere beautifully, the other notable fact was the sheer size of it. Below the tunnel was far bigger than he expected, he could not see its end. Seeing the rainbow light shining from the corals into his sharky body, Sebastian felt like he was in heaven. "I wish I can just sleep here, and spend an eternity doing it". Wom! He didn''t even know how to execute his skills yet, he just focused, and surprisingly it worked. [You have activated skill: Electroreceptors.] Perhaps, it was because he didn''t pay attention before but seeing this skill in action again left his mouth opened in a big wow, making bubbles rise. As soon as he activated it, he felt like he activated a radar detector. From his location, he developed a new vision sense by instinct. His vision became black and white, and like a radar, he saw the electromagnetic waves moving around him and all over the place. His normal eye vision was still there, he felt like he had 2 overlapping vision organs. "Damn, this is awesome!" Before he could only see his front, but now he could see everything in a meter around him with HD quality view. He focused again, that was when he saw it, the originator of the shift in the water. Through his black and white electromagnetic vision, he saw the black and white lines converge at a corner to form a long shape. He could see eyes, 2 glowing red eyes, he could see a long body, and a tongue flicking at the water. "Another evil snake! That loathsome being!" He didn''t know if it was because of the trauma caused by seeing the Viper feast on its food, or if it was just his inclination or even an instinct developed from his species, but now he just loathed snakes. "Eat it!" Furiously flicking his tail fin left and right, he quickly propelled his much larger body at the small snake. Hiss! Seeing his swim direction, the snake immediately erupted from its position, curling its body quickly and raising its head as 2 dagger-sharp teeth revealed themselves from its exposed mouth intimidatingly. Sizzling sounds reverberated as its long disgusting tongue flicked the water continuously, it seemed much more dangerous all of a sudden. Not deterred by that, Sebastian went for the head. Crunch! He bit it viciously on its neck, the snake also retaliated and bit him on the side of his body but the pain was negligible compared to what he felt. Reflexively, as soon as his teeth dug into the snake''s neck, he shook his body left and right, allowing his sharp teeth to saw and tear the poor snake to shreds. With another crunching sound following it, the snake was bit in 2. Its body twitched and trashed on the water for a few seconds after being separated before it finally went limp. [You have activated skill: Bite.] [You have bitten your opponent on the neck, you have dealt -4 damage. -3 additional damage due to teeth shredding technique.] [You have been bitten by a Young primordial cave snake; you have received -1 damage. You have been poisoned, eat opponent''s meat to recover.] [You have killed a Young primordial cave snake- Level 5.] [You have gained 1 Skill point, and 1 Adaptation point.] [You have gained Experience points.] [You have gained an additional 1 Adaptation point for killing a prey of new species. You have unlocked the basic profile of the Primordial cave snake bloodline.] Not willing to wait, Sebastian ignored everything around him and quickly dug into the delicious body of the snake. Perhaps it was because of his species, but he already developed a liking to eating prey. Though he didn''t level up again, he didn''t feel sad. It was reasonable as compared to the mighty Tuna that he killed that could even use magic, this snake was just a baby. This brought him another question, why did the tiger shark not use magic against him when it hunted him? Was it contempt? He was not sure as even when the Viper swallowed it, it didn''t release any magic. Maybe it was too caught off-guard by the Viper to use it, he just didn''t know. Putting that aside, he placed his attention on his discoveries. His battle with the snake just now was easy but he was surprised to notice something about his skills. According to his skill tab, he had a lot of skills but since he was reborn here, he''s only activated 2 of them- bite and tail fin attack. He remembered when he attacked with his tail, it was probably because of his desperation then but he swore that his tail became sharp which was perplexing as it was only meant for swimming originally. What of the swim, dash, and the other skills, why couldn''t he activate them? Or maybe, that was phrased wrongly, but why hasn''t he used them yet? His eyes widened in realization; he tried an experiment. [You have activated skill: Tail fin.] The tail stiffened before becoming sharp all of a sudden, Sebastian swore that he saw the surrounding water boil a bit like his tail became hot. Excited by the prospect, he tried the other skills. [You have activated skill: Swim.] [You have activated skill: Dash.] The only problem was that after activating them consecutively for some time, he felt mentally drained. He guessed that something was drained from him everything he activated a skill. Maybe stamina points or something, but it was not shown in the system. Despite this defect on the Santa Claus system''s part, he was happy about his new discovery. He was slowly on his way to Sebastian Shark domination. "But wait, does that mean I swim so terribly because I didn''t activate the swim skill before?" "Dafuq man!" Chapter 8 - Operation Shark Domination Officially Begins. After coming to that very important realization, Sebastian suddenly felt a lot more confident about himself and his chances of surviving here. He guessed that he was kind of lucky being reborn as a great white shark, he''s read in novels of people being reborn as a stick. The heck! He just couldn''t fathom how awful they felt if it was real. Probably because his stamina was already drained, he couldn''t continue his exploration journey into the deeper paths of the tunnel immediately. And after his previous battle with the Tuna where he got injured, he slept but it was nowhere enough to substitute for how exhausted he was. He guessed that it was probably better for him to sleep well now. Besides, it''s not like big predators like the Viper could force their way inside here, they were too big. He felt like laughing evilly, he would enjoy his young shark form while it still lasts. Finding a cluster of blue corals who had the same dark blue color as his skin, he slept on top of them to act as a natural camouflage for himself. Forget about sleeping with one eye open, Shark''s did not have such weird inclinations. From Sebastian''s knowledge, when a Shark is in its deep rest period, half its brain is active and both of its eyes are always open. They didn''t have eyelids, so what more could be expected? It felt weird to him, but he had to get used to it, this was going to be his new lifestyle for a period of time that he did not know. Perhaps, he would one day wake up and see that everything was a dream, but now he had to follow the rules of Sharks. With eyes wide open and a brain filled with imaginations, slowly but surely, he gradually slipped into the sweet embrace of sleep. "I almost forgot how this felt". ¡­ Blink! Probably some hours later, but when Sebastian woke up the first thing that he noticed was the dimmer illumination from the blueish-green source lighting up the cave, making it seem darker all of a sudden. He guessed that this was nighttime in Oceania, it was creepy but beautiful. He still didn''t move to shake himself from the sleep though, apart from the lighting he noticed another thing. Perhaps its disturbance was what even woke him up in the first place. "That small purple fish with many colors again!" The fish that led to his battle between the Tuna was here again, and it was swimming lazily above his head while trashing the water about. Was his camouflage so effective, or was this fish just so dumb? Well, he didn''t care. In his new shark body, his number one rule was to never reject any food that presents itself before him. Crank! His face went white. He felt his teeth vibrate, numbing him to his very bones like he just received a voltage of electricity flowing through his body. He was shocked, looking closer he saw that same protective magic shield that was on the Tuna flare up to protect this small fish too. He suddenly felt inadequate. "Small Purple fish, even you too?" "I cannot be outdone, I''m a shark for shit''s sake". He bit again and this time it went through, the poor fish was divided into 2 just from one bite. It couldn''t materialize the shield again, perhaps its stamina got exhausted too or whatever powered it''s magic. Without hesitation, he bit and quickly finished the meat left of it. [You have killed a Blue Tang fish- Level 8.] [You have gained 2 Adaptation points.] [You have eaten the meat of a new fish species: You have unlocked basic profile information of the Blue Tang fish.] [You have gained an additional 1 Adaptation point for eating a new species of fish.] Ignoring whatever basic information that he didn''t care about, he wondered why he didn''t get any skill point this time. Perhaps, it was because the fight was too easy. Well, it was too damn easy so he was guilty this time. From everything that he observed, he also guessed another fact. From the Primordial snake, after killing it, he only received 1 Adaptation point and the additional point for killing the first of its species. From what the system revealed to him, he guessed that going from level 5 to level 6 was a huge milestone that would evolve aquatic organisms in Oceania by a large amount as they would have access to magic and a lot of other things then. So, killing level 6 organisms gave him 2 Adaptation points, level 5 and below organisms only gave him 1 Adaptation point, while level 11 organisms gave him 5 Adaptation points. For the Skill points, he guessed that he received them after the system calculated the frequency at which he used the skills in any battle before defeating his opponent. For the Blue Tang, he clearly didn''t use much of them so getting no skill point as a reward was justifiable. And for the reason why a level 8 Blue Tang fish was so much weaker than a level 3 him, he guessed that it was because of the difference in species. There was no way a Blue Tang had a chance against a great white shark back on Earth, perhaps only in Oceania would such a scene be seen but he''s not seen any yet. He guessed that this was the reason why the tiger shark didn''t use a magic ability on him then, it just didn''t have access to it yet. It was its starting point after birth that made it so big and strong, but it was probably still below level 6. Having made all these realizations, Sebastian felt more appreciative of the species that he was reborn as. Feeling better about himself, he propelled himself up again. He looked left and right to detect if any opponent was nearby, he also did not fail to activate his electroreceptor skill to double-check. [You have activated skill: Swim.] [You have activated skill: Dash.] He erupted with speed from his starting position, flew like a mini-submarine forward as he quickly disappeared into the depths of the tunnel expanse. Operation Shark domination officially began. Chapter 9 - The All-Knowing One. Everywhere was the same, the expanse inside the cave was the same in the sense that it was the same coral reef sight that greeted Sebastian wherever he went. It was a beautiful but bloody adventure. In his previous world when he was still a human, he was a great fan of animated cartoons where the main characters were fictional creatures who went on adventurous tours through jungles and oceans. Never in his life did he think that he would become just like one of those main characters, Oceania rebirth was the best thing that has ever happened to him. Even better than the first time he kissed his girlfriend, though she dumped him just a few days later due to his weird anatomist tendencies. He didn''t know for how long he''s been in the expanse already, but he didn''t care as he was having the time of his life. In here, he hardly found a creature that could threaten him, only prey. [You have activated skill: Swim.] [You have activated skill: Dash.] [You have activated skill: Bite.] [You have activated skill: Tail fin attack.] [You have dealt crippling damage to your foe; you have killed a Blue Tang¡­] [You have killed a¡­] [You have gained¡­] These were the messages that his system kept on spamming at him, but he didn''t get irritated by them at all, it made him fall into a euphoric mood. Since he arrived here, his most frequent victim was the Blue Tang. Most of them here were not even above level 5 yet, and without magic, he only needed one crunch to snap them into 2 and expose their blood and internals. Another thing that made him euphoric was the sheer number of them, this cave seemed like their breeding ground. He wondered where their nest was, going there was the most optimal way to level up. Despite the number of times that he ate the Blue Tang fishes, the flesh taste that still seemed the most appetizing to him was that of the snake. After he killed the young Primordial snake, he only found and killed another common water snake before they became scarce. He suspected that they already noticed him and were hiding. Thinking of the sweet softness of the snake flesh, his mind could not help but divert to human flesh. He had to admit that in terms of flesh, humans certainly beat snakes in terms of softness. He started craving it a bit. It was crazy, but after staying in this shark body for more than a day already, he already started thinking like a great white shark. "Perhaps, this is why sharks bite humans so much back on earth. What delicious flesh!" Forgetting about that, as soon as he finished the last Blue Tang food that was before him, he set his eyes at the front again. [You have activated skill: Electroreceptors.] Despite the strain on his stamina, he always left this essential skill activated. He didn''t know how life would have been here without it, he already classified it as his 3rd love. All he wanted now was to continue farming Adaptation points, he wanted to get the Map said by the system as soon as possible. He guessed that this was also a cause of the difference in species. After killing so much of the Blue Tang fish, his human mind told him to rest but his sharky mind told him to continue. He felt like 2 personalities were warring in his head, one more rational and the other more bloodlust-filled. He didn''t know the one to follow. Why was he even still thinking like a human? He was a freaking great white shark now. As he warred with the rationality in his mind, he suddenly stiffened as he detected the presence of another predator just like him in his domain. Through his electroreceptors, he felt a heavy presence from the beast. Raising his head slowly, sparks flew in the air as he stared man to man at this new challenger. A giant Grouper. Unlike normal grouper fishes, this one was too unreal for Sebastian to wrap his head around. It was smaller than the tiger shark that he encountered yesterday, but this bro was still a boss at a staggering figure of over 8 meters. He wondered how this fellow was able to fit inside the tunnel. Grii¡­! The Grouper suddenly let out a sound like a low growl intimidatingly, making all the hair equivalent in Sebastian''s sharky body rise. Compared to this towering fellow, he was far smaller but he was not afraid. He had the intelligence of a human which was projected in his 14 Mind points, and he was sure that it meant something here. The Grouper tried to let out another growl, but Sebastian already disappeared from his previous position like the flash. [You have activated skill: Dash.] Whoosh! He arrived at the Grouper''s side almost immediately but the fellow despite being shocked was able to react, the familiar blue glow of the shield suddenly covered its body. Already anticipating it, Sebastian drifted to a stop. The shield flickered a bit before disappearing, as soon as it disappeared¡­ Crunch! With all the force in his body, he bit down with mind-blowing force. [You have activated skill: Bite.] The Grouper quickly recoiled from the pain, with rage now evident on its face it turned its head towards Sebastian''s position with equally fast speed. Already predicting what would happen next, Sebastian quickly withdrew but he was still affected. The Grouper''s mouth opened like a huge 0 as the bright energy flared deep inside before su?k?n? the next moment, Sebastian felt an enormous force of attraction pull him towards the opened mouth immediately. The worse part about it was that as he resisted it, damage was continually being dealt to him. [You are under the influence of a magic skill: -0.7 to -0.9 damage for the duration of the skill.] Not able to withstand it again, Sebastian''s body was pulled against his will. He hit the Grouper''s mouth and the energy exploded the next moment; with pain erupting all over his body he flew away. [You have been dealt crippling damage; you have received -11 damage.] Horrified, Sebastian quickly turned around. The Grouper was already about to charge at him again, but a voice suddenly reverberated from the side. "Big Group, that''s enough". "So, you''re the new Shark guy who''s been terrorizing this area since yesterday, huh?" "Aren''t you ashamed? A great white shark, afraid of the outside expanse and coming to a cave here to act as the shameless big dominator". Sebastian was shocked twice; he never knew that the creatures here could speak. He turned his head warily. "Who is there?" "The one that his name cannot be called!" "The heck! Show yourself, cowardly boaster!" Sebastian cursed. The tone deepened. "I''m behind you!" Freaked out, he turned around slowly but he only saw water and nothing else. He broke down immediately, this only made him even more spooked. Voice softer now, he demanded again. "Who are you?" "I''m the all-knowing one!" "¡­" Chapter 10 - Leroy, The Turtle. This time, perhaps due to shamelessness heavily dripping in the tone as the voice said it, but Sebastian finally located the bastard who was acting boss from the shadows. Shifting his sharky body, he turned back again, and though nothing was showing before him he was confident that the voice sounded from there. Bright like suddenly flared, color rapidly filled the vacant space before him, the first dominant color that appeared was dark green before brown quickly followed it. In just one look, Sebastian confirmed that this fellow was hovering before him since but he probably hid before with magic. Seeing this, he really wanted magic now. As soon as the colors appeared, it was quickly followed by the features. The brown color revealed a hard semi-circular shell, then from the hard shell emerged 3 dark green pairs of webbed hands. Sebastian looked intently, looking for the last finishing touch that would form the whole organism, then the turtle''s head suddenly popped out, making him flinch and trash his tail fan a bit. "Well, hello there". "A turtle?" "Yeah, are you surprised?" As it spoke, the big turtle that was easily bigger than Sebastian''s current body gently waved at the Grouper fish, indicating that it could go. Sebastian was speechless for a moment, looking on with his mouth slightly parted in a big 0 shape, making bubbles rise up in the ocean. "You''re shameless". "Yes, I know". "¡­" After taking his time to organize his thoughts, Sebastian calmed his mind and asked. "Why did you ambush me?" "I didn''t, you''re too cheap for me to spend such effort on". The turtle gently raised its foremost webbed pair of hands in a posture that felt like it was picking its nose at Sebastian. Ignoring that, Sebastian continued asking. "How are you able to talk to me?" "Which village did you crawl out from?" "You''re f*cking asking such a dumb question like how do I talk? Man, did your parents not teach you anything about Oceania at all?" The turtle paused, bringing down its webbed limb on seeing this strange scene. "The f*ck are you doing?" "I''m sorry, it''s just that my parents abandoned me, please teach me about Oceania, I don''t know anything". The turtle paused for a moment; eyes dazed like it was thinking through what this great white shark just said. Then it suddenly threw its head back and erupted laughing. "Hahaha, kid, you''re really shameless¡­, and clueless too. Just like me". "You don''t know about the shark incarnation ceremony?" "No". Sebastian shrank. "Then you really have a lot to learn". It raised its webbed limbs to pick its nose again. "Well, before going to that, what brought you here? Aren''t you ashamed, coming to flex your ego here by feeding on Blue Tangs, food that even I reject?" "Umm, that, I''m¡­" "Forget about that, I''ll just take it as it''s because of your shamelessness. About wanting to know more about Oceania, nothing comes for free". Its eyes suddenly seemed to gleam slightly. Sebastian shuddered, he was familiar with this look, it was the look that merchants gave to fine babes when they''re doing business with them. "I¡­, I, what is the price?" [You have activated skill: Swim.] As he asked, stuttering he slowly moved his tail fin left and right, propelling himself forward at a b?r?ly noticeable speed. The turtle answered. "About the price¡­" [You have activated skill: Dash.] [You have activated skill: Bite.] Boom! Sebastian suddenly bolted forward at the turtle; his jaws already wide open in expectations of the loud crunch sound after it landed. But contrary to his expectations, he didn''t hear that. Ta¡­kpa! Sebastian was stunned in one place, looking like a fool as he felt the pain waves of the 2 sharp slaps hit his brain hard. He could not see it, but he could imagine the 2 slap marks that were currently in his sharky face. "Think you''re clever right, Kid?" "No, no, I was¡­" Pa! This time, Sebastian saw it clearly. The turtle just casually waved one of its webbed limbs, then a white energy manifestation in the form of a palm appeared. This manifestation was what slapped him. "I''m sorry". "Don''t be kid, I''m used to disciplining newcomers every time". Pa! "Please¡­" After giving the mischievous shark the spanking of its life, the turtle finally settled down and rested its front pair of limbs to the side of his shell like a human resting his hand on his chin. "So, can we continue now?" "Yes, I''m sorry, yes". "Good boy!" What made Sebastian more resentful was that the slaps didn''t take his health points due to some magical manipulation by the turtle, but they hurt as hell which left him crying. "The price for learning under me is¡­, to join me!" Whoosh! The sound spooked the hell out of Sebastian again as he yelled and curled himself up, trying to cover his head with his fins which of course yielded no positive result. He waited for the slap, he waited again but nothing happened. Still, in trepidation, he turned to look again, and what he saw shocked the hell out of him. Seeing his shocked expression, the turtle revealed a wide grin. "Welcome to my clan, the Leroy clan". Fishes, lots of fishes, and sea creatures were what dominated this expanse all of a sudden. Groupers, turtles, crabs, the species of sea creatures present were too numerous for Sebastian to count completely. After finally reining in his shock, he turned to the turtle with a weird expression on his face. "Leroy, that''s your name?" "Yep, anything the problem?" "No, you just reminded me of someone". Sebastian laughed awkwardly while trying to avoid the intense gaze of the dozens of fishes that were resting on him. "He was actually one of my idols, Leroy Jenkins". "What?" "Ah, nothing". "Good". The turtle nodded before turning to the community of fishes that were behind him, which were his clan members according to him. "Boys, welcome our clan''s newest member, the great white shark¡­" It turned its head. "What''s your name, kid?" "Sebastian". "Welcome, Sebastian!" "WELCOME SEBASTIAN!" All the fishes and ocean creatures cheered the new member of their clan. "Umm, thank you". Chapter 11 - Basic Oceania Information And The Shark Incarnation Ceremony. As soon as they finished welcoming Sebastian before he could blink, the Leroy clan members left, disappearing almost as abruptly as they came, leaving him speechless once again. In the end, everything returned to the beginning, leaving him with the big Grouper fish and the turtle clan head, Leroy. "Umm, what''s his name?" Awkwardly turning his body, he asked the turtle. Despite seeing it for minutes already, he was still left shocked at how big this turtle was compared to those that he''d seen on earth. "Oh, that is my sidekick. His name is Big Group". Leroy turned to face the Grouper fish. "Right, buddy?" "Huff!" The Grouper pushed bubbles up through the water. "Yes, buddy!" "Good boy". Leroy placed his hand on top of its fishy head and rubbed gently, earning a cheerful shake from the deadly Grouper fish. Asking a question that left the turtle glaring at him suspiciously, Sebastian finally confirmed its gender. Leroy was a male, and Big Group was a male too which he already predicted. After asking all the questions in his mind for clarification which he was grateful for that Leroy answered, he finally had a general idea of this place a bit. From the way they talked, he guessed that Leroy was the highest leveled ocean creature in the clan, which translated to why he became the clan head. From the slap that he suffered under the turtle''s hands without having a single chance of retaliation, he guessed that this turtle was probably far higher-leveled and evolved than he was. They didn''t just stay there though after the other clan members left; Leroy took the lead as they started swimming to the clan''s lair. Throughout the journey through the expanse to the location of the clan''s lair, Sebastian kept quiet as the turtle sage, Leroy started teaching him the basic knowledge about Oceania. He felt like he returned to his teenage years where his teacher loved lecturing him with that awfully authoritative tone, he felt like lashing out but he held himself back thinking of the holy slap. Spare the rod and spoil the child, he guessed that this was the strategy that Leroy used on him. "What a scam!" He lamented. According to Leroy, he was a 60-year-old turtle. He narrated the basic knowledge about Oceania that the system already revealed to Sebastian again, making him heave a huge sigh of relief after confirming that the turtle teachings were not a scam. According to Leroy, Oceania is a magic world. He didn''t know how it originated, all he knew was that one day he just broke out from his egg and came out to see this magical world. His parents were not there when he woke up, only his fellow siblings who were confused about what they were and where they stood. Sebastian was beyond bored already as the old turtle continued its tale, the only thing preventing him from falling sleeping was the occasional insightful information that he gave. According to him, the blueish-green light that always shone, illuminating this region of the ocean was this region or sea''s essence magic. Sebastian already suspected it before, and Leroy confirmed it to him. This was the Green Mist Sea, and the name was given to it due to the color manifestation of the essence magic here. The world was powered by magic. It was abnormal for different species of creatures to be communicating with a similar language, but all of this was possible because of the ever-present magic essence in the water. About the shark incarnation ceremony that he told Sebastian about, it was just like a coming-of-age ceremony that is usually organized by all shark clans annually. That was the reason why Sebastian woke up with no family member nearby, his parents left him to experience the perils of the world alone. It was cruel, but according to Leroy, that was the way of the sharks. Only the strong-willed and heavy hitter sharks get to survive, and only they get the opportunity to reunite with their family and meet the alpha shark. It was a tournament of the young sharks that survived. Through it, they will be ranked according to their strength which would determine their future path as strength meant everything in Oceania, most especially to sharks. Digesting all this information at once, Sebastian felt overwhelmed. Yes, he was a great shark dissector in his previous life, nicknamed the crazy dissector, but does that warrant his fate of living a life where his parents abandoned him immediately after death? Uncaring about his feelings, Leroy rambled on. According to him, in this small expanse underneath the cave, 2 clans were the dominant power here and they were rivals. Both clans were the Leroy and Teeth Power clan. Sebastian didn''t even need more elaborate explanations before he understood why the turtle took him in. As a great white shark, he had a lot of potentials to become stronger in the future. To strengthen his clan as well as to kill his rival, this was the reason why Leroy took him in and gave him such valuable knowledge for free. Having learned everything that he needed; Sebastian became curious. "How did you know so much about Shark family customs?" "Experience". Leroy raised one of his hands, the annoying sage-like vibe emanating from him again. "I told you that my parents left me too, I''ve experienced a lot of things, kid". "Surviving alone as a baby turtle in Oceania is not an easy feat, kid". Sebastian wanted to ask another question but he was interrupted. "Sebastian¡­, Welcome to the Leroy lair!" The turtle spread all its 3 pairs of hands exaggeratedly with a proud smile of achievement lighting up its face. "Wow!" Sebastian was not faking it; he was sincerely awed as he took in the sight greedily. He was beyond amazed. "What a beautiful sight!" Chapter 12 - The Leroy Lair. The lair was far more magnificent than Sebastian ever guessed or imagined. It was the perfect embodiment of fantasy beauty, making him find a reason to love this world for the first time since he transmigrated here. The numerous beautiful corals that filled this underground expanse of the cave were put to good use here. Glowing corals that were perfectly carved into various intricate shapes illuminated the cave lair in a beautiful constant rainbow color effect. Sebastian saw oceanic plants for the first time, and it was a glorious sight. Moss, ferns, liverworts, and a lot of other plants that he could not recognize filled the entrance of the lair, others growing all the way to the depths to form a long line of natural magnificence. He remembered that moss and liverworts normally grew mainly in moist environments but not necessarily water, but he also remembered Leroy''s teaching that this world was powered by magic. With such knowledge at the back of his mind, he knew better than to measure Oceania standards with what he previously knew from earth. Yellow flowers that were bigger than Sebastian, towering up to the ceiling of the cave like skyscrapers filled the entrance. Red connected plants with leaves like potato plant leaves filled the passage that led deeper into the lair, intertwining together to form something like clusters of dome-shaped buildings. There were no magical gates of the sort blocking the entrance as he expected, no Asgardian level technological marvel, no Heimdall at the entrance, but just a pure beauty forged from nature. Fishes, lots of fishes, the type that could tingle your skin, and sea creatures also, lots of them filled the lair, down from the entrance to the lair deep inside the depths that was still visible to Sebastian due to the illumination of the corals. "Welcome to my lair". Leroy emphasized again, feeling satisfied on seeing the astonished and awed expression on Sebastian''s face. He had to admit, getting to awe newcomers with what he created never failed to bring a proud feeling to his heart. It was nice to create beautiful things, but it was even nicer to display that work of beauty to others. Still stunned by the beauty, Sebastian finally turned to face Leroy. "Thanks, thanks for bringing me here, I really appreciate it". "The p???sur?''s all mine". "Hehe". The big Grouper fish laughed from the side, spreading bubbles on the water and making Sebastian turn to face it. "What''s so funny?" "Hehe". "¡­" "Good morning, clan head". A Bluefin Tuna greeted Leroy with a wide fishy smile on its face, Sebastian easily noticed that it was far smaller and lower-leveled than the one he killed back in the expanse surface. "Good morning, clan head". Another fish greeted; Sebastian recognized it as an Atlantic cod. "Good morning, clan head". This time, it was an Atlantic wolffish. "Good morning clan head". This time, Sebastian didn''t recognize it. "Good morning¡­" "Good morning¡­" Leroy just waved its foremost pair of hands at the fishes as they greeted, a proud clan heady smile on his turtle face. Sebastian had to admit, this was his most memorable tour in the history of his life in both worlds. As a crazy anatomist back on earth, going on tours was not exactly his thing, now he knew what he had been missing. Leroy took him to other places in the lair as the tour continued, 2 of the most memorable locations being the lair''s kitchen and the weaponry forge. He didn''t know where they got the knowledge from, but all the tortoises in the kitchen were dressed in makeshift aprons that were made from broad leaves of sea plants. It was crude, but this still made Sebastian amazed. At the side of the forge, it was dominated by crabs only. Seeing crabs with various forging materials, walking in and out of the forge actively to craft weapons for the clan left him astonished. He didn''t know why but seeing this, he felt like taking a scene like this to form a movie back in his previous world would surely make a hit. He didn''t even make a fuss about how a forge could be operated in an ocean; this world was powered by magic. Whenever he saw something inconceivable, that was what he told himself. This world is powered by magic. After taking him around on the satisfying tour, Leroy finally led him to his own clan head throne. Unlike what he expected, the shameless turtle did not build for himself a luxurious throne. It was just a big chair made from glowing corals. At the side was something like a stool made from the same corals, this was undoubtedly for his sidekick, Big Group. As soon as he sat down, Leroy turned to face his newest clan member. "Don''t be anxious, kid. I won''t beat around the bush; I will tell you the reason why I didn''t kill you immediately now". According to Leroy, the main reason why he took him in was for his upcoming decisive battle with his main rival in this expanse, Sting Tail. Sebastian already expected to hear that, but Leroy added other reasons and details. According to the turtle, the level of a sea creature was directly proportional to his/her strength but bloodline played a huge role too. For the current him, he was level 18 already but despite this, he could not win a battle against a level 10 great white shark if he met one. This was the difference in bloodline which cannot be breached by just levels. According to him, your bloodline determined the speed of your leveling through killing prey, and sea creatures with petty bloodlines had a cap on how far they could level up. Almost all the sea creatures in this expanse were among the category of those with petty bloodlines, Sebastian was the only anomaly that should not be here. That is why he took him in without hesitation. After explaining all this, he proposed a clan before the shark with a solemn look on his face. "Sebastian, I''m ready to power level you, but you have to promise me that you won''t turn against me". "And, the other promise is that you''ll help me defeat my rival. After that, you and I can call a close to our business, and you''ll go to the expanse outside the cave where you truly belong". If manner fell from heaven on his ??p, who was Sebastian to reject? "I accept your proposal". Chapter 13 - The Leroy Clan Army. Sebastian still felt like he was dreaming. It still felt unreal to him, as soon as he accepted the proposal laid down by Leroy, his status in the clan changed immediately. This was when he finally knew how authoritative the clan head was, and how much the clan members respected him. When Leroy said power-leveling him, the big turtle meant it. It was already 2 days since he was brought to the clan lair, and these 2 days already proved to be his best since coming to this world. As soon as he accepted the proposal, he was personally led by Leroy to a secret location of the lair where he was not taken to before during the tour. Compared to the main lair, this place hidden under the floor formation of corals was plain and mundane. Despite this, what Sebastian saw here brought his eyes to the verge of popping in shock. During the tour a few minutes ago, he didn''t notice it at first but when he was brought to the secret place, he noticed something. The clan members of the clan were all fishes or sea creatures that had a certain strength to their name that was given by their bloodline. Throughout the tour, he did not see a single one of his most frequent prey since he came here, the Blue Tang. Not only this, but a lot of other weak fish species like the Banded Butterflyfish, and the Blue-banded Goby. When he asked, Leroy solemnly replied that only competent fellows were qualified to become a member of his clan. They needed power to survive in Oceania, allying with weak prey would make them weak. According to Leroy, at various intervals, if food becomes scarce in the expanse, they migrated temporarily with the clan''s army to other expanses where they could hunt food to bring back to the clan. And in this secret place that Sebastian was brought to stood the foundation of the army, this was their base. Of course, the forgemen, who were the crabs could not craft modern military weapons, but they were more than competent enough to craft mundane cold weapons. At a section of the secret base, all that dominated here was roughly made metals, the ones made in that shape were too crude for Sebastian to call them a sword; it was an insult but they were still usable. Not only in sword shapes, but dozens of other weapons also made roughly in shapes of hammers, spears, dominated this section of the base. Sebastian had no idea how the soldiers who were fishes would be able to wield the weapons, but he didn''t bother asking further about it. After all, Oceania is powered by magic. Only the weapons were the exceptional army-like section in the base, the other parts were occupied by the army members that didn''t go hunting. Seeing the sea creatures that presented themselves before him, Sebastian suddenly felt inadequate from every fiber of his being. He saw extremely large Tuna fish with super sharp fins attached to their enormous hides, Grouper fish whose heads already mutated to a shape similar to that of a hammer. He had not witnessed it yet, but he didn''t dare fantasize the scenario of being hit by such an enormous head. He easily guessed that the impact would be like being rammed by a truck. He saw numerous wolf fish with teeth as long and sharp as daggers, he shuddered when this group of soldiers turned in his direction. They were tinier than the other soldiers, just like on earth, but he did not dare underestimate these little devils. Unlike the others, they held their weapons with no intention to let them go despite a battle not currently going on. Roughly made daggers, that was their weapons. When they saw Sebastian look their way, they swiped the daggers at the water menacingly to show this newcomer his place. Sebastian shuddered. After getting him to meet his army, Leroy patted him on the back. "Sebastian, welcome to the Leroy clan army". "Big Group is the commander, follow them and behave well, they''ll help you stack up levels very soon". After that, Leroy left, and Sebastian was left with the lunatic muscled fishes. Surprisingly, he wasn''t harassed as he thought, they welcomed him amiably into their ranks and took him out to level up shortly after. Now, here he was, a level 4 great white shark already. Compared to when he leveled 2 times in a row after killing the highly leveled Tuna, the leveling speed was slow but according to Leroy, he was super-fast already. According to him, the more highly leveled you are, the more experience it took to level up, and that it may be years before he leveled again at his level. "Sebastian, want to go level up?" She was a fish above level 5 too, so she already has access to basic magic. When she activates her magic, it empowers her bill, making it super sharp and hot, enabling it to easily penetrate the thick hides and scales of her prey. According to rumors that Sebastian heard during his stay here, she was among the top 5 strongest warriors of the army just below Big Group. This brought him another conundrum; when he fought with Big Group, he didn''t know then that the fellow was that strong. This made him realize how lucky he was, the Grouper fish was just playing with him then. "You going?" She asked again. Sebastian quickly snapped out of his daze. "Are you going alone?" "No, this time I''m preparing for a small-scale war with the Sting Tail bastards. The clan needs more food to breed a develop batch of warriors, so we have to go beyond the normal this time". "This will be your first war alongside us, so come along, you know the clan head has high expectations for you". As she spoke, Sebastian noticed from the back about a cluster of 2 dozen soldiers of the clan coming from behind her. Seeing him, they greeted and he smoothly greeted back. After 2 days staying here, he already adapted a lot. "Ok, let''s go, I want to see how good these Sting Tail bastards are also". Chapter 14 - A War Of Fish Clans. Almost all the soldiers of the clan army had weapons, but Sebastian was among the minority that didn''t have them. Of course, he complained, but they explained to him that he was not grown enough to wield one. Big Group told him that when he finally met the requirements for his first evolution, that was when he would understand. The army had 43 soldiers, most of them were always out hunting so Spankster wasn''t able to amass a lot of them for the attack. Only 17 soldiers were available to go with her. Big Group didn''t go, as the Commander of the army, he had to act the part. Sebastian was once again speechless by how this Grouper learned such weird tendencies. But he couldn''t know, magic powered Oceania Afterall. As soon as they left the clan lair, they took to the more open parts of the expanse with no intention to hide their movements at all. Despite the confidence that they had in themselves as part of the 2 leading powers of this expanse, they still sent some of the swiftest fishes to the front to act as scouts. Following them, Sebastian felt weird. He''s fantasized of himself being in the U.S army before but never had he fantasized of himself being in an army of fish. The world was really funny at times. [You have activated skill: Swim.] [You have activated skill: Electroreceptors.] Sebastian kept these 2 skills active as he followed them. After having a lot of experiences and having done a lot of experiments while battling in the last 2 days, he already knew how best to utilize his sharky body casually and in battles. During the past few days of hunting and power-leveling with the clan''s army, he already amassed a sizeable number of skill points and adaptation points. And yes, he finally bought the map from the f*cking system store. The system didn''t grant him access to the store yet, it said his access to get the map was a beginning bonus. For him to access the store permanently, he had to cross the great divide of getting to level 6. According to Leroy, after the mutation to level 6, he would become a new species entirely. With these and a lot of other reasons, he felt the motivation to get to the sacred level 6 as soon as possible. Suddenly stiffening, he felt his electroreceptor ability discovering a slight stir under him. Without thinking, he bit down. Crunch! [You have activated skill: Bite.] [You have killed an Ocean Sunfish- Level 3: You have gained Experience points.] [You have gained 1 Adaptation point.] Not a single member of the army stirred on noticing his action, instead, they gave him a proud look that said- that''s the kid we raised, what a strong warrior he is now. Sebastian felt embarrassed being looked at like that, but he quickly shrugged it away. He was already used to such looks for the past few days. Perhaps prompted by his action, one of the soldiers who was a Green Moray Eel decided that the silence among them was too much, so he decided to start giving his boring tales again. Unknowingly to them, as this happened, they already went a sizeable distance into the territory of the Sting Tail clan. Sebastian''s eyes twitched, he looked around and didn''t see anything but he was sure that his electroreceptor ability discovered something a moment ago. He tried to focus further, then he saw it contracting, then everything was revealed before his eyes. "We''re surrounded!" He yelled. His teammates reacted, aggressive expressions dominating their faces immediately but the attack came much faster than expected. Sebastian didn''t know what it was, but he felt something like a rope rapidly wrapping and tightening around his tail. Without thinking, his mouth aggressively bit down on instinct. [You have activated skill: Bite.] He felt the rope-like thing loosen from his tail as he rapidly turned to look at his comrades. Most of them were thrashing about as they were dragged by something looking like a rope. He squinted his eyes before they shone in realization the next moment. "A carnivorous Plant!" Perhaps, they''ve not had an encounter with one before, which was evident from the expression that was on his teammates'' faces. Seeing it, he knew that he had to do something. "I think it''s an ambush, this is a carnivorous plant and I don''t think it''s working alone". As Sebastian yelled, he already rapidly swam forward to help a few of his teammates. Perhaps, they understood him, perhaps they didn''t but hearing him speak lit up bright lights in their eyes. Before they could react, 6 other opponents rapidly started swimming in their direction. The opponents were a young viper, a Common Fangtooth, 2 Tunas, and 2 Blue Marlin. All 6 newcomers glided through the water in their direction with astonishing speed. Seeing the newcomers, Spankster''s face burned with hate. "Sting Tailers". "Counterattack!" She yelled before charging out the next moment. Her long pointed bill suddenly started glowing in the familiar light of magic power, it peaked before exploding the next moment as she collided with the young Viper. They rolled, pushing the water aside as they both quickly entangled. Seeing this, chaos started immediately as the enemies from both sides hauled themselves at each other. Sebastian felt like facepalming. This was the only defect that he saw in the Leroy clan army, they were too disorganized and chaotic in battles. Well, everyone was battling, he couldn''t be left out. [You have activated skill: Dash & Bite.] He bit hard at one of the 2 Blue Marlins; the fellow reeled back in pain before quickly gathering momentum for a fierce battering ram. Sebastian tried to dodge but the Marlin was faster. Its sharp bill swiftly cut through his flesh before he could react. [You have been hit by a skill: Magic empowered bill cut.] His brain was quickly stimulated by the pain. Letting out a deep sharky guttural growl, he hauled himself at the Blue Marlin again with his sharp teeth stabbing and snapping through the water menacingly like mechanical saws. The carnivorous plant below them again tried to restrict his movements, but one snap of his jaws let his teeth cut its branches apart. As he quickly got consumed by the adrenaline burst of battle, all his teammates already submerged themselves in the feeling also. They were winning, but reinforcement came the next moment in the form of 3 big Tuna fishes. A war of fish clans began. Chapter 15 - The Sneaky Tentacle Venus Flytrap. [You have killed a Blue Marlin Fish- Level 9: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 2 Adaptation Points.] [You have gained an additional 1 Adaptation Point for killing a fish of new species.] [You have gained 4 Skill Points.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 5.] [You have gained an additional 2 Adaptation Points and 2 Skill Points.] A bloodied Sebastian let out a bubbly roar of fulfillment after finally killing his prey. The Blue Marlin being higher leveled than him gave him a hard time, its bills punctured a lot of injuries through his body already. Gaining 4 SP after killing it did not surprise him at all, he expended a lot of effort and used his skills a lot before the opponent finally succumbed to his deadly bites. Hearing the notification that he just leveled up only made him more frenzied. According to the information that he learned for the past few days, after getting to this level, all he had to do was fill it up with experience to prepare for the great divide breakthrough. He felt excited, but he held himself back from acting impulsively as he was currently heavily injured. His fellow clan soldiers were battling hard with the Sting Tailers, he had to recover and join them fast. Quickly bringing his head down, he started chomping on the flesh of the Blue Marlin fish. In just a little more than a minute, he finished the whole food. [You have eaten the flesh of a new fish species: You have unlocked basic profile information of the Blue Marlin fish.] Eating could not heal him, but it could energize him and it would make his self-recovery organ kickstart and begin its work. This way, as time went on, he would slowly start recovering his health. As the war was going on for 5 minutes already, lower-level members of the Sting Tail clan that were not soldiers were already coming to join the show. These were the easy prey. Chomp! [You have activated skill: Bite.] [You have activated skill: Tail fin attack.] [You have killed a Salmon Fish- Level 6: You have gained Experience.] With just one bite and his tail fin attack, Sebastian easily dissected the Salmon fish into 2. He didn''t eat it immediately though, activating his swim skill, he rapidly swam to meet other prey. He kept on biting left and right while complimenting his attacks with his dorsal and tail fin attack skills as he killed enemy fishes without a care of the world. With his electroreceptor skill always active, none of the filthy enemies could ambush him. He moved like he was omniscient and could see everywhere, his prints were everywhere on the battlefield. Crack! It didn''t go through, but no problem. He bit again and the crab''s shell cracked further, before it could attack, Sebastian bit for the third time and it finally succumbed. With one crunch, he ate its delicious meat. As Sebastian wreaked havoc on the battlefield, he noticed that the plant that was underneath was causing him and his teammates a lot of trouble. Especially Spankster, she was unimaginably irritated now as she has not been able to kill the much younger viper since. Seeing this, Sebastian being the only rational one among the soldiers decided to make the rational decision. He left the battlefield and swam lower to look for the plant. Whoosh! He reacted fast, activating his dash skill to escape the attack as the tentacle-like branches of the plant quickly lashed out at him. Keeping his dash skill active while activating both his tail fin and dorsal fin attack skill, he dove down straight through the tentacles, cutting his way through like nothing in the world could stop him. Then¡­ Whip! Whip! Chomp! Chomp! The noise sharply swept past his ears as he bit savagely back at the tentacle branches. This was one of the rules of Oceania that he learned during his 2 days here; blood for blood, bite for bite, the weaker one succumbs. Ignoring the blood that was gushing from his body, he bit, cut with his tails as he swam deeper to locate the main body of the plant. It retaliated hard but he did not stop for once. About 2 minutes later, he finally located it. It was like a Venus flytrap, the only difference was the tentacle branches and that it was far bigger. Not here to watch a movie, Sebastian quickly dashed at it. The mouth of the plant tried to snap him shut-in when he came close, but compared to a plant, his teeth were far sharper and deadlier. Chomp! A few minutes later, he swam back up bloodied all over again. [You have killed a Tentacle Venus Fly Trap- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] He and his teammates steamrolled their opponents, chomping down left and right as they cleared a path through their blood and flesh. Spankster let out a victorious cry as soon as she punctured the young Viper to death, her magic power surrounding her bill only made her look more powerful and dreadful. Despite feeling full of herself, Sebastian was surprised to know that she recognized what he did. She thanked him for killing the plant before bolting forward to catch more prey the next moment. They battled for 4 hours, killing prey wantonly through the region of the Sting Tail clan. They would have continued the war, but Spankster ordered an immediate retreat when the army of the Sting Tailers finally mobilized. They retreated, but they were undoubtedly the winners of the battle. And Sebastian was super happy, this war brought him a lot of benefits like the current notification of the system. [Congratulations: You have reached the limits of the 1st level cap; you can proceed to attempt a breakthrough. Your chances of success are 75%.] Sebastian was practically grinning like a fool as he helped his clan members carry the food that they hunted back to the clan, the war resulted in a haul of food that could take them long to devour completely. Overall, the war was a complete success. Chapter 16 - Breakthrough. From afar, the clan members of the Leroy clan saw their soldiers coming back home from war. They didn''t react at first, but when they saw loads of food being hauled back, the whole clan reacted. "Food!" "Food!" They chanted excitedly. Even the baby fishes in the clan joined their parents as they chanted excitedly. They seemed to be welcoming the soldiers, but the food was what they were actually welcoming. Seeing this scene, Sebastian was completely speechless. "You guys can''t even appreciate our efforts a bit? Meh!" Looking around, he was surprised to see that he was the only one who felt it. For the other soldiers, maybe they just didn''t care, but they revealed wide grins on their fishy faces as their clan members chanted excitedly. Sebastian looked, flabbergasted. As he looked, his eyes suddenly clashed with 2 of the soldiers that he didn''t want to see at all. The 2 twins crayfish, Ray and Fay. These 2 guys with their daggers, from the first day, that Sebastian joined the clan''s army he didn''t know why but these 2 just loved harassing him. Clack! Noticing that his attention was on them, they clapped their daggers intimidatingly. Sebastian shuddered; intimidated, he lowered his head and turned away. "What a poor life I''m living! Just wait, after I evolve, I''ll see if you''ll have the guts to do that to me again". After they swam through the crowd of clan members who helped them take all the food to the chef chamber, they finally all retreated to their base. It was there that a death count was finally made. Like Sebastian expected, some of the fish soldiers died, precisely 4 of them during the just concluded clan war. Like he already experienced for the past few days, none of the fish soldiers showed sorrow for their dead comrades. Perhaps they were just too dumb to feel that way, but Sebastian still felt spooked. "What if I died today, they''ll not even remember me too?" He shuddered, feeling insecure all of a sudden. "You reached the pinnacle of level 5 already?" Her fishy eyes widened. Sebastian blushed a bit. "Is anything wrong?" "No, I just thought it was fast, faster than anything I''ve seen before. Don''t worry, you can go breakthrough, let me rush to tell the clan head about it". "Ok, thanks". Sebastian waved his fin at her before turning to go to his own corner of the army base. It was not anything complicated, just a slightly isolated corner in the room that was decked with the few rare corals that b?r?ly glowed compared to the others. He felt anticipation as he hovered atop his rest place. Ready for his breakthrough, his body quickly entered the rest state as he now gave all his attention to his system. "System, give it to me". [Proceed with breakthrough attempt: Yes/No?] "Yes". [Mental check: Pass.] [Physical check: Pass.] [All parameters for evolution are complete, host''s consciousness will now be drawn into the illusion realm.] As soon as the system completed what it was saying, Sebastian suddenly felt like a needle was pricked inside his brain. He tried to yell out but the sound that came out of his mouth seemed far yet close. The sound just kept on echoing in his head, making him dizzy. The next moment, he felt like his consciousness was pulled out of his body. The familiar environment of the Leroy clan lair suddenly disappeared, then it was replaced by a pure white background environment. The background was static at first but it suddenly started moving rapidly. Sebastian''s eyes dazed, he felt like he was on a rollercoaster ride or in a portal that was about to take him somewhere unknown. The light kept on getting brighter and the background moved faster. It got to a point where all he saw was dizzying white moving across his vision, then the color suddenly spiked, becoming that of a rainbow. He squinted his eyes to protect them, then everything became black. He was gone, his consciousness was gone. "Since when did his evolution start?" Leroy hovered at the top of the army base, looking down at Sebastian who hovered motionlessly at a corner of the water. "Approximately 40 minutes ago". Swordfish quickly replied. "Ok". Looking down at the great white shark that was below him, Leroy felt a lot of things going through his mind. It was a risky move on his part bringing such a potentially dangerous predator into his clan lair. Sebastian even exceeded his expectation, the young shark leveled up faster than he predicted. This was supposed to make him happy, but he couldn''t, he instead felt worried that he may have invited a dragon into his clan for help. Though at just level 6, Sebastian could not overpower him, it would be hard for him to completely suppress the shark too. Sharks, most especially great white sharks were known all over Oceania for their prowess and leveling speed. They were among the pinnacle bloodline carriers; they were the predators while every other creature here was prey. He really wanted to kill Sebastian as he slept now, at least that will prevent this young shark from turning into a disaster after waking up. His rational mind told him to do this, but he could not bring himself to do it. This was not because he had a liking for Sebastian, that would be just plain weird. It was because of some news that got to him a few days ago. When he heard this, he was shocked. If he didn''t move fast, his clan may be annihilated the next moment. This was why he took the risk of taking Sebastian in despite the terrible consequences that may follow. He sighed.. "I hope that I made the right decision this time". Chapter 17 - Breakthrough; The Illusion Realm. Blink! Sebastian felt like holding his head right now as it was aching badly. He felt like drums were being beaten loudly on his head, it was weird. Everywhere around him was covered by darkness, it was a little spooky. He like he just fell into a reincarnation cycle that was going on for thousands of lifetimes, and he was just waking up. "Is this the Samsara bullshit that''s promoted in those cultivation novels? But I hardly gained any increase in power, what a scam". As he grumbled, he keenly noticed the darkness around him suddenly begin to fade. His eyes widened, relief shining in them as he was already getting fed up with the darkness all about. When he finally saw light, the first thing that he noticed was that he didn''t return to the Leroy clan lair. This was the same region though, from the color induced by the magic essence, he recognized that he was still in the Green Mist region. The only problem was that he could not feel his body, he was like a spirit phasing in and out of existence like a phantom. He tried waving his tail fin but he felt no nerve feedback. "I''m just here as a spectator?" After doing a few more experiments, he came to this conclusion as he could touch nothing here, nor could he hear. He was just like a spectator, he was not inside this place, he was only watching it. His vision suddenly flashed, and everything changed. He was shocked as the vacant expanse of water before him suddenly became populated by sea creatures, and not just any sea creatures, sharks! Great white sharks like him filled the whole expanse all of a sudden. He didn''t know why he felt so, but seeing the bustling community of sharks, his intuition suddenly told him that this was his home. This was his family. He didn''t know how the hell he got here or how he even located it, but he was pretty sure that his intuition was right. From his elevated position above the shark community below, he could see a lot. The community looked more like a city, he could not see its ends as sharks went on with various activities back and forth. Ocean flowers and vegetation dominated most of the territory, but he thought he saw some marvels of technology too. The details were so many, making him feel like he just ascended into heaven. The only annoying thing was his fuzzy vision, it made his visual effect of the sight a lot less beautiful. He tried to look closer but everything suddenly became a blur. He let out a curse involuntarily on seeing that. Suppressing his frustration, he decided to ignore the more fascinating details among the community and decided to focus on the sharks themselves. They were all like him, the only difference was their size. They were far bigger and more deadly-looking than he was, and their speed was the real deal as they swam across the ocean, leaving afterimages behind. Sebastian''s mouth was left open widely; he was sincerely amazed. "Hiss¡­" He suddenly yelped in shock as an enormous shark suddenly broke out from a hidden location, none of the smaller ones stirred as this big fellow swam away leisurely. "What a big¡­, shark!" He wouldn''t have reacted so intensely if it was a normal big shark, but from the sight, he was sure that this great white was almost 20 times bigger than the current him. Another fact that he observed was that this shark was far more evolved than the others. Its fins were bigger and they looked as sharp as swords, it had 2 pairs of spikes jutting out of its sides, making it look super menacing and its teeth were longer than Sebastian''s current body. He was sincerely shocked. As he continued his tourist view of this shark community, he let out an annoyed sound as everything was suddenly cut away from him again. The sight flipped before him the same way a movie moved across scenes. The next moment, everything was replaced by a single shark. A young shark, just like him. He didn''t know why but seeing this shark, he felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu and one important name came to his mind. "Father?" The shark suddenly turned to face him. He was shocked, as he was about to wave at it the shark suddenly turned and swam away like it didn''t even see him. Warp! His vision changed again; it was just like fast-forwarding a movie. He felt like he was watching a history blockbuster movie in a full movie theater. The movie was about the life of his father. From that day, it finally knew to adapt to its world. It learned the rules of Oceania faster than expected. Blood for blood; flesh for flesh, that became its motto. Just like a protagonist of a movie, it began the struggle of life from its first day after coming to this world as a shark. It fought enemies daily; starting with juveniles like Tuna, turtles, before graduating to the masters like highly evolved Crocodiles, other species of sharks, most especially whale sharks, and even Dragons. It''s most fierce battle that almost led to its death was against a fire-breathing Dragon, the dragon fellow''s high-temperature fire could basically evaporate the water. Watching the battle as a spectator, Sebastian felt goosebumps creeping through him throughout its duration. After killing a lot of powerful and dangerous foes, it finally reunited with its family. Still, in the family, the carnage was not over. It fought against a lot of other siblings both in the incarnation tournament and in the battle to elect the new family head after they became m?tur?d sharks. It went through blood, fire, pain, and breakdowns, but it never gave up. In the end, its efforts paid, and it was finally crowned as the new family head. During its eventful journey, it evolved a lot of times and its appearance changed a lot also. Sebastian very much wanted to see his father''s current form, but his messed-up sight refused to cooperate. [Host has experienced the illusion realm: The history of the alpha shark has been told; you have to forge your own path now.] [Evolution will start in 10 seconds.] [You will be given a lot of options; choose wisely.] "I¡­" Sebastian wanted to comment but he was cut off ruthlessly.. He felt a prick in his brain again, he experienced the same moving through a portal-like feeling before everywhere became darkness again. Chapter 18 - Evolution. Sebastian blinked his eyes open only to see the darkness purged away again, now it was replaced by beautiful rainbow lights illuminating the surrounding. He was now in some sort of clouds. He tried to turn his head and observe more, but he was surprised as his system''s words were suddenly projected before him on the clouds in a blue screen. Despite the words already being projected before him, the system was not negligent as it still diligently told them to him. [Host''s evolution process has started. You have only 30 minutes to contemplate and make the choices that you want for your evolution route.] [Due to you having reached the threshold of level 5, you have unlocked a few new main perks of the system.] [Main system store has been unlocked for host''s use.] [Evolution system store has been unlocked for host''s use during breakthroughs.] [Lottery wheel has been unlocked for host''s use. {Terms and conditions apply for usage}.] [The Evolution system store is currently available for host''s use. Your remaining evolution time- 29: 47.] [Make your choices.] Sebastian originally wanted to take his time and explore but on seeing the time that was slowly counting, he put all those luxury thoughts away and started groping around wildly. After a few pokes and pushes, he finally got a hang of the evolution process a bit. He hesitated. "System, show me the evolution store and my options". [Affirmative! Evolution system store has been actively accessed.] [Host evolution options are as follows:] - Teenage Great White- Shark. - Mature Hammerhead Shark. [Host skill options for current evolution route: Bite; Swim; Dash; Sharp Dorsal Fin; Tail Fin; Electroreceptors.] [Host should choose any of the above options to decide on a personalized evolution route.] Seeing this, Sebastian came to a realization. Before choosing, he decided to check his current attributes first. He checked the time first; after confirming that he still had time he ordered the system. "Show me my status". [Affirmative!] ------------------------------------------ Name: Sebastian Level: 5 Stats: Speed: 1.3 Mind: 14 Constitution: 1.1 Luck: 0 HP: 25/25 Skill Points: 118 Adaptation Points: 256 [Skills: Bite Level- 5; Swim Level- 5; Dash Level- 3; Sharp Dorsal Fin- Level 2; Tail Fin- Level 3; Electroreceptors- Level 4] [Adaptation: Map] ------------------------------------- Sebastian was not surprised seeing this. Compared to when he was just born into this magical world, he experienced some increase in his attributes, and his skills improved a lot too after repeated usage. He also amassed a lot of skill points and Adaptation points during this period, he was not killing prey for the past 2 days for free. After he joined the Leroy clan, that was when he noticed that whenever he leveled up, his attributes increased though only slightly. Compared to the 2.5 power that he started with, he now had 2.8. It was a small increase, but it was something. According to Leroy, these were just negligible increases, after he evolved that was when he would experience considerable growth. "Give me the bite skill first". He decided to tackle his skill options first before tackling his evolution option. His evolution route would determine what he became in the future, he had to be patient and thorough about it. [Affirmative.] His eyes didn''t widen, but his mind ballooned in shock as he saw a lot of new forms that he could evolve his bite skill to, of course, he had to spend his skill points to purchase them. He saw new forms such as Smashing bite; the teeth would be blunter but will carry much force for each bite. He saw others in the form of Shredding bite, Stabbing bite, and even Tickling Bite, the options were numerous. He felt like a kid who came to a grocery store alone for the first time, his eyes just kept darting from one to the other in amazement. Despite how numerous they were, he arrived at his choice almost immediately. "I choose the Magic Shredding bite". As soon as Sebastian made his choice, instead of proceeding, the system rather took him to a slide that he''s been anticipating since he found out about magic in this world. [Before host can access the Magic Shredding bite skill, you need to purchase the magic mutation organ.] [Magic mutation organ.] [Magic type: Physical. Cost: 150 Adaptation points.] [Magic type: Material or External. Cost: 170 Adaptation points.] Material magic was the normal one that Sebastian was familiar with in movies. Mages hauling spells at opponents, something like that was the focus of the material magic type. For the physical magic type, it was more focused on self-buffing but much more badass and complicated than that. It was the type that was used by battlemages, the close combat types. Before starting his breakthrough, he already thought through all his choices and made his decision. Flinging spells at opponents was exciting, but Sebastian was pretty sure that the power exerted by such spells when he was still low-leveled would be limited. He trusted his own teeth more than any spells. Instead of flinging spells at opponents, why not empower his sharp teeth with magic to enable them to do the job better? He loved that better, close and personal. There was the option to buy both types of magic organs at once, but the sheer amount of Adaptation points needed to purchase them both deterred him. Perhaps, he would buy the next one when he evolved next. He made his move. [You have purchased Adaptation: Magic organ- Physical.] As soon as Sebastian purchased this, he finally had access to the full repertoire of evolution upgrades that were available for his skills. New skills in this concept were basically upgrades for his old skills, his current evolution only gave him 3 slots for new skill purchases. [You have purchased Skills: Shredding Bite, Triple Reverse Swim, Advanced Dash, Empowered Tail fin, Empowered Dorsal fin, Electroreceptors, Spike attack, Battering ram, Magic Teeth.] [You have purchased Adaptations: Spikes, Hard Dense Skin, Vampire Teeth, Mana Conductor Coating, Magic Organ.] The skills were as written, they were all empowered by magic. The shredding bite skill enabled him to power his teeth with magic, and it was more adapted to tearing enemy flesh apart. The Triple Reverse swim enabled him to swim faster, and with it, he could perform back swims and lots of other water maneuvers. The Advanced dash was a better version of the dash skill. The empowered Dorsal and Tail fin used the same logic, the electroreceptors were the same, it would become more potent as it would be empowered by magic. The spike and battering ram attack were new skills, he''s not used them yet but he was sure that they were as written. He decided to take them in consideration of the new adaptations that he purchased. For the Magic Teeth, he was not sure yet until he saw it, but his gut feeling told him that it was probably like throwing daggers, but instead of daggers, it would be his teeth this time. For his upgraded skills, according to what Leroy explained to him, he could only access the upgraded bite and swim skills. For the others, until he leveled them up to the max level of 5, he couldn''t make use of their upgraded versions. Despite this, he still bought their upgraded versions in reserve for the day they finally leveled up to the max. For the new adaptations that he bought, unlike skills, they were more like mutations to his body. He didn''t know how they would be, he felt anticipation to see his new look after all these adaptations. He got the inspiration for the spikes adaptation after the peep he got into his family home. For the hard dense skin, it was a tougher skin that would grant him significantly more defense. The Vampire teeth were as written; when he bit into opponents, they would start losing more health points passively as time went on. His magic organ, according to the system''s description was like his second heart, but it would pump mana into him instead of blood. The mana conductor coating was like a copper wire to the mana, it would enable easier and more efficient transportation of mana to any parts of his sharky body that needed it. Honestly, he was practically shaking with excitement just imagining what he could do after all these new add-ons. He still had some skill points and some adaptation points, but they were not enough to purchase other mutations and skills that he wanted, so he finally withdrew. Checking the time, he was relieved that he still had 5 minutes. For his main evolution, he already made his choice before the option for purchasing adaptations opened to him. [You have chosen your evolution route: Teenage Great White- Shark.] [Would you like to confirm your choices?] Sebastian did not hesitate. "Yes!" His vision darkened the next moment like he was knocked out, the evolution finally began. Chapter 19 - Attack! Rustle! Rustle! The leaves of the flowers gently swayed to the rhythm of the water flow; they flaunted their beautiful flower frames like female models back on earth. Leroy hovered in the water; eyes focused like those of an eagle''s watching his prey as he watched his target with undivided attention. The rustling movements of the flowers did not affect him at all. From his vantage position at the top of his army''s base, he had all the right angles to observe the evolving Sebastian thoroughly. It was already 40 minutes since the great white shark closed his eyes to start his evolution, and in these few minutes, Leroy was already detecting some significant changes in its body. It was not obvious, but as he''s been looking at Sebastian since without blinking, he knew that the shark had gained some few pounds of flesh. He knew of evolutions; he''s evolved 3 times so he knew how random the choices were. In a sense, evolving was just like gambling, you make choices but you don''t have a definite idea of the end results. He didn''t know the choices that Sebastian would take, but he somehow felt that the shark would make stupid choices. He was worried that Sebastian would change and go against him after waking up, and he was also worried that Sebastian would remain as his ally but would make stupid evolution options, making him weaker than expected. Well, as he''s not seen Sebastian suddenly growing an extra pair of eyes or ears yet, or even the pee-pee thing, that meant that everything was still ok for now. He heaved a sigh of relief. As he looked on, he suddenly felt the water stir at the entrance to the base. Turning his head, he saw his most loyal companion, Big Group, swimming in leisurely. "Clan head". The Grouper fish greeted respectfully. Leroy nodded back with a smile before beckoning the fish closer. They became still and just hovered there, calmly watching the great white shark as it underwent its evolution. Big Group suddenly inclined his fishy head and asked a question. "Will he be stronger than me after he evolves?" Leroy was caught off guard by that question, turning to see the reaction on the Grouper fish''s face he laughed. "I don''t know, but even if he becomes as strong as you, he''ll surely not be able to kill you yet". "Ok". The fish shook its tail, clearly contented with the answer. "I wonder what magic type he''ll choose". Seeing the fish relax by his side contentedly, Leroy sighed and went into contemplation. This was not the only thought in his mind though. "I wonder what big plan Sting Tail is cooking up, I hope my preparations are enough. Sigh! In the end its never enough" Time slowly flowed as the both of them faithfully hovered there, waiting for the evolving shark. They didn''t tell stories, they didn''t even talk again, they just engaged in a silent observation like a spectator in a movie. As Leroy''s eyelids slowly became heavy, he was jolted awake. Boom! His eyes suddenly opened wide, alert shining from its depths as the viciousness of a hunter shone in them for a moment before quickly calming down. Big Group was already awake too as he let out weird noises from its mouth that felt like growling. Both of them didn''t talk, they just observed the weed that was slowly dropping from the roof of this base under the coral floor. They didn''t have to wait long to hear another. Boom! "What''s happening? Leroy finally frowned as its turtle hands curled and stretched tautly like it was tense. The next moment, one of the members of the Leroy clan soldiers swam into the base at a high speed. "Clan head, we''re under attack". "Who?" "The Sting Tail clan". Leroy''s expression became heavy. Having sudden attacks from their enemies was not a weird occurrence to them, but he felt that this one was different. Something was wrong. "Take me there". He muttered gravely. ¡­ Snap! Crunch! Blood flowed everywhere, dying the water in a shade of dark red as fishes and sea creatures clashed without a care of the world. Bites, cuts, magic attacks, every one of them could be seen on the battlefield. The Leroy clan lair was a scene of carnage. The attack came too fast for them to react properly, they vastly underestimated the force that their sworn enemies came with. Looking at the scene before him, Leroy felt his face burn with rage. Not only did Sting Tail violate their agreement, but he also violated it completely. In the ongoing battlefield, apart from the disproportionate number of stingrays on the attacker''s side, they had an overwhelming amount of water snakes accompanying them also. Leroy laughed bitterly. "I should have known, he actually cooperated with the Viper clan". His clan was not too big in the first place, now that they were faced with such overwhelming odds, they crumbled completely. His soldier''s death count was already climbing into the dozens, not to talk of his normal clan members. The beautiful scenery of the clan lair was already desecrated, now it was just a fragment of its former self. Big Group already left his side to join the battle since he was the commander of his army, only his personal guard of battle turtles was currently with him. They were 6 guards in total. At the back of the enemies'' soldiers and clan members stood his most hated enemy, Sting Tail. The huge Stingray hovered at the back of his clan, enjoying the scene of his clan members dominating the battlefield. Beside the stingray slithered an enormous Viper, its tongue flickered incessantly, spreading mist as the evil venom in it made the water bubble energetically. This was the ruler of the Viper clan. This clan was not in this expanse, their lair was located at the other expanse deep inside the other narrow tunnels. Normally, clans from the 3 tunnels hardly communicated as they all hated each other, but Sting Tail and this vicious Viper clearly didn''t give a damn to the unquoted rule. Seeing his clan members die while his most hated enemy enjoyed the scene, Leroy felt outraged. Taking a deep breath to calm his mind, he turned to his chief guard. "Get me my battle gear". "But clan head, you said that you''ll wait for the shark before going out to battle". The chief guard hesitated. Leroy laughed. "Can''t you see it?" He spread his frontmost pair of hands. "Our hopes of winning are as good as nil; we have no hope of surviving". He grinned. "But this does not mean that we can cower though, we have to bite them hard so that they can remember who we were". The ferocity in his face did not drop a bit, but he lowered his voice as he said this. "When Sebastian wakes up, tell him that our agreement is void. Tell him that he can look for a way to escape this predicament himself". "Ok, clan head". The chief guard answered solemnly before going to the armory to fetch his leader''s battle gear. As Leroy waited, he felt his blood burn hot. He''s lived years, and throughout his years his most precious thing in this world was his clan. He was not about to allow it to evaporate before him. If his clan was to die today, he had to die first. Chapter 20 - The 3 Clan Heads. It did not take long before Leroy''s chief guard brought his battle gear. The gear consisted of heavy armor to cover his shell and 6 battle hammers. That was all, but after he donned it, he looked like a medieval knight in armor. This gear was his most valuable possession. During his years of wandering, he had this forged in the great city of crabs- the master forgers. Legend says that the crabs have even more of a talent for forging than the best craftsmen of Atlantis. Some people believe that this is a myth, but Leroy believed otherwise, having used this gear for 2 decades already. He rubbed the armor with his scaly hands. "Buddy, let''s go smash them one last time". He jumped from the vantage point of his clan head chair the next moment. With the hammers held tightly in his hand, he started swimming rapidly in the direction of the ongoing battlefield. He was too big for others not to notice him, not that he cared though as he bulldozed a pathway through his clan members straight to where the opposing clan members were clustered. As their clan head rushed out, his loyal guards did not slack as they also swam out in pursuit of him. They were not geared for battle like him, but they similarly had their own weapons of war. Getting to the main part of the battlefield, Leroy''s body suddenly started glowing a pure white. Extra scales filled his turtle body, his body seemed to have expanded as his grip on all 4 hammers became firmer. Then¡­ The water swept away like a flood, carrying astonishing power with it as all 6 hammers smashed down at the same time. All 5 fishes that stood on his part directly burst into a mixture of blood and mutilated flesh. Clack! Leroy felt a wolffish''s sharp teeth biting on his back immediately, but his magical shield repelled it. Smoothly turning around, he waved one of the hammers and easily swatted the fellow the death. The Sting tailers recognized the leader of their enemies immediately upon seeing him. Despite being vastly weaker than him, the brainless fishes still hauled themselves at him and Leroy was ready to crush them all. Whoosh! He didn''t even need to swim, a magic field surrounded him that navigated him to wherever he wanted to go. All he had to do was swing his hammers, and they effectively did the smashing job. He became the shining light of the battlefield soon after showing up, smashing left and right as he penetrated deeper into the ranks of fishes and sea creatures. From his fighting style, it was clear that he had only the material magic organ. His magics were mainly used to affect his surroundings, not directly used on himself as buffs. He didn''t have impressive magic like throwing fireballs or lightning because of his low-tier bloodline, but the ones he had as a turtle were still impressive. He wasn''t the only shining light on the battlefield though, Big Group leading his troop of elite soldiers equally fought ferociously as they exchanged blows with the soldiers of the Sting Tail clan. Unlike his master, Big Group had the physical magic organ. All his attacks were empowered by magic, his bites harder and more vicious, his hits heavier, everything about him had that extra more. Crunch! He quickly rotated his body and attacked behind, crushing the poor codfish to death with his su?k?n?-like magic ability. His lack of impressive teeth for biting, he complimented for them with his strong body for battering attacks and his su?k?n? like magic ability. None of his skills were weak, they could deal astronomical damage to opponents. All around him, his soldiers were not idle as they attacked the opponents fiercely. They were clearly outnumbered, compared to the opponents they were dying faster but they never contemplated retreating. Fight till you die, then you get rest; that was their motto. Back in Leroy''s side, as the euphoric feeling of battle gradually took over him, he suddenly stiffened as he felt 2 sharp gazes on his back. The Viper and his ultimate enemy were finally making their move. He did not cower, he did not try to scheme anything, he just steered his swimming direction around as his magic propelled him forward like he was an underwater speed boat. As soon as they came close enough, Leroy suddenly released his hammers and folded his body inside his shell. Hum! The hammers did not fly away, with a strange sound they were controlled by his magic as they swiped wildly at the water. Suddenly, his shell started rotating at an extremely high speed. His white magic power covered his shell, it grew brighter and brighter before his shell rushed forward the next moment. Already anticipating it, the stingray dodged on time but one of the enormous hammers still hammered him on the head. This did not prevent it from retaliating though, its dangerous tail calmly calculated the swim speed and trajectory before stabbing forward the next moment. Bzzz! The tail entered the hole in between Leroy''s shells and touched his body. He shuddered as electrical current went through him, making him stiffen. Before he could recover, he felt the viper rapidly wrapping around his shell. He activated his magic ability immediately. His shell vibrated like a super machine, sending tyrannical shockwaves through his armor to the snake''s body as the fellow quickly gave up and let him go. When the Viper finally recovered from the shock and turned back, the turtle was nowhere to be found. The stingray tried to alert her but was not fast enough, all 6 of Leroy''s hammers came smashing down. Bam! Straight to the head! Stars practically filled the Viper''s head as the magic empowered hammers slammed down at her head hard. Before she could recover, Leroy still hidden in his shell appeared and slammed at her again. After doing this, Leroy suddenly stiffened and tried to dodge but he was not fast enough. Having charged the electricity mana, the stingray opened its mouth wide and shot it out. Leroy ?r??n?d as the electric bolt penetrated his armor into his shell before quickly spreading to the rest parts of his body like slithering snakes. The stingray rapidly swam closer for a sting as electricity crackled around it, before it could get close Leroy disappeared again. This was the same magic skill that he used to spook Sebastian during their first meeting. As the stingray was on guard against it, when Leroy reappeared, he was not able to do anything. As he tried to reorient himself for another battle strategy, he felt a pair of sharp fangs digging into his hard shell. The Viper quickly wrapped him up again, this time faster than he could react as it started squeezing immediately. Cracking sounds reverberated. Leroy felt the pressure but he did not succumb, he could see the stingray swimming closer but this did not bring him to the edge of despair. The conviction still shone in his eyes, conviction to try harder. Boom! His bright magic power flared again and knocked hard at the Viper''s hard skin, penetrating a few parts like magic daggers were drilled through it. As soon as he escaped from the Viper''s grip, he did not run, he immediately turned back and their battle began again. Chapter 21 - The New Sebastian. A pair of groggy eyes blinked open, laziness and the yearning to fall back asleep reflecting from deep inside them. Sebastian squinted his eyes to adapt to the brightness of the cave, he felt a little annoyed having to wake up. As he tried to adapt to the lighting of the cave, memories suddenly flooded back into his brain. His eyes shone in enlightenment as he remembered what led to him falling asleep. "Have I evolved?" [Congratulations! Host has successfully completed evolution. You are now a level 6 great white shark.] Hearing this in his head, Sebastian''s eyes sparkled as a lot of thoughts quickly swirled in his mind. Putting a lot of them aside, he quickly demanded the most glaring curiosity that was nagging at him. "System, show me my status". [Affirmative!] --------------------------------------------- Name: Sebastian Stats: Power: 13 Speed: 8 Mind: 21 Constitution: 7 Luck: 0 HP: 105/105 MP: 80/80 Skill Points: 12 [Skills: Shredding Bite Level- 1; Triple Reverse Swim Level- 1; Dash Level- 3; Sharp Dorsal Fin- Level 2; Tail Fin- Level 3; Electroreceptors- Level 4; Spike Attack- Level 1; Battering Ram- Level 1; Magic Teeth- Level 1.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes, Hard Dense Skin, Vampire Teeth, Mana Conductor Coating, Magic Organ.] [Species: Teenage Great White- Shark] ------------------------------------- "Woah! That''s a considerable increase in stats!" Sebastian was pleasantly surprised, different from the original increase in stat points that he experienced during every increase in level, this breakthrough actually carried his strength stat all the way to 13 points. Seeing the plethora of skills and adaptations on the system interface only left him feeling giddy. Compared to before when it was almost b?r?, he finally felt like a human that transmigrated into a strange fantasy world. This was when he finally noticed the changes in his body. Compared to before the breakthrough, he felt like he grew muscles overnight and was now full of abundant strength. He felt like he could do a hundred press-ups right now, with such energy, he felt like one uppercut from him could knock a prime Mike Tyson out. "What a feeling! I feel like I can tear the world apart with one blow". His sudden increase in strength was not the only thing that he observed, he also keenly observed the considerable changes that were currently in his sharky body compared to when he just transmigrated here. Apart from the feeling of practically having a map in his head which he had not gotten used to yet, he suddenly felt like his skin was harder and thicker than before his breakthrough. It felt elastic, muscly, and hard like a rock. This was not the only anomaly, he felt like his teeth were stronger and more dangerous than before. Perhaps it was a new instinct that he developed after the breakthrough, but he felt a yearning from his soul, prompting him to bite and tear something apart with his teeth. It left him a little restless. The mana conducting coating, he could not exactly see it but he knew that there was suddenly an extra feel to his sharky body. Unlike before where he felt n?k?d, he now felt like he was cloth in a vest. From the side of his body, he felt like he suddenly developed a new bone but he could not pinpoint where it was. As he groped about, with a pop sound, a pair of spikes suddenly jutted out of the side of his body. He almost jumped in shock on seeing this. The spikes were sharp, long, menacing, and grayish in color, forming a contrast to the dark blue color of his upper body skin. Then, the magic organ. Ba-dump! Ba-dump! The only difference was that instead of blood, this new organ was pumping a blueish-green substance inside his body. The substance was soothing, it calmed his nerves as he suddenly felt like he was in the bosom of his mother. "I love this". He let out a sound of enjoyment unconsciously. He also noticed his sudden increase in size. Compared to his previous 1 plus meter size, he was now as long as 4 meters, and his look was far more menacing than his previous slightly adorable look. This was the practical summary of his new form. He was bigger, smarter, stronger, and faster. A big bad shark, that was what he currently was. As the blue mana flowed gently inside his body, he felt energized in a way that he had not experienced before in both his lives. "So, this is magic". As he soliloquized silently, the system notification popped before him again. [Congratulations! You have completed the hidden mission requirement given by the system- Breakthrough the first level divide.] [You have been rewarded with a unique ancient skill: Water Transmutation.] >This skill grants you the ability to have comprehensive control over water. You can turn water into anything that you want, any weapon that you want. All that you need is your imagination, and equivalent willpower to match> >According to the great Atlantian scholar, Devon, the brain of any creature is greater than the greatest computer. The wielders of this ability are the king of the seven seas> >Only the wise can utilize the potential of this ability to the fullest> As soon as the system completed what it was saying, Sebastian''s eyes were left open wide in shock. "Holy shit! What type of ability is this? I can control anything that I want?" Perhaps, it was a scam by the system, but his brain could not register that at this moment as he began to think of ways in which he could utilize this skill in battle. His brain went far and wide. He was consumed by the excitement already, but he was rudely interrupted the next moment. Boom! Rumble! He felt the water and the walls of the cave vibrate, making him frown and open his eyes. This was when he finally saw the familiar confines of the Leroy army''s camp, and it was not looking good. Rapidly turning his head to the side, he saw a familiar turtle, one of the personal guards of the clan head. "What is happening?" He asked immediately as another loud rumbling sound reverberated through the confines of the cave, irritating him more while confirming his conjecture that something was wrong. The turtle answered simply "We are under attack". Chapter 22 - Today, Youre All My Test Subjects! Simple, efficient explanation, that was all that Sebastian needed from the turtle before he understood what was happening. The explanations were somehow lacking, but he still got the gist of everything. The Leroy lair was under attack, and they were already on the verge of succumbing to a complete wiping from their opponents. Leroy said that the pact they both had was void and that he was free to escape if he wanted. ''Such a generous sacrifice'', this was the first thing that came to his mind, but no, he was not such a person. Yes, back on earth, he was a savage anatomist and all that, but running away from an opportunity to dissect new sea creatures was not his style. Most especially after he suddenly had such an outrageous increase in strength, running away now would be doing himself injustice. This was the perfect setting for him to test his new ride. Rumble! Even as he thought, the booming sounds were not subsiding as rumbling sounds of collapsing earth kept on echoing inside the army chamber, making the water vibrate like it was being boiled. Having made up his mind, he quickly turned to look back at the turtle. He was surprised a bit as the fellow flinched a bit under his sudden gaze. "Is he afraid of me? That''s weird". He wanted to demand a weapon, but he quickly arrived at the sore fact again that none of the weapons in the lair could be used by him. [You have activated skill: Double Reverse Swim.] Not waiting for the turtle''s reaction, he rapidly swam in the direction of the chamber''s entrance. His face was still facing the turtle a moment ago, he didn''t turn before swimming backward, leaving the sea creature in shock. At this moment, he was practically reversing like a car, and at speeds that were far higher than his previous peak. "See ya". Mid swim, he steered his tail fin, prompting his body to make a rapid U-turn as he quickly reoriented his body and continued his swift swim outside the chamber. When his head popped out of the chamber, the first sea creature that came before him was a snake. It was already ingrained at the back of his mind that the Leroy clan had no snake member, his instinct kicked in. Crunch! [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have killed a young Viper snake- Level 7: You have gained Experience points.] [You have gained 2 Adaptation points.] One savage bite was all that it took, and the young Viper didn''t even leave much of its remains. Almost like he had a su?k?n? ability, as he bit down, Sebastian also swallowed immediately. After killing this fellow, his eyes finally surveyed the surroundings. Blood, mutilated flesh, demolished lair, this was the first impression that came to him after coming out. Lots of dead fishes were floating in the water as the fierce battle continued, and a majority of the dead were members of the Leroy clan. All around him, the battle raged without any intentions of stopping. He could not see far as his vision was covered from top to bottom with battling fishes and sea creatures. Seeing this scene made his blood burn hot. He didn''t know if it was because of the battle or the Viper that he just killed, but an urge to crush opponents suddenly erupted from deep inside him. He closed his eyes almost reflexively, he could not stop the urge, he could not suppress it, it just came out like a flood. He didn''t know how he was even feeling it, but he could feel the mana flow inside of him. Just as if his adrenal gland was working non-stop, his magic organ started pumping mana rapidly through his body. The Sting Tailers already noticed the newcomer. Seeing him, they all swam at him intending to finish him off. Roar¡­!! Sebastian suddenly opened his mouth and roared which was strange for a shark. He was originally put into a conundrum of how he would use his magic abilities, but it seemed that his worries were unfounded. He didn''t need to learn it, the magic organ was in his body, and how to use it was somehow mysteriously implanted into him by the system''s strange voodoo-like abilities. [You have activated ability: Magic Teeth.] [You have activated ability: Battering Ram.] Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Sebastian just opened his mouth wide, and his teeth shot out like arrows coming from an ancient bow. The unprepared opponents suffered from it; in seconds their bodies were riddled with holes. Even as the teeth shot out, his mana flowed into his mouth, regenerating and replacing them at a science-defying speed. And even as his teeth shot out of his mouth at the pace of a machine gun, Sebastian had no intentions of staying idle. Consumed by the bloodlust of battle already, he rushed out speedily. He finally saw it; the color of his magic was green. The green color enveloped his body as he swam forward like a moving train. Bam! He slammed into the first fish like a battering ram, the poor fellow burst into a bloody mess immediately. Not paying attention to it, he continued his bulldozerlic ride across their ranks without a care of the world. Even as he rammed through them like a god''s hammer, he still shot out his magic teeth to deal support damage. After clearing a large hole through the formation of the opponents to make his debut into the battle eye-catching, he finally reverted to the ways of a shark, the taking it close and personal strategy. He shuddered excitedly as the mana flowed through his body like electricity, directly flooding him with an abundance of it. As soon as he got saturated with it, it materialized in the physical as green magic empowerment. He felt like all his organs and skills were empowered, he felt like he just received the mild blessing of the legendary milkmaid. Snap! His sharp teeth clapped the air hungrily as he felt power flood his body. With a crunch sound reverberating and a wolfish being torn into 2, he started his massacre across. Green magic energy flooded his teeth as he bit left and right savagely. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have inflicted your opponent with the vampiric effect: -3 HP for 5 seconds.] [You have gained 2 Adaptation points and 4 Skill points.] Drinking the blood of his opponent, Sebastian turned his already red eyes to survey more prey. Just like an instinct in him, as soon as he willed it, the pair of spikes jutted out of the side of his body, poking 2 poor fishes to death. Opponents bit at his skin, but most of the bites just bounced off. His Hard dense skin adaptation was a beast mutation, he felt like the juggernaut, he could smash them apart and they could not bite through him. "Today, you''re all my test subjects!" He turned his head and dived deeper into the denser parts of the battlefield, his spikes slicing fishes and sea creatures apart in the process. Chapter 23 - Steve Irwins Murderers!!! [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Tail Fin Attack.] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] Almost immediately after biting another long snake to death in a single bite, ignoring the blood that dyed his fearsome maws red, Sebastian set his backside to the enemy and reversed like a speed train. He felt his tail stiffen before becoming as sharp as a knife as soon as he activated the skills, he felt his spikes become as hard and dense as lancers held by a legendary knight. He did not hesitate in his swim. Bam! Bam! Sebastian tore through the ranks of the enemies tyrannically like he was a boulder. His knife-like tail flicked left and right, tearing opponents to bits and pieces without a care of the world. His spikes dug into opponents'' skin, and as he rapidly swam backward, they followed and tore at the opponents'' skin, prompting fishy screams from them as they all died to his new adaptations. Midway, he activated his battering ram skill. From a sharp knife, he turned to a huge hammer immediately as he slammed and crushed his way through the remaining opposition. [You have killed a young Viper- Level 4: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] [You have gained¡­] [You have killed a m?tur? Stingray- Level 9: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] "Wait, what? A stingray?" Sebastian originally didn''t pay attention to the system''s notification before due to being engrossed in the bloodlust of battle, but the s?ns?t?v? sea creature name that he just heard jolted him awake. Widening his eyes, he noticed that his wild reverse swim already allowed him to breakthrough from the periphery where he originally was to the main heart of the battlefield. Subconsciously, he widely released his electroreceptors skill to survey while also looking with his sharp eyes at the fiercest battle on the battlefield. He felt his irises constrict immediately which was a farce since sharks were not capable of that. "Leroy!" The Leroy clan head was already bloodied all over from the fierce battle that he was currently embroiled in, still, the huge turtle did not entertain the thought of abandoning his clan members as he fought savagely. Seeing this, he suddenly felt anger flood his brain. Turning his head to the side, he saw the huge Viper and the huge Stingray who was now toying the clan head to its death. "Wait¡­, Stingray?" His brain finally clicked, and through his electroreceptor skill, he detected the disproportionate number of stingrays that were on the battlefield. Since his arrival to this world, this was his first time seeing stingrays. "Sting Tail; Stingray, so that''s it". He tried to take it in calmly, but he knew that he was deceiving himself, seeing this loathsome ocean species left his blood boiling. He roared angrily. "Steve Irwin''s Murderers!" As his vocal cords spread the sound through the water, he no longer remained idle. Like an embodiment of the superman and the flash combined, he erupted from his position almost immediately. With unadulterated hate shining from the depths of his eyes, his jaws opened wide, exposing the deadly teeth inside them as his green magic quickly enveloped him to empower his deadly attacks. It seemed like his magic organ could feel his anger as the organ started pumping even more mana into his bloodstream, and his mana conductor coating smoothly distributed the sweet magic food through his body. The first stingray quickly fell apart to his super sharp teeth, not even paying attention to its carcass nor the notification of the system, he b?r?d his teeth again at a rapid pace at the other nearby stingrays. Quickly killing 8 stingrays in succession, he suddenly slowed down, calmed his body, took a deep breath, took great aim before opening his mouth wide. "Roar!" Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Adding an angry roar to spice things up, his magic teeth started spreading destruction again. The unprepared stingrays were caught off-guard, the deadly magic teeth dug into their body frames like bullets from a machine gun. Sebastian even felt like he was shooting a real machine gun, the sensation returned as his body vibrated from the recoil of shooting out so many teeth at once, but the effects against his enemies were worth it. Even those fishes, stingrays, and other sea creatures that did not die immediately to the impact, the vampirism effects in his newly mutated teeth dealt astronomical follow-up damage as time went on. In just about a few minutes since he discovered the stingrays, dozens of them and other sea creatures were already floating around him lifelessly. Seeing the severe damage that he was causing to their clan members, the elite army of the Sting Tail clan was already trying to come and restrain him but Big Group and the others held them back. Biting another stingray to death with his sharp teeth, he finally slowed down to observe the battlefield again. He already created enough space, so he could see unobstructed to Leroy''s battlefield. Seeing the current state of the turtle who taught him a lot of things about this world, and also the loathsome killer of his best wildlife expert in his previous world, he made up his mind immediately. Pumping more blood into his blood vessels, he activated almost all his plethora of abilities and started lumbering his way forward through the opposition. Blood became the only sight behind and around him. His teeth bit and killed, his dorsal and tail fin sliced and killed, his spikes stabbed and killed, his whole body became a vicious killing machine. According to Leroy, this was the ability of superior Oceania species. As he pushed through the opposition, his eyes were now only trained on the huge Stingray that just zapped Leroy with another bolt of electricity. Crunch! He bit the last opposition that stood before him and the stingray, then his eyes clashed with Sting Tail. Without hesitation, he activated both his swim, dash and battering ram skill. The sound was like a speeding torpedo flying through the underwater straight at an enemy ship. The only difference was that this time, the enemy ship was a huge stingray. Seeing his actions, the stingray did not cower but rather took the challenge personally and also rapidly swam to face him. The water first squeezed like it was congealed, before erupting out like the CenterPoint of a nuclear bomb. Warp! Boom! Chapter 24 - The Power Of Imagination. Sebastian felt vibrations go through his head, into his brain, into his muscles, into his anus, and his body as the vibrating impact sent him to cloud nine immediately. His orientation of his surroundings became distorted; for a moment he felt like the god of this world snapped his fingers and the world was being destroyed. As the shockwaves of the clash spread like wildfire, turning the surrounding water into a storm, Sebastian flinched despite still being protected by his green magic energy film as he felt like he was just stung by something sharp. [You have hit your opponent with a skill- Battering Ram; you have dealt -3 damage.] [You have been hit by your opponent; you have received -2 damage.] [You have been hit with a skill by your opponent- Sting Tail Attack; you have received -8 damage.] [You have been hit by a bolt of electricity; you have received -11 damage.] [You have been poisoned- Mild: -1 HP for 10 seconds.] Sebastian reeled back in horror on seeing the consecutive notifications from the system. The damage dealt from one attack by the stingray horrified the hell out of him; poison, magic electricity, and physical damage were all stacked together. Even the casual slam from the stingray gave him -2 damage. This brought him to the cruel realization that despite his superior species, a much higher-leveled Stingray was still stronger than him. Despite feeling shocked by the damage dealt, he did not try to escape in panic as that was just courting death foolishly. Through his electroreceptor ability, he knew that a helping hand was coming and that it was coming fast. Almost by instinct, he made a move did he did not know of before now. He made his magic organ pump out more mana into his muscles, then all of a sudden, his spikes grew longer and sharper. With the sound of a sharp object cutting into flesh, he felt his spikes cutting into the startled stingray''s flesh. It did not cut too deep though, his body stiffened as, through the spikes, the familiar surge of electricity zapped him. He didn''t mind the damage though; he already completed his objective of keeping the opponent in place. He retracted his spikes into his body before rapidly dashing to the side. Bam! The electricity around the stingray''s head spiked before erupting outwards like it suddenly lost control of its magic as the one-handed hammer landed heavily on its head. Sebastian flinched on seeing the fierce blow despite him not being the recipient at the receiving end of the attack, but this did not stop him from adding injury to the wound though. Activating his dash skill again, he rapidly closed the distance before digging his teeth into the stingray''s flesh. Perhaps, because it was not being protected by its magic again, but his bite dealt -7 damage to the stingray. Leroy wanted to hammer the stingray''s head again, but the Viper suddenly wrapped its evil body around him and tightened. Then both sides just hovered silently, calmly observing each other. Leroy did not say a word, but he already communicated with Sebastian in a coded manner. He was surprised to see Sebastian, his strength after the evolution shocked him but he felt glad. Of all the horrifying scenarios that he thought of, Sebastian became none. He was still the same clueless great white shark that he knew whose only love was dissecting new species of opponents, just that he became stronger. As Sebastian observed, he checked his injuries also while rapidly trying to predict the outcome of the battle. His clash with the stingray a moment ago added to the slam of the hammer left a part of its triangle body caving in a bit, showing that it received significant damage. But that was all. For him, through his electroreceptors, he could see black red blood clearly tainted with poison slowly seeping out of where the stingray''s tail stung him. For Leroy, the turtle clan head was the most injured participant on their battlefield. He rapidly came to a conclusion. If no new variable was added to the battlefield, he and Leroy would definitely lose. As his thoughts came to this, he remembered the sudden notification of the system. "The Water Transmutation skill!" This made him depressed a bit, as unlike the other skills that he got from his evolution, he didn''t get a hang of this one immediately. It still seemed hidden, like he needed some catalyst to activate it. He could not think much about it though, the battle was about to restart. And something that he learned about this fantasy world was that, unlike other fantasy worlds that he knew, battles here were not dragged out and could end as quickly as seconds of one was strong enough. Zap! Almost at the same time that he heard the electricity crackling, he also heard the sound of Leroy''s heavy hammers smashing forward. He reacted too, shifting his body back a bit before accelerating for a bite. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] With a crunch sound, the Viper let out a hissing sound as its skin was penetrated by the sharp teeth of the shark. It angrily turned its head for a retaliatory bite, but Sebastian already dashed away in retreat. Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! His teeth filled the water with white, shooting out rapidly one after the other. Despite his cautious take to the battle, the stingray still got him as a bolt of lightning fired at him at an extremely fast speed. Unable to dodge in time, his skin was viciously zapped, making him vibrate in place as the damage was dealt to him. He intended to rush back into the battlefield, but a thought suddenly struck him. He felt like he just fell into a trance. "You can turn water into anything you want, any weapon you want. All you need is your imagination¡­" "Imagination!" His already red eyes shone in enlightenment as he suddenly decided on something, he imagined turning the water into something, a weapon that he''s seen in movies. The surrounding water suddenly made a warping sound, they rapidly converged together before forming something. When the commotion cleared, what was left hovering in the water was a flaming sword. Eyes shining excitedly and viciously like those of an ancient dragon, Sebastian willed the flaming sword to attack. And without hesitation, the sword rapidly flew at the closest opponent, the stingray again. Without missing, it slashed at its magic-protected skin again and cut through. Boom! Chapter 25 - Water Transmutation- Magical Manifestations. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magical manifestation: Flaming Sword.] [You have cut your opponent with the flaming sword; you have dealt -18 damage.] [You have dealt additional -6 shock damage.] The sound of the flaming sword stabbing and burning the huge Stingray''s flesh reverberated through the small battlefield, spreading heat waves as both Leroy and the Viper retreated reflexively. Despite not being on the receiving end of the attack, they shuddered when imagining the astronomical damage that was dealt on that one blow. Rahr! The stingray made a strange sound of extreme pain, its electricity directly lost control as it blasted without control at its surroundings. In its triangular body, a significant part of its left body was directly cut off. It squirmed in extreme pain, trying as much as possible to swim away but it was directly incapacitated from the staggering blow. The battlefield seemed to have come to a sudden pause. Eyes turned this way, looking at the flaming sword with a mixture of fear, reverence, and amazement emanating from them. Sebastian was also stunned. He just made an experiment; never did he expect it to become so OP that he directly incapacitated the Stingray that could easily finish the original him on a one-on-one battle. Despite being stunned, his actions did not slow down. With the same intention in mind, he willed it as the enormous flaming sword rose up for a follow-up attack. With fear now in its eyes, the stingray let out a last gasp for survival struggle as it quickly accumulated its electricity mana before shooting it out the next moment. Sebastian stiffened from the electric current, but this did not stop the sword from doing its work. The stingray let out a sound of intense pain and despair as the sword cut through the side of its stingy face, removing a large chunk of flesh. With a whoosh sound followed by a frenzied movement in the water, Sebastian suddenly discovered the Viper rapidly swimming close to him through his electroreceptor ability. Pu! The Viper raised its head high, widened its mouth, and revealed its teeth. Then a dark purplish liquid suddenly condensed on its 2 pairs of long teeth before shooting out the next moment. Sizzling sounds echoed through the water, a clear sign of the acid content in the dark purplish liquid as it flew at a rapid speed towards Sebastian. Sebastian was not left flustered by this sudden attack. Already having experience from the previous one, he sent his flaming sword in retaliation, while at the same time forming the image of a shield in his head. As the dark purplish acid flew through the water, a pure black tower shield suddenly appeared out of thin air before blocking its path. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magical manifestation: Tower shield.] [You have cut your opponent with the flaming sword; you have dealt -13 damage.] Already recovered from the pincer attack that it was suffering, Leroy added salt to the Viper''s injury. 2 of his enormous hammers came slamming down as they battered at its exposed head. Either because it was shocked or left confused by the damage that it just received, the Viper turned without hesitation. Ignoring the bleeding from its skin, it rapidly activated a magic skill and fled out of the Leroy clan lair immediately. Neither Sebastian nor Leroy pursued it. As one, they both turned to the real enemy who was still groping around looking for a way to survive. Ignoring his cracked shell and the numerous injuries on its body, Leroy roared an angry challenge before advancing rapidly at his archenemy with his 6 hammers raised high. Bam! He slammed all 6 hammers at the already incapacitated stingray, dealing even more tons of damage to it as the stingray let out a sound before convulsing helplessly on the spot. Seeing this scene, Sebastian did not go in pursuit. Rather, he stood in one place and decided to start some experiments. After rapidly thinking in his head, he settled on the image of a sub-machine gun from his previous life. His magic energy spiked, but they only flickered before fading back into the air. His magic power stirred, the water before him compressed before unveiling outwards the next moment. When the commotion died down, a black bow and arrow were what hovered before him. Without hesitation, he prodded both weapons with his magic energy before trying to shape them in the direction that he wanted. The arrow slowly entered the bow, and the bow was slowly stretched tight. Through his sharp eyes that gleamed in the water like a pair of suns, he aimed the stingray that was being battered by the enraged Leroy. Green magic power suddenly enveloped the bow and arrow. The intensity of the magic energy surrounding both weapons grew steadily, then it quickly reached a crescendo. Whoosh! The arrow was smoothly unleashed from its cage which was now the bow. It traveled at a speed equivalent to that of the flash. Before Sebastian could blink, it embedded itself directly into the Stingray''s head. The green magic energy was visible as it ravaged through the body of the stingray, then it exploded into blood and flesh, forming a scenario like fireworks the next moment. [You have activated skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Bow and arrow.] [You have killed a m?tur? Stingray- level 17: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 20 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] [You have leveled up once.] [You have leveled up once.] Seeing this, Sebastian fell into a daze. Euphoria erupted from the depths of his heart when he thought of the one-hit damage that he just dealt, but this didn''t last as he felt an overwhelming sense of weakness suddenly. He was stunned. "My mana is exhausted". He did not have much time to think more about this as he felt dozens of eyes rest on him. Turning his head, he saw the members of the Leroy clan, including Leroy himself looking at him with a reverence like he was a god. "Sebastian!" "Sebastian!" As they chanted his name, Sebastian felt energy swell back into his heart. Even if his mana was exhausted, he still had his physical attributes, his skills, and most especially his teeth. Crunch! Chapter 26 - The Ultimate Battle; All Fishes Shall Know Pain! The Sting Tailers were left dazed by the sudden turn of events. A moment ago, their clan head and the Viper Queen were terrorizing the Leroy clan head. Then the next moment, the tables turned, and now their leader was dead and gone for good. The situation felt like a fairytale to them, they just couldn''t believe it. "What in the name of all 7 seas just happened?" This was the only question that was in their minds. Their inability to find a plausible answer only left them even more confused and lost. This confusion ended though after the surviving members of the Leroy clan started chanting the name of their savior, Sebastian. Then the realization finally came to them, their leader was really dead. When your leader died, making the battle against your archenemies hopeless, what do you do? "Run!!" Like they suddenly got injected with dose upon dose of adrenaline, the shocked members of the Sting Tail clan turned without hesitation and fled with their tails between their legs. Yes, they still had the superior numbers paired with the members of the Viper clan. But with Sting Tail dead, and the Viper Queen gone, they had no hopes of emerging victorious on the battlefield. On the side of the Leroy clan, the situation was the exact opposite. Burning with the urge to get revenge, the fishes and sea creatures imprinted with the tag of the Leroy clan vented their anger in one go. Kill! Teeth were b?r? raw for savage melees; weapons were drawn for complicated brawls and battles. Without hesitation, the clan members went in pursuit intending to wipe out their opponents. Crunching bites started reverberating in the battlefield again after the temporary stop. The water bubbled fiercely again as it started being tainted with the familiar crimson red color of blood. Under the leadership of Big Group, the few remaining numbers of angry survivors from the Leroy clan army went in pursuit immediately. Spankster accumulated her abundant magic energy, pumping them rapidly into her bills as she charged forward like a bull ramming forward at its prey. Yaah! Bam! She yelled as her bills dug into her unguarded troublesome opponent, dealing astronomical damage in one blow as the opposing clan''s soldier was originally focused on escaping. With another crunching sound, a teammate wolfish rapidly arrived at her side before helping to finish the opponent with a vicious bite. With red eyes shining with a glint of blood, they both let out victorious cries before continuing their hunt across the ranks of the now flustered enemies who were just focused on escaping. The battlefield became extremely chaotic again, the only difference this time was that the surviving members of the Leroy clan were now the hunters instead of being the hunted. Seeing the ongoing battle, Leroy''s eyes gleamed coldly. After the fierce battle against both clan heads who were roughly of the same strength base as he was, he was left exhausted, and riddled with injuries, severely reducing his combat strength by a lot. Despite this, he was not ready to back down until it was over. With a glint of determination shining in his eyes, he raised his exhausted pair of hands to grab all 6 hammers again. His armor was damaged, but it could still take him through another rough struggle. He suddenly raised all 6 hammers, let out a battle cry before throwing himself into the battlefield without a care of the world. Bam! Bam! His hammers did the work that they were crafted to do, smashing opponents to death. His hands bulged like he was a fitness master who was on steroids, then he waved his enormous hammers left and right. None of his opponents could stop him at all, that was the difference in stat attributes showing vividly. Even without his magic, he was still a formidable opponent. At another part of the battlefield, after killing the nearest young viper that tried to escape from his grasp, Sebastian stopped for a moment to draw an overall layout of the battlefield in his head. He still felt weak due to his magic organ having been drained of all juice. He felt like a lion that was left to starve for years, it was a feeling that left him feeling uncomfortable. His situation was just like Leroy''s the only difference was that, unlike the old turtle, he was not familiar with this feeling yet so he found it a little hard to acclimatize with it. Despite all the discomfort that he was experiencing, his eyes were still glittering like stars as he watched the escaping fishes like an ?ssassin stalking his prey from the dark. Not only that, he helped the clan who sheltered him to kill their greatest and most hated archenemy. That was a stingray that was 11 levels higher than he was, this fact still left him lightheaded. Not only that, he leveled twice after killing it and the Adaptation and Skill points that he got from it also left him feeling satisfied. Now, he was faced with the little fries. If they were just enemies, he may have felt lazy to dissect them into pieces. But they were not just enemies, they were sparkling clean adaptation and skill points to him. "All fishes shall know pain!" Pumping himself up with that, he strained his already stretched tight stamina, drew power from it to spread what he was good at. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Dash.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Crunch! [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] Unleashing his dagger-like skin adaptations again, he cut through the helpless fishes, the spikes stabbing through their flesh like a hot knife cutting through bu??er. No Leroy clan member on the battlefield remained idle, they all went in pursuit to eliminate all vestiges left behind by their enemies. All these efforts were so that by the end of today, only one ultimate clan will be left as the ruler of this expanse. Chapter 27 - Victory! Blood flowed through the expanse in waves, only flesh and bones were not left behind. As the Leroy clan members continued the great purge, they made sure to eat and digest their opponents also. All bystanders shuddered when they saw the carnage that was on display, they all hid better in their hideouts as one of the ruling clans of this expanse was wiped out without any hope of recovering. With Sebastian and Leroy as the leaders, the Leroy clan members pursued their opponents from their territory. They killed all the way to the Sting Tail territory. And just like the latter did to their lair, they entered the Sting tail clan lair, killed every member that was left from the battle, and spread havoc through the territory. Demolition at its peak was the scene that was on display at the Sting Tail clan lair. Seeing that there was no more hope, the clan members tried to plead but Leroy took no prisoners. They were like locusts wiping through a plantation field. By the time that the battle came to an end, the scene that was left was that of destruction. The territory of the enemies was overturned, and every valuable substance in it was stolen by the victorious Leroy clan. They didn''t get to kill every single opponent on the battlefield though. The members of the Viper clan resided in another expanse, so they just retreated straight to their expanse after suffering a great loss. The desperate survivors of the Sting tail clan had no choice but to follow. In the end, the struggle of 2 equal rivals was finally broken and a single ruling clan was established in this expanse for the first time. Despite the victory, it was not easy for the Leroy clan members also. They lost more than half of their numbers, a staggering loss even though they were a little unfeeling towards dead comrades. All the survivors suffered injuries of varying degrees. It was not an easy feat fending off an attack from 2 clans, it was the miracle of Sebastian that gave them the only hope of emerging victorious. When the battle ended, the ones with magic were drained completely. The ones without felt the same way, their stamina was drained completely. Despite the feeling of weakness in them, they did not fail to acknowledge their savior again. Having claimed the whole expanse, the Leroy clan members chanted Sebastian and their clan head''s name as they swam back to their lair. That day, the whole expanse got to know a new name, the worker of miracles, the killer of clan heads, the flaming sword, the great white shark, Sebastian. Getting back to the lair, the exhausted fishes and sea creatures went to work as they ate the remaining enemy flesh that was left floating randomly in their territory to recover their strength. Sebastian and Leroy both shared Sting Tail''s meat. Being a highly leveled sea creature, Sting Tail''s meat gave Sebastian so many energy calories that he felt bloated after eating. Dragging his body to the clan''s army base, he located his corner, hovered there before falling asleep immediately. He was freakishly exhausted, every member of the clan was exhausted, and all of them fell asleep immediately to recover their strength. ¡­ A few hours later, Sebastian finally woke up to see the usual boisterousness of the clan lair back. The clan members were already back to their previous activities. From the way that they acted, it was hard to believe that they just survived a huge battle. The only evidence of the battle was the still destroyed corals and the depressions all over the lair. As soon as he woke up, Big Group personally came to lead him to meet the clan head who was waiting for him. Getting to his chamber, Sebastian saw Leroy sitting on his clan head chair again. The turtle still had a lot of injuries riddling its body and shell, but it was still able to move and act normally without expressing pain. With a solemn expression on his face, he bowed to the great white shark to express his gratitude for its help. The soldiers followed their clan head''s cue as they also bowed down in respect to express their gratitude. Sebastian felt awkward, but he didn''t stop it. Despite trying to suppress it in his mind so as not to awaken the bad Sebastian in him, he was proud of the achievement that he accomplished. Even in his previous life, he was just an anatomist. Never was he praised for his expertise in dissecting and studying sea creatures most especially sharks, he was rather criticized most of the time. But here, not only did he have the opportunity to kill and dissect as he loved, he was even revered for it. Which other world was in existence that was better than this? To him, there was no equivalent for this, this was heaven. After ending his bow, Leroy did not inquire of the shark''s godlike ability despite being super interested in it. He wanted very much to express his gratitude to the shark materially, but unfortunately, nothing seemed to match. Sebastian did not have adaptations that could allow him to wield weapons yet. Left with no option to express their gratitude, Leroy instead made an oath. "We may not be strong enough for you. But today, I, Leroy, as the leader of this clan, I vow that we would always appear in your time of need when you ask for it even if it is at the expense of our own life". "You bought this life for us, so it''s only right that we give it back to you". This ended Sebastian''s chapter in this cave. Already knowledgeable about this world during his stay here, he had no plans of staying here further. As Leroy said, a cave like this was not fit for a great white shark like him. He wanted to see the world, he wanted to see more of Oceania and that is what he would do. His injuries already recovered after sleeping, so he was ready to continue his journey of dissecting even more creatures. After waving goodbye to the few close acquaintances that he made in this expanse, he finally turned and started swimming off. He suddenly felt funny after recalling something. "Compared to the last time when I swam like a clueless SpongeBob, I guess I can be called a master now". Chapter 28 - Prophecy. "Risveglio¡­" "Acqua¡­" "Transmutazione¡­" "Risveglio¡­" "Acqua¡­" "Transmutazione¡­" Blink! A pair of eyes suddenly blinked open in a completely dark room, shining like a torch in the dark to illuminate the small confines of the room. A damp atmosphere filled the room, making it feel stuffy and gloomy. A strange globe ball, monocle, and other numerous objects like those used for astronomy filled the room. The room was simple but it seemed sacred, it looked like the home of a great wizard. The gray-haired old man who was the owner of the pair of eyes was slowly roused out of his sleep. He sat down and fell into deep thought, slowly the contents of the dream came back to him. After piecing everything together, his expression became grim. "Another Prophecy". He mumbled. After sitting for a few minutes to confirm that he did not hear anything else, he stood up and draped a long coat over his body. He picked a book, rapidly scribbled on it, before folding it and going out of the room. Going out of his room, he came before a long corridor that looked even damper than his room. The layout of the corridor showed that this was an underground structure, and only 3 doors were along it. The first was the door leading to the gray-haired old man''s room, the next led to another room, while the last led to a staircase that spiraled upwards. The gray-haired old man walked through the corridor with brisk steps, it did not take him long before he arrived before the next door. Knock! Knock! "Bam!" "Ouch¡­! What type of human are you? You''ve disrupted my experiment again. I hate you, old geezer!!" Ignoring the insults that he was bathing in like he was used to it, the gray-haired old man still had a calm expression on his face as he gently pushed the door open and entered. The room before him was far bigger than his and it seemed like it was a library, it also looked like a laboratory. 15 long bookshelves stood at various corners of the room, almost taking up the whole space. At a section of the room stood a cooking cauldron, and a lot of alchemical tools. Fire was currently heating the cauldron, and some ingredients moved in it while projecting different colors. Only one chair was in the room, a table, and the rest parts of the room were covered with scribbling papers, pamphlets, and magazines. The room looked so disorganized that it was easy to mistake it as the lair of a mad man. The man who just replied to him was currently lying sprawled on the floor like a marbled shrimp, close to one of the bookshelves. A ladder was beside him; it was evident that he fell from it while trying to get access to a book. Without a word, the gray-haired old man went closer, extended a hand of help, and easily pulled the mischievous brown-haired old friend up. "Humph!" The brown-haired old man snorted while supporting his aching waist after standing up. "Pulling me up, that''s all you can do?" "You can''t apologize? Do you know how many ingredients I just lost because of your unrestricted visits?" As he blabbered on angrily, the frequency of his words suddenly started slowing down as he noticed that something was wrong. "Old Gab, what happened?" Old Gab had a grim expression on his face. "I had the same prophecy again". The brown-haired old man frowned. "What was it this time?" "It was exactly the same, I heard the same mumbles from the spirit world, but this time it was clearer and I got the keywords. I heard, Risveglio, Acqua, and Transmutazione". "The ancient Dawn language?" "Yes". Old Gab sighed. "Old Ralph, I''m certain, something disastrous has been awakened". Old Ralph did not utter a word of rebuttal. "Let me check for their meaning". With the help of his old friend, he raised his ladder again. Following his memory, he slowly navigated through all 15 bookshelves before finally arriving at the section he kept for the ancient Dawn language. After checking for 2 minutes, he carefully pried the books apart before bringing a book that looked like a dictionary. He slowly came down, placed the book on his table, put on his glasses, before switching on his special reading magic light. After repeatedly flipping for a minute, he stopped. His hands slowly traced through the ancient lines before him. "Risveglio- Awakening. Acqua- Water. Transmutazione- Transmutation". "Awakening Water Transmutation". "The 1st Sea King!" Old Gab took a deep breath. "We need to immediately call a meeting of the council of warriors". "Go on, I''ll be there in a moment. Let me tidy this place a bit". Old Ralph had a resigned expression on his face as he gently swiped his hand through his receding hairline. "We always knew that it was a matter of time before it was inherited". ¡­ 3 hours later. In a large hall that was surrounded by a huge dome-shaped structure that looked like a shield, a large number of individuals sat surrounding a round table. Precisely, there were 24 seats with another one at the head of the round table. Inside the hall was filled with bright lights illuminating everywhere, and it was dry, but outside was completely submerged in ocean water. Murmurs continued in the hall as the warriors speculated and discussed the reason for the emergency meeting that was called. All of them stood up as soon as they heard this sound while subconsciously bending their heads a bit in respect. A dashing woman accompanied by 2 guards entered the hall. She was dressed in formidable warrior clothes adorned with gold on various parts, her hands were covered by golden gauntlets, her boots were also golden. A golden cape flowed behind her as she walked, and on her head sat a majestic golden crown. It emitted golden waves, clearly revealing its identity as a high-grade magic artifact. Queen Auralis, the great sovereign of Atlantis. As soon as she sat down in the seat of honor, she gestured at one of the warriors seated below her. "Prophet Gab, you can begin". "Yes, your majesty". Not mincing his words, the Prophet who was dressed luxuriously and completely different from the way he looked previously revealed the contents of his prophecy and their meaning. As soon as he finished his narration and sat down, the queen started rapping the edge of her majestic chair like she was deep in thought. "Another unique skill¡­, were you able to decipher the wielder?" "No, your majesty". She turned her head to face the chief commander of her army. "Commander Alex, what is your opinion?" "The 1st Sea King died to our army just a decade ago, I did not expect its ability to be inherited so quickly. My suggestion is that we strike now while the iron is still hot and sharp". "The inheritor is clearly still a juvenile. If we act fast, we have a high chance of ?ssassinating it while it has not m?tur?d yet". "That is my sincere opinion, your majesty". He bowed. The queen immediately gave her verdict. "You have my permission, mobilize the army to ?ssassinate this threat while it is still small". She stood up to leave the next moment after giving her verdict. Getting to the door which led outside, she paused. "I want no unexpected complications". "Yes, your majesty". With a step, she left the hall and entered the water outside. Golden magic power suddenly surrounded her, and she glided through the water away at an unimaginably fast speed. The meeting finally came to an end. Chapter 29 - Ouroboros, The Great Traveller. In the great capital city of the Atlantis Empire, under the ocean at the very deep and darkest depths sat an underground structure that looked like both a building and a magic submarine at the same time. At this moment, a figure wrapped in golden magic power was gliding over at a very swift speed. When the figure finally stopped, the iconic long golden hair revealed her identity as Queen Auralis of Atlantis. At this moment, the queen was not accompanied by her guards nor any attendants. She was alone with her long golden trident that constantly emitted magic pulses with varying frequencies ranging from short to long. Her golden eyes surveyed the surroundings. This place of the ocean looked deserted compared to the other bustling parts of the great capital city, it seemed like a forbidden land. After surveying the surroundings for a few seconds, she suddenly raised her trident and clasped it with both hands. Her magic shimmered like the surface of a mirage, then her figure suddenly became transparent as she transformed into a ghost. After completing this transformation, she plunged deeper into the sea and straight through the thick rocks obstructing her view. And just like a ghost, she passed through the rocks without obstruction. A few minutes later, after diving hundreds of kilometers down, when she started feeling suffocated and breathless from the thick convergence of origin magic power, she finally saw the submarine-like structure. It lay dormant line an ancient beast, only the pure white glow pulsing around it revealed that something was lying there. Most of its enormous body was hidden deep inside the thick rocks, only the tail end was revealed before the queen. With a solemn look now on her face, she hovered closer and gently knocked on the structure''s surface. Hum! A soft but recurring sound emitted out at a gentle frequency as the part of the structure facing the queen suddenly melted in to reveal a door through which she could enter with. She did not hesitate, with her trident still firmly in her grasp she entered the magical structure through the opening. Entering inside, she saw an old man. Wrinkles filled the old man''s face like he already lived thousands of years, but these ugly irregularities could not hide the boundless wisdom that was emanating from his pure white eyes. He had no pupil, making him look like a blind man but he didn''t act like one. His long white beard flowed down his ?h?st like bubbling waterfalls, his face was as calm and serene as an undisturbed pool of water. "The great Ouroboros". The queen bowed respectfully. The old man finally turned to face her. "Auralis". After saying this, he no longer spoke. He just turned his head to look at the top of his magical home, seemingly deep in thought. The queen didn''t speak to interrupt him on seeing him silent like this. He suddenly sighed. "Auralis, Oceania is about to become turbulent again". "Teacher, is this about the prophecy that was revealed to Gab?" "Yes". The old man finally stood up from his throne-like chair, letting his long pure white robe fall behind him. He looked without blinking at the wall. "How are the chosen seeds?" The queen weighed her words carefully before answering. "The special training is still going on, but despite our efforts, only 2 of the 7 chosen seeds have grasped the essence of the gods". "Which of them?" "Athena and Poseidon". The old man turned to look at the queen. "That''s good, they''ve improved faster than I expected. It is good for the empire; this is a period that we need them the most". Seeing that he kept quiet again, the queen finally asked. "Teacher, the unique skill. Why was it reanimated so quickly?" "The Origin is looking for an heir". "Perhaps, this is a blessing to us rather than a curse. My intuition tells me that the curse will be lifted, but I don''t know how and when". The queen frowned in incomprehension, but she refrained from asking further seemingly waiting for her old teacher to answer himself. "Auralis, I''ve lived thousands of years but I''ve never felt the origin become so frenzied for a new heir. Something is happening behind the scenes; I can faintly feel it but I can''t pinpoint it". "I feel that¡­, a new Ocean Master will be born in a century". ¡­ A few minutes later, after explaining everything that he could to guide the direction of the Atlantis empire for the next few decades, Ouroboros, the great traveler finally got set to embark on a new journey. Queen Auralis wanted the old fellow to stay in the capital city for a few more years, but she knew that she was helpless to change his mind. He was the main reason why the Atlantis empire thrived after the curse; he was the main reason why Atlantis was the current ruling power of Oceania. He had the knowledge of the ancients; he knew the ways of the gods. He was the sole reason why the empire still had use for chosen seeds, he was the sole reason why Atlantians could still harness the power of the 7 great gods. Hum! The familiar humming sound pulled her out of her errant thoughts. Turning her head, she saw the enormous submarine-like structure slowly rising. Just like the way she was now, the submarine-like structure was currently transparent. Covered completely with pure white magic power, it trembled in place before disappearing out of her sight into the distance. In a second, the structure was gone into the depths of the Ocean. The queen sighed in a melancholic manner, as she was about to glide back to the capital surface, she suddenly stopped in surprise on seeing a white scroll gently rotating in place at the previous location of the structure. Gliding closer, she took hold of the scroll, and the familiar aged but boundless-wisdom-filled voice of her teacher sounded in her mind. "If Atlantis faces the danger of annihilation, crush this". Chapter 30 - Gluttony; The Sacred Way Of Sharks. Swish! Swash! The ocean water made swishing sounds as Sebastian swam across in a leisurely manner. After ending his chapter with the Leroy clan, he took a secret tunnel route showed by Leroy to leave the water expanse. The current him was too big to force himself through the tunnel pathway that he took to arrive at the expanse, after his evolution, he gained a few more kilos of flesh which meant his time in caves was over for good. As he swam, he could not help but think back to his experience with the Leroy clan. Their time together was short, but to him, it was nothing short of a memorable experience together. Through the few companions that he got there, he knew more about Oceania, got more Intune with his body, and grew significantly in strength. The current him, though he was not as strong as Leroy yet when it came to pure physical attributes, his tyrannical skills after evolving were enough to make up for this shortcoming. If a real battle was organized between him and the clan head turtle, the winner of the battle would be hard to predict as his skills could do a lot of damage if not avoided properly. Thinking of the unique skill that he got from the system only left him even happier, he felt like giving the system a treat to commend its generosity. To the turtle then, it thought it was planting a seed of fear in him, little did it know that this only made him more excited and curious about this strange fantasy world. To him, if this world was really as described by Leroy, then it was the perfect heaven to someone of his profession. Now, his greatest ambition was to find and dissect all the strange creatures that were birth by magic in this world. According to Leroy, the strongest creatures in this world were the legendary Dragons and Leviathans. When Sebastian heard that, his brain practically started floating in the skies. "I want to dissect a dragon". This was his reaction. Despite the excitement that he felt about this world, he was rational enough to know the degree of danger also. He planned to take it slow and steady. After getting to the outside ocean world, he would first lie low and observe from the dark. After he was confident enough, that was when he would burst out with a bang. And, already experiencing the benefits of the first magic organ left him super excited. He wanted to level up fast, get to level 10, evolve again, and get the material magic organ without hesitation. He felt anticipation swell in his heart on thinking of the numerous possibilities; fire, wind, shadow, time, sound, space, gravity, the options were too varied making him even more excited. And after the elaborate battles with the Leroy clan soldiers, he learned something. Before the soldiers could wield weapons, they all had some specific adaptations during their evolutions that enabled them to wield weapons. This was a very important point that he missed. If he decided to get an adaptation like growing a pair of limps, this would enable him to wield weapons. Though a pair of limps was weird for a shark, magic powered Oceania Afterall. With a pair of limbs, a whole lot of options to use in battles will open up to him, making him stronger than ever. Thinking of the strange illusion during his breakthrough where he saw what seemed to be his home, and the enormous highly evolved shark, he wanted to grow stronger as fast as possible. And after the last decisive battle between the Leroy and Sting Tail clan that he participated in; he learned some new principles about his skills. For all his skills, he could decide to attack normally with them purely with his base attributes. But if he wanted to deal extra damage, he could decide to empower them with his magic power. The only skills that required his magic power to work constantly were the magic teeth skill and his water transmutation. His magic power was needed for the rapid regeneration of teeth as he shot them at opponents in battle. For the Water Transmutation, the skill was powerful but it was a mana drainer. It was the main reason why his mana got exhausted so early in the battle. This brought him a conundrum. If it was possible, he badly wanted an avenue to increase his magic power reserves. It was his best trump card currently. By the time that he thought through all these, he already arrived at the end of the tunnel. With a pop sound, he came out of the cave and faced the outside world again for the second time. As he already admired the beautiful scenery of the ocean during the last time that he looked, he wasn''t shocked in place like a lovestruck prince again, instead, he smoothly swam along the outwards slope body of the cave down. [You have activated skill: Electroreceptor.] The movement of his tail immediately became silent, his eyes remained trained on his front as he navigated his way down the slope through the help of his 2 extremely s?ns?t?v? sight organs. He would follow his plan for the first few hours, which was to lie low, stalk, and observe from the dark. As he swam slowly, he noticed a few small organisms moving through the surface of the rough cave''s slope but he did not pay them any attention. Suddenly, his stomach made a sound that made his face change. "Growl!" His expression darkened. "The heck, I just ate such a huge feast". "¡­" Chapter 31 - Prey And The Predator. Sebastian still wanted to refute the outrageous claims of the system, but he immediately stopped as he felt his abdominal muscles churn while making some weird but familiar sounds. "I need food". He declared. From the way things currently were, he guessed that his journey in this world would definitely not be too smooth. Even if at such a low level, he had such an appetite, that meant the more he evolved, the more he would eat. "I''ll really become a glutton then". He lampooned. Because of this, he had no choice but to cancel his plans of taking things slow and steady. Now, he needed to act as the predator and great hunter that he was, he couldn''t sully the dignity of great white sharks. Still carefully, he started swimming farther away from the outwards slope of the cave where he''s spent the first few days of his life. He swam downwards a bit closer to the ocean bed, his belly was now rubbing the sea plants and weed as he swam across. He did this to hide his body and his movements a bit, this was an essential skill of any hunter. The blueish-green glow of this sea illuminated the surroundings, making sure that he saw as far as possible through his sharp eyes. Like a stalking predator, he didn''t move too fast nor did he move too slow. His tail fin just kept flipping left and right, pushing the water gently as he moved slowly with his eyes trained to the front constantly. He didn''t even have to move far, just about a minute after he was forced to move out, he saw his first prey. A Bluefin Tuna, just like the one that he killed when he was still low-leveled. He didn''t rush out immediately. Confident that he had sharper eyesight than the Tuna, he slowly approached with no intentions to rush things. The distance between them was slowly being closed. When the distance lessened to just a few meters between them, he finally made his move. [You have activated skill: Dash.] The water moved past his face at an extremely fast speed as soon as he dashed out from his position. Compared to before, with his improved attributes, he was now countless times faster. The Bluefin Tuna suddenly turned having detected the vibrations in the water, but it was too late. [You have activated skill: Battering ram.] [You have activated skill: Shredding bite.] Boom! He first collided with the huge Tuna''s body, he heard sounds like a few screws being loosened in the Tuna''s body but he didn''t give a damn. Taking advantage of the fact that it was stunned from the collision, he viciously bit down. Crunch! His first bite ripped a significant amount of flesh from the Tuna''s body, this seemed to finally anger the fellow as the familiar light of magic suddenly erupted around its body. The Tuna rapidly turned, faced its opponent, and opened its mouth wide. The particles of sand around immediately began converging, in seconds the particles transformed into solid rock before being thrown at Sebastian. Green magic power suddenly erupted from his body at this moment. Hauling his huge sharky body forward, he smashed through the rock and arrived before his opponent again. With his magic power surrounding and empowering his teeth, he bit down hard onto the Tuna''s hide again. The Tuna let out a soft yell of pain but Sebastian did not let up, he bit down again, and its magic shield finally popped into pieces. As soon as his teeth dug in completely, he immediately started shaking his body left and right. Just like chain saws, his sharp teeth started shredding the opponent to pieces. The Tuna struggled some more, it flapped its tailfin repeatedly in vain, a few seconds later it finally went limp. [You have killed a Bluefin Tuna- Level 13: You have gained experience.] [You have gained 3 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] Whoosh! As soon as he heard the sound, he felt something sting his skin. Through his electroreceptor skill, he concentrated and was shocked to see black blood suddenly flowing from his stomach. [You have been hit by a cone snail''s harpoon: You have been poisoned.] [You will receive 3 damage every second until you purge the poison.] "The heck?" Alert all of a sudden, Sebastian looked down and searched his surrounding for any opponent but he could not detect any. As he looked around, he suddenly heard the same whooshing sound again. The harpoon stung him again, he couldn''t dodge but he finally located the sneaky cone snail''s hideout. It cleverly dug itself a bit under the ocean bed, blending its color with the surroundings. Having detected it, Sebastian did not hesitate to attack. [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] 3 deadly teeth were shot out in quick succession but Sebastian was stunned as a small magic shield shimmered to life around the small snail, easily deflecting all the damage away. Feeling his dignity sullied a bit by that, Sebastian immediately abandoned his food and personally decided to finish this nuisance. Activating his dash skill again, the water bubbled and stirred behind him as he rushed closer to the cowardly snail. [Your Dash skill has leveled up to level 4.] Feeling even more encouraged by this, he rapidly closed the distance. As if it felt the danger, the cone snail''s shell suddenly jerked a bit and a purple mist surrounded it in a bid to deter its attacker. Sebastian keenly noticed that this purple mist was poison but he didn''t stop, after getting close enough he bit down without hesitation. Powered by his green magic power, his teeth immediately broke through the defense of the snail. [Your electroreceptor skill has leveled up to level 5: Automatically switching to advanced version of the electroreceptor skill.] [Switch to Advanced Electroreceptor completed.] As soon as the system announced this, Sebastian felt the change in his perception immediately. He could see farther, and clearer with the skill now. Almost immediately, he detected something else with his advanced skill. "Is that, another opponent?" He tried to activate his dash skill and dodge but the opponent moved too fast for him, even before his tail fin could shake a row of dagger-sharp teeth paired with magic power dug into his back with frightening force. Boom! Chapter 32 - A Fierce Battle. [You have been bitten on the neck by a Giant Barracuda: You have been inflicted with -27 damage.] [You are suffering from shredding damage: -4 damage for every one of the Giant Barracuda''s rough shakes and pulls.] [You are suffering from magic penetration damage: -6 damage for every one of the Giant Barracuda''s penetration magic pulses.] Sebastian felt pain like he''s never experienced before flood his brain, unprecedented agony bit at his brain as his face immediately contorted to the unbearable feeling. He felt like his skin was being sliced piece by piece by a sharp butcher''s knife, and they were slowly being placed in the hot oil pan while he was still alive to witness it all. He finally felt a taste of the medicine that he gave to the dead Tuna. Every shake of the Giant Barracuda''s body made its extremely sharp teeth tear deeper into his flesh, shredding all his blood vessels and muscles apart. The pain from this was milder compared to what the magic inflicted him with. As its black and white magic power penetrated his injuries, he felt like a hot iron rod was being pressed into his injuries. As the pain continued invading his brain, something suddenly clicked. All the pain faded away, then unprecedented rage directly overwhelmed his brain straight from his blood. "Roar!" Flapping his tail fin hard at the water, he felt his body move in the water but the Giant Barracuda still refused to let go of his juicy skin. Every muscle in his body tightened, squirming and moving like they were being heated on a fire. His tense body made him explode with strength as he struggled on the Barracuda''s jaws. In just a few seconds, his blood already dyed the surrounding water a dark red due to his unrelenting struggles. Despite his fierce struggles, the Giant Barracuda still refused to let go. Roaring again, he immediately activated a skill that could result in mutual damage to both himself and his opponent. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] Immediately after he activated it, the familiar flaming sword appeared. The Giant Barracuda felt the sudden heat instantly as soon as the sword appeared, it tried to release its tight grip and escape but it was too late. Slash! The flaming sword cut down with tyrannical speed and strength, directly cutting into the Giant Barracuda''s head. Sizzling sounds reverberated in the water as the flaming sword immediately cut a significant part of the Barracuda''s head away, including part of Sebastian''s belly that was originally under the fish''s harassment. Sebastian didn''t even feel the pain as his now blood-red eyes finally turned to face the opponent with pure hatred and malice shining from its depths. The flaming sword cut across again, but with experience this time, the swift Giant Barracuda reacted and dodged. After dodging it turned around and went on the run immediately. Its transition from attack to defense, then to escape was seamless, without hesitation and a strong vibe of experience emanating from it. Sebastian saw it as it intended to escape, letting out another roar his subconscious mind gave another order in his head. Before the escaping Barracuda, a huge tower shield suddenly appeared. With a booming sound, the unprepared Barracuda slammed into the sudden blockade without being able to react. Before it could reorient itself, it felt the water rapidly stir behind it, and then¡­ Crunch! All the dozens of teeth filling Sebastian''s enormous maws snapped down with mind-blowing force, empowered by his magic at the same time as they all dug into the fish''s back in retaliation. The Giant Barracuda opened its mouth to gasp while also roaring in pain, but its fate was sealed already when it let its grip go. The shredding finally began. Sebastian violently shook his body in the water, dragging left and right, pulling up and down, snapping side by side. [You have bitten your opponent: You have dealt -19 damage.] [You have dealt shredding damage -13.] The razor-sharp teeth peculiar to every great white shark did their dark work, tearing without any care of the world at the thick skin of the opponent, shredding every single ounce of flesh apart. This time, the Giant Barracuda no longer had any will of its own. It tried to struggle while repeatedly groaning in pain but none worked, Sebastian''s violent movements meant that the potentials of his sharp teeth were maximized to the fullest. And with his new strength after evolving, he pinned the Barracuda in one place. All his muscles were active and tense, focused on restraining all the struggles of the huge Barracuda. The violent struggle continued for a whole 2 minutes before the Giant Barracuda''s strength started waning. At some point, Sebastian left its body and his teeth were now firmly digging into its neck. It jerked a few more in pain, a minute later it finally went limp. [You have killed a m?tur? Giant Barracuda Fish- Level 21: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 12 Skill points and 20 Adaptation points.] [You have gained an additional 5 Adaptation points.] [You have leveled up once.] Feeling the Giant Barracuda go limp still under his jaws while also hearing the notifications of the system, Sebastian finally left his peculiar state of pure rage and came back to the present. His eyes looked around dazed for a moment before quickly clearing up as he felt a sharp pang of pain strike at him. Through his electroreceptor skill, he could see the large hole that was currently dug inside his back. Despite this pain, his eyes remained alert, watching the surroundings like a hawk to check for any new enemy. After the experience of the Barracuda, he was now wiser. Confirming that no more enemy was nearby, he suppressed his weakness and started swimming around in search of any good hiding location. As soon as he swam forward, his eyes lit up as he saw the familiar trenches that he saw during his first time seeing the outside expanse. Without hesitation, he swam back and dragged all 3 of his prey to the hole. He hid at the corner of the trench''s entrance, not daring to go deeper into his current state. After the 3 battles, paired with the poison of the cone snail still on his body, his health was now at a critical level and he was super hungry. Chapter 33 - Time To Hunt More Prey. Blink! Sebastian''s eyes flashed open to see the familiar greenish environment of the ocean water. His body ached a bit, he felt like he just slept through lifetimes, and was just waking up. As soon as his eyes cleared up, then all the memories of what happened came back flooding into his head. As everything settled down, he immediately looked at the corner beside the entrance of the trench where he was currently hidden. There, he saw a few bones and a cracked snail shell lying around. Seeing this brought all the memories of his most recent battle back to him. Since his arrival into this magical world, there was no doubt that this was his fiercest battle and the one where he was closest to death. He still felt some lingering fear when he thought back on the painful sensation of the Giant Barracuda''s teeth digging and shredding his flesh apart, it was an experience that he was reluctant to face again. The first thing that he did after calming down was to carefully analyze his discoveries from this battle, he learned a lot of rules from the battle. The first rule was to survey the surroundings carefully before engaging in any battle, and it was better for the battles to end fast least an oriole stalking in the darkness pounces out for an easy kill. The less commotion made in his hunts, the better for him. His only target was the Tuna, but due to a series of coincidences, he had to fight both a cone snail and a Giant Barracuda. He shuddered thinking of how close to death he was a few hours ago. Before, though he already embraced his identity as a shark, he still thought like a human. In this world, bite for bite, tooth for tooth was the rule. He was still moving around with the superiority mentality of a human before, but now, he learned the hard way to forfeit it. Though he was strong with his great white shark bloodline and his unique skill, he was still just level 9 after his recent breakthroughs. A level 21 Giant Barracuda was that strong already, what if he encountered a same-leveled enemy shark. He shuddered at the thought. And this brought him to another question, was he the only special sea creature that had a unique skill? What if other sea creatures had unique skills? This again made him become more prudent about this world, the dangers out there were too much for the current him. He already resolved to be aggressive to fill his gluttonous stomach, but he had to also add a brain like that of Einstein. This combination was his only way to dominate in his world. Also, after being stimulated by the bite from the Giant Barracuda fish, he noticed that he entered a state where he was purely driven by his instincts. He guessed that this was an instinct given to him by his bloodline. After thinking of all these, he finally relaxed a bit. "In the end, to survive in this world before even starting my ambition of an all-round dissecting, I still need to hunt and raise my level first". "I wonder how much stronger I will be after the level 10 evolution. I guess, by then, I''ll be able to dissect anyway that I want". He now really felt anticipation for his next evolution, he wanted to get stronger faster. Despite the dangers in the previous battle, he was glad as he gained significantly from it. After leveling up to his current level, he already noticed that his leveling speed was reducing. To get from his current level 9 to 10, his intuition told him that it would probably take more than he expected. After organizing his thoughts, he finally started thinking of his skills that leveled up in the previous battle. For the current version of his electroreceptor skill, he could only call it marvelous. He could now manipulate it by concentrating to see greater distances in a single direction. Due to the encounter of the Giant Barracuda, this was invaluable to him. He checked his health points and his status. After confirming that everything was back to full and that the cone snail''s acid was already purged, he silently marveled at the miraculous effects of eating prey. Because this was his first time killing a Barracuda fish, the system unveiled its basic profile to him. He didn''t go through it as he already knew the features of a Barracuda fish from his previous life. It was when he encountered Dragons that he would really need the basic profile compiled by the system, he couldn''t wait to dissect them apart. "Now, it''s time to hunt more prey". Shifting his medium-sized body for a great white shark up while gently flicking his tail fin, he hovered from his hiding point under the entrance of the trench. He wanted to go back out, but he suddenly looked back down after seeing a flash of blue light erupt beneath him. He looked down but couldn''t see anything because of the curved pathway of the trench. He suddenly remembered something. "I saw eels here the other time". "Perhaps, I can feast here to level up for the time being, if there are enough of them down here. But I have to remember the rule, always remain alert and cautious". With his interest piqued already, he gently swam down while repeatedly reminding himself to remain cautious. As he swam down, his advanced electroreceptor skill was already blasting off in waves. Through all these precautions, the overall layout of the trench finally started presenting itself before him. In a moment, he was stunned as this place suddenly seemed like an abyssal plain. An abyssal plain was just an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor. Following the gentle slope down, he discovered another thing. The greenish glow of the sea was subsiding a bit, he guessed that this meant a night in Oceania. Feeling enlightened by this while hoping to encounter slumbering eels, he maneuvered his way down. The walls of the slope slowly turned rocky, eliminating the presence of the few seaweeds originally growing on it. Going down a few meters, Sebastian suddenly stiffened as he sighted something. He tried to halt all vibrations from his body that affected the surrounding water, his glittering eyes watched the young prey alertly. It was a glowing blue young eel. Chapter 34 - Enmity With The Eel Ancient Family. Sebastian did not attack as soon as the prey revealed itself completely to him. Having more experience this time, he calmly stalked the unfamiliar eel while straining his eyes to survey the surrounding. This was a type of eel that he''s not seen before. It was blue and was glowing, it had 2 big eyes that were disproportionate with the size of its body, and black lines flowed through its almost transparent blue body. Tiny electric sparks went through its streamlined body. Despite its small size, the electric current alone was a big enough deterrence factor to most predators. [You have activated skill: Magic teeth.] Sebastian first released only one of his teeth, allowing the substance to fly at the prey with speed. As soon as it dug into the eel''s flesh, it immediately turned and directed a wary glance at the surroundings. Despite its wariness, Sebastian immediately observed that it was weakened. Its body squirmed out a grey milkfish substance in place of blood, dyeing the water in a shade of white. Seeing this, Sebastian confirmed a lot of things and no longer held back. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Dash.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Due to his relative proximity to the eel already, and due to activating his 3 most basic and essential skills at once, he arrived before it immediately. Without much resistance, his teeth dug in for the kill. Crunch! [You have gained¡­] Almost immediately after this happened, Sebastian sharply turned to the side as his electroreceptor skill alerted him of new opponents. His eyes clashed with all 3 prey immediately. 3 eels of the same type, transparent and glowing in blue color. 2 of them were vaguely the same size, bigger than the one he just killed, but the last was far bigger. The last eel was almost as big as Sebastian''s current self, which was completely outrageous for an eel. Anger shone from its eyes, giving Sebastian the impression that this was a parent who just saw his child killed before him. "Is this a f*cking family thing? So cushy, and my family abandoned me". Left speechless and grumbling in his mind, Sebastian did not back down from the challenge. Despite this, one thing rang in his mind, the 2nd rule, finish the battle as fast as possible. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] Bzzz! Sebastian couldn''t even produce any magical manifestation before he saw streaks of silver fill his vision. With a sizzling sound reverberating, the bolt of lightning fired by the biggest eel zapped his body viciously. [You have received -6 damage.] Feeling the immense pain and his convulsing body, Sebastian felt like crying. This made him place a thicker skin in his top list for his next adaptation during his evolution, his current skin was really not up to the task. Eels don''t exactly have the right goods to swim like other fishes, they rather swim by generating waves that travel the length of their body. Despite this, they were freakishly fast. Seeing the rapidly advancing unit of 3 eels enlarging before his face, Sebastian ignored the pain and immediately hastened what he was in the process of forming. The water shimmered before converging together in one place, a bright green light flashed and all the commotion subsided. At the place of this convergence, a familiar pure black bow and arrow hovered. At the same time that this appeared, Sebastian felt a drain from his mana. The water transmutation skill was really a mana drainer. Whoosh! Whoosh! The bow was drawn and 2 arrows were released simultaneously. Both long arrows of death rapidly flashed through the water, one at the biggest eel, another at one of the remaining 2 eels. A muffled booming sound of impact immediately reverberated, spreading shockwaves through the water. When everything subsided, one of the eels was seen pinned to the wall and was already dead. Suppressing the rage in its heart, the eel focused again but what it saw left it gasping in shock. Sebastian moved so fast, taking advantage of the point of collision to dash rapidly to its side. Crunch! Pain waves hit it as it reflexively tried to curl its body, its electric current also spread out at an extremely fast speed, invading the attacking shark through its opened maws. Sebastian felt irritated as the electric current zapped him again and again, keeping him in place. This spasm of his body meant that his teeth also released the eel, who took advantage of it immediately. With the sound of something sharp digging into flesh, Sebastian felt pain as the other eel produced a sharp weapon and drilled it into his flesh from behind with magic power. [You have been hit by a skill: You have been inflicted with -3 damage.] [You have activated ability: Tail fin attack.] Almost immediately, he spun his body in place. His sharp tail cut through the vulnerable skin of the eel sneak-attacking, dealing -7 damage in one blow as it reflexively retreated from the pain. Turning even faster than it could retreat, Sebastian''s still spinning body enabled his dorsal fin to cut again. Then his teeth finally came to the task, digging and shredding its skin apart. Zap! This time, the lightning turned tangible as it drilled a huge injury through his side. Another sound of a vicious bite followed as the biggest eel bit him on the tail, dealing even more damage. When he turned, he was surprised to see the big eel escaping without hesitation. Sebastian reflexively wanted to go in pursuit, but he held his impulses back and watched the eel gradually disappear through the plain. He was still stunned as he did not expect such reactions from the eel. As he hovered motionlessly, a voice suddenly sounded out. "Young shark, you''ve angered the eel family. Run now while you still can or the eel ancient family will hunt you to the ends of Oceania". "Enjoy your life while it still lasts". Sebastian was even more stunned now. "For real?" Chapter 35 - Leveling Skills Through Pure Kung-Fu. Sebastian was left stunned for a while, the declaration of the shameless eel kept on reverberating in his head, leaving his face with an incredulous expression of pure amazement. "Damn! I never knew eels were so shameless". Despite how amazed he was at the shamelessness of the eel that escaped, this did not stop him from going closer to feast on the 2 new kills that died to the tyranny of his might. A few crunching sounds later, the 2 eels were smoothly devoured and stored into his almost dimensional box equivalent stomach. [You have eaten the meat of the Blueray Eel: Basic Profile of the Blueray Eel has been unlocked.] Seeing this, Sebastian''s eyes glowed as this was his first time seeing an eel of this type in both lives that he''s lived. He was not too shocked though, even back on earth there were many types of eels. "System, unveil the basic information before me". [The Eel is one of the more than 800 fish species that are slender, elongated, and usually scaleless. They have large dorsal and anal fins that are continuous around the tail tip.] [The Blueray Eel is a mutated version of the normal eel. They adapted to the environment of Oceania and developed a special magic organ which stores their electric charges.] [It''s signature blue and slightly transparent body is a result of the mutation. Beware of its silvery-blue electric charges, you never know when you''ll become cooked by one of them.] "Well, that''s pretty informative. Having a special electric charge magic organ is fairly badass". After settling down, he didn''t rush to follow in the direction that the big eel swam in a moment ago. He wanted to evaluate his battle again, though he was the stronger predator he detected some flaws. The first flaw was his lack of sufficient mana. Thinking of this made him feel like bashing his head against the trench wall, this was the nemesis that was destined to restrain his Water Transmutation skill until he got more. Through his electroreceptor skill, he noticed that the injuries that he sustained from the previous battle were already closing up so he decided to continue downwards. Though the big Blueray eel a moment ago was powerful with its lightning magic, he was pretty sure that if this was a game then this Abyssal plain was still medium level compared to the hard level of the surface. His battle with the Giant Barracuda was always at the back of his mind. Thinking of that, he propelled himself and finally started swimming downwards. Apart from leveling up to the ultimate level 10 and preparing for his next evolution, what he actually wanted to do more now was to level all his skills to the highest level. He already upgraded his skills by a lot but he could not use the advanced versions yet, he wanted to reverse this situation. Following the contours of the rocky slope downwards, he suddenly remembered the shameless eel''s yelling of ancient eel family at the back of his mind. "Ancient eel family¡­, does he mean like that cultivation family stuff?" He tried to distract himself with such thoughts but they didn''t seem to be working, swimming down a rocky slope with no seaweed where he could at least hide for comfort a bit left him anxious. As he followed the slope downwards, he started seeing tunnels emerging from the sides of the slope on both sides. Most of the tunnels were too small to contain his body, he didn''t have any intention of entering them though. He was now curious, the deeper he went the more he felt like a boisterous community was below this slope. Making another sharp turn in the slope, Sebastian suddenly froze in shock. He felt like rubbing his eyes now for clarification but unfortunately, he had no hands. He saw a gray-skinned eel motionless at the front of one of the tunnels, its wide opened eyes kept on staring at him without emotion like a zombie. Seeing that the fish still didn''t make a move, Sebastian quickly came to a conclusion. The eel was asleep, but as eels'' eyelids couldn''t close up, its eyes remained open. Seeing this, Sebastian suddenly felt that there was really a God that answers prayers. He just casually thought of meeting a sleeping eel, and he really met one. Well, this was a practice target to him so he would utilize it to its fullest. He didn''t rush to kill the eel immediately. He approached it slowly so as not to startle it awake, then he quickly activated a ton of his skills at once. [You have activated skill: Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering ram.] [You have activated skill: Tail fin attack.] Bam! As soon as his much bigger body slammed into the sleeping eel, the fellow reeled backward in shock and pain before immediately waking up. A grayish-black substance immediately started coming out of its slippery skin as soon as it saw the enemy but Sebastian did not give it any chance. He didn''t even bite it, he used pure kung fu this time. Slicing sounds reverberated around the small tunnel, the poor eel jerked and shook in pain and agony as the shark moved back and forth around its body while its sharp fins dug into its flesh without mercy. [Your Dorsal fin skill has leveled up to level 3.] [Your Tail fin skill has leveled up to level 4.] [You have killed a Moray eel- level 8: You have gained experience.] [You have gained 5 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] The eel had its mouth open in the last struggle for breath as it finally went limp. The tiny but numerous sharp gashes dug in its body opened up at this moment, making it look like grilled fish all of a sudden. Sebastian didn''t pay much attention to his kill; all his attention was on the system''s notification. He felt like jumping for joy as 2 of his skills directly improved at once. Seeing this, he resolved to use his fins in battle more to level them up. And of course, great white sharks were not modest when it came to food.. Without hesitation, he gulped down the Moray eel feast before he continued his adventure downwards. Chapter 36 - City Of Eels. Crunch! [You have killed a grey Electric Fish- Level 9: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] [You have killed a Wolf Eel- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] Sebastian''s mouth was stained with blood again as he ripped the flesh of his new prey apart. Shaking his body, he tore through the magic hardened skin of the Wolf Eel before feasting on the meat. Though he already knew about the electric fish and wolf eel in his previous life, he still went through the basic profile information of the system to confirm if the system was as correct as it claimed. Electric fish are not exactly eels, the scientific and magical classification of electric fish was closer to the carp and catfish. For the Wolf Eel, it was not an eel either. It was just a weird sea fish with a head like that of an ugly wolf, and the body of an eel. The perfect description for it was just plain creepy and weird. Sebastian''s journey down the abyssal plain has been fairly sweet and smooth all along. In just a few minutes, he met 2 other grey eels that were asleep in front of other tunnels, and without hesitation, he practiced his skills on them. For the grey electric fish, it was also asleep and he easily killed it. But during the process, due to the slight commotion induced from their battle, the Wolf eel that was sleeping nearby was aroused and the brainless fellow mindlessly charged into the battle. Of course, Sebastian easily killed it too, the only problem was that he had no choice but to resort to his teeth to finish it off as the Wolf eel had ridiculously slippery and hard skin. And unfortunately for him, neither of these kills could make his skills level up nor did his overall body level up. Most of the time, some of the ones he met just yelled brainlessly before charging into battle. Seriously, he felt like these fellows'' unintelligence was indirectly frying his brain. He guessed that to meet really intelligent creatures like Leroy, he had to meet those creatures with a high-tier bloodline like his, most especially sharks. As he speculated, he quickly finished the meat of the Wolf Eel before continuing his predatory feast swim down the slope. He suddenly remembered something. "Wait, I''ve not brushed my teeth for days? Gah!" He felt like vomiting now, but he soon remembered that brushing his teeth was the least of his problems. For days now, he''s been eating raw meat with blood so what harm could going without brushing do? Consoling himself with that, he continued his swim sulkily. Another thing that he''s been neglecting after his evolution because of time was the main system store. During his evolution, he unlocked both the evolution and the main system store. The main system store was just like its evolution counterpart, the only difference was that through it he had the option of using his skill and adaptation points to buy skills and adaptations outside the time he was evolving. For skills, he could buy and get access to them immediately but for adaptations, they would only appear after he evolved. And the newly unlocked ones were far more attractive and expensive too. He would have bought one already, but he decided that he didn''t need them yet. When he really saw the need, he would buy anyone that caught his attention without hesitation. And he noticed something also that made him feel like facepalming. As a great white shark, he was always in motion as his swimming was not controlled by his brain but rather his spinal cord. The few times that he stopped to stalk prey; he could only attribute it to the uniqueness of this world as Oceania was powered by magic Afterall. His train of thought suddenly pulled to a halt, he focused on his mind as his electroreceptor skill showed him something that he''s been hoping for since. "Finally! An exit from this long slope". Excitedly but cautiously, he immediately started swimming in the direction that his advanced electroreceptor skill pointed out to him. It didn''t take him long before he found the opening leading to a vast world below the slope. The first thing that revealed itself before him was white light reflecting a vast new world, then the familiar scene of nature weed. Even more excited now on this sight, Sebastian went closer. He didn''t go there immediately; with his electroreceptor skill, he didn''t have to take such a risk. "Is this abyssal plain exclusively owned by eels?" As he didn''t find any danger immediately, he emboldened himself and moved closer. Getting there, he finally peeked and through his sharp eyesight, everything presented itself before him. "Holy uncle of all anatomists!" Sebastian had his jaws hanging open in shock due to the scene that was before him. The green glow of the ocean was still dark here indicating night, but it was still brighter than inside the slope. The scene before Sebastian was so shocking that he didn''t know which exclamation was right to express it anymore. Besides the 8 eels that were swimming leisurely stood a small rock which seemed like the landmark, and beyond the rock was a city of eels that the sight alone left him feeling dizzy. Eels of different types, different colors, filled his sight that this city seemed as beautiful as a rainbow city. He was mesmerized completely. From the cute eels, he suddenly started noticing a different sight of eels entirely that left him uncomfortable. Eels as long as 10 meters with fins as sharp as butcher knives started appearing in his sight, they projected an aura of majesty and tyranny that made him shudder in fear. "The shameless Blueray eel fellow". [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Dash.] Without hesitation, Sebastian directly started swimming in reverse to escape. He had no intentions of staying here one second further, but what happened next shocked him. He didn''t know when it happened, but something like a teleportation portal suddenly appeared behind him. By the time that he noticed it, his tail already entered the portal. Horrified now, he struggled with all his might to break free but it was all to no avail. His face suddenly contorted in pain as electric currents flowed through his body from his tail, then he fell inside the portal as soon as his body lost the resistance force. Warp! He disappeared. Chapter 37 - Advanced Dash Skill. Sebastian felt his orientation become inverted, making him feel like he was stuck in a washing machine that was continuously rolling. His eyes felt dizzy, he felt like he suddenly caught a cold and his nose was running. The light before him spiked in intensity, becoming as bright as the sun all of a sudden and prompting him to close his eyes. Everywhere around him became dark, but it soon recovered to normal again. When he opened his eyes, he didn''t feel the prick from the glare of the bright light but what he saw made his eyes widen in despair. The first thing that appeared before him was the familiar Blueray eel, and beside it was a few other eels of the same species. They had vicious expressions on their faces as they looked at their prey, they felt like a group of local bullies and Sebastian was now the prey. Sebastian''s eyes darted left and right in despair; he was directly drawn deep inside the city of eels which directly translated to immense danger. Feeling the pain being transmitted to his brain from his tail, he remembered the electric shock that made him lose his resistance and without hesitation, he attacked backward. [You have activated skill: Tail fin attack.] His tail fin stiffened behind him, before the shocked eel could react the sharp tail cut a few injuries through its hide. Sebastian didn''t even pay attention to how much damage that he caused. His eyes rapidly darted around and surveyed the surroundings, then he picked a direction and bolted away immediately. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Dash.] "Kill him!" The Blueray eel suddenly yelled loudly before rapidly swimming forward in pursuit, its friends quickly followed. A part of the originally calm and gentle city of eels was suddenly stirred. Though Sebastian landed in just one part of the city and couldn''t draw the attention of every eel in the city, his big, different, and menacing build of a shark was bound to attract attention. Most of the eels didn''t even care to understand what happened, seeing an intruder immediately lit the d?s?r? to protect their home in their hearts. "Intruder!" "Intruder!" Sebastian didn''t know who started it, but as soon as it started, it didn''t stop as a significant number of the eels who could speak already started yelling mindlessly. The young eels called elvers responded in droves, rushing out of their crudely made settlements like a group of mischievous youths going on a riot. Sebastian didn''t even know where he was again due to the sheer size of the abyssal plain''s main depth, only eels and even more eels filled his sight, completely blocking his orientation from discovering a direct safe route. When he tried to go through them with his electroreceptor skill, he felt even more despair as he could not see the end. This meant that he was drawn deep into this city of eels. Zap! His body shuddered as the electric current snaked through his body, this high voltage shot was enough to stimulate his brain, jolting him back to full lucidity. This was when he finally observed his surroundings well. Hundreds of super long eels were currently swimming towards him to feast on his flesh, but most of them were the small elvers. Sebastian didn''t have the luxury to analyze the expressions on the eels'' faces, he made his decision instantly. [You have activated skill: Magic teeth.] Almost immediately after Sebastian made his decision and activated his skills, he stopped in one place and opened his mouth wide. Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! The sharp teeth lining his frightening maw jerked before shooting out at the pace of a machine gun. Surrounded by his green magic energy, they penetrated through the ranks of the eels facing his front. His motive was not to kill them, his motive was to escape, and using this to create a pathway through their ranks was his plan. The eels were startled a bit by the unconventional attack method but this did not stop them, they hauled out their attacks immediately. Stones surrounded and empowered by magic suddenly flew out from the battalion-like formation of eels, when they touched Sebastian''s skin, he felt his body tighten like dried fish as electric current zapped through his body repeatedly. [You have been hit by enchanted stones- Ancient Eel engraved.] [You have been inflicted with electrical magic damage: -4 {¡Á8}] Sebastian detected blood flowing from his hide immediately after the first skirmish, his hard dense skill improved his defense but it was still weak against magic damage. Combining this with the damage that he just saw displayed by the system, he took advantage of the small opening that was borne open after he used his magic teeth skill. [You have activated skill: Dash.] [You have activated skill: Shredding bite.] [You have activated skill: Spike attack.] Crunch! Propelling himself forward rapidly through the water, his teeth bit down, savagely cutting an elver into bits and pieces. In the process, his spike adaptation jutted out of his sides, stabbing into the nearby eels. [You have activated skill: Battering ram.] He finally collided with the frontline formation of the attacking eels; the pressure pushed him back a bit but his relatively higher strength compared to the eels pulled him through as he bulled his way through them. His teeth no longer stopped moving, his body no longer stopped moving as he started biting left and right to bull his way to safety. As he did this, his skin did not rest as bites, electric zaps, and even more stones were thrown at him. Empowered by magic, the stones flew at such speeds that he could not dodge. His intuition suddenly warned him of danger, and without hesitation, he dodged to the side. Turning his head, he saw the familiar Blueray eel who just released the familiar lightning bolt. This turning of his head proved fatal, taking advantage of his temporary distraction one of the familiar Blueray eel''s friends attacked. Its body rotated in place, pulling both water, dirt, and its magic power to itself as it quickly turned into something like a sharp metallic drill. Then it rapidly flew outwards. Its speed was too fast for Sebastian to dodge, it encountered some resistance after colliding with his hard dense skin but it eventually drilled through. [You have been hit with a skill: Electric drill.] [You have been inflicted with -17 damage.] The eel went through Sebastian''s body completely and appeared on the other side. Feeling the pain hitting his brain, Sebastian growled, suppressed his convulsing body from the electric current, and bit at the side. Crunch! [You have inflicted -18 damage to your opponent.] [Your Dash skill has leveled up to level 5: Automatically switching to the advanced version of the skill.] [Switch to Advanced Dash completed.] Sebastian''s eyes glowed a deep green, then he locked into the drilling eel. Chapter 38 - Draconic Eel. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering ram.] Boom! This time, before the drilling eel could rejoice at its victory Sebastian directly arrived behind it. Even Sebastian himself was surprised by his almost instantaneous speed at this moment, but he still bit down immediately. Imbuing as much magic power as he could into the bite, his skills came biting down like a vicious rat trap having caught prey. With a loud sound like that of snaking thunders reverberating, his teeth clamped down on the blasphemous eel with mind-blowing force accompanying it. A sickening sound of something depressing reverberated, then a squelching sound followed as the eel was directly crushed under the sheer bite power transmitted by Sebastian for that attack. [You have dealt -31 damage to your opponent.] [You have killed a m?tur? Blueray eel- Level 16: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 6 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] Almost immediately after this happened, Sebastian felt fierce glares of shock penetrating his back which quickly became that of pure hatred. The remaining 7 close friends of the eel were agitated by what happened immediately. Blinded by rage, they rushed forward, pushing their smaller brethren apart just to get to this murderer shark. Sebastian did not dare to underestimate this group of 7 even though they were eels and he was a great white shark. This was Oceania not earth, and here everything was possible. Crackle! Electricity current zapped and crackled loudly, sending voltages of electricity into the water as all 7 eel''s eyes started glowing in a deep blue color. Seeing this, Sebastian felt his heart skip a beat and without hesitation, he activated his trump card. Immediately as the enormous flaming sword appeared, sending heatwaves through the water, the concentrated convergence of electric magic sparked a strange connection before rapidly forming a huge bolt of electricity. As one, the 7 eels let out a sound and the glows on their eyes erupted before shattering to pieces like a plain mirror. The behemoth-like bolt of electricity flashed forward immediately, and the flaming sword slashed out at the same time. A bright light flashed through the eel city, then¡­ Boom! The center of the clash suddenly seemed to have become the CenterPoint of a nuclear explosion, the ripples spreading through the water became the radiation energy as they went across at the speed of light. Sebastian jerked and blood flowed from the side of his snout as the wave rippled across his position, easily invading his body to deal damage. [You have been inflicted with internal damage: -38 damage.] He was horrified by the damage, but his eyes lit up the next moment as he saw a ton of eels with their back up floating lifelessly beside him. Seeing the lifeless eels, he felt pained as his system didn''t notify him of a kill, it obviously didn''t treat the shockwave damage as damage done by him. This did not affect him too much though because as the dead elvers and eels floated, an opening was unveiled in their formation where he finally saw another exit that looked like the one that he just came from. Without hesitation, he activated both his Triple Reverse swim and Advanced dash skill immediately. Just like the wind, he rushed forward, intending to move through the dead eels and escape. His eyes were already relaxing in relief, but it seems that life was not so easygoing Afterall. A loud angry voice suddenly reverberated that almost invaded his internal ears and cracked his vocal cords. "Eeleir!! Who killed my son?!?" Feeling the sheer power being transmitted through the voice, Sebastian didn''t even look back to confirm who it was as he immediately increased his speed to escape and safeguard his life. A part of the rocky environment of the city of eels suddenly started vibrating like an earthquake was imminent, it felt like an ancient dragon was awakening. The protons and electrons in the water spiked, rapidly increasing in activity in an excited state as a thick bolt of lightning suddenly tore out from underground, tearing boulders apart to herald its appearance. The lightning was so thick and concentrated that Sebastian who was far away shuddered in fear. "Is this the power of magic?" He didn''t even finish what he was saying before an enormous eel burst out of the rocky floor. It was almost 15 meters tall; its eyes glowed a silvery blue color, it had thick scales which was strange for an eel, but this was not too strange considering that its body looked more like a water dragon. Immediately after it appeared, it turned and its eyes locked on Sebastian. Bzzz! Sebastian suddenly halted on his swim, an electric cage surrounded him, and before he could react a mighty bolt of lightning descended from above to scorch his head. His brain felt fried immediately as soon as the lightning bolt touched him. [You have been hit with a skill: ???] [You have been inflicted with a staggering blow: -52 damage.] Everything was normal for a second, but the next Sebastian started convulsing rapidly like an epilepsy patient. His eyes rolled back, steam rose from his body and his skin melted as he felt unimaginable pain hit his brain hard. Throughout the duration of the lightning bolt, he felt like he went to hell and back. As soon as it ended, he decisively activated his trump card again in a bid to desperately cling to life. [You have activated skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Bow and arrow.] Whoosh! As soon as the bow and arrow su?k?d all his mana, the arrow was released and he felt the feeling of weakness come back again. At the distance, the enormous angered eel was in the process of summoning another lightning bolt but its heart suddenly palpitated. When it focused, it finally saw the pitch-black arrow that was rapidly advancing to its position. "Shield!" It growled. Boom! An electric shield appeared before its ?h?st on time, but the pitch-black arrow was still able to penetrate its defense. It ?r??n?d as the arrow dug deep into its flesh. Its magic became unstable immediately and the electric bolt in the water immediately dissipated. It coughed out blood, then it slowly turned its head to look at the bloody hole that the arrow dug through it. It faltered; its body felt weak all of a sudden. Putting in effort, it turned its head to Sebastian''s previous location but the great white shark was gone. "What a fearsome shark!"__ Chapter 39 - Ambush! Whoosh! Sebastian swam so fast that he left afterimages on the water surface. The water rippled after him in waves, forming overlapping gaps which served as a physical manifestation of his current speed. As he swam, only dread and fear filled his heart when he thought of the hostile environment that he found himself in. Knowing that he was still in the eel city only pushed him to his limits to swim faster, he felt his muscles ache as his tail, dorsal, and all his other fins rapidly flapped at the water. He''s not done it before, but as soon as he tested it and confirmed that it was feasible, he immediately started pumping the tiny amount of his mana that managed to regenerate into his activated skills. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] [You are currently empowering your skills with your magic organ.] As he continued his escape, his electroreceptor skill blasted out in waves, scanning his surroundings for any danger as he continued his rapid advancement to his only beacon of hope in this darkness, the exit. He was getting extremely close to the exit already, but this could still not make his heart rest as he felt that hundreds of evil eyes were watching him from the dark. Through his electroreceptor''s skill, he already confirmed that no other eel was going after him after the blow that he dealt to the 15-meter-long eel. The other super long eels only watched him from afar with calm eyes that hid wisdom in them. Their expression said that this great white shark meant disaster, and they were content with banishing it from their city. As he escaped, his electroreceptor skill showed him the city of eels that suddenly seemed to have become still due to his intrusion and subsequent escape. He could see the small elvers looking at him with pure curiosity shining from the depths of their eyes. He could see the mountain-like curved bed of rocks where the eggs were laid, and he could see the enormous female eels that were currently taking care of the fragile eggs. He could see the stiff hard rocks that filled the city, banishing everything called flower, weed, plant, or any form of vegetation far away from the city of eels. The tiny depressions on his body that were caused by the fierce shockwave after his skill clashed with the 7 eels were still there, making him look like a kid whose face was swollen after a fight. He could see the huge hole that was torn into his body when the huge lightning bolt descended, he could still feel the pain when the lightning magic ravaged his body internally. At this moment, these sights all converged together to form a single sentence in his mind, a sentence that left him wishing for things to have developed differently. "I really overstepped my boundaries this time". Plop! His body got stuck a bit, but after a series of frantic pulling, he was able to propel himself forward through the tunnel-like exit. Finally, he was out of the city of eels. ¡­ After entering the tunnel, Sebastian did not stop as he continued swimming forward with the motive to create more distance between him and the dreaded city of eels. At this moment, his stomach kept grumbling as the strong feeling of hunger hammered at his consciousness but he didn''t dare make the decision of stopping to rest or even find food. The blood loss from his body alone was already climbing to staggering levels, and his vision was slowly becoming blurry but he still didn''t dare stop. Thinking of the Thor-like bolt of lightning that descended from the water surface to batter his body, he felt the urge to cry but unfortunately, tears could not come from his eyes. The pain that he felt at that moment was real, the craziness-inducing numbness that he felt was real. At one moment there, he felt that he was really going to die from the lightning bolt. At that moment, he felt like all his ambitions would be laid to waste, and he wouldn''t get to dissect all the sea creatures that he had in mind. At that moment, he finally experienced the real feeling of fear. Back on earth, it was general knowledge that eels were below sharks in the food chain, but once again he learned the hard way that he should discard most of the knowledge that he learned as a human. Once again, he learned that this was Oceania, and the rules of nature were vastly different here from those of Earth. "Einstein, you were wrong! All of you were wrong!" "Eels are not the lowest in the food chain, dammit!" "Dogshit! I almost died!" He cursed under his breath again. [Your Magic Teeth skill has leveled up to level 2.] "F*ck you!" The pain in his body was now stimulating his brain so much that he felt irritated by everything. The unfamiliar feeling of dizziness left him feeling the urge to kill, he wanted to vent but there was nothing in sight. Alone, in the relatively dark environment of the tunnel, he slowly swam forward with no destination in mind. He subconsciously searched for food as he swam to refill his stomach but he found none, it seemed that this tunnel exit was deserted. "Wait¡­, deserted?" His groggy eyes suddenly darted open in alertness. From the little knowledge that he already knew about this abyssal plain, the eels completely dominated every tunnel entrance so why was this tunnel so deserted and lonely? Almost at the same time that he paused to think about this, he felt something stir around the surrounding walls of the tunnel. Whoosh! The enormous snake rapidly left its ambush point, it wrapped its prey''s body up with its long rope-like body, it squeezed and tightened its grip on its prey''s body before quickly going for the kill. The enormous Cobra''s mouth opened wide, revealing maws with only darkness hidden within. Its abdominal muscles contracted, making noises like those of a steam engine in operation, then it brought its mouth down to swallow its prey. [You have been attacked by a dangerous apex predator: The Devouring Cobra!] Chapter 40 - A Bitter Battle Against The Devouring Cobra. Crack! Sebastian felt his head go blank and his vision go dark immediately after the ambush. He heard cracking sounds reverberating from his head like his bones were being broken and squeezed, though sharks don''t have bones. Even though he did not have bones, his cartilages were there to experience the suffocating feeling of the intense pressure induced by the tight squeezing and compression. [You are currently being swallowed by the dangerous apex predator: The Devouring Cobra!] [You have been inflicted with the dizzy feeling.] [You have been inflicted with the stunned feeling.] [You have been inflicted with the crushing feeling.] [Your gills have been wrapped up by the corrosion skin of the Devouring Cobra: Your body has stopped the Ram Ventilation system process.] [You have been inflicted with the suffocating feeling.] [You have been inflicted with the Magic Liberation: This skill makes you no longer have the yearning to live, it makes your resistance against death weaker.] [You have been poisoned: -6 Damage every second.] For every health point that he lost, Sebastian felt the impact physically as his body became weaker and the pain became more prominent. His head was already inside the enormous maws of the Devouring Cobra, the magic liberation skill did its job as he instinctively started feeling that he had no hope of surviving and should resist struggling. The Devouring Cobra''s ambush plan was seamless and without openings, but it forgot to add something, it forgot to add that Sebastian had a system. As soon as the system spammed all these to him through notifications, his originally dying brain suddenly became hyperactive. Inside the blackhole-like belly of the Cobra, his closed eyes snapped open as a green glow flashed through them dangerously. [You have achieved a peculiar state of mind: You have fulfilled conditions to activate an innate talent.] [Effects: All your skills will experience a 30% increase in efficacy for 40 seconds, and all your adaptations will experience a 15% increase in durability and usefulness.] As soon as these notifications from the system flashed through his eyes, Sebastian''s already glowing eyes glowed fiercer, illuminating the belly of the Devouring Cobra like the sun. Then, the counterattack began. Roar¡­!!! [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have activated skill: Sharp Dorsal Fin attack.] [You have activated skill: Tail fin attack.] [You have activated skill: Spike attack.] The Devouring Cobra''s enormous body shuddered a bit as the prey inside its mouth struggled dangerously, hitting its body straight from its belly as its elongated body slammed against the walls of the tunnel. It opened its mouth a bit due to the pain of the slam but it quickly closed them back, biting in the process and injecting even more poison into its prey''s body as it continued its swallowing process. But this did not last though as its prey struggled even more dangerously. Ptui! A pair of spikes jutted out of the prey''s sides, stabbing into its thick elongated body as it shuddered again in pain. Before it could recover from the damage, the originally docile tail and dorsal fin of the great white shark suddenly stiffened. Sizzling sounds filled the surrounding waterbody as the fins became red hot and sharp. They sliced through its thick skin viciously like there was no tomorrow. Though its thick skin held, the fins were still dealing considerable damage to it. It still tried to continue its swallowing strategy despite all these but its decision changed immediately after its brain transmitted the painful feeling of a row of sharp teeth shredding its internals. Pure confusion first shone in its eyes, it couldn''t comprehend how the prey could still struggle inside its belly but it responded immediately to the attack, following the tactics imprinted in its instincts. This was a strategy to tire out its prey, and it has worked for it countless times before today was no exception. As soon as the Devouring Cobra started this, Sebastian instantly felt his muscle power lessening and fatigue striking in. Filled with desperation already now, his eyes suddenly shone brighter as a beacon of hope appeared before him. After spending its time since, his magic organ finally regenerated some mana and he tapped into it immediately. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Flaming Sword.] Without hesitation, he controlled the magic manifestation with his remaining flames of willpower and slashed as hard as he could with it. Sizzle! [You have dealt staggering damage to your opponent: -38 damage {¡Á2}.] The flaming sword was as tyrannical as always, it slashed only 2 times before dissipating as Sebastian''s magic power got exhausted but these 2 times were enough to do the needful. The first slash cut a deep injury through the snake''s elongated evil hide, then the second struck the same place as the first, finally separating a portion of the Devouring Cobra''s body from its main body. Hiss¡­!!! Sebastian already anticipated it, and it really happened. Feeling the sudden pain brought by losing a part of its body, the Devouring Cobra hissed in pain and could no longer coordinate its body as it instinctively tried to abandon its swallowing plan. It was a good reaction, but it couldn''t work again. Because of Sebastian''s spike adaptations that were currently dug into its body, it was unable to pull back out from its swallowing. This was a similar situation of a fish bone getting stuck in your throat. Sebastian was not going to waste such a God-sent opportunity, he pooled together all his remaining strength and erupted like a rabid dog that was irritated. Crunch! Crunch! His teeth bit savagely in a barbaric manner, his spikes kept on digging deeper into the snake''s skin, his hard dense skin-covered body kept on bashing hard at the Cobra''s belly, he attacked with everything available to him. [Congratulations! You have unlocked an active ability of the Vampire Teeth Adaptation.] [Effects: By taking 5% of your health, you have a 2% chance of activating the blood vampire state- which enables you to deal an attack that will take 70% of your opponent''s health points.] Without hesitation, Sebastian activated the ability instantly. Crunch! [You have dealt a staggering blow to your opponent: -230 damage!] Hiss¡­!!! Chapter 41 - A Near-Death State. Hiss¡­!!! From the high-pitched tone of the hiss, it slowly began to die down to a low tone as the Devouring Cobra struggled for its life. The last bite by the great white shark completely incapacitated it. Its elongated skin now had numerous injuries of varying degrees; its originally thick skin was now lacerated on every part. Its skin heaved up and down like it was a beating heart about to die. The prey was still stuck in its throat, and this was what brought its current doom. Its originally sharp eyes slowly glazed over, now all it could see was a dizzy red. The prey still struggling in its belly did not help matters either as it already suffered from staggering internal damages. The water surrounding their battlefield was already dyed completely with blood, the dark red blood already blended with the surrounding water to form a scene of pure carnage. In a bid to ditch out its last struggle, the Devouring Cobra pooled all its remaining strength together and still tried its twisting and turning strategy to tire out its opponent. Crunch! Without hesitation, Sebastian bit in retaliation. Though the Devouring Cobra suffered more outwards damage, inwardly, he suffered more. Due to the toxins that the Cobra already injected into his body, and the pressure exerted on his body, his body was already compressed by a lot. At this moment, he felt like his body was in a circle shape from all the squeezing and compressing. Now, he felt like a newly bought FIFA ball. Squelch! The Devouring Cobra released a bubbling liquid-like foam from its mouth as it tried to fight against the invading power of death. Despite its efforts, its lifeforce kept on draining. From the original white, its eyes slowly turned orange before turning pure red, then it finally went limp. [You have killed a teenage Devouring Cobra- level 15: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 32 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have leveled up once.] [You are currently out of battle: Unique talent- Adrenaline Surge has been deactivated.] He tried to move his body but he could not, he felt like he was being dragged down by a dozen boulders attached to his body through an iron chain. He even tried to open his mouth but the most familiar part of his body suddenly felt strange to him now, he felt like he was in another man''s body and so was severely restrained. Suddenly, the system lit up again with a notification, but this time the words were in an ominous scarlet color. [You are currently under the near-death state: Your health points have gone below 10%.] [You are currently under the heavily poisoned state: Your health points are being depleted in an extremely fast manner.] [You need to take a bite from your prey immediately to replenish your health.] [You have 20 seconds to take a bite off your prey.] [Your time starts now: 19, 18, 17¡­] Hearing this, Sebastian''s head reacted immediately as he tried to rouse himself up but his body was still refusing to cooperate. Though the Devouring Cobra was already dead, its enormous body was still curled around him due to the cramped nature of the tunnel. This added weight made him feel even weaker. [You have less than 15 seconds remaining: 13, 12, 11, 10¡­] Sebastian was stimulated even more when he saw this. Death was something that is ?ssociated with you, even the dry bones shall rise again just for that desperate struggle to survive. Despite feeling like his brain was on fire, he pumped all his brainpower into the now herculean effort of taking a bite of the food before him. [You have less than 8 seconds remaining.] [Your magic organ has recovered 2% of your mana points.] Without hesitation, as soon as he saw this, Sebastian drew the power of the almighty magic organ again. His dimming eyes glowed a green color again as he forcefully drew closer to the nearest skin of the dead Cobra, then he bit down with all his might. Crunch! He didn''t hear what the system said again, as soon as he bit on the Cobra''s meat he finally fainted. He didn''t even confirm if he swallowed it, he left every other thing to fate. ¡­ Blink! After an unknown number of hours, Sebastian''s eyes finally regained focus. His eyes didn''t actually blink as he could not, they just regathered lucidity and focus. Immediately after his eyes opened, the first thing that presented itself before him was the dead remains of the Devouring Cobra. Seeing this, all the memories of what transpired finally came rushing back. Then, the system spammed him with notifications as usual. [You have eaten the meat of the Devouring Cobra: You have unlocked the basic profile information of the Devouring Cobra family.] [You have ?ssimilated part of the Cobra''s magic essence: All negative effects such as poison, and weakening toxins have been purged.] [You are still in a critically damaged state and your health points are now below 5%: Devour the meat of the Devouring Cobra to regain your health points.] "Damn! I''m hungry!" He immediately shrank back in pain as the injuries that he sustained aggravated due to his actions. Feeling more modest now, he quickly swam closer to the meat before him to fill his empty stomach. Crunch! Without hesitation, he started eating away at the Cobra''s meat. He could not finish it in one go. After eating for a few minutes, he felt the dizzy feeling again, and before he could react his eyes started dropping close. He fell asleep again. Chapter 42 - Discovery- Magic Essence. Blink! A few hours later, Sebastian''s eyes regained their focus once again. Immediately after he focused, he felt the difference. The feeling of dizziness like he was in a washing machine was gone, the feeling of exhaustion like he just ran a marathon was gone, and the feeling of weakness like he received 20 consecutive doses of the covid- 19 were gone too. He knew it, Sebastian the great white shark was back. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] Through his electroreceptors, he immediately surveyed the surroundings. He was still in the tunnel where he suffered the ambush, and the Devouring Cobra''s remaining meat was still there. What left him depressed was the fact that his injuries were still there though they already healed a bit. He could still feel the pain coming from all over his body, which was irritating. [You have recovered 42% of your health points: Devour the remaining meat of the Devouring Cobra to regain more health points.] [Devour the remaining magic essence of the Devouring Cobra to recover from your injuries.] As soon as the system revealed this, Sebastian saw something that surprised him. 3 small eels were currently hovering around the meat of the Devouring Cobra, still in the dilemma of if they should eat or not. "My food!" [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have dealt -27 damage to your prey.] [You have killed a grey Eel- Level 7: You have gained Experience.] Seeing the shark which they thought was dead suddenly erupt to feast on their friend, the remaining 2 eels were spooked. Without even thinking, they turned around and rapidly started swimming back in the direction of their city like their life depended on it. Sebastian did not pursue the 2 eels that escaped, he had too many things in his head to spare attention to such prey. With quick movements of his maws, his sharp teeth munched on the eel and he soon finished eating it. He did not stop after this though, he followed the system''s guidance and immediately started feasting on the meat of the Devouring Cobra. Unlike the eel, he couldn''t finish the Cobra''s meat immediately. He had to munch repeatedly for a few dozen times. A few minutes later, he finally finished the remaining meat left by the dead Cobra. After he finished eating, he didn''t rush to leave immediately. He was already a sizeable distance away from the city of eels, now he wanted to find some rest while analyzing everything that transpired in his life for the past few hours to a day. The fact that he almost just died still felt like a movie to him. After resting against the walls of the tunnel, he finally started observing the numerous injuries that he sustained from his consecutive battles. At this moment, almost all the injuries that he sustained in his battle with the eels of the city of eels already healed. The only one still there was the one inflicted by the giant bolt of lightning. Thinking of that 15-meter-long eel still left him shuddering in fear. If not for his fast reactions to materialize the magic bow and arrow, he had no doubts that the eels would have probably feasted on his flesh. During his escape from the city, he still felt like there were eels even stronger than the 15-meter-long eel. Pairing this with the fact that the 10-meter-long eels did not attack him, he came to a conjecture. Perhaps, the city of eels already had a clash with a shark family before, and they no longer wanted to antagonize one, that was why the heavy hitters did not emerge to finish him up. Though this was just his conjecture, he felt that he was correct. One thing that he learned from his encounter with the eels was that it was better to live as a family. As a family, life was much easier here in Oceania. The only problem was that he had no idea where they were. "I still can''t believe that my parents heartlessly left me to fend for myself". Consoling himself, he finally diverted his attention to his battle with the Devouring Cobra. The thought alone left all his muscles and nerves tense, his battle with the Devouring Cobra was undoubtedly his closest to death since he transmigrated into this world. The Devouring Cobra was a prime example of the difference between species of Oceania creatures that Leroy emphasized to him. Like him, this Cobra was an anomaly. Despite being just level 15, it exerted such power against him like he''s not felt from any other opponent since he started his conquest for survival in this world. At that moment in time, he really thought that he was dying. The timely intervention of the Adrenaline Surge and Blood Vampire effects were what saved his sorry ?ss. The poison and negative effects fluids secreted by the Cobra after it started swallowing him alone were enough to place it at the very top of the food chain. This time, his system was to take all the credits for his survival. Once again, he felt how useful the system was since his reincarnation. "I''m sorry, I promise not to say filthy things to you again". Despite how close he was to death at that moment, and the pain, he still felt happy now as his gains completely offset the pains that he had to go through. Not only was he Level 10 now, but unlocking the active ability of the Vampire Teeth adaptation was his best gain from the battle. With the Blood Vampire effect, he now had another trump card to complement his Water Transmutation unique skill. Another thing was that he seemed to have learned another rule governing this magical world of Oceania. The system told him to devour the magic essence of the Cobra to recover, and this was evidently tied to its meat. Before, he has always been puzzled about how his injuries healed, but the knowledge of the magic essence seemed to have answered him. He guessed that every creature in Oceania had this magic essence, and eating them enables you to ?ssimilate this essence. He also guessed that experience points were gotten from the prey''s magic essence after killing it. Through his electroreceptors, he could currently see the flesh under his injuries squirming slightly as they slowly healed. Once again, he learned another rule governing Oceania. Chapter 43 - Sebastian Laws. After confirming again that he wasn''t leaving any loose ends behind, Sebastian finally got prepared to leave this abyssal plain for good. He already courted death enough here, now was the time to save his life. But before deciding to navigate his way back to the outside expanse of water, he first decided to check something vital. Perhaps, back on earth, he wasn''t specific about it, but now, he already forged a new anatomist rule for himself. And he was pretty sure that he would be forming others as time went on. Sebastian Laws of Anatomy: 1. Thou shalt not leave after killing a powerful opponent without checking its basic profile information provided by the system. 2. Thou shalt not, pending¡­ Knowing your enemy is equivalent to half victory in battle, Sebastian could not agree more with this famous statement now that he was reincarnated in Oceania. After the ambush that he suffered from the Devouring Cobra, he learned the hard way to respect this statement. From the bizarre attack methods of the Devouring Cobra, he was pretty sure that without his system, he would have probably become dead swallowed Sebastian the great white shark already. He already had the experience so he would be on guard against it in the future but if he was able to add the knowledge from the system to it, he was pretty sure that he could confidently clash with an even bigger Devouring Cobra. "System, throw me the damn information". [The Devouring Cobra is a venomous snake species of elapids. It is one of the deadliest snakes in all of Oceania, only below the few snake species who unlocked a part of their Primordial bloodline.] [As a mutated snake, it already has the power to use magic but most Devouring snakes take the physical magic organ to augment their skin, poison, and other bodily fluids to make them more deadly and effective against prey.] [Its method of attack is to wrap up and swallow its prey while secreting the deadly fluids in its body.] [Adult Devouring Cobras have so many different types of poison and fluids that they can virtually replicate any effect imaginable to immobilize their prey.] [In Oceania, they are the king of ambush among snakes.] [Note: They are among the few species of Cobras who have a chance of mutating in their ?du?t phase to become like one of their most famous ancestors, the King Cobra.] "Holy Moly! That''s detailed for a basic profile". Sebastian was pleasantly surprised after going through the information that was just shown to him by the system, this was far more detailed than he thought it to be. From this alone, he already had a basic understanding of the Devouring Cobra and knew to be cautious towards this filthy ?ssassin in the dark. "Wait¡­, this can also be seen as a form of anatomy, right?" He suddenly felt funny. Perhaps, the system knew his tendencies and what he loved that was why everything seemed to be so perfectly made just for him. Due to not having access to his dissecting equipment in this world, he was already feeling worried about how he was to fulfill his dream of dissecting all the animals here, but the system just allayed his worries. From the current standpoint of things, all he needed to do was to kill and eat the creatures and the system would do the dirty work for him. All he needed was to sit like a king and go through the report of his servant, who was now the system. "F*ck, Sebastian. Be modest, the system can''t be your servant, it''s far weird and strong than anything you knew before". Quickly reprimanding himself, he finally focused on another important point in his mind. Apart from the laws of anatomy that he already drafted; he also drafted another set of laws for himself. Sebastian Laws to being a great white Shark: 1. Thou shalt not focus too much on what shouldn''t be focused on, i.e, your current number of di¡­, no claspers. 2. Thou shalt not feel too full of yourself to remain cautious of your surroundings, that is just the perfect recipe for courting death. 4. Thou shalt not act without having a contingency plan. 5. Thou shalt, pending¡­ Despite the thick skin currently in his face both physically and psychologically, going through the 1st law again left Sebastian''s face slightly burning. As an Anatomist, this was general knowledge about sharks that he never felt awkward about before. But watching it from the standpoint of a human was vastly different than being the shark himself. After living with one pee-pee for 25 years, suddenly getting the knowledge that he now had 2 of those things left him horrified. "Do sharks even develop romance?" "The heck, Sebastian. Focus on getting strong, who wants to court a weird female shark? I still prefer the beautiful finely chiseled ladies back on earth". Quickly setting his priorities straight and pulling himself out of that embarrassing law, he finally came before the wide junction again- power. He needed more power to kill and eat, he needed more power to survive, he needed more power to dissect, he literally needed power for everything here in Oceania. Though the more he grew, the more experience he needed to level up, he knew that he was already close to that zenith so he was not too anxious about it. Right now, all he needed to do was cautiously navigate his way out of this dreadful abyssal plain, go outside then find easy prey to slowly level up. After he crossed that boundary of evolution, that is when he would find the courage to make more complicated plans. "Now, move that body Sebastian, and get the hell out of this place". Chapter 44 - Im Back Baby! Despite motivating himself to pick up his ?ss and leave, Sebastian still remembered his 2nd and 3rd shark rule to always remain modest. He no longer dared underestimate any creature in this world. He decided to play it cautious and cool, one step at a time. Thinking of this, he felt funny again after recalling something from his previous life, precisely his native language. "Wayum Wayum Bijegedi". This was a saying that his old man always emphasized to him when he was still alive. It meant that slow and steady, that is the fastest and easiest way to victory. With that at the back of his mind, he finally made his move. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] With the magical power of his electroreceptors spreading the omniscient electromagnetic waves to detect any ambush, and with his clear and alert eyes, he felt a lot more secure. The main reason why the Devouring Cobra ambushed him so easily was that he was exhausted and starving, a repeat was not likely to happen. Moving through the tight pathway of this tunnel, he was able to notice the slightest vibrations in the water and all the small organisms crawling across the rocky walls and beneath the rocks. In such an atmosphere, he was able to experience a sense of natural tranquility that he''s not felt in a long time. The only thing missing from the background was a cluster of plants or even weed to beautify the environment. "If industrial activities were not so bad, perhaps earth would be as peaceful and tranquil as this. But I enjoyed the benefits of industrialization though". Keeping his mind occupied with that, he came before a sharp turn in the tunnel. Here, from the dominant grey color of the old rocks, reddish- and yellowish-brown rocks started presenting themselves to him. Before he could even make the turn around the tunnel, his electroreceptors already alerted him of the prey shifting around at the other side. Tracing the black and white lines in his vision, an image was immediately formed in his mind. "Clownfish? What are these guys doing here?" He was stunned seeing the 3 clown fishes swimming leisurely in such a confident manner like this was their home. He was about to ridicule them when he quickly remembered his laws. But he couldn''t help but become curious. "Nemo, is that you?" He knew that he was being ridiculous which was why he didn''t ask that out loud, but he was still curious as there was no sea anemone here indicating the territory of these clownfishes. Well, it was not his right to ask, what was his right was that food was placed before him and he had to eat to stay alive. "Sorry, Nemo". [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] Pu! Pu! Hearing the sound and the rapid stir of the water, the alarmed clown fishes immediately turned in tandem like a group of specially trained commandos, making Sebastian feel apprehensive for a moment. His apprehensiveness did not stop his flying teeth. In a moment, they quickly arrived before the 3 clownfish. Ptui! Repeated sounds of something sharp stabbing into flesh sounded, then the water became tranquil again after a few twitching movements from the fishes. [You have killed a Clownfish- Level 7: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 1 Skill point and 2 Adaptation points.] [You have gained¡­] [You have killed a Clownfish- Level 7: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] "¡­" For a few seconds, Sebastian was left speechless, still in the animation phase to start a few new shots of his magic teeth. "You guys are actually so weak, damn!" He didn''t know if he should cry or laugh. When he overestimated them, they became as easy to kill as beans but when he underestimated them, his prey would become as touch as a rock. "This world is really perverted, and they even turned so professionally, making me feel like I was facing a battalion of Commandos". Cursing under his breath, he quickly swam closer before feasting in the flesh of the 3 new prey who suffered to the tyranny of his prowess. After quickly skimming through it, he continued his return journey upwards. As soon as he left the position where he encountered the 3 clownfish, it did not take him long again before he emerged out of the tiny tunnel where he was swimming through. As soon as he popped out of the tunnel, he arrived before another tunnel but this was far bigger, just like the path he used to scale down the abyssal plain for the first time. Despite the resemblance, he keenly noticed that this was another pathway. And just like the previous pathway where he scaled-down, he noticed other small tunnels just like the one he emerged from attached to this big tunnel to form something like a downward spiraling staircase. Feeling a sense of familiarity from it, he flapped his tail fin cheerfully as he finally started scaling back to the outside expanse. During his journey to the outside expanse, he met 3 eels in the process who were sleeping as this was still night. Without hesitation, he killed and ate them as he was not one to waste free food. He met another eel, but this one was awake. Seeing him, the eel''s eyes widened in horror like it just saw a ghost and immediately swam away before he could react. For that, this was exactly how Sebastian felt. "¡­" "Am I so infamous in that city already? Well, that''s kind of awesome". Propping his ego with that, he continued his swim. It didn''t take him long again before he arrived back at the familiar trench entrance. Seeing the subdued but familiar green magic light illuminating the surrounding water spanning kilometers, he felt like yelling at the waters. "I''m back baby!" Chapter 45 - New Magic Manifestations: War Hammer! Seeing the boundless water without any confines of a tunnel, the colorful weeds and plants growing from the seabed, and the towering Seamounts in the distance, Sebastian confirmed again that he was back. He was finally back to the normality expected of an ocean fantasy world. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] Without hesitation, he immediately started swimming from the position of the trench which had a depression leading down to the abyssal plain below it. He still remembered how he was attacked by the Barracuda fish, staying in an inconspicuous place like this was just courting death in front of the many predators looking for food in these waters. Quickly swimming from the trench, he randomly decided on a direction to swim towards. Despite this, he did not rashly start freely swimming into the wilder parts of the Ocean, he had to observe first. Now, he wanted to find a good location where he could observe evenly in all directions with a lower chance of being discovered by predators. This was when his intelligence as a former human came to play. Observing and analyzing the layout of his surrounding, he quickly arrived at the best possible location to act as a spy shark. As he swam closer to the slight protrusion in the sea bed that was covered and well-hidden by a cluster of seaweed, he noticed a flower in the middle of these seaweeds. It had many colors making it seem like a rainbow flower, but its 2 most dominant colors were green and yellow. It looked so attractive to the eye that Sebastian immediately wanted to sleep on top of it. Subconsciously, his tail fin flapped left and right and he started swimming closer to this beautiful flower hidden amid a cluster of weeds. [A skill has been used on you: Seduction!] Sebastian didn''t pay attention to the system''s notification at first as all his attention was on the flower, but he suddenly stopped as his brain seemed to have clicked back into its right order. Thinking of his previous state and the notification of the system, he shuddered as he finally recognized what this wolf in sheep clothing was. "A f*cking Sea Urchin!" "Damn, system, who told you I was seduced?" Feeling a painful pang of embarrassment slap hard at his ego, he felt an urge for revenge. Even in his previous life, he was a great resistor to female seductions, so what did this urchin mean? As his emotions became riled up, he finally noticed the extremely beautiful and attractive form of the flower rapidly fading from the flower. It finally presented itself in its normal Sea Urchin form. Sebastian was stunned. "Was that an illusion? You can do that too?" He felt a surge of enlightenment but this did not push him away from his intention to make this urchin pay for its blasphemous act. He wanted to rush forward and bite it to shreds immediately, but remembering the potent poison that a Sea Urchin had in his previous life, he wisely decided to use a more ingenious strategy. When he weighed his options, he quickly decided on his more badass skill. He wanted this Sea Urchin to pay for its act, and he wanted it to be squashed completely to meat paste. Slashing it with a sword would not do this time, so he started an experiment. He formed an image in his mind and pumped his mana into it. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a new magic manifestation: War Hammer!] Almost at the same time as the notification sounded, Sebastian looked and saw a pitch-black enormous hammer hovering in the water before him. It had complicated patterns all over its streamlined body. "I did it! I created another magic manifestation!" While feeling excited, he threw the war hammer with his magic immediately. Perhaps, having sensed its impending doom, the originally silent Sea Urchin finally stirred as it waved its small flowers rapidly at the water seemingly in panic. This could do nothing though. Bam! [You have killed the Seductress Sea Urchin- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 2 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] Seeing this, Sebastian felt excited as he seemed to have discovered another rule of his unique skill. He couldn''t create any other thing apart from the flaming sword and the bow and arrow before, but now he could create a magic war hammer too. He guessed that this was because of his increased proficiency with using the unique skill. Perhaps, as the Water Transmutation could not be leveled, his proficiency with it was the way to increase his power with it. He once again felt anticipation for it. "How many magic manifestations will I be able to create once I evolve to the next tier of strength above level 10". He knew that after the evolution his mana points would probably increase, he could not help but fantasize about how powerful he would be then. Well, those were for after his evolution, but for now, he had to be a spy. He didn''t know if he could eat a plant and get its basic profile too, and he couldn''t experiment with it as his hammer directly smashed the Sea Urchin to meat paste. Manipulating his electroreceptors, he made them focus in single directions to increase the range that he could see. He did this in all directions, but he didn''t see any easy prey nor dangerous predator. The ocean water weirdly felt deserted. As he intended to start thinking of other alternatives to find food, the system sent him another notification. [It is currently nighttime in Oceania. To remain at your optimal state to face any threat, it''s advisable that you sleep now with the other sea creatures and wake up strong to hunt prey.] Listening to that, Sebastian flapped his tail fin in thought. "Well, that''s reasonable, I''ll take your advice". As soon as he agreed, without hesitation, he stopped all activities that required his brain with the intention to fall asleep. In about 2 minutes, he fell asleep but his body kept on moving slowly through the water due to the actions of his mischievous spinal cord. Before sleeping, what he did to remedy this was to entangle his tail fin among the cluster of weeds. In such a situation, even if his body tried to swim, he would be held down by the weeds as he wasn''t activating his swim skill. "Common sense".. He felt like patting himself for his genius. Chapter 46 - The Stalk, Intimidate, And Kill Strategy Of Lions. Blink! Once again, Sebastian woke up imagining that his eyes blinked while he only actually regained focus to his eye lenses. The vision before him was blurry a bit, probably because of the bright green light of day. His eyes tried to adapt to the light intensity while he subconsciously activated his most cherished skill. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] Immediately after he regained control of this important organ in his body, he stiffened as his electromagnetic vision outlined something that numbed all the adventurous tendencies in his sharky body. "A school of Blue Tangs!" His eyes immediately cleared up, but he held himself from making as much as a stir in the water as he cautiously looked at the sight that presented itself before him. He was already used to seeing Blue Tang fishes, they were his favorite prey Afterall when he was still in the cave, but the current sight before him was far more intimidating and majestic. Blue Tang fishes filled his vision, lots of them. He salivated immediately as imaginary drool started flowing from his mouth at the sight of this juicy prey, but he did not dare attack blatantly without a plan. Though he already knew most of the abilities of the Blue Tang fishes from his experience and what Leroy told him, he did not dare underestimate them when such a large number of them were together. After all, little drops of water make a mighty ocean. Though Blue Tangs also unlocked magic, Sebastian already confirmed that due to their low-grade bloodline, they only had chances of unlocking basic magic skills such as a magic shield. Though most of the ones in this school were bigger than the ones he was used to, he knew that they only ballooned in size because of their high levels, but it didn''t necessarily translate to ballooning in power. The school of Blue Tang fishes swam through the water at a leisurely pace, completely oblivious to the hidden danger that was directly below them. As Sebastian thought hard, he suddenly recalled something. "The stalk, intimidate, and kill strategy of Lions". His eyes flickered again as the relevant information flashed through his mind. Back in his previous world, Lions, most especially a pride of Lionesses had peculiar strategies that they used when hunting which were summarized to become stalk, intimidate, and kill. They would divide themselves into units where they will all stalk the prey. After getting enough information and identifying a weak point, some of the lionesses will emerge and rush out to intimidate the prey. With the suddenness of the attack, the prey family that they were after had a high tendency of becoming disorganized due to panic. Then, they capitalize on this disorganization, just like a group of ?ssassins in the dark. The other hiding Lionesses will finally emerge, and together they will hunt their prey and get food for the day. Sebastian obviously didn''t have companions, but he could improvise on this strategy and form his own Sebastian strategy. ¡­ The school of fish continued swimming leisurely while socializing with themselves. Even if they couldn''t speak, they already mastered several gestures to effectively communicate with each other. In this harmonious atmosphere of a family pilgrimage or better still, stroll, something unexpected appeared. Roar¡­!!! Having practiced with this before, Sebastian was easily able to make his roar reverberate intimidatingly through the water like an ancient Dragon who had just awoken from his slumber. Qi! Qi! Qi! As he expected, the school of Blue Tangs immediately became flustered as they made weird noises while swimming around disorderly, at the same time looking for the predator. Sebastian did not attack immediately. He patiently waited until the commotion was chaotic enough, then he erupted out. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Boom! Before the Blue Tangs could react, the predator rapidly swam out from their side before colliding with them like a truck hitting a bicycle, the outcome was obvious. [You have killed a Blue Tang fish- Level 9 [¡Á3]: You have gained experience.] [You have gained¡­] [You have killed a Blue Tang fish- Level 7 [¡Á12]: You have gained experience.] [You have gained¡­] [You have killed a Blue Tang fish- Level 13: You have gained experience.] [You have gained¡­] Immediately after he arrived in their midst, Sebastian immediately started a feast amid the massacre under the tyrannical power of his skills. As he killed, he ate, rapidly filling his stomach with sweet, juicy fish. At some point, the school of Blue Tangs tried to pool their numbers together and retaliate against the filthy shark but their hopes were crushed as Sebastian''s hard dense skin proved too strong for them to breach and injure. This was all that was required for them to lose it completely. At some point, Sebastian seemed to start hearing this term being declared in the air. "To your tents, oh Israel!" Every Blue Tang fish making up the school immediately broke ranks, their primordial instinct for survival dominating their minds as they empowered themselves with magic and started rapidly swimming to safety. In this chaotic environment, Sebastian''s work became much easier, all he needed to do was bite and kill. Crunch! [You have killed a Blue Tang fish- Level 12: You have gained Experience.] For minutes, this massacre continued as Sebastian ate to the point where his stomach became bloated. At this point, the number of Blue Tangs was reduced a lot as most of them already escaped. At some point in time, other sea creatures got information about this feast, and they already rushed here to join in the feast of the poor Blue Tangs. The feast pursuit continued for over an hour, crossing kilometers of distance in the process as Sebastian and all the other newcomers ate to their fill, this was when the last Blue Tang fish finally escaped. Then silence descended in the middle of the battle feast. Almost immediately after the last Blue Tang fish escaped and silence descended, Sebastian slowly turned his head to face the newcomer closest to him. All the newcomers also turned to face their nearest foe. A light shone in their eyes, that light of having seen another juicier prey, that light of bloodlust, and the urge to eat even more food. As a unit, every fish and sea creature on the battlefield attacked themselves, including Sebastian. Boom! Chapter 47 - Skill- Soul Shriek. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Crunch! [You have applied the Vampire effect to your prey: -2 HP for 10 seconds.] [You have killed a Grouper fish- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 3 Skill Points and 5 Adaptation Points.] After feasting on the group of Blue Tang fishes, Sebastian''s stomach was already bloated and full but this could still not stop the instinctive drive in him pushing him to kill more prey. After staying in his sharky body for days already, he already learned that it was better for him to let go and allow his instinct take over at times. Fighting against his instincts was just him bashing his head against a rock. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] He bulldozed his way through to the most chaotic part of this senseless battlefield, slamming and shredding 2 other fishes to death in the process with his sharp spike adaptation. What made him even more excited as he battled was that almost all the prey here were strong and thick-skinned enough to act as perfect test subjects for him to practice his dissecting skills with. Most of them were above level 10 already, very few were below level 10, which meant that they already amassed some experience, making them veteran hunters in this part of the sea. Despite all this, he still held the upper hand, and besides, this was not a one-on-one battle; this was a free for all chaotic battle. Despite the staggering number of Blue Tang fishes that he ate a moment ago, they were still not enough to take him to that pivotal level where his evolution could start, so he tried to fill that gap with the prey before him. He didn''t try to use area of effect skills like his Magic Teeth, those would just attract too many enemies that he could not deal with at a time. Instead of doing that, he took it close and personal, the way approved by the ancients, the primordial and sacred way of biting. Seeing a swordfish swimming across him, he reacted and immediately latched on to it and bit like the apex predator that he was. Crunch! [You have dealt 14 Damage to your opponent.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] At the last moment, he rapidly swam forward, dodging the glowing bill of another swordfish who rushed at him. Seeing this scene, he was stunned at first but he finally understood what happened. "So, you guys actually care about family". He didn''t get any response from the 2 swordfish, only a weird sound of intimidation but this did not faze him as he immediately attacked both siblings at the same time. [You have activated skill: Tail fin attack.] Adding these 2 to his already activated skills, he immediately dashed at the 2 swordfish. He already knew their strength and weaknesses, so all he did was avoid their dangerous bills. As he expected, the 2 simple fellows only knew how to charge their magic power to empower their bills and he easily took advantage of this. Dodging their charges while attacking from their flanks, he dealt considerable damage to both fishes in a few minutes. They later intended to escape but they could not as he quickly did short work of them. Seeing that he still didn''t get to the threshold after eating these 2, he felt disappointed. Finally feeling tired, he decided to leave the battlefield to rest. As he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a loud sound that seemed to have drilled a hole through his mind. Screech¡­!!! [A skill has been used on you: Soul Shriek.] [You have been inflicted with soul damage: -11 damage {¡Á3}.] [You have been inflicted with the soul lock effect.] When his eyes opened again, he saw a pair of sharp talons picking up an enormous Grouper fish and a tall sharp beak immediately stabbing at the fish and pulling out its eyes. The fish struggled fiercely but the draconic bird-like predator held it firmly. After a few more beak stabs, the fish went limb as the predator finally started feasting on its prey. In just moments, the hunter became the hunted. Seeing this scene, remembering what happened to him, and seeing the notification of the system, Sebastian''s eyes widened as a warning issued to him by Leroy echoed in his mind. He even felt like the turtle was beside him now. "Until you''re strong enough, when you meet the Dragon fireflies, run! Don''t even contemplate struggling, run!" As this went through his mind, with his electroreceptor skill, Sebastian could already see the 3 Oceanic birds that seemed like an enlarged version of fireflies. They seemed like a beetle and eagle that were randomly mashed together by a mad scientist, the combination result was frightening and goosebumps-inducing. Unlike on earth, birds here were adapted to swim with their wings. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Whoosh! The water parted before him speedily as his tail fin, dorsal fin, and caudal fin all worked at overdrive to propel him out of this battlefield. In seconds since the 3 birds descended, even more blood already dyed everywhere. Sebastian deliberately dove into those waters that already got muddled and mixed with blood, at least red could give him a camouflage to escape before the birds could react. He prayed for the best but his heart sank when one of the bird''s eyes landed on him, it seemed that they didn''t intend to let any of their prey escape. Flapping its wings that were far larger than its body, the huge firefly bird ripped the prey under it to shreds with its extremely sharp talons before going after the escaping shark in pursuit. And compared to the shark, its speed was far faster. Immediately, Sebastian felt horror grip his heart as he tried to increase his speed further. With his electroreceptors, he could see the rapidly dwindling distance between him and the strange Oceanic bird. "The heck! That was Leroy''s standards, and my current standards are higher than Leroy''s. They may be strong, but it doesn''t necessarily mean that there is a 100% chance of me dying either". "Besides, I can dissect a completely new Oceania species at the same time if I manage to kill it". "That''s an achievement". As these thoughts went through his mind, panic faded like the wind and he immediately arrived at a plan. His eyes excitedly glittered like the night sky. Chapter 48 - Dragon Fireflies. The Dragon Firefly had a vicious expression on its face as it pursued its target. Its almost transparent beetle-like wings flapped at the water repeatedly, rapidly increasing its speed in the water. Its 2 spiked antennas waved through the water carefreely, making it seem like an Ocean overlord leisurely hunting prey. The glowing yellowish-green eyes of the waterbird of prey watched its target intently, its focus as terrifying as a periscope''s as it gradually closed the distance. Its talons were already opening up for the juicy catch. It suddenly spread its wings thin and dived, using the change in momentum to accelerate and arrive before Sebastian in an instant. As its strong, huge, and sharp talons closed in on the prey, a tower shield suddenly appeared before it. Scratch! A loud scratching sound reverberated as its sharp talons clashed with the shield. Feeling the extremely hard surface beneath it, confusion clearly showed on its face and Sebastian took advantage of this. Before it could understand what was going on, a pitch-black hammer appeared above it in mid-water before slamming down hard. Boom! Its vision went dark as stars replaced every other thing in its mind. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield.] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer.] [You have inflicted 24 Damage to your opponent: Your opponent has been inflicted with the stunned state.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Flaming Sword.] Sebastian stacked all 3 magic manifestations in such a well-timed manner that one arrived before the other at exactly the same time frame, and the effects were lethal to the clueless water bird. As soon as the bird''s mind went black after the first attack from the war hammer, the flaming sword appeared behind the tower shield and stabbed forward. The sizzling water parted ways to allow the sword to gather more momentum as it stabbed without any hindrance or resistance at the bird''s ?h?st, drilling all the way in as blood poured down in waves. [You have dealt Critical Damage to your opponent: -42 Damage.] This was when the bird''s eyes finally snapped open with pain shining from its depths. The painful sensation of both the hammer''s slam, and now the stab from the flaming sword dealt so much damage to it that it was now in agony. As it writhed in pain, from the corner of its green eyes, it suddenly saw the great white shark rapidly swimming towards it. It instinctively tried to flap its enormous wings and retreat but Sebastian who already gathered momentum was faster, his maws opened up as the rows of dagger-sharp teeth inside it snapped at the bird''s neck. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have activated Vampire Teeth Adaptation''s active skill: Blood Vampire.] [You have failed to activate the Blood Vampire state.] [You have activated Vampire Teeth Adaptation''s active skill: Blood Vampire.] [You have activated Vampire Teeth Adaptation''s active skill: Blood Vampire.] [You have successfully activated the Blood Vampire state.] Crunch! The bird''s neck visibly suffered a depression, the sound of bones breaking followed, then a flood of blood-fall accompanied it as dark green blood flowed out of the bird''s neck in waves. Its enormous body shuddered, its muscles visibly contracted before relaxing as a lot of strength and vitality got lost from its body in one go. Its eyes glazed over before it opened its mouth wide. Screech¡­!!! This screech was unlike the first time that they descended from above, it had a kind of pleading and sorrowful vibe to it compared to the previous one of dominance and arrogance. Immediately after the screech sounded, the 2 bigger Dragon fireflies who were feasting on the prey before them turned their eyes to check on their sibling in alarm. Then it swam up, spread its wings wide before opening its mouth even wider. The water before its mouth suddenly started boiling, turning to steam like an abyssal demon was being released from its mouth. Then, its throat reeled in, allowing the dark green fire to come pouring out like a flood. The dark green fire did not spread out, instead, it flew in a straight concentrated line towards the shark who was at the point of killing the bird already. Immediately as Sebastian saw the fire, he originally wanted to tank it and wait until he killed the bird but seeing the surrounding waterbody that seemed like it was evaporating, he turned and decisively escaped immediately. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] While escaping, he created his tower shield magic manifestation again before placing it behind him to first weather the damage. Boom! The tower shield held back the fire for a few seconds, then it ignited and melted as the green fire continued its unimpeded approach. Sebastian 4th law to being a great white Shark- Thou shalt not act without having a contingency plan. Below this battlefield was a b?r?ly noticeable tunnel, but he already noticed it since and this was his contingency plan. The tower shield only bought a few seconds for him, but these precious seconds were all that he needed. [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! His magic teeth shot out at a rapid pace, shooting at the rock formations that formed the entrance of the tunnel. Though they didn''t do much, they were able to dig into the foundations of the entrance a bit and this was all he needed. Increasing his speed even further, he rushed into the tunnel while at the same time using his body to ram at the entrance to the tunnel. Bam! The shock force tyrannically spread everywhere, affecting the already tipped-over foundations of the entrance. Boom! The green fire hit the entrance, it melted it a few inches in, but it was firmly stopped by the sturdy rocks of the small tunnel. Then if finally dissipated; the shark escaped. Chapter 49 - I Survived! Seeing the thick rocks blocking the entrance to the tunnel and allowing the shark to escape, the Dragon Firefly who breathed out the fire hovered in the water with a livid expression on its face. Its fiery green eyes glared at the rocks like they were its archenemy. If its eyes could shoot lasers, they would have probably evaporated the rocks already. Screech¡­!!! It raised its head, opened its mouth, and shrieked angrily. Taking advantage of this rare moment of respite, the prey that survived the hunting of the winged predators took to their heels and immediately disappeared from the battlefield. The winged predator felt even more livid because its green fire breath could not kill the shark, but it ended up killing its already half-dead sibling. The poor Dragon Firefly was roasted by the fire breath of its sibling. As the 2-winged predators thrashed angrily at the death of their sibling, green fire suddenly appeared from nowhere before quickly solidifying to form something like a portal. From the green portal came an exaggeratedly thick talon, following it was the emergence of a Dragon Firefly that completely dwarfed the first 2 on every category imaginable. As soon as it appeared, it first looked at the roasted Firefly in the distance before turning its head back to look at the 2 Dragon Fireflies who were guilty of this murder. The 2 Dragon Fireflies bent their heads in fear and reverence immediately on feeling the gaze land on them, they visibly shivered. The giant Dragon Firefly''s antennas that looked like medieval lancers twitched and swiped at the water repeatedly like it was thinking, then one of them suddenly came slamming down like a mountain sword. The sharp antenna cleanly cut through the left-wing of the Dragon Firefly who breathed out the fire, then without looking back, it went through the green portal and disappeared. Despite the searing pain that followed the cut, the Dragon Firefly was able to hold itself back from shrieking in pain. After the giant Dragon Firefly left through the portal, it finally raised its head again. Without making a sound, it turned around, and with its sibling, they swam closer to their dead roasted sibling. They both bent down, striking their beaks down in the process as they started feasting in the dead remains of their sibling. ¡­ "Phew! I survived!" Sebastian heaved an exaggerated sigh of relief as he rested his body that was already bloated from eating too much to the sides of the tunnel. The action that he took a few minutes ago was probably his riskiest action since transmigrating into this world, but he did not feel regret at all. Remembering the thrill throughout the process left him shaking in excitement. The only regret that he felt was his inability to kill the Dragon Firefly. "Damn! I was so close". Despite his meticulous planning and his impeccable execution of the plan, he was still unable to kill the bird-beetle mismatch monster. Despite taking 70% of its health in one go after successfully activating the Blood Vampire effects of his teeth adaptation, the fact that he could not still kill it with the subsequent attacks revealed to him that it was far stronger than him. At least, its health points alone should be more than 5 times his. "Leroy didn''t lie". As much as he felt excited by the encounter, so also did he shudder dreadfully as any mistake would have easily led to his death. Once again, through the previous battle, he was exposed to another facet entirely of this fantasy world. From this encounter, he was now sure that Oceania did not adhere to Earth standards at all. That monster, the only thing that he could compare it to was Frankenstein''s monster. It was a completely illogical bred of Oceania bird. When he was trying to activate the Blood Vampire effect without success, he already had his heart to his throat as he feared for the worse. Thankfully, everything clicked and he was able to activate it on the 3rd try. It was the only reason why he won the battle, this once again made him appreciate how strong his Vampire Teeth Adaptation was. As soon as he escaped inside the tunnel, despite the entrance already being covered by rocks, he did not feel safe. He immediately scouted his surroundings for any danger, seeing none he rapidly swam deeper inside the tunnel. In a few seconds, he was already far away from the entrance. It was after he swam to a deep enough area of the tunnel that he finally heaved a sigh of relief, now he felt sleepy all over. After pursuing a school of Blue Tang fishes for hours and having a feast from their flesh, fighting with another group of lunatics left him tired. Then, having to escape from the Dragon Fireflies pushed him to the edge. Now, all he wanted to do was to sleep and recover. He still felt disappointed by his inability to kill the mismatch bird. If he could kill it, he had no doubts that the experience gotten from that would have been enough to skyrocket him to the threshold to evolution. "Well, I guess this was not my day. It''s not like I have luck points either". ¡­ Blink! A few hours later, when the green light shining over this region of Oceania peaked, indicating that it was afternoon, Sebastian finally woke up. Sweeping a glance at his surroundings, he discovered that he was still in the tunnel but not at the same location where he slept. Without even having to think, he knew that it was his mischievous spinal cord again. As soon as he woke up, he didn''t know how he knew but he was able to know that his stomach already digested the feast that he enjoyed in the morning. "That''s some fast siphoning". He lampooned while observing his surroundings carefully. After taking control of his body back, he keenly noticed that the tunnel was slowly widening the deeper he went, and it seemed like it led deep underground instead of the outside water expanse. From the curve of the slope, he knew that the tunnel only pointed down. Just like the other tunnels that he already saw, the walls of this one were mostly grey mixed with some slight greenery. The most important observation that came to him was that no prey was in sight. Though he was not feeling hungry yet, he did not want to experience that before securing his next food. With that consideration in mind, he started swimming down. Chapter 50 - A Journey Down The Spiraling Staircase Tunnel. "The f*ck is this place exactly?" Sebastian felt frustrated already. Despite swimming down the tunnel for what seemed like hours already, he still couldn''t see any signs pointing that he was about to get out of it. That alone was not enough to make him frustrated, what made him curse angrily was the fact that no prey was still in sight. His stomach and gluttonous appetite were already grumbling in grievance, but he still didn''t have any solution to appease it. He could only put up with it, hoping that he would get lucky soon. As soon as this thought came to him, he remembered. "Luck: 0". "F*ck!!!" He wanted to cry but tears refused to come out, this was when the importance of that luck point started emphasizing itself before him. Now, he really wanted to curse at his system but remembering all the commendable things that it already did for him, he could only hold back. Despite all these random thoughts that went through his mind, he did not dare let his guard down. The first reason was because of his experience with the Devouring snake, no prey being here probably meant that a predator ruled here. The second reason was the change in the environment of the tunnel. Now, he wasn''t sure if he should call it a tunnel again as it was now already wide enough to fit 5 of the current him. It''s ballooning in size made him guess that this was leading to another abyssal plain, and after his experience with the city of eels, this only made him apprehensive about his future. Despite his apprehensiveness, he still had to swim down to find prey unless he wanted to die of hunger. From the normal grey and greenish color that the walls of the tunnel had, the color was now changing to red and black. Not only this, Sebastian could feel the temperature increasing the deeper he swam. The first thought that came to him on observing this was that an underwater volcano was nearby, but he wasn''t sure if he should be endorsing such thinking. What does going near a volcano mean? Being burnt by fire. What does being burnt by volcanic fire mean? Being roasted to become Sebastian the great white shark meat. The thought alone left him shuddering in fear. "I''m not that unlucky, right?" Sebastian, like most of his natives, believed since their childhood that fire and water were polar opposites and they could not meet but this was wrong in the case of ocean volcanoes. Even back on Earth, research showed that there are as many as 30,000 ocean volcanoes scattered. This alone was enough to tell fairytales. Remembering the video that he watched of the erupting West Mata volcano left Sebastian shuddering again. His days in this world seemed to be getting more and more dangerous. From the dangerous city of eels, a casual hunt made him encounter Dragon Fireflies, and now escaping made him encounter this. "Am I cursed?" Though he felt indignant, he still felt safe as his mana points already recovered after resting for hours. His battle with the Dragon Firefly told him that if he planned enough and was alert, no enemy in this region of the Green Mist Sea was too much for him. His Water Transmutation skill was his Mjolnir in this world. As he swam deeper, he noticed that all signs of greenery already disappeared. The walls of the tunnel already turned to purely rock formations, and the red in them was now deeper than ever. Steam was now slowly rising from the walls of the tunnel, bringing an ominous and terrifying vibe to the tunnel. Sebastian almost jumped in fright on hearing the sound. Turning his head, he didn''t see any sea creature but rather a part of the wall was heaving up and down like a beating heart. Seeing all this, he already more or less confirmed that he was legit close to a volcano. He felt complicated, but he became more serious to fend off any danger. Swimming down for a few more minutes, his eyes lit up as he finally saw something like a spiraling staircase attached to the walls of the tunnel. He didn''t understand what it meant, but anything was better than nothing. He wanted to activate his Advanced Dash skill and rush there, but he remembered his own rules and decided to play it safe. [You have activated skill: Electroreceptors.] [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] Due to the stamina drain that accompanies every time that he used a skill, he only used his sharp eyes to observe his surroundings till now. But now that there was a change, he needed to improvise. Without wasting time, he swam closer to the part of the wall that looked like a spiraling staircase. Getting there, he saw that the tunnel directly turned from a slope to a straight-line tunnel facing down. Whoosh! Sebastian already detected them before they even attacked with his electroreceptors, so he was not flustered. [You have been hit by a skill: Claw Attack.] [You have been inflicted with -3 Damage.] Seeing the negligible damage that the crab''s skill dealt to him, Sebastian did not hold back as he retaliated immediately. This was food Afterall. [You have activated skill: Shredding bite.] Crunch! [You have killed a Claw Crab- Level 5: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 1 Adaptation Point.] "¡­" Sebastian was speechless. "You''re so weak?" Despite lamenting about how weak the crab was, he still went closer to crunch down on its meat. With his razor-sharp teeth, he dissected the crab in seconds and immediately swallowed. Filled with confidence now from that encounter, he swam down at a faster speed. On the way down the tunnel, he saw and killed 3 other crabs, filling and finally appeasing his grumbling stomach. 2 minutes later, he heaved a sigh of relief as he finally left the tunnel. As soon as he laid his eyes outside, he drew a sharp gasp in amazement as the sight that presented itself before him left him dizzy in astonishment. "Damn!" Chapter 51 - Locked-on. Sebastian hovered, frozen in shock as he took a deep look of amazement at his surroundings. Compared to the water expanse that he was in before, this looked like a different world entirely. He did not arrive in the middle of an active volcano, but the surroundings of this place told him that a volcano was nearby. All around this place, tall seamounts like enormous domes filled the surrounding at various distances from each other. The only difference was that, unlike the normal ones, these had red lava flowing down their rocky bodies. Smoke diffused the surrounding, painting a hot atmosphere of doom that left Sebastian both excited and afraid. At some distance away, he saw the rocky seabed heaving up and down, boiling like it was already on the verge of erupting. The red lava and black rocks formed a scene that could only be described as breath-taking. Hot boulders bubbling with boiling magma hovered in the water like they were being held by some mysterious power, the sight of them alone could induce goosebumps on anyone. This was the periphery region of an oceanic volcano, and from the sight before him, Sebastian easily deduced that it was a sufficiently large volcano. "I can''t believe I''m living to see a sight like this". These were things that he already watched in anime and movies, but getting to see them for real left him shaking in excitement like a little fanboy. Despite his fascination at arriving at such a place under Oceania, Sebastian did not relish staying here as the extreme heat was already leaving him uncomfortable and fidgety. Getting a little irritated already by the heat, he decided to continue moving forward in search of prey, also with the hope that he would find a way to leave this environment soon. Clearly, this was not a place for great white sharks. Using the logic that the direction that had more boiling seamounts led to the heart of the volcano, he started going in the opposite direction. Swimming forward for 5 minutes, he was not surprised to see no prey appearing as in such an extreme environment, very few sea creatures could survive. As he swam, he also observed his environment to look out for any predator that may be hiding in the dark. Pairing his sharp eyes with his electroreceptors, his perception was frightening. Despite not feeling hungry yet, his instincts were already wrestling with him for him to go take that bite and tear prey apart. As he tried without many hopes to fight against his instincts, he was surprised as he noticed a sea creature. 3 pair of claw hands filled completely with hair, a shell covering its fragile body and protecting it from the attacks of predators, Sebastian recognized it immediately. "Yeti Crabs!" Fascinated by it, he tried to swim closer and observe but he immediately reeled back in astonishment as the Yeti Crab suddenly jerked before releasing 2 of its claw tips just like the way that he shot his teeth. Whoosh! The claw poked his side before he could dodge completely, and immediately Sebastian felt a hot searing sensation hit hard at his brain. [You have been hit by a skill: Fire Claw.] [You have been attacked by the Hairy Yeti Crab: You have been inflicted with -12 basic damage.] [You have been inflicted with the Fire Poison: You will lose -3 damage every second until the fire attribute is purged.] "What?" Sebastian was shocked. This was the perfect example of a wolf in ship clothing. Never would he have expected the much smaller hairy crab to be such a dangerous predator, and it moved as docile as a dove. Without hesitation, he retaliated angrily. Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! As his teeth shot forward in a straight line at the Yeti crab, despite not having eyes, the crab reacted like it had. It moved its foremost pair of claws, then it relaxed as a blue shield covered its body. Bam! The shark teeth bounced off its shield like they were mere balls. Seeing this, Sebastian''s face darkened as he felt like he was being challenged. Without hesitation, he started rushing closer while activating a few more of his skills. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] As soon as both of them collided, Sebastian b?r?d his rows of teeth as he bit down with all the force that he could muster immediately. One bite from him and the Yeti Crab''s shell revealed a crack. The Crab was clearly shocked as it immediately started struggling for its life and retaliating but its fate was already sealed. Sebastian held it to his mouth as he shook his body roughly, enabling his razor-sharp teeth to shred all the tough skin of the crab away. About a minute later, the struggling crab finally went limp. [You have killed a Yeti Crab- Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 7 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] After killing the crab, this was when Sebastian noticed that he was directly under one of the boiling boulders, which meant that his vision was partly blocked and he could not see everything. As the range of his electroreceptors was limited also, he couldn''t see what lay beyond the boiling boulder. Slowly, he started swimming up to survey around the boulder. What motivated him to do the survey was the texture of the meat that he just ate. Compared to all the meat that he had already eaten since coming to this world, the Yeti Crab''s meat was undoubtedly the best. The aftertaste left him smacking his mouth longing for more. As this thought of home dominated his mind, he suddenly froze as he felt a cold gaze land on his body from afar. Instinctively, Sebastian felt that his life was threatened. Focusing his eyes in the distance in shock, he found 3 apex predators of the ocean hovering with their eyes now locked on the great white shark prey. Feeling the bloodlust directed at him, he shuddered. Chapter 52 - Is This A F*cking Battle Royale Between Sharks? "Bull Sharks!" If Sebastian could not identify what shark this was, then it would have been better if he directly renounced his identity as an anatomist. Due to his profession, he''s dealt with this dangerous predator countless times. As one of the apex predator sharks ranked among the top 10 dangerous sharks in the world, this shark was in the same category as the great whites when it came to the most frequent victims of his experiments. Now, 3 of these apex predators hovered at a not too safe distance away from him at the other side of the boiling boulder. Their blue bodies blended with the greenish glow of the ocean; their adaptations made their fins look like weapons of war. Their size was as exaggerated as their adaptations, they stood at 10 staggering meters. The rows of teeth lining their maws sparkled under the illumination of the green glow, gleaming like the sharpest sword in the whole universe. Like they could feel the resentment of their countless siblings that died and suffered from his experiments, they directed a look that should only be sent to your archenemy at him. Feeling the bloodlust filled in the gaze, Sebastian once again shuddered. "Bro, I think we can discuss this". Perhaps, they were too dumb to understand what he was saying or it just irritated them, but as soon as Sebastian opened his mouth, the 3 bull sharks swiped their tail fins at the water and rapidly started swimming towards him. Once again, Sebastian was dumbfounded by the science of this world. The 3 Bull sharks directly denied science and were now swimming at a speed equivalent to that of his car in his previous world. Seeing this, he felt a lot of thoughts go through his mind. There was no way that he was about to emerge victorious from a battle against these 3 sharks when he was still level 10. And in terms of speed, he was dwarfed also. He suddenly felt anxious, but this could not stop his instincts. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Electroreceptors.] Whoosh! The water in his previous location rapidly stirred to form a mini-vortex as he turned and rapidly started swimming away at the fastest speed that he could muster. Despite his current speed, he could see the 3 bull sharks rapidly closing the distance through the electromagnetic vision of his electroreceptors. As the distance between them became closer, perhaps due to being too anxious, his brain directly geared into overdrive. A strange flow of rationality and calmness suddenly came from nowhere to neutralize his anxiousness. Then, he started analyzing his chances in the case of a battle. As he analyzed, he suddenly flinched as his electroreceptors detected a long thin black line suddenly appearing before the biggest Bull Shark. Before he could comprehend what, this was, the thin black line slashed at him like a black burning whip. He tried to dodge immediately but he was not fast enough, the whip-like black lines hit his skin. Immediately, he felt unimaginable pain strike at his brain as his skin started peeling off like it became rotten all of a sudden. [A magic skill has been used on you: Corrosion Whip.] [You have been inflicted with -7 [¡Á4] Damage.] Seeing how the damage kept on stacking as the black whip remained on his skin, he immediately dashed to the side and dodged it but it already dealt significant damage at this point. "Corrosion Whip¡­, Corrosion magic". As he made these deductions, the black magic lines were already forming another whip to hit at his skin. This time, he was prepared and dodged on time. But to his despair, the other 2 Bull sharks revealed the same corrosion magic as they formed more corrosion whips to attack him. Now filled with dread for the magic ability after understanding it, he did not dare continue swimming and tank the damage head-on. He directed more attention to dodging, which indirectly meant that his speed was reduced. The Bull sharks capitalized on this fact, rapidly decreasing the distance between them. Snap! Their rows of teeth were already clapping hungrily at the water as they closed the distance to their prey. Seeing this, Sebastian knew that it was time to retaliate. But before he could even form a complete coherent thought, he saw the black corrosion magic appear at his front. The thin black lines quickly converged together to form something like a net. As soon as he hit it, he received damage while his body bounced back without his consent to the waiting fearsome jaws of the biggest Bull shark. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] As his spike adaptations jutted out of his sides, he used his battering ram skill to add to the speed of his bouncing back, rapidly hitting the Bull shark before it could react. Boom! His body slammed into the sides of the Bull shark''s mouth, b?r?ly dodging the sharp teeth that were prepared to slam shut against his body a moment ago. The other 2 Bull sharks reacted immediately, one of them attacked him from behind while he clashed with the other from the front. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Crunch! The Bull Shark behind him bit hard at his tail fin but he ignored the pain as he also bit down with every fiber of his being at the one before him. Immediately as his teeth hit their prize, he vigorously shook his body. [You have been attacked by a skill: Corrosion Bite.] Feeling the familiar feeling of his skin giving way and the unbearable pain, Sebastian''s heart sank. The pain brought him to the verge of lunacy already but he tried to hold up. As he struggled from the bite, his eyes clashed with the boiling boulder. A plan rapidly formed in his mind, perhaps stimulated by the pain. Crunch! The biggest Bull shark finally recovered and bit on his flesh too but he gritted his teeth through the pain, shook them off before rapidly advancing towards the boiling boulder. The 3 Bull sharks were fast behind his heels. When he almost got there, he was shocked to suddenly discover a newcomer. He dodged to the side at the last moment as another shark whose head looked like a hammer rushed at his previous location. It probably activated a skill already as the Hammerhead shark''s head was now glowing in a fierce brown glow that made it look like it was tougher than stone. The nearest incoming Bull shark was slow to react, it collided directly with the Hammerhead shark''s stone head. Watching from the side while suppressing his pain, Sebastian was flabbergasted by the sudden newcomer and the force that accompanied the collision. "Is this a f*cking Battle Royale of sharks or something?" ***** [Hey guys, sorry for the late release.. Remember, if you want mass release, vote with your stones and breach the milestones.] Chapter 53 - Another Apex Predator! Blood flowed like waterfalls from the force of the collision as the Bull shark''s head directly cracked open. Its eyes glazed over; its body convulsed in place like whips of electricity were snaking through its body. The hammerhead skill of the Hammerhead shark dealt damage of epic proportions to the poor Bull shark in one blow. From the pure physical damage and force of the blow, it could easily be deduced that this Hammerhead shark put all its cards in the Physical magic organ to augment its physical battling prowess. The heavy Hammerhead shark had a vicious expression on its face. Seeing the outcome of its skill, it roared victoriously before going for the bite. Just a few inches away, the remaining 2 Bull sharks saw everything that happened to their sibling. And like they were not even there; the Hammerhead shark was now boldly going to finish the job. Their eyes turned bloodshot immediately, anger emanated from them in waves. Without even thinking, their tail fins flapped hard at the water as they rushed at the Hammerhead shark. Crunch! The Hammerhead shark bit hard on the incapacitated Bull shark, but the remaining 2 Bull sharks also bit hard at its side before pulling chunks of flesh out. Its body flared with the color of a magic defense augmentation. Its own was different from the conventional magic shield, it was more like it directly turned its skin into a bulwark defense armor. It had fierce skin defense also, but despite this, the rows of teeth lining the 2 revenge-driven Bull shark''s maws broke through its defense repeatedly. Even though it was receiving damage also, the Hammerhead shark shrugged it all away as it remained faithful to its goal of killing its prey and getting the sweet experience before attending to the others. Seeing everything that was happening before him, Sebastian''s eyes rapidly flickered. Without hesitation, he decided to take advantage of these fellows'' brainless brawl. Activating his dash skill and shredding bite skill again, he rushed at the Bull shark who was already hovering at the point of death under the jaws of the Hammerhead shark. Crunch! [You have empowered your Shredding Bite Skill with your magic power.] [You have dealt -31 Damage to your opponent.] Ignoring the glares of rage from the other 2 Bull sharks, he did the magical act of shaking his body roughly and vigorously to dissect the flesh of the prey. The Bull shark twitched under the 2-pronged attack; its eyes dilated as the remaining whiffs of life started being snuffed out of it. Despite all this, it still struggled with all its remaining strength. When Sebastian determined that the Bull shark was at the point of death, he pulled back, took careful aim before shooting his teeth at the Hammerhead shark. [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] [You have dealt -4 damage to your opponent.] [You have blinded one of your opponent''s eyes- Additional -7 damage has been dealt.] Sharks'' eyes roll up when they are battling with prey to protect them from the shockwaves and other vices, but they can occasionally open up in rare scenarios if the shark wants it. Immediately as Sebastian''s sharp teeth dug into the Hammerhead shark''s eyes that briefly opened for a moment, it reeled back in pain and shock, removing its teeth grip from the almost dead prey completely. Sebastian bit down without hesitation with all his might. Crunch. [You have killed a m?tur? Bull Shark- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 16 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [Congratulations: You have reached the limits of the 2nd level cap; you can proceed to attempt a breakthrough. Your chances of success are 65%.] Sebastian almost wanted to jump for joy on hearing this, but he knew that he could not as he could feel the anger-filled eyes of the 3 sharks now collectively glaring at him with unrestrained hatred. Before they could rush at him, he rushed away first. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] The 3 sharks stirred at the same time as they all rushed at him at a mind-blowing speed, all of them had the urge to tear him to pieces with their sharp teeth. This time, instead of escaping to where he would have unrestricted access to swim as fast as possible, after the first experience, he already learned his lesson and was now swimming towards the boiling boulder. Once again, another pursuit race started and all 3 sharks were rapidly closing the distance towards him. As he swam upwards, his eyes were focused on the slowly heaving rocky body of the boiling boulder. When the distance became super close, he suddenly activated his best skill before dodging to the side. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Flaming Sword.] The flaming sword rapidly materialized as usual and under his control, it stabbed into the boiling hot boulder, creating an opening under it. At the bottom of the boulder, an opening was revealed and super-hot lava was poured out as the fire rapidly spread to the surroundings. The 3 sharks'' eyes widened in shock but they could not dodge completely despite their fast reactions. The lava poured at their skin, scorching them and dealing astronomical damages. This time, even the Hammerhead shark screamed in pain. [You have been hit by boiling Lava: You have been inflicted with -23 [¡Á2] damage.] Sebastian hissed in pain. Despite escaping ahead of time, the lava that spilled to the side still dealt such damage to him. He did not dare imagine how much damage was dealt to the 3 sharks. Before he could heave a sigh of relief at his vastly successful plan, he stiffened in shock as he felt another predator rapidly swimming in his direction through his electroreceptor skill. "Another shark!" Despite lamenting in horror and trying to dodge on time, the enormous predator still slammed at his body from the side and this was enough to deal significant damage to him. [You have been hit by a skill: Battering Ram.] [You have been inflicted with staggering damage: -53 Damage.] The large predator did not stop after colliding with him, the water shifted under its control as it continued its rapid swimming towards the other 3 sharks. It collided with them loudly. Boom! Chapter 54 - Killer Whale! Sebastian felt dizzy. It was the same battering ram skill that he always used, but the power exerted when this predator used it was countless times stronger than the peak power that he had ever exerted. He felt like his brain was being pounded on a mortar and smashed to become mashed tomatoes. Despite the dizziness, he forced his brain awake fast. He wanted to know the new predator fast and plan contingencies ahead of time. Immediately after he opened his eyes, the first thing that he saw was one of the Bull sharks who was bleeding severely and was already dead. A huge depression was on the side of its belly, clearly from being hit directly by the battering ram skill. Seeing this left Sebastian shuddering in dread. He su?k?d in a breath in shock. "So fast". [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] His eyes were clearly not doing the job fast enough, so he decisively took the better option and activated this extremely useful skill immediately. As soon as his electromagnetic vision lines showed up, he outlined the whole battlefield as quickly as possible. The remaining 2 sharks were still alive, but the last Bull shark was convulsing and thrashing in pain like it was an epilepsy patient. For the Hammerhead shark, its head had a huge bloody crack like it collided with a metal wall. Then Sebastian hastily outlined the new predator. Feeling the enormous size that was clearly too exaggerated to be true despite this magic world, he turned his body over to see personally with his sharp eyes. The sight that presented itself before him made his blood run cold. "A Killer Whale!" The iconic black and white skin could not be mistaken. Seeing this predator that stood at a staggering size of over 20 meters, the relevant information rapidly flashed through his head. The Killer Whale, also known as Orca was the ocean''s top predator back on earth as it had no natural predators. Sebastian didn''t know much about Oceania Killer Whales, but seeing the fear suddenly emanating from the originally aggressive Hammerhead and Bull shark, he got all the information that he needed. Without hesitation, he decided to escape. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Instantly, Sebastian''s tail stirred the water into a mini-vortex and rapidly started swimming away into the distance. Crunch! The killer whale brought its enormous jaws down and bite a handful of flesh from the appetizing body of the Hammerhead shark, prompting the big-headed fellow to thrash about in pain. The Bull shark tried to use this opportunity to escape, but the Killer Whale didn''t allow it as it casually flapped its enormous tail to the side. The tail caught to the Bull shark and slammed hard at it, bringing it back to its previous location. The Bull shark lost a few of its sharp teeth from the shock as it directed a look of despair at this apex predator. The Killer Whale was not done, it was not in its dictionary to let any prey escape from its grasp, most especially when the target was the great white shark that it hated the most. Its predatory eyes glinted a dangerous light, suddenly the surrounding water around it started compressing, expanding, and swirling at the same time like the water space was being tempered with. Silvery magic power swirled around its enormous body repeatedly. The silver magic lines around it trapped both the Hammerhead and Bull shark in what seemed like a space prison, then they aimed at the escaping great white shark. Bzzz! The escaping Sebastian opened his eyes wide in shock as something like a portal suddenly opened before him. Before he could react, he swam directly inside the portal due to his already accumulated speed. When his orientation came back, his eyes immediately saw the sharp rows of teeth of the enormous Killer Whale snapping down at him. He didn''t dare hold back on seeing this. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer.] As the Orca''s teeth closed down, the pitch-black shield appeared on its path. Clang! Sparks went off in the water, a loud sound like that of metal grinding against metal reverberated, telling of the quality of teeth inside the maws of this apex predator. Seeing that its teeth did not connect like expected, anger clearly showed on the Orca''s whale face as the silver magic lines around it spiked in number. [You are being affected by a special magic power: Space Magic.] [You have been trapped with a magic skill: Space Dungeon.] Feeling his body stiffen in place and the Killer Whale coming back for the kill, Sebastian did not hesitate to send his magic manifestation forward in retaliation. Seeing the war hammer slamming down at it, the Killer Whale formed a shield with its space magic and attacked. The water exploded like it was the center of a nuclear bomb. The water swirled wildly like the Sea King himself was commanding it, warping sounds reverberated as the silvery space magic lines created overlapping space domains in the water. The force shockwave from the clash shattered all 3 Space Dungeons, freeing the Bull and Hammerhead shark in the process as they tried to escape without hesitation. [You have been inflicted with shockwave damage: -14 Damage.] Sebastian felt his internal organs churn like they were a soup being stirred with a large spoon in a cooking pot. He felt dizzy, but he forcefully shook himself off from it and tried to attack with his War Hammer again. He didn''t even try to go closer and try his luck with the Blood Vampire effect of his Vampire teeth. This Killer Whale was clearly much more evolved than him. Before the effect is activated, he may already be a dead shark. Seeing 2 of its prey trying to escape, the Killer Whale once again created 2 other Space Dungeons for them before preparing for another charge at this surprisingly strong great white shark. This time, it used a strong space magic skill. The surrounding space in the water trembled unstably and everything close to the battlefield started being pulled to surround its enormous body. Seeing this, Sebastian did not hesitate as he pumped all his magic power into the War Hammer magic manifestation. Its pitch-black color became even darker, then it slammed down at the rapidly advancing Killer Whale. Boom! Warp! Bright blinding light flashed, the space cracked, then Sebastian disappeared from his position before he could understand what happened. Chapter 55 - The Circular Cliff. The surrounding space trembled unstably like the Ocean was about to experience an apocalypse. The nearby boiling boulder exploded, but the raging space magic pushed all the burning lava far away. The force of the space magic shredded everything apart, including the Hammerhead shark and Bull shark who were trying to escape to safety. Only the Killer Whale remained in the center of this explosion of power, its opponent, the great white shark was nowhere to be found. Its eyes showed anger for a moment on seeing this before they subsided. It was no stranger to this; it already experienced a situation like this when it once clashed with an extremely strong Devouring Cobra. The only problem was that this great white shark was clearly not that strong, but its skill was strange. The summary of what happened was that the opposing force became too strong for its space magic, and in the end, the silvery magic lines erupted and cracked a hole in space due to the raging force of collision. The hole cracked open by the space instinctively started su?k?n? everything around it. The Killer Whale was able to stabilize itself, but the great white shark clearly was su?k?d into it. "Lucky bastard". It squeezed the words out of its predatory mouth before turning its body to feast on its prey, at this point the aftereffects of the collision already subsided a bit. Apart from the meat of the first Bull shark, the meat of the second Bull shark and the Hammerhead shark was waiting for it so this hunt was not a defeat, it made a killing. Bringing its enormous body closer, it snapped its jaws down and started feasting on the meat happily. ¡­ Warp! Sebastian felt the orientation of his surroundings become extremely chaotic. He felt like he was placed in a washing machine, and was left inside for hours as the machine operated under electricity. He felt like he was hallucinating, his eyes spun rapidly like ping pong balls as he saw red, white, blue, and different colors go through them. A few minutes later, he finally got a hold of himself. Immediately after he did this, the memory of the previous battle came to his mind. Thinking of the exaggeratedly strong Killer Whale, he shuddered in fear, but this fear turned to joy when he remembered that he escaped. "I escaped!" "I''m safe!" He felt exhausted, his magic power was also exhausted, but all these could not suppress the joy of remaining alive. As he yelled this in relief and joy, he felt a strange situation. His voice was echoing loudly like he was inside the belly of a beast or locked inside a silent hall. As soon as he felt this strange situation, he remembered the circumstances of how he escaped. Though unlike the Killer Whale he didn''t know exactly what happened, he still had some guesses. "Does that mean I was transported to another location entirely through the crack in the water space?" [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] With this skill active, he felt a lot better as he observed carefully. The first thing that became apparent to him was the redness of this place, it was far redder and hotter than his previous location. Looking below him, he discovered that he was now hovering above what seemed like a seamount, but unlike what he was familiar with it was fiery hot. It was not as hot as the boiling boulders, but it was still freakishly hot. The seamount had various artificial holes on its surface that were clearly dug by sea creatures living in this region. When Sebastian looked further, he saw countless other seamounts like this surrounding him from every side. He already had a frightening guess but he didn''t want to believe it. He finally looked up. His vision became dizzy immediately from the sight. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was a frog trapped inside a well. The seamount that he was hovering on top was far below just like the others, and what seemed like a cliff surrounded everywhere, towering high into the skies. The circular cliff was red hot just like the seamount. From his current location, Sebastian could see different kinds of sea creatures hovering before each of the many holes. Giant Shrimps, Yeti and normal crabs, turtles, lizards that looked like dragons, snakes with legs, winged sea creatures, these were a small number of the diverse variety of sea creatures that formed this community. They were all around the walls of the cliff, making it seem like the cliff was an extremely big wardrobe, while the numerous holes around the cliff were the cabinets inside the wardrobe. Once again, the impression was reinforced in Sebastian''s mind that he was now in an Oceanic fictional world. This sight was so mind-blowing that he was sincerely shocked to his very bone marrows. He once again felt like he was hallucinating, but he knew that everything before him was real. As he looked, he suddenly remembered something. Due to the euphoria that he survived the previous attack, he yelled in joy. Yelling in such a community meant announcing to the world that free prey is here, he shuddered on the thought. He immediately scanned his surroundings frantically for any hiding spot. This was when he discovered an artificial hole below him on the seamount. The hole was big enough to accommodate him, so without hesitation, he rapidly started swimming down. When he forced himself inside through the expanse, he suddenly felt a shocked pair of eyes turn to look at him. "A giant Shrimp!" He decisively attacked before the fellow could. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] He closed the distance in a second and bit down without hesitation. He activated all his close combat skills in quick succession, and to his relief, the Shrimp died shortly after. [You have killed¡­] He ignored the system''s notification, found a way to push the nearby rocks to cover the entrance of the hole a bit before hiding. Chapter 56 - Dangerous Predators. Seconds turned to minutes, but Sebastian stood, fighting a tug of war with his spinal cord to prevent his body from moving against his will. His whole body was tensed up, he felt like he was before the executioner''s ax and any move from him will bring the ax falling down to cut his body to pieces. His eyes remained trained at the small opening in between the rocks that he used to block the entrance of this hole. His body was already heating up, he even started feeling pain due to the extreme heat but he did not dare flinch. When he was already at the point of losing his breath, a group of predators finally came to check who caused the commotion. Sebastian shuddered and melted in his position, wishing he could just vanish immediately on seeing the predators. A family of Wolfish. Yes, these fishes were normally not adapted to live in such extreme conditions but in this magic world, here they were. And they were not like the normal wolfish that Sebastian already encountered in any way. Their skin was red, providing them with natural camouflage and enabling them to blend with the surrounding redness. Their tails were adapted to look like countless barbed wires that were compressed together, making them look super menacing. Their heads heaved up and down, glowing a red ominous color like they had fire stored inside their brains. The most menacing part about them was their dagger-sharp teeth. Their mouths were too small to cover the long sharp teeth, so they hung from the side of their mouths dangerously. 4 of these dangerous predators were now hovering above the hole that Sebastian took refuge in, he practically felt his heart melting away. The wolfish which seemed to be the leader of the group led in the front as it sniffed the surrounding water like a real wolf. Its nose suddenly twitched like it detected something, making Sebastian''s heart skip a beat as he was directly sent to the nine heavens. A few seconds later, they suddenly raised their heads and looked into the distance. Clearly frightened by something, they did not dare stay as they rapidly swam away from that location. Sebastian did not feel relief on seeing this, he rather felt more like crying as he guessed that only a stronger predator could scare those 4 away. He was right; the water suddenly stirred and the new predator arrived. It was one of those snakes that he saw from afar. It was dozens of meters long. It had 2 extremely long sharp teeth poking out of its mouth, its skin was also red, and it had something like a red crown on its head. Its most eye-catching adaptation was the 2 pairs of arms attached to its sides. A snake with hands, this was Sebastian''s first time seeing such an abomination. Despite feeling like he was at the point of suffocating already, he still forced himself to remain still. Unlike the family of wolfish, the snake didn''t sniff around. It sharply scrutinized the surrounding with its cold red eyes. Seeing nothing, it flicked its enormous tail and swam away. Sebastian let out the pent-up breath in his lungs, but he immediately held his breath again as he was still apprehensive of his surroundings. For the next 15 minutes, 3 different types of predators came to check on the source of the sound. He was already numb to his fear as they came, but he still held his breath and remained still. The system sent him other notifications, but he didn''t dare pay attention to them lest he got distracted. For the next minutes, no other predator came but he still stayed in one place for at least an hour. By this time, his mana points and stamina already fully recovered, this was when he finally heaved a sigh of relief. "Oceania is really dangerous". He emphasized in his heart. After confirming that no other predator came, he finally diverted attention to check on the bunch of notifications from the system. [You have killed a mutated Fire Shrimp- Level 12: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 4 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [Your Tail fin skill has leveled up to level 5, automatically switching to the advanced version of the skill.] [Switch to Empowered Tail fin completed.] [Your Dorsal fin skill has leveled up to level 4.] [Your Shredding bite skill has leveled up to level 2.] [Due to the extreme heat of this region, automatic skin mutation to adapt to your surroundings has started.] [Current progress rate of mutation: 4%.] [Until the mutation is complete, you will suffer -1 Damage every 10 seconds.] Seeing these series of notifications, Sebastian first heaved a sigh of relief that they were not anything dangerous. Though losing -1 HP every 10 seconds was not pleasant, he could live with it as he would be entitled to a free mutation in the end. For his skills to level up so suddenly, he was not too surprised as he already used them a lot of times without any of them leveling up. His accumulated efforts were now yielding results. Then he reflected on the name of the Shrimp. "Fire Shrimp; does it mean that they can breathe fire or it is because they adapted to the extreme heat here?" This was just one of the many questions that he had about his current location, but he didn''t have the luxury to think and get an answer to them now. Among his laws to be a great white shark was to always have a contingency plan, and to have that he needed to explore and know his environment first. Though he really wanted to rest and start his evolution right away, he knew that such an impulsive action will result in even more danger. He didn''t know for how many hours he took for each evolution; anything may happen at that time. Blasting the surroundings with his electroreceptor skill to confirm that no other predator was nearby, he cautiously pushed the rocks out of the way and made his way out into this new environment again. It was exploration time. ***** If you want bonus chapters, check out the author''s note and see the milestone ladder. Chapter 57 - [Bonus chapter]A World Of Fire. As soon as Sebastian came out of the hole, the red environment of this region was presented before him once again. He cautiously hovered higher above the seamount to scout the surroundings. As he hovered higher, the enormous seamount slowly presented itself before him in its entirety. The seamount looked exactly like a mountain back on earth, only the redness of the surrounding added an ominous vibe to it. Just like other mountains, it had trees and some weeds. The only difference was that these trees were far more rugged. Their skin was as wrinkled as an old grandma''s, their branches stubbornly grew out leaves despite the extreme hotness of this region. Seeing them reminded Sebastian of the stubbornness of a goat. Though he didn''t see to all crooks and corners of the seamount, he was able to deduce that lots of sea creatures were inhabiting the various holes that filled the seamount. This was the same for the countless other seamounts in the surrounding. After seeing this, he confirmed again that no predator was nearby before swimming outwards. He wanted to swim to the edge of the seamount, he wanted to see what was below it and the environs. As he swam forward, he was able to appreciate the dangerous majesty of the circular cliff again. He looked for other terms to describe it, but his brain kept on seeing it as a giant wardrobe filled with sea creatures. As he swam closer to the edge of the seamount, he also started seeing the countless sea creatures living in different levels of the circular cliff more clearly. As he saw them, so was he being exposed, most especially when his dark blue skin formed a sharp contrast to the red background. He stuck out like a beacon in a darkness-filled world. "I wish I had an invisibility skill". [Invisibility is not a skill; it is a unique skill.] [You can only have access to a camouflage skill.] Sebastian was surprised by the sudden proactiveness of the system to explain things to him. Before, it was more comfortable with staying silent while he discovered things by himself. Thinking of that, the system mentioned that it is a unique skill. "System, how many unique skills are there?" [You do not have the required level to access such information yet.] "¡­" Now, Sebastian felt aggrieved. Though he felt like punching the system, he had to admit that the conversation eased his nerves a bit. And he got a new discovery too. If there were other unique skills, does it mean that he had a chance to get them too? "Damn!" He suddenly couldn''t wait to get over with his evolution. Consumed by excitement, he subconsciously started swimming faster and in moments he arrived at the edge of the seamount. He looked down, then he almost fainted from shock. "This¡­?" Sebastian felt fear grip him from the depth of his heart. For a moment there, he felt like he was grabbed by an invisible existence and thrown into a world of fire. Hundreds of kilometers down from where he stood flowed a world of fire. Boiling lava flowed at the bottom of this place, spreading extreme heat everywhere as small explosions were induced frequently on the surface of the fire. At different intervals, the lava was stimulated, splashing fire everywhere as the surrounding water was ignited. This was a volcano, and not just a volcano, an extremely big volcano. Sebastian already guessed this before, but seeing this sight still left him feeling breathless. Everything that he was seeing was part of this enormous ocean volcano. The flowing lava at the bottom were the foundations, and the wardrobe-like circular cliff was the walls of the volcano that towered to heights of hundreds of kilometers. It looked just like a world of fire. Even at lower levels of the circular cliff, Sebastian could faintly see signs of animal activities, which meant that some sea creatures were inhabiting there. "Which mad deity created this world, really?" At this moment, he sincerely regretted his encounter with the Killer Whale. He originally wanted to identify routes to leave this place, but from what was before him, this dream was far-fetched for the current him. The hundreds of kilometers that he needed to swim and the numerous sea creature territories that he had to pass through alone left him feeling cursed. "Dogshit! This is teenage abuse!" He cursed. He felt like he was carried without his consent from his previous world of calm, and was now thrown into this fire world of death to suffer. He wanted to yell angrily in despair but experience told him that doing that was equivalent to courting death. Left with no choice, he could only turn and start swimming back to his hole before a predator rushed at him. He knew that he was here already, and the situation was practically irreversible. To survive in this world of fire, he needed strength and that was exactly what he was going to do. In just a few minutes, his despair turned into motivation that pushed him to get more strength. "Besides, I will have numerous strange ocean creatures to dissect here". He stacked even more rocks on it, forming a heavy gate in the process. He stopped only after he was satisfied with its sturdiness, then he found a comfortable corner to rest. Though the heat meant that nowhere was really comfortable here, he had to bear with it. His eyes gleamed sharply. "System, give it to me". [Affirmative! Proceed with breakthrough attempt: Yes/No?] "Yes". He practically growled it out. [Breakthrough mechanisms have been put in place. Stabilizing host¡­, host has been stabilized.] [Mental check: Pass.] [Physical check: Pass.] [All parameters for evolution are complete, the host''s consciousness will now be drawn into the illusion realm.] Bright light flared for a moment before becoming dark the next. He was gone, his consciousness was gone. ***** Thanks for reading guys, please go through the author''s notes. Chapter 58 - Illusion Realm; Battle Against The Fire-Breathing Dragon. Blink! Sebastian simulated the sound of blinking eyes in his head again as his eyes finally regained focus. His calm eyes surveyed the surrounding, he was now in a blank world of water with no one else but himself. It was still the fiery red background of the water body around the extremely large ocean volcano, the only difference was that he was the only one here. And like before, he was now existing like a phantom, making him look like a spirit creature from the spirit world if it existed. As he already experienced it before, he was calm as he waited for subsequent developments. The green color of the surrounding water body suddenly dominated the red background caused by the volcano, then it spiked and everything changed. He appeared inside the familiar bustling city of great white sharks again. Despite not knowing how he was able to recognize it, once again, his intuition told him that this was his home. More knowledgeable about Oceania now, he was able to make a lot more discoveries by observing his surroundings. From the green light dominating the surrounding, he confirmed that this city was indeed inside the Green Mist region of Oceania. This confirmation made him heave a sigh of relief. As he looked at the countless great white sharks moving about in this city, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that his vision was not as hazy as the last time that he came. "Does this mean that I''ll get a better vision in subsequent entries?" He randomly made a guess. Through his better vision, he was able to infer more about his surroundings. At one glance, he started faintly noticing the different adaptations that the great white sharks developed. Some of them were random and illogical, but the fact that they were able to survive and locate their home safely meant that they were powerhouses. "Why are they mandated to stay together? Is there a war among sea creatures of different species that I don''t know about?" He made another guessing thought. Through his better vision, he also observed more about the technological details of the city. Though he found it illogical that sharks could harness the wonders of technology, he didn''t let his earth reasoning impede how welcome he was to surprises. He already saw too many of them. That made him heave a sigh of relief a bit. This time, he spent 10 minutes here before the scene was flipped over. Then, he saw the familiar formidable great white shark that was the alpha of this city, his father. This time, he didn''t see much here. The scene only stayed for a few seconds before he experienced the familiar condition like the things before him were being fast-forwarded. Warp! In a moment, it stopped at a scene, the scene of the enormous great white Shark''s battle with the fire-breathing Dragon. Boom! Though the sight was still blurry and not exactly clear, Sebastian still shuddered in fear when the enormous great white Shark and the Dragon clashed. Both parties roared angrily at each other after being repelled. Then they rapidly swam at each other again, both opening their enormous maws to reveal rows of teeth as long as swords as they bit down viciously at each other. Though Sebastian could not see much, he got some information from this. "Wait, is this like a reference for me to follow for my evolutions". He was shocked after coming to this discovery, then he felt elated. Immediately, he eliminated all distractions as he focused all his attention on getting as many details as he could from the battle. Without paying attention to him, both predators continued battling. Apart from its regular fire breath, it became evident that the Dragon also had fire magic as it attacked with fire from different angles. For the great White Shark, Sebastian was not able to get the exact detail. All that he knew was that the magic power formed brown magic lines in the water, but this was not enough reference for him. The battle continued for hours; the surrounding water practically turned to an area affected by an apocalypse as the 2 apex predators ducked it out. In the battle, the enormous great white shark revealed a lot of skills but Sebastian was only able to see a few clearly. And in these few, he could only vaguely understand the use of 2. He felt depressed but he still didn''t remove his attention from the battle that kept on increasing in intensity. After what seemed like days, the battle finally started waning. "A Recovery skill". Sebastian identified another important skill. After battling for so long, it was clear that their magic power and stamina were already more or less depleted. Both predators hovered in the water, their eyes filled with hate for the other''s guts. They kept on roaring intimidatingly at each other. As they did this, the Shark activated another skill as it suddenly seemed to have ballooned in size, making it seem more intimidating to its opponent. They did this for a few minutes before the huge Dragon slowly retreated in defeat. The great white Shark did not pursue, its eyes only glinted slightly. "Roar!" "Roar!" Sebastian turned his head and saw the city of sharks behind the Shark alpha. He immediately came to a conclusion on seeing this. The Dragon attacked the city, and the alpha came out to defend it. So now, they were strangely roaring in victory. As he came to this thought, the world before him suddenly cracked and shattered just like a mirror. [Evolution will start in 10 seconds.] [You will be given a lot of options; choose wisely.] Seeing this, Sebastian relaxed as he let the portal that suddenly appeared to suck him in. In this encounter, he was able to identify some skills and adaptations, which perfectly justified the time that he spent here. He felt anticipation already. Chapter 59 - Young Megalodon! When Sebastian''s eyes regained their focus, he was already in the rainbow-colored world filled with clouds. Less than a second later, words from the system were projected before him in the skies. [Host''s evolution process has started. You have only 30 minutes to contemplate and make the choices that you want for your evolution route.] [Due to your having reached the threshold of Level 10, you have unlocked a unique clue from the system.] [Your authority level with the system has gone up a grade.] [Your remaining evolution time- 29: 54.] [Make your choices.] Already experienced with this, Sebastian calmly demanded. "System, give me my options". [Affirmative! Evolution system store has been actively accessed.] [As host has evolved from the young stage of a great white shark, you no longer have the option of switching to another shark species.] [Host evolution options are as follows:] - Mature Great White- Shark. - Mystery Pryer Great White- Shark. - Sabertoothed Great White- Shark. - Vampire Great White- Shark. - [Special] Young Megalodon. - [Special] Great White Shark- Mana Lord. - [Special] Great White Shark- Pugilist King. [Host should choose any of the above options to decide on a personalized evolution route.] [Host skill options for current evolution route: Shredding Bite; Triple Reverse Swim; Advanced Dash; Empowered Dorsal Fin; Empowered Tail Fin; Advanced Electroreceptors; Battering Ram; Magic Teeth; Spike Attack.] [Host Adaptation options for current evolution route: Spikes, Hard Dense Skin, Vampire Teeth, Mana Conductor Coating, Magic Organ.] "A Megalodon! A freaking real Megalodon?!" Sebastian was shocked at first before he felt a sense of euphoria envelope his heart. He guessed at it already before but really seeing an option for it left him feeling giddy and surprised. All the evolution options this time were far more varied, mysterious, and badass than his first evolution. He didn''t know the reason for such a huge disparity, his best guess was that it was because he was now a m?tur? Great White shark if he evolved. He wanted to dance in joy due to this discovery right now, but he forced himself to calm down. At the back of his mind, he cautioned himself that his evolution was being timed. Just like the last time, he decided to check his current attributes first. "System, show me my status". ----------------------------------------- Name: Sebastian Level: 10 Stats: Power: 13 Speed: 8 Mind: 21 Constitution: 7 Luck: 0 MP: 80/80 [Skills: Shredding Bite Level- 2; Triple Reverse Swim Level- 1; Advanced Dash Level- 1; Sharp Dorsal Fin- Level 4; Empowered Tail Fin- Level 1; Advanced Electroreceptors- Level 1; Spike Attack- Level 1; Battering Ram- Level 2; Magic Teeth- Level 2.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes, Hard Dense Skin, Vampire Teeth, Mana Conductor Coating, Magic Organ.] [Species: Teenage Great White- Shark] ---------------------------- Seeing this, Sebastian refreshed his brain with the actual attribute stats again. He wanted to compare it with his post-evolution stats, and he wanted to also see his hard work. After a lot of grinding on his part, almost all his skills already leveled up to the 2nd tier, only the sharp dorsal fin was left. Before he accessed the evolution store for new skills and adaptations, the first thing that he wanted was the sweet magic organ. "System, give me the magic organ". He demanded. [Magic mutation organ.] [Magic type: Material or External. Cost: 170 Adaptation points.] [As host already has the physical magic type, it is no longer available in the system evolution store.] Without any hesitation, Sebastian gave his consent to purchase the skill. After his conquest in this ocean, he already amassed so much skill and adaptation point that 170 was not that big anymore. [You have purchased an Adaptation: Magic organ- Material.] [You have unlocked the magic domain.] [Magic domain types that are currently available to host: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Corrosion, Sound, Earth, and Curse.] Seeing this, Sebastian was once again amazed by the variety. He expected to see more options to widen his horizons, but he was satisfied with what he saw. Now came the dilemma. "Which should I choose?" "I choose the Sound magic". [Host''s choice has been recorded.] As soon as the system said this, it revealed what seemed like a slide, and Sebastian finally got access to all the skills and adaptations available to him. This time, he was almost blinded by the outrageous number of options that were available to him. For his teeth alone, he saw over a dozen different skills that he could take to complement his Shredding bite skill and Vampire teeth adaptation. He really felt an urge to carefully go through everything, but he could not as he was being timed. He didn''t just choose like his last evolution also; he already had some targets in mind before the evolution started. He first checked to see if options for the skills that he recognized used by his father in the Dragon battle were here. He was elated as he found some, then he combined these with the ideas that he already had. He was not stingy; he spent his skill and adaptation points to get them. [You have purchased skills: Rejuvenation, Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor, Ultra-range Electroreceptors, Magic Shield, Sound Control, Sonic Drill, Sonic Reflection, Sonic Dissonance, Water Cyclone, Supersonic Speed.] [You have purchased adaptation: Damage Reflection Skin coating, Camouflage organ, Sound Magic domain.] Despite this, he was satisfied with what he got. He checked the time again out of cautiousness, then he relaxed. Without even needing to contemplate it, he decided on his main evolution route. [You have chosen your evolution route: Young Megalodon!] [Would you like to confirm your choices?] "Yes". His vision darkened immediately, then his evolution began. Chapter 60 - [Bonus chapter]The Magician Of Sound! Minutes turned to hours, hours turned to dozens of hours but the great white shark remained in the hole, silently going through an evolution. Sebastian''s eyes were opened but they were glazed over like those of a zombie. They had no focus; this was how sharks slept. Despite his brain''s inactivity, his body was active as always, burning calories like paper money. Outside the hole, predators came and went, but none of them detected the hidden hole that was below them. As his body hovered on the water, visible changes could be detected in his body. His skin squirmed like flour in the hands of a baker, his body slowly enlarged like large amounts of air were being pumped into him. The changes in him outwardly were superficial compared to the ones going through him internally. Slowly, his magic organ changed in shape like it was a statue being finetuned at the hands of a sculptor. Compared to his previous evolution, the changes were far more staggering already though it was still ongoing. ¡­ Creak! Sebastian''s eyes slowly regained focus due to the sound-induced by the walls of the hole that he was hiding in. He felt like he''s already been sleeping for decades, but it was still just a few dozen hours. Immediately after his consciousness solidified, only 2 words dominated his mind. "I''ve evolved". His system clarified at the same time as he thought about it. Hearing this, Sebastian was about to yell in joy but he remembered that he was slowly becoming an Oceania powerhouse, so he did the same way as powerhouses did. He revealed a grin that only made him look spooky on his sharky face. "System, show me my status". He calmly demanded. [Affirmative!] ----------------------------------------- Name: Sebastian Level: 11 Stats: Power: 87 Mind: 56 Constitution: 59 Luck: 0 HP: 821/821 MP: 560/560 [Body Skills: Shredding Bite Level- 2; Triple Reverse Swim Level- 1; Advanced Dash Level- 1; Sharp Dorsal Fin- Level 4; Empowered Tail Fin- Level 1; Advanced Electroreceptors- Level 1; Spike Attack- Level 1; Battering Ram- Level 2; Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor- Level 1.] [Material Magic skills: Magic Teeth- Level 2; Rejuvenation- Level 1; Magic Shield- Level 1; Supersonic Speed- Level 1.] [Magic- Sound Domain skills: Sound Control- Level 1; Sonic Drill- Level 1; Sonic Reflection- Level 1; Sonic Dissonance- Level 1; Water Cyclone- Level 1.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Vampire Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain.] [System Remark: Keep grinding hard, you''re slowly on your way to becoming the Ocean Master.] ------------------------------------ Seeing this, Sebastian originally wanted to play it cool the powerhouse way, but his willpower was clearly not strong enough as he faltered the next second. "Holy¡­ Shit!" He felt his body bubbling with excitement as he went through his new status over and over again, he felt as high as a drunkard who just took down 24 bottles of beer in 5 minutes. The first reason for his current excitement was the exaggerated increase in his base stats. From 13, his strength stat directly jumped all the way to 87. For a moment there, he thought that it was a scam. His other base stats increase was also exaggerated. The other stats which left him feeling super excited was his health and mana points, they also experienced a quantum leap after this evolution. At this moment, he finally confirmed how powerful sea creatures who had already undergone the 2nd evolution were. His Water Transmutation unique skill and other trump cards were what enabled him to level ground with his previous opponents. With this, he knew that he could now carve a place for himself in this world. He still felt a little bad about not being given enough time to deliberate on the magic domain to choose, but he was still satisfied with the sound magic domain. For his new demarcation of skills, after purchasing the material magic organ, he gained the basic magic power that Leroy and other sea creatures had. This was what powered his material magic skills, while his sound domain skills will be powered by his special sound magic domain. Both drew mana from his magic organ. For his new skills, the Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor was one of the skills that he observed from his alpha father''s battle against the fire-breathing dragon. When activated in a battle, it would make water rapidly pump into his body, and this water would be prevented from escaping by his cardiac sphincter muscle. This way, he would suddenly balloon in size. Such an exaggerated increase in size would intimidate any predator like was demonstrated by the alpha great white against the Dragon. For his magic skills, the rejuvenation was self-explanatory. He would draw mana from his magic organ to create a healing fluid to heal himself in battle. This was a very useful ability. If he had this during his battle against the Devouring Cobra, his situation wouldn''t have been so dire then. His magic shield was the normal one used by most sea creatures. After experiencing so many battles already, he knew the importance of this skill. For the supersonic speed, this was a magic skill that he bought to escape in times of danger. The ultimate speed depended on how much magic power he decided to pump into it, which meant it was practically limitless. For his sound domain skills, the sound control skill was a compulsory skill recommended by the system. It enabled him to control the sound waves in the water in various ingenious ways. For example, he could communicate with a sea creature far away by manipulating it properly. This skill was the essence of his sound domain magic. For the sonic drill, it enabled him to control soundwaves to create something like a sharp metallic drill. He could use it to attack both the body and the brain. For the sonic reflection, it enabled him to use his opponent''s sound against them. For example, if his opponent roared in anger or pain in battle, he could manipulate the soundwaves to return and attack the opponent. And it was an area of effect skill. For the sonic dissonance, he got the inspiration for this from his alpha dad. Though it was not the same skill as the alpha had a different magic domain, the effects were the same. By clacking his teeth together or gritting them, he could make sounds that would scare away other sea creatures. For the water cyclone, he could control the vibrations in the water to create something like a hurricane which can block attacks and deal damage to opponents at the same time. For his adaptations, they were self-explanatory. The damage reflection skin coating gave him a certain percentage of reflecting melee damage to the opponent. The camouflage organ could help him change the color of his skin, thereby blending into his surroundings like a chameleon. The last Sound magic domain was self-explanatory. Seeing how strong and diverse he became after one evolution, Sebastian felt surreal. And he could control sound magic now too. He chuckled, producing bubbles in the water. "Can I be called a magician of sound now?" Chapter 61 - The 1st Sea King! Creak! As Sebastian chuckled, he was startled as he heard this sound that woke him up again. He intended to raise his body and look, but he became stuck. This was when he noticed another fact of his evolution that he almost missed. His eyes widened. "I ballooned in size!" Now, even trying to shake his tail fin was a problem. His body was now so big that the walls of the hole were practically compressing his skin. Seeing this, he didn''t know if he should cry or laugh. Despite his feelings, he was still amazed by his current size. From his previous size of 4 meters, he was now towering at a massive unbelievable size of about 12 meters. "What¡­?" He felt like taking a snap and putting it on his Instagram page immediately but once again he remembered that this was f*cking Oceania. Despite the blood, gore, and constant battles here, everything still clicked with his first love, which was to dissect everything. For that, he could endure every gore that followed. It''s not like he was afraid of horror movies Afterall. Putting all these errant thoughts behind him, he came back to the matter of his size. Seeing himself like this felt unbelievable to him, but he could accept it, knowing the fact that he already encountered eels that were over 15 meters long. For those guys, he could only take his cap off for them and praise them in Chinese. He was not in a hurry to leave so he took his time to admire his newfound strength. Compared to his previous self, he felt like a Lion that was packed with power, just waiting for the signal to pounce on prey. "Not bad". He praised. After such an evolution, he was filled with energy but he felt he should sleep a bit to alleviate any stress that may follow. After all, he was not like other sharks. He knew what stress was capable of. As his eyes were slowly losing focus, they snapped open again as he heard a growling sound reverberating around the dark red hole. Without even thinking, he knew what it was. "Dammit! I know!" While grumbling in his mind, he got prepared to go hunt for prey with the motivation that he would get to try out his new skills. Thud! He was once again startled when he heard this sound above him. He kept quiet and listened, he heard the thudding sound coming from above continue. He was pleasantly surprised. "Is prey already waiting for me? That''s good". Without hesitation, he ignored the hot heat that was still affecting him before hovering up. Without any trouble, he broke through all the rocks that he painstakingly set up the previous time with his sheer power. As soon as Sebastian bulldozed his way out of the hole, he felt a pair of shocked eyes land on him. Looking over, he was stunned as he saw 3 Giant Shrimps looking at him in shock. He was a little confused at first but he immediately understood. "These guys are the relatives of the Giant Shrimp that I killed here". Seeing the giant shark that towered above them despite their equally giant size for a Shrimp, the 3 Shrimps didn''t dare hesitate as they turned to escape. Sebastian reacted instinctively and pounced on the food. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] He didn''t even need to add the dash skill to it this time. Just one movement of his body brought him close to the nearest Shrimp as he immediately bit down. Crunch! He felt the crispy sensation of biting down on delicious prey again. In seconds, he gorged the food down his throat before pouncing at the other Shrimp. This fellow was even more pathetic as it died from a snapping bite to the head. The last was able to try retaliating a bit, but all its efforts were naught. In less than a second, Sebastian also gorged its delicious meat. [You have killed a Volcano Shrimp- Level 10: You have gained Experience.] [You have killed a Volcano Shrimp- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 1 Skill point and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed¡­] While grumbling about how he gained only 1 skill point from 3 skills, he decided to swim into the deeper parts of this seamount to hunt for prey. Despite his evolution, he did not dare look at himself as the overlord of this volcano world already. For an enormous world of fire like this, there was definitely no lack of top-tier predators. Despite all this, he felt anticipation for the probable encounters. Without wasting any more time, he cautiously started swimming deeper inside the enormous seamount. ¡­ At a certain location, hundreds of kilometers deep inside the volcano. The ward-robe-like cliff walls of the volcano here were the same as the top, the difference was that only a handful of sea creatures were qualified to stay here where the volcano''s heat was extremely concentrated. At this moment, in one of the big holes inside the walls laid a gigantic lizard with the head of a Dragon and the tail of a snake. It was originally in a deep slumber, but its red eyes that burned with fire suddenly snapped open in the eternal redness. Its eyes that looked like they could see through time and season looked up, penetrating through all the obstacles of boiling rocks obstructing its path. It tried to focus its eyes and see what it was looking for but its penetrating vision skill was being blocked by a strange power. "The 1st Sea King!" As it muttered this, its body subconsciously tensed up. Chapter 62 - System Clue. As soon as Sebastian started swimming through the water, into the deeper parts of the seamount, he did not forget to activate his always reliable skill, his advanced electroreceptors. The deep background color of red in his surroundings which was of extreme contrast to his previous hunting ground made him feel unaccustomed to it. As he swam, he suddenly stopped as he saw his system notification flash before his eyes. [Due to your having reached the threshold of Level 10, you have unlocked a unique clue from the system.] [Do you wish to access the unique clue now?] Seeing this, he was stunned for a moment. "The heck! I actually forgot about this due to the euphoria brought by evolution". He felt an urge to facepalm but he suddenly remembered that he was now a shark, making him feel a little awkward. Putting that behind him, he thought to the clue of the system. Apart from the basic Oceania information that the system shared with him when he first came to this world, this was the first time that the system was giving him a clue. Now, he felt curious about it. "Yes, give me the clue". [System Clue: Unique Skills are an embodiment power of this world formed by the Origin essence in each of the 7 Seas.] [In Total, there are 7 unique skills, and each of them, except the Water Transmutation that you currently have, are owned by the Sea Kings.] [For you to get access to other unique skills, you have to kill the corresponding Sea King and ?ssimilate its magic essence.] [You have unlocked a mission: Unique Skill Hunter!] [Mission Details: Find and hunt down any of the Sea Kings to get their corresponding unique skill.] [Mission Reward: Skill points and Adaptation points shall be given according to host''s level when he completes the mission, and clues on how to get stronger will be given to host.] Seeing this, Sebastian was pleasantly surprised. He was already fantasizing about himself getting other unique skills, but he didn''t even know that another unique skill existed before now. And not only did they exist, but he also had the ability to ?ssimilate others, which meant that he could wield other unique abilities like the Water Transmutation skill. Thinking of this fact alone left him breathless. "Holy Moly! I think I''m really a protagonist by the way things are going". "System, you''re awesome". He really felt like doing a happy dance right now to celebrate this extremely valuable clue, but once again he remembered that he was a shark. This clue directly inflated the ambition in him that he''s been trying hard to suppress since his arrival to this world. Though he always tried to hide his true feelings by the fact that he was happy with getting to dissect more peculiar and strange sea creatures in this world, he knew that he had other ambitions. It was impossible for a human like him to not feel any curiosity or fear when he was suddenly reincarnated into a world filled with only water. Since transmigrating into this world, he always had that silent ambition in his heart to know the mysteries of this world. He was not satisfied with just being a spectator who passively watched. Not only did he want to know the mysteries of this world, but he also wanted to how he was reincarnated, he wanted to know the power that reincarnated him, he wanted to know who reincarnated him, he wanted to know a lot of things. These were his basic curiosity as a human, but the only problem was that he didn''t dare probe too much because of his lacking strength. That was why he was happy, he was confident that with more unique skills, he would have the power that he needed to probe at the secrets of this world. And yes, to dissect more sea creatures too, that could not be excluded. As he fantasized about himself wielding all 7 unique skills and spreading terror across the 7 Seas, even to the humans of Atlantis according to the system that ruled this world, he discovered another problem. Those that wielded the unique skills, the system addressed them as Sea Kings. Thinking deeper into that fact alone left him chuckling dryly to himself. "Is this actually a suicide mission? I''m not part of the suicide squad". No matter how stupid he was, he knew that a sea creature qualified to be called a Sea King in this world was something that the current him didn''t want to encounter at all. And who knew if they could devour his unique skill too. To be exact, this clue from the system now made him warier about this world. He didn''t want to wake up one day only to be crushed to death by a war hammer magical manifestation. "That would suck". He lampooned. "Now, Sebastian, it''s time to hunt and eat meat". Boom! He jolted in shock due to the sudden sound before looking into the distance. Seeing the fluctuations of what would be nothing else other than an ongoing battle, his face became weird. "Don''t tell me that prey here are so eager to become my food". "Well, that''ll be nice". [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] Carefully and silently, he activated this skill and started swimming forwards, following the vibrations in the water to locate where the commotion was coming from. The seamount just like a real mountain had trees and stubborn weeds, the only difference was that they were all red with tyrannical vitality, and the trees towered into the sky like skyscrapers. As he moved, Sebastian noticed an oddity. He would be quickly discovered due to his skin color that was in contrast to the surrounding redness. [You have triggered Adaptation: Camouflage Organ.] Immediately, he felt a cool feeling like a fluid was seeping into his veins to access his skin pores. As this happened, his skin color slowly changed from its default dark blue to a dark red color. In moments, he was now a red great white shark, easily blending with his surroundings. Seeing this, he felt like grinning. He finally entered ?ssassin mode. Chapter 63 - Sonic Disaster! Boom! As Sebastian got closer, the sound of the ongoing battle also became more prominent. The surrounding water was stirred rapidly, spreading the vibrations of the commotion to great distances. Seeing this, he was once again speechless. "Are you guys so eager to die?" He cursed. This made him even more cautious as he swam forward. He was pretty sure that tons of other predators were already alerted to the commotion of this battle, and some may already be here. Courting death was a talent, he secretly marveled at the identity of the 2 fools who already mastered this innate talent. Silently weaving in between the red trees that blocked his path, he finally arrived at a location where he saw the 2 fellows who were battling so hard like a man and his ex-girlfriend who was throwing a tantrum. "A Giant Crab and a..., Worm?" He easily identified both parties, but his understanding of this world was once again overturned by the sight. One of the battling predators was the Giant Crab that he was already accustomed to after facing a few of its kind, the only difference was that this one was far bigger than the normal. The Giant Worm''s huge body slithered across the top of the seamount like a snake, two claw-like adaptations extended out of its upper body like a pair of hooked teeth as it attacked the crab below it viciously with this. The Giant Crab was much more compact and smaller than it was, but this did not lower how dangerous it was at it attacked viciously with its pair of claws. At this moment, these 2 predators were embroiled in a fierce battle. Grinding metallic sounds reverberated through the water as the Worm''s claw-like adaptations ground at its opponent''s thick shell, while the claws of the Crab stabbed into its flesh. At this moment, both parties were already severely injured but they did not stop nor did they even contemplate stopping. Seeing these 2 juicy preys that were begging to be killed, Sebastian salivated but did not attack immediately. He wanted to wait, follow the changes in the battle, and make the right decision before attacking. He felt the urge to go showcase his new skills, but a powerhouse got to chill and act like a powerhouse, not a charlatan. Pumping himself with that and finding it reasonable, he hovered silently in the water like an ?ssassin predator, stalking both preys for the right moment. Sebastian did not have to wait long. Just about 2 minutes later, a new predator arrived on the battlefield, a strange sea creature that looked like an amalgamation of a Sea Lion and a Crocodile. Seeing the ongoing battle, this newcomer did not hesitate to join in the show. In moments, the battle situation became more chaotic. And just a few seconds after this new fellow arrived, 2 other Giant Worms drilled out of the seamount and joined the battle. Seeing all these, Sebastian decided that it was enough lest the battle attracted too many predators. This was the perfect time to act. And he already observed some details from his hiding point, the Giant Crab and strange Sea Lion creature had more brute strength, while the Giant Worm''s claws had poison in them. As soon as the 2 new Giant Worms came out, without hesitation, they bit down with their claw-like adaptation at the Giant Crab who was now the center of attention. Grii...!!! As this sound reverberated from the crab, Sebastian acted. [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] Immediately, the echoes of the grinding roar of pain were stopped in mid-air by an invisible force, then they were amplified before hitting back more aggressively at the 5 predators on the battlefield. Sebastian took advantage of this, activated his dash skill, and rushed out of his hiding point. Before the nearest Giant Worm could recover, he activated his Shredding Bite skill and bit down with force. The Giant Worm felt the vibrations but it could not react fast enough, all it saw was a red monster rushing towards it before the enormous maws clasped down on it. Crunch! [You have inflicted staggering damage to your opponent.] [You have applied Vampire Effect to your prey: -8 Damage for 10 seconds.] [You have killed a mutated Poison Worm- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 4 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] In just one bite, Sebastian''s now outrageous strength empowered his teeth power so much that the Giant Worm died from just one bite. For a moment, a strange silence reigned in the small battlefield as the other predators looked over in shock. They couldn''t believe that one of them was able to die so easily. [You have activated skill: Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor.] [You have inflicted your opponents with Fear!] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Taking advantage of their moment of fear and stiffness, Sebastian rammed straight into the nearby predator who was once again another Giant Worm. Boom! Crack! The Giant Worm made a squeaking noise in pain as the ramming collision spread damages through its body, making it curl up in pain, making sounds like its body was strangely shattering like a mirror. The shockwaves from the battering ram spread to the surrounding water rapidly, affecting the other predators in the process. Crunch! Sebastian viciously bit again, and he secured his 2nd kill in less than 10 seconds since he dashed into the battlefield. The remaining Giant Worm immediately reacted as web-like magic lines sizzling with fire appeared in the air; this was a strange Silk magic with fire attributes. As it attacked with the silk to restrain the powerful predator who intruded into their battle, the Giant Crab suddenly covered itself with fire magic, covering its body in the blazing fire as it rushed at Sebastian. For the strange Sea Lion that somehow had characteristics of a Crocodile, its rows of teeth started glinting in an ominous red light as it charged at the red shark. Sebastian did not panic on seeing this, he calmly turned his huge body and reacted appropriately to curb this mindless charge. [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] The vibrations in the water surface suddenly converged together under the control of the sound magic domain. They compressed to form what looked like an illusory drill, then it shot outwards. Bam! The drill moved at the speed of sound, giving the Sea Lion no time to react as it dug into its brain like a bullet, destroying all its brain juice in the process and splattering blood everywhere. It didn''t die immediately, but it was now hovering at the point dividing life and death as a large hole was now inside its head. It was at this moment that the vibrations in the water were stirred again, then a water cyclone was rapidly formed before the fiery Giant Crab got to Sebastian''s location. The Water Cyclone pushed the Giant Crab back, then its AOE damage finished the uncompleted job with the Sea Lion. [You have repelled your opponent- dealing damage in the process.] [You have killed a Tyrannosaurus Sea Lion- Level 12: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 3 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] Seeing this, the Giant Crab and the last Giant Worm finally came to their senses, revealing horrified expressions at this apex predator. Without hesitation, they both turned to escape. Sebastian instinctively decided to go in pursuit but something held him down. He felt the magic silk floating in the water tie him up, firmly wrapping and holding his fin in place. [A magic skill has been used on you: Silk Chains.] He simply shook his now enormous body, and he was able to escape the influence of the skill with sheer brute strength. He was about to go in pursuit again when he discovered another predator who was originally hiding in the dark. He knew this predator, he''s clashed with them before. "Dragon Fireflies!" Chapter 64 - [Bonus chapter]Killing The Death Dragon. Seeing the familiar Giant bird that looked like an abomination made from the combination of a beetle and an eagle, Sebastian decisively gave up his decision to pursue his remaining 2 prey. Immediately after he noticed the appearance of the first Dragon Firefly, the next one showed up as they both folded their wings and dived down from the top of the enormous red tree. They rapidly moved through the water at such mind-blowing speeds like they were mechanically propelled underwater jets. Screech...!!! The first Dragon Firefly opened its beak wide and screeched as its eyes were now trained on its prey. Greenlight flared in its throat, then a green fire was breathed out of its throat at its prey. It watched Sebastian''s performance from above and knew that the great white shark was a formidable opponent, it didn''t dare underestimate him and this was the main reason why it decided to act. Seeing the scorching green fire descending from above, Sebastian did not panic like the last time he encountered it as he calmly reacted. [You have activated skill: Magic Shield!] A green shield with simple magic lines revolving around it immediately shimmered to life around him, isolating and protecting his body from all vices outside. As soon as the green shield appeared, the green fire collided with it. Boom! The bright green eruption like that of a nuclear bomb that followed blocked out every sight, numbing every eye that looked at this scene directly. Above this bright light, the Dragon Firefly still had its sight on its prey as it finally descended to Sebastian''s position. Its eyes shimmered with a dark brown light, an adaptation that protected its eyes from the bright light. As soon as it got the right angle that it wanted, without hesitation, it struck down viciously with its eagle-like powerful beak. At this moment, Sebastian''s magic shield already flickered and disappeared after negating the power behind the raging green fire breath which was in itself an amazing feat. Bam! The beak encountered some obstruction from the Young Megalodon''s now extremely thick skin muscles, but its sharp pointed tip was still able to penetrate after struggling a bit. Sebastian grunted a bit in pain, but that was all. [You have been attacked by a skill: Beak Punch!] [Adaptation effects has been triggered: Damage Reflection Skin Coating.] Suddenly, the Dragon Firefly shuddered as its beak shook before it started bleeding from the side of its beaks. It was startled for a moment but it quickly understood that this was a skill. At this moment, it was on top of Sebastian so his teeth could not reach it immediately. And besides, the sharp talons of the strange Oceania bird already got him in a death grip. Suddenly, the dorsal fin on his back stiffened. Before the Dragon Firefly could react, he struggled, shaking his body in the process as his now extremely sharp dorsal fin cut an opening through the strange firefly''s belly. The Dragon Firefly shrieked and subconsciously flapped its wings to swim upwards due to the pain. This was what Sebastian was anticipating. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Crunch! The predatory bird''s talons stiffened for a moment before it started thrashing left and right in pain. Dark green blood flowed from its neck as Sebastian''s teeth dug deeper into it. The other Dragon Firefly was stunned on seeing its sibling in such a state. It didn''t dare breathe out its green fire lest it deals mutual damage to its siblings, but it rapidly closed the distance to help. [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] The Water Cyclone rapidly appeared again, isolating him and his prey while keeping the other helpless Dragon Firefly at bay. At this moment, Sebastian already began the holy movement- rapidly shaking his body to enable his teeth to tear more flesh apart. After doing it in so many battles, it was now already instinct to him. The Dragon Firefly stuck in his mouth struggled more fiercely despite the damage that was already dealt to it, showing its strong vitality and strength. It kept on attacking Sebastian with its sharp talons and other adaptations, but the Young Megalodon paid little attention to these little damages. Seeing this, the other Dragon Firefly open its mouth and roared as it quickly got over its dilemma and got prepared to use its fire breath skill without thinking of the consequences. Having been observing it through his electroreceptor skill, Sebastian reacted to curb its damage immediately. The Dragon Firefly shuddered as the loud sound of its own roar suddenly attacked it. Its brain short-circuited for a moment, making the gathering green fire in its mouth go out of control. Boom! The fire raged, clearly not differentiating friend from foe as it tore its mouth apart in the process before the damage quickly snowballed to its whole body. Then, the Dragon Firefly stiffened like a roasted Shrimp. "..." Seeing this, Sebastian was left speechless. "You f*cking killed yourself?" He was speechless, but he did not remove his teeth from the other Dragon Firefly that was still struggling under his rows of sharp teeth. The strange predatory bird raged some more with rigorous endurance, then it finally became stiff, dropping its body lifelessly at the same time. [Congratulations! You successfully killed a unique apex predator: Young Death Dragon!] [You have killed a Death Dragon- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained additional 5 Skill points for killing a unique apex predator.] [You have obtained the basic profile information of the Death Dragon.] [You have obtained a unique system clue: Death Dragons are the descendants of the Death Sea King- Necromancy King!] Seeing this, Sebastian was dumbfounded. "Damn!" Chapter 65 - Necromancy King! Seeing the information that he got after killing the Dragon Firefly, no, Death Dragon, Sebastian finally understood why Leroy advised him to escape immediately when he met them. "So, these guys are actually the descendant of a Sea King? "How envious! That''s like having a badass dad to protect you, something I don''t have". He lampooned in slight envy to himself. Though he expected the commotion caused by the Giant Crab and Worm to attract other predators, he did not expect a Death Dragon to be attracted too. Right now, he felt that he should thank those 2 fools for causing the commotion because, without them, he wouldn''t have gotten his first knowledge about a Sea King. "Necromancy King!" The name repeatedly rang in his mind, and he made sure to keep it at the back of his memory for future reference. From the name, it showed this Sea King''s identity and power. One more thing was that he did not expect actual sea creatures to have necromancy abilities in this world which was just shocking. Well, he should have expected it after seeing so many weird things. This system clue was invaluable to him as he finally knew one of his future opponents. From the knowledge that the system revealed to him about unique skills, the Sea Kings, and how many of them there were, he already guessed that each of them corresponded to each of the 7 Seas. He guessed that apart from the ruling kingdom of Atlantis, these Sea Kings were the sovereigns of all sea creatures in each of the 7 Seas. For how he got the Water Transmutation skill, he guessed that the Sea King who originally wielded this unique skill suffered a mishap of some kind. He didn''t know if his conjectures were correct, they were just random, but they were fairly rational enough. He also guessed that the secret behind his reincarnation also lied with these Sea Kings which was why any information about them was invaluable to him. Thinking about that, he finally turned to the Death Dragon that died to his powerful jaws of steel. He felt a little proud after this achievement. He still remembered the first time when he encountered Death Dragons, he made a gutsy display but, in the end, he could only run for his life with his tail behind his fins. But in just a few days, after his evolution, he personally killed one, and for the other... Turning his head to look at the remains of the Death Dragon that blew itself up with its own fire breath left Sebastian sighing speechlessly. He felt suicide bombing vibes from this dead fellow. Though he wanted to curse at its uselessness, he knew that the main reason why it happened was his well-timed use of his new sonic reflection skill. He finally got a firm impression of the power of some of his skills. When used right, its influence in a battle could even eclipse the effects of his trump card skills and effects. Another fact that made him excited was that this was his first time fighting such a high-grade battle and he wasn''t forced to use his trump card skills. All the opponents that he killed were top-tier predators, they were unlike the Blue Tang fishes and eels that he got used to in the previous expanse. These were fellows that were tempered by fire, and even the worm that was supposed to have a low-tier bloodline was freakishly strong. The fact that despite all these, he killed them without using any of his trump cards showed his current power. He was growing and slowly developing to become a real powerhouse. Putting all that behind him, he finally turned to begin his feast. This time, his stomach would not have any cause to complain of food anytime soon as all the prey that died to him this time were food of high quality. Swimming closer, he started his feast. Crunch! [You have eaten the meat of a mutated Giant Worm: You have unlocked the basic profile information of the Giant Worm.] [You have eaten the meat of a mutated Sea Lion: You have unlocked the basic profile information of the Sea Lion.] For the other Death Dragon, though its loss of control over its magic made its fire breath go berserk and exploded its body, a few patches of meat here and there were left behind. Sebastian left none of this behind, he googled all the food up. After swiftly going through the basic profile information of the Giant Worm and the mutated Sea Lion, he finally settled down to thoroughly scrutinize the basic information of the Death Dragon. [Congratulations! You have killed and eaten the meat of a unique apex predator high in the food chain: Death Dragon- Level 13. Basic profile information of the Death Dragon has been unlocked.] [The Death Dragon is a dangerous apex predator that was created from the random mismatch evolution choices and adaptations of their ancestor.] [In your terms, the Death Dragon in its high evolution stage is more like the mad scientist, Frankenstein''s monster.] [They are a species of Dragon that are below no other. They have an innate ability to breathe Death fire, and this ability increases as they undergo more evolutions.] [Young Death Dragons have no choices in their evolution growth as all the choices have already been made by their ancestor. You either decide to follow or mutate into a different species.] [They attack mainly with their extremely powerful and sharp talons, sharp beak, and Death fire breath.] Seeing such a detailed breakdown of this monster, Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief as he could not help but thank his system once again. Through this information, he was able to learn a lot of things that would make his subsequent battle encounters with this winged Oceania predator much easier. He heaved a sigh of relief before deciding to continue his exploration. He wanted to explore the seamount, while at the same time training with his new skills until he was familiar with them. When his mana points were exhausted, that was when he would find a new hiding place to build his hideout and rest. For now, exploration continues. Chapter 66 - Catacombs. Before leaving, Sebastian decided to stop and go through an adaptation that he hardly paid attention to before since he bought it due to the conditions of his environment and a ton of other reasons. [You have triggered Adaptation: Map.] Yes, his map adaptation was one of the few add-ons that he neglected a lot in his body since transmigrating into this world. It was not his fault, it''s just that the always eventful situation of his surroundings left him with little time to pay attention to it. As soon as he triggered the adaptation, he felt like a huge virtual map appeared in his imaginary vision. The map currently had only 2 regions, a region represented by the normal green color of the Green Mist Sea and the other that was tainted with a deep redness that was glaring to the eyes. These 2 regions were his previous location in the wide expanse of water and his current location in the ocean volcano. As this was the only location that he''s visited since transmigrating into this world, they were also the only places recorded on his map. The mechanisms of the map were that as he explored the world, the explored regions would be indicated in the map to enable him to easily locate them when needed in the future. For him to narrow the map down to get more accurate directions, all he needed to do was focus and the map would respond accordingly like he could zoom it similarly to a camera. It was just like an advanced version of google maps in his previous world. On the map, he could see a great distance between his previous location and this world of fire. Though it was in a miniaturized version, Sebastian guessed that the actual distance was probably hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. To get more accurate statistics, he had to experiment with it himself. Well, a beggar was not a chooser Afterall. He decided to follow his legendary second love again, which was ignoring things. After thinking about it, he decided to give these 2 main regions a name on the map as he would probably explore more regions after here. [Unique Region name has been given by host!] [Explored Regions: Wardrobe Ocean Volcano; Leroy Cave Expanse.] There was a tendency that he would explore more ocean volcanos in the future, so he simply named this region with the characteristics that were more glaring to him, the wardrobe-like shape of the large circular cliff walls. For his previous expanse, he simply named it so because the Leroy Clan''s cave was located there which was the best landmark naming to him. After completing this important task, he finally turned to explore deeper into the seamount but on instinctively activating his electroreceptors again, he was surprised as he found a hidden hole below him. Looking down, he found only rocks but he was sure that a hole was hidden there due to the penetrating powers of his electroreceptors. Before going closer to check it out, he quickly made some conjectures. Connecting this with his discovery, he confirmed it and made a guess. Just like the city of eels that he encountered before, there was likely a city or at least a town of Giant Worms below here. Without hesitation, he swam down to check out the rocks blocking the entrance but he was stunned as he encountered no resistance. [Host has broken through the effects of an illusion magic.] "Illusion magic?" Sebastian was once again stunned. When he looked again, he noticed that the rocks were gone and a hole leading deep into the seamount was what presented itself before him. Inside the hole was clearly darker, but the redness of the surroundings illuminated it a bit, though in an ominous manner. Filled with curiosity now, Sebastian decided to explore it. Of course, before entering, he rapidly formed a contingency plan to prepare a way out for himself in the case he met trouble that he could not easily escape from. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] Cautiously, he slowly swam inside the hole that led into a large tunnel below. Due to the Giant size of the Worms, the hole was big enough for him to enter, making things a lot easier. As he entered, he triggered this adaptation again to adjust the redness of his skin to better blend with that of the hole. Then, he continued his exploration down. As he went deeper into the tunnel, he was surprised to notice that no Giant Worms was lurking in the surroundings. What even surprised him more was that he started noticing the handwork of humans in play. The deeper he swam, the more he deduced that this was a cave tunnel dug out by human hands or equipment. "Did the Atlantians once live here? Or are there other humans in this world?" He soliloquized curiously while still being alert. From b?r?ly containing him in, the tunnel slowly widened to almost twice his size. A few seconds later, he finally arrived at what seemed to be the end of the tunnel. On getting there, the darkness was now much more significant but he quickly noticed the 2 Giant worms that were slithering in the water opposite him. Besides these 2 Worms, he discovered another thing- this was a huge network of underground tunnels and passages and they were all built in the styles of humans, clearly not natural. From his position, 5 other tunnels extended in different directions. As the Worms didn''t discover him because of the darkness of the cave, he was able to leisurely observe more. Looking towards the depths of one of the 5 branching tunnels, he discovered what seemed like a hall. Looking at the other 4 directions, he saw the same thing. Putting all these together with his knowledge from earth, he came to a conclusion. This was a Catacomb. Chapter 67 - [Bonus chapter]Experimental Ground. Seeing the unnerving sight of human skeletons piled on top of each other before him and the skulls looking straight at him, paired with his conclusion, Sebastian could not help but shudder a bit. As an anatomist, he was not scared of blood, gore, and anything related, but things related to death, catacombs, and mausoleums were scary to him. This was even more obvious when he was experiencing it from a first-person perspective. This was unlike horror movies where he watched behind a screen, this was the real deal. He could not help but lampoon that this world was rapidly becoming more fantasy-like in a dark manner that he did not like, which scared him. The only thing that prevented him from running with his tail behind his fins immediately was the fact that he was not a human weakling anymore, he was now a young Megalodon with magic and battle skills. At this moment, he really wished that he could make use of his ultra-range electroreceptors skill immediately. With that, he could penetrate obstacles and see much further. Despite this unfortunate shortcoming, he still made use of what he had. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] [You have manually manipulated your electroreceptor skill.] Doing this, Sebastian was able to narrow down the point of focus of the skill towards the direction where he detected the 2 Giant Worms. Observing through that specific tunnel, he didn''t see any other predator except the Giant Worms. Giving himself some psychological confidence with that, he finally moved forward slowly. As he slowly moved through the tunnel, his keen observation enabled him to notice much more human touches in this strange catacomb. Through the help of his camouflage organ, he was able to get extremely close without alerting the 2 Giant Worms, enabling him to observe the pile of skeletons more closely. As he observed the human skulls, he suddenly saw a green light flash through one of them, spooking the hell out of him. One skeleton suddenly stood up from the pile of bones, revealing itself to become what seemed like a skeleton snake with 4 legs. Due to the movement of the skeleton, the Giant Worms were alarmed. While discovering the skeleton, they also discovered the predator that was now dangerously close to them. Even though he was spooked by the skeleton snake, Sebastian was able to react on time, attacking first before he was attacked. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have triggered Adaptation: Spikes!] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] [You have activated skill: Empowered Tail Fin.] Crunch! Sebastian''s deadly sharp row of teeth immediately came down at the nearest Giant Worm, pulling and shredding a sizeable amount of flesh in the process. In a moment, he dealt 3 attacks. Almost at the same time, he activated another skill as the skeleton snake rapidly swam to his face. [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] Bam! The skeleton snake rapidly collided with the magic shield, the impact spreading cracks through its bony body as it shriveled like a smoked Shrimp while being repelled backward. It tried to retaliate but Sebastian already chained another attack against it. He removed his row of teeth from the first Giant Worm and opened his mouth. Pu! Pu! His magic empowered teeth shot out in clear already defined trajectories, rapidly impaling the skeleton snake and in moments, it was shattered into fragments of bones. Ignoring the system notification, Sebastian rapidly turned to face the 2 Giant Worms as they were already in the process of using their strange Silk magic. After doing this, he started observing his surroundings for any other danger while making sure not to focus on the pile of bones again. He wasn''t sure if the skeleton snake was a result of him focusing on the pile of bones, but prevention was better than cure. This encounter already made him lose interest in this catacomb, but a strange curiosity made him stay. After waiting for about a minute and not detecting any danger, he finally heaved a sigh of relief while going through the system''s notification. [You have killed a Mutated Poison Worm- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 3 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Mutated Poison Worm- Level 12: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] [You have killed a Tainted Skeleton Snake- Level 8: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 2 Skill points and 2 Adaptation points.] [This Seamount was once an experimental ground of the Atlantian Mage Professors. The Experiment failed, and an abomination was created here, forming a terribly dangerous substance.] [Experiment Name: ???] Seeing this, Sebastian was once again stunned. This was his first real clue to other humans since coming to this world, he could not help but feel his taking in liquidated oxygen become rapid. From this, he also got another discovery, Atlantis humans could become Mages, which meant that the sea creatures were not the only ones with magic. Going to the experiment train of thought, he could not help but ?ssociate the experiment with the Necromancy King. Not only was he inside a catacomb related to death where he encountered a strange skeleton snake, the 2 Death Dragons that he saw may imply that a nest of those abominations was close by. And all these paired with the experiment pointed to Necromancy. He badly wanted to explore deeper to know the truth, but the terribly dangerous emphasis from the system was rare, which gave him trepidations. In the end, he decided that before leaving, he should just explore the periphery of the catacombs, if possible just this tunnel to its end to understand the overall situation a bit. Despite this, he repeatedly cautioned himself in his university lecturer''s tone. "Sebastian, only the periphery. You are too young to court death". He knew that if he used his voice, his subconscious may decide to ignore it, but definitely not the Mathematics Professor''s voice. "Mathematics Professors were King". Chapter 68 - Why Did You Disturb My Sleep? Cautiously, Sebastian''s tail flapped left and right as his enormous body moved through the catacombs while he observed keenly with both his eyes and his electroreceptor skill. On one side of the tunnel were the normal walls, while the other side had its walls formed from the pile of human skeletons. The more he observed the tunnel, the more it seemed like a hall to him. After more careful observations, he deduced that the main body of the hall was the part already covered by the pile of human skeletons. Due to how the skeletons were piled and arranged, he could not deduce exactly how they died. "Did a huge war erupt here or something?" As he thought to himself, his eyes became sharp as his electroreceptors just warned him of another group of Giant Worms ahead. This time, they were 3 of them, slithering on top of each other like they were doing inexplicable things. They were so focused on their little fun playing that they didn''t notice the incoming danger. Already experienced with dealing with them, Sebastian did not rush as he found a better angle to better observe the 3 siblings. Though he just had a feast before entering this underground catacomb, he knew that his dimensional storage stomach would not complain of more food. He already knew the squelching sound that they made to communicate with themselves, and his strategy this time was to take advantage of it. Even if the one made by him wouldn''t make sense, he believed that the 3 Giant Worms would at least react to it. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] This was Sebastian''s first time using this skill but for some reason, he felt like he was already a veteran in controlling it. He knew that this was a specialty of his system, so he was calm. He controlled the vibrations in the water, tapping into the residual sound waves that were left in the water to form a sound of his own. Squesh! Squash! The 3 Giant Worms stopped their activities at the same time, then they all turned to face the direction of the sound. They didn''t have eyes, only an adaptation that was like antennas on their foreheads waved in the water like they were trying to pinpoint where exactly the sound came from. Squish! Squosh! This time, they finally moved to go check out the fool who was disturbing them who could not even form a coherent communication sound. With the help of his camouflage organ, Sebastian''s enormous body slightly blended with the walls of the catacomb tunnel, preventing neither of the 3 Worms to detect the anomaly. At this moment, the first Worm was already directly below him, granting him the perfect opportunity to strike and he took it. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] His enormous body quickly moved with the skill, crushing the body of the first Giant Worm to the wall. In this process, he quickly disengaged and opened his mouth, biting at the second Giant Worm. While doing this, the familiar sound waves in the air quickly converged together, forming the dangerous sonic drill before firing at the last Giant Worm. Crunch! While he repeatedly bit at the Giant Worm in the middle, the damage that he dealt to the other 2 made them want to instinctively roar in pain but he reacted before they did. [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] As soon as both Giant Worms opened their mouth, the sound did not get to come out as it was stuck in their throat before hitting back at them. While doing this, he finished the Giant Worm in the middle with one final bite before going back to the one at the front. Just 2 consecutive bites and the fellow also succumbed. Then, he finally turned to deliver the last blow to the fellow who was still suffering from the sonic drill damage to its brain. [You have killed 3 Poison Worms- {Level 14,12 & 11}: You have gained Experience.] Not seeing it as much of an achievement anymore despite the speed at which he killed them, he quickly gobbled down the meat of the 3 Giant Worms before continuing his exploration. In that same tunnel, as he explored, he met other groups of Giant Worms which he easily killed after chaining a few skills against them. Of course, the main thing that allowed him to continue his exploration while killing was the fact that he didn''t make much of a commotion during all the killing. At this point, he more or less confirmed already that the skeleton snake appearing was a result of him staring directly at the pile of skeletons. This brought him another question that he had no answer to, what was special about the skeletons? Is it something that he could dissect to know the answer? Putting that behind him for now, he continued observing carefully. Another fact was that farming Skills and Adaptation points so easily left him in a good mood, which prompted him to continue exploring. A few minutes later, amidst the gloominess of the catacombs, he finally saw something different. At the very end of the tunnel where it branched into other tunnels sat a blueish white box. The box pulsed in a lifelike manner, while the white slowly dissipated from it, spreading coldness to the surrounding. Seeing this, Sebastian did not become rash and go directly, he instead decided to observe from afar with his electroreceptor skill first. [You have been tainted by the Poison box: You have attracted the attention of the Wandering Hound!] "Tainted? Wait, I attracted attention?" Tap! Tap! Suddenly, he heard a sound that he was extremely familiar with from one of the tunnels connected to the one he currently was, the sound of a lady walking with high heels. This was an extremely normal sound in ordinary circumstances, but this was clearly not an ordinary circumstance. This was Oceania not Earth, and besides, he was inside a strange mausoleum. He wanted to turn and escape immediately but he held his nerves and decided to wait. He wanted to see the source of the sound first, he didn''t want to escape without even knowing what exactly was happening. As the tension grew in him, the source of the sound finally appeared. Tap! Tap! Sebastian subconsciously looked down, his eyes focusing on the beautiful pair of high heels and the fair legs on them. He was about to heave a sigh of relief but when he traced this up, he stiffened. The enormous hound had 3 heads, the ones on the left and right were normal dog heads, while the one in the middle was that of a beautiful girl. The human head suddenly turned to look at Sebastian and asked in an extremely feminine tone that should induce pity, but could not to the current Sebastian. "Why did you disturb my sleep?" "Me?" Sebastian felt a chill down his spine. Chapter 69 - Battle Against The Strange Hound Lady. Sebastian kept quiet shortly after blurting out a clarification question as he observed this delicate female head. A lot of things went through his mind, but he forced down his panic and observed. At this moment, he could only give all credits to the numerous horror movies that he watched in his previous life which hardened his nerves against such things. Despite the lady''s skin still being filled with vitality and freshness, her eyes were dull, blurry, and lifeless like she was possessed. And as she spoke, her teeth were revealed, they were stained with blood and flesh. "Why did you disturb my sleep?" She asked again. "¡­" Perhaps, irritated by the silence, her face became warped as a pair of sharp teeth immediately grew from her originally still human teeth. "WHY DID YOU DISTURB MY SLEEP?" [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Sebastian obeyed his laws immediately, decisively turning to escape when the situation revealed any danger. The tunnel was too small for him to turn his body fast enough, so he didn''t even pay attention to it. All he did was use the original essence of the skill, which was reverse swimming. Sensing his retreat, the female head revealed even more anger, successfully transferring the anger to the originally silent hound heads as they roared in anger. The hound lady abomination moved so fast that it seemed like it teleported. In a moment, she appeared above Sebastian as she opened her mouth and screamed the question again. "WHY DID YOU DISTURB MY SLEEP?" [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] The female head immediately revealed a warped expression of pain as her scream dealt counter damage to her, but as Sebastian tried to escape even faster, one of the hound heads bit down at him. Crunch! [You have triggered Adaptation: Damage Reflection Skin Coating.] [You have reflected 15% of the damage dealt to you.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] As the hound head suffered from the reflected damage, Sebastian bit down on it in retaliation, removing a sizeable amount of flesh from it. The other hound''s head bit down also but Sebastian blocked it with his Magic Shield as he took this opportunity to dash further towards the exit. In a second, he was already close to the exit but the female head finally recovered from the sonic reflection damage. Looking at the vile being that disturbed her sleep, her originally dull and unfocused eyes gleamed sharply as the walls of the catacombs shook. Suddenly, the walls of the catacombs closer to where Sebastian was escaping squirmed before rapidly forming what seemed like a spear. The spear rapidly shot out the next moment. Sebastian quickly activated his Magic Shield again but he was not fast enough. The shield only blocked it slightly before the spear penetrated all the way through, digging deep into his skin. He only managed to save his eyes from direct damage as the spear appeared directly before him from the front. [You have been hit by a skill: Earth Spear.] [You have been tainted with the undead magic domain: You will lose -4 HP until you leave the vicinity of the magic domain.] As soon as Sebastian saw these notifications, he noticed the walls, even the skeletons forming the walls at the other side squirming to form other sharp-pointed weapons to attack him. Protected by his magic shield, he originally wanted to ignore this and continue his escape but the hound lady arrived before him with her almost instantaneous movement skill again. [You have been attacked by a skill: Tainted Bite.] [You have been inflicted with the Abomination Absolute Death specialty, you will suffer from the absolute death poison and vampire effects.] [You will continue losing health randomly ranging from 5 to 15 HP from both effects until you either die or kill your opponent.] Seeing this, Sebastian''s eyes narrowed as he changed his strategy immediately. He instantly stopped his escape and retaliated. [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Flaming Sword.] As the water cyclone stirred by the sound magic domain pushed it around, the hound suddenly felt its danger premonition spike. It instinctively dodged but the flaming sword still cut one of its hound heads. It screamed in pain, and once again Sebastian attacked its main female head with his sonic reflection skill. In its dazed state, he arrived at its side and bit down hard. [You have activated Vampire Teeth Adaptation''s active skill: Blood Vampire.] [You have failed to activate the Blood Vampire state.] [You have activated Vampire Teeth Adaptation''s active skill: Blood Vampire.] [You have failed¡­] As Sebastian repeatedly activated the Blood Vampire effect while being met with failure, his electroreceptor skill warned him of other opponents. Quickly tracing the white and black lines to outline the new opponents, he almost coughed blood as dozens of the same hound lady battling with him started appearing from the different interconnected tunnels. He was alarmed but he did not dare leave as his life and death was now attributed to if he could kill the strange hound lady who bit him. While still attempting to activate the Blood Vampire effects of his teeth adaptation, he controlled the Flaming Sword magic manifestation and repeatedly cut at the strange hound. As soon as its main head regained lucidity, it tried to struggle but Sebastian shot a sonic drill through its main head while still biting at it. [You have successfully activated the Blood Vampire state.] Crunch! Sebastian''s teeth effortlessly tore through its thick hound skin, spreading the black blood that spurted out of the injury into the surroundings of the catacombs. [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] Boom! Boom! He first slammed the magic war hammer down on the hound''s main head, crushing the delicate female head to mangled flesh. [You have killed¡­] Without even waiting for the notification to be completed, he controlled the hammer to directly strike a hole open through the ceiling of the catacombs. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] Boom! He moved before the closest hound lady reinforcement could bite into him, tearing a hole through the remaining parts of the ceiling as he escaped at supersonic speeds. In seconds, he tore his way out of the catacombs into the outside expanse. ***** Thanks for reading. If you want bonus chapters, here is the milestone goal. Check for it next time in the author''s notes. 100 PS= 1 Bonus Chapter 200 PS= 2 Bonus Chapter 600 PS= 3 Bonus Chapte Chapter 70 - Abomination Hounds. Whoosh! After tearing his way out of the underground catacombs, Sebastian did not even dare look back nor sideways as he continued his rapid escape into the depths of the seamount. His current speed induced by his supersonic speed skill was so fast that his vision blurred a bit, and it also affected the clarity of his electroreceptor skill. The hardened red trees and weeds rapidly flickered and moved across his vision like figments of an imagination, his rapid swim left a long bubbly trail in the water until he crossed a significant distance before stopping. He didn''t just stop because he wanted it, he knew that the monsters in the catacombs were not the only predators that he should take note of in this seamount. If he continued moving at such a speed, he was bound to attract another predator. Cursing that, he stopped his enormous body and observed his surroundings carefully with his 2-fold vision. [You have triggered Adaptation: Camouflage Organ.] With that, the color of his body experienced minute changes again, changing to blend with the surrounding water. After doing this, he relaxed further and observed. With his tail fin flapping left and right gently, he quickly finished his observation of his surroundings and concluded that he didn''t attract the attention of any dangerous predator. Then, his attention finally went back to the strange catacombs. Looking into the distance, he did not see any hound lady monster coming after him which made him heave a huge sigh of relief. With a heart filled with trepidation, he activated his triple reverse swim skill and started navigating his way back to the position of the hole that he tore through the ground to emerge out of the catacombs. As he swam, his ears were pricked to detect any sound in the surroundings, his electroreceptors, eyes, and even his sound domain magic were already activated and on standby. About a minute later, he finally arrived at the location. "This¡­" He expressed shock at the sight that presented before him before he quickly remembered a specialty of the hound lady monsters that they could control earth magic. Ignoring this abnormal sight, he heaved another huge sigh of relief. Still, a safe distance away from there, he finally started analyzing his experiences in the strange catacombs. What left the most impression on him was undoubtedly the strange Hound lady monster. Not only was it ridiculously strong, but there were also numerous others of its kind in the catacombs which made it all the more frightening. He could only thank his God that they could not come out of the catacombs. He made this conclusion as they didn''t pursue him to the surface, his impression of the hound lady monster was not of a predator that easily gave up on free food. Putting that aside, the question came- what the hell was that horrifying abomination monster? Despite escaping already, he could still hear the spooky sound of the tip of the high heels tapping on the catacombs floor which left him shuddering in fear. Another fact was that Oceania actually classified a hound as a sea creature. "Man, at this rate, my intelligence will slowly deteriorate". He lamented. Putting all these aside, he came back to the main point- what exactly was the catacombs. He didn''t exactly know, but he had a guess already. Those pile of human skeletons was actually experimental test subjects. During the experiment, something happened, and they somehow fused with trained hounds to form that abomination monster. This was a completely random thought, but this was all his brain could come up with immediately. He also didn''t forget the blueish-white box that emanated a chilling cold to the surroundings, he guessed that the box was either one of the experimental machination requirements or an artifact. Referring to it as an artifact was funny but after seeing Leroy''s battle gear, he was a lot more open to such things. Of all his conclusions, the most important one that he came to was ''this was an off-limit area to the current him''. Just one of the hound lady monsters forced him to give his all to defeat it and they were tons of them still inside the catacombs. If he didn''t decisively use his unique skill, perhaps he would have become one of those abominations already. Unless he grew significantly stronger or he received help from other powerful sea creatures, he was not stepping here again. After calming his mind, he finally remembered the system notifications. [You have killed an Abomination Hound- Level 18: You have gained Experience.] [You killed your opponent, you have been liberated from the effects of the Abomination Absolute Death specialty.] [You have obtained the basic profile information of the Abomination Hound.] "Sheesh¡­, they really have abomination in their names?" Sebastian was dumbfounded. In his mind, he could already outline a crazy scientist just like the previous him, carefully dissecting a hound and a human, then stitching their bodies together to form this abomination. "Sh*t!" He shuddered. After finally calming down, he gave attention to the specialty of the Abomination Hound again. This ability was so vicious that it was already bordering on the realm of a cheat. If he didn''t know more, he would have thought that it was a unique skill. "Is the Necromancy King''s unique skill similar to this?" If he didn''t react fast and decide on the spot to kill the Abomination Hound, this ability that it had alone would have been enough to bring him down. [Congratulations! You have unlocked the basic profile information of the Abomination Hound.] [The Abomination Hound is a result of an experiment of high-grade crazy Atlantian Scientists. Inspiration for it was drawn from the Necromancy King, and they succeeded to a certain extent.] [They have been tainted with evil energy generated from the mausoleum, granting them some of the tainted powers of high-tier Death Dragons.] [They have an innate ability to control earth magic, and each of their 3 heads has different deadly biting skills.] [Beware of the Abomination Absolute Death specialty!] [Fact: In Oceania, Abomination Hounds are a unique monster because they retained their normal 2 reproductive organs, and they also added a mutated one, giving them 3 reproduction options.] [Abomination Hounds are a truly unique monster.] "¡­" Chapter 71 - Exploration Continues. "¡­" For a moment there, Sebastian suspected that the system was taking a jab at the fact that he had 2 of those which left him blushing at the thought each time but he quickly forgot it. The system already helped him so much that it was ok with him to let it talk senselessly at times, he didn''t pay much attention to it. He decided not to pay attention to it, but in his mind. "Damn! Those monsters are actually such an abomination!" Putting that aside, he confirmed his guess that this catacomb was related to the Necromancy King from the basic profile information. Despite all the risks involved, he was satisfied as he got another clue to one of his future opponents but he could not help but come back to the fact that his body was now aching in pain all over. Though his decisive actions enabled him to swiftly kill the Abomination monster, it still dealt significant damage to him. And the fact that he did not get to eat its meat and ?ssimilate its magic essence meant that his injuries could only recover normally, not that he was interested in such disgusting meat though. "Wait, recovery, I have a damn skill for that". Quickly coming to this discovery, he disparaged his intelligence for forgetting such basic information before he activated the skill. [You have activated magic skill: Rejuvenation.] Immediately, he felt his body being wrapped by his green magic glow. He felt his body become warm and cozy, he felt like he was in the embrace of his mom when he quickly snapped out of it. Scrutinizing his body with his electroreceptors, he was surprised that all the injuries in his body were gone, and the pain too, only leaving a slight itch. "Damn, this is magical". While feeling happy, he started towing his huge body from the scene. From the dimming sight of the green light ever illuminating the world before him, he easily deduced that this was night again in Oceania. He already hunted and ate to his satisfaction, exploring deep into the seamount in the process and discovering the catacombs. To him, that was a nice achievement for one day. He didn''t fight it, he went to sleep. [You have triggered Adaptation: Camouflage organ.] Once again, he turned his skill color to blend with that of an enormous tree before falling asleep beside it. Sebastian slept for a long time, even dreaming of himself returning to earth and he surprisingly brought a Death Dragon back with him. With such a sea creature that could only exist in myths beside him, he gained reverence from his colleagues as they watched him with fervent gazes while he dissected the beast with a smile. As soon as he cut through its abdomen completely, he froze as he saw what seemed like a smiley face emoji inside its belly. Without warning, the Death Dragon''s organ stood up and pissed all over his face. Then, the smiley face revealed teeth and started laughing loudly. Gripped by horror, he staggered backward then the dream shattered. ¡­ "F*ck! Smiley face, leave me alone!" Sebastian roared in fear as he quickly woke up from his sleep on hearing the sound. The dream was still visible in his head, making him feel like invisible smiley faces were around him, secretly laughing at him. As he observed in fear while his eyes adapted to his surroundings, a weird expression clouded his face as he remembered what he had just done. Due to his roar, the scratching sound suddenly paused and he could feel a pair of numb and scared eyes looking at his position. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] Instinctively, he activated this skill, enabling him to see everything clearly. With a casual sweeping observation of his surroundings, he knew that his spinal cord struck again and he was not in the previous location where he slept at. Beside him stood a huge red boulder, and on this boulder stood 2 Giant Crabs. Both fellows were now as stiff as a Shrimp as they looked at the predator that was before them in fear. "¡­" Sebastian was speechless. "Is it a must that you guys present yourselves whenever I wake up and in need of food?" They finally tried to escape but he reacted faster. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Crunch! Crunch! Just 2 strong bites and he got his 2 easy kills. [You have killed 2 mutated Giant Crab- Level 13 and Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 10 Adaptation points.] Sebastian started his day in such an optimistic manner as he joyfully munched on the crispy shell and body of the 2 Crabs. In just a few days since arriving at this region of the sea, he already knew his favorite prey. The Crabs were undoubtedly the crispiest, precisely the Yeti Crab but the Giant Crab was nice too. "What a great arrangement of fate". After feasting on the 2 fellows, he observed his surroundings out of habit with his electroreceptor skill to detect any danger. Detecting none, he finally started drafting his plan for the day. His plan was not anything complicated, he was still focused on exploring the seamount thoroughly to understand his situation. The only clause that he emphasized was avoiding the area surrounding the catacombs. In his map, he specially circled it for emphasis. After he was done with his basic draft planning, he finally started swimming deeper into the seamount cautiously. Due to the tense circumstances, after he transmigrated to this world, he did not know how much time he had spent here. And besides, he only recently started understanding the concept of day and night here so everything was still a little fuzzy to him. Putting all that behind him, he continued his exploration while instinctively checking out for any prey. Chapter 72 - Kill Stealing. Crunch! [You have killed a mutated Giant Shrimp- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 2 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Draconic Lizard- Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 16 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] After killing the Giant Shrimp, Sebastian did not hesitate as his dagger-sharp teeth dug into the thick scales of the Draconic Lizard. With a strong pull and a few shakes of his body, his teeth tore through the thick scales. The strong Lizard fellow tried to retaliate, but Sebastian used all the experience that he already got fighting them to quickly put it down. Yes, for the past 2 days, these lizard fellows were the most frequent predators that he encountered. Not only did their 2 pair of limbs have extremely sharp claws for clutching into prey and shredding to death, but their tails were also pointed like an arrow and could deal astronomical damage in one blow. For magic, they had the fire domain magic. Unlike the Death Dragons, theirs was pure unadulterated red fire packed with terrifying destructive power. When Sebastian first encountered them, he relied mostly on his hard-dense skin to withstand the terrifying crushing power of their claws. For the first time in a while, his magic shield directly popped as soon as the fire breath came into contact with it. And this dealt almost -100 damage to him, which frightened the hell out of him. And the most horrifying fact was that there were 2 of these predators. Without hesitation, he turned and escaped with his supersonic speed skill. Once again, he felt the importance of this godly escape tool. This was all part of his contingency plan after he encountered both predators. No matter how strong he currently was, his laws to being a great white Shark were still at the back of his mind. Well, he was a Megalodon now but it didn''t matter much. After escaping to safety, he did not give up as he retraced his swim trail back to the 2 predators without their notice. The other escaped, just like him, predators of this level were intelligent enough to have skills to safeguard their lives. For the next 2 days, he hunted these Draconic Lizards as they gave him a lot of skill points. Skill points were superficial though, the main reason was because of their crispy delicious meat. Despite his meticulous plans, these lizards were more cunning than he expected as he could only kill 3 for the past 2 days. He was not frustrated though, he now understood their pattern a bit. During these 2 days, he already explored a significant part of the seamount but he could not still find a predator that he could call an overlord over this region. As he swam forward leisurely while his thoughts deviated in random patterns, his eyes suddenly focused as he detected a vibration in the water through his sound control skill. This was another discovery of the skill that he got after experimenting for the past few days, activating it could enable him to sense sound waves and vibrations from far distances than his electroreceptors. The only shortcoming was that compared to the electroreceptors, he could not outline what was causing the disturbance and could only detect it superficially. Without hesitation, he activated his second eye. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] Seeing this, he was first happy that another prey was donating its meat to him but his expression became odd the next moment as this was abnormal. From his discoveries, the Draconic lizard was almost always the predator here, it was extremely rare to see it being the prey and escaping so pathetically. Thinking of this, he immediately focused on the Draconic lizard. As soon as the focus cleared, he saw 2 predators rushing after the Draconic lizard who was their prey. They had extremely thick skin, far thicker than the scaled skin of the Draconic lizard. Spikes jutted out of their back in rows to form what seemed like a weapon fortress, both acting as a defense and an offensive adaptation. Their tails were long, thick, muscly, and packed with power- the kind that could crush bones on impact. Their eyes glowed a fiery red, adding an even more ominous vibe to them. All these observations were superficial compared to their most glaring feature, their row of teeth that looked like a spiked semi-circular bowl of death. Seeing these two fearsome predators, one word flashed through Sebastian''s mind. "Giant Crocodiles". These were the real deal, real fearsome Crocodiles and just like most high leveled creatures of this world, they were a gigantic version making them look even more menacing. Their swaying body as they rapidly pursued their prey gave Sebastian goosebumps, their enormous sharp teeth glinted from the illumination of the green glow, reflecting a bright metallic sheen. Crunch! The Draconic lizard roared in pain but it still tried to struggle and escape, this struggle proved futile though as the other Crocodile came to its side, clamping down its teeth on this fresh prey with staggering force. The teeth penetrated through without much resistance, crushing one of the lizard''s 4 legs in the process as it roared in pain. With red eyes, it gave up on escaping as it decided to fight to the death. Fire immediately started raging around it, but the Crocodiles easily countered it, they also had the fire magic domain. In just a minute after it was caught, the Draconic lizard was already being crushed to the point of death by the sharp teeth of its opponents. Seeing this, Sebastian was shocked as he knew how strong the lizard was. Then he remembered that he was exposed, almost freaking the hell out of him. [You have triggered Adaptation: Camouflage organ.] As his skin color changed, his brain rapidly swirled as he thought of what to do. He was obviously not going to help the lizard, but he remembered a term that he loved from his previous world- the almighty steal-killing. Without hesitation, he acted according to the inclinations of his mind. [You have created a magic manifestation: Bow and Arrow.] Immediately, the pitch-black bow and arrow appeared before him. He carefully aimed with his magic power, confirmed again, then he patiently waited. Painful and pitiful roaring sounds of pain kept on reverberating in the water as the Draconic lizard was slowly torn apart completely by the two Crocodiles. When it was already at the point of giving up the ghost, a pitch-black arrow surrounded by a bright green magic power suddenly flashed towards it to the shock of the two predator Crocodiles. [You have killed¡­] Morales turned around without hesitation and silently started swimming away to avoid the rage of the 2 Crocodiles. In his mind.. "What a successful kill steal, so refreshing". Chapter 73 - Psychological Game. The arrow ravaged through the body of the Draconic lizard, killing it immediately and giving the original hunters no time to react. To the two Crocodiles, they were already at the point of killing their prey when a black light suddenly erupted, and then, boom, their prey was dead. They hovered in the water in a confused daze. Their brain capacity was not that developed to start analyzing what happened but they both came to one conclusion, an enemy dared to kill their prey. "Roar!!!" They roared in anger. As anger suffused their mind with their heads practically already bringing smokes to emphasize it, they both turned their heads at the same time as they heard a sudden movement sound in the water. Their glowing red eyes constricted as they looked in that direction, and without hesitation, they rushed forward rapidly. Whoosh! Their tails moved so fast in conjunction with their bodies that they practically became a blur in the water, they disappeared into the distance in just a few seconds in pursuit of the prey. As they moved, their enormous teeth clapped dangerously at the water as they already anticipated the battle that would erupt on finding their prey. A minute after the two predators disappeared into the distance, a chuckle sounded as Sebastian came out of his hiding location. Looking down, the meat of the hunt was before him without blemish. Seeing this, he could not help himself as he chuckled again before looking at his system notification. [You have killed a Draconic lizard- Level 16: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 5 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] [You activated a magic domain skill: Sound Control.] After he killed the Draconic lizard, he pretended to escape immediately while he actually decided to hide nearby which was highly effective with the help of his camouflage organ adaptation. After hiding, with his sound control skill, he created sound waves to replicate the sound of a fish rapidly swimming away. This combination was enough to fool the 2 Crocodiles as, without hesitation, they rushed into the distance in pursuit of their prey. Though Sebastian felt a little proud about his achievement just with 2 non-combat skills, he knew that the Crocodiles won''t be fooled for long and would come back to feast on their food. Without hesitation, he swam closer and started digging into the food. Crunch! Yum! Yum! He could not help but create yum yum sounds with his sound control skill, the crispiness of Draconic lizard meat always left him craving for more. "If not for the bloodlust and being a shark, Oceania would be an ideal location for a vacation after much dissecting due to the nice meat alone". Amidst his mumbling, he quickly finished the meat of the dead lizard. After temporarily curbing his craving for food, he did not leave immediately to escape the possible subsequent pursuit of the two Crocodiles. After the success of his first plan, he didn''t believe that the Crocodiles had the necessary mental faculty to participate in his psychological game. He was not underestimating them; the fact was pointed that it was even a slight overestimation. From their adaptations and battle style, it was clear that the Crocodiles were among the more brawn and no-brain sea creatures. He didn''t want to hunt them as he recognized their strength after the battle, what he wanted was to check if they had a family here. And with the fact that 2 of them were able to so easily hunt a Draconic lizard, he concluded that they were probably the rulers of this seamount. He still hasn''t forgotten his ambition to leave this world of fire entirely, and that ambition could start from him killing the overlord creature of this seamount. Though he was already getting used to it, the extreme heat of this region was still irritating to him. Amidst his thoughts, he did not have to wait long as the 2 frustrated Crocodiles finally swam back. Getting closer, they froze for a moment before rapidly swimming closer to the place where their prey lay dead a few minutes ago. Clear disbelief and shock showed in their eyes, then the disbelief suddenly turned to realization, then extreme anger overwhelmed their brain again. "Roar!!!" They roared angrily. At a safe distance away from it, Sebastian chuckled again on seeing this. Though he was more of a dissecting guy, he also loved playing video games in his previous life which contributed a lot to his smooth transition into his new life. One thing that he loved the most then was kill stealing, then those he kill-stole from would yell angrily in frustration which was like a comedy movie to him. From humans yelling angrily, now it was Crocodiles roaring angrily. He chuckled again. "I upgraded". "Old hobbies never die". ¡­ For the remaining parts of the day, Sebastian began a game of stalking as he followed the 2 Crocodiles to wherever they went. After venting their anger in the surroundings due to being fooled, they finally calmed down and left to get other food. Like Sebastian predicted, hunting to these guys was as natural as pooping. They were natural-born predators, hunting prey seemed so easy with them that they always had leftovers which Sebastian happily fed on. Of course, at times, he bu??ed in from the shadows, kill-stealing without drawing too much attention. This was probably his most eventful day in Oceania, the Crocodiles hunted like they had unlimited stamina. He sincerely felt a deep respect for them. Though it was a little exhausting, he persevered and stalked the 2 Crocodiles. All this was for him to know if they really had a huge family of Crocodiles in the seamount which could mean a lot of things to him. When the green glow in the water subsided a bit, indicating the coming of the night, the 2 Crocodiles finally turned and started returning deeper inside the seamount. A few minutes later, Sebastian''s patience paid off and he finally laid eyes into the city, or better still Kingdom of the Crocodiles. Chapter 74 - Crocodile Kingdom. Though Sebastian already expected and even imagined it when he followed the Crocodiles, when he finally laid his eyes on the enormous Kingdom, he still felt breathless and blown away. At this moment, night already came properly and the green glow of the Sea subsided a lot but this could still not dim the majesty of this kingdom. The Kingdom of the Crocodiles was rested upon a huge crater in the middle of the seamount. Huge red trees surrounded it from all sides, making it seem like a jungle of fire. The hardened trees which already adapted to the extreme heat of this region looked as sturdy as boulders, they formed a protective circle around the crater kingdom. And inside this kingdom lived countless Crocodiles. They were not as exaggerated as a colony of ants, but still, seeing so many huge predators gathered in one place left Sebastian''s skin crawling. The 2 Crocodiles that Sebastian tailed here swaggered into the crater, they were back home. None of the other Giant Crocodiles spoke with them, they seemed to be able to communicate via simple gestures with their enormous bodies. There were no complicated structures inside the crater, the numerous Crocodiles residing here simply bore holes inside the crater where they lived. They had special holes where the baby Crocodiles resided. Seeing this, Sebastian was once again dumbfounded as he could not imagine how Crocodile eggs could be laid here. The temperature here was so high that it was already scalding his skin, he could not imagine how the eggs fared. In the middle of the crater was a small lake of fire. Lava flowed freely through the lake, dying it a world of red and the heat coming from it distorted the surrounding water. Seeing this, Sebastian already had a guess but he could not be sure as the distance was too far for him to see everything clearly. The heat distorting the surrounding water did not help matters either. This made him fall into a dilemma but it did not last long. The alpha overlord ruling this seamount was his target, and of course, seeing it clearly was a necessity to help his future plans. Pumped up by that, he decided to go closer. [You have triggered Adaptation: Camouflage Organ.] Adjusting his body-color with this, he was able to avoid detection and go closer a bit inside the crater which was a living kingdom of Crocodiles. Carefully avoiding any location where the killer Crocs were abundant, he got close enough to b?r?ly see what was in the lava lake. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] As he pushed the skill to its limits, the black and white lines in his vision first outlined a Crocodile who hovered closer to the lava lake than the others but the distance was still respectable. In his black and white electroreceptor vision, Sebastian was surprised to discover that this Crocodile was different than all the other sea creatures that he''s outlined with his electroreceptors. Sebastian was curious to know more about it, but he knew that this was not his target. Focusing farther, he finally saw the overlord of this kingdom. The Enormous Crocodile was far bigger than all the others, it was like a war train armed to the teeth to become a war fortress. The bony plate that formed the spikes in its back was sturdier and thicker, making the rows of spikes in its back seem sharper and deadlier. It opened its mouth like it was gasping for breath, revealing its dagger-sharp rows of teeth in the process. Its powerful jaws stood as stiff as a wall, outlining its large mouth in its full glory. Sebastian knew that this action of opening its mouth was for it to lower its body temperature, but this could not stop him from imagining sickening scenarios of those deadly teeth clamping onto his skin. He shuddered indiscernibly. Not only did it have a sturdy defense, but Crocodiles were also renowned for the fact that they had the strongest bite power on earth, 10 times more powerful than that of a Great White Shark. The most fearsome thing of all was that this enormous Crocodile was swimming in the lava lake, leisurely flapping its thick scales like it was sunbathing. To Sebastian, this felt like eastern fantasy scenarios in his previous world where cultivators spend thousands of years in extreme conditions just to get a heaven-defying physique. He was sincerely gobsmacked. "For real?" As he looked on in a solemn and dumbfounded manner, he felt something strange rippling through his body. [A skill has been used on you: Radar Magic Detector.] [Your location has been pinpointed by the Mystery Pryer Crocodile.] Seeing this notification, he was shocked as he instinctively turned to look at the other Crocodile that hovered closer to the lake than the others. When he looked, he felt a chill run down his spine as this Crocodile was also already looking at him with narrowed eyes. Turning his head again, he saw the alpha Crocodile slowly swimming out of the lava lake with its eyes fixed on him. [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Roar!!! Hearing the roar, all the Crocodiles here were aroused as they turned to look at the escaping intruder. Without hesitation, they rushed to attack but Sebastian already turned to a speed train at this point. Bam! Bam! His body slammed at the Crocodiles, pushing them out of the way before they could bite at his skin as his supersonic speed skill did its wonders again, enabling him to swim at science-defying speeds. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Crunch! Sebastian did not hesitate to bite in retaliation after suffering the first bite to his skin. Due to his fast reaction and the contingency plan that he already had, he finally escaped from the Croc kingdom with injuries. "Phew!" He turned back to look after getting to a sufficiently far distance. He felt fear but at the same time, he felt thrilled by the encounter.. Thoughts rapidly formed in his head as a plan slowly started being drafted. Chapter 75 - New Skill- Crushing Bite! After escaping from the Crocodile Kingdom, while healing himself with his rejuvenation skill, a lot of thoughts went through Sebastian''s mind. After the numerous battle encounters that he already experienced since transmigrating into this world, he understood a pattern. How highly leveled battle skills were affected battle situations a lot. A fish who still had its bite skill at the first tier, and another fish of the same level whose bite skill already leveled up to the second tier could exert different power levels in a battle. During his observation of the alpha Crocodile, one thing that was apparent to him was the heavy and dangerously veteran vibe that it exuded. He guessed that this was because of how highly leveled its skills were. Even if they were of the same level, he was pretty sure that the bite of the alpha Crocodile was countless times deadlier than his. Just imagining its deadly teeth left him shuddering in fear and excitement. Another fact that he observed was that his shredding bite skill was clearly insufficient when placed against the thick skin of the Crocodiles. He''s never really thought much about it as most of his enemies were easily resolved after a few bites and attacks, but the thick skin of the Crocodiles brought him to this cruel fact. He didn''t have a bite skill that was purely offensive enough, the shredding bite skill was still in the end focused more on shredding through the shake of his body after biting. He put purchasing a more offensive biting skill on his list of to get skills from the system store in the future. He already checked it, but there was no offensive skill right now so he could only wait patiently. After observing it for the past few days, he already vaguely understood the pattern of the main system store. It was just like a lottery wheel with a slightly different mechanism. Though the current him could be said to be powerful, he was clearly not powerful enough to take the alpha Crocodile on. Adding its family was just a perfect scenario of him courting death. He was not frustrated by this though; the hard challenge only ignited the competitive spirit in him. The fact that he has not leveled up despite all the prey that he has killed for the past few days did not escape his notice, this was the reason why he set his sight on the powerful Crocodile family. He knew that to successfully attack the Croc family, he needed a plan and that was what he would be focused on drafting for the next few days. He would also use this time to level up his skills. With such a thought in mind, he turned, activated his triple reverse swim skill, and swam farther away from the Crocodile Kingdom. He swam far away before finding a nice place to spend the night, he would continue his hunting and planning the next day. He didn''t know how long the preparation would take, but he was ready to give his all for it and get to an optimum state before attacking. ¡­ [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] [You have activated skill: Sound Reflection.] Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! As the sharp flying teeth embedded themselves inside the body of the poor Shrimps, the sound-induced by them was reflected by Sebastian''s skill, dealing even more damage to the Shrimps. The sound produced by the reflection skill stunned them for a moment, granting Sebastian the perfect opportunity to close the distance. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] Boom! His enormous body collided into them like a train, dealing astronomical damage while his spikes dealt even more additional damage in the process. [You have gained 6 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Giant Shrimp- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] Seeing 2 of their comrades die before them, the Giant Shrimps overcame their fear as they turned angrily to retaliate against this predator. Before they could attack, Sebastian activated his shredding bite skill and bit at the nearest Giant Shrimp. With a few pulls and drags of his teeth, he tore the poor fellow apart, ending its life. Sizzle! The water evaporated slightly as the Shrimps released fire magic lines from their pair of legs. Compared to other predators, their fire magic was less powerful but it was still deadly to any opponent. Already expecting it, Sebastian pushed through it nonchalantly after activating his magic shield. With that, he easily closed the distance, which meant death to the less powerful Shrimps. Crunch! [You have killed 6 Giant Shrimp- {Level 11-14}: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 42 Skill points and 30 Adaptation points.] "Yes!" Sebastian cheered happily as he quickly went closer to chomp down on the crispy meat of the 8 Shrimps. Just like in his previous world, Shrimps were also super delicious in Oceania, easily taking them to his top 3 ranking of most delicious prey. As he chomped down on the food, his system lit up a notification. [Your Spike Attack Skill has leveled up to Level 5: Automatically switching to advanced version of the skill.] [Switch to advanced version of Spike Attack skill failed.] Seeing this, Sebastian was not too surprised as he didn''t purchase an advanced version of the skill during his evolution. Despite this, he was glad as his last skill finally leveled past the first tier. For the past 1 month, amid his planning on how to kill the Crocodiles, his focus was mostly on hunting to level his skills, and his hard work paid off. This time, on checking he was given a surprise. [New Skill has been detected!] [Crushing Bite!] Chapter 76 - Im A Boss Predator! [New! Crushing Bite: This skill empowers and gives your teeth frightening force on each bite, enabling you to deal crushing damage in one forceful bite.] [Remark: One Bite King!] Seeing this, Sebastian felt excitement grip him as he felt the urge to purchase it immediately. After over a month in the seamount, he already experienced the need for a one-bite deal astronomical damage skill. For that, he had his water transmutation magical manifestations and the Blood Vampire effect of his teeth adaptation but getting a skill for it that he could use normally brought a different kind of satisfaction. Though he wanted to purchase it immediately, he held back as he carefully observed the other purchase options that presented themselves before him. For bite skills, he saw others like digging bite, clamping bite, and piercing bite. They were good in their own ways especially the piercing bite, but he already had a preference before now so he didn''t buy any of them. After going through the bite skills, he diverted his attention to go through the other skills that appeared. For each of his body adaptations, he saw a corresponding skill like sonic singing, weird skills like teeth sharpener, and other skills but he also ignored them because none of them were essential skills that he needed. The more time he spent in this world, the more rules he learned on how to live and adapt to it. After a lot of experiments and his encounters, he deduced that it was not a good thing to have too many skills. Having too many skills that you have to think before activating a skill could prove fatal in a battle, purchasing only the powerful and practical skills that could easily cover weaknesses was more viable. Without hesitation, he purchased the skill. [455 Skill points have been extracted from your points stash.] After purchasing the skill, he felt much better as he activated his triple reverse swim and swam to a corner to better access his status. During the 1 month that he spent in the seamount while preparing for his attack on the Crocodiles, his focus on hunting provided him advantages in many different ways. Almost all his skills already leveled at least twice for the past few months, his dorsal fin skill finally switched to the empowered version which was a happy thing to him. Not only that, in this seamount, he had the perfect battleground to put all his skills to use and experiment on how to maximize their effects in battles. In this process, he already learned specialized battle styles, and the most important was that he already grasped the limits of his Water Transmutation unique skill after his recent evolution. Now, he had much more varied magic manifestations available to him which could be used in battles. "System, give me my list of magic manifestations". [Affirmative!] [Magic Manifestations: Flaming Sword; Bow and Arrow; War Hammer; Tower Shield; Lightning Axe; Ice Spears; Fire Sabers; Heavy Armor.] The only regret that he had was that his magic power could not still support magic manifestations like machine guns and canons yet. When he really got to that level, imagining how strong he would be only left him shaking in excitement. Not only did he get new magic manifestations, but the previous ones were also upgraded. For the flaming sword, apart from the normal physical damage, it could now also deal additional fire damage for each strike. And, he was no longer limited to one flaming sword each time. His magic power was now potent enough to easily maintain 3 flaming swords in battle. For the Bow and arrow, they could now deal additional true damage for each shot. True damage was a more exotic term for internal damage, it could bypass defense and directly attack a prey''s internals. It was a fearsome effect that has helped him for the past 1 month. For the war hammer, it now came with a stunning effect and had a certain percentage chance of dealing concussion damage to prey. The Tower shield was heavier and sturdier. The Lightning Axe came with lightning effects and could deal both physical and lightning damage. The ice spear deals physical damage and had a certain percentage chance of freezing his opponents. Of all the magic manifestations, the Heavy Armor was the best. It could form a heavy armor around his body, granting him mind-blowing defense. The only shortcoming was that it drained more magic power from him than the others. Despite this shortcoming, it was still a god-tier magic manifestation. Not only his Water Transmutation unique skill experienced change, after leveling up a few times, but all his other skills were also now countless times more potent and deadlier. Also, he leveled twice during this period. "System, give me my status". [Affirmative!] ----------------------------------------- Name: Sebastian Level: 13 Power: 87 Speed: 42 Mind: 56 Constitution: 59 Luck: 0 HP: 821/821 MP: 560/560 [Body Skills: Shredding Bite Level- 4; Triple Reverse Swim Level- 4; Advanced Dash Level- 3; Empowered Dorsal Fin- Level 1; Empowered Tail Fin- Level 3; Advanced Electroreceptors- Level 4; Spike Attack- Level 5; Battering Ram- Level 4; Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor- Level 3; Crushing Bite- Level 1.] [Material Magic skills: Magic Teeth- Level 4; Rejuvenation- Level 2; Magic Shield- Level 3; Supersonic Speed- Level 2.] [Unique Skills: Water Transmutation.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Vampire Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain.] [Species: Young Megalodon!] [System Remark: Keep grinding hard, you''re slowly on your way to becoming the Ocean Master.] ------------------------------------ Seeing this, a wide grin lit up his shark face. "I''m a boss predator!" Chapter 77 - Fire Skin. After going through his new status, a satisfied Sebastian hovered lazily in the water with his tail fin flapping left and right as he fantasized about a feast of his 3-favorite prey in this new expanse. His 3 favorite meat were the Giant Crab, the Draconic lizard, and the Giant Shrimp, this trio was heavenly meat to him. Anytime that he got to lay his teeth on them, the juicy, crispy texture and taste always left him salivating for more. Apart from madly leveling his skills during the past 1 month, his numerous battle encounters also gave him valuable battle experience in this world. Though he didn''t want to admit it, he knew that his psyche already experienced a significant change after staying so long in this world. Though he still faintly missed his previous life where everything was calm and easygoing compared to here, and that he still wanted to find a way to go back, he was sure that he was already being attached to this world. "Sigh! I''m slowly becoming a monster". He lamented but he did not feel sad. The huge number of sea creatures that he already dissected in this period was enough to allay his sadness, and besides, he already unlocked the advanced profile information of the Giant Crab after repeatedly killing their kind. As his mind randomly thought of things, he was surprised as the system lit another notification before him. [Due to the extreme heat of this region, automatic skin mutation to adapt to your surroundings has started and is in progress.] [Current progress rate of mutation: 100%.] [Congratulations! You have succeeded in getting a skin mutation without the main system store.] [Cost of activating skin mutation: 700 Adaptation points!] [Do you want to get the mutated adaptation now?] Seeing this, Sebastian was stunned before he became ecstatic. For the past month, this mutation was one of the things that always left him feeling like bashing his head against a rock. From the fast progress rate when it started, getting towards the middle stages of 50% the progress rate decreased in a despairing manner. Not only that, but the penalty of the mutation also increased. From the initial -1 damage every 10 seconds, it slowly increased and at the later stages, it was an astronomical -5 damage every 10 seconds. This brought a scene where while he was wary of damage from opponents, he was even warier of the damage brought by his own mutation. It was a pain in the ?ss period for him but he got through it, he felt emotional. After he settled down and looked closely, he was stunned once again. "What? You give me 10 Adaptation points for the achievement and to activate the adaptation requires 700?" "T-that''s a scam! How the hell is that getting a mutation without the main system store?" "Oh, you switched from active to passively addressing me, you think that would work? This is a scam!" After throwing a tantrum for minutes with the system not compromising in the slightest, he could only put up with it sulkily and do the needful. [700 Adaptation points have been extracted from host''s points starch.] Sebastian flinched slightly on seeing his hard work being so nonchalantly extracted, he muttered weakly. "That''s a scam!" [Host has activated an Adaptation: Fire Skin!] [Fire Skin: This adaptation grants host a skin that is extremely resistant to heat and fire. Fire and fire magic deal less damage to your skin, you now have the status of a forged from fire.] Seeing this, Sebastian''s sulkiness disappeared as his eyes sparkled. "Wow! That''s really nice". He did not expect this skin mutation to grant him increased resistance towards fire and fire magic, which was a buff that he very much appreciated because practically all the creatures in this region had fire magic or fire-related magic. With such a skin mutation, he could easily adapt faster to the circumstances of this world of fire. Though he was impressed, he still felt that he was scammed of 700 Adaptation points. Even during his evolutions, he''s not seen an adaptation or skill that costs as much as this. Well, there was no use crying over spilled milk so he forgot it. On his demand, the system outlined his current adaptations before him. [Adaptations: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Vampire Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain; Fire Skin.] "Well, that''s an impressive lineup". Pumping himself with this, he finally forgot about the loss of 700 precious Adaptation points. Now, he focused on his preparations for the attack against the Crocodile family. During the past month, one of the things that he did the most was exploration. At this point, he was confident that he already knew every nook and corner of the seamount. And through his exploration, he got to know even more about the might of the Crocodile family. They were the absolute overlords of this seamount. Alone, his plan was bound to be a failure despite his upgrades but he found something else- the Crocodile family was not the only dominant kingdom in the seamount, they had a rival- the Draconic lizard family. When Sebastian first encountered them, despite his electroreceptors being active, he almost fell into a trap that cost him his life. As one of the most fervent hunters of the Draconic lizards, it was inevitable that the family already locked onto him as an enemy. They were not exactly as strong as the Crocodiles, but they were formidable in their own right which was the only reason why they had a kingdom in this seamount in the first place. Now, Sebastian planned to seek help from the Draconic lizards and make use of their enmity with the Crocodiles to ignite a war, the only problem was that the lizards also hated him as their meat was too palatable. He already tried toning down his craving for lizard meat, but it was proving to be a herculean task. Despite the difficulty, he forced himself and already stopped hunting the lizards for the past 3 days. Now, the problem was how to get contact that would not result in instant war with the Draconic lizards. Till now, he still didn''t have a proper plan for that. "Sigh! A Megalodon''s life is hard". Chapter 78 - Hey! Help Me! Still, with no solution in sight, Sebastian decided to temporarily forget about it and go hunting. Perhaps, hunting would inspire him. This was a technique that he learned after numerous hunting exploits in this seamount, sometimes it was just like a cheat inspiration mechanism. Motivated by that, he finally moved his enormous body. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] [You have triggered Adaptation: Camouflage Organ.] With this trio of hunting perks activated, he started swimming to the periphery regions of the seamount. Going deeper, he was likely to encounter Crocodiles and Draconic lizards, most of his favorite and easier to kill prey were always at the periphery zones of the seamount. As he swam, he did not have to wait long before his electroreceptors detected something. Quickly outlining the figures, he found 2 Poison Worms slithering through the seamount. Seeing them, he was a little disappointed as he was not too much of a fan of their meat but something was better than nothing. [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] A sonic drill rapidly formed in the air before shooting at the nearest Poison Worm, not giving it anytime to react as it easily drilled into its slimy body. The Poison Worm made a weird sound in pain, alerting its companion as they turned to face the enemy but Sebastian was already before them. Crunch! His sharp row of teeth bit down on the Worm''s rough skin, taking away a chunk of slimy flesh and dealing astronomical damage as he immediately started shaking his body to tear deeper into its skin. In seconds, the first Poison Worm died to his impeccable chaining of skills. And in this time, the other Poison Worm still didn''t react yet and it paid for that. Sebastian activated his Battering ram skill as his body immediately moved to collide with it like a moving train. Boom! A huge depression was carved through the sides of the Worm. It was not given any time to use its magic power, Sebastian''s teeth bit down to finish the job. [You have killed 2 mutated Poison Worm- Level 12 and 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 6 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] Without hesitation, he bit down and quickly gobbled up the meat left behind by the 2 prey. After doing this, he continued swimming while looking out for prey. For the next few minutes after feasting on the meat of the 2 Poison Worms, his luck seemed to have been used up as he did not encounter any other prey. As soon as he thought of this, he remembered his abysmal luck stat point again. Despite everything that he did, his luck stat points remained stagnant like it was cursed by some witch. Suppressing the sadness in his heart, he continued his hunt. 5 minutes later, when he already began to suspect that something was wrong with the surrounding, his eyes focused as he detected a faint vibration in the water through his sound control skill. The fact that his electroreceptors didn''t register it yet meant that it was a far distance away from his current location, but he was confident that something was happening. Immediately, he started swimming faster in the direction of the vibration. With the help of his sound control skill, despite how faint the vibration was he was able to navigate his way to where it originated from. What he met there surprised him. Due to his culture of always being cautious, he did not make a sound so the predator was not able to detect him. At this moment, a Draconic lizard was struggling and already at the point of death from the death-grip of an enormous strange Python. Its 2 pairs of legs curled with its long body in such a way that it firmly wrapped and held the Draconic lizard in place. It was not swallowing yet, it was simply crushing the lizard fellow with its powerful muscles. Squelch! Hearing this sound, Sebastian was jolted out of his daze. "A Python with legs¡­, a real Python with legs!" He''s always seen the snakes with legs whenever he went to the edge of the seamount and looked up at the wardrobe-like cliff, but this was his first time seeing one descend to this seamount. A lot of thoughts went through his mind but he quickly concluded, fight and save the lizard first before any other thing. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] He quickly collided with the enormous Python, digging his spikes into its side in the process as it quickly raised its head and hissed in pain. Contrary to what Sebastian expected, the Python was extremely decisive as it immediately let go of its almost dead prey to better focus on the new opponent. It rapidly turned around, raised its head, and opened its mouth to reveal its 2 menacing teeth amid its tongue flicking left and right. Hiss! Before Sebastian could react, 2 purple liquids shot out of the Python''s teeth towards him. They drilled into his body effortlessly, he could not react to dodge on time but he retaliated immediately. [You have been hit by a skill: Poison Drill.] [You have been poisoned: You will lose 3 HP each second for 10 seconds.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] The Python wanted to instinctively follow up on its attack, but it suddenly stiffened as sound waves battered at its head, dealing damage in the process. Sebastian who was already ready to use his magic manifestations was left dumbfounded, but not for long though as his electroreceptors suddenly detected 2 newcomers rapidly swimming towards him. Before he could turn, he heard a loud voice. "Hey! Help me!" "What?" Chapter 79 - Terrifying Enemy- Goblin Shark! Turning his head, the sight that presented itself before Sebastian left him surprised and dumbfounded. His electroreceptors already outlined the sight, but he still decided to turn to confirm with his eyes. Right now, a hot chase was ongoing as 2 predators, one going after the other rapidly swam down towards the seamount. The one at the front that was being pursued was a Great white shark, a great white towering a size of about 8 meters. It was the one who left Sebastian surprised and also called for his help. His Young Megalodon form looked identical to a Great White Shark, so it was not surprising that the great white called to him for help. The really perplexing case that left him dumbfounded was the predator pursuing it. The predator in pursuit was also a shark, but it was by far the weirdest shark that Sebastian has ever seen in both lives. It towered up to a size of about 13 meters, its upper body was green and its belly was white. It had a large snout, like a great white shark but its own was super exaggerated. Its snout was so long and narrow at the end that it resembled the bill of a Giant Swordfish instead of the snout of a shark. Its fins and body were in such disorderly proportions that only one name for comparison came to Sebastian after observing it- Goblin. "A f*cking Goblin Shark?" He was dumbfounded but he did not fall into a dilemma of what to do. For long, he''s been looking for other sharks from his family. After finally meeting one, he was obviously not about to let it die. He reacted immediately as both predators were already closing the distance towards him. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] His enormous body was immediately propelled up at a mind-blowing speed as he set on a course of collision with the strange shark. Seeing his action, the great white shark''s eyes showed relief while the strange shark''s eyes only turned colder as it also activated a ramming skill to collide with this new enemy. Boom! Sebastian felt his body shake, then his brain went numb for a moment as the shock and vibrations of the collision rushed through his body. [You have come into body contact with the mutated Goblin Shark.] [A skill has been used on you: Random Green Bomb.] [Bomb type randomizing¡­, Randomization complete.] [Green Explosion Bomb has been applied to your body.] [Exploding in 3¡­, 2¡­] "Wait, what?" Boom! Sebastian''s brain rapidly became hyperactive as the explosive green bomb ravaged his body, taking a chunk of flesh from his sides. The pain stimulated him so much that his eyes became wide open. Despite trying to control himself, he could not as the explosive force of the bomb left his body spinning randomly in the water. Despite his spinning body, his electroreceptors skill was still stable enough to outline a figure rapidly advancing towards him. [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] The Goblin Shark''s originally harmless snout suddenly became as sharp as a Swordfish''s gill, and it stabbed through Sebastian''s magic shield with it before it could materialize fully. Bam! [You have received staggering damage.] [You have come into body contact with the mutated Goblin Shark.] [A skill has been used on you: Random Green Bomb.] [Green Poison Bomb has been applied to your body.] This time, there was no explosion. The Green substance simply disintegrated, turning into a misty substance as it seeped inside Sebastian''s skin. [You have been poisoned: You will lose 8 HP each second for 10 seconds.] Crunch! The Goblin shark bit into his skin savagely, its sharp row of teeth penetrating through his hard-dense skin after receiving little resistance. Amid his pain, Sebastian finally understood what type of horrifying enemy he was facing this time. In just 3 attacks, he directly lost about 400 HP which was completely terrifying. He was surprised as despite coming into contact with him again through its teeth, no bomb was attached. He didn''t have the luxury to think deeper into this, he heaved a sigh of relief as he instantly decided to go all out. Through his electroreceptor skill, he saw that the great white shark didn''t escape. Instead, it came back to help him as it bit into the Goblin Shark''s tail. Seeing the bomb explode and the Great white shark recoiling in pain, Sebastian finally reacted properly. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Ice Spears.] 3 Ice Spears immediately materialized from different directions. The Goblin Shark detected them immediately, but it could not react fast enough before they all dug into its body. To Sebastian''s horror, this fellow did not even flinch in pain. Green blood flowed from its body but it kept doing what it was doing without feeling pain like a zombie shark. Despite being surprised by this, Sebastian was not distracted. Exerting all the strength that he could, he struggled hard, and with the help of his fellow great white shark from the side, he freed himself from the Goblin Shark''s death-grip. As soon as he freed himself, he triggered his adaptation and activated his spike attack skill as he slammed back at it, digging into its flesh in the process. The eerie thing of all this was that this fellow still didn''t flinch in pain. [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] Bam! The sonic manifestation shot through the Shark''s head, sending green blood flying everywhere but it still didn''t flinch. In retaliation, the Goblin Shark suddenly accelerated towards him as its snout became super sharp again while being surrounded by dark green magic light. [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] Boom! Chapter 80 - A Barrage Of Attacks! Sebastian''s Tower Shield magic manifestation held, keeping the Goblin Shark at bay compared to his magic shield. The sound-induced was loud though, and this loud sound was what retaliated against the Goblin Shark. Bzzz! As soon as the Sound Reflection skill took effect, the reflected sound immediately recoiled and affected the Goblin Shark, making it stiffen in one place as its eyes glazed over. Its eyes became an eerie misty green color like it suddenly became blind, green heat-filled drool seeped out of its mouth, causing the water to make sizzling sounds on contact. Crunch! The Great white shark took advantage of this opportunity to activate its biting skill, digging its teeth viciously into the body of the Goblin Shark. Seeing this, a tense Sebastian finally had some time for himself as he immediately started preparing for his counterattack. "Leave!" He roared at the Great white shark. Though the shark was confused by the order, it was obedient as it turned and immediately dashed away out of the CenterPoint of the battlefield. Then, Sebastian''s rage was unleashed. [You have created a magic manifestation: Flaming Sword!] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Ice Spears!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Lightning Axe!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Fire Sabers!] It was at this moment that the Goblin Shark finally regained control over its consciousness and body, but it was too late. Sebastian was determined to kill this extremely dangerous fellow. The Goblin Shark''s eyes widened in slight surprise and slight craziness at the strange weapons rapidly appearing and hovering around its body. 3 Flaming swords first appeared above its head, then a War hammer appeared, then another 3 Ice spears, then a huge Lightning Axe, and lastly 3 Sabers with fire raging around them. Immediately as these weapons appeared, the heat in the surrounding water rapidly increased. Not only that, a layer of frost revolved around the 3 Ice spears, and lightning raged around the enormous Axe. All of these weapons revolved around the enormous body of the Goblin Shark, forming a tyrannical offensive force. For once, it felt danger to its life and instinctively activated its only defense skill, the basic magic shield. The next moment, all these weapons descended with wrath on its body. Boom! Boom! A bright extremely glaring light flared in the water with all kinds of colors intertwining in its middle, they formed a colorful barrage of destruction. [You have dealt astronomical damage to your opponent.] [Critical Hit: -221 Damage.] [-157 Damage {¡Á3}] [Critical Hit: ¡­] [Critical Hit: ¡­] [You have been hit by shockwaves: You have received Damage.] Immediately, Sebastian activated and covered his body with the magic shield before also retreating as his barrage of offensive weapons fought on his behalf. As this happened, his magic power drained like water but he did not feel frustrated in the slightest. He knew the power being exerted and on display. The Goblin Shark who was the recipient of so much damage. Its magic shield didn''t last a second, all the weapons came to bear against its flesh. For a few seconds, it was rapidly bombarded as its body suffered injuries of various degrees. The light of the destruction soon covered it completely, obscuring it from direct observation. The eerie thing about this was that this strange Goblin shark still didn''t let out a single sound of pain. About 20 seconds later, Sebastian''s magic power was drained completely and the light slowly subsided after the magic manifestations dealt staggering damage to the Goblin Shark. As soon as everything cleared down, Sebastian focused and looked carefully. The Goblin Shark was completely wreaked. It suffered so much damage from the fierce offensive that its body was now b?r?ly recognizable, it looked like an enemy that suffered bombardment from an elite military unit. Some of the cuts lacerated its body so much in such a gory way that even Sebastian was pricked in his heart. What made him heave a huge sigh of relief though was that amid flickering lightning, there was a spot in the Shark''s head where the Lightning Axe magic manifestation almost cut completely through its head. "It should be dead, right?" Almost immediately after he made this ?ssumption, his eyes widened as he saw the injuries on the Goblin Shark''s body visibly squirming and closing up. The next second, the Shark''s pair of eyes snapped open. "What?" Sebastian freaked out. The Goblin Shark''s cold eyes scrutinized the Megalodon before it as it revealed a crazy and irrational look. It suppressed this the next moment though. Without batting an eyelid, it turned around and without hesitation escaped out of the battlefield with a speed rivaling Sebastian''s supersonic speed. Seeing this, Sebastian was once again dumbfounded but he already had some inclinations about what happened. Despite this, he did not dare leave his survival to fate. With that crazy look on the Goblin Shark''s eyes, what if it decided to come back to finish the job immediately? He immediately turned his head to the sides and locked eyes with the Great white shark who was currently looking at him in awe, surprise, and worship. "Escape!" He roared. "Eh?" It was confused for a moment but it quickly understood. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Without hesitation, Sebastian led the way, swimming down rapidly and deep inside the seamount as the Great white shark followed behind him without asking any questions. So, a funny scene presented itself where after a short clash, both opponents were escaping in different directions like they just saw the apocalypse in different versions and volumes. In a few minutes, both of them disappeared completely inside the seamount like ghosts in a haunted castle. Chapter 81 - [Bonus chapter]Oceania Power Tiers. For minutes, Sebastian kept on swimming while blasting everywhere with his electroreceptors to see if his rapid escape attracted any new predator. For that freak shark, he was taking no chances. At times, he had to slow down to let the great white Shark keep up with him, but still, they were able to cover dozens of kilometers in a few minutes. Another 2 minutes later, Sebastian finally stopped. With narrowed eyes, he manually controlled his electroreceptors to check deep in all 4 directions around them for any predator or signs of the freak Shark. After confirming again, he finally had the time to relax. "Big bro, you were so awesome¡­" Sebastian did not let the great white Shark finish, he was having none of that as he roared a question. "Which freaking monster was that? The Shark flinched back slightly on being roared at, then it revealed a sad expression on hearing how the question was phrased as it pursed its huge dangerous maws. It was hard for a shark to look cute, but the strange fearsome pursing of its huge maws by this great white somehow looked cute which was strange. Seeing this, Sebastian was taken aback, feeling like he somehow bullied a fragile girl as he hurriedly asked. "Uhm, sorry, did I say something wrong?" Hearing that, the great white Shark''s expression quickly reverted, becoming cheerful again like it was originally pulling a prank. "He''s not a monster, he''s Teeth". "Teeth?" Now, Sebastian was confused. "Yes, that''s his name. Oh, you''re still a stray shark so maybe you don''t know about the concept of names yet. I''m Verni". "¡­" "The f*ck do you mean I don''t know the concept of names?" Despite feeling this inwardly with a strong urge to curse it Sebastian was still able to calm himself. "I''m Sebastian". "Oh! You have a name?" The Shark exclaimed, clearly surprised. "¡­" "Old Mak said that only strong and experienced great whites know the importance of having names. Then, you must be a frightening powerhouse. Big bro, you''re the best". Seeing the shark raise its dorsal fin to cheer happily, Sebastian''s expression became weird but he still pressed on his question. "Ok, umm, the Teeth, that guy, who''s Teeth?" "He was originally one of us". Verni answered still cheerfully. "¡­One of us¡­" Sebastian immediately caught into this term. Now, when he recalled properly, the Goblin Shark was in so many ways similar to a great White Shark. The only difference was its body color and the super long snout. Not only that, Sebastian got another deduction from this ''one of us'' term. Phrasing it in such a way meant that there were other great white Sharks here. He immediately felt excited. "There are more of you here?" "Yes". Verni answered in a chubby bubbly manner. "We have a huge cave up in the great circular wall, that''s where our territory is". Saying this, its expression suddenly became depressed. "Unfortunately, I was hunted by Teeth and could only escape far away here to survive". "Ok, so what happened to this Teeth?" "He mutated after failing during his evolution". Hearing that, Sebastian rapidly had thoughts go through his head as he felt a chill go down his spine. He shuddered. "That''s possible?" "Yes, the same thing already happened to a lot of my brothers through the years. Only Teeth''s own was different". "Old Mak said that he likely came into contact with some unknown influence which made him mutate to become a Goblin Shark". "He''s extremely terrifying. Our family already tried to hunt and bring him down numerous times, but we''re never successful, the skills that he got after mutating are just too frightening". "But, Big bro, you''re so awesome, you managed to kill him the other time". Sebastian tried to ignore the shameless over-enthusiasm of this fellow. "Then, why didn''t he die?" "After mutating, he doesn''t feel pain and he got a horrifying health points stat. Besides, he got an incomplete resurrection skill, that extremely fast speed skill, and the freaking bomb skill". The Shark visibly shuddered on mentioning that. "Old Mak solemnly called it the Goblin Abomination Bomb Skill; that''s frightening, right?" "Yes, it is". Sebastian gave his consent sincerely and also to please this fellow lest he put another cute sad face before him. "So, who''s Old Mak?" "He''s the head of the family". Before Sebastian could digest the information that was just dumped at him, the over-enthusiastic Shark asked him excitedly again. "Big bro, are you already at the Purple tier?" "For you to kill Teeth, you must be there or super close to it. Teeth''s attempt to evolve to the Purple tier was what resulted in his death". Now, Sebastian was really clueless. "Purple tier?" "Oh! I forgot, Big bro is a stray shark". "Must you emphasize that?" Sebastian felt like whacking this fellow on the head to discipline him. "Old Mak says there are 5 power tiers in this world, but he only knows 3- the White, Orange, and Purple tiers". Hearing that, Sebastian rapidly made the connections and arrived at a conclusion as he felt his face burning in shame a bit. "If I''m correct, I''m at the Orange tier and I''m still a F*cking beginner". Despite saying that in his mind, he only gave a silent acknowledgment of the knowledge in his heart. "Big bro, which level are you?" "Which level are you?" Sebastian expertly threw the question back. "Level 17". The Shark quipped excitedly, leaving Sebastian dumbfounded. Crack! He felt the tiny bits of his dignity as a Big bro shattering. "Big bro, which¡­" "Let''s leave, other predators may have been attracted already". Sebastian cut it off while looking around like an army of predators already surrounded them. Seeing his actions, Verni wisely obeyed. "Big bro is a real professional". "¡­" Not commenting on that, Sebastian turned to lead the way forward while most of his attention was already inside his mind. "System, why didn''t you inform me of such basic knowledge about the power tiers? Do you f*cking enjoy seeing me embarrass myself?" [Ding! System is not obligated to reveal it as host did not ask?] "¡­" Sebastian felt imaginary smokes billowing from his head but he forced himself to calm down. "Ok, now tell me the power tiers of this world". [Affirmative!] [Oceania power tiers are divided into 2 basic and 3 advanced tiers: White, Orange, Purple, Red, and Black.] [The first 2 White and Orange tiers are the beginner tiers. Host is currently at the Orange tier.] [This means that as you needed 5 levels to evolve to the Orange tier, you''ll need 10 levels to evolve to the Purple tier.] [System Clue: Sea Kings are at the pinnacle Black tier.] Seeing this, Sebastian came to a realization as he now understood a lot of things that originally still eluded him. Without saying a word to the cheerful great white Shark, he led it deeper into the seamount. Chapter 82 - Wanna Go Dissecting? As Sebastian led his new little brother, Verni, through the seamount, the new information about Oceania and the strange mutation of the shark called Teeth kept on going through his mind. Though the fact that he now needed double the number of levels to evolve deflated him a bit, he was still glad because a part of the fog covering how much he knew about this world was slowly being chipped away. Due to his interactions with Verni, he confirmed that the shark didn''t know that he was a Megalodon already and still saw him as a great white. He didn''t correct this misunderstanding though. For the past one month of loneliness, his psyche was already being affected negatively, meeting a blabbermouth like Verni was a relief. The fact that he was now being addressed as Big bro made it all the more memorable and sweeter. He still didn''t tell Verni his level, that was just plain embarrassing. He didn''t really know it before but know he understood the huge advantage that his system gave him since coming to this world. He was a full 4 levels lower than Verni, but his power was so much stronger and more dangerous than his. Another point that he deduced was that the numerous evolution options that were presented to him when he evolved the 2nd time were probably not to be shown at this point originally. Through his conversations with Verni, he already confirmed that the head of the great white family Old Mak was not a Megalodon despite already being at the Purple tier. This said a lot about his special status and how lucky he was. Whenever he thought of luck, his mind went back to his luck points and he could only curse. "F*ck it! Who gives a damn about luck stat points?" After consoling himself with that, his brain calmed down and he continued his analytic deductions. Also, according to Verni, Teeth was a level 20 great white Shark attempting to evolve to the next tier before he failed miserably and mutated. That fact alone meant a lot of things, and the fact that he still killed it despite this and all the op advantages that it got after mutating, he finally knew how powerful he really was. This was a crazy fellow that even the whole shark family including Old Mak could not takedown, he felt a burst of pride enveloping his heart. With that, he was able to calmly accept Verni calling him Big bro. He knew that his Water Transmutation unique skill was the only reason why he was able to defeat the Goblin Shark. "I need to work hard". He motivated himself. For his enormous size compared to the 8 meters long Verni, he guessed that this was also another perk of evolving to become a Megalodon faster than others. Despite this, the fact that he was now as long as a bus still left him gapping in shock anytime he thought about it. Also, now he had another goal. If his plan to kill the Alpha Crocodile was successful, his next goal was to go back to the family cave with Verni. Even if his soul was innately a human and they were not exactly related, his current body meant that he had some affinity towards them. As a human, though a crazy anatomist, he knew the power brought by the warmth of family and he did not want to miss it in this life. Because of the previous battle, his mana points were depleted completely and it was slowly recovering now. Despite this, he could hunt without mana. He turned to Verni. "Wanna go dissecting?" "¡­" Sebastian facepalmed. "I mean hunting". "Oh, yes, Big bro! Hunt! Hunt!" Sebastian grinned, revealing his row of frightening teeth. "Then, follow me". His electroreceptors were already locked into a Giant Crab which was the reason why the suggestion came in the first place. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite!] He rapidly closed the distance before the fellow could react, then he clamped down hard with his teeth at its shell. Crunch! Crunch! Verni caught up to him, and it delivered the other bite. Both of them pulled at the same time, then the Crab was dissected into parts. [Potential Hunting Partner has been detected: Does host want to bind with a hunting partner?] "Woah! That''s possible too?" Sebastian was surprised but he did not waste any time. "Yes". [Affirmative!] [Host has gotten a Hunting Partner: Verni, the Great White Shark!] [You have jointly killed a Giant Crab with your hunting partner- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 5 Adaptation points.] "It still gives the same points, nice!" Sebastian generously let his partner feast on the food. As he watched Verni feasting, a plan slowly formed in his mind. "Perhaps, with a partner, my Crocodile plan will be easier and more successful". He felt excited. Not only that, he recalled a certain hole that was dug into a cave in the seamount that he encountered during his one-month exploration which was a secret lair of a clan of Giant Crabs. He didn''t attack it then because he was too lazy to do it as such a large number of Giant Crabs were not trivial opponents, and he guessed that he couldn''t conquer it without using his Water Transmutation unique skill. Verni seemed weak only because it fought against the frighteningly powerful Goblin Shark. As a level 17 great white Shark, it was a powerhouse of its own right in this seamount. In less than a minute, Verni finished the food and turned to face its Big bro excitedly with anticipation on its face. Feeling its gaze, Sebastian grinned again which was something he still wasn''t used to as his sharp row of teeth were revealed fearsomely. "Follow me". "Yes, Big bro!" Activating his triple reverse swim skill, Sebastian turned around and started navigating his way through the seamount with only one direction in mind. In the journey, they encountered other prey which they didn''t hesitate to feed on- a group of mutated Sea Lions, 3 Giant Crabs, and a Poison Worm. About 8 minutes later, they got to their destination- the entrance to the cave lair of the Giant Crabs. An excited glint flashed through Sebastian''s eyes. Chapter 83 - The Crab Cave. Inside the cave that Sebastian found with his new hunting partner resided a staggering number of Giant Crabs. They were not up to 50, but their astonishing size alone was enough to make the sight brain-numbing. The entrance to the cave was covered with thick red leaves that fell from the trees in the surroundings, but this was not enough to stop neither of the 2 sharks from seeing inside. Yes, just like Sebastian, Verni also had the electroreceptor skill. The Giant Crabs looked like a battalion of soldiers when placed together like this. Their fiery red eyes glowed in the darkness of the cave, their super sharp claws glinted under the illumination of the faint light going in. Their adaptations were so varied, random, and fearsome that they looked like machines made for war. Seeing such a sight, Verni felt his head going numb. Originally, even as a great white shark, he had little chance of easily defeating a group of 5 Giant Crabs. Facing 50 Giant Crabs was a stretch that left his fragile heart beating rapidly. The normal instinct that he already honed in battle was to escape immediately, but seeing the Big bro beside him made him relax. After Sebastian''s performance against the Goblin shark, he sincerely already saw him as a fierce powerhouse that was unbeatable. Feeling the confidence emanating from his senior, he also felt his blood pressure rising as his blood became hot with battle intent surging into his head. "You''re my support". Sebastian laid his plan in the most basic way that he knew that this slightly intelligent Shark could understand. Seeing the excited gleam in his eye, he knew that his plan was understood so he no longer wasted time. Despite not having electroreceptor skills like the 2 sharks, both of them already hovered above their cave long enough to alert the Crabs. The ones close to the entrance menacingly raised their sharp claws to deter the opportunistic predator away. But the next moment their eyes widened as a shadow enlarged in their vision. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Like a train that already gathered unstoppable momentum for miles, Sebastian rushed into the cave and rammed at the 3 Giant Crabs at the entrance. A loud booming sound reverberated as the collision spread shockwaves to the surrounding. The Crab''s already outstretched claws injured Sebastian, but he dealt even more damage to them. [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] Crunch! Crunch! Like before, they pulled in opposite directions, ripping the poor Crab apart. [You have jointly killed a Giant Crab with your hunting partner- Level 15: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 2 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] Without wasting time, Sebastian triggered his spike adaptation, activating the skill in the same process as he bulldozed his way deeper inside the cave to wreak havoc and kill before the Giant Crabs recovered their nerves. Just like him, Verni did not hold back as he unleashed his all immediately. His body glowed with a visible yellow manifestation of his magic power, a strange yellow fire magic. An adaptation that looked like a horn also appeared in his head which his yellow fire magic wrapped up immediately. After doing this, he rushed at the Crabs. Boom! Like his big bro, his 8-meter-tall body wreaked havoc through the ranks of the Giant Crabs. He didn''t stray more than 2 meters away from Sebastian, he still remembered the order clearly to support. In just about 30 seconds since the 2 sharks appeared, 3 of them already died and another was on the verge of death. Seeing this, the other Giant Crabs grew angry immediately which manifested in the form of fire. Like most other creatures in this region, they had fire magic. They roared in anger before pushing the raging fire outwards. [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] The Crabs first froze for a second as their roars were reflected back at them, dealing both mental and physical damage at the same time. Taking advantage of their temporarily being frozen, Sebastian threw 2 Sonic Drills out, drilling terrible hole injuries through the shells and body of 2 Giant Crabs before they recovered. After doing this, he set his body properly, then he opened his mouth wide. Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! The Crabs suffered from the magic teeth skill. Though none of them died to it, most of them suffered injuries from it which were irritating to them. Gri¡­!!! While making some weird noise, the crabs added to the cacophony of noise by clapping their pincers and claws together, producing loud drumming sounds. Then suddenly, they converged their fire magic towards themselves like they were accumulating power. They each accumulated it to form spears made entirely out of the fire before shooting them outwards. Bam! Bam! Just 2 fire spears and Verni''s magic shield popped, Sebastian immediately activated his magic shield and blocked with his body but it was equally breached. While shooting these fire spears, the Crabs started marching forward like they were suddenly receiving orders from an unknown entity. Sebastian and his pet still killed some of them as time went on, but they were also receiving damages from the fire spears and the Crabs were already closing the distance dangerously. Despite his powerful teeth, Sebastian was wise enough to know that he had no chances of emerging victorious in a melee against so many Crabs. An elderly Giant Crab that was far gigantic than the others suddenly appeared, its backshell opened naturally like the lid of a bowl to reveal boiling fire inside as it aimed at the most troublesome shark- Sebastian. The fire rapidly congealed before shooting out a hot energy beam. Its speed was so fast that it arrived before Sebastian could react. Boom! Chapter 84 - [Bonus Chapter]Special Adaptation- Shell War Arsenal! [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] At the last moment, Sebastian activated this skill to ward of part of the damage but the hot energy beam still tore through. As soon as it tore into his body, the pain invaded his brain rapidly. [A special adaptation arsenal has been used against you: Shell War Arsenal!] [You have been hit by a skill: War Arsenal Specialty- Fire Beam.] [You have been inflicted with staggering damage.] As Sebastian reeled back in pain and agony, Verni who was not targeted was stunned for a moment before it immediately revealed an angry bloodthirsty look. Its eyes became deeper, then it activated one of its trump card skills. Its tail fin and dorsal fin suddenly became super sharp. Then, tons of similar fins started growing from all over its body with their edges gleaming sharply. Then, like a spinning wheel, its body started rotating forward as the sharp fin accessories now in its body started cutting everywhere with its fire magic still raging around it. "Die!!!" It roared. Its shell opened up again like a machinery box, and this time no raging fire was inside, a cluster of stones was what appeared instead. The huge boulder-like stones rotated before shooting out. Bam! Bam! The first stone stopped Verni''s momentum, the second threw it backward, while the third caused a huge depression in its abdomen that caused it to roar loudly in pain. Seeing their elder teaching the enemies a lesson, the Giant Crabs became more motivated as they clapped their dangerous claws together in the water. Before the 4th stone could hit the shark, a pitch-black tower shield suddenly appeared which firmly stopped it in its tracks. From the side, Sebastian''s eyes glowed a deep green. [You have activated skill: Rejuvenation.] [You have activated skill: Water Transmutation.] Seeing the elderly Giant Crab appear and the damage that each of its attacks dealt, including its strange shell that seemed like a mechanical box, he knew that he met a strong opponent this time. "Is my luck so freaking bad? Why do I meet boss opponents each time?" Though he felt like cursing at the goddess of luck all day, he knew that he had to fight and that was what he would do. [You have created a magic manifestation: Fire Sabers.] As soon as the dual pitch-black sabers appeared, a world of fire descended with it, spreading even more raging heat to the surroundings. Without hesitation, both sabers slashed their way forward. Whoosh! Whoosh! [You have killed a Giant Crab- Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] Seeing this, the fiery eyes of the elderly Giant Crab narrowed as it retaliated. Its shell opened up again, then a stronger version of the fire spears appeared as they shot forward with speed. Boom! Sebastian''s pitch-black tower shield held strong like the ancient walls of China- it towered like the shield used by the Legendary Spartan, Leonidas himself. In 2 minutes, 8 Giant Crabs died to the rampaging Sabers amidst supplementary attacks being thrown by Sebastian and Verni into the fray. Seeing that it could not breach the enemy''s defense and its children kept on dying, the elderly Giant Crab curled itself up, making itself seem like a turtle who rolled inside its shell to hide. After it did this, its machinery box-like shell opened up again and a huge fiery shield suddenly flickered to life. Like they already encountered such situations in the past, all the Giant Crabs in the cave retreated behind this huge shield. Bam! Bam! Sebastian''s saber magic manifestations struck at the shield but it only vibrated without revealing any cracks. Seeing this, Sebastian was surprised but he did not let up as he continued attacking. Seeing this, Sebastian changed plans mid-way. [You have created a magic manifestation: Bow and Arrow.] He resolved to use the same strategy that he used to kill the troublesome stingray back at the Leroy lair. Without hesitating, he rapidly pumped his magic power to empower this magic manifestation. Hovering in the water, the pitch-black bow and arrow were wrapped with a green magic force as the light slowly grew blinding. Behind the shield, the elderly Crab''s eyes flickered on seeing this. It originally decided to stay and withstand it but as the seconds passed with the power in the arrow growing stronger, it changed its decision mid-way. While still maintaining the fiery magic shield, its shell opened up again. This time, what seemed like ropes came out as they started attaching themselves to its remaining children that survived. It already survived long enough and killed enough predators to know the kind of power that was brimming. As a veteran hunter and predator, it knew when to bite the bullet and escape. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] With no intention to let it escape, Sebastian finally released the magic manifestation that already su?k?d a sizeable amount of his mana points while adding a 2nd layer sound attack to it with his sound control skill. The sound was extremely loud like exploding dominoes. Boom! As soon as it collided with the fiery magic shield, cracks rapidly appeared through it but the arrow was also slowed down like it was stuck in a quagmire. Despite this, the force behind it was still strong, pushing it forward. Seeing this, the elderly Crab turned without hesitation and took a step into the water as its legs diffused black shadows into the surrounding. Every step as its claws moved seemed like it was tearing the time-space in the water apart, making what seemed far to become near. The water space folded like it was being squeezed. Warp! The Crab''s stepping suddenly accelerated, and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared with the Giant Crabs that it was able to tie with its rope skill. This was one of its trump card skills that enabled it to survive till today. For the other 6 Crabs that were left behind, as soon as the magic shield popped, their fates were decided. [You have killed a Giant Crab- Level 12: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­ [You have killed¡­] For a long time, even though his plan was mostly successful, Sebastian hovered in the water, gaping in shock. "What in the name of all anatomists is that freaking escape skill?" Chapter 85 - The Farmer Plan. After the aftereffects of the battle died down completely, Sebastian finally calmed down and confirmed that he was not dreaming. The over a dozen Giant Crab corpses lying on the water proved that. Despite this, his brain still couldn''t help but feel like he was dreaming. Once again, his understanding of Oceania and its numerous strange and terrifying creatures was updated. The elderly Giant Crab that he just fought with was a monster; a freaking monster. To him, the apt term to describe it was- Snoring Panda, Hidden Dragon! Compared to his supersonic speed escape skill, the skill demonstrated by the Giant Crab at the end to escape with its children completely changed his understanding of how skills worked. Not only that, the most envious of all was the Giant Crab''s Shell War Arsenal adaptation. The only word he had for that adaptation was OP. If he didn''t know more, he would have thought that it was some unique skill. The machinery-box effects of the adaptation were just god-tier cheating. With such an advantage, it was almost a given that the elderly Crab could adapt to any situation available in a battle. "Is this the legendary power of the Oldies? Uhm, Elders?" Sincerely, he was shocked and short of words. From his knowledge of this world, he guessed that such an adaptation could only be available to Crabs which left him all the more envious. Leroy always said to him that sea creatures with high-tier bloodlines were born with a silver spoon, and they were destined to be the greatest in Oceania. Of course, this ocean volcano region was more treacherous than his previous calmer expanse which meant sea creatures here were stronger but that alone could not explain the terrifying strength and ability displayed by the elderly Crab. "What a nice test subject for dissection it would have been". He lamented. From the battle encounter, he didn''t sense any arrogance or over-the-top aggressiveness from the elderly Crab, he instead only sensed the vibe of a veteran who slowly fought his way to the top of the food chain. From this, he guessed that the elderly Crab was probably already at the Purple tier. Also, he now learned that given enough time, sea creatures in Oceania could slowly grow to become horrifying boss monsters. His best guess about the Crab''s wonder shell adaptation was that it got so many skills and adaptations that the experience of all those now enabled him to form this terrifying adaptation. The elderly Crab was a predator of a different species which directly made it his enemy, but he felt a deep respect for it. Taking that thought route, he started thinking of his future enemies- the Sea Kings. For such monsters, it was a given that they already lived dozens or perhaps even hundreds of years. "So, how terrifying would they be?" He shuddered on the thought as he directly decided to cut that thought process off lest he plants an unnecessary phobia in his mind which would leave him depressed. "F*ck! For how long have you been staring?" The Shark revealed a confused expression at the random question. "Since". "¡­" Speechless and completely short of words, Sebastian could only turn his head to the Giant Crab feast waiting for them to form a distraction. "Let''s eat". "Ok". Verni eagerly pounced on the closest food without waiting for him. In seconds, it gobbled the meat up and went to the next Giant Crab. "¡­" Sebastian looked at the excited Shark, then at the meat, then at the Shark again. Suppressing the urge in his heart to shoot a tooth at its face, he swam closer and also started digging into the food. As soon as his teeth dug into the delicious crispy meat left by the Giant Crabs, he felt like falling asleep immediately as his eyes rolled in p???sur?. Verni ate more of the meat, but he still got enough to satisfy his glutton stomach. "Get your heavy bu?? up and swim". Sebastian chided angrily. "Huh?" "We''re going hunting". The shark revealed a clear look of reluctance on his face but facing his big bro who could pursue such a dangerous predator crab, it had no choice but to propel his heavy bu?? up and swim. Sebastian had no other special cave with delicious food like this one in mind, but there was more than enough prey in this seamount. Through this hunt, he wanted to understand all the skills and adaptations of his hunting partner to grasp and maximize the use of its strengths. As soon as they came out of the cave, it only took them a few minutes before they encountered another prey. The both of them attacked together, and in less than a second, their prey was dead. [You have jointly killed a mutated Giant Shrimp with your hunting partner- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 1 Skill point and 5 Adaptation points.] They clashed with and killed dozens of Poison Worms, more Giant Crabs, the crispy Yeti Crabs, some mutated Sea Lions, they even clashed with some of the Crocodiles at some point. Because 5 of them were hunting together, they had no choice but to abandon the hunt and escape. This was also because Sebastian was keeping their life till the D-day of his plan. Right now, he felt like a farmer who was feeding his chicks to let them become big chickens only to kill them on Christmas. "Big bro, what are you thinking¡­" "¡­Nothing, let''s hunt". "Ok". [You have jointly killed a mutated Fire Snail¡­] [You have jointly killed a mutated Giant Rampage Crab¡­] As the day grew dark with the green glow of the Sea receding, Sebastian also retreated with his little bro after having a nice time throughout the day. "Companions are the best". Chapter 86 - The Draconic Lizard Kingdom. Inside the seamount in the middle of the gigantic world of fire surrounded by the circular wardrobe-like cliff where Sebastian resided sat a kingdom, the Draconic lizard kingdom. Compared to the Crocodile kingdom that Sebastian visited a month ago, the Draconic lizard kingdom was smaller but equally majestic and dangerous. There was no crater around it, it was built nonchalantly at the surface of the seamount but the location was at an extreme remote end of the seamount. The main reason for this location being remote was the predators residing here, but another reason was that the fire at this part of the seamount was strangely poisonous. For most creatures in this world of fire including the Crocodiles, just staying there would drain their health, only the Draconic lizards had a special organ adaptation that granted them resistance against it. Numerous Draconic lizards roamed in the kingdom, but their young ones could not be seen as they were hidden from sight. Compared to the mutated Crocodiles, though the Crocodiles were stronger the Draconic lizards were far more menacing. Their teeth were not too sharp unlike other predators, but their super-sharp claws could make up for this defect. Their arrow-tipped tails were the cream on top of the cherry making them top predators in this region. A full-powered blow from their tails is powerful enough to rip through the thick scales of the thick-skinned Crocodiles. Seeing them, the normal survival instincts would prompt any enemy to escape far away but no, a foolish duo of a great white shark and a young Megalodon was about to try the impossible. Surrounding the kingdom were only 4 trees forming a square shape at the different 4 corners of the territory. They were like the south, east, west, and north poles of the kingdom. At this moment, a great white shark suddenly rushed into this kingdom that was solely being dominated by the Draconic lizards. "Hey! I want to negotiate with you". After this voice reverberated through the water, a strange silence followed as every Draconic lizard turned to see this troublesome shark with an angry, frustrated, and menacing look on their faces. Despite glaring at the shark, the lizards did not attack immediately. It was at this moment that the surface of the seamount started vibrating rapidly. Boom! A huge Draconic lizard with fire raging around its body rushed out from underground. Its blazing fiery eyes glared at the shark with unconcealed hate. "You again?" It roared angrily. "Wait, I want to¡­" "Kill him!" "Die!" The Draconic lizards who were intelligent enough immediately responded to the order from their family head and rushed out. Seeing their actions, all the other Draconic lizards followed. In a few seconds, all the predators in the kingdom rushed from their homes and went after the shark with angry expressions on their goosebumps-inducing faces. "Uhm, uh oh!" Seeing this, the great white shark did not hesitate as it immediately activated its dash escape skill, turned around, and rushed out of the area. It was already suffering from the poison so it didn''t even want to stay a second longer. The family head of the Draconic lizards looked at the escaping great white shark with a doubting look in its eyes. It seemed to understand something, but its brain was just not outlining it carefully. It was already sure that its family members would not be able to catch the sneaky great white shark, so it turned to return underground. The next moment¡­ "You f*cking son of a bitch, sit down and negotiate!" "Never!" The Draconic lizard didn''t even see the enemy before it roared instinctively. "Fine!" [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] Bam! Before the huge Draconic lizard could react, the shark slammed into it with force. Its eyes glazed over as it fell into a short daze, it painfully paid for this as the war hammer slammed down on its head the next moment. Immediately, it became dizzy as stars revolved around its head. After recovering, it tried to retaliate angrily but the hammer slammed down at its head again, leaving it in pain. Instinctively, its sharp tail stabbed forward but the shark already retreated. A safe distance away from his opponent, Sebastian calmly controlled the war hammer to keep on slamming at the lizard''s head. "Will you negotiate now?" "No¡­" Bam! "Will you¡­" "No!!!" Bam!" "Will you?" "Please wait¡­" Bam! "I''ll negotiate!" The Draconic lizard already had numerous bumps in its head as it looked at the shark with a bitter expression on its face. Sebastian kept such a distance from it that its trump card which was its sharp tail and its claws became useless. It had a skill to quickly close the distance, and it could also breathe fire but it used none of these. After over a month of pestering from this shark, it already confirmed that Sebastian had no ill will against its family and hence it did not take the risk of going all-out. After secretly observing Sebastian for some time, it knew how powerful the shark was and hence didn''t try going for an all-out battle against it. Another thing was that Sebastian gave it the same vibes that an old friend gave, it couldn''t help but think if the both of them were related somewhere. The only problem that it had with Sebastian was the constant pestering. "Don''t you know how to live a private non-pestering life?" As it complained inwardly in its mind, Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief and let his magic manifestation fade away. Despite this, he did not let his guard down as he was wary of this powerful lizard. "Why did you agree to negotiate?" The lizard''s face became weird as it rubbed its head with its claws. "Is that not what you wanted?" "I know, but accepting like this¡­, I can''t help but feel suspicious". The lizard snorted, bringing fire from its nostrils. "If you don''t want, I can stop it and also call my family members back to fight you to the death". Sebastian laughed dryly at that. He was surprised at how intelligent this lizard was which was a cause for relief to him, he thought that he''ll really have to resort to exchanging blows first. Before he could relax, the next question that the lizard asked left him feeling suspicious and speechless. "Are you related to Clown?" Chapter 87 - The Motherf*cker Lord! Sebastian was stunned by the lizard''s question. "Clown? Who''s Clown?" The Draconic lizard was clearly disappointed on hearing that but it didn''t give up. It was pretty sure that Sebastian was somehow related to its old friend, so it decided to give other hints. "Who taught you how to talk?" "¡­" "The heck!" Sebastian was left speechless once again, even the lizard understood that it phrased that wrongly as it revealed an awkward look which only made its lizard body even more fearsome. "Who taught you the f*cking language. Like the one you just said, you f*cking son of a bitch". The Lizard suddenly revealed a reminiscing expression on its draconic face on saying that. "Clown was just so good at speaking it, his best words were ''f*cking son of a bitch'' and ''you motherf*cker''!". "He is the best hunting partner I''ve ever had, he enabled me and my family to get the adaptation to live in this poisonous environment". "Though he was small compared to us and other predators, he was strong and super tricky. With his help, we conquered the strongest predator of this island". "It was only after he left that Croc monster rose with his family. Hehe, I''m pretty sure that they dare not attack my family because of him". "Then, he always bragged that we should call him the Clown Lord but I personally preferred calling him the motherf*cker Lord". "This¡­, so there''s such a backstory to this seamount?" Sebastian was surprised as a lot of things went through his mind. Seeing the obvious proud, honest, and excited look on the Draconic lizard''s face as it recounted this, Sebastian was more or less sure that this story was true. He felt suspicious immediately. Terms like ''son of a bitch'' and ''motherf*cker'', he was pretty sure that they originated from earth, or did earth steal those terms from another planet in the first place? He shuddered at the thought but he quickly ignored it, following the rule of his second love which was ignoring things. "What if this motherf*cker lord was also from earth?" He immediately felt excited as his teeth couldn''t help but clap together uncontrollably. Seeing the shark''s reaction, the huge Draconic lizard also became more excited as it felt that this shark was really related to its old hunting partner. "You know clown, right? Where is he now?" Hearing this question, Sebastian was jolted out of his thoughts as he turned to look at the lizard with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He knew no clown, but he was not about to reveal that as his brain immediately started improvising. "Clown¡­, clown¡­, clownfish!" While feeling excited, he remembered another term used by the lizard. "He was small compared to us and other predators¡­" "But if this guy is a clownfish, how can he be addressed as strong?" Sebastian fell into a dilemma immediately but it did not last long as the lizard''s expectant gaze was still on him. The next second, he immediately laughed. "Haha, Clown, that tricky fool. Yes, I know him, he was once my partner too". The lizard became even more excited. "Really?" "Of course, what makes you think I''ll lie to you about such small matters". "Yes! So, where is he now?" "¡­" Sebastian laughed dryly. "You cannot see him now. He is far away, very very far away from this region. I think he also told me about you, he said if I meet you that you should be calm, he''ll visit you himself in the future". "Yes!" The Draconic lizard thrashed excitedly, almost stabbing Sebastian with its sharp tail in the process. "So, about the negotiation". "Yes, I agree, let''s destroy the rulers of the seamount, just the way I did back in my prime with motherf*cker Lord". The Lizard suddenly paused, seeming to have discovered something. Seeing this, Sebastian felt his heart skip a beat as he feared for the worst but what the lizard said next left him speechless. "Clown is the motherf*cker Lord, I''m the lizard Lord, then which lord are you?" "Ok, there''s no need". "There''s a need!" The lizard roared, causing Sebastian to flinch speechlessly. "Ok, call me the Megalodon Lord". "Hmmm, that''s cool, clown used to say that too". The lizard smiled before asking. "Are you a Megalodon?" "Yeah". Sebastian answered smugly but froze on seeing the expression of ridicule on the lizard''s face. "You think you can fool me? Haha, there''s no Megalodon yet in this region. Even Old Mak is still a great white, then you''re a Megalodon. You really think you''re special, just like the motherf*cker Lord?" Hearing that, Sebastian''s expression froze as a lot of things went through his mind. This confirmed his conjecture again, his system helped him or the evolution options showed during his evolution were not supposed to appear now. He used his silence to acknowledge the Lizard''s guess that he was fooling around. Right now, he really wanted to meet or even know more about this Motherf*cker Lord. After expertly dodging the lizard''s next attempts at starting random conversations, he finally dragged the conversation back to the main- the planned attack against the Crocodile family. "Do you have a plan already?" The lizard asked expectantly. "I''ll provide it before the next day". As Sebastian asked and started getting more detailed information about the Crocodile family through the lizard, a loud sound suddenly reverberated from the distance. "Big bro! Save me!" Turning his head, Sebastian saw a pitiful Verni swimming rapidly while a horde of Draconic lizards followed in pursuit behind him. He already suffered lots of injuries through his body, seeing Sebastian again was like he finally saw his last source of hope for survival. Seeing the shark, Sebastian suddenly felt a little guilty as he let it suffer so much. With a calm face though, he turned to face the Lizard Lord. The enormous lizard hovered up in the water slightly, it raised its head and roared at its family members. Roar!!! Hearing this, the Draconic lizards in pursuit stopped. They were a little confused by the order, but they respected their family head enough to obey him unconditionally so they simply left to do their things. Chapter 88 - The Hunting Plan. "Big bro, hunting?" Verni asked excitedly as soon as they finally left the poisonous territory of the Draconic lizards. "Yeah, we''ll go hunting soon. Let me organize my thoughts a bit". Sebastian quickly replied to the great white shark while letting thoughts run through his mind. His conversation with the lizard Lord was still occupying his mind, he just couldn''t stop thinking about the so-called motherf*cker Lord. "Did other earthlings transmigrate into Oceania too?" He already asked this question dozens of times since leaving the Draconic lizards'' lair. It left him feeling excited, lost, and even a little fearful. After over a month of staying in this world where he already more or less lost all contact with his previous world, getting some information about it now left his heart beating faster in anticipation. Though from the description of the Lizard Lord, he guessed that this clown fellow was a troublesome guy, he could not help but feel the anticipation. "I must meet this motherfuc¡­, no, Clownfish". He resolved in his mind. This was a plan for the future though. He knew the great obstacle still obstructing him which was this huge ocean volcano, he didn''t even have the qualifications to plan on looking for others until he found his way out of the cliff. He knew that to navigate his way out of this circular cliff to find this motherf*cker fellow, he needed more strength. With such thoughts, he felt motivation fill his mind again as a burst of adrenaline rushed through his head. As if he felt his emotions, Verni''s shark body shook in excitement also but it deflated the next moment as he asked a question. "Big bro, are those lizards our friends now?" Sebastian kept quiet and turned to face him. "You hate them?" "No, their meat is just so crispy and delicious". "¡­" He didn''t give the great white shark an explanation as he still wasn''t sure himself, he instead turned to face the deeper parts of the seamount. "Let''s go hunt". ¡­ Crunch! [You have killed a Giant Yeti Crab- Level 16: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 8 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] As Sebastian bit down, devouring the meat of the pitiful crab, Verni did the same work in another direction as its enormous body bulldozed through, killing the crabs and also digging into their crispy meat. Fire raged around them, spreading towards the 2 sharks in a semi-circular pattern but Sebastian and his hunting partner simply activated their magic shield. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] Sebastian rapidly accelerated after activating the 2 skills and with a loud booming sound, he collided against the first hairy Yeti Crab. A huge depression formed across the fellow''s shell immediately. It let out a painful grinding sound, then it stabbed its claws at Sebastian which could only deal negligible damage to him. It tried to attack harder, but a long slightly illusory drill suddenly appeared above its head and shot down. Bam! The sonic drill penetrated its shell, ravaging through its internals and snuffing the remaining life out of its pitiful body. It became food for the huge Megalodon in just a few seconds. The system notified of the skill but Sebastian ignored it, his eyes turned to look at his little bro''s battle. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] Sebastian rushed closer, while Verni did the same from the opposite side. The poor crab immediately fell into a conundrum on who to attack first which proved fatal to its already negligible chances. Crunch! Crunch! The cracking sounds of a shell followed the crunching sound and as the 2 sharks pulled, the Giant Yeti Crab was directly torn apart. [You have jointly killed a Giant Yeti Crab with your hunting partner- Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 3 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [Your Crushing Bite skill has leveled up to level 2.] [You have killed more than 50 Giant Yeti Crabs: You have unlocked the advanced profile information of the Yeti Crab family.] Compared to the basic profile information that was given earlier, it was much smaller but it revealed more about the Giant Yeti Crabs. By the time he completed his feast on the meat hovering in the water, he already completed going through the advanced profile information. Without hesitation, he turned and led Verni even deeper into the seamount. For the remaining parts of the day, they hunted like usual which was the normal life of every sea creature in Oceania. As he hunted, his brain was not idle as he tried to get inspiration from his hunts to draft the perfect attack plan to dethrone the arrogant Crocodiles as the rulers of this seamount. Before the green glow in the sea receded fully to indicate the coming of night, he declared an end to their hunt before leading Verni back to the territory of the Draconic lizards. After hunting for the whole day, he finally got what he wanted. Seeing him, the Draconic lizards did not attack. He easily had access inside the territory of the predatory lizards. [You have entered a Poisonous region of the seamount: You will suffer -3 damage every 2 seconds.] [HP Recovery Rate: +2 HP every 10 seconds.] "This plan means that a lot of my family members will die". "Yes". Sebastian nodded firmly. "To get achievements, there''s always a sacrifice. If the plan is successful, you''ll lose a few family members but those that survived would become countless times stronger". "Is that not what you always wanted?" Hearing that, the huge Draconic lizard fell into a pondering silence. After staying in this region for so long, Sebastian already understood the thought process of almost all the sea creatures that he clashed with. With his intelligence as a human, he could easily take advantage of this point. But he did not just bluff, if everything went according to the plan, the Draconic lizard family would emerge stronger than before. A few seconds later, the Draconic lizard looked at him in a scrutinizing manner. "You''re really related to the motherf*cker Lord, the 2 of you think alike". "I accept". Chapter 89 - A Challenge To The Death! Inside the huge crater situated at the middle of the seamount. The huge Crocodile kingdom was silent and still, this was normal as the day was still relatively dark. Some negligible signs of the approaching morning were already emerging, but this was not enough to awaken the Crocodiles. In their various holes, they were still asleep, enjoying the energy given by the food that they feasted on the previous day. The extreme heat of the ocean volcano was a little subdued now as the glow of morning was not here yet. Just like on earth, the temperature here decreased slightly at night. Amid this silent environment, the time ticked forward slowly. A few minutes to an hour later, the silent atmosphere in the surrounding started changing slightly. The lava lake inside the seamount started boiling, spreading even more heat to the surroundings. All these were because the morning was here. Just like the sun on earth, the blueish-green glow of the Sea''s magic essence illuminated everywhere with its warm embrace. The time ticked forward some more before the first signs of activity in the huge Crocodile kingdom were detected. As the absolute overlords of this seamount, they woke up anytime they liked as they had no natural predators here. As soon as the first Crocodile woke up, it was followed by the second then the third as a sense of life and nature bloomed again in this huge crater. As the water waves started flowing slowly in a direction, the leaves of the huge red trees surrounding the crater swayed slightly. The alpha Crocodile also woke up amid the activities. It swam forward, up to a huge boulder that was close to the lava lake. Then it looked at its family members, its subjects, and the whole seamount before opening its wide maws. Roar¡­!!! Just like a Lion King, it announced the dawn of a new day with the roar powered by its vibrating guttural cords. After doing this for a few seconds, with pride, it swam down but it suddenly paused as it heard a strange sound that left its heart suddenly beating faster reverberating through the water. At other times, loud roars mixed in, echoing like a group of Dragons at the Red tier were roaring challenges at a Sea King who stood at the pinnacle of the Black tier. The impact being induced by this strange sound was felt across the whole crater. All the Crocodiles stiffened, feeling like the sword of Damocles was directly above their heads. A tense atmosphere directly descended on the crater. Right now, all the alpha Croc felt from this strange sound was Doom! As it waited for what was inducing so much horror in its heart, it already started grinding its teeth loudly as it equally produced threatening sounds. Amid it doing this, it suddenly turned its head and looked in a direction. As it looked, a spot that originally blended with the surrounding redness of the seamount started changing to outline a dark blue predator. In a few seconds, a ridiculously huge great white shark towering over 20 meters was outlined after leaving its camouflaged state. Seeing the shark''s enormous size, the huge Crocodile revealed a fearsome look of battle-readiness on its face like it was facing its natural enemy. Paring this shark''s current size with the strange sounds left most of the other Crocodiles feeling an instinctive fear from their hearts, but this alpha crocodile was not affected in the slightest. Seeing this, Sebastian was calm like he already expected it. [You have a body skill activated: Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor.] [You have activated a sound domain magic skill: Sound Control!] "Monster Croc, I challenge you to a battle to the death!" Sebastian said it only once, but his sound control skill made the sentence echo loudly through the crater, drilling into the hearing organs of each of the Crocodiles. Striking thunder sounds accompanied it, making it seem like a deity was the one who issued the challenge. Though most Crocodiles were still at a loss of what was happening, this made them feel even more fearful. Seeing the Crocodile reveal its teeth, Sebastian continued while using his sound control skill to make it mute, isolating any sound made by it. "You''re too cowardly to accept my challenge?" Roar! Roar! Hearing the term coward, the numerous Crocodiles immediately forgot their fear as their innate pride made them start roaring angrily with the intention to throw themselves into battle and kill this enemy. "Then, die!" [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] Immediately, the accumulated roars of all the Crocodiles in this seamount were compacted together before being sent back at them to form an attack that stacked all the sound together. Boom! The sound hit back like exploding thunder, even affecting Sebastian who caused it a bit. Most Crocodiles bled from various holes in their body immediately, with all of them going dizzy. Even the alpha Croc''s eyes glazed over as it became dizzy. "Now!" Sebastian used his sound control skill to make his voice echo everywhere again as the order was conveniently transmitted. As soon as the order was passed, the tall trees standing in the seamount and surrounding the crater shook as hidden predators emerged from their very tops. While swimming down, the large convergence of Draconic lizard predators opened their mouths and roared. They breathe out fire, a huge convergence of fire. Boom! The sound that followed was like exploding dominoes, the huge crater revealed a big crack in its middle, the larva lake was ignited as the larva in it erupted like the eruption of a huge active volcano. In seconds, the crater became an embodiment of a fiery apocalypse. Despite their thick skin and their fierce resistance against fire damage, some of the Crocodiles were roasted on the spot when all the damage stacked. Amid roars of pain from the Crocodiles, another group of Draconic lizards appeared behind the huge crater. Their eyes glinted fiercely and without hesitation, they rushed in to attack their enemies. They collided with the still recovering Crocodiles with force, then the war between the Draconic lizard and Crocodile family officially started. Chapter 90 - Might Of Apex Predators. Even before the battle started, the innate intimidation effects of absolute power which was the main trait of the ruling Crocodile kingdom was nullified. Sebastian''s plan was not anything complicated. It was mainly focused on getting an early advantage for the Draconic Lizard family and himself, thereby forming a foundation to build upon and this was what just happened. As the rulers of this seamount, it was a given that the Crocodiles already developed an innate sense of superiority towards all the other sea creatures here. This was what Sebastian took advantage of. Apart from anatomy, he didn''t have talents for a lot of things when he was still a human but provoking other people was something that he was really really good at. His talent at it was so terrifying that he could even provoke his pet, it was such provocation that led to his new variant shark pet biting him to this world. And here in Oceania, he found that such talent was highly useful. It was nothing complicated, all he did first was use his sound control skill to create the background music. He got inspiration from this during his time in cinemas back on earth. Background music was something terrifying, they were part of the main perks that could make horror movies horrifying. All he did was to create a strange sound that he already practiced which brought a vibe of doom with it. This affected the Crocodiles. Taking advantage of this, he used his cardiac sphincter constrictor skill to largely increase his size while revealing himself, making himself to look like a hegemonic monster which represented death. Unfortunately, the alpha Croc was not scared, but the effects on its family members still satisfied Sebastian. Also taking advantage of the atmosphere, he issued his challenge. Already in the know that the alpha Croc would answer, he blocked every sound being made by it by his sound control skill, this was another effect that he recently discovered of the skill. After this, he ridiculed it, making the other Crocodiles angry. As their emotions kept on getting riled up, they ended up roaring angrily. This was their mistake and where the real attack began. Sebastian used his sound control skill to reflect the loud noise made by all their roaring, dealing astronomical damage while also combining it with the fire ambush from the Draconic lizards. Through this, a lot of damage was dealt to the Crocodiles in one go. The start of the battle was purely a psychological one, but it really kick-started after Sebastian attacked first. Putting aside the physical damage, the psychological damage done by all these was impossible to recover from immediately. It may seem little, but this was the real advantage that Sebastian got for his side in this battle. When he originally thought of the plan, he was a little scared that his magic power would not be able to withstand the load but he now felt relieved. Combining his surprising attack with the ambush fire breath that was released by the hand-picked Draconic Lizards, the effects were enough to weaken the Crocodile family though slightly. About 3 to 4 Crocodiles died after the 2-pronged attack, while only about 7 were severely injured. Though this didn''t weaken this powerful monster family much, an advantage was still an advantage. "Kill without mercy! And kill without remorse!" It wasn''t Sebastian who spoke this time, it was the Lizard Lord. Originally, it thought the shark was bluffing when he said he could deal such a large-scale attack. But after what just happened, only admiration and one thought remained in its mind. "Perhaps, this guy can really replicate what the motherf*cker Lord did". While giving orders to pump its family members for battle, its eyes glittered in a battle frenzied manner as the alpha Croc was already glaring at it angrily. Apparently, to this Crocodile, he was the mastermind behind the attack and he would gladly accept this as this was part of the plan. It''s long, muscle-filled, and powerful arrow-headed tail swiped swiftly at the water as it dashed with speed towards the alpha Crocodile. The Crocodile did not back down. With a deep predatory growl, it also rapidly started swimming towards its enemy as its thick tail swiped left and right behind it. In a few seconds, they got close to each other. It''s body suddenly started glowing a swampy green color, its scales contracted like a defense fortress while glinting like those of a Dragons, then it opened its mouth and breath out¡­, fire! The Draconic lizard alpha did the same. After swimming close, it opened its mouth and breath out fire. The 2 pure red fire breaths collided like 2 negatively raging tsunamis, stirring a real tsunami underwater immediately as the shockwaves pushed outwards with force. This was not the end, tails attacked. The arrow-headed tail of the Draconic lizard stabbed straight forward, while those of the alpha Croc curled and swung sideways in retaliation like a heavy wooden club of death. Boom! As the 2 alphas ducked it out, the Crocodile kingdom already went chaos. Immediately after the Draconic lizards collided with the still recovering Crocodiles, a fierce battle royal to the death started. The Crocodiles were the overlords of this region for a reason. After they recovered their nerves from the first ambush, they recovered their combat strength fully and it was horrifying. Bam! The thick tail of one of the Crocodiles slammed hard at the sides of a Draconic lizard, pushing a deep depression into it as the lizard roared in pain. As one, the Crocodiles erupted in defense for their kingdom. Their wide mouths opened, exposing their dagger-sharp rows of teeth as they bit down with that almost-impossible force that they were renowned for. The sound of the teeth clamping down on flesh was enough to induce goosebumps on any enemy, they were natural predators. The spikes on their backs became sharp like daggers, revealing its identity as an adaptation as they used it to fend off the attacks of the Draconic lizards originally hanging off their backs. In a few minutes, the original advantage of the Draconic lizards was nullified completely. This was the power of apex predators. Seeing this in the distance, Sebastian did not feel despair, his eyes instead glinted excitedly as he proceeded to rush to meet these chicken that he had been rearing and feeding for the past month. After the wide-scale use of his sound control skill, his mana points drained a lot which he already expected. During this time, the Lizard Lord was to hold the alpha Croc back while he fought with the normal army. In a few seconds, he arrived inside the battlefield properly. Chapter 91 - The Mystery Pryer Crocodile. As soon as Sebastian arrived inside the battlefield properly, he saw a great white shark which immediately brought a grinning smile to his shark face. "Big bro, hunting?" Verni asked excitedly. "Yeah, hunting!" After replying, Sebastian took the lead as a big bro would. This time, he was back to his fighting style when he didn''t have a magic organ yet and it left him feeling super excited. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Taking these 2 basic skills as the anchor, he activated a myriad of skills in his body including the empowered tail fin, empowered dorsal fin, advanced electroreceptors, spike attack, battering ram, and of course, bite. Immediately Sebastian arrived beside the closest ravaging Crocodile. [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite!] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite!] Crunch! The first bite skill gave his teeth such crushing force that he bit through the extremely thick and spiked tail of the Crocodile in one bite, then the second gave him such shredding power that he started wreaking havoc inside it. He learned this combo attack style after all his numerous battle encounters in this seamount, and it was frighteningly effective. From those 2 bites, he dealt damage which was not too much compared to the health points of the Crocodile but another fact was that his vampire effect triggered which now took 2 HP each second for 20 seconds. [You have been hit by an attack: Spike Defense Retaliation.] As soon as Sebastian bit the Crocodile, it flinched slightly in pain as its spikes suddenly became sharper, digging into his flesh in retaliation. Crunch! With force derived from all the momentum that he gathered, Verni revealed a fearsome look on its face as its teeth dug into the thick flesh of the Crocodile from another part. The first time did not penetrate directly due to how thick it was, but the great white shark simply bit again rapidly while dragging for a few more times before he finally breached the enemy''s defense. Sebastian retreated slightly, then he gathered momentum with his battering ram skill before rushing back with force. He collided with the Crocodile''s side, pushing a depression through as it growled in pain. It fought a brave heroic battle for 45 seconds before it fell dead to the tyranny of the 2 sharks. [You have jointly killed a mutated Mammoth Crocodile with your hunting partner- Level 19: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 32 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] This was the difference between these Crocodiles and other monsters in this seamount. Despite pairing with his hunting partner, Sebastian spent almost a minute before he took it down. In the whole Crocodile kingdom, there were less than 40 ?du?t Crocodiles but they formed such a terrifying force that could not be annihilated anytime soon. With his hunting partner, they both rushed in and wreaked havoc. 20 minutes later, after his last bitter battle that stretched over 7 minutes where he even sustained some injuries, Sebastian finally took down their most fearsome Croc opponent. [You have jointly killed a Purple tier mutated Mammoth Crocodile- Level 23: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 53 Skill points and 50 Adaptation points.] [You have killed your first Purple tier creature: You have gained an additional 30 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Purple tier creature while still at the Orange tier: You have gained an additional 20 Skill points and 50 Adaptation points.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up once.] [New notification locked till user is out of battle.] "Purple tier!" While Sebastian was happy about the level up, he was also stunned as this was his second opponent apart from the Goblin Shark that was at the purple tier. Verni seemed to have also recognized the tier of the opponent they just killed as he shook in excitement and disbelief. Sebastian also wanted to feel excited but he could not, his electroreceptors told him that he just attracted the attention of an even more terrifying Crocodile. "Roar!" A loud roar of pain, anger and unwillingness reverberated through the water as an enormous Crocodile that was only slightly smaller than the alpha Croc emerged from a hole in the crater. Seeing this Crocodile, memories flooded Sebastian''s brain as he immediately recalled who it was. "Have they been keeping it as a trump card? The Mystery Pryer Croc¡­" Boom! Before Sebastian could even finish his recollection, he suffered an attack. Despite the current distance between them, just beside him, a thick sharp pillar of fire appeared which drilled a hole through his body from his abdomen. [You have been hit by a Mystery Pryer specialty skill: Omnipresent Magic!] [Magic Type: Fire.] Almost at the same time that he felt the pain of being hit by the skill, Verni roared in pain as the same sharp pillar of fire drilled into his body, dealing even more damage. [You have been hit by another Omnipresent Magic Type: Earth.] "How many types of magic domains does it have?" Sebastian cursed but cursing did nothing, the pillar of earth blocked his path from escaping while others materialized out of mid-water, forming different shapes to attack him. As he suffered damage, Verni suffered worse despite covering himself with his magic shield as the great white shark started bleeding severely. While still roaring angrily, the mystery pryer Crocodile attacked frenziedly. It didn''t just attack Sebastian and Verni, it attacked the Draconic lizards also, killing 3 in just a few seconds with its almost unrestricted magic. Fire, earth, water, wind, lightning, almost all the basic magic domains were being used by this Crocodile as it wreaked havoc through the ranks of the enemies. Seeing this while noting that he was still taking damage, Sebastian hesitated as he looked at his system information. [Current MP: 520/560.] He originally wanted to wait till his mana points were full before returning to attack the alpha Croc with the Lizard Lord, but the appearance of this powerful Crocodile brought a complication. As soon as another earth magic attack dug into Verni''s body, making the bleeding shark roar in pain, Sebastian made his decision. [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] Chapter 92 - First Invention. [You have activated magic skill: Magic Shield!] [You have activated sound domain skill: Sonic Drill!] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] With all 4 skills active, Sebastian started his counterattack. Of course, to close the distance, he needed a catalyst which was his advanced dash skill and he did not hesitate to activate it. Rapidly rushing close, the magic shield blocked all the elemental damage being dealt by the Mystery Pryer Croc, then his sound domain sonic drill tore a small hole through its thick skin. Before it could react and retreat properly, Sebastian rapidly closed the remaining distance with his battering ram skill and slammed into her. The damage dealt by his chaining of skills was lesser than he expected, but he was not flustered as he calmly retreated again before opening his mouth wide. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! His magic teeth were charged properly before they started shooting out like a bullet rain. At his current level, and with him actively pumping more magic power into them, the teeth were far deadlier than before. The mystery pryer Croc erected a huge earth shield that blocked off all the damage, but the machine gun-like bullet teeth chipped the earth shield''s skin off gradually. As soon as the defense of the earth wall became thin enough, Sebastian rapidly closed the distance with his battering ram skill again, but this time he complimented it with his spike attack skill. In one heavy hit, he broke through the Croc''s defense, dealing the first real damage to it but this Crocodile was far more fearsome than it showed. Her defense was slightly weaker than the other Crocodiles, which was evident of the fact that she was not a melee fighter but this did not mean her defense was fragile in any sense. She formed layers upon layers of defense, stalling all of Sebastian''s attacks since he didn''t intend to use his mana-draining Water Transmutation skill on her. Not only did she defend impeccably, her elemental control omnipresent magic was so OP that she still dealt minute attacks to Sebastian which showed how powerful she was. The more the battle dragged on, the more irritated Sebastian became but he knew that getting angry would not solve his problem. He needed to observe the battle again and make more targeted decisions. Removing a portion of his attention from her, he proceeded to observe the overall battlefield again. Through his observation, he quickly deduced that both sides were now in a fragile stalemate. For the fierce Crocodiles with their thick skin adaptation, stalemate battles like this would only give them more of an advantage as time passed. If this continued, the Draconic lizards would be annihilated sooner than later. Seeing this, Sebastian felt a little anxious as he was the one who drafted the plan. He expected the battle to be tight, but he still thought his uniqueness would have tipped the scales of the battle more than this. Perhaps, it was due to the pressure of the situation, but Sebastian felt like his brain was functioning a bit faster than normal, more like it was now on overdrive which felt weird. Right now, to turn the stalemate around, either the alpha Crocodile had to die or he activated a skill that could wipe out half of the ?du?t Crocodiles immediately which was not feasible. If he decided to kill the Mystery pryer Crocodile by all means, though it would affect the tides of the battle, it would not be as significant as killing the alpha considering the fact that his mana points would literally be exhausted after. Despite how strong a display she was showing in the battle, Sebastian had no doubts that the alpha Croc was far more frightening. Thinking of this, he turned his attention to the battle of the alphas. Both alphas were still tied in a fierce battle, but both of them already suffered countless injuries which bled, weakening them as time passed. Seeing this, ideas were rapidly exchanged and analyzed in Sebastian''s mind as his human intelligence came into play again. Though his power stat was more than his mind stat now, his human intelligence advantage was still there. Suddenly, he seemed to have experienced an epiphany as an idea clicked in his mind which he acted on immediately. He returned all his attention to the Mystery Pryer Crocodile. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield.] As soon as the huge pitch-black tower shield appeared, Sebastian pushed it with his magic power towards the mystery pryer crocodile who instinctively reacted by erecting an earth element defense around herself. Sebastian didn''t pay attention to the defense that she erected, because offense was not his plan in the first place. Originally, despite his last evolution and increase in stats, he could still only comfortably control one tower shield magic manifestation but he was about to push his limits this time around. Leaving the first tower shield to hover before the Crocodile, he created a second one amid strains and a throbbing brain before aiming for the 3rd and 4th. [Warning! You have stretched the limits of your magic power: You will either gain something from this or lose a lot.] [Warning! You have created a 4th Tower Shield magic manifestation, any further and your material magic organ will be at the risk of rupturing apart.] Now, Sebastian''s throbbing brain already spiked, he felt like his head was on fire but he was still sane enough to control the 4 hovering pitch-black tower shields. After not receiving damage, the Mystery Pryer Crocodile already suspected something but it reacted late. When it raised its head from its defense to look, that was when it discovered exactly what was happening. Under Sebastian''s unstable control, the 4 tower shields quickly surrounded the Crocodile, forming what seemed like a sturdy pitch-black impenetrable prison around her, successfully cutting her off from the battle. The metal sides extended after the 4 tower shields connected, forming new pitch-black metal surfaces to cover the remaining sides of the attachment to make the prison complete. [Congratulations! You have invented your first stacked magic manifestation- Tower Prison!] [You have gained 10 Invention points.] Bam! Bam! The Mystery pryer Crocodile finally reacted and released attacks at its new prison, but it was far too sturdy for it to break through immediately, it was trapped. Seeing this, a sharky grin spread across Sebastian''s face. Ignoring his still throbbing head, he turned to look at the alpha Crocodile with a look of bloodlust on his face. He was in a race against time, killing the alpha Croc was now or never. Chapter 93 - Who Is Still Recuperating? Boom! The 2 alphas of the Draconic Lizard and Crocodile family clashed again, spreading shockwaves everywhere through the water as nearby creatures were pushed further away by the powerful force. After battling with each other for so long, they already sustained countless injuries that were enough to leave an army of Orange tier predators dead. The alpha Crocodile now had a huge and deep hole torn directly through its abdomen by its opponent''s sharp arrow-head tail. The injury was so ghastly and deep that the Crocodile''s bones could be seen but it still hovered, fighting strong. Its thick skin and scales suffered gashes of various degrees. Its opponent''s sharp claws were not for show, they dealt real damage to it. Despite all that it was currently suffering, its eyes remained glittering with battle-readiness and bloodlust as it dealt damage that was equivalent or even more to its opponent already. The Lizard Lord now looked pathetic though it was also still going strong. Compared to the damage that it dealt to the Crocodile, the damage that it received was much less precise and much rougher due to the Croc''s fighting style. Bite injuries were all over its body, spread roughly like the cuts normally in a grilled fish. One of its legs already became decapacitated, though it didn''t lose it, the crushing bite of the Crocodile directly killed every muscle in it. Like it, the Crocodile''s thick powerful tail was not just for show. After numerous hits by the powerful tail, it already suffered depressions in its body that induced internal injuries. Despite all these, both were still at a stalemate, fighting with all they had like 2 boys who were fighting for the affection of their crush. Though their strength was gradually waning as more time went by, they were still both undoubtedly the strongest fighters on the battlefield. Each of their attacks seemed to induce natural disasters. As the strongest creatures in this seamount, it was long since they found such powerful opponents to fight against so they didn''t waste this opportunity. They were so much addicted to the battle already that they lost all perception of their surroundings. All that dominated their mind was hit harder, bite harder, deal even more damage, rip off his freaking face. After another bite from the Crocodile that took a huge chunk of meat from its flesh, while retaliating, the Draconic Lizard alpha heard a voice. "Dodge!" It was startled at first, but looking at its opponent''s face it immediately deduced that the voice was only heard by it. One thing it knew was that the voice belonged to the shameless Megalodon Lord, it dodged without thinking. Whoosh! As soon as the Lizard Lord dodged, a loud sound of the water separating reverberated as a pitch-black arrow immediately moved past its previous location. For the fight against the Crocodile alpha, Sebastian already explained to the Lizard Lord. He had no plans, all he would do was spam attacks while the Draconic Lizard would stabilize things from the side. As soon as the first attack connected, it heralded the start of the frightening combo of attacks that followed. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Prison!] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] [You have created¡­] [You have created¡­] Without hesitation, as he rapidly closed the distance towards the enemy, Sebastian activated his unique skill, creating all the magic manifestations that he could without bias. None was left behind. [Mana Points: 480¡­, 420¡­, 350¡­, 230¡­] The Crocodile alpha was mad with rage. The arrow came so fast, so abrupt, and so precise that it could not react until it lost one of its precious eyes. As an intelligent beast, it knew how important its eyes were to it in a battle which made it wary and not erupt immediately like a rabid dog. Despite its self-restraint, it was still angry and prepared to teach who shot the arrow a lesson. While making its spikes stand straight to amplify its defense against any ambush by the cowardly lizard, it finally looked with its last surviving eye. What it saw made its lone eye widen in astonishment. It didn''t yell for mercy though, it only growled angrily but its growl did nothing to help it. All the magic manifestations came slamming down like a firepower bombardment from a warship. Boom! Boom! The war hammer first came down slamming at its head, then the lightning Axe cut at the same place in its head. These 2 caused its eyes to roll back immediately but more came. The Ice Spears and Fire Sabers came down with staggering force, including the Flaming Swords. When all these elements combined, all hell broke loose, and with the water visibly evaporating, a supernova explosion was formed. The explosion was so powerful that both Sebastian and the Lizard Lord were pushed far away, with both of them suffering residual damage from the explosion. Despite trying to stabilize himself in mid-air, Sebastian was not one to let go of opportunities to deal more damage as he activated his sound reflection skill, reflecting all the sound back inside. For a few seconds to a minute, the bright light lingered amid the raging explosion until it finally started subsiding. The effects of this attack were so much that it shook all the creatures on the battlefield. Stunned, they looked on in awe and fear. When everything subsided, the raging fire subsided too to reveal the Crocodile. Right now, it was better to call it a roasted Crocodile than an alpha Crocodile. The alpha Croc was now black all over, with a mix of red which was its hot heaving flesh underneath. Blood dyed its body completely, forming a gory sight that the creatures on the battlefield reacted mildly to. It could no longer move, it hovered in the water paralyzed like a stroke patient. The astonishment in this was that despite the fierce damage, the Crocodile survived with the help of its thick skin though it was on the verge of death. Wearily, it raised its head to look at Sebastian for a few seconds before turning to face the Lizard Lord. The arrogance in its face before was gone, now only tiredness and a resignation to fate were left. "Old Liz, do you think he''s still recuperating after so long?" "What?" The Lizard Lord blurted out a question but the one at the receiving end could no longer answer because it was at the end of its life. "I¡­, I wish you Good luck¡­, and your friend too". The Crocodile said its last words amidst its body breaking apart from the fiery explosion. [You have killed¡­] Sebastian didn''t have the time to pay attention to the system''s notification, this was because the whole seamount suddenly started shaking like an ancient existence was waking up from a deep slumber. He turned to face the Lizard Lord, slightly panicked now as all his Megalodon instincts were now screaming danger at him. "Who is still recuperating?" Chapter 94 - The Strongest Predator, Octumpedam- The Devouring Octopus! "Who is still recuperating?" Sebastian roared again, jolting the Lizard Lord from his daze as he turned to face him with trepidation now on his face. As the Lizard Lord looked at Sebastian while still trying hard to digest the dying words of the alpha Crocodile, the seamount kept on shaking, spreading vibrations through the water in random oscillating frequencies. "Who is still recuperating?" "It''s the¡­" The Lizard Lord snapped out of its daze but he quickly became distracted again by the sound and visual effects now around the seamount. The battling Crocodiles and Draconic lizards already stopped battling before due to the fierce battle that resulted in the death of the alpha Crocodile, now they no longer felt awe, they instead felt fear. Every creature on the seamount felt a suppressive feeling that they have not experienced before, they felt an aura that left them feeling like thousands of boulders were tied to their backs. Even Sebastian felt the suppressive feeling, only the Lizard Lord and the Mystery Pryer Crocodile who were still trapped in the Tower Prison magic manifestation responded mildly to it. Despite this, the both of them shivered like they were seeing the antagonist in their nightmare come to life which left them horrified. After gathering his nerves, a little panicked now, the Lizard Lord finally replied to Sebastian''s question. "The one recuperating is the strongest predator on this seamount, Octumpedam". [You are currently being affected by a high-grade Purple tier creature''s condensed aura: You have entered the psychologically suppressed state.] [All your attribute stat points have been suppressed by 10%, resistance depends on how high your attributes are relative to your opponent.] [Calculating resistance attributes¡­, attributes calculated.] [After calculating and comparing attributes, the suppression effect on you has been reduced to 6%.] [The aura of an opposing apex predator has been detected: Devouring Octopus!] This was the last sentence that Sebastian was coherent enough to hear from his system because the next moment the recuperating predator erupted. Crack! Crack! Sounds like those of a boulder cracking open first reverberated through the seamount, then a huge body was revealed before Sebastian with 2 glowing red eyes concentrating on his body immediately. From the sides of the huge body of mass that dragged itself out of the seamount, enormous tentacles lashed left and right like life reapers. Its body was brownish red, making it seem just like hard molten rock. Unlike the other predators in this battle, it had weapons. Its enormous tentacles were armed with menacing wraps of hot red steel. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] As Sebastian''s electroreceptors blasted out, outlining the predator to see his enemy properly, it attacked without even wasting time on any prep talk. 8 tentacles shot out of the huge Octopus, all aiming at Sebastian. He was given no time to think or even react as all 8 tentacles dug into his body with force. [You have been hit by a skill: 8-tipped Trident!] [You have received staggering damage from your opponent: You have lost 50% of your health points.] [You have been attacked by the magic weapon: Octranezion!] [You have been hit by a weapon made with an enchanted metal: You have lost an additional -122 Health points.] [You are currently suffering under the effects of the Octranezion''s passive effect: Severe Internal Bleeding.] [You are currently suffering under the effects of the Octranezion''s passive effect: Severe Pain Hit.] [For each hit, you will suffer 10¡Á more pain for 10 seconds.] [You are currently suffering under the effects of the Octranezion''s passive effect: Burning Heart.] [For 15 seconds, you will suffer fire damage with pain like your heart is burning.] [Effects of the fire damage have been reduced by 20% due to your Fire Skin adaptation.] [Warning! Your health points are currently below 10%.] [Warning! Your health points are rapidly dwindling further, and are currently below 4%.] For a moment, Sebastian disappeared and all that was left and seen of him was blood blossoming like flowers in spring. Inside this world of red formed by his own blood, he experienced agony at its peak. His brain seemed to have spiked in activity, and all the feedback that he received from it was that of pain. Right now, he couldn''t even see his system''s notifications again. All that he managed to glimpse was a warning, and he immediately knew that the situation was bad, probably very bad. His vision was blurred by his blood, but he knew that he was in danger. Trying as much as possible to ignore the biting pain all over his body, he activated a skill that he bought for situations just like this. [You have activated skill: Rejuvenation.] [Warning: You are still receiving damage from the Octranezion''s passive effects despite healing yourself.] Though he still received damage and the pain was still there, this useful skill showed its effects immediately as Sebastian felt the familiar strength returning to him with speed. He activated his electroreceptors again, then he saw clearly. At some point in time, the enormous Octopus retrieved its tentacles from his body and it was in the process of attacking again with a lone tentacle to finish the shark once and for all. Seeing the lone tentacle aiming at him this time, Sebastian laughed inwardly as he knew that he was dead if it hit. Dodging would not solve it; the tentacle was too fast and it was now too close. Boom! With a strange defense skill activated, the Lizard Lord bravely clashed with the powerful tentacles to keep the shark alive. His defense only held for a few seconds before it was breached. The tentacle penetrated his body, spreading blood everywhere but the damage was minimized to the lowest possible rate. He didn''t do this because he was allies with the shark, he did this because the shark was related to his old hunting partner- the motherf*cker Lord and because all hands were now needed on deck. "Attack!" The Lizard Lord roared at his family members. Unlike before, he no longer had that casual vibe, he now had the vibe of a war veteran Draconic Lizard who was a powerhouse at the Purple tier. He knew the threat of this Octopus, so he reacted without hesitation. With it here, no one on this battlefield could escape, not even the Crocodiles so they all had to battle it out. This was because of a skill that the Octopus had, Enlarge! As he reacted, the Mystery Pryer Crocodile also reacted as she also knew the threat posed by this Octopus. It tasked them with something to do and as they failed, they had to face the consequences. Then as one, they all looked at the enormous Octopus. Chapter 95 - Despair. From the attack on Sebastian by the enormous Octopus to the Lizard Lord substituting on his place to fend off the tentacle attack of the Octopus, to all of them preparing for battle, they all took only about 10 seconds. Though at this short time, the Octopus was not able to do much, it was able to attack. Seeing everybody gang up on it, it no longer held back, it revealed everything. Sebastian was not able to count them all immediately, but he was sure that over 30 tentacles were released as they lashed out wildly in the water like whips. Once again, despite attacking everybody at the same time this time, Sebastian was given special attention as 5 tentacles were sent towards him. Already experiencing the power and speed of the tentacles, Sebastian who was not willing to experience it again reacted before it touched him. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Heavy Armor!] Immediately after the magic manifestation appeared, it wrapped around his huge body, fitting in like it was custom-made by an extremely precise machine. Boom! The tentacles finally hit with force, spreading a large sound through the surrounding. The Heavy Armor suffered a visible depression, but it held sturdily like the ancient walls of China. He was able to tide through the first attack safely, but the same could not be said about the other sea creatures on the battlefield that were attacked. The Lizard Lord and the Mystery Pryer Shark were able to defend themselves, but every other creature on the battlefield suffered. Bam! Bam! The Crocodiles that were famed for their thick skin exploded like balloons after one hit from the tentacles, the weapon that wrapped around the tentacles made sure that those that survived didn''t survive for long. Every creature that suffered a direct hit died, exploding into a rain of blood. Before the enormous Octopus could attack again, the Lizard Lord and the Mystery Pryer Crocodile did. Both of them attacked in ways that they were familiar with, which was with fire. The huge Draconic Lizard rapidly swam closer before opening its mouth wide, unleashing a wide breath of raging fire towards the Octopus. The Mystery Pryer Crocodile while also breathing fire, her magic power wrath mischief. The rocks in the seamount stirred on her orders, trying to tie the Octopus and restrict its tentacle movements. Combining her water and wind magic, she formed a sharp combination like knives that tried cutting through the wildly lashing tentacles but the weapon around it protected it perfectly. With the 2 strongest powerhouses in the battle being restricted so perfectly, all the others were cannon-fodder who could only die. No creature on the battlefield dared to get close to their opponent, they all tried attacking with their fire magic from range but the effects were limited. Combining so much fire made the attack frightening, but nothing could breach the magic shield erected by the Octopus. It was like it was indomitable, nothing could stop its slaughter. Every second, a Mammoth Crocodile and a Draconic Lizard died with their leaders being unable to take revenge for them. For Sebastian, he was powerful but his most important ?sset, his mana points were already almost depleted. Using it to maintain his Heavy Armor magic manifestation was already a stretch, he didn''t dare try to create another magic manifestation. His health was a little over 500 points now after using his rejuvenation skill, but he didn''t feel safe at all as every second his MP decreased more. Seeing this, he knew that waiting for a miracle would not work this time. Instead of waiting hopelessly, he instead decided to direct his brain to do more analyzing work. As he analyzed, he noticed despite the intensity of the battle, the enormous Octopus never left its position to enable its attack to reach even further. It was like it was restricted to that place alone which was weird. "B-big bro, I''m dying". Verni called out softly. The Great White Shark was currently bleeding severely, having suffered a tentacle attack that tore through his body completely. The passive effects of the Octopus''s weapons were slowly killing him. Only his strong vitality as a Great White Shark and his self-preservation skills were the main reasons that were b?r?ly keeping it alive. Seeing this sight, Sebastian felt a ripping sound going through his heart, he felt like tearing his hair apart if he had one. He didn''t feel scared yet since his HP was still slightly abundant, but since evolving to become a Megalodon, this was the first time that he felt so helpless in a battle. He felt an urge to create another Heavy Armor magic manifestation and cover Verni with it to protect him, but he didn''t have that luxury. [Warning! Your MP is now lower than 10%.] "Noooo!" Sebastian felt despair grip his heart. Right now, he started regretting his decision to attack the Crocodile kingdom. As he regretted, only one sentence reverberated in his mind, ''there''s always a price to any decision taken''. A distance away, the Lizard Lord fought with rage now clouding his features. Despite all the effort that he put in, the Octopus''s shield still held while his family members died like chickens in Christmas. He felt the temptation countless times to rush closer and deal real damage, but he knew that doing that was equivalent to committing suicide. He had no doubts that if the Octopus really caught him, death was his only fate. Right now, only one thing dominated his mind. "Octumpedam recovered even further than the last time". A few meters away, the Mystery Pryer Crocodile experienced the same. Pushed by despair, from attacking, she switched to defending with her omnipresent magic to help more Crocodiles survive the onslaught. She already gave up winning, now all she focused on was delaying the inevitable. Sebastian observed the battle one more time and discovered that help was really coming from nowhere. "I thought I was a protagonist; I can''t die like this. System, do something". [There''s nothing that can be done, host has full control of his destiny.] Seeing this, Sebastian felt even more horrified and scared. Perhaps, due to his strength, he already gradually forgot that he was once a human but it was at this moment that he was brought back to reality. He may be a powerful Megalodon now, but at the core of his heart, he was still a human. He had emotions, he knew fear, he knew despair. Boom! [Warning! Your MP has been depleted.] Chapter 96 - Im The Crazy Dissector! "No, system please help, I don''t want to die". [Sebastian!] "Please, help, I don''t want to die. Please, you promised that I''ll become the Ocean Master, I still haven''t dissected even 1% of creatures in Oceania yet". [SEBASTIAN!] For the first time since Sebastian got the system, it yelled at him which made him stiffen as his thoughts were jolted awake. [Sebastian! You were chosen for reincarnation for a reason, the system decided on you despite countless others having died the same day as you did.] [The system saw potential in you that is why you were reincarnated.] [And remember, your soul is a human, you are an anatomist, you are a genius who succeeded in creating a variant between a Great White and a Whale Shark against all odds.] [Use that brain of yours, use that genius brain of yours that enabled you to constantly break the convention, giving yourself the crazy dissector nickname.] [Always remember this, no matter how powerful you become in the future, your brain will always be your greatest strength and it is the main reason why you became a target for reincarnation.] [As you said, you haven''t even dissected 1% of creatures in Oceania yet, who is that Octopus to stop you? Pick yourself up Crazy dissector, don''t let your nickname down.] [Remember, you''re the Crazy Dissector!] For some reason, the words said by the system stabbed so deep inside him that Sebastian felt like a fire seed was sprouted in his heart. Right now, this fire seed was analyzing the words, breaking them down to bits and pieces, spreading them, and harnessing the wisdom in them. Boom! Another tentacle dug into his body, tearing another huge hole through his abdomen. The pain was striking as usual but he didn''t yell in pain this time, he reacted in the most inconceivable manner possible. "F*ck you, Octum- whatever you are called! F*ck you!" "I''m Sebastian, I''m an anatomist, the craziest anatomist ever! I''m¡­" Boom! Sebastian ground his teeth, ignoring the pain that was stabbing at his brain as he roared. "I''m the Crazy Dissector!" "I''m the Crazy Dissector!" As Sebastian yelled this a second time, his brain suddenly cleared up. He no longer felt like he was on a battlefield, he now felt like he was back in his lab. His dissecting scissors were now his skills, this battlefield was his lab, and the other creatures on the battlefield were his ?ssistants. It was time to dissect this stubborn octopus, and as the lead anatomist, he needed to lead the charge. As he thought, he remembered an active skill that he got from one of his adaptations- the Blood Vampire skill. This skill could directly take 70% of an opponent''s health points no matter how big the health points are, it didn''t discriminate between a White tier powerhouse and a Purple tier powerhouse, they were all the same before it. "Clear the way before me!" He suddenly roared, spreading the sound with his sound control skill so that both the Lizard Lord and the Mystery Pryer Crocodile understood it. Because of the weapon wrapping the tentacles, he could not bite them to apply the skill but he could for the main body of the Octopus. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] Neither the Lizard Lord nor the Mystery Pryer Crocodile understood the plan of the shark, but they still heard and did according to what he said. Seeing Sebastian rapidly accelerate downward, the both of them stacked their skills together, trying every means to prevent the Octopus''s tentacles from attacking the shark during this time before it accomplished its goal. The Octopus didn''t even try to prevent the shark from swimming towards its main body, it welcomed the shark with opened tentacles. Sebastian moved with such speed that he became a blur. In less than a second, he arrived before the Octopus''s shield and collided with it. The force of inertia of suddenly being stopped by the shield made his body feel mangled up, despite this he held on. The shield stopped him, but the frightening momentum that he already gathered reared its head. Boom! The tentacles finally attacked him again, but he did not stop. The momentum force pushed him through, making the shield bend like it was elastic. And by this bending, he was slowly lowered towards the Octopus''s body. Seeing this, the next moment, the Octopus made a decision. A small part of its shield opened up, allowing Sebastian in as it prepared to attack the troublesome shark properly. Attacks landed with force and wreaked Sebastian''s body but he held on just to get close enough to his target''s skin. [Warning! Your HP is now below 10%.] It was at this moment that he came into contact with the Octopus''s body, but he wasn''t allowed to open his mouth for a bite due to the tentacles tightly wrapping around his body. His brain rapidly swirled, then instead of biting, he simply opened his mouth, prayed to his God for luck, and grazed the Octopus''s skin with his teeth. Blood flowed as his sharp teeth cut across, but that was all to the other creatures. Not to Sebastian though, he was sweating bullets as he waited for his system''s notification to tell him the outcome of his gamble. [You have activated Vampire Teeth Adaptation''s active skill: Blood Vampire.] [You have successfully activated the Blood Vampire state.] The next moment, what happened made the Octopus react in disbelief. A strange blood power ravaged through its body before triggering. There was no loud sound to indicate a powerful attack, it was a frightening silent internal breakdown. [You have dealt staggering damage to your opponent: You have wiped 70% of your opponent''s HP.] Yeeeeeeeeek!!! The Octopus let out a loud strange sound in pain as its body shuddered like it was in agony. Its brain became unstable, bringing chaos which disrupted its tentacle attack and its defense shield. "Attack!" They didn''t need the Lizard Lord''s yell first, seeing this, every survivor on the battlefield drained themselves and unleashed their strongest attacks. Having prepared a contingency plan against this, Sebastian forced his now weak body to swim forward to hide behind the Octopus''s enormous body. The Octopus suffered this round of attacks, leaving its body filled with holes, and blood injuries but it was not dead yet, it wasn''t even weak yet as its red glowing eyes angrily glared at the enemies. It didn''t have a skill like the electroreceptors, so it didn''t know where the troublesome shark escaped to but this didn''t prevent it from wreaking havoc. Octumpedam''s retaliation was powerful and deadly. The tentacles lashed out with even more force this time, slamming Draconic Lizards and Crocodiles to death with each blow as the enormous Octopus struggled like it was trying to break free from invisible restraints. Amid this slaughter, Verni still held on to that remaining sliver of life, looking for its big bro with panic-filled but hopeful eyes. At this moment, 5 newcomers entered the battlefield and the first creature that they laid their sight on was the Octopus, then the great White Shark. "Verni!" The leading newcomer called. Chapter 97 - [Bonus chapter]Reinforcements- Old Mak! When Verni heard the voice calling out to him, he didn''t even need to look as he felt a wave of relief surge into his heart. He felt like crying but he could not, he recognized this voice, it was a voice belonging to his family member. "Tungsten!" He called back wearily. At this moment, amid the raging battle, despite being at the very forefront of the battle only behind Sebastian, the Lizard Lord and the Mystery Pryer Crocodile noticed the 5 newcomers immediately after they appeared. These 5 newcomers were sharks, precisely Great White Sharks. They looked different because of the varying adaptations that they had on their body, but their essence as Great Whites could not still be overshadowed. At their very front stood the powerful leading Great White who Verni called back at after recognizing his voice, Tungsten. This shark was different from the others, it towered at a size of 15 meters just like Sebastian. At its forehead, it had a sharp menacing horn-like adaptation that left it emitting demon vibes. It had spikes at the sides of its body just like Sebastian. All these were minor features, the most glaring feature about it was its glowing pure white eyes like those of a blind anime old monster. This was the second strongest Great White Shark in the shark family being led by the powerful Old Mak. And alongside Verni, they were the only official students of their leader. Though he was not at the purple tier yet, he was a powerful powerhouse who was at the pinnacle of the Orange tier at level 20. It was because he hasn''t found the perfect moment yet, that was why he was still at the Orange tier. A few days ago, his fellow student who was his master''s favorite, Verni went out with another group of family members for his curiosity expeditions. After becoming of age, Old Mak said every shark has the freedom to live his or her own life but they must always remember to put the family first, so such curiosity expeditions were not prohibited. Unfortunately, Verni and his group encountered a terrifying enemy. Teeth killed 3 Great Whites on the spot with all the others escaping. Not willing to give up the pursuit, Teeth decided to go after Verni. Without wasting time, Old Mak organized a team and ?ssigned his other student, Tungsten to be the leader. And here they were after days of tracking. At this moment, Tungsten''s pure white eyes quickly turned sharp like daggers as he focused on the bleeding shark. He was not alone on this, seeing their kin in such a bloody and half-death state, the 4 other Great Whites behind him revealed looks of bloodlust and anger. Of course, Tungsten wanted to charge into the battlefield immediately and teach the offender a lesson but he recognized who the enemy was. He already heard of the terrifying Octumpedam from his master. He felt shocked that this terrifying Octopus was injured by other sea creatures, but he didn''t want to know how it happened. It didn''t take him long before he came to a decision. "You are all to cooperate with me, our mission is to rescue Verni and not to engage in the battle. Activate your magic shields and follow me". As a powerful shark, his intelligence was also up to par, even more than Verni''s. As soon as they heard his order, the Great White Sharks became obedient like primary school kids as they looked at Tungsten attentively in anticipation of the next orders from him. "Now!" Tungsten activated his magic shield, prompting a white magic shield to appear at his front as he charged into the raging battlefield towards the dying Great White Shark. The other sharks rapidly followed behind him. Bam! Bam! They attacked but they had no intention to kill, using skills was just to clear up a path through the suffering sea creatures to get to their target at the fastest possible speed. Unlike the others who were already exhausted from battle, they were still as fresh and vibrant as a new Buggati Bolide that just came out of the factory. They were not powerful enough to confront the Octopus, but that was not their plan from the onset. They simply burst in with speed and started pushing every obstacle away with their speed. At the front of the formation, Tungsten rushed forward, bombarding every obstacle away with his frightening brute power. It only took them about a minute before they got to Verni''s position but as soon as they got there, the terrifying predator noticed them. While thrashing wildly in anger, killing the puny prey before him, Octumpedam was still looking for the shark who injured him. He didn''t know how he was doing it, but this shark was so well hidden that he still couldn''t find it. Pushed by his growing frustration and anger, on seeing the new sharks, he immediately decided to vent on them. It instantly started directing the same special attention that he gave to Sebastian at them. 8 of its tentacles abandoned the other prey, then they all shot towards the 5 sharks who were trying to save their comrade. Boom! 3 of the sharks suffered severe damage immediately, and at the last moment, Tungsten jumped in to take the damage, or else Verni would have died from the attack. He didn''t know why the Octopus was suddenly triggered, but he knew that the situation had already gone way too wrong. He roared an order at his companions after making another decision. "Use the device!" Without asking questions, 2 of the injured sharks immediately retreated as a device that looked like an old typewriter with a large circle at its middle suddenly appeared before the 2 sharks. The other 2 sharks, including Tungsten, stood their ground not only to protect Verni but now to protect the 2 sharks also. While taking refuge behind their companions, the 2 sharks went to work. Bam! Bam! The tentacles lashed out wildly and dangerously, giving the 3 sharks including Tungsten severe injuries in seconds but they still held their ground, holding to that sliver of hope which was the device. Too many Lizards and Crocodiles already died to the frightening predator, the battle was now unsalvageable. And even though the Lizard Lord and the Mystery Pryer Crocodile finally started dealing damage to Octumpedam''s main body after Sebastian''s attack, they still suffered more and grew tired faster. They already lost hopes of winning, all they wanted to do now was hit and give the Octopus as much pain as possible before they died. As the battle raged on, Tungsten and his group were already beaten to the same state that Verni was, bringing their combat power to the b?r?st minimum. "Are you not done?" Tungsten growled. "..." The sharks didn''t reply for a few seconds as they continued their operation but they soon stopped. "Done!" Immediately after the word ''done'' reverberated, the surrounding water space contracted. Before the astonished eyes of the other predators on the battlefield, a huge teleportation portal was opened. Unlike the small-range teleportation skill that was used against Sebastian some time ago when he visited the city of eels, what this device erected was a long-range teleportation portal. Bzzz! The next moment, the full body of the enormous Great White Shark was pushed through to the other side of the portal. It emerged intimidatingly. This was a Great White Shark that towered at a size of over 20 meters, dwarfing both the dead alpha Crocodile and the Lizard Lord. Its enormous body looked plain, but all its adaptations were hidden inside its body. Its eyes glowed a deep red, and its teeth looked as sharp as swords that were just created from a forge. Sweeping the battlefield with its eyes, it immediately understood the situation as its eyes were left trained on the thrashing Octopus. From afar, seeing this enormous Shark, the Lizard Lord felt memories surge back to him as he visibly shuddered. "Old Mak!" Chapter 98 - Mana Saturation! Seeing the new purple tier powerhouse that suddenly emerged into the battlefield, Octumpedam was startled and even more enraged. Without hesitation, a portion of his tentacles lashed at the Great White Shark. Old Mak instantly detected the 2 other purple tier powerhouses on the battlefield after arriving. As a purple tier Great White, his electroreceptors were far more formidable than Sebastian''s. He didn''t need to communicate with the 2 purple tier powerhouses, they understood their current situation and knew exactly what to do. For him, he also knew what to do and he already started doing it. Old Mak''s glowing deep red eyes suddenly recessed while flickering as it turned a silvery blue color the next moment. At the same time that his eyes turned, his magic power descended. Bzzz! Silvery blue streaks of thunder suddenly descended, and with lightning power accompanying them, they coiled around the enormous Great White Shark like his obedient students. Amid this thunderstorm surrounding his body, Old Mak first formed a magic shield with his basic magic power to safeguard his family members, then he finally smashed his way forward towards the Octopus''s body. As soon as he moved, the Lizard Lord and the Mystery Pryer Crocodile who were now emboldened for battle again rushed after him, their destination being the main body of the Octopus. Seeing this sight, Octumpedam retrieved all his 30+ tentacles and focused them on the 3 powerhouses especially Old Mak, then the battle began. Boom! Boom! Thunder, lightning, and fire magic raged fiercely, impacting the Octopus''s body as both Old Mak and the Lizard Lord got close enough to the Octopus to start dealing real damage. With the focus no longer being on her, the Mystery Pryer Crocodile finally had the avenue to display her full power. She unleashed her omnipresent magic with her remaining mana with thunderous power. Dozens of them already died to this Octopus, and now that the survivors finally had the chance to counter-attack, though their powers were still suppressed by the opponent''s aura, they gave their all. Once again, Octumpedam started bleeding while receiving damage even though he also retaliated with force. The force induced by the increased intensity of the battle already started making the center of the Crocodile kingdom crack. Lava was now spilling out from the exposed rocks, these were manifestations of how fierce the battle was. There was no longer a clear winner, the victor of the battle was now up in the air and both sides were ready to strive for it with their all. ¡­ [You are currently in a location filled with high-tier berserk mana.] [Mana Source: Devouring Octopus.] [Your Mana recovery speed has increased by 20 times: You are currently recovering 20 MP each second.] [Warning! Wisps of high-grade human magic have been detected!] During the battle, he already noticed some strange facts about the Octopus. It was so strong that if it moved its main body from its static location, he had no doubts that they would have all been dead by now. Before he went to try his Blood Vampire skill on the Octopus, he remembered his rules and he formed a contingency plan which was to escape here. It was to seek temporary refuge against the Octopus, and also to crack the mystery about why the Octopus was always stuck in one place. And he was right, coming down here what he saw proved it. Under where the Octopus was stuck was a huge deep abyss-like hole. Inside it was not dark as expected, it instead glowed in a faint white and red color. Connected to the Octopus was a chain, a chain formed from a rainbow-colored magic power. This chain tightly held the Octopus, keeping it in one place. When he saw this, Sebastian already had guesses but the system''s notification clarified him. This Octopus apparently fought with a human powerhouse, and the result was it being chained here. From his rapidly recovering mana points, he guessed that not just the physical body of the Octopus was chained. He guessed that its magic power and life force were also restricted here. It seemed nonsensical, but through the knowledge that he already had about this world, he guessed that the white light in this hole was the Octopus''s dissipating life force while the red color was its dissipating magic power. Coming to all these realizations, he shuddered in fear. "Despite being suppressed in all these areas, it is still this powerful. F*ck! How powerful is this Octumpedam really?" [Ding! MP has been restored: 560/560.] [You are currently in a mana-saturated state: You are no longer suppressed by the condensed aura of your opponent, rather, your magic power and magic skills will experience a 10% increase in power in this region.] [You are currently in a mana-full state: Your mana points will not decrease no matter how many magic skills you use in this region.] As Sebastian looked at the latest system notification in a daze, another booming sound of battle reverberated, drawing him back to the present. His electroreceptors focused, allowing him to see the ongoing battle. As he looked, the system notification kept on flashing through his mind as hope started blooming in his heart again. He didn''t care how this place came about, all he knew was that it was helpful to him and through it, he could finally unleash his unique skill without restraints for the first time since he got it. For the clause that if he left this region he may leave the mana-saturated state, he didn''t give a damn because he didn''t need to leave in the first place. After using his unique skill for so long, he knew that its range could reach the main body of the Octopus conveniently without problems. When he turned back to look at the Octopus, his eyes gleamed in a fearsome manner. "Octumpedam, today, you die to the Crazy Dissector". Chapter 99 - Killing Octumpedam. Outside the hole, in the main battlefield, the battle was already at the ultimate climax as both parties were now engrossed in it and giving their all. Blood flowed, opponents died, but Octumpedam remained standing. Even Old Mak was now bleeding severely. Compared to the first time that he appeared looking plain and simple, now, his hidden adaptations already appeared, making him look like a mythical shark. Despite all these and with the help of the 2 other purple tier powerhouses, this Octopus was still proving too strong to kill. From the normal 35+ Mammoth Crocodiles that were on the battlefield, less than 8 Mammoth Crocodiles were left swimming and all of them were injured. For the Draconic Lizards, from their original 40+ lineup that they came with, those that survived and were still fighting were less than 20. All these showed the power of the frightening Octopus. If they knew that its current strength was due to it being suppressed, its opponents may have already given up and presented themselves as free food. The battle was already at that point where fast, sad, and blood-boiling music was playing in the background to highlight it. It was already at that point where the winner would be decided. ¡­ Right now, she was focused on healing her leader from a distance. Amid the raging battle and the berserk-fighting style of the enormous Great White Shark, she was the main reason why the shark leader kept on fighting. At this point, everything already started pointing that they would lose despite Old Mak''s addition but he still didn''t give up yet. After decades as a predator in Oceania, one of his greatest rules was that it was never over until it was over. In the middle of the disaster being caused by the battle, something else appeared, something from a Shark that originally disappeared for a few minutes. Boom! Before the startled eyes of the battling predators and even Octumpedam himself, 5 blueish-white Ice Spears suddenly dug through the main body of the Octopus, spreading blue blood everywhere. [Special Effect Detected: Your Ice Spears magic manifestation has successfully triggered the freezing effect.] [Freezing Damage has been triggered: Additional -10 freezing damage would be dealt every second for 10 seconds.] [You have created magic manifestation: War Hammer!] [You have created¡­] Sebastian used the magic manifestation spamming strategy again, but this time it was much more dangerous and effective. To the astonishment of every predator on the battlefield including Octumpedam, the 5 spears were not the end. As a part of the Octopus froze, other weapons emerged, digging through its body from below and dealing damage. Booming sounds reverberated as the war hammer struck the Octopus''s main body from below, dealing astronomical damage with each blow as depressions appeared on the Octopus''s body. Dozens of flaming swords cut rampantly, fire sabers slashed left and right without restraints, lightning axes hacked down with frightening force, and arrows were shot out, tearing the Octopus''s body apart. In a few seconds, the location of the Octopus''s main body blossomed with blue blood flying everywhere as the weapons continued their dark work. A scenario of carnage presented itself immediately. [You have dealt astronomical stacked damage to your opponent: You have dealt -3438 damage!] [You have dealt astronomical stacked damage¡­] [You have dealt astronomical stacked damage¡­] [Effects: All your skills will experience a 30% increase in efficacy for 40 seconds, and all your adaptations will experience a 15% increase in durability and usefulness.] Yeeeeeeeek!!! Octumpedam made the weird sound of pain again as it reverberated through the water loudly, showing how much agony it was experiencing. He retrieved his tentacles, striking underneath his body but the tentacles caught no opponent. He tried flipping his body to see the enemy, but he could not as the magic chains held him in place. Trying to add too much force would bring backlash damage to him that would leave him feeling like his brain was being torn out of his body. Unfortunately, he didn''t have a skill like electroreceptors which would have been a lifesaver to him at this moment. Seeing the sudden change of situation in the battlefield, despite not understanding or even knowing what was happening, Old Mak only hesitated slightly before shooting down a thick bolt of thunder. Even if he didn''t know who was secretly helping them, his experience as a predator told him that the enemy of your enemy was your friend so why hesitate? As soon as Old Mak attacked, every other surviving predator on the battlefield reacted as they threw out their strongest skills one last time at the Octopus. Combining all these attacks, they formed a terrifying combo that chipped thousands of HP from the Octopus every second. He tried retaliating but Sebastian''s unrelenting barrage left him helpless and frustrated. Yeek! Yeek!! Yeek!!! He kept on wailing, making the weird noise in pain and agony but no one came to his plight. His health points kept on dwindling, and in a few minutes, it decreased to that dangerously low level. At this moment, it was already a fact that Octumpedam was dying. Knowing this also, the Octopus''s brain moved as he came to a painful decision fast. Suddenly, his enormous body glowed a deep yellowish red color as his magic power spiked. The next moment, his bleeding body jerked before becoming stiff. He was dead, but that was what the other predators thought, Sebastian thought otherwise as his system didn''t give him any such notification. While he rapidly tried to analyze the skill that the Octopus used at the end, he saw something that surprised him. He saw a miniature version of the Octopus rapidly descending down the hole. Apart from the size, another difference between it and the main body was that it was blueish and illusory like a phantom soul. Seeing this, Sebastian was stunned and the Octopus soul was stunned too as it detected the Great White Shark. He somehow understood them, and the mental signals were emotions of fear and panic from the Octopus. "Panic?" Sebastian''s brain suddenly clicked, then he attacked with a skill that he originally seldom used in battles. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a random vibrational sound wave: Die!] The next moment, the sound filled the hole, spreading everywhere. Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! As the sound reverberated, the Octopus soul shivered before shrinking up. Silent wails started being let out by it but Sebastian didn''t relent as the soul started dissipating like it was being erased from the world. "Please, don''t kill me". Sebastian suddenly felt another mental signal enter his brain but he did not relent, he continued blasting out the out-of-tune sound. "Don''t kill me!" "You''ll die too if I die, that''s how the magic power in this hole works!" Hearing that, Sebastian''s willpower wavered a bit but when he remembered movies that he watched from his previous world, he hardened his heart and intensified his actions. "If you spare me, I''ll make you become a purple tier powerhouse!" "Do you know who I am? I am a red tier power¡­" The soul flickered before finally dissipating. [Congratulations! You have killed a Red tier mutated Devouring Octopus¡­] Chapter 100 - Passive Ability- Bane Of Mammoth Crocodiles! [Congratulations! You have killed a Red tier mutated Devouring Octopus- Level 54- Octumpedam: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 584 Skill points and 250 Adaptation points.] [You have killed your first Red tier creature: You have gained an additional 500 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Red tier creature while still at the Orange tier: You have gained an additional 200 Skill points and 300 Adaptation points.] [You have ?ssimilated the dissipating magic essence of a weakened Red tier Devouring Octopus: Assimilated essence is 40% of the original.] [You have acquired a condensed monster magic core.] [You have acquired 2 mutated magic organs.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up once.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up once.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up once.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up once.] [Congratulations! You have obtained your first weapon: Octranezion!] [Congratulations! You have obtained your first magic weapon: Octranezion!] [Congratulations! You have fulfilled the requirements to unlock more features of the World Domination System.] [You have unlocked system inventory!] [You have unlocked the system snooping tool!] [You have unlocked seasonal achievement reward setup! Open or inquire for more details.] [You have accomplished an insane mission achievement by killing a purple-tier creature while still being in the orange tier.] [Open or inquire for reward details.] [Open or inquire for reward details.] [Random additional reward for completing an impossible mission has been rewarded to host.] [Reward randomizing¡­, randomization complete.] [You have acquired the hidden inheritance in the Water Transmutation unique skill left by the Ocean King.] [You have acquired the Ocean King''s magic ability: Telekinesis!] [All material battle loots are automatically being stored inside the system inventory.] [System Inventory:] [Weapon: Octranezion.] [Magic Cores: 2- Purple tier, 1- Red tier.] "¡­" "R-Red tier?!" At this moment, horror was an under-expression to describe Sebastian''s current emotions as he rapidly went through the information that was before him, devouring every single detail. Because of the strength revealed by the Devouring Octopus, Sebastian already rated it to be at the top of purple tier creatures but never in his dream did he expect it to be a red tier monster. As he thought of this, his brain geared as he started making connections to this hole where he currently was and the rainbow magic chain that was attached to the body of the octopus. From what the system just revealed, the octopus was injured before now. And combining this with the earlier notification of the system, everything became as clear as bright daylight to him. Apparently, this Devouring octopus was engaged in a fierce battle with a human powerhouse long ago and it ended up injured. For years now, it was restricted here by a magic skill of the human and mostly because it was weakened. During this time, it lay low, silently recuperating. As he thought of this, he remembered how the Lizard Lord phrased his words when he explained to him about his ultimate battle alongside his hunting partner. According to the lizard, he defeated the strongest monster in the seamount with the motherf*cker Lord which necessarily didn''t mean that they killed it. It was the same for him, if he didn''t go under the octopus to seek refuge, he would have never found out about the hole that was saturated with mana nor would he have found the escaping soul. For the soul of the octopus that tried to escape, he could only wave it off as a skill used by Octumpedam lest it gave him a headache. As he made all these connections, he felt excited and like a veil was finally lifted from his eyes. Discovering things was always something that brought him joy as an anatomist, and experiencing it here now brought him endless joy. For the hidden inheritance reward that he got for completing something impossible mission, he attributed it to the 1st Sea King as this was the Sea King whom the system revealed to him to have wielded the unique skill before. He was a little surprised by the title given to him. Due to the nature of the water transmutation unique skill, he originally thought that the Sea King''s title would have been the Imagination King, Ocean King was out of his expectations. All he felt was that for that Sea King to give himself such a title, he must have been freakishly arrogant and shameless. Putting all these behind him, he came back to the system notifications. The first thing that his attention went to was the unseen system notification, he narrowed down on it without hesitation. [You have killed a Purple tier mutated Mammoth Crocodile- Level 29: You have gained experience.] [You have gained 71 Skill points and 50 Adaptation points.] [Your actions have caused the breakdown of a ruling animal kingdom- Crocodile Species.] [You have gained reputation: Crocodile Wrestler!] [You have acquired a passive ability: Bane of Mammoth Crocodiles!] [Remark: You are slowly on your way to becoming the Ocean Master. Your legendary story has started from this world of fire.] Seeing this, Sebastian wanted to stay reserved but he could not help it as a sharky grin spread across his face. He rephrased the system''s words. "Slowly, I''m on my way to becoming the greatest dissector in Oceania". After reveling in the joy of his accomplishment for about a minute, his attention went to the other notifications from his system. At a glance, he knew that he would not be able to go through everything now. Though he felt tempted, he forced himself because through his electroreceptors, he could see the survivors of the battle above the octopus''s body still looking at it warily. Right now, they needed that word to know that they were victorious. Chapter 101 - We Won! Dozens of minutes after the battle started from the first Draconic Lizard and Mammoth Crocodile clash to the death of the alpha Croc, then Octumpedam''s appearance, then Old Mak, it finally came to a stop. Though it came to a stop, the crater where the Mammoth Crocodiles took as their home was now already damaged beyond recognition. Depressions and holes filled everywhere, with hot lava flowing out from some holes as the temperature in the surrounding already increased exponentially. The trees originally surrounding the crater were now history. At this moment, the victors of the battle hovered in the water, looking down at the enormous Octopus that was on the verge of killing them all a few seconds ago. They still felt a lingering sense of fear just thinking about it. Old Mak, the Mystery Pryer Crocodile, and the Lizard Lord hovered the closest to the enormous body of the octopus, granting them the privilege of seeing everything from close range. Through their various senses and adaptations, they already confirmed that the octopus was dead but they still couldn''t relax as their minds kept on flashing to the powerful burst that killed the octopus from below. Old Mak may not know, but both the Crocodile and the Lizard Lord knew as they already saw such weirdly powerful skills being used by the shameless Megalodon Lord, which only left them feeling much more awed. "Was he hiding his strength? Is he that powerful? Sigh, this guy is really related to the motherf*cker Lord". The Draconic Lizard concluded with a weary but excited sigh amid feelings of respect and fear for the shark. Unlike the other 2, the Mystery Pryer Crocodile had another expression on her face, an expression of puzzlement. Due to her thorough grasp of this regions'' magic power flow, she felt a strange magical fluctuation just after the octopus died. This magical fluctuation dissipated a few seconds after, but she knew that something happened though she could not pinpoint it. Left with no clues to follow, she could only remain alert. After battling non-stop for so many minutes, every predator on the battlefield was severely injured and tired. Right now, they were already on that verge of fainting but they still waited like they were expecting something. As all the sea creatures watched, the Mystery Pryer Crocodile suddenly made a move having recovered a few of her mana points. Her magic power flared wildly as the earth on the seamount rose to form a large shield. As she moved, the only 5 surviving ?du?t Crocodiles moved with her as they formed a sturdy defense together. After doing this, the Mystery Pryer Crocodile used her magic power to move and separate the earth beneath the seamount. As this happened, the earth stirred before revealing what was under. Hidden under the huge crater were Crocodile babies numbering about a dozen. It was at this moment that the realization that they were enemies came back to the Draconic Lizards. They only allied with the Crocodiles because of the much stronger enemy, but now everything was back to normal. Without hesitation, they turned to hunt the remaining Crocodiles with their last ounce of energy to end the war but a voice stopped them. "Stop!" Hearing this voice felt strange, it was like it contained an Emperor''s authority behind it as every Draconic Lizard listened and stopped. Forming a wind propeller with her remaining mana points, she activated a magic skill and rapidly escaped with her surviving family from the battlefield. She didn''t care much about the death of her mate, the alpha Crocodile. Only the strong could get revenge, and the powerful Great White Shark was clearly superior so why sacrifice herself for such a useless cause? Instead of doing that, she would strive to preserve the life of her remaining family members especially the young ones. From today, that was her life goal. It did not take her long before she disappeared with her family. As soon as the Crocodiles left, every head on the battlefield turned to where the voice sounded from, where Sebastian came from. After thinking about it, Sebastian decided that there was no need to hide the hole that trapped the Octopus so he directly came out from underneath the beast. Seeing him, every predator on the battlefield froze as silence reigned. Perhaps, it was because he has not experienced this before so he felt weird. For the first time in both his lives, Sebastian felt other living personalities having that sense of respect towards him. "Is this the reputation that the system notified me about?" He felt proud of himself, he felt fulfilled, he felt like he finally did something worth bragging about to others apart from dissecting sea creatures. At least no one was calling him a psycho now, only respect for him was shown. For the reason why he let the remaining Crocodiles escape. It may seem foolish but he still had principles. As the system said, he may be a Megalodon now but innately, his soul was human. During his stay here, he''s not noticed it before but after this battle he noticed. Slowly, his perception of what was normal was being eroded by his inclinations and instincts as an Ocean predator. Though he loved dissecting sea creatures, he also loved preserving their life to the best of his ability, he could have never imagined himself planning the annihilation of a Crocodile family so nonchalantly before. Unknowing to him, he now saw killing as normal. The euphoria he felt when dipping his sharp teeth into flesh already eroded most of his morals as a human though they were already warped, to begin with. As an anatomist referred to as the crazy dissector by his colleagues, it may seem strange but he respected life. Even if as a Megalodon he couldn''t stop himself from craving flesh, he decided to restrict himself from rampantly killing young ocean creatures. At least, he would use this to keep his humanity in check. After recovering from his mental reevaluations, he turned his head to look at the survivors of the battle. Seeing the severely injured Lizard Lord, he felt like laughing at him but in the end, he restricted himself. Personally, he would speak with them later but right now he needed to do something important. He thought of giving a speech but quickly decided that it was way too cringy, so he went for the simple style. [You have activated magic skill: Sound Control.] "We won!" He said only one word but the reaction that he got almost left him spooked. The Draconic Lizards didn''t yell ''we won'' back at him, they didn''t give any pretentious reactions, they simply roared their emotions out. Roar! Roar! Seeing and hearing this, Sebastian gave a sharky smile in reply and translated it himself. "We won!" Chapter 102 - [Bonus chapter]A Feast. The survivors of the war that almost destroyed the seamount savored the euphoria of victory for a few minutes before they finally calmed down. They didn''t have the strength for a long fancy celebration, and besides, that was not their style. Not only that, after the battle, they were exhausted both physically and mentally. To remedy that, they needed to feast and eat to their satisfaction before getting the much-needed rest to recover. From the original 40+ Draconic Lizards that debuted in the battle, only 11 were left but these guys were far more different than how they were before. It was like they were caterpillars before starting the battle, but now they had all the juices that they needed to evolve to become full bu??erflies. The Skill and Adaptation points that they got from this battle alone would ensure that they grew far more powerful after spending it instinctively. Unlike Sebastian who had a system and could do it manually, for them, they could only rely on their instincts to navigate through their adaptation options. This was something that Sebastian already discovered after careful observation, all the way from his time with the Leroy lair to here. For the Great White Sharks in the scene, the Draconic Lizards didn''t disturb them as they all felt that they were with Sebastian. And they were the luckiest in the whole battle, having not lost a single family member. With the powerful Old Mak and the healing Great White around, Verni and all the sharks survived. Though Old Mak felt really curious about this new Great White Shark that his favorite student found, he also knew that eating right now was the priority as he was severely injured like the rest though they already started healing. The Lizard Lord took the lead, and he went to the largest meat on the battlefield directly. He had a lot of things to say to the shark but talking should be kept aside for now because this was the time to eat. Eating the meat of the enormous Octopus would not give any skill or adaptation points, but the magic adaptations already done on the body when it was alive were still beneficial after being eaten. The urge was only stronger when Sebastian knew that this octopus was a Red tier monster. Right now, it was time to dig in. Unlike the other creatures who participated in the battle, though he felt better after staying in the mana-saturated region, his stamina was still exhausted. He felt like a starving fragile old man who really needed to dig in immediately to replenish the exhausted reserves of his body. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Crunch! Sebastian brought down his teeth and bit on the octopus, taking a large chunk of flesh with him from its soft body as he savored the taste with closed eyes. "Gosh, this guy is super delicious!" "Big bro, eating?" Without even looking, Sebastian already knew who was asking as he blasted out with his electroreceptors to find the excited Great White Shark thrashing towards him with the excitement of a little kid who just found pizza. "Yeah, dig in". Sebastian encouraged with a big sharky grin. "I bet you don''t want to miss the abundant calories and magic essence saturating this meat". With encouragement from his big bro done and knowing that his Master would always agree to him eating food, Verni excitedly bit down on the soft tantalizing flesh left by the octopus. Crunch! From all sides, every party on the battlefield started feeding on the enormous octopus as the meat left by it became their dessert for the day to fill their exhausted reserves. The only problem for some parties was that some essential parts of the monster meat were gone. The disappearance of the octopus''s weapon could be waived away, but definitely not this. "Where''s the magic core?" The Lizard Lord voiced out his complaint. "Magic core?" Most creatures that were participants in the feast turned to look at this alpha Lizard with confused expressions on their faces. Clearly, they didn''t know about this term yet. "Magic core?" Sebastian also asked in a confused manner on feeling the Lizard''s gaze on him to show his innocence before he was suspected further. On hearing what he said, both Old Mak and Tungsten stiffened, even the Lizard Lord as they all gave him a suspicious scrutinizing look. In the end, there was nothing that they could do so they simply forgot it and attributed it with the specialness of Octumpedam. A few minutes later as they ate, they finally saw the hole under the enormous Octopus''s body. Seeing no predator, the other Draconic Lizards and sharks became relaxed but their leaders didn''t feel the same way. Seeing the serious predatory look on the 2 alphas faces, Sebastian knew that this was his time to act and explain everything and that''s what he did. "This was where I discovered after hiding under the Octopus". Feeling the 2 alpha''s gaze rest on him, he did not hesitate to explain everything that he encountered, including how he killed the octopus''s soul, but of course, he excluded some confidential details. Details like how he got the magic core, and other loot, also any detail that may point to the existence of his system was omitted. He still didn''t know how intelligent these 2 alphas were though he already concluded that they had human intelligence. What he didn''t know was if their intelligence was at the smarter side or dumber side. A few seconds later, Old Mak commented. "Atlantians!" As he commented, he sighed inwardly. Just from the set-up before him, he was pretty sure that the suppression was the only reason why they could defeat Octumpedam. As for entering the hole, neither he nor the Lizard Lord was ready to die yet. Curiosity kills the cat, though they didn''t know this sentence from the wise, they knew the concept. Despite the enormous meat left by the Devouring Octopus, after 30 minutes, it was erased from the face of Oceania by the hungry sharks and lizards. Now, it was time to go for Old Mak. The device used by Tungsten and the other sharks to summon him had a duration, and now the time was up. "Sebastian, right? I hope to meet you soon to have a nice chat". "Yeah¡­, yes, leader". Sebastian replied while spreading his teeth wide to express friendliness. After getting his confirmation, Old Mak nodded slightly as a suction force from the huge teleportation portal suddenly started pulling him and the healer shark towards it. They didn''t resist it, they went with the flow and soon disappeared with the portal then everything went back to normal again. [Congratulations! You have eaten the meat of a predator high in the food chain: Mammoth Crocodile- Level 29.. Basic Profile information of the Mammoth Crocodile has been unlocked.] Chapter 103 - Mystery Pryer Predators. With Sebastian starting it, the Draconic Lizards and the remaining Sharks in the battlefield feasted on the meat of the Mammoth Crocodiles that they conquered in the battle. Surprisingly, the Lizard Lord let his surviving family members to feast on the Draconic Lizards that perished in the battle, showing to Sebastian again how barbaric this world was. The Lizard''s thought process was that no waste was encouraged. Instead of letting the meat waste, the survivors would rather feast on them so that even at death, those Draconic Lizards were still contributing to the growth of the family. It was a barbaric but effective method for continued growth. A few dozen minutes later, all the food left on the battlefield was devoured completely. The Lizard Lord looked at Sebastian one last time before departing to their territory in the seamount. As for the Great White Sharks, they didn''t disturb him either. Assimilating magic essence may recover their injuries and restore their mana points, but stamina could only be restored by resting. The Sharks all found any convenient place of their choice, then they finally laid down to rest. As for Sebastian, before resting, he had some things to do. [Congratulations! You have eaten the meat of a predator high in the food chain: Devouring Octopus- Level 54. Basic Profile information of the Devouring Octopus has been unlocked.] [Do you want to view the information now?] "Yes". [Octopuses are soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusks of the order Octopoda. The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids.] [Devouring Octopuses are a mutated variant of the normal Octopus. Like other cephalopods, they are bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beaked mouth at the center of the eight limbs.] [Their soft body can radically alter its shape, enabling them to squeeze through small gaps and have various means of attacking prey.] [At full strength, they gain the devour ability that enables them to squeeze prey with their tentacles before swallowing no matter how big the prey is.] [In Oceania, they are more notorious for their powerful tentacles and intelligence than their fire magic.] Seeing this, Sebastian could not help but think back towards the proceedings of the battle. He felt grateful that the Octopus didn''t have poison abilities. Pairing poison with its already outrageous power, he was not sure if the victors of the battle would have been the same. "Red tier monsters are terrifying". He concluded before going towards the next basic profile information in his tab. [Congratulations! You have eaten the meat of a predator high in the food chain: Mammoth Crocodile- Level 29. Basic Profile information of the Mammoth Crocodile has been unlocked.] [In Oceania, Crocodiles are full aquatic reptiles who adapted to their environment over time. Crocodiles have more webbing on the toes of the hind feet for more specialized navigation through water.] [Mammoth Crocodiles are a variant that evolved from the union of a Crocodile and a creature with the myth Mammoth bloodline.] [They are famed for their powerful tail, endurance, and crushing bite power. Their frightening biting force is the bane of any monster with a large mass.] [They are Kings when it comes to bite power.] Sebastian agreed with every point that was given of Mammoth Crocodiles except the endurance point. Well, he had a point as he didn''t see the alpha Croc revealing any abnormal endurance in the battle. Perhaps, this was because his magic manifestation spamming killed it off too swiftly but he still didn''t see this as one of their strong points. He quickly put this out of his mind in preparations to focus on other things, this was because he had a lot of things in his mind. He needed to draw a scale of preference to organize everything properly. "System, please explain Mystery Pryer Predators to me. I want to know things about them, especially the so-called omniscient magic". [Affirmative!] [Mystery Pryer predators are those who choose the route of prying into the magical secrets of Oceania. Doing this successfully brings a lot of benefits, but it also attracts retribution from the nature laws of Oceania.] [Omnipresent Magic is comprehended after Mystery Pryer predators discover a mystery of the specific Sea they are in. With this, they unlock a certain portion of the magic mysteries, thereby comprehending a set of magic domains corresponding to it.] [With omnipresent magic, Mystery Pryers can use every magic domain ability of the said mystery, granting them a significant advantage in battles.] [When they leave for another Sea, Mystery Pryers need to unlock the specific magic mysteries there to get access to the magic domains corresponding to them.] [Until they unlock omnipresent magic, Mystery Pryers are one of the weakest evolved creatures in Oceania.] [They can only really access unrestrained omnipresent magic when they comprehend one of the magic mysteries corresponding to Oceania as a whole. But in all the history of Oceania, no Mystery Pryer has ever achieved this feat.] [Another con is the retribution punishment from the laws of Oceania. The worse recorded can be direct death after being struck.] [System Remark: Host is advised not to take on the Mystery Pryer evolution route, it is a path wrought with danger.] Seeing this, Sebastian''s eyes glowed with the sparkling light of having absolved new knowledge as curious thoughts and deductions were rapidly exchanged in his mind. He always loved taking in new knowledge and at this moment, this was the right catalyst to enable him to get the perfect rest that he wanted. He still had other queries that he wanted to be answered, but those could be shelved aside for now. He fell asleep feeling satisfied.. "I learned new things today". Chapter 104 - System Knowledge. Sebastian slept for hours while his mischievous spinal cord did things with his body until he finally woke up. On waking up, he felt that energetic vibrancy of having recovered which spread a sharky smile across his face. Clearly, feasting on the octopus''s meat did his body some real good. All his injuries were healed, he felt like a Megalodon undergoing puberty again. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] With this skill active, he was able to see around where he currently was and confirmed that Verni and the other Great White Sharks were still resting. He didn''t swim out lest he disturbs them, and besides, he was not done with the queries that he wanted answered by his system. After the previous battle, the system spammed him with so many new things that he didn''t know where to start from. He needed answers fast to curb his curiosity, and he needed them now. He rested his body at a more comfortable angle before calling out. "System, are you there?" [The system never sleeps.] "Oh, ok, that''s nice. So, what is a magic core?" He went straight to the point. [Magic cores are a consolidation of the magic power wielded by sea creatures, and it is formed after they break through to the purple tier.] [After a magic core is formed, the said creature will experience a sharp spike in magic power. The Purple tier is the middle tier among the power tiers of Oceania, and getting there brings the first sharp power increase.] [After killing opponents, host can ?ssimilate their condensed magic cores to harness the magic power stored in them.] After listening to the explanation from the system, Sebastian kept quiet as he thought through some of the experiences that he already had. It was his breakthrough from the white to the orange tier that really brought a ridiculous comprehensive upgrade in his power. From what the system just explained, getting to the purple tier brings the first sharp power increase but he experienced this at the orange tier. This once again confirmed his speculation that the system was secretly helping him. And pairing this with his unique skill could explain his outrageous ability to battle with higher-tiered creatures. Also, bringing the first sharp power increase meant that subsequent breakthroughs would lead to the same sharp increase. Well, he could not argue with this having fought with a severely injured Red tier monster. This once again brought back his anticipation for his next evolution, this was more prominent following his series of level-ups after killing the Octopus. With his first question answered, he became more enthusiastic as he asked all the questions that he had in a row. His questions ranged from the mutated magic organs that he got as loot after Octumpedam''s death, to the system inventory, system snooping tool, seasonal achievement reward setup, and every other thing that he got. As he asked, so also did his system diligently answer. According to the system, mutated magic organs were normal adaptations, but they mutated after creatures condense their magic core. The use of mutated magic organs was that they were used to craft magic weapons. Depending on the creature that it was extracted from, they could give weapons different magic effects. For the 2 mutated magic organs that he got, they were the systematic heart and the brain. From these, Sebastian could faintly guess the magic effects that they may give if forged into a weapon. For the system inventory, it was as it was. It was like a system storage ring where he could keep everything that he acquired, stole, or looted. For the system snooping tool, it was like a spy system ability that enabled him to see the stats of creatures around him to evaluate their strength. Unfortunately, according to the system, the contents that he could see depended on his strength which meant that if he met another Red tier monster, he could not see all its stats to evaluate its strength beforehand. Despite this small shortcoming, he was satisfied with what it could do. For the seasonal achievement reward setup, it was the most revolutionary one that left him feeling the giddiest and excited. According to the system, it was a reward system that gave him seasonal targets to meet for rewards. They were divided into daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly achievement targets. It also had a special tab for hard, insane, and impossible achievement targets. [System Daily target: Kill and eat 20 Yeti Crabs- Uncompleted.] [Target Reward: 50 Adaptation points.] [System Weekly target: Kill and eat 5 Tiger Sharks- Uncompleted.] [Target Reward: 250 Adaptation points.] [System Monthly target: Kill 2 Orcas and 4 Mammoth Crocodiles- Uncompleted.] [Target Reward: 1000 Adaptation points.] [System Yearly target: Kill the alpha of this Ocean Volcano region.] [Target Reward: 20,000 Adaptation points and a special system reward.] [Insane and Impossible targets are not tabulated. Host should identify suitable targets himself, and the system will evaluate the host''s options.] This was the main reaction that Sebastian had on seeing this. The more he stayed in this world, the more his system felt game-like. He could not say he hated it though, he absolutely loved it. After asking all these, he finally proceeded to check out one of his arguably best loots from this battle, the magic weapon- Octranezion. [Magic Weapon: Octranezion.] [Physical Damage Power: 250.] [Magic Damage Power: 150.] [Durability: 61/80.] [Special Weapon Effect: Severe Internal Bleeding!] [Special Weapon Effect: Severe Pain Hit!] [Special Weapon Effect: Burning Heart!] [Weapon is not compatible with host; you can decide to sell it to other creatures in exchange for clan currencies or in exchange for a compatible weapon.] Seeing this, Sebastian was charmed, once again revealing to him how game-like his system was. Though he didn''t use the weapon yet, having been on the receiving end of an attack from it, he had mad respect for it. Also, the last remark from the system caught his attention. The system said he could sell it which meant that there were monster cities in this world civilized enough to welcome other creatures and engage in trade. "Damn!" He felt excited just thinking of it, this once again reminded him that despite all his adventures since he transmigrated, he''s only just touched the tip of adventure locations in Oceania. There was a lot more waiting for him, and he couldn''t wait to explore them all, dissecting more creatures in the process while spreading his legend. He felt hyped to start traveling immediately, but he calmed himself down because he knew that he was not done yet. Before leaving with Verni''s group, he needed to ?ssimilate the magic cores to cut off any corners where suspicion could arise from. Also, he still remembered the reward given after he completed an impossible target achievement, and he still hasn''t seen the reward for completing an insane target achievement. "Bruh, I have a ton of things to attend to". Chapter 105 - Battle Gains. Without any intention to waste time, Sebastian inquired about the rewards for his insane and impossible target achievement. [System Insane target: Kill a purple tier creature while still at the orange tier.] [Target Reward: Random Passive Ability.] [Passive ability randomizing¡­, randomization complete.] [Congratulations! You have been rewarded with the passive ability: Undying Zombie.] [Undying Zombie: When your health is below 10%, the passive effect will be triggered, restoring 50% of your health in one go.] [This passive ability has a recharge time of 24 hours after each use.] [System Impossible target: Kill a red tier creature while still at the orange tier.] [Target Reward: The Ocean King''s Hidden Inheritance- Telekinesis.] [Note: Before this ability can be used, host''s mind stat must be above 100 stat points.] Before when he saw telekinesis as a reward for this achievement, Sebastian couldn''t jubilate properly because 1, he needed to go out to meet the others, and 2, because he felt it was too good to be true. Now, not only that, he got another OP reward in the form of a passive ability. Man, he felt on top of the word. "I''m a Champion!" He yelled in his mind, imitating the lines that he remembered from his then-favorite motivational speaker, Eric Thomas. That man meant a lot to him, it was all thanks to him that his anatomical skills grew to the realms that they grew to. His motivational words made him keep on going when everyone else called him a freak. Putting all these aside from his mind, for now, he savored the sweet fragrance of the joy now bubbling in his heart. Right now, the only thing that soured his mood a bit was the fact that his mind stat was below 100 which meant he needed to wait until it accumulated more before he could access the telekinesis ability. "Well, f*ck that!" He could only comfort himself with the Undying Zombie passive ability. After all his battle encounters, he knew the importance of this passive ability. With this done, before he diverted his attention to the magic cores, he remembered another fact, his gains from killing the alpha Croc. [Reputation: Crocodile Wrestler.] [Reputation is another term for the legendary story that you set before leaving a region. Your name will always be remembered in this seamount due to the feat that you accomplished.] [Passive Ability: Bane of Mammoth Crocodiles.] [When battling against Mammoth Crocodiles, those of the white tier will have their strength suppressed by 50%, those of the orange tier will have their strength suppressed by 25%, while those of the purple tier will have their strength suppressed by 5%.] Compared to the Undying Zombie passive ability, this was more restricted but it still couldn''t extinguish Sebastian''s joy. Another thing that he noticed was that, in the system notification, the system referred to the Crocodile kingdom as a purple-rated sea animal kingdom. This was another new knowledge to him; he didn''t know that animal kingdoms were also classified into ranks. This also coincided with his discovery that there were probably civilized monster cities and kingdoms out there. And another fact was the Mammoth title added to the Crocodiles. He knew a bit about Mammoths from his previous life, and he could not help but feel puzzled about the relationship between a Mammoth and a Crocodile. He didn''t have the time to think too much into it so just like his second love which was ignoring things, he simply ignored it. Another gain that he had in the previous battle was the invention points, he asked the system to display it again. [Congratulations! You have invented your first stacked magic manifestation- Tower Prison!] [You have gained 10 Invention points.] According to the system, invention points were another type of points given when he created new inventions with his water transmutation skill, and 10 Invention points translated to 1000 Skill points and 1000 Adaptation points. His gains in the previous battle were just too OP. With this, he discovered that he could create entirely new magic manifestations with his imagination and that he could be rewarded for it. Now, with all these attended to, he finally had time for the magic cores. [System Inventory:] [Weapon: Octranezion.] [Magic Cores: 2- Purple tier, 1- Red tier.] With a thought, one of the purple tier magic cores materialized before him in mid-air, having been extracted from the inventory. Seeing this glowing crystalline substance, Sebastian felt a little guilty about hoarding it all when the Lizard Lord and everyone contributed to the battle. In the end, his conscience couldn''t accept it so he left one of the purple tier magic cores for the Lizard Lord. For the remaining purple tier and red tier magic core, his effort in the previous battle earned it. "Now, it''s time to pop this pill". Like he was swallowing his pills back on earth, he swallowed the purple tier magic core first. Who knew if taking 2 at once would make him explode? At this moment, prevention was better than cure. [You have ?ssimilated a purple tier magic core.] [Magic structure has been broken down¡­, you have harnessed 160 mana points from the magic core.] "¡­" "Damn, harnessing mana points???" Sebastian was dumbfounded, leaving his mouth opened in a big O shape. "This is so f*cking nice!" "It really has the same effects as taking pills! Damn, more!" [You have ?ssimilated a red tier magic core.] [Magic structure has been broken down¡­, you have harnessed 350 mana points from the magic core.] [Your luck has increased.] [Note! Mana points can only be harnessed once from the magic core produced by a creature of a certain species. To get more, host has to harness from magic cores of creatures of a different species.] When Sebastian was already traveling to cloud nine in happiness, then this. He felt a strong urge to bonk his system hard, but in the end, he left it as that small note could not take away the joy from what he just got. In just seconds, he got 510 mana points. Who wouldn''t feel happy? As he rejoiced, he also made connections. For a reason, he felt that this was one of the clues to getting stronger that his system promised to introduce to him when he successfully killed a Sea King. After celebrating to his fill, Sebastian finally came back to reality and he asked the last question that was on his mind. "System, are you a robot, an alien with a personality, or a human-like me. And, are there 2 personalities in there communicating with me?" "This time, I want nothing but the truth". Chapter 106 - Sage 54. [¡­] For the first time since Sebastian started asking the system questions, it kept quiet for more than 10 seconds without answering. This reaction alone confirmed his suspicions. During the previous battle after Octumpedam emerged from the hole, when the situation became too certain of death, he was scared and had no choice but to pathetically call his system for help. The reaction of the system then was what made him suspicious. He didn''t think about it immediately then due to the tense situation but after the battle, he finally started noticing the strange trends. Though he was not an avid fan of novels in his previous life, he still read novels enough to know about systems. He may be wrong but from what he knew about systems, it was abnormal for a system to provide help to him in such an inconceivable manner. Then, it was like a motivational speech from Eric Thomas himself to him. This was what brought the question, was the system a robot, an alien with a personality, or a human? The system kept silent for over a minute before it finally reacted. It didn''t speak to Sebastian like usual, it directly projected an image into his mind. The projected image was in a plain sparkling white background, and in this place stood an old man with white flowing beards. The old man was dressed in a yellow flowing robe. His white hair paired with his beards formed a combination that made him look scholarly, and his eyes like the starry skies seemed to be filled with the knowledge of the universe. As Sebastian watched in silence, the old man turned to face him. "Candidate, you can call me Sage 54. I and 61 other Sages were the ones who created the mother system. You are not strong enough to know more information about this, so I will skip it". "I am not alive; this is just a soul projection from faraway. I am the Sage ?ssigned to look over the 54th candidate whose identity is you". "The World Domination System that you inherited is different from me. It''s like a machine with programmed words, it does only what it is programmed to do. I am sentient and I was the one who answered some of your tricky questions". "All you need to know is that the universe is not as you see it. Just try to fulfill your potential as a candidate, and perhaps, one day, you will know the secret of the universe". "I will remain attached to your system so when you have queries, you can ask and I will answer to the best of my ability. You transmigrating is not a curse, you have a huge destiny to fulfill and you have to work hard towards it". "And lastly, remember this, don''t try to pry into mysteries until you are strong enough". "¡­Damn! There really is an old Gandalph in there!" Sebastian was stunned as the information revealed by the old man rapidly went through his mind. After what happened during the encounter with Octumpedam, he already had tons of theories and this was one of them. Surprisingly, he wasn''t as flustered as he thought he would be on seeing and hearing the things that were just revealed to him. Once again, he felt it, he felt that he was vastly different from before when he was still just a human. He felt curious to know more right now, but the ending warning from the old man sent alarm bells ringing in his mind. He didn''t have a choice; he would rather take the benefit of the doubt and believe the old man than to blindly go out and die. After taking some efforts to calm his mind, his thoughts once again went to the proceedings of the previous battle. The intensity of the previous battle was exactly what he needed for him to conclude his calculations into how his body worked. As an anatomist, knowing his body was a priority and he''s been working towards this since the first day he reincarnated into this world. After putting in much effort, it finally bore fruit. >Level 1-5 creatures= 1 Adaptation point per kill< >Level 6-10 creatures {White tier} = 2 Adaptation points per killLevel 11-15 creatures {Orange tier} = 5 Adaptation points per kill< >Level 16-20 creatures {Orange tier} = 10 Adaptation points per kill< >Level 21-40 creatures {Purple tier} = 50 Adaptation points per kill< >Level 41-80 creatures {Red tier} = 250 Adaptation points per kill< This was the result that he arrived at after compiling the result of all his experience killing other sea creatures. For the tier above the red tier, it was blank for now as creatures at that tier were beyond his reach. Also, having checked his HP recovery rate record since his first days evolving, he came with the right statistics to check his performance in battle. [Young Great White: +1 HP per second.] [Teenage Great White: +2 HP per second.] This abnormal spike in recovery rate was entirely because of the Megalodon bloodline, this was the difference in bloodlines that Leroy spoke about. This insane recovery rate was what enabled him to tide through the Octumpedam battle. Despite the severe bleeding, his HP recovery rate kept up, making sure that he never got to that point of near-death state. Despite the huge role played by his rejuvenation skill, the high recovery rate did wonders in keeping him alive. Even as a Great White Shark, the recovery rate then was still miles better than other creatures. It was the main reason why he survived near-death battle encounters like that against the Barracuda and the Devouring Cobra. With this compilation done, he felt satisfied and could finally view his status. "System, give me my status". [Affirmative!] ----------------------------------------- Name: Sebastian Stats: Power: 87 Speed: 42 Mind: 56 Constitution: 65 Luck: 10 HP: 821/821 MP: 1070/1070 [Body Skills: Shredding Bite Level- 4; Triple Reverse Swim Level- 4; Advanced Dash Level- 3; Empowered Dorsal Fin- Level 1; Empowered Tail Fin- Level 3; Advanced Electroreceptors- Level 4; Spike Attack- Level 5; Battering Ram- Level 4; Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor- Level 3; Crushing Bite- Level 2.] [Magic- Sound Domain skills: Sound Control- Level 2; Sonic Drill- Level 3; Sonic Reflection- Level 3; Sonic Dissonance- Level 2; Water Cyclone- Level 3.] [Unique Skills: Water Transmutation.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Vampire Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain; Fire Skin.] [Species: Young Megalodon!] [System Remark: Keep grinding hard, you''re slowly on your way to becoming the Ocean Master.] ------------------------------------ Seeing this, Sebastian grinned. The golden level 20 tab left him feeling giddy and proud but as he looked at it closer, the grin slowly turned to shock as his jaws hung open in a big O shape again. His constitution increasing was because of his Fire Skin adaptation. After everything settled down following the mutation, his constitution stat increased. For his mana points, it was all attributed to the magic cores that he ?ssimilated. What really shocked him was his luck points. "Holy mother of all anatomists! What am I seeing?!" [A magic core is the consolidation of the being and magic essence of a predator; this includes luck and other natural elements.] [When you harnessed the magic core of the purple tier Mammoth Crocodile, it was not enough to break the threshold but that of the red tier Octopus did it.] [Though host''s luck stat point has remained 0 since he transmigrated, do you really think you would have survived with such abysmal luck?] [The system has been programmed to do a job of safekeeping for you. It harnesses your luck and keeps it in a safe place, only to release it when you need it the most. This is the main reason why you''ve survived till now.] Hearing this, Sebastian received an epiphany as everything seemed to have clicked in his head. His Blood Vampire skill, though it was OP, the requirements to activate it were so tight that it bordered on the verge of being unrealistic. Despite this, when he needed it the most, like in the case of the Devouring Cobra, the Octopus, and in other cases, he somehow triggered it before dying. Though he always tried to ignore it, this has always been at the back of his mind. Finally getting an answer for it left him feeling satisfied. He swam contentedly, all his questions and queries were finally answered, now it was time to go visit the Lizard Lord. Chapter 107 - The Myth Realm. At a certain realm in Oceania where the water looked green at some times and at other times golden, forming an epic combination, a fierce battle was currently going on between 2 powerful parties. One of the predators was an enormous creature that looked like an elephant with a body mass eclipsing more than 5 submarines stacked together. Its tusks were long, hard, and curved like sickles of death. Its body was hairy but for some weird reason, scales were at some parts of its enormous body which was part of the adaptations that it had to adapt and survive in the Ocean. Its legs were as big as a submarine, it''s head as menacing as an angry Lion. At the side of its enormous body grew out spike adaptations, these were part of the means that it attacked with its enormous body. Its glowing red eyes were filled with anger, and this was reflected through its body as it attacked in a frenzied manner with everything that it had. This strange predatory creature was a Mammoth. It was a strange already extinct land creature to be seen at sea but for some reason, this monster already adapted and was not only living in Oceania, right now it was embroiled in a super fierce battle. Its opponent was an even more terrifying predator than it was. This predator was a creature that was mostly seen in myths, this predator was a real Dragon. It''s might as it dominated its opponent, and the pure primordial red fire raging around it said it all. This Dragon had 2 pointed horns growing from its head, its super long teeth were exposed from the sides of its death jaws, dripping brown blood savagely as it attacked its opponent. The claws in its arms were as sharp as razors and hard as vibranium. Grabbing and savagely ripping flesh with them dealt significant damage to the enormous Mammoth each time. Its wings were spread out proudly like it was the ruler of the Ocean, and spikes jutting out of joints in the wings acted as more attack options to quickly end the life of the Mammoth. The rough black scales flowing across its body made it look even more menacing, they seemed impenetrable. This was more visually impressive when it was paired with the fire raging around everywhere. At this moment, these 2 predators were embroiled in a fierce battle like there was no tomorrow. The area around them visibly shook, breaking down from the shockwaves and destruction alone. Each attack from them seemed capable of causing a natural disaster. The Mammoth was far bigger than the fire Dragon but the Dragon gave it so much trouble and pain like it was the big brother in the scene. Its bite was powerful and painful for an attack, while its skin was super thick for defense which formed a deadly combination. Magic power flared around the both of them, spreading natural disasters across kilometers which was a testament to the intensity of their battle. They both activated magic shields but none worked as the powerful attacks from either side quickly dissipated the shield''s magic energy load. At this moment, they were both already at that point where they cared about nothing else but to spam more attacks at each other. With another mighty fire breath from the Dragon, the Mammoth suffered the first incapacitating injury since the battle started as the Dragon went on to take advantage of this opportunity more. Bites continued, claw attacks continued, all these stacked together frighteningly, increasing the injuries sustained by the Mammoth as well as already showing the potential winner of the battle. After receiving another vicious bite from the Dragon, the already weakened Mammoth couldn''t trumpet anymore but others did on its behalf. "Roar!" "Roar!" It was at this moment that the enormous army behind the Mammoth was shown. The army was comprised of Mammoth Crocodiles, real Mammoths, and other creatures with the Mammoth bloodline. This was the same for the Dragon too. Behind it in the water hovered an army of Draconic Lizards, Draconic Eels, Lesser Dragons, and a myriad of other creatures with the Draconic bloodline. One last fire breath from the Dragon did it, the raging fire burnt through the Mammoth''s flesh completely, taking the last of its HP with it. With an unwilling trumpeting from the Mammoth, the world around it started being upturned like it was in the middle of a whirlpool then an opening appeared and with a warping sound, its enormous bleeding body disappeared through it. It died, but it had last words to express its feelings. "Even though I died, Draco, I will come back stronger. The myth realm shall hear of my might again, and you shall be my first casualty". With that, it disappeared completely. After the Mammoth disappeared, all eyes turned to its followers that were left behind. The Dragon nor his followers showed mercy, they hunted the creatures like a group of cats hunting mice. ¡­ Somewhere in Oceania, a crack seemed to have appeared in mid-water as what seemed like an enormous dead creature started falling from mid-water. The remnant will of the dead creature powered it, enabling the body to drift in the water for days, searching for the right heir to inherit the remnant powers stored in the body. ¡­ [Ding! An opening to the myth realm has been discovered.] "Woah, bro, don''t scare me like that". Out of nowhere, the system suddenly notified him of this, puzzling Sebastian. Of course, as he didn''t know it, he had no intention of researching about it himself so he simply asked the system. The problem was that the system''s reply left him speechless. [This information is locked, reach the requisite level before you can access the requirements to unlock it.] "¡­" "So why''d you inform me of it in the first place if you had no intention of telling me". Once again, Sebastian felt that urge to simply bonk some sense into the system. Well, right now, he didn''t have the time to care about that because after swimming for minutes, he finally arrived in the Draconic Lizard kingdom. Chapter 108 - Atlantian Military Units. At a certain part of the Green Mist Sea stood a huge Atlantian military base. This base was erected at the base of the water, forming a sturdy foundation on the rock for all the military defense and offense weapons to be erected. The military base spanned an area covering 2 kilometers. At the very forefront of the base stood the gate that led inside, every other part was covered by a faint blue shield that protected inside from all outside vices. Besides the huge gate on opposite sides were mechanical weapons of magic and technology. The machine looked like a square-shaped robot but with hidden muzzles where pressurized water beams are shot out. It had a mechanical energy core that powered it from the inside but it required magic machinations for the water to be precisely su?k?d in and transformed into pressurized magic water beams to be shot out. These 2 were the very first defense structures of this Atlantian base. Behind the gate, along the passage inside that seemed like a long corridor were lined tons of defense structures. There were defense structures like thief traps that when an unauthorized person stepped on would erupt like the jaws of a Mammoth Crocodile, others were in the form of fire traps, thunder, a myriad of defense structures were placed along the passage that led inside. Hovering outside the shield in the water, at the top of the base were dozens of huge machines that looked like submarines but in a more magical fashion. Putting aside their main weapon armaments that could blow seamounts to smithereens, the stern-faced Atlantian soldiers that manned the outside ports attached to the sides were enough to scare any opportunistic enemy away. This was but a mere fraction of the power that made Atlantis the current ruling power of Oceania, a mixture of technological and arcane knowledge. At this moment, inside the main building in this military base, 2 high Atlantian officers were seated, speaking with each other while another stood listening to the 2 superiors respectfully. After speaking for some minutes, one of the 2 high Atlantian officers finally raised his head to address the soldier standing before him. "Staff Sergeant Barnes?" "Yes Sir!" The soldier saluted respectfully. "Good!" The Captain nodded in satisfaction. "I believe that you also heard of the announcement made by the Queen. A new Sea King has been born and the mission has been placed on us to identify and ?ssassinate it". "Are you up to this task?" "Yes Sir!" "Good!" The Captain picked up a printed book from the side with a cover and paper that was water-resistant, enabling it to be kept completely safe and intact. "Your mission location is B-129, a region close to an Ocean Volcano. I hope you will not disappoint the trust that we placed on you, Goodluck Sergeant". "Thank you, Sir!" The Staff Sergeant saluted again but before he was able to leave, he was interrupted by the other Captain sitting there. "Remember, when you get any clue, no matter how inconsequential about the appearance and use of the Water Transmutation skill, don''t inform us, inform headquarters immediately". "Yes Sir!" The Staff Sergeant stood at attention and saluted one last time before being allowed to leave. ¡­ As soon as Staff Sergeant Barnes left the main building of the military base, still with a stern expression on his face, he turned and swam towards his fleet. Unlike the mainstream military units of earth, Atlantis used a different military unit system. Atlantian military units were divided into a team, squad, company, battalion, fleet, brigade fleet, division fleet, and mega fleets. Like on earth, 4 Atlantian soldiers make up a team. They are the smallest military unit and are mostly deployed for the lowest-graded missions. Unlike on earth, a squad consisted of about 15-20 Atlantian soldiers. Squads are mostly deployed to wipe out small sea animal territories for construction and other small-scale missions. For Atlantian battalions, like on earth was comprised of about a thousand Atlantian soldiers. They are allocated a maximum of 5 warships for missions which were one of the only differences between them and fleets. Atlantian military companies and battalions were commanded by Sergeants. Unlike on earth, Atlantis was the ruling power of a boundless territory ranging 7 enormous Seas, it was a given that they found it a chore governing them all. This was more prominent with the existence of monsters like Sea Kings. As soon as an Atlantian soldier got to the rank of Sergeant, it was ?ssumed that he/she was strong enough to handle matters which warranted the heavy responsibilities being heaped on them. To cover and properly oversee the whole territory, they had to let Sergeants command such large armies of soldiers. And with the existence of the powerful weapons of technology, the work of soldiers was a lot easier and efficient but it was still plenty dangerous. As a Staff Sergeant, Barnes was commanding a fleet. Just like a battalion, a fleet was comprised of faintly a thousand soldiers, the difference was that they had a much larger warship allocation of 20 than the 5 allocated to battalions. Unlike battalions, fleets were mostly sent for deep-strike missions that lead them into dangerous uncharted territories of the Ocean which warranted their much larger warship allocation. The next military units following that experience a sharp increase in requirements like manpower, special units, and the Commander rank. Mega fleets could only be commanded by Atlantian soldiers ranging from the Captain rank upwards, and the highest mega fleet unit could only be commanded by Queen Auralis herself. It did not take Staff Sergeant Barnes much longer before he arrived at the location of his fleet and without hesitation, he faced and addressed them. Chapter 109 - The Crimson Fleet. After listening to the address of their Staff Sergeant that explained their current circumstances to them and the mission, the 1000 soldiers under Barnes'' command were motivated. Queen Auralis was a figure of reverence in Atlantis, not only because of her fierce combat power and exploits that were recorded in history but also because she was the Queen which meant she was a favored of the gods. With the knowledge that this mission came from the Queen herself and the fact that it was against their most hated enemies- Sea Kings, nothing could stop the yearning in their hearts to finish the mission as soon as possible. Now, all they wanted to do was to swim out there, b?r? their weapons, locate this shark and stab the hell out of it till it died. They wanted to start screaming their made-up chant for their crimson fleet but they forced themselves to stop, this was because theirs was not the only fleet in this military base. If every fleet started chanting like them, it may irritate the Captains and once that was done, it meant direct death to the offenders no matter who they were. "Now, get your ?sses up and start working". Staff Sergeant Barnes roared. "Yes Sir!" While the nerd control crew revved the engines, bringing the 17 warships back to life, a female soldier swam towards the fleet from far away. Feeling the water vibrations behind him, Barnes turned to look only for his face to twitch slightly. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down until the Atlantian lady was close enough. "What are you doing here?" He asked with the same stern look still on his face, making the situation awkward immediately. The lady didn''t feel awkward though, it was like she was used to it as she only giggled. "You''re ugly you know when you make that face. With that face of yours, do you really think you can attract a girl to marry you?" "I never thought of doing that, why are you here?" Barnes''s face was unchanged as he asked in a deeper tone. Seeing his unchanged look, the lady gave up. "Never mind, I''m here as your partner for this mission..." "What???" Barnes blurted out, shocked. The lady continued unfazed like she already expected such a reaction from him. "I just came after speaking with the Captains and it''s been confirmed so don''t even waste your time, you don''t want to irritate them". Staff Sergeant Barnes opened and closed his mouth repeatedly but couldn''t find what to say, in the end, he simply turned around and swam towards the biggest warship of the Crimson fleet. "Sergeant Raila". Of the 17 warships belonging to the Crimson fleet, the only named warship among them, the Bloodhound was the biggest and main ship. Putting aside its enormous size, it had 5 main cannons; 2 purely mechanical, 2 purely magical, and the last one powered both mechanically and by magic. It had a strong energy conversion system that could directly convert the magic power in the water to form pure arcane energy inside it which powered the laser weapons all installed in it. Its armor was super thick and sturdy and could tank the full damage of a newly advanced purple tier creature for about a minute which was already frighteningly impressive. It had strong propulsion systems that could enable it to accelerate to speeds of 120km/hour and this was when not being overloaded by magic. When overloaded, it could easily reach twice the base speed. Apart from these 4 main strong points, its other armaments and add-ons were pretty decent, putting it at the top when it came to small budget warships. Of the other 16 ships of the Crimson fleet, 3 were a miniaturized version of the Bloodhound while the others were randomly built for specialized purposes in battle. This combination made the fleet one of the best around. After everything was set, Staff Sergeant Barnes finally gave the order and the fleet moved towards the gate. While the portal''s energy recharged, inside the Bloodhound, Staff Sergeant Barnes turned his head to address his partner for this mission. "Sergeant Raila, this is my fleet and I want you to know some things. I make the rules here and you better obey them¡­" "Chill man, when have I ever broken your rules?" Raila interrupted while munching on some seafood. "I heard our destination is close to an Ocean Volcano, so perfect!" She cheered. "That''ll be the ideal location for me to train my fire elemental affinity, I can''t wait for it". Barnes clenched his fists and took a deep breath to calm himself down, then he looked away. "Whatever relationship we had in the past, it''s all gone now. If I ever notice you dragging me back, I''ll evict you with immediate effect". >Announcement! Teleportation portal active< As soon as the announcement was made, the Bloodhound entered first then the other 16 warships quickly followed. In seconds, they were teleported away. Inside the Bloodhound, Staff Sergeant Barnes felt his body become weightless all of a sudden but he didn''t panic as he was already used to this. It only took a few seconds before his body became normal again. When the vision of the warship came back to life, they were now in a world dominated by red. They were directly transported to their destination. Under Barnes'' command, all 17 warships moved forward as reconnaissance teams with swift sea shuttles were sent across to scout the area. As they scouted, they killed any sea creature on sight, clearing the area of all obstacles that may hinder their goal. About 15 minutes later, they finally arrived at a location that was better than what they''d seen till now. Barnes finally spoke. "Stop! This will be our base location". "Yes Sir!" Chapter 110 - Shameless Lord. "You finally decided to come right, shameless Lord?" "What?" Sebastian was dumbfounded. What was this old lizard trying to drive at suddenly calling him shameless? As soon as he showed up in the territory of the Draconic Lizards, he did not receive the warm welcome universal of all superheroes that he expected, rather he heard these words of blasphemy. "What do you mean?" He asked again for clarification. "You really want to know?" As he asked, the Lizard Lord already started swimming out of his alpha hole. "Let''s swim, my family is still sleeping, you don''t want to disturb them, right?" "Oh, let''s swim then". Slowly, the 2 predators swam away from the location of the Draconic Lizard kingdom entirely to the extent where Sebastian no longer felt the effects of the poisonous substance in the surrounding water. Still, they swam forward while he waited and waited without hearing a word from the Lizard. When he finally became impatient with the urge to turn and demand an explanation, what the lizard said next almost made him choke. "Where are the magic cores?" "¡­" "Umm¡­, magic cores? What''s that?" Whip! The Draconic lizard''s tail rose up so fast that Sebastian could hardly react, then it came down and whipped his back with the blunt end. [You have been inflicted with -8 Damage.] "Ouch!" Sebastian felt an urge to rub his back but unfortunately, he didn''t have the hands to do that. "Why did you do that?" "Where are the magic cores?" "What''s a magic¡­" [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] Whip! This time, no damage was dealt as Sebastian''s magic shield absolved the damage. Both parties looked at each other quietly in silence without the lizard attempting to whip him again, then the lizard shook his head. "Sigh! You''re really the shameless Lord". The lizard lamented, revealing a sad expression on his lizard face. "Clown was a lot of things but not a liar, you''re the worst lair and acquaintance ever". "¡­" Sebastian didn''t know what to say. "Umm, I only took one". "HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT, SHAMELESS LIAR?!" "¡­" Sebastian was even more speechless. "You didn''t know before, right? You''re just guessing, you''re even more shameless than I am". The lizard snorted on hearing that, it kept on throwing more words of ridicule at Sebastian until he finally relented. Sebastian brought out the purple tier magic core while telling the whole truth. "Sigh! I actually missed out on a Red tier magic core. I said it, I''m plagued with bad luck". The Lizard Lord lamented even more while ?ssimilating the one magic core that Sebastian produced on the spot. After he finished ?ssimilating the magic core, he finally became less casual as he started discussing the previous battle with Sebastian. It didn''t ask how Sebastian knew that the Octopus was an injured Red tier powerhouse, all he did was express his real feelings on hearing it which was fear. It was normal for a purple tier powerhouse to feel fear just at the mention of the color red, it was taboo to them. Amid the discussion between the 2 predators, Sebastian finally managed to steer the conversation back to the Lizard Lord''s even more previous battle with the Octopus alongside the motherf*cker Lord. As soon as Sebastian mentioned it, the lizard finally started making connections from previous coincidences that it originally ignored. According to him, their previous battle against the Octopus was much more straightforward. Under the leadership of the Clown, he led his family into battle with the Octopus. Unlike Sebastian, Clown was a clownfish who didn''t excel in direct combat. He was strong, but his battle style was more towards the trickster side. Like what happened at the end, the exact same thing happened then and the Octopus''s body went limp like it was dead, covering the hole in the process. When the winners of the battle went closer to feast on their prey, to their shock, the originally soft Octopus flesh was so abnormally strong that their sharp teeth couldn''t dig in. This was when Clown came to intervene. According to the clownfish, the Octopus was cursed and it should be left to perform a magic ability to enable the Draconic Lizard family to benefit from it. Clown really activated a magic skill to back up his words. According to the Lizard Lord, they tangibly saw white magic power being harvested out of the body of the lizard. Like this, Clown influenced all of them, making a region of the seamount poisonous and making them mutate to adapt to this region. This was Clown''s last gift to his Draconic Lizard family and it was what kept them living till now despite all the years that already passed. After giving them the mutation, Clown harvested the remaining white magic power from the Octopus into his body before finally bidding them farewell and leaving the seamount for good. After listening to the story, Sebastian was finally extricated from that feeling like he was living inside the story at that moment. Apparently, Octumpedam did the same thing, deciding to temporarily abandon his body to keep his soul alive, thereby tricking its hunters that it died. Clearly, it worked though the motherf*cker Lord still seemed to have harvested something out of his body. With these connections made, Sebastian relaxed as his curiosity was finally sated. For minutes, he kept on interacting with the Lizard Lord about a lot of different topics until they both got tired of it. In the end, they simply told each other to inform the motherf*cker Lord of the other if either of them encountered the clownfish someday. With that done, Sebastian left. They didn''t bid farewell while crying like female humans, they were men and besides, they were predators, not fragile human girls. "Farewell, Shameless Lord". Sebastian already got over the new nickname that the Draconic lizard gave to him, so he simply responded politely. "You too, Lizard Lord". With that, both parties went separate ways. When they couldn''t see each other again, the Lizard Lord finally turned to look back and secretly revealed an emotional look. "I''ll miss you, Shameless Lord". Chapter 111 - [Bonus chapter]Special Achievement Location Tab. After Sebastian left the Draconic Lizard kingdom, while he navigated back to the location where Verni and the others rested, he decided to do something that he''s been craving since the battle with Octumpedam ended. [You have triggered adaptation: Map.] [Explored Regions: Wardrobe Ocean Volcano; Leroy Cave Expanse.] [Host has created a unique special achievement location tab.] [Special tab name: Conqueror!] [Conquered Location: Octumpedam Seamount.] Sebastian decided to create this immediately after he killed Octumpedam. Even if the system could recognize his achievement of having caused the downfall of a predator family, who was he not to recognize it? By killing the ruling alpha of the seamount, he categorized it as him having conquered the seamount which was in a sense true. Killing Octumpedam and uprooting the ruling Crocodile family was the first of many conquests that he would be engaged in, so he found it right to record them all for future reference. After this was done, he felt a lot satisfied as he swam happily across the water towards the location where Verni and the others were resting. As he swam, he could not help but think about his possible encounter with a family of Great Whites very soon. He felt hyped for the encounter, he felt thrilled, it was like he was going on a blind date for the first time. What type of eccentric Great Whites would he meet? Would some of them be as big as a seamount? Would there be baby Great Whites around? Were the babies cute? Would some of them have triple claspers? "Huh? F*ck! Don''t think of that". He chided himself. In the end, he felt a little lucky that he''s interacted extensively with Verni before so it would feel less awkward when he met these new Great Whites. After his thoughts cleared up, he remembered another thing. [System Daily target: Kill and eat 20 Yeti Crabs- Uncompleted.] [Target Reward: 50 Adaptation points.] [Target Reward: 250 Adaptation points.] [System Monthly target: Kill 2 Orcas and 4 Mammoth Crocodiles- Uncompleted.] [Target Reward: 1000 Adaptation points.] [System Yearly target: Kill the alpha of this Ocean Volcano region.] [Target Reward: 20,000 Adaptation points and a special system reward.] [Insane and Impossible targets are not tabulated. Host should identify suitable targets himself, and the system will evaluate host''s options.] His yearly target was virtually impossible for him to complete now. Going with the power of Old Mak, he felt that the alpha of this region would at least be a Red tier monster who he had 0 chances against now in a fair battle. For his monthly target, it was not impossible but it required a fair bit of luck on his part to encounter both predators, this was even more prominent when the surviving Crocodiles already migrated. Because this seasonal reward system perk appeared after he killed the last Crocodile, none of those kills were counted for it. For his weekly target, it was the same as the monthly target, he needed a fair bit of luck to encounter even one. Apart from the Tiger Shark that he encountered just after reincarnating, he had never encountered another which was enough to tell the difficulty and incredulity of the task. His daily target was the only one that was currently feeling feasible. In this seamount, finding Yeti Crabs was not hard, he just had to look for it. Without hesitation, he started looking for it while he swam towards the location of the resting sharks. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] With this vision activated, his sight was countless times sharper as he monitored the surrounding water at a 360% angle everywhere. It only took him about 40 seconds before he found his first prey, 2 Yeti Crabs were crawling through the seabed floor of the seamount slowly. [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! [You have killed a mutated Yeti Crab- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 6 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a mutated Yeti Crab- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 4 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] For the next few minutes after this, Sebastian encountered no other Yeti Crab to his disappointment. With nothing else to do, mid-swim, he started thinking of his next evolution. It seemed like just yesterday since he evolved to the orange tier and now, he was already level 30, ready and fresh to evolve to the next tier. Before, it felt like an unreachable goal but it didn''t take him long to achieve it, he felt surreal. Now all he needed was to kill more creatures to fill that remaining experience points then think of how to evolve. If it was before, he would have thought ''then evolve instead of think of how to evolve'' but the times were no longer the same. With the example of the mutated Great White Shark turned Goblin Shark, Teeth and the warning of his system, he knew better than to just jump forward impatiently to evolve to the purple tier. Right now though, he didn''t have much experience about it yet which was one of the reasons why he was grateful for having met a Great White Shark family at this point in time. He already asked his system but even it couldn''t provide a comprehensive answer plain enough for him like he needed. And besides, the old man in his system told him not too long ago to only ask him specifically when the question is really important or urgent. Apparently, the old man lost power each time that he interacted with him. These and a lot of other reasons were why he always wanted to meet other Great Whites. Amid his thoughts, it did not take him long before he met the sharks. "Big bro, you''re back?" ***** Please read the author''s notes. Chapter 112 - The Great White Sharks. "Big bro, you''re back?" Hearing this bubbly voice that always felt like music to his ears, a wide sharky grin spread across Sebastian''s face. Before, he may have still felt a little awkward on hearing that but now he accepted it with joy. After leveling up 5 times simultaneously, he was officially a predator that was just a step from the purple tier which warranted his current feeling. Though Sebastian really felt the urge to take the Great White Shark hunting immediately, he suppressed that craving because they were not the only ones currently present. "Sebastian?" One of the Great White Sharks called out. Turning his head slightly, Sebastian finally laid his eyes on the 5 sharks. Seeing him answer to the name, Tungsten confirmed what he wanted before introducing the sharks around him. "My name is Tungsten, this is Poker, Nova, Nermer, and Tosh. Of course, there''s Verni here who you already got acquainted with". "Welcome to the family Sebastian". The 4 sharks welcomed the new shark officially to the Old Mak family. Tungsten was the eldest as well as the strongest shark of the 5. Of all the features of a shark, what attracted Sebastian the most about the shark was its glowing white eyes even when out of battle. When he asked, Tungsten explained that it was related to his domain magic ability. Also, he was the biggest of the 5 sharks. Poker was the 2nd eldest towering at a size of about 13 meters. He was currently level 18, just a level above Verni which showed how talented Verni was in their ratings. His most glaring body feature was the spikes surrounding his body, Sebastian guessed that this was what inspired his name. He was loaded with them, making him seem like a shark porcupine, and his magic domain was related to spikes too. Nova and Nermer were next, they were normal Great White Sharks who controlled the water and wind magic domains respectively and they were currently level 16 predators. For the last, Tosh who was the youngest of the 5, just a little older than Verni was the only level 15 predator among the 5 sharks. Just like the eldest of the sharks, Tungsten, he controlled the magic domain of light. According to him, his name was inspired by one of Old Mak''s stories about something the Atlantians called torch. Before, due to the tense situation that they found themselves in, he could only put in ferocious efforts to suppress his talking instincts lest he causes his death or that of his teammates. But now that they were no longer in a battle, it was like the beast was let loose in him. He kept on blabbering like Sokka in Avatar the legend of Korra, this was the best fit Sebastian had to describe his mouth. He gave Sebastian a nickname in just less than a minute of meeting him officially which left every other shark facepalming in an imaginary sense. "Seba bro, you wanna hear a secret?" "Tosh!" Tungsten warned. "Seba bro, don''t listen to him, it''s a real secret". "Tosh!!" "I''m not lying¡­" "TOSH!!!" "¡­" Well, that was a summary of the relationship between the 2 domain magicians of light in the lineup of Great White Sharks. After the introduction, Sebastian was left amazed. Each of the sharks had such peculiar personalities that surprised him, it was like he was talking to humans and not sharks. "At this rate, is that theory of humans being higher animals still valid?" Meeting new sharks other than Verni, he thought that there would be a clash in views between them but he could not have been more wrong. With the calm, powerful, and m?tur? Tungsten at the lead, with the young Verni to lighten things up, and the eccentric Tosh to brighten things up, everything went as smooth as flowing water. "Can we leave now or do you have something else to attend to?" Tungsten finally asked after the introductions were done. "No, I think we can go now". "Yay! I can''t wait to see little Coco; I love touching her small snout so much". "Tosh!" "What? I mean, I really miss her". "TOSH!!!" "Seriously, Big bro Tungsten, chill¡­" "TOSH!!!!!" "¡­" ¡­ At the middle parts of the wardrobe-like cliff that surrounded the Ocean volcano, the Great White family hardly stirred when their leader, Old Mak came back from the rescue all bloody. This was more prominent when they already knew that something big recently happened. They could practically feel the vibrations of the battle despite the distance though their electroreceptors couldn''t see that far. Old Mak already went out and survived too many close battle encounters throughout the years that it was rare for them to panic seeing him like this. He was a veteran of this world of fire, he knew the rules, the dangers, and the competition of this world and knew how to circumvent them perfectly to keep himself alive each time. The both of them were the oldest Great Whites of the family, the strongest also, though, in Heareth''s terms, she was not a pure offensive Great White Shark. Her magic domain was that of healing. It was like in a game where everyone else was the damage dealer, she was the only cleric who took care of the leveling team. As soon as the teleportation portal flickered and disappeared, the both of them went deep inside the hole which was the territory of their family. After getting to the very end where his throne was erected, Old Mak finally threw a question at his companion. "What do you think of him?" "I can''t really tell, he feels different, he feels special in a way that I cannot understand. His bloodline is also surprisingly thicker than yours and the color feels strange, I''ve never seen anything like it". "I was surprised when I checked him with my invade skill". "Is he one of us?" Old Mak asked directly. "I think so". Heareth flicked her tail left and right. "I saw that he is a Great White which means he''s an ally, but I need to confirm later". Old Mak hovered on his throne, his deep blue eyes flickering silently. "I don''t know if he''s an ally for now". He paused. "But I think I know what he is". Chapter 113 - Monster Rush. [You have jointly killed a Nightmare Seal with your hunting partner- Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 9 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have jointly killed a Blue Shark with your hunting partner- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 15 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] After going out of the seamount, Sebastian and the 6 sharks experienced a strange phenomenon that originally left him feeling confused but he quickly understood after rationalizing it. The commotion caused by not only the war between the Draconic Lizards and Mammoth Crocodiles led by him but the ultimate battle against Octumpedam would have been a farce if no other predators were attracted to it. Not talking about other creatures first, back on earth, Sebastian knew that even a drop of blood in liters of water could be detected by a Great White from kilometers away which was already OP enough. Now, pairing that with magic, if they had a specific skill for it, it would be as easy as eating beans for them to pinpoint the location of the commotion. This was the catalyst for the current convergence of predators. For hours, perhaps for some even over a day already they''ve been rushing towards this seamount that has been submerged with fresh blood. The seamount was already filled with predators before Sebastian''s party left but even more of them kept coming as they swam upwards which presented the hunting feast for them. Even in this world of fire, the lineup that they had was close to the top in terms of power alone so, in this monster rush, they were among the predators rather than the prey. And clearly, seals were a favorite meal to the Great White Sharks accompanying him just like on earth, Sebastian also loved the taste from the first bite alone which warranted their targeted hunting. Amid the chaos caused by so many monsters converging, they still found space to specifically hunt the delicious Seals. Rarh! Roar! Wooh! As the predators roared ferociously, so also did they suffer it. [You have activated skill: Sound Reflection.] [You have killed a mutated Seal- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 4 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Seal- Level 4: ???] [You have gained nothing.] "¡­" Amid the hunt, Sebastian who was paying attention to his system notifications and enjoying the prompts as his skill and adaptation points increased froze on seeing this. He was almost bitten because of it but Verni covered for him. His surprise didn''t last long though because, at some point in time as he leveled and evolved, he already expected a situation like this but he didn''t expect it to come so fast. "Sigh, I suddenly feel so old". This didn''t linger in his mind though because the sweet aftertaste of the Seals still dominated, he wanted more. [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite!] Crunch! Raar! Crunch! [You have killed a mutated Seal¡­] "Seba bro, you''re so awesome at biting, which skill did you learn?" "Tosh! Watch out!" "Don''t worry, I''m completely fine¡­, Ouch!" For the first time in a while, Sebastian was content with not taking the lead. Tungsten took the lead this time, he didn''t even need to use his domain magic as he bulldozed his way through the prey before them. This continued for minutes until the group met their first rival enemy, they met a group of hunting Orcas for the first time. The 5 terrifying Orcas hunted together, having the feast of their life amid this rush. At first, when he saw them, Sebastian thought of the monthly target of his system but considering that they were 5, he gave up. If he decided to go all out, they could perhaps win the battle but it wasn''t worth it for some adaptation points even if it was a thousand adaptation points. At some point in life, after all the thrills of going all out in almost every battle, it was nice to chill and relax to recover from it all. When both parties saw each other, none attacked, they simply made threatening sounds at each other before going their own ways. Of course, Tosh tried to ridicule Tungsten for the decision, implying that he was a coward for escaping so shamelessly but a tail fin spanking from the bigger shark shut him up. Together, they swam and fought alongside each other for hours in the rush as they feasted until their tummies were bloated. Also, Sebastian completed his daily mission target. [You have killed a mutated Yeti Crab- Level 17: You have gained Experience.] [Congratulations! You have completed your system daily target- Kill and eat 20 Yeti Crabs.] [You have been rewarded with 50 Adaptation points.] [Remark: Keep working and eating harder, it is the difference between a normal predator and an apex predator candidate.] [The marks of a true apex predator are specialized hunting skills, a ferocious appetite, and few if any natural predators. In Oceania, the more you eat, the more you get closer to this so eat hard for it.] Sebastian didn''t have anything to comment on this, it was phrased weirdly by the system but overall, it was correct. It took them a few hours before they finally left the region dominated by the monster rush. By then, every shark in the group was full and satisfied. With most of the predators around the areas they were passing through already out to hunt for food following the monster rush, they had a smoother journey for the rest parts. There were no hiccups, everything was smooth sailing, and moved to the plan for the rest parts of the journey until they arrived at the hole in the circular cliff exclusive to the Great White family. They arrived after traveling for 12 hours according to Sebastian''s estimate. Chapter 114 - The Shark Cave. For hours, Sebastian''s hyperactive brain has been cooking up scenes, filling him with imaginations of how magnificent the Great White Shark territory would be though he knew that was pure fantasy. Even if they had the means to build a magnificent kingdom, the fact alone that it was erected in this cliff surrounding the ocean volcano meant that it would look as plain and medieval as possible. Even if they had the means to make it luxurious, it was foolish to make it so as any clan war that may arise would render all the luxury to oblivion. The territory was fairly big, even bigger than Sebastian expected. It covered a wide region, expanding into the surroundings but the hole inside the cliff was the real kingdom while the other parts of the cliff they occupied were additional territory. The wardrobe-like cliff was smooth at some parts and ruggedly rough at other parts, forming what seemed like a stiff red board filled with punctures but all of the holes in it were already inhabited by some predator family. The holes inside the cliff were where the animal kingdoms were located, not the surface as Sebastian speculated when seeing it from below in the seamount. At some part of the cliff surface, despite the hot temperature, some stubborn weeds germinated, growing out of cracks and crevices, decorating the surroundings to form a beautiful ecosystem. Some strange flowers grew out of the cliff also, they had different colors, covering all the colors of the rainbow and beyond. According to Verni, they fed on the heat in the surroundings to survive. Each of the animal kingdoms occupying each hole had a territory for themselves along the surface of the cliff. The hole next to that of the Great White Shark family was a fair distance away. According to Verni, it was a hole kingdom housing mutated Cobras. The water filling the middle of the cliff was so wide apart that looking to the other side of the cliff from where he was currently, Sebastian felt like the other end of the cliff was light-years away. Tungsten stopped and turned to face him. "Welcome home, Sebastian". Entering the hole, it was like a new page of a masterpiece book was opened before him as he seemed to have been transported into a new world entirely. As soon as he entered, one thought appeared and dominated his mind. "This is not a hole; this is a secret cave". His eyes glittered like stars as a scene worth wowing for presented itself before him. Besides the passage at opposite sides through which he entered the cave world stood 2 red towering boulders. After the boulders came everything, a cave spanning about a kilometer which was a shock to him but the first attractive thing in the cave was the bright lighting. What seemed like lanterns hovered above the water close to the cave''s ceiling. Sebastian didn''t know if it was powered by technology but bright light shone out of the lanterns, illuminating the whole cave. "This is the work of us light domain magic sharks". Tosh explained, clearly enthusiastic to say more but Tungsten shut him up with a tail fin slap. Just after the entrance to the cave hovered 2 Great White Sharks, sharks with adaptations that left Sebastian awed. The first had an adaptation that enabled it to have real hands. With its 2 pairs of arms jutting out of the sides of its body, it held spears and pointed them all at the entrance with a serious expression on its sharky face. The second had an adaptation that made its tail fin seem like a trident, its tail''s 3 sharp ends caused the water to make sizzling sounds which was a manifestation of its fire magic. "Seba bro, that''s Tob and Crono. Hi Tob! What have you eaten today and¡­?" "Tosh!" "Ok, I''ll keep quiet". Tosh grumbled. "Senior brother Tungsten". Both the guard sharks at the entrance ignored Tosh''s grumbling completely before greeting their senior. Tungsten responded with a wave of his dorsal fin, then he continued leading the new family member inside the cave. Throughout the tour, all Sebastian could express was shock and amazement. From the entrance, the other parts of the cave were even more breathtaking. It didn''t have beautiful corals lining the cave floor like back in the Leroy lair, but the red rocky walls had a certain beauty to them that Sebastian could not explain. The over a kilometer-long cave was divided into segments by rocks, forming what seemed like rooms where sharks inhabited. If Sebastian didn''t know more, he would have never believed that this was the work of sharks. These perfect structures could restrain the sharks and could also provide the perfect environment for them when their spinal cords wrath mischief during their sleep which was just awesome. Inside the cave swam Great White Sharks of different colors and sizes. The biggest was at a size of 15 meters long, but still, seeing so many Great White Sharks like him in one cave felt different to Sebastian. The sharks responded in different ways after seeing the new family member, but a majority of the response was warm and inviting. Apart from the boulders that slightly blocked the entrance to the cave, the family also had other defense measures. Fixed at strategic points of the cave where traps that could unleash metal spikes to crush enemies to death. "You see those". Tosh pointed at a strategic location where one of the traps was hidden. "Old Mak called them bloodsuckers, cool right?" "Tosh!" Tungsten growled it out this time, causing Tosh to stiffen in shock. Without paying attention to him, Tungsten continued leading the way as Sebastian was escorted to all the important points in the family cave before finally leading him to the depth where the throne was. Before entering the depth, all the other sharks left, leaving only Verni, Tungsten, and Sebastian. Tungsten went closer to the pitch-black wall before him. "Tungsten seeks your attention, master". "Come in".. A deep ancient voice sounded from inside in reply. Chapter 115 - Welcome, Megalodon Sebastian. As soon as Old Mak gave his consent, the pitch-black wall before them seemed to disintegrate out of the water, wiping away all traces of it in the process and granting Sebastian the opportunity to look inside. When he looked, he was surprised as compared to the other parts of the cave that were brightly illuminated, this place was all dark. Despite him hating darkness back on earth, he didn''t feel any animosity from the cave so he relaxed and followed Tungsten in alongside Verni. Of course, he felt a strong urge to activate his electroreceptor skill to check it out himself and understand everything but he stopped himself. Thinking of the fact that not only him but virtually every shark in this cave had the same electroreceptors, perhaps him using it in the most important segment of the cave may seem rude. He obviously didn''t want to attract the ire of the old Great White Shark alpha just after coming to his territory. In Rome, do as the Romans do, he supported his logic with this quote. With their entry, the pitch-black walls appeared again out of nowhere, slowly taking back their place in the entrance to the throne. After the only passage outside was blocked, bright orange light suddenly lit up, illuminating this cave segment that was referred to as the throne by Tungsten and revealing everything to Sebastian. Sebastian didn''t have to look up to know it, after basking in them for so long, he recognized that it was another group of lanterns illuminating this place. He felt grateful though, they did a lot in alleviating his worries as his eyes slightly darted about to observe his surroundings. This segment of the cave was not much different from the other parts, the same red impenetrable rocky walls, the only difference was the arrangement and the sharks residing in here. The segment was the biggest in the whole cave, it was in a square shape with what looked like 5 huge rock vertical platforms adapted for a shark at the very end and in this place hovered 5 sharks. The platforms were placed differently according to status. 2 were at the very front, next to each other with one bigger than the other while the other 3 were arranged at the back of the first 2. The 3 at the back were the smallest of the platforms, even smaller than the one beside the biggest platform in the chamber. Inside this biggest platform hovered an enormous Great White Shark, it was the alpha of this family who Sebastian already met before now, Old Mak. At the platform beside it was the other shark, Heareth who followed him through the teleportation portal for the rescue and was also a purple tier shark. The last 3 platforms at the back were also occupied by sharks. Perhaps, it was because the enormous shark was all bloody then but seeing Old Mak now, Sebastian felt an instinctive sense of respect erupt inside his heart. Seeing the alpha, Tungsten and Verni bowed their heads and called out respectfully. "Clan Head!" Sebastian immediately reacted and imitated their greetings lest he was seen as rude, first impression always mattered. The next moment, gray magic power erupted around Tungsten and the device that looked like an old typewriter with a large circle at its middle materialized in the water. Tungsten presented it before the alpha shark. "Drop it in the junkyard". Old Mak ordered which Tungsten reacted to immediately. The shark went into a smaller chamber attached to this segment of the cave and dropped the device there. After doing this, it came back and hovered before the alpha with its head still lowered slightly like it was waiting for an imperial verdict. "Tungsten, you have done well in this mission despite the short time notice. You may go, but be rest ?ssured that you will be rewarded for your effort". "Yes, Clan Head". Without saying a word, Tungsten turned and slowly swam out of this segment of the cave, disappearing in a few seconds. After he disappeared, Old Mak finally turned his sight to this youngest student of his with a frown which made Verni only drop his head down further in guilt. "Verni, you are allowed to go out adventuring but I''ve always warned you to never implicate your brothers in the consequences of your adventures". "4 brothers died as a consequence of your actions". Old Mak paused after saying this to let the information sink properly into the young shark''s brain. Hearing this felt like a bolt of lightning suddenly descending from a realm higher and striking him to Verni, his body shuddered as he felt an even stronger guilt strike at his heart. He''s always known that there were consequences to all his actions, but coming from a family of Great White Sharks, he had this innate superiority complex that allowed him to engage in daring adventures day in day out. He''s suffered before, but having to see more brothers die again because of his actions seemed to have tipped the scales of guilt in his heart to the extreme. Old Mak left him to submerge in his guilt for about a minute before he spoke again. "Verni¡­, it is good to go for adventures. Without it, we can never be this strong but next time, try going alone to not implicate your brothers". "You are already 5 years old; you are big enough and more than strong enough to go out hunting by yourself". "Yes, Clan Head". "Good!" The alpha shark nodded. "You will go meet the elders in the veteran chamber, you will be grounded for one week in the cave while going without food". "This is the punishment for your actions". Hearing this, Verni''s face showed immense sadness but he didn''t complain like before, this time he seemed to really realize that he was wrong. "I accept". With that, the Great White Shark turned, hauling his huge body along as he quickly swam out of the throne, leaving Sebastian there. Throughout all the conversations, Sebastian was as attentive as a hawk as he absolved every information that he got with frightening gusto. After everything, all that he felt was awe. The amount of intelligence, cohesiveness, and order already being displayed in this shark clan left him feeling excited and a little frightened. "Th-this is just too unbelievable". Amid his inner monologue, the voice of the alpha shark sounded again. This time, he was the one being addressed. "Welcome, Megalodon Sebastian". "¡­" "Umm, what?" Chapter 116 - [Bonus chapter]Old Maks Story. "Welcome, Megalodon Sebastian". Sebastian just couldn''t forget this sentence by the enormous Great White Shark, it kept on echoing and ringing in his mind like alarm bells and for real this time, he was alarmed. "How did he discover so easily that I''m a Megalodon? Did I leave any clue behind? Will they not accept me because of that? Will I be killed? Is my death already being plotted as we speak?" Sebastian was spooked and scared out of his wits as ?ssumptions started filling his brain. This cave was too infested with Great White Sharks, even with his current strength, escaping safely was an impossible task to him. Amid his panic, the alpha shark spoke again, this time in an amused tone. "Don''t be afraid, I won''t kill you". "¡­" "Are you wondering how I knew that you already evolved to become a Megalodon?" Saying that name again, the alpha shark''s face changed slightly, revealing a look of longing but it quickly went back to normal. "Yes". Sebastian answered truthfully, still spooked. "I created this skill that I called invade. It enables me to see beyond the normal coverings of the skin. By invading predators, I can see their bloodlines, know their species, and sometimes also know their strength and skills". "It is one of the best skills that I ever created. Tungsten still finds it hard to learn, having comprehended only 2% of its essence". "I saw some things in you that I saw in an old friend of mine, that''s why I guessed that you already evolved and transformed into the ancestral form". "You''re young right? How old are you?" "¡­" As the shark spoke, Sebastian felt a sense of pride for his achievements from the enormous alpha shark. For some reason, this did wonder in alleviating his anxiety and fear. After his encounter with Leroy, he knew better than to agitate clan heads on sight, most especially when that clan head was stronger than he was. The only problem now was the age question. "What''s wrong with my age? Why will you freaking want to know my age?" He felt like crying but he could not. "You don''t know your age?" The alpha shark asked again, making Sebastian''s face burn in shame due to how it was phrased. "Umm, I''m 6". He lied, taking a cue from Verni''s age. Sebastian felt it clearly, hearing what he said spread a wave of shock and surprise through all 5 sharks that were currently in this throne chamber, making him feel nervous. The alpha shark looked closer at him with a strange twinkle in his eye but this soon disappeared and he finally started the introductions. "I''m Old Mak, the alpha of this shark clan". The clan head introduced himself before pointing at the shark beside him with his fin. "This is Heareth, my favorite wife". "Wait, what?" Sebastian was stunned. "Favorite wife? Are we talking of a harem here? Bro, that''s too fierce, and I thought you were innocent". He turned slightly to look at the 3 other sharks who hovered at the 3 platforms in the back as his brain was filled with question marks immediately. Despite his brain being filled with thoughts, he still reacted at the appropriate time. "I am Sebastian". "A man who got reincarnated as a shark after being eaten by a shark". He added in his mind sarcastically. "Welcome to the family, Sebastian". Heareth, the alpha shark''s favorite wife finally spoke, welcoming him warmly before Old Mak continued the introductions. He pointed at the 3 other sharks at the back. "These are my closest wives, Oni, Bervatov, and Riana". "Bro, seriously? You have more?" Sebastian was left speechless. "How did you arrive inside this cliff?" Old Mak finally asked the important question. Hearing that, Sebastian knew that it was time to spill the beans. He didn''t hide anything having felt no need for it, he told the full story from when he met the group of sharks, to the shark battle royal and then the freaking Orca who came to spoil the show. The 5 sharks listened attentively to him throughout the story until he was done, then Old Mak started narrating his own story. Sebastian didn''t ask for it first, he just decided to also tell his story. According to him, he arrived in this world of fire about 2 decades ago. Then, he was already a fully grown Great White Shark but wasn''t at the purple tier yet. He, his group of Great White Shark friends, and his best friend who was also his master then, Nathan, the first Megalodon that he ever had the privilege to meet encountered an Orca for the first time. For some reason that they didn''t know, seeing this predator for the first time sprouted an instinctive sense of fear in them with Nathan being the only exception. One of them, Mai, being the cautious type advised that they leave that region immediately but all the others refused, including him, calling such behavior cowardly and beneath Great Whites like them. This was a decision that he still regretted today because the next day, it was not just one again but a whole family of Orcas came to attack them. Of course, they stood their ground, ready to battle it out to decide the strongest species but they regretted it. Led by their powerful alpha, the family of Orcas bulldozed through them after a bitter battle spanning over an hour. With Nathan bleeding severely, they ran, escaping far away for kilometers until they arrived at this world of fire. When they decided to enter and hide inside the cliff, they encountered another group of terrifying predators. Nathan fought till his last breath, once again buying the precious opportunity for him to escape down here to settle down in this cliff. Till now, he didn''t dare to go back up and was unsure if his friend was dead or still alive which was something that always made him feel guilty. From there, after swimming down here, he met the first Great White shark who was an elder of the clan now, Marble. Together, they fought, conquered, found other Great Whites, and slowly created the clan. After listening, Sebastian''s eyes glittered like stars. He absolutely enjoyed the story, it felt like he was back in story theatres back on earth, and surprisingly, Old Mak was not done, having been consumed with nostalgia. He went even further back, telling ancient stories about himself. As a young Great White Shark, he was captured and raised by an Atlantian soldier. This was the reason for his knowledge about technological devices and a lot of other things including the concept of names, and the design of the clan cave. His name, Gab was given by the Atlantian. After over an hour, when he was done with telling his stories, Old Mak hovered contentedly on the water before speaking. "Go meet the elders for evaluation". "Evaluation?" "Yes, you need it before you can be officially inducted into the clan. I wish you success, and to enjoy your stay here". "I will". Sebastian replied before turning around to swim out of the throne chamber, his anxiety having gone completely. As he swam away, an interesting thought suddenly flashed inside his brain and unable to restrain it in, he asked impulsively. "Clan Head, how many wives do you have?" Old Mak looked at him fondly before answering. "18" "¡­" Chapter 117 - Evaluation And The 3 Shark Elders. Well, he shouldn''t have asked in the first place because now he felt awkward. Sebastian didn''t know the right way to react to Old Mak''s answer, in the end, he simply shone his teeth to form a wild smile before turning to scurry away. Seeing the shark disappear, Old Mak revealed a sharky smile before turning to face his favorite wife. "I think I like him already; he reminds me so much of my best friend. He''s freakishly talented, inquisitive, and handsome". Heareth replied to that with a smile before she swam out of her platform. "I''m going to the veteran chamber; I''ll be needed there for his evaluation". "Ok". Old Mak gave his consent before also swimming away into the depths of the throne. It took only a few seconds before he was quickly consumed by the darkness there. ¡­ As soon as Sebastian passed through the pitch-black wall back outside into the expansive side of the cave, he saw a Great White Shark swimming across. "You''re the new guy, right? Welcome, I''m Shanks". "Thanks, I''m Sebastian". As Sebastian answered, he also observed the shark. This fellow was fairly small compared to others, even smaller than Verni, towering at a size of about 5 meters. It didn''t have many adaptations either, it was extremely plain and still in the most basic form of a shark. Seeing all these, Sebastian easily deduced that it was still at the white tier. This once again emphasized to him the importance of bloodlines. Even for the Draconic Lizards, most of their low-leveled family members had low intelligence but a white tier great white shark was so much different. Just with this alone, he could deduce which bloodline was stronger between those of the Draconic Lizards and Great White Sharks. "You''re going to the veteran chamber for your evaluation, right?" Seeing him keep quiet, Shanks asked. "Yeah, can you please show me there?" Sebastian suddenly felt awkward having asked that, was it too formal? Ugh! He felt exhausted, adapting to interacting with sharks instead of humans didn''t seem to be an easy task from the expression on Shank''s face. The shark revealed a confused expression. "What''s that? What''s please? The clan head once said that''s a word used for begging, are you begging?" "No, sorry, dammit no, just take me to the veteran chamber". "Ok, let''s go". With that, the 2 sharks left towards the direction of the veteran chamber. As they swam, Sebastian used this opportunity to think about his encounter with Old Mak while heaving a sigh of relief. He felt relieved as he was not asked s?ns?t?v? questions like how he became a Megalodon at the orange tier, what skill he used to kill the Devouring Octopus, and a myriad of other things that would have left him in a tough spot. Overall, from his encounter with the alpha shark, he seemed to be safe which was something he really appreciated. For once, after killing, killing, and killing, he finally had a place where he could live harmoniously with other predators without them baring their teeth against his skin. For the stories told by Old Mak, he believed them because they explained a lot of things such as their ability to use technological devices as he said. He wanted to say thank you as was normal after receiving help from someone but remembering the shark''s reaction to ''please'', he changed it. "I''ll take you hunting when my evaluation is done". "Really? Yay! I''ll be your loyal junior brother if you take me out hunting". Shanks was thrilled which was expressed in his reaction. Sebastian revealed a smile on seeing that before entering this segment of the cave that was called the veteran chamber. Getting inside, he was once again wowed by the construct. This chamber was separated into smaller chambers by a special transparent rock that he didn''t know the name of, and in one of these smaller chambers hovered Verni. Entering here, he felt like he entered a modern hospital though this was a cave. Verni saw him also as soon as he entered, he waved a fin at him which he reciprocated. "Are you Sebastian?" "Yeah¡­, yes". Sebastian turned only to see a Great White Shark that left him stunned again. Compared to the others, this shark didn''t look like a predator at all, it rather looked like your everyday nanny who took care of kids. "Please, come this way for your evaluation". The nanny shark led the way. "Ok". "We have 3 elders, Marble, Dangle, and Shine". After telling their names, she introduced information about them. According to her, Marble was the eldest and strongest of the elders. He was an earth domain magician and was also at the purple tier. All 3 elders were at the purple tier, which was a criterion to being one. Dangle was the only female elder. She was a sound domain magician, just like Sebastian which left him thrilled immediately. Shine was the last of the elders who only broke through 2 years ago. He was a light domain magician who focused more on the illusionary part of light magic. Together, all 3 elders and Queen Heareth were responsible for evaluations. By the time she finished her introductions, she already led Sebastian to one of the smaller chambers. There, he was placed on a platform like the one in the throne chamber where he had just come from. A few seconds later, a Great White Shark came in and stood beside the nanny shark. It was the elder, Shine. "Sebastian, don''t resist it, take it in and feel like you want to sleep". Before Sebastian knew it, he was already feeling groggy and sleepy. [You are currently being affected by illusionary light magic: Drowsiness.] After he slept, 2 other elders came in, including the Queen, Heareth. Marble immediately started manipulating the earth, creating what seemed like earth ropes as they dug into the stationary shark''s body. While he did this, Dangle went closer and touched Sebastian with her dorsal fin. [You have been affected by a skill: Vibrational Search.] Unfortunately, Sebastian couldn''t see the notification because he was asleep. After the earth ropes dug into his body, the other parts of the rope were connected to an old machine. As soon as it was connected, numbers and figures appeared on the machine''s screen and started rapidly counting away. In a few seconds, dozens of patterns were established by the figures and were tabulated by the nanny shark. Due to the earth ropes digging inside his body, Sebastian''s body started bleeding but Heareth diligently healed him, making sure that he didn''t lose too much blood from the injuries. With the 5 of them working together, they got what they wanted in a few minutes. The only problem was that the tabulated figures that they got shocked the shit out of them. Elder Marble didn''t comment despite the strange figures that were gotten after the evaluation; he simply ordered the nanny to do as already established. "Go give the figures to the Head". "Yes, elder". Chapter 118 - A Surprising Discovery/Reward. "Clan Head, the figures for the new shark are ready". "Good, well-done Phase, leave them on the relic crable". As soon as Phase dropped the figures tabulated on the rock and left, magic power was pumped into the square-shaped structure with 4 legs as it was stimulated, making it move towards the darkness where Old Mak lived. After the rock on the structure, Old Mak called a crable disappeared in the darkness, the alpha shark started going through it casually. {Shark Evaluation} >Name: Sebastian< >Species: Young Megalodon< >Tier: Orange tier< >Battle Strength: Quasi-purple tier< >Magic Domain: Sound< >Evolution Route: Mixed< >Size: 15 meters< >Age: Approximately 3 months old< Bam! Almost all the stats were exactly as he envisioned, the last one was what left him feeling like he suddenly needed a pair of lenses which his former Atlantian owner always complained about. If he had hands, he would have already started rubbing his eyes or even pinching his skin to confirm that he was not dreaming. "What am I seeing?" He questioned his own intelligence. "Did Shine use some illusion magic on me?" Without hesitation, he swept the rock surface with his electroreceptor skill which was far more advanced than Sebastian''s and the answer confirmed his conjecture, nothing was tampered with. Unlike Sebastian''s electroreceptors, his could outline the exact words that were scribbled on the rock and it also could bypass illusions. Now, he already confirmed that the figures were not tampered with, so did this mean that Sebastian was just 3 months old? He shuddered, feeling like his understanding of his world was suddenly not updated enough. Across the many decades that he''s lived as a shark, this was the first time that he had ever seen a thing as strange as this. "Did he somehow interrupt Dangle''s vibrational search?" This was the only conclusion that he could come to after thinking as hard as he could, and the only one that he could believe. From his experience, 3 months old sharks were in the category of those still being taken care of in the pen and were mostly less than a meter tall. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became so he just decided to ignore it. Despite ignoring the figures, one thing became apparent to him, Sebastian was definitely not an ordinary shark. He relaxed in his chambers, letting his tail flap at the water left and right as he silently went through the battle experience with Octumpedam again. ¡­ "Ouch! My brain hurts". Sebastian wh?n?d as consciousness slowly returned to him. His eyes were closed, they still felt heavy to him and a strange sense of laziness prevented him from putting in more effort to open them. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] For the first time since he started using his skills, Sebastian was grateful that he only needed his brain to give the order to activate them. As soon as the skill was activated, he was finally able to see his surroundings. He was still in the platform that he was placed in before he fell asleep, and the nanny shark hovered beside him in the water. "They left without even saying hi?" He grumbled. As he grumbled, the drowsiness and slight pricking pain in his brain subsided, enabling him to finally open his eyes. The first thing that presented itself to his eyes was familiar, it was the nanny shark. "Congratulations Sebastian! Your evaluation was successful, you''re officially a part of the family". "Thanks". Sebastian finally swam out of the platform originally holding him in place, taking a glance at the chamber again in the process. "So, what now?" He asked after confirming again that the elders already left. "Nothing". The nanny shark spread her dorsal fins slightly. "You''re a part of the family now, you can do anything you want". "You can decide to meet the others and socialize with them. Be polite though, some of the youngsters can easily get riled up which occasionally result in vicious bites at each other". "Also, there''s the family reward system for the whole family set up by the clan head himself". The nanny shark''s tone became a little proud as she said this. "We''re one of the only predator clans which have one, the clan head said he learned it from his Atlantian owner". "Oh, a reward system?" Sebastian was surprised, feeling like his understanding of the shark clan was once again being renewed. He could feel things becoming more complicated and advanced. "Yes, a reward system. Ask your brothers after leaving here, they''ll show you the way there to get registered". The nanny shark smiled at him. "Ok, thanks again". As Sebastian flapped his tail intending to leave, he stopped as his system lit up with a new notification for him. [You have come into contact with a sound domain magician.] [A sound domain magic skill has been used on you: Vibrational Search.] [Special magic skill system analysis has been triggered.] [Analyzing magic skill complexity¡­, complexity analyzed.] [The sound domain magic skill ''Vibrational Search'' is within your current capabilities to learn.] [Learning a magic ability from other predators externally costs twice the amount to learn it with the system.] [New Cost for learning: 1820 Skill points.] [Do you wish to learn this skill now?] ***** Here''s the bonus chapter milestone for next week. 200 PS= 1 Bonus chapter 400 PS= 2 Bonus chapters 600 PS= 3 Bonus chapters Chapter 119 - New Skill- Vibrational Search. "Sebastian". "¡­" "Sebastian!" "Oh, yes, sorry, I got distracted after remembering something". Sebastian answered, feeling the urge to cough to diffuse the awkward atmosphere only to remember that he was now a shark. Well, he could simulate it with his sound control skill but he didn''t find the need to go put so much effort to go through all those. "Is everything alright?" The nanny shark asked softly, showing her side again which made Sebastian adjectivize her as a nanny. "I''m alright". Sebastian revealed a sharky smile before asking shamelessly. "I just remembered that I didn''t know your name, please can I know your name?" "Oh, you can call me Phase". "Ok, senior Phase. I want to leave but I just remembered another thing. I''m a sound domain magician, the elder, Dangle is also a sound domain magician, a senior to me in the field". "I don''t know if you know this term but I''m her fan already, please can you tell me more about her?" "Ok". Phase suspected nothing; she revealed every information that she could about the only female elder of the clan to the young shark. About the figures that she tabulated about the shark, she also didn''t believe them but it was not in her position to question the elder''s abilities. She simply wrote what the machine provided. As she spoke to Sebastian, at times she couldn''t help but direct a strange look at him which the shark failed to notice. It took her about 2 minutes before she finished talking. And by that time, Sebastian was already completely satisfied. He thanked her one last time before turning to leave. ¡­ "Holy Moly! System, how can you be so OP?" When he learned from Phase that one of the elders was a sound domain magician, he only paid a little more attention to it, he did not expect that there would be so many benefits to meeting another sound domain magician. He was shocked, and so also was he excited by the notification. The more he grew in strength, the more time it took for him to evolve and grow stronger again. Though he had his system store to purchase skills and adaptations, its flexibility left much to be appreciated. He already started worrying about the fact that he only got access to a myriad of skills and adaptations during evolutions, he did not expect this sudden twist at all. Right now, if possible, he wanted to hug his system. Though he didn''t pay attention to it before, right now, he already resolved his mind to hover close to the elder as frequently as possible. Other sharks were mere family members to him, but this female elder was now his mobile store to access skills. Without hesitation, he gave his consent to buy the skill. [1820 Skill points have been deducted from you.] [You have purchased the sound domain magic skill: Vibrational Search.] He had to admit that this skill was OP for anatomy, he felt thrilled. On the spot, ideas rapidly started forming in his mind which was his most OP trait that gave him the nickname of the crazy dissector. To know more and form more ideas about the skill, he needed to use it in contact with another predator to gather useful research data. About his skill points, all he could say was that with his growth speed, he was slowly on a part to being a skillionaire and adaptationiare. Compared to the beginning of his journey when 5 bonus skill points from the system felt like the whole world to him, he could now pull-out thousands of points without batting an eyelid. Another fact that left him in awe was the number of purple tier powerhouses in this shark clan. Slowly, the advantages of a high-tier bloodline that Leroy once explained to him were becoming apparent to him. Even with how mighty the Mammoth Crocodile family that he clashed with was, it only had 3 purple tier powerhouses which spoke volumes about the strength of the family and the advantage of bloodlines. Even the Draconic Lizard family had only the Lizard Lord as their purple tier powerhouse, the others were orange and white tier predators. He felt glad though, he was glad because this meant that he just got affiliated with a powerful shark family with even more ridiculous potential in the form of Tungsten, Verni, and now him. Teeth was a lost cause. Clearing his brain of all distractions, he finally got ready to go back to the expansive segment of the cave which was like the sitting room of the clan. Without hesitation, he activated his triple reverse swim skill and swam away. ¡­ Inside one of the special chambers segmented in the cave, a huge Great White Shark swam in amid respectful glances from all the other sharks around it. This enormous shark was the only female of the 3 Great elders of the clan, Dangle. At this moment, this shark elder was experiencing a feeling that she experienced last years ago, the strange feeling of self-doubt. After the tabulated data was presented, neither Marble nor herself said a word despite the ridiculous figures nor did Shine tell them to redo the evaluation due to the respect that he had for them. Despite this, the elder shark couldn''t help but admit that the figures were ridiculous. For years, she already mastered the vibrational search skill and it was virtually impossible for her to make a mistake so what went wrong? As soon as she entered her chambers, she gave an order to her student. "Shackle, bring a shark and place him on a platform". "Yes, master". After everything was set, the elder went closer and activated her skill. The machine counted while her student tabulated. When she was done, she checked the result and it correlated with what she got for the same shark years ago. Now, she was even more shocked. "Is he really just 3 months old?" Chapter 120 - Challenge To A Duel. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] With these 2 skills active, it did not take Sebastian long before he arrived in the main segment of the cave where dozens of Great White Sharks were gathered. Seeing so many Great Whites in a single cave, he felt a little overwhelmed but not for long though as a voice called out to him. "Hehe, Seba bro, you passed your evaluation". Sebastian didn''t even need to look with his eyes or his electroreceptors, the shameless nickname that was called already revealed the shark''s identity. He turned to direct a glare at the shark. "Tosh!" "Woah, you just came and Tungsten already infected you? Sigh, my days ahead are going to be much harder". While they observed him, Sebastian also checked them out. Of the many sharks currently in the cave, only a few were as tall as 15 meters and all those hovered alone at various corners of the cave. The ones below 15 meters were the most active, clearly, the youths described by Phase. One thing about the sharks that fascinated him was their varying adaptations. Well, Verni was right, most sharks here were awful at choosing adaptations, he felt a sense of superiority for once. Ignoring the sharks that grew limb adaptations, there were some that grew an extra pair of eyes, others with tail fins that could expand and shrink with a thought, others with an extra pair of stomachs to eat more. Overall, though their adaptations were extremely varied, Sebastian felt a sense of reliability and power from the sharks which told of their different level compared to other predator kingdoms. Noticing his roaming eyes, Tosh already guessed what he was observing as he hovered closer to him and whispered. "Bush is the worst; he grew an extra pair of claspers". "W-what?" Sebastian shuddered in fright. "Tosh, what did you just say?" A loud voice suddenly reverberated in the cave before Sebastian could recover his nerves. "What did you just say?" The bush shark asked again, glaring at Tosh. Without a word, Tosh laughed awkwardly before hiding behind Sebastian. "Wait, you¡­" Speechless, Sebastian had no choice but to face the full force glare from the 4 sharks. He quickly adjusted. "We didn''t say any word about you, we''re just looking for Shanks. We intend to go out hunting, and he''s our partner". From the back of the group, a small excited shark immediately swam out, thrashing excitedly towards Sebastian on hearing what he said. "Really, senior bro". "Yeah, get prepared, we''ll be leaving soon". "Got it". It felt weird talking with sharks, but Sebastian was slowly getting the hang of it which could already be referred to as improvement. "I see, newcomer, you want to establish power, right?" He suddenly turned to face the other sharks. "This fearsome guy here seems to want to challenge me to a duel, I hope he doesn''t mind if we go through with it". Hearing that, Sebastian hovered motionless without saying a word. "Spar!" "Bite!" "Eat!" Bush''s declaration seemed to have ruffled the originally calm atmosphere of the cave, the sharks erupted, yelling in a frenzy. Seeing this, Sebastian felt a little disappointed. With their frightening intelligence, he expected more but his expectations seemed to have been placed too high. In the end, they were still just sharks. "I accept your challenge". He declared without hesitation. If displaying his strength before his brothers were the only way for him to be accepted by them properly, he had no problems doing just that. Before going out, he asked Tosh about Tungsten''s whereabouts and according to the shark, Tungsten went out hunting with his team. ¡­ About 2 minutes later, almost all the sharks in the cave came out already and surrounded 2 sharks who were about to battle. The arena was easily decided, outside the cave but still in the shark clan''s territory. There was no need for a countdown, once the hype grew enough, Bush took the initiative himself and rushed towards the opposing shark. While accumulating momentum in his charge, he opened his huge mouth wide, causing the fire wildly stirring inside it to erupt outwards. [You have activated a magic skill: Magic Shield.] Boom! The raging fire collided with Sebastian''s shield but dealt no damage to it. He had no intention of staying passive so before Bush closed the distance completely to him, he attacked. [You have activated magic domain skill: Sonic Drill.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] He recoiled from the damage, and this was the mistake that led to the end for him. He never recovered from it. Before he could reorient itself, his opponent appeared before him, colliding and hitting him with such force that left his brain receiving waves of shock from the impact. He tried to bite instinctively but his teeth hit empty water, the next moment he experienced pain from the side of his body again as a sharp spike adaptation appeared from the new shark''s body, digging into his body in the process. "Roar!" It roared in pain but Sebastian did not let up. From the impact of his attacks against Bush''s skin, Sebastian easily deduced that his numerous hairs acted as another layer of defense to him, and they could also entangle opponents that came close enough. To other predators, this may be a problem but with Sebastian, his frightening strength for an orange tier predator meant that he could just brute force through. [You have activated magic domain skill: Water Cyclone.] [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite!] As Bush was pushed away by the raging cyclone, before he could heave a sigh of relief and prepare for a counterattack, he felt a fearsome row of teeth digging into his body directly from his back. Sebastian''s teeth clamped down with force, dealing astronomical damage in a single blow. For Bush who was at the receiving end, his brain directly shut down from the fearsome pain feedback that his brain sent to him. "Roar!" After he recovered, he roared but this time in a much softer tone filled with pain and slight fear. He directed a respectful look at the shark who hovered before him. After biting on its skin, Sebastian stopped himself lest he dealt damage that would have resulted in something bad happening. The winner was already decided, Sebastian won at a milestone in just seconds after the battle started. All the spectating stats were stunned and awed as their eyes glittered excitedly, they were stunned speechless but it didn''t last long. Tosh started it and the others soon joined. "Seba bro!" "Seba bro!" Sebastian felt an urge to smack Tosh''s bu?? but knowing that this was a chant directed at him alleviated his grievance derived from the nickname a bit. Before he left the makeshift arena, he remembered a new use of his system that he unlocked not too long ago and tried it out. [System Snooping tool has been utilized.] [Host is stronger than target, snooping successful.] Chapter 121 - The Powerful New Bro In Town. [Target Name: Bush.] [Species: Mature Great White- Shark.] [Power Tier: Orange Tier.] ***** [Level: 14] Stats: Power: 35 Speed: 22 Mind: 18 Constitution: 33 Luck: 13 HP: 87/413 MP: 244/350 [Body Skills: Piercing Bite; Advanced Swim; Dash; Dorsal Fin; Tail Fin; Electroreceptors; Bushy Tentacle Entanglement; Frenzy Bite.] [Magic Skills: Fire Breath; Fire Control; Fire Cultivation.] [Adaptations: Skin Bush Tentacle; Fire Skin; Magic Effect Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Stun Snout.] ***** Perhaps, it was because he was stronger than the shark but this was still a little too ridiculous, it was like he was staring at his own status. He knew he didn''t have the time to stay in one place for a long time but he did as he wanted which was to go through the stats now, he was really surprised. The basic stats of the Great White Shark, including the health and mana points, showed the difference between him and other predators of the orange tier, they were miles apart. This perfectly explained his ability to battle to a stand-still with predators of the purple tier, having not lost pathetically once in all the encounters. For the body and magic skills of the shark, all he could say was that they were just so-so, perhaps except the Bush Tentacle Entanglement and the Frenzy Bite. For the frenzy bite, he didn''t have a perfect visualization of it as the shark didn''t have a chance to bite him in the previous battle. He bossed the duel from the beginning till the end. The only stats of the shark that was a little commendable to him was his adaptations. Though he didn''t see them all in action in the previous battle, their names revealed a lot to him of what they were capable of doing. With his observation and testing of the snooping tool done, he was about to leave but another thought suddenly struck his mind. He already earned the respect of the shark, why not just use this opportunity to try his new skill on him? Perhaps, he may have the opportunity to use it on Verni or even Tosh later but no one said using it now was a crime. Sebastian didn''t stand on ceremony, he directly made contact with the shark. [You have activated magic domain skill: Vibrational Search.] [Sonic vibration has been induced in target''s body¡­, internal body structure is being broken down and analyzed.] [Analysis incomplete¡­, search has been interrupted.] When Sebastian came into contact with him, Bush was stunned as he felt a familiar but at the same time, strange feeling pervade his body. The only difference was that this time he was not asleep, and the itch was maddening. When it became unbearable, he struggled, breaking free from the other shark''s body which in turn interrupted Sebastian. [You have obtained an incomplete analysis of the Great White Shark- Bush.] [Species: Mature Great White- Shark.] [Tier: Orange Tier.] [Magic Domain: ???] [Evolution Route: ???] [Size: ???] [Age: Approximately 12 years old.] Seeing the information that was displayed before him, Sebastian quickly understood the circumstances. He finally knew why he had to be affected by illusion magic and made to sleep before he was evaluated. He was not the shark at the receiving end of the skill but from the reaction of the shark, he could make a lot of inferences. First was that when activated on a target, the target must remain stationary as a slight shake might interrupt the skill as just illustrated by him. The second was that the target of the skill must be asleep, this was to escape the unbearable itch. Another fact that he noticed was the keen similarity between the use of his system snooping tool and the skill. From what he already saw, the snooping tool revealed general information about the target like stats, name, species, and the tier. Information like the age, battle strength, magic domain, and even the evolution route of the target. He guessed that with more proficiency over the skill, perhaps, someday, he could infer hidden information about the mysteries in the bloodline of the target predator that he touched. After spending so much time in this world, he already started noticing the strategic importance that bloodlines played. Perhaps, there were even more mysteries stored in bloodlines than unique skills and the only reason why his system still kept him in the dark was that he was not strong enough to know about it. Of the many stats revealed of his duel opponent, the more striking one of all to him was its age. Compared to Verni who was 5, despite being 12 already, Bush was still in the category of teenage Great White sharks. After he organized all the thoughts that were raging and clashing in his head, this was when Sebastian noticed that he already spent too much time in one place. Originally, after he won the duel so convincingly, the spectating sharks gushed over his awesomeness, chanting his name excitedly but this stopped due to the strange actions that he displayed after winning. At this moment, even Tosh was confused as he looked at him with a weird expression. "What''s he up to?" Noticing this, Sebastian felt awkward but he improvised on the spot. Without saying a word to anyone, he turned around like he just completed an intense meditation session, then he swam back inside the cave. It was only after Sebastian disappeared that the spectating sharks recovered. Though Sebastian''s last few actions were weird, they didn''t pay much attention to it due to the fierce prowess that he displayed in the duel. "Such a powerful bro! Is he stronger than Tungsten?" Chapter 122 - The 3 Main Segments And The First Affiliated Faction. As soon as Sebastian went back inside the cave with his electroreceptor skill still active, he heaved a sigh of relief as Tosh followed him in as he expected. Not only Tosh, the small shark, Shanks also followed him in. "You really want to go hunting?" Tosh asked as soon as he entered the cave, having passed the 2 shark guards at the entrance. "Yes, but first, you need to show me around". After staying without food for a few hours, though the day already started getting dark, Sebastian now craved food badly. But before going out to hunt for food, he decided that knowing the whole cave was a necessity. The first time when Tungsten and Verni took him through, he was only led through the periphery regions of the cave. As this was probably going to be his home for the indefinite future, he wanted to know the ins and outs of the home. As expected, Tosh didn''t complain after hearing the task. Why would he when such a thing gave him the best platform to blabber about all day? The cave was divided into 3 main segments, the main staying segment, the throne segment, and the working segment. You are allowed to live a casual life but once you wanted more, you needed to play according to the rules that were set by the clan head and the elders. The main staying segment was the biggest segment of the cave, and it was this part of the cave where the sharks slept and inhabited. It was further subdivided into smaller segments which acted like makeshift rooms but for sharks. This segment was the part that Sebastian was taken through when he was led by Tungsten, so he didn''t have to check it out again. The throne segment consisted of the clan head''s throne chamber, the armory, and the junkyard. According to Tosh, these 3 chambers were the most important places in the cave. Sebastian didn''t get the privilege of getting to explore these 3 chambers, this was because he needed to fulfill some requirements before getting to the requisite level of trust to access inside. The throne chamber was self-explanatory, it was the segment of the cave behind the pitch-black door where he went to meet Old Mak and his wives. The armory was where the weapons of the clan were kept. All the Elders, including Old Mak, at some point, already explored various regions of this ocean volcano and they acquired spoils of war from their exploits. Part of these spoils of war included weapons and magic weapons. These were what was kept inside the armory. Also, there was a reward if a shark acquired a weapon and placed it in the armory. The armory was open to every shark in the clan but some requirements needed to be fulfilled to access the weapons stored inside it. The machines in the junkyard were only available to the clan head, the 3 elders, and Queen Heareth. For other sharks to access them, special permission needed to be given like in the case of Tungsten and the others. The last main segment of the cave, the working segment was by far the busiest segment of the cave. As illustrated by the name given to it, it was where the workshops of the clan were located. Workshops in this term meant the healing department with Queen Heareth as the head, the construction department with Elder Marble as the head, the pen with Phase as the head, the domain departments, and the Mission/Reward Hall. The healing department was like a shark hospital, but in this case, instead of doctors being trained, it was healing magicians that were being trained. This department of the clan was one of the most stagnant though because to date, Queen Heareth was still the only bonafide healer of the clan. All the others were at or below the white tier, evolving as a healer was the hardest of all. The construction department was as it was. Under the leadership of Elder Marble, they were the ones who demarcated the cave into segments. The rock making up the cliff that surrounded the ocean volcano already grew so strong throughout the years that they became impenetrable to normal attacks. To break and use them, powerful earth magicians were needed. As one of the most important departments of the clan, Elder Marble being the leader of the department had the highest prestige among the elders removing his advantage as the first elder. The pen was where young sharks were bred and nurtured. Like Sebastian called her, Phase was the nanny who led this department that enabled the continued multiplication of the family. The shark family led by Old Mak was at least 6 times bigger than the Crocodile family that suffered under Sebastian''s hooves of tyranny, the pen played the main role in making this possible. For the domain departments, it was where the 5 purple tier powerhouses of the clan held lectures to produce more powerhouses of the same magic domain. Old Mak learned about the importance of order from his previous owner, and it was what made his clan so prosperous today. With such clear divisions, the clan worked smart and hard which was the best combination ever. The last of the workshops which was the Mission/Reward Hall was the anchor that regulated all the departments of the clan. There, sharks could register as workers of the clan and they would get access to the shark points which was the currency used in the clan. According to the clan head, this was a dream that his best friend always had for sharks to work orderly with a currency. In the end, he was the one who realized the dream in place of his best friend. After registering into the hall as a worker, sharks would be exposed to missions issued by the clan and completion earned rewards in shark points. Not only that, it was the ticket to climb the hierarchy of the shark clan. Without pause, with Tosh and Shanks accompanying him, Sebastian visited each of the workshops and departments until he finally stopped at the Mission/Reward Hall. The hall was filled with sharks of different sizes, colors, and shapes. They all gathered with different motives in mind, some looked for hunting missions to take, others came to claim their benefits and a myriad of other things. All Sebastian could describe the hall with was boisterousness, it was extremely lively and filled with optimism. Nanga, the only shark in charge of the hall asked as soon as he appeared. "Sebastian, do you want to register as a worker of the clan?" Sebastian didn''t even need to think about it, he answered without hesitation as soon as he was asked. "Yes". The procedure for registration was not too complicated, a strange machine was placed in the hall which did most of the registration. Nanga''s only mission was to control it and make sure it was precise. 2 minutes after he applied, Sebastian became a worker of the shark clan. [Congratulations! You have officially affiliated with your first faction: Old Mak Great White Shark Clan.] [You have gained 10 Affiliation points.] Chapter 123 - Hunting Team Has Been Created- The Ultimate Dissectors! [Congratulations! You have officially affiliated with your first faction: Old Mak Great White Shark Clan.] [You have gained 10 Affiliation points.] [10 Affiliation points when exchanged give 1000 Skill points and 1000 Adaptation points.] Seeing this, Sebastian was caught off-guard and stunned. The first thing that immediately came to his mind after seeing it was the 10 Invention points that he was rewarded with when he created the Tower Prison magic manifestation. When converted, both invention and affiliation points were equal in value. This was not his main focus though; his main focus was in the fact that he got them in the first place. Regarding the shark clan as a faction was the best, he completely agreed with it because he could no longer see this clan as a clan of common sea animals again after all the complexities that were already exposed to him. In some areas, he even felt that this clan was more organized than companies owned by humans in his previous world which spoke volumes. After doing a small celebration in his mind about how he got 1000 Skill and Adaptation points from nowhere, his concentration came back to the present. From the explanation given to him after becoming a worker of the clan, shark points meant everything here the way money did in his previous life. Shark points were needed for him to join a department of the clan. And if he joined the sound domain department, he needed shark points to attend each magic lecture by the shark elder, Dangle. To access healing when severely injured from the healing department, shark points were needed. To visit and access the weapons in the armory, he also needed shark points after fulfilling some special requirements. Practically doing anything in the clan required shark points, and this was a great handicap to any shark who decided not to be a worker of the clan because he/she won''t access shark points in the first place. The only way to get shark points was through completing missions, either those that involved hunting or those that involved working in the different workshops for those sharks less battle inclined. Inside the Mission/Reward Hall was a special wall where all the missions and rewards were tabulated for easy access to sharks. The missions were divided into the healing department tab, the construction department tab, the pen tab, and the hunting tab. >Hunt Mission- Food for the young sharks in the pen< - Mission Details: Either individually or with a team, worker is expected to go out and hunt for food to feed the young sharks in the pen. The reward depends on how many kilos of meat is hunted and submitted. >Hunt Mission- Annihilating rivals< - Mission Details: Either individually or with a team, worker is expected to go out and hunt the mutated Cobras of the Cobra clan. The reward depends on the number and tier of rival predators killed. >Hunt Mission- Hunt down the Goblin Shark< - Mission Details: Either individually or with a team, hunt down Teeth who failed his evolution and mutated into a mindless Goblin Shark. Killing him gives the full reward, but restraining and capturing him gives double the reward. >Hunt Mission- Annihilating archenemies< - Mission Details: Either individually or with a team, hunt down and kill the vicious archenemies of our species, the vicious Orcas. Each kill gives a reward and multiple kills attract a special reward from the clan head himself. >Hunt Mission¡­< >Hunt Mission¡­< The available missions in the tab were more than 3 dozen which once again showed Sebastian the unrelenting activities going on in the clan. Sebastian didn''t contemplate the other missions yet, the first 4 alone were already enough to burn his time. Without hesitation, he took all 4 of them to show his determination and burning excitement for the challenge. Another perk of the Mission/Reward Hall was that if he submitted a weapon, it could be appraised and he would be paid in the form of shark points which were equivalent to the value of the weapon. Sebastian felt tempted to submit the magic weapon that was with him immediately but he stopped himself. Perhaps, it was because the weapon was his first but he felt reluctant to part with it. And it was not like he was in dire need of shark points anyway. If he really needed it, he would trade the weapon but now keeping it was not a bad idea. His main ambition right now was to get himself some food, gather some shark points, and prepare for the shark elder, Dangle''s next lecture. He wanted to test if he could learn the shark elder''s skills just by watching her teach instead of establishing contact first. Though he already had a large catalog of skills, it was not bad getting some more. Of course, he wanted to evolve too but his experience for evolution was not full yet. Even if it was full, he wouldn''t evolve immediately, he wanted to seek guidance to increase his chances as much as possible. The example of Teeth and other sharks that Verni already told him stories of scared the shit out of him, now he only wanted to settle for the most cautious and safest choice to evolve. Of course, he preferred either going alone or alongside Verni but with the latter grounded and him being followed by the blabbermouth Tosh and Shanks, he needed to take another strategy this time. For the first time, he thought of creating a hunt team. Without hesitation, he went ahead with his idea and started the procedures to create one. About 4 minutes later, he was done after finalizing things with Nanga. [You have created your first hunting team.] [Team Leader: Sebastian.] [Team Members- 2: Tosh and Shanks.] [Do you wish to give your hunting team a name?"] "Hmmm, a name?" Sebastian was quickly submerged in his thoughts but he didn''t even have to go deep before arriving, he got an epiphany and easily arrived at the perfect name. [Hunting team has been created: The Ultimate Dissectors!] Chapter 124 - Lets Go Hunting. "The Ultimate Dissectors?" Nanga looked at the huge shark weirdly. "Yeah, the ultimate dissectors". Sebastian replied with a confident smile. Though his system already confirmed his creation of the hunting team, he still wanted to confirm it with Nanga who was in charge of the hall as that was the only way for it to be legally recognized by other sharks. "Tosh, Shanks, do you both agree to become members of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team?" Nanga turned to face the 2 sharks. Tosh hesitated a bit but Shanks did not, he gave his consent immediately. Feeling Sebastian''s gaze on him, Tosh finally smiled sheepishly and agreed. It was not that he was forced, the thing was that despite his strength relative to other sharks and the fact that he''s stayed a part of this shark clan for years, he was still not in any hunting team. It was not that he hated hunting teams, the thing was that other sharks loathed his blabbering personality. He also thought that Sebastian felt the same way which was why he was surprised at being invited. Even Tungsten who was the only shark who took him into his hunting team because of their compatibility in terms of magic domain ability kicked him out after just 3 months together. Despite all these, he just couldn''t stop himself or change the way he interacted with other sharks, it was a part of him already. If he didn''t talk extensively in a day, then he was sick, he was that simple. For some reason, just this decision by Sebastian to take him into his hunting team already made his likeability of this shark increase several folds. After both sharks gave their consent, Nanga no longer hesitated. "Congratulations to the 3 of you, you are now officially members of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team. Grow the size of the hunting team to access more exclusive missions available for teams". With that, Sebastian was done with all the urgent things currently plaguing him. He turned to leave the hall but he was stopped by Tosh. "Won''t you engage in promotion?" "Huh?" "To increase the team''s size". "Oh!" Sebastian could only react with that. Even in his previous world, he was not that exactly outgoing guy so word-of-mouth promotion was strange to him. All he had a passion for in his life was anatomy, precisely dissecting. He thought for a few seconds before answering. "Don''t worry, if others want, they can join, we don''t need to promote first. They''ve already witnessed my strength as the leader of the team, and results is another way to promote". His logic was that if he could go out for a single hunting session and come back with a large haul, getting adequate shark points for everyone currently in his team, was that not the best promotion ever to attract new members? Like a sage once said in his previous life; pursue excellence, and success would pursue you. This was exactly the promotion tactic that he wanted to use. "Let''s go hunting". ¡­ "Which hunt mission should I prioritize?" As Sebastian swam out of the cave with his new team members, this dilemma occupied his mind as he tried to decide on the mission to give more priority. After thinking, he decided on the first mission. Hunting food for the baby sharks in the pen was a mission that was more varied and broader than the others, giving them more chances of completing it. For the annihilating rivals'' mission, he could decide to complete it if he met mutated Cobras outside but he was definitely not invading their clan cave. No matter how strong he currently was, he was not arrogant enough to think that he could take on a group of Cobras at once which was even more dangerous when a purple tier mutated Cobra may be residing inside. For the Goblin Shark mission, it was the same. If he encountered the shark again, he would hunt it down without hesitation but proactively searching for it was stupid as it could be anywhere on the cliff. The annihilating archenemies mission was the same too. After his first and only encounter with an Orca, he was cautious of those apex predators, and any mission related to them needed to be taken cautiously also. And it was also related to his monthly system target, so if he had the chance, he would kill them but he was not about to risk his life to go out hunting them. Perhaps, in the future, he may decide to do that but not now. He was carefully shelving most of his ambitions to the side, for now, he would address all of them after his next evolution to officially become a predator Megalodon at the purple tier. As for Verni, he would add him to the team after the shark finally served his imprisonment punishment sentence. Like a certain group of sharks in the clan, Verni was originally not part of a hunting team. They preferred joining random groups to go hunting together rather than being tied to one hunting group. Despite this, Sebastian was confident that he could pull Verni into his group. After spending all that time together in the seamount, the respect Verni had for him was not something that could be extinguished by the mere fact of joining a hunting team. As 24 hours already passed since he last checked his daily system target, it already reset though he could not complete it. Now a new target was there. [System Daily target: Kill and eat 15 mutated Fire Shrimps - Uncompleted.] [Target Reward: 50 Adaptation points.] Removing his eyes from his system notification, Sebastian finally set his sight into the distance. He first observed the territory of the mutated Cobras and not seeing any stray Cobra, he turned his attention away. As this region was fairly new to him, he didn''t have a specific target location in mind so he just decided on a random direction. "Let''s go left". Chapter 125 - New Encounters. [You have killed a mutated Bone Fish- Level 16: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 14 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a mutated Fire Shrimp- Level 12: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 9 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Fire Mogul- Level 17: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 22 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] [You have unlocked the basic profile information of the Bonefish.] [You have unlocked the basic profile information of the Fire Shrimp.] [You have unlocked the basic profile information of the Fire Mogul.] 10 minutes after Sebastian left into the deeper parts of the cliff to hunt, he finally met and killed his first Fire Shrimp but this was not the highlight of his encounter. It was the other predators that he met. In these few minutes of hunting, he understood the difference between this region and the seamount where he originally bossed and lived. During his time in the seamount, his victims were mostly Giant Crabs, Yeti Crabs, and Poison Worms. In the seamount, the big hitters like the Draconic Lizards and Mammoth Crocodiles were a rarity. While in this region after 10 minutes of hunting, his most frequent opponents were these frightening fishes called bonefish. Apart from the bonefish, this was only his second time encountering the Fire Mogul but this terrifying predator left the most impression on him. The Bone Fish was a mutated version of a Wolfish. This fish mutated in this ocean volcano region in a way that its bones that were supposed to be inside its body jutted out, covering its body to form an exoskeleton. This mutation made them extremely frightening; not only were their teeth countless times more sharp and powerful than a Wolfish, but their thick bony exoskeleton was also another headache on its own. These 2 adaptations of teeth and exoskeleton gave them the frightening combo of all-powerful predators, impeccable offense, and defense. They attacked with such tenacity like they had unlimited energy. In all 5 times that Sebastian and his team already encountered them, he suffered injuries as he had to take on the burden of protecting Shanks. And yes, this was only because he didn''t go all out against them. He already finalized it in his mind but encountering such opponents, he started regretting his decision to take a white tier liability like Shanks into his team. Even when not in battle, this predator had a constant fire field surrounding its body like it didn''t give a damn if its mana points were being exhausted just like a real fire mogul which corresponded to its name. It didn''t have impressively sharp rows of teeth for biting, it didn''t have an arrow-head tail for attacking like the Draconic Lizards either, all it had was its fire and its fire was frighteningly OP. According to the basic profile information that Sebastian just read, this creature was actually birthed inside a volcano which explained the high temperature and high damage of its fire magic. Sebastian kited the first one with his magic teeth skill, allowing Tosh to kill it with his light magic. But the second one, he decided to kill it himself. Shanks shared in the killing of the Bone Fishes, enabling him to take part in the spoils as Sebastian had no intentions of taking everything for himself. That would destroy the notion of him calling themselves a team. Though all these encounters were just for a brief 10 minutes, Sebastian still felt thrilled by them as he started reviving a peculiar feeling that he had already forgotten after months of hunting in the seamount. When he just arrived at the seamount, he always felt this feeling that every battle he fought was an uphill one but the feeling disappeared as he grew stronger and more familiar with his skills. Yes, with his water transmutation skill, he could trash both the bonefish and the fire mogul but why do that when his skills were not all maxed out yet? Fighting an uphill battle was the best way for his skills to level up, and finding himself in an environment like this again pleased him to no end. For his team members, he already evaluated Tosh''s strength during the time when they left the seamount together. He only needed to observe Shanks. After the previous battles, the conclusion that he came to was that Shanks was indeed a liability but he was not about to kick him out of his team. Why do that when he could just power level him? Shanks was a water domain shark magician. Water magic was fairly boring in water but it was powerful in its own right. Together, Sebastian believed that his team would break records and he could bring out Shanks'' full battle potential. During the past 10 minutes, he also already sounded out this region to his satisfaction. Now, he was confident to go deeper and hunt even stronger predators, his only don''t was to go invade a predator clan. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] With these 2 skills active, Sebastian communicated with his 2 team members one last time before leading the way into the deeper parts of the cliff. This time, Sebastian decided to ignore every small predator except Fire Shrimps for efficiency till he found a prey big enough for the 3 of them to attack and feed on. As they swam, it did not take long before they found another Fire Shrimp. Acknowledging the order from their team leader, Tosh and Shanks let Sebastian hunt and have the shrimp for himself. Anytime that Sebastian encountered Shrimps, it always reminded him of Ray and Fay back in the Leroy clan lair. This didn''t prevent him from feasting on them though, food and memory were entirely different things to him. [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] Crunch! The Shrimp instinctively retaliated with its fire magic but it meant little as Sebastian already had his magic shield active. [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] Sebastian switched mid-way and started his holy dance of shaking his body, shredding his prey apart in the process. [You have killed a Fire Shrimp- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] Sebastian didn''t finish reading the notification because his electroreceptors just picked up the emergence of another predator. "A Jellyfish!" Chapter 126 - Stinging Jellyfish! Seeing the huge predator with an umbrella-shaped bell and numerous tentacles trailing behind it, Sebastian easily identified it as a jellyfish. The only problem was that this pink jellyfish, like all other predators in Oceania, towered at an unbelievable size of 7 meters which was completely outrageous compared to what Sebastian knew of jellyfishes. And at this moment, this huge jellyfish predator was rushing towards Sebastian and his team members. The umbrella-shaped bell of the jellyfish pulsated in a frenzied manner, propelling its body towards the 3 sharks. Seeing it, Tosh and Shanks immediately prepared for battle but Sebastian didn''t move yet as he felt something strange. For some reason, he felt that this jellyfish was not going after them but was actually running away from something. Completely trusting his instincts, he swept the area with his electroreceptors but found no other predator within its range. Sebastian felt even weirder having detected nothing, but this didn''t make him react any slower as he was not about to let this predator escape. "Attack!" Almost immediately after Sebastian worded the command, Tosh reacted, eager to impress. This enormous shark rushed towards the jellyfish with his body suddenly glowing a bright white color. As he rushed towards the jellyfish, the white color in his body separated to form what seemed like a fist made out of pure light magic in the water. Tosh didn''t release the magic fist made out of light magic immediately, he held it, pumping more magic power into it as he rushed towards the jellyfish. Instantly after the fist made of light magic appeared, the jellyfish reacted as it finally detected the threat before it. Its tiny weird eyes already saw the signs but due to the distance, it originally couldn''t pinpoint that these were sharks. And at this moment, it was already too late to retreat. It made its choice without much hesitation; not that it had a brain to think about choices which made things a lot easier. It flared its tentacles wildly as it charged boldly towards the 3 sharks before it. Tro! Lo! Lo! Lo! Lo! As it moved towards Tosh, pinkish-white magic energy suddenly started revolving around its tentacles, granting them energy and finetuning them to look like whips of death. Tosh didn''t back down; he opened his teeth wide and accelerated even faster as he pumped more magic power into the fist made of light magic before him. At the last few seconds before impact, Shanks acted from afar. The water suddenly squeezed and moved after coming under the smaller shark''s influence, pushing the jellyfish to the side and disorienting it slightly in the process. As soon as this happened, Tosh attacked and released the magic fist. Boom! The fist accelerated through the water with such speed that the first impact tore a huge hole through the jellyfish''s umbrella-shaped bell, inducing a loud sound that reverberated through the water. [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection!] Immediately as the jellyfish suffered the first attack, Sebastian added salt to the injury, taking advantage of the sound induced by the first attack impact as all the sounds generated were reflected towards the jellyfish. [You have dealt staggering damage to your opponent.] Hovering at the point of death was a different thing though, it didn''t mean death and this brainless jellyfish was about to prove that. It reacted like a zombie. Before Tosh could react, the severely injured jellyfish suddenly picked itself up and pointed its tentacles. The pink magic power wrapped them up again, turning them sharp like daggers, then they shot out with speed. Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! About a dozen tentacles shot out, penetrating the unprotected body of the shark as Tosh roared in pain before protecting his body with his magic shield. Even as it lost tentacles, powered by its pink magic power, the jellyfish grew them back at a speed visible to the eyes which gave Sebastian vibes of his magic teeth skill. Sebastian quickly put this to the back of his mind though. Seeing Tosh injured and bleeding, he finally knew that he needed to act. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill- {¡Á3}.] The jellyfish''s movements were hindered again as it jerked after being hit by 3 consecutive magic drills propelled by sound magic. Before it could recover from all the damage, the biggest shark appeared before it and collided against it. [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] Crunch! Sebastian collided against the jellyfish while biting down with force and speed, tearing into the gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell of the jellyfish in a deadly and completely unrestrained manner. As soon as his teeth dug in, the jellyfish struggled fiercely as the milkfish-white blood flowed even faster from its body while it retaliated with its tentacles. [You have been hit by a skill: Stinging Tentacles.] [You have been hit by a skill: Slimy Wrap.] Sebastian felt a tingling and stinging sensation overwhelm his senses as the jellyfish retaliated with its tentacles. At the same time, the tentacles tried wrapping around his body as they exerted terrible force on his body. Despite the small bits of damage that the jellyfish dealt to him, Sebastian did not let up as he kept on clamping his teeth down at the jellyfish. He bit 2 more times before the enormous jellyfish finally went limb. [You have killed a Stinging Jellyfish- Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 7 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] "Phew! What a fierce fellow!" As Sebastian sighed exaggeratedly, he already took the lead as he went closer to feast on the meat left by the jellyfish. Shanks and Tosh did not stand on ceremony either, they went closer to join the feast but immediately after Sebastian took the first bite, his electroreceptors detected newcomers again. As soon as he turned to look, Sebastian saw a scene that made his heart freeze as the loud repeating sounds finally arrived at their location. Tro! Lo! Lo! Lo! Tro! Lo! Lo! Lo! Tro! Lo! Lo! Lo! When Tosh and Shanks raised their heads to see what was bringing the commotion, they were also spooked as Sebastian finally reacted. "Run¡­, no Swim!" Chapter 127 - What Sh*t Luck Is This? Though he didn''t use his Water Transmutation skill in the previous battle, the fact that the jellyfish was about to last so long against the 3 of them told Sebastian all that he needed to know about the strength of the jellyfish. Individually, his team could trash it as easily as crushing a bug but when it came to hundreds of them swimming across, escaping was the only choice. Sebastian had no second thoughts about his decision. "Swim!" "Swim!" Tosh and Shanks did not dare to tarry for one second longer, they both turned and swam as fast as their tails could carry them. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] As Sebastian escaped, he felt the need to activate his advanced dash skill to go even faster but seeing the pitiful Shanks, he could only sigh in resignation. Though he was escaping, this did not make him ignore this anomaly. It was normal for a group of Jellyfishes to be swimming together, but for hundreds to be together and to be swimming at such a high speed like they were escaping from something was definitely an anomaly. Whatever made these jellyfishes to be escaping in such a frenzied manner was something that Sebastian didn''t want to mess with, but his slower team member was making him have second thoughts. This was especially so when the jellyfishes were proving faster than them. He didn''t know what freaking adaptation they had that made them so fast, even faster than a Great White Shark. Sebastian looked one last time at Shanks who was struggling to swim faster, then back at the jellyfishes who were rapidly closing the distance. He needed no more evidence, this pushed him to make a tough decision. His electroreceptors rapidly blasted around, outlining his current environment to him as his eyes quickly turned to focus in a direction. At this moment, they were already deep inside the boundless water trapped inside the middle of the cliff but the cliff walls were still visible to them. They hadn''t strayed too far away from it in consideration of their safety. As Sebastian looked at the cliff walls, an idea formed in his mind. "Swim towards the wall!" He ordered which his team members unconditionally obeyed without asking any questions. The jellyfish rapidly closed the distance but Sebastian no longer felt panicked on how to protect his little team member, his heart became calm like a real predator''s after he came to his decision. It took only about 2 minutes before they arrived at the wall and at this time, the jellyfishes were already frightening close. "Shanks, form a blockade with your water control skill". "Tosh, form your torch jaws teeth". Neither of the 2 sharks answered with their mouths, they answered with their actions as Tosh and Shanks immediately went to work. Shanks, though a little panicky was able to still control his sound domain magic. The water before them immediately started coming under his control as it compartmentalized to form something like a blockade shield against the jellyfishes. Due to Shanks'' low level, the shield was not too sturdy but it was sufficient to do the job that Sebastian intended it to do. Clearly, the jellyfishes were not specifically targeting them as some of them started turning to swim in other directions after detecting that swimming forward would lead to colliding against the cliff wall. Only those with the best eyesight detected this though, the other brainless ones moved towards that single direction, uncaring about what was blocking their way which meant that Sebastian and his team still had to deal with a lot. These beacons of lights brightened in intensity before forming what seemed like shark jaws made out of pure light magic, and these shark jaws contained the goods which made sharks fearsome, the rows of deadly teeth. "Scream!" Sebastian ordered one last time. "Ahhh!!!" "Fuck! No! I mean roar!" "Roar!!!" Relieved, Sebastian went to work and started the attack. [You have activated skill: Sound Reflection.] After his experiment with this skill during his battle against the Mammoth Crocodile family, it already gained favorability with him which was showing now. The skill did its work perfectly, gathering both the sound waves induced by the 2 sharks'' roars and the flapping pulsating sounds made by the jellyfishes as they rapidly swam across to form the deadliest sound attack. Even Sebastian himself was shaken as the sound waves rapidly rippled across, spreading sound force and death with them. The massacre began. [You have killed a Stinging Jellyfish- Level 12: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 8 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Stinging Jellyfish- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained¡­] [You have killed¡­] [You have killed¡­] "Attack!" Sebastian commanded again, letting both his shark companions loose as Tosh and Shanks unleashed their all against the jellyfishes. Under Shanks'' control, the water blockade turned into something akin to a mill grinder as it steamrolled through the jellyfishes. For Tosh, under his control, the shark jaws made out of light magic snapped their rows of teeth fearsomely. Boom! Boom! Crunch! The jellyfishes started dying in droves under the calculated attack run motivated by Sebastian. They died at the frequency of moths flying towards fire, but their numbers hardly dwindled. Despite the despair-inducing numbers that they had, under Sebastian''s leadership, Tosh and Shanks held, massacring the jellyfishes with impunity. From fear and dread, they both started feeling excitement and bloodlust. For once, they felt that fighting together was actually better than doing it all alone which was manifesting currently. Their massacre didn''t continue for long though, this was because like Sebastian speculated, the predator causing the jellyfishes to escape in such a frenzied manner finally appeared. Precisely, it was predators. The 3 sharks kept their attacks to hold the jellyfishes at bay, but they could not help but swim upwards a bit to get a better look at these 2 new predators. At the back of the escaping jellyfishes were 2 Giant monsters, giant predators that signified death itself. At the back were a Giant Squid and an enormous Sperm Whale embroiled in combat. From one look, Sebastian got his answer to why the jellyfishes were escaping like a group of school kids being pursued by their seniors and the answer was not pretty at all. His face fell. "Why do I always encounter monsters like these? What sh*t luck is this?" Chapter 128 - Giant Squid Vs Sperm Whale! Like all squid, the Giant Squid has a mantle, 8 arms, and 2 longer tentacles which are the longest known tentacles of any cephalopods. The inside surfaces of the arms and tentacles are lined with hundreds of subspherical suction cups, each mounted on a stalk. The circumference of these suckers is lined with sharp, finely serrated rings of chitin. These serve to help the squid attack and attach itself to prey. The Giant Squid has a sophisticated nervous system, which attracted great interest from dissectors like Sebastian in his previous life and they also have the largest eyes of any living creature. For Sperm Whales, they are the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It uses echolocation and vocalization as loud as 230 decibels, which means their ability to locate objects underwater by reflected sound. It also has the largest brain known of any modern or extinct animal. They have a very narrow and underslung jaw, with 18 to 26 teeth on each side of its lower jaw which fit into sockets of its upper jaw. Also, the teeth are cone-shaped and weigh up to 1 kilogram each. These statistics put these 2 predators at the absolute top when it comes to their specific family, genus, and species. They were the G.O.A.T of their species. As an anatomist, the relationship between Giant Squids and Sperm Whales was one of the few subjects that always interested him when sharks were excluded. What he didn''t know and expect was that he would get to meet this relationship firsthand, and it was not pleasant at all. Boom! The enormous Sperm Whale towering at a size of about 30 meters accelerated again, inducing a sound like that of a canon being shot as the water parted to form mini-tsunamis. At this moment, the Giant Squid that was battling with it currently had all its arms and tentacles wrapped around the giant head of the Sperm Whale. In such a manner, both gigantic predators battled it out. The sharp rings of chitin lining the circumference of the Giant Squid''s arms and tentacles were currently inside and still digging inside the thick skin of the Sperm Whale as every part of the sea that they passed was dyed red. It kept on grinding with its arms and tentacles, shredding enormous chunks of meat from the Sperm Whale who reacted in an even more aggressive manner. The Sperm Whale accelerated at intervals, hitting the Giant Squid that was attached to its head against any obstacles on their part. The Giant Squid had a red magic field around its tentacles as they dug inside the body of its opponent, spreading hot fire inside to deal even more damage as its fire domain magic wreaked havoc. For the Sperm Whale, it controlled water magic. All it did was transform the water to form thick obstacles on its part which it hit the Giant Squid with, dealing astronomical damage with each hit. At other times, it formed colossal heavy water structures to hit the Giant Squid with, dealing even more damage in the process. Also, around its body glowed a light blue magic shield membrane. This sturdy defense shield was the main reason why it hasn''t succumbed to its opponent''s attacks yet, the shield resisted tenaciously despite the intensity of the battle. As they battled, rolling aggressively through the water and inducing tsunamic waves, the jellyfishes in their path suffered for it. The poor jellyfishes were crushed to meat paste on impact, leaving only mangled blood and flesh in their wake as tons of jellyfish meat were left behind. Each tail fin flap from the Sperm Whale sent tons of jellyfishes dying. Each impact against the water seemed to create natural disasters, sending shockwaves and sounds like an apocalypse was at hand. The Giant Squid was even worse. As it attacked the Sperm Whale, the latter''s erratic movements meant that its tentacles and arms also flailed wildly at times, and at these times, the jellyfish were the poor fellows who suffered the impacts. Each occasion when this happened, the poor jellyfish were shredded apart like a bunch of cattle in the butcher''s den with no other fate than to suffer slaughtering. Seeing this titanic battle between these 2 predators, a serious expression quickly came over Sebastian''s shark face. At this moment, Tosh and Shanks were already shaking in fear just like the jellyfishes. "Shanks¡­, swim as far away as possible. Now!" The young shark did not dare say a word, he turned and swam away as fast as its tails could carry it, going against the raging waves that were already induced by the battle. As soon as it left, Sebastian turned to face Tosh. At this moment, the impact of this titanic confrontation already spread towards the surrounding. The enormous shockwaves alone meant that it was an impossible mission to escape intact, which meant something else should be done. From the force, Sebastian already identified both predators as purple tier predators. He thought purple tier predators were scarce, but after knowing about them, he couldn''t help but feel that he was a little na?ve in how he saw them. These guys were freaking everywhere! Telling Shanks to escape was just delaying the inevitable. With the impact being induced by these 2 predators'' battle, if no one intervened, everyone in the vicinity had a guaranty of dying. Sebastian thought and thought but couldn''t arrive at an alternative. "We have to fight!" "What?" Tosh shuddered, directing a pitiful look at Sebastian. "You''re a shark for freaking sake, not a crab, understand?" Tosh nodded, suddenly feeling a little challenged after one of his sore spots have been rubbed the wrong way by his team leader. "Now, listen to all I''m about to say". "We''re going to go out there, and we''re going to kill these 2 predators to show them that they have no right to disturb the peace of everyone just because they have a feud". Chapter 129 - Titanic Confrontation! Boom! The enormous Sperm Whale formed another obstacle with its water domain magic while its body drove its opponent at it as the impact sound reverberated towards the surrounding at deafening decibels. The Giant Squid let out a weird sound in pain as 2 of its arms were crushed by the impact but it still didn''t let go of its opponent as its tentacles flared even wilder, tearing more flesh out of the Sperm Whale. Deep injury lines were already left in the enormous head of the Sperm Whale as the Squid''s long arms and tentacles tore through it, but this predator was unrelenting as it kept swimming forward, flapping its huge tail up and down. Every second, their injuries intensified but neither of them seemed to care about it to the detriment of every other predator in the surroundings. At this moment, over a hundred of the poor Stinging Jellyfishes already died to the aftereffects of this titanic confrontation. Still embroiled in their intense tug of war, the Sperm Whale suddenly accelerated again, carrying its enormous body and that of its opponent towards the direction where Sebastian and Tosh hovered close to the cliff walls. Clearly, this Sperm Whale wanted to hit its opponent against the wall this time and Sebastian and his teammate were on the way. He was already once embroiled in a titanic confrontation between purple-tier predators that even involved a red-tier predator, so he was not exactly intimidated to that point of his brain short-circuiting on seeing this confrontation. He was not helpless against it either, he was the one who landed the last blow against all the purple tier and red tier predators that died in the previous confrontation Afterall. From his observations, he already deduced that these 2 predators were stronger than the first purple tier Mammoth Crocodile that he killed, but they were definitely weaker than the Mystery Pryer Crocodile and the others. Against powerhouses like the Lizard Lord, Old Mak, and the alpha Crocodile, this Sperm Whale, and Giant Squid''s weaknesses would be quickly exposed. This discovery meant a lot of things, including the fact that he had a chance if he gave his all despite a powerful helper like the Lizard Lord not being here. "Attack and give it your all". He gave Tosh his last order before dashing out of his position close to the walls of the cliff. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Bow and Arrow.] A pitch-black bow and arrow suddenly appeared beside Sebastian''s rapidly advancing body in the water, painting a picture of cold-bloodedness and doom around him as the arrow aimed towards the 2 battling predators. Precisely, he aimed at the giant eye of the Giant Squid. After calculating extensively, his common sense told him that the Sperm Whale had a tendency of being more defense-oriented and perhaps even the arrow formed and shot by his water transmutation skill may not penetrate immediately. The Giant Squid was also a gigantic sea monster, but its 8 arms and tentacles gave it more of a tendency of getting more offensive adaptations and skills. After comparing, this was what enabled him to come to a decision and at this moment, this decision was about to face the test. Sebastian pumped more magic power into the arrow, adjusting his accuracy while passively increasing its power to an extent where its pitch-black color started gleaming coldly in the water, then he finally released it. The arrow whooshed forward with speed, not giving the Giant Squid any time to react before it embedded itself into its lone giant eye. A shield flickered to life at the last moment before the arrow impacted the Squid''s eye, but the hastily erected shield only did little in lessening the destructive force of the arrow before it broke through. Boom! The arrow dug into the shocked Squid''s lone eye, tearing blood vessels apart and spreading tyrannical destructive power as the huge eye of the Giant Squid exploded into an underwater rain of blood, unable to withstand the pressure. [You have dealt +30% true damage to your opponent.] Giant Squids were silent predators as they had no organs to make sounds, but at this moment, Sebastian imagined the sound himself as this gigantic predator finally reacted to the pain and the loss it just suffered. Whip! Whip! The arms and tentacles of the Squid went loose and berserk. They released themselves from the Sperm Whale''s head as they started thrashing left, right, up, and down with speed and force that induced natural disasters. The Giant Squid lost it for real as it thrashed about like a predator that just went mad, and once again it was the escaping jellyfishes that suffered the consequences of its venting. The Sperm Whale was stunned for a few seconds because of not expecting the intrusion of another predator but seeing its opponent who was in pain, it did not hesitate to add salt to its injury. It accelerated with speed, colliding its giant head against the Squid''s body to deal even more damage and send it into deeper depths of agony. The Giant Squid could no longer see, but it had other sensory organs in its body that enabled it to sense the position of the predators around it. With vengeance in mind, it ignored the pain from its lost eye as it retaliated like a cornered rabid dog. Its body jerked like a faulty car engine as it activated its most powerful skill. Fire raged around its body at extremely high temperatures as it lunged for the ultimate battle against the Sperm Whale who reacted by creating a huge water shield to block the damage. Sebastian who already swam close to the 2 predators heaved a sigh of relief on seeing this, this action meant that the Squid still saw the Sperm Whale as its main opponent which made things a lot easier for him. But before he could attack, his electromagnetic sense sent danger signals to his brain as he rapidly turned around to see a new predator emerging. TRO! LO! LO! LO! After hundreds of her children suffered and died to the unruly actions of these 2 predators, the mommy Stinging Jellyfish finally appeared on the battlefield and she appeared with a bang. Chapter 130 - The Mommy Stinging Jellyfish! Have you ever seen an angry mother''s reaction to her children being mistreated? Have you ever felt the protective rage of a mother for her children? Well, if you haven''t before, this mommy Jellyfish was about to unleash it. TRO! LO! LO! LO! Compared to the other stinging jellyfishes that towered at sizes of 5 to 7 meters tall, this mommy jellyfish towered at a size of about 15 meters tall. Yes, she was smaller than both the Sperm Whale and the Giant Squid but the momentum and aggressiveness that she came with made her seem even more deadly than both predators who were still embroiled in their confrontation. This Giant pink Jellyfish was big, her umbrella-shaped bell pulsated with force and at extremely high frequencies as she moved with a speed like the flash. Perhaps, because of her rage, her pink glowing form glowed even brighter like the sun in the daytime as it illuminated the surrounding water around her for miles. Surrounding her was a glowing pink magic field. This magic field looked so ominous that from afar, Sebastian already dreaded what it felt like to be inside it. Her strong magic presence easily revealed her identity as another purple-tier predator. The magic presence alerted the 2 battling predators, but they were unable to react properly before she arrived due to her astonishing speed. Sizzle! Ignoring the fire that was currently raging around the Giant Squid''s gigantic body, the mommy jellyfish brute-forced her way in before making contact with the Giant Squid who immediately started convulsing at a mad frequency. She didn''t collide with force to induce loud sounds of impact, but her gentle impact and entrance into the battlefield paired with the emergence of her pink magic field affected all 3 predators on the battlefield. The Sperm Whale''s enormous body twitched slightly while Sebastian convulsed, going full thrashing mode as he lost control of his body. [Calculating Luck and mind stat points¡­, calculation complete.] [You have been affected by the Stinging Pink magic field: You have been sunk into the pink magic cycle and you have been inflicted with the following magic effects.] [You have been inflicted with the stunned immobilization effect.] [You have been inflicted with the intense pain effect.] [You have been inflicted with the mild poisoned effect.] [You have been inflicted with the sore skin effect.] [You have been hit by a magic skill: Pink Illusion.] Sebastian read through the series of notifications sent to him by his system as fast as his eyes could go, but after reading the last line, his brain exploded as a nuclear bomb seemed to have been detonated in his head. Immediately, everything went wrong for him, his vision turned upside down and his perception of his surroundings became warped. The Sperm Whale that was originally close to him suddenly seemed to have teleported kilometers away, the Giant Squid seemed to have miraculously regrown his giant eyes back. Octumpedam seemed to have revived and arrived before him, ready to puncture through him with his numerous tentacles and end his life as revenge. The devouring Cobra that he killed months ago after escaping from the city of eels seemed to have revived, back to squeeze the life out of him. He felt the world turn upside down to him, his brain turned heavy and disillusioned as pain wreaked his mind. He felt weak, he felt weird, he felt stupid all of a sudden, he felt mad! Sebastian was not the only one who came under this effect, both the Sperm Whale and the Giant Squid suffered it though theirs was much milder. Taking advantage of her temporarily incapacitating all 3 predators, the angry mommy jellyfish went to work, using her tentacles to grab the Giant Squid who was the most injured among the 3 predators. Her tentacles seemed like those of a gym enthusiast as they expanded, revealing what could only be called mad muscles as they wrapped the Giant Squid up, overpowering it in seconds despite its resistance. Amid squelching sounds, the jellyfish''s tentacles wrapped the Giant Squid up, compressing it to a smaller size fit to enter her mouth as she opened her mouth beneath her umbrella-shaped bell to swallow. Squelch! Her umbrella-shaped bell pulsated again as she started swallowing. For Sebastian and the Sperm Whale, unable to extricate themselves from the effects of this jellyfish''s magic field, they could only thrash about, helpless. ¡­ "Attack and give it your all!" This sentence kept on reverberating in Tosh''s head as he looked on at the ongoing battle with undisguised fear masking his sharky features. Seeing the immobilized Sebastian, his team leader, with no strength to resist but to only wait for death, he felt an urge to escape from the battlefield immediately but he just couldn''t bring himself to do it. Unsure of what to do, he instinctively configured back to what his brain wanted to do at this moment which was blabbering in panic. "Damn! I didn''t plan for this, Seba bro you brought this! I hate hunting teams because of this, how do you expect me to fight such a predator?" "We''re all going to die, we''re all going to die!" "Tosh!" "We''re all going to die!" "Tosh!!!" Tosh was startled on hearing his name being yelled. Turning his head, he saw his smaller sibling, Shanks swimming back towards him after his unsuccessful attempt to escape the battlefield. "Tosh, Seba bro is in danger, we''re in danger too. Seba bro needs your help, without you we''re really all going to die". "I''m too weak, I won''t make a difference but I believe that your light magic can do something to save us. Try, just try". "Really? My magic can make a difference?" "Yes, it can. Just throw those light magic punches, I believe they can do something, just try it". Tosh fell silent on hearing that. For some weird reason, Shanks'' words seemed to have touched a s?ns?t?v? place in his heart which his brain reacted to in various ingenious ways. "I can make a difference?" He asked himself. "Does that mean I can do more than just blabbering all day like Tungsten always said, I can make a difference?" As he reflected on this word, his shark eyes suddenly turned from their normal color to a gleaming white color as they glowed brightly. He no longer said it as a question, he declared it. "I can make a difference!" Chapter 131 - Riding Out The Mommy Jellyfish Storm! Squelch! The Giant Squid still tried resisting as the doors of death crept closer to it under the powerful grasp of the mommy jellyfish. At this moment, more than half of its body was already swallowed by the jellyfish. A well-known fact of jellyfishes was that they eat their food very fast, super-fast which was apparent here. As she swallowed, the mommy jellyfish''s powerful digestion systems broke the food down at light speed, digesting them into nutrients though a part of the Giant Squid was still lingering outside. The Giant Squid tried flailing its arms and tentacles but they were caught and tied down by the jellyfish''s tentacles before they could do anything. Only its unrelenting wits and powerful self-preservation skills and adaptations as a purple tier predator were still keeping the Giant Squid alive against all odds that were currently against it. At this moment, the Sperm Whale was already recovering from all the effects brought by the jellyfish''s pink magic field but its recovery speed was nowhere close to the digestion speed of the jellyfish which brought a major problem. For Sebastian, he was in fact no longer in this world. Inflicted with a madness effect, his brain already went insane and only the basic instincts of a Megalodon were accessible to him right now. He couldn''t do anything though; he was still immobilized. When everything was already falling in place for the mommy jellyfish with hopes of avenging its dead children in sight and already seeming to be an inevitability, a puny shark relative to her appeared. "F*ck you Jellyfish! For Seba bro! Take this!" Tosh rushed towards the battlefield where the Giant Squid was at its last breath as he converged all his light magic power together to form the biggest light magic punch that he has ever formed. As soon as the punch was formed completely, it was thrown outwards. Tosh even yelled to give the punch formed out of light magic more momentum and power, but this did little as it finally collided against the huge mommy jellyfish that was out for revenge against her kids. Pok! The sound of impact alone was discouraging. The punch carried power, momentum, and all that, but this was relative to orange tier predators. When it came to the realm of purple tier monsters, the impact was just an itch. Seeing this, Tosh felt down but he was not totally discouraged as he used his remaining magic power to form a small light magic punch and threw it out. Seeing the annoying shark attacking again, the mommy jellyfish let one of its tentacles free. The tentacle was pumped full with the pink magic power as it lashed out against the shark. Bonk! After one impact, Tosh was sent flying away, far away from the battlefield as he coughed blood in waves, dying the water through his path red. After the powerful tentacle attack by the jellyfish, the second light magic punch unleashed by Tosh deviated from its path after being affected by the water waves induced by the tentacle attack. The attack went off course, taking a weird trajectory towards Sebastian''s position. To the unbelieving gaze of the jellyfish, the attack hit the enormous shark. [You have been attacked by a magic skill: The Crazy god''s Punch!] [You have received damage; the pink magic cycle has been broken.] [All magic effects'' influence has been nullified.] Instantly after these series of notifications appeared, Sebastian went still as his brain finally calmed down after undergoing the feeling of being a mad shark for the past few seconds to a minute. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] With this skill active, he instantly swept the whole battlefield with his electromagnetic vision, outlining all the important points in his mind including the fact that the jellyfish was already about to attack him with a tentacle. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Ice Sabers!] Sebastian didn''t know why being attacked by another predator would disrupt the effects of the jellyfish''s magic field, but he was going to take advantage of it first and ask questions later. After suffering the effects of the jellyfish''s ability once, he was spooked. He knew the caliber of enemy that he was facing now, so he did not dare hold back. Boom! The tentacle finally landed but it was firmly held at bay by the tower shield. Instantly after both skills collided, Sebastian sent 2 ice sabers towards the Sperm Whale who was still struggling against the effects of the jellyfish''s magic. For the lightning ax, he threw it towards the jellyfish''s umbrella-shaped bell. Boom! The jellyfish created a magic shield on time which successfully prevented it from being injured, but the lightning ax still tore through the defense of the shield. The jellyfish still couldn''t react to attack appropriately though, the Giant Squid was still stuck in its mouth and unfortunately for it, the enormous Sperm Whale also already escaped the effects of its magic after being attacked. Roar! [You have been attacked by a magic AOE skill: Rippling Roar!] [You have received damage.] Sebastian suffered damage, but he was more grateful for this attack from the Sperm Whale than annoyed because it gave him room to use one of his most versatile skills. [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection!] Boom! The 3-pronged attack from Sebastian and the Sperm Whale all hit home, taking chunks of health points from the jellyfish as it jerked before decisively abandoning the half-eaten Giant Squid who was already half-dead. Sebastian was about to attack the jellyfish again but seeing it get prepared for battle and the half-dead Squid, he changed targets. [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] [You have killed a purple tier Giant Squid- Level 24: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 31 Skill points and 50 Adaptation points.] The thought to kill-steal happened so fast that Sebastian could not resist it, he didn''t expect it to actually be so successful. It was successful but there were consequences to it. He didn''t need to look first to notice the Jellyfish glaring at him. "Oh boy!" Chapter 132 - Supersonic Escape! Both the Jellyfish and the enormous Sperm Whale were stunned by the sudden clever act of the shark. All the attention already turned to the jellyfish; nobody expected the shark to change targets at the last moment. Clearly, both predators were fooled by this act as they could not react on time before this sneaky shark succeeded in stealing their prey in front of their eyes. For the Jellyfish, she erupted in rage as her pink tentacles thrashed wildly in the water. She came to avenge the death of her children, and killing all 3 predators by her own tentacles was her way of avenging them. Another predator killing one of her targets angered her, this was even more apparent when she knew the gains that she lost in losing such a target. The skill points, the adaptation points, the joy of experiencing her prey''s despair when the life was slowly snuffed out of it, they were all annoyingly gone! Now filled with rage, the jellyfish got prepared to focus all her attention on the shark to finish it off as quickly as possible. Through her special adaptation senses, she already observed enough to confirm that this shark was not a purple tier predator yet, he just had a frighteningly effective offensive skill which made things a lot easier for her. But before she could move, the other predator surviving on the battlefield did an even more nefarious act after rapidly calculating. Crunch! The Sperm Whale attacked, it didn''t attack Sebastian, nor did it attack the enraged mommy jellyfish. It rather attacked the dead Giant Squid; its rows of teeth dug into the Squid''s main body and removed a large chunk of flesh. "What the f*ck!" While Sebastian exclaimed in his heart, confused by the predator''s illogical action, the Sperm Whale turned after getting the chunk of flesh that it wanted. Sebastian felt even more stunned as his electroreceptors suddenly detected something filled with energy appearing inside the Sperm Whale''s body after it took that crucial bite. "Wait¡­, what? Is that what I think it is?" The Sperm Whale didn''t wait for them, it inclined its enormous body before plunging straight for a dive deeper into the water. As it moved, its magic power spiked, creating a glowing blue water film around its body. TRO! LO! LO! LO! The enraged mommy Jellyfish seemed to have also detected the mischief that this Sperm Whale just did. Even more enraged now, her umbrella-shaped bell pulsated furiously as she bolted after the Sperm Whale. Covered with her wildly flaring pink magic power, her tentacles lashed at the Sperm Whale''s body as she activated a skill. Boom! The impact was mighty, spreading the sound everywhere but the Sperm Whale was unaffected. This Giant Whale seemed to have activated its ultimate buddha defense skill, nothing could interrupt its dive. Like a turtle-shell mage, it dived deeper uninterrupted by the mommy jellyfish who now seemed like an annoying bug following it down. Seeing this, Sebastian was stunned but not for long. In this battle, the Giant Squid lost completely while he was the one who got the first gain by killing it. The Sperm Whale already got the next gain, who said he couldn''t get more? The mommy jellyfish was now pursuing the Sperm Whale, which meant that he had a lot more room to maneuver. His clever brain immediately clicked as ideas to benefit more from this situation rapidly started being generated. A light bulb seemed to have lit up inside his head. "The baby sharks are gonna taste jellyfish soup today!" For how to carry so many meats back with him without being dragged down by them, Sebastian didn''t have to think much to arrive at a plan. According to his system, the system inventory was like a system storage ring to him where he could keep everything that he acquired, stole, or looted. For all these meat before him, he categorized them as acquired food. He didn''t know how big the capacity of his system inventory was, but he was about to try it out. [Host''s acquired food has been detected!] Sebastian grinned sharkily on hearing that, he gave a thump up to the system in his mind. [All material acquired food is automatically being stored inside the system inventory.] [System Inventory:] [Weapon: Octranezion.] Immediately after the series of notifications started lining up before him, like magic, all the dead jellyfishes and the corpse of the Giant Squid were suddenly enveloped by green light before disappearing from the battlefield. Sebastian was stunned, despite already experiencing it after his last battle involving purple tier predators, still seeing the phenomenon where his system committed daylight theft left him awed. He was not the only one who was stunned, the mommy Stinging Jellyfish who was currently battling with destroying the shield erected by the Sperm Whale was stunned as she also detected the theft. If Jellyfishes had a mouth, this mommy jellyfish would have yelled in frustration. Her pink body glowed in rage as she abandoned the Sperm Whale before she started accelerating back towards the shark. Having predicted this, Sebastian didn''t even need to think first before he turned, dusted his bu??, and fled away from the battlefield. [You have activated magic skill: Supersonic Speed!] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Fishing Net!] As soon as the skill was activated, Sebastian was surrounded by a green magic power as he moved with a speed akin to that of light. The water released steam as it parted for him to pass through. Even as he swam away at a supersonic speed, the fishing net magic manifestation still materialized before him. Sebastian used all his willpower and perception to direct the magic manifestation towards his target. In moments, he arrived at the position where Shanks was still trying to stabilize himself from the influence of the raging water waves. Before the young shark could blink, the fishing net covered him and dragged him away at the same speed. A few dozen meters away, the fishing net did the same thing, catching and dragging Tosh along. A few seconds later, the 3 sharks disappeared from the battlefield like they were never there in the first place. Chapter 133 - The Loser And The Victors. Whoosh! Whoosh! The tentacles of the mommy jellyfish waved gently and stirred in the water, inducing whooshing sounds as they collided with the water waves. The tro.lo.lo.lo rapid movements of the jellyfish''s umbrella-shaped bell already slowed to a crawl in intensity as she silently looked on at the distance. She was calm, but her rage was b?r?ly being masked up. Even though she arrived on time, even though she gave her all, she was unable to kill even one of the 3 predators that killed so many of her children with her own tentacles. Not only that, she was played like a fool as they took all the loot that was available on the battlefield while she could only thrash in rage like a mad jellyfish. After evolving to become a purple tier creature, that was when she started knowing more about the world she lived in as she grew an adaptation that b?r?ly substituted for a brain in her umbrella-shaped bell. Since that time, she thought that she finally broke the limits of brainlessness but it seemed that she was wrong after this experience. Her last encounter with a purple-tier predator before this one only made her think about this more, making her feel more depressed. "Perhaps he was right, I am just a brainless jellyfish no matter how many adaptations that I grow". Despite all these depressing thoughts that were in her mind, she only knew one thing which was that she would hunt down the shark and the Sperm Whale who did this to her children. "I will show you all what a brainless jellyfish can do". ¡­ Bam! The Sperm Whale''s enormous tail hit the water with force again, propelling him a few meters down as he continued his deep dive towards the depth of this water region where the volcano lay dormant. After diving for so many minutes, he finally felt relieved that he was safe as he was no longer being pursued but he continued diving deeper to ensure that neither of the 2 predators could follow him. At this moment, he was experiencing a feeling of unmasked joy as his long-time rival finally died. The battle escalated in a way that he didn''t plan for, making things a lot more dangerous but all these could be ignored after his rival died. The fact that he got his rival''s magic core only left him feeling all the more joyful. He knew the importance of a magic core, and he knew the effects it could bring if he completed ?ssimilating it. This was one of the main reasons why he decided to dive even deeper without hesitation despite the dangers involved. He wanted to dive to a region too extreme for other predators to dive to, where he could rest, recover, and ?ssimilate the magic core without interruption. Thinking of the jellyfish only left him shuddering in fear. They were both purple tier predators, but the jellyfish was a few miles ahead which was intimidating in their tier. Right now, his magic power was already exhausted but he still had enough stamina to dive deeper. He wanted to go digest his gains. "After ?ssimilating it, I''ll emerge as a monster!" ¡­ "Holy Shit! I escaped!" Sebastian exclaimed as his mana points finally got exhausted, leaving him flying at a floating rock in the water. Tosh and Shanks followed closely behind him as the fishing net magic manifestation holding them already disintegrated. Bam! After hitting the rock, leaving a depression on it, Sebastian''s momentum finally slowed down to a halt as his eyes started adjusting to his surroundings. Tosh and Shanks had it worse. They were great white sharks, their torpedo-shaped body was adapted to swim faster but such speeds still felt them disoriented and feeling like puking. Shanks was too exhausted to speak, he allowed his shark body to hover freely in the water to rest but Tosh was the opposite despite feeling exhausted too. "Seba bro, what in the name of Oceania did you carry me on? We survived? Does that mean I really made a difference? Damn! Shanks was right, I never thought I can really make a difference". "Yes, you can make a difference, now shut up!" Sebastian flared up, afraid that his brain would explode if he was exposed to a few more minutes of the shark''s fearsome blabbering prowess. He felt grateful for Tosh''s brave action of attacking despite the odds of dying against the mommy jellyfish, but still, listening to the shark blabber was torture that he did not want to experience now. Immediately after being reprimanded, Tosh''s exhaustion finally seemed to kick in as he directly slept after keeping quiet. Shanks did the same, it was a chore to keep himself conscious a second longer. Only Sebastian was able to keep his consciousness, his stamina was not only greater than the 2 sharks, his magic power and perhaps his Megalodon bloodline added some too. Despite this, he allowed his body to hover freely in the water as he was too exhausted to make targeted actions. And like he did after every slightly major battle, he started analyzing the previous battle encounter. The first thing that he thought of was of course the Giant Squid and the Sperm Whale, they were the cause of the whole commotion. In his previous world, these 2 predators were enemies akin to a cat and a rat, he already expected things like this but he was still stunned on seeing the same relationship here. It seems that even with higher intelligence, some things were too embedded in the bloodline of these predators to shake off. The next thing that gave him the most impression in the previous battle was of course the freaking mommy jellyfish who was an anomaly on every facet. The pink magic that he had no idea what it represented was an anomaly, her outrageous size was an anomaly, her frighteningly strong tentacles were an anomaly, and her freaking magic field was the greatest anomaly of all. After this encounter, he crossed his heart to flee at the first sight of this predator in the future. Perhaps, among the purple tier predators that he already met; she was only slightly weaker than Old Mak which said a lot of her strength. Also, he discovered a new thing today. He knew of magic domains but he never knew of magic fields before, not even Octumpedam had one. He didn''t know if it was exclusive to jellyfishes, but the encounter of a magic field was not a pleasant one to him. If by chance, Tosh wasn''t brave enough to attack, he may have become shark soup already. The thought alone left him shuddering in fear. Another fact was that his frequency of encountering purple-tier predators was becoming a little too much. He felt a little scared, how was he supposed to live and enjoy his life as a shark when he met such frightening predators each time? Despite the trauma and everything, he still felt happy just because of the gains from the battle. Not only did he complete another system insane mission, after this kill, he finally filled up his experience quota for evolution to the next tier. After settling everything in his mind, he finally decided to do what his brain have been yearning for since which was getting good sleep. "I feel so so tired". Chapter 134 - A New Region. Blink! After spending a few hours sleeping with his spinal cord doing inexplicable things with his body, Sebastian finally woke up. He woke up to see Tosh and Shanks tearing apart a Fire Shrimp a few meters away from his position. The 2 sharks rushed the prey, using their fearsome rows of teeth to dissect the prey into parts and feeding on it. The 2 sharks ate with such gusto like they''ve been starving for years. Sebastian knew that they were sharks, not exactly humans with manners and all that but still, seeing this sight felt weird to him. Suddenly, he felt something sweep through him like a pair of eyes were watching his soul. He knew that this was the electroreceptor skill being used on him by either Shanks or Tosh, he only detected it because he also had the skill. "Seba bro, you''re awake? Finally! I''ve been wondering why you said we should leave the fire shrimps for you, now I know. These fellows are so freaking delicious¡­" "What?" Sebastian''s tail fin flapped at the water, propelling him up as his originally still groggy eyes immediately became clear. "Huh?" Tosh turned to look at him. "Did you just say Fire Shrimps?" "Uh-huh". "I F*CKING TOLD YOU TO LEAVE THEM FOR ME!" Crunch! The 2 sharks bit one last time, swallowing the Fire Shrimp completely in the process before they looked at their team leader silently like a group of school kids who just got reprimanded by their teacher. Seeing their expressions, Sebastian was dumbfounded. "Ugh, forget it". [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] This was the first skill that he activated. Before falling asleep after escaping, he already observed enough to know that he escaped to a region that was entirely different from where the shark clan cave was located. After opening his eyes, the first thing that Sebastian noticed was that it was already night. The green glow of the Green Mist Sea already subsided a lot, making this region feel dark and gloomy. As an experienced shark, Sebastian knew that the first thing to do after coming to a new region like this was to observe thoroughly for predators and to know the surroundings as it could come in handy especially on a night like this. This region was close to the cliff walls, which meant that they weren''t too dangerously far into the middle of the water. After the encounters yesterday, he guessed that going deeper to the center of the boundless water world trapped inside the circular cliff, he would encounter more deadly predators as the purple tier predators were more active there. In one of these big platforms was a big hole and this was where Shanks and Tosh were feeding on before he woke up. Apparently, a Fire Shrimp family settled here and now, they were suffering the hunger wrath of the 2 sharks. Seeing the big hole, Sebastian felt relieved as it presented him with convenient access to finish his daily system target. After going for a few hours without food, he was already feeling hungry so he wanted to go feast on the Fire Shrimps immediately but he could not help but notice something strange about the rock platforms jutting out of the wall. For some strange reason, he could feel a sense of human touch on the platforms. Well, in this case, it was more to refer to it as a sense of Atlantian touch. The rock platforms weren''t finely chiseled to suggest that they were carved out by Atlantians, but Sebastian noticed some strange signs of things like screws and nuts having been driven into the rock platforms. For some reason, he felt like this place may have once served as the operations base of an Atlantian crew. What he didn''t know was how long the crew left this place. Since reincarnating into this world, he didn''t have a first-person impression of the so-called ruling Atlantis kingdom nor its citizens yet but Sebastian already saw enough to give them the fear that was due. Examples like Octumpedam, the strange abomination hounds, and the experimentation ground which he shelved aside for now till he evolved to the purple tier told enough about the power of Atlantians. Despite his wariness for this new region rising up a notch because of his observations, he was not about to leave his Fire Shrimps like that. For now, it was feeding time. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] As soon as Sebastian dashed close enough, his teeth chomped down. Crunch! Of course, the Fire Shrimp tried to retaliate but a pair of spikes suddenly grew out of Sebastian''s body while he activated his shredding bite skill. His teeth ground hard at the Shrimp as he impaled it with his spikes. A few shakes of his body later, the shrimp went limp. [You have killed a mutated Fire Shrimp- Level 11: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 4 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] Without hesitation, after killing the Shrimp and gobbling its food up, Sebastian left to kill the next. As he killed, he noticed Tosh and Shanks looking at the hole filled with Shrimps with longing. This was when he remembered his order, he felt like facepalming. Before, he would have continued restricting them from eating but now, the fire Shrimps here could go round without them getting exhausted. "Join the feast". He called out to them. "Really?" Tosh asked suspiciously but Shanks already dove in. "Hey! Wait for me!" With the 3 sharks entering the hole together, the Shrimps finally seemed to realize the danger that they were in. They tried to scatter and escape but the sharks were too hungry to let that happen, they hunted them all down. A few minutes later, only the 3 sharks were left in the hole. "What a satisfying prey".. Tosh sighed contentedly. Chapter 135 - Power Leveling Shanks. [System Daily Target: Completed.] [Target Reward: 50 Adaptation points.] After annihilating the small family of Fire Shrimps, reminding him of the good old days when he got to hunt a whole school of Blue Tangs which were his favorite prey then, Sebastian finally calmed down. To his credit, he also finally finished his daily mission target. To his side, though the 2 sharks were calm now, he could feel the excitement currently being exhibited by both Tosh and Shanks. They were not wrong to feel this way though, this was because, like them, Sebastian could see the overall outlook of this region now through his electroreceptor skill. After swimming closer and entering the hole where the Fire Shrimps settled as their home, a new world seemed to have opened to him through the vision range of his electroreceptors, a new world filled with food. In each of the rock platforms that jutted out of the cliff walls close to their location swam a variety of prey all for them to feast on. The best thing about this was that none of them were purple-tier predators. The majority of the creatures here were orange tier predators, while the rest were white tier prey. Since knowing of the system of power tiers in this world, after encountering numerous creatures from the white to the purple tier, Sebastian could now identify and guess their tier just from seeing them from a distance. His rational human mind told him that it was better to leave now and go back to the shark clan cave, he and his teammates already got more than enough food to be rewarded with a sizeable amount of shark points and it was night already. If it was him alone, perhaps he would have decided to fight against his shark instincts and go back to the shark clan but seeing the look of longing from both Shanks and Tosh made him waver in his decision. This was especially so when Shanks was still a white-tier Great White Shark. Since taking this shark under his wings, he always felt bothered as a white tier shark at his current level was more of a liability than an ?sset. Well, if he wanted to improve things without booting Shanks out, what better way than to power level him. As someone who mildly played computer games in his previous life, he knew of power leveling low-level friends in a game. After all his experience since transmigrating into this world, he already had every evidence to prove that Oceania was more or less like a realistic game. Before he made his decision, he used an ?sset of his system to justify his thoughts. [System Snooping tool has been utilized.] [Host is stronger than target, snooping successful.] [Target Name: Shanks.] [Species: Teenage Great White- Shark.] ***** [Level: 8] Stats: Power: 10 Speed: 6 Mind: 9 Constitution: 8 Luck: 7 HP: 56/85 [Body Skills: Bite; Swim; Dash; Dorsal Fin; Tail Fin; Electroreceptors; Spike Headbutt.] [Magic Skills: Water Wall; Water Control; Water Shield.] [Adaptations: Head Spike; Fire Skin; Mana Conductor Coating; Water Conducting Organ; Magic Organ.] ***** Seeing Shanks'' body and magic skills including his adaptations, Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief as they were a little decent but seeing the basic stats and the mana points stat almost left him puking blood. "What the heck is this?" He already forgot that he was once this weak too, this just felt too ridiculous to him when he already got to looking at stat figures in tens and hundreds. "Bro, you need some leveling up". "Huh?" "Never mind that term? Do you guys want to eat some more food?" "Yes!" Shanks flapped his tail fin excitedly. "YES! YES! YES!" Of course, Tosh had to do more or he would no longer be Tosh. Doing more was his specialty. Sebastian ignored Tosh''s shenanigans and declared. "Then let''s do it!" [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone!] [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite!] Boom! Sebastian rushed forward with speed as Tosh and Shanks quickly followed behind him, the feast officially started. "Crunch!" [You have killed a mutated Bat Fish- Level 12: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 8 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a mutated Worm Fish- Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 13 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] These 2 weird fish were one of the rare fish species that Sebastian encountered in this region. Oceania never seemed to surprise him, every day, he encountered such weird sea creatures that left him oohing and ahhing each time. For this hunt, of course, he let Tosh go unrestrained but he personally gave Shanks special treatment. He attacked most of the fishes and creatures to the point of death before leaving them for Shanks to finish and eat. This way, this youngest member of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team grew at an astonishing pace that left even Sebastian envying it. A few minutes after they started hunting, they killed and ate so much that Shanks finally filled his experience quota to advance to the next level. Immediately after the quota was filled, the shark felt it. "Seba bro¡­" "I told you not to call me that, call me team leader". "Ok, team leader, I seem to have crossed the threshold, I think I''m ready to evolve to the next tier now". Feeling the excitement of the young shark, Sebastian felt a strange feeling in his heart. He felt proud, it was like he just sent his younger brother to school and the little brat just graduated with all As. "Ok, it''s time to go back to the cave". Sebastian finally decided only to be interrupted by one of his companions. "Seba bro, am I sick? I feel weird, I suddenly don''t feel the urge to eat again. I''m afraid, am I dying?" "¡­" Sebastian was dumbfounded. "F*ck dummy! You''re full, now let''s go!" "Full?" Tosh questioned, confused at the alien term. Despite feeling confused, Tosh still followed lest he is left behind. So, their journey back home finally started, the 3 bloated belly sharks navigated through the rock platforms as Sebastian expertly led the way. Like this, they crossed a few kilometers, making progress in their quest to go home but nature seemed to want to play games with them as Sebastian who was at the front suddenly paused. His expression became weird immediately because he just felt that feeling of his body being swept by another predator''s electroreceptors. It was extremely unlikely for his companions to have done it but he still asked. After getting a negative answer from both Shanks and Tosh, his expression became serious immediately. What just happened implied that another predator with the electroreceptor skill was out there. This may be a new Great White Shark, but the mere fact that Sebastian was not sure unnerved him to no end. In his silent contemplation, he was interrupted by a sudden loud sound that erupted from his front, revealing the new predator. What shocked Sebastian was that this sound was not a predatory roar, rather it was the sound of a mechanical engine which he was extremely used to, having lived in a world filled with machinery. Feeling the water ripple, he turned to that direction as his gaze finally set on this new predator, then his head was blown away in shock. "What abomination is this Chapter 136 - A Strange Metal Shark. Grii! Grii! From behind one of the rock platforms that jutted out of the walls, this new predator emerged, blowing Sebastian and his 2 team members'' minds away. All of them held their breaths in shock as they looked on at this new predator. This new predator was a shark, but its body was not fleshy like other sharks, its body was covered with a metal surface. The loud griing sound was that of its revving engine as it powered its massive frame. It was in the shape of a normal Great White Shark; the only problem was that all the features of a shark that it had were all metal. It didn''t only have the features of a normal shark, it had adaptations too. Its body was mechanical in a way that made it seem like a huge shark machine. From the mechanical openings around its body, blue energy glowed which also reflected in the eyes of this metal shark. The loud frictional sound made by it spread rippling vibrations through the water as different mechanical components that were ?ssembled inside it scratched against each other with force. The most glaring adaptation that it had was a long cutting spiked chain that circled its metal body, from its head to its tail. As its engine revved, so also did this long-spiked chain react as its sharp edges cut at the water at a deadly speed. Apart from its chain, its tail fin was separated into 3 parts with its ends having openings like the muzzle of a gun. These 2 were just the most glaring of the numerous mechanical adaptations that this strange Great White Metal Shark had, and its body towered at a size of 15 meters, similar to Sebastian''s current size. It had no expression on its shark metal face, not that it could be detected by conventional means if it ever had one. To Sebastian, this shark looked like a technological mech shark. As soon as it emerged completely from behind the rock platform, its blue eyes flickered as it observed the 3 sharks before it. The next moment, its eyes turned an ominous red. Seeing this shark, Sebastian''s understanding of this world was once again updated in such a way that his brain literally short-circuited. The slow reaction brought by this proved deadly. As soon as its originally blue eyes turned red, the metal shark attacked. Before Sebastian and his 2 team members could react, this new predator''s tail fin flapped at the water with force, inducing waves as the blue energy inside its body also spiked in intensity. As the blue energy spiked, small mechanical boosters emerged from the shark''s body which served as means to propel it forward even faster. "Defend!" Sebastian finally reacted, yelling but it was a little too late. Amond the trio of returning sharks, Shanks was the one who was originally at the front with both Tosh and Sebastian watching his back. This formation was originally to protect the smaller and more fragile white tier shark but it proved dangerous now as Shanks became the first juicy target of this metal shark. Boom! Crunch! The metal shark first rammed into the smaller shark''s fragile body, deforming its skin in the process before its metallic sharp rows of teeth came biting down and digging into its skin. One bite took a chunk of flesh from Shanks'' body. Shanks ground his teeth in pain as he tried to retaliate but he was overpowered completely on every side, he was powerless. He tried activating his water shield skill but each movement of the metal shark shattered it. After the collision attack and the bite, the engine inside the metal shark''s body revved again as the sharp metal spiked chain circling its body jerked before rolling with speed. Again, Shanks suffered this. Grii! The chain rolled carefreely with speed, grinding and cutting off chunks of flesh from the smaller shark in the process. The water became extremely bloody immediately, filled with the suffering shark''s flesh and blood. In less than a second since the attack run started, the chain cut deep into the shark''s body but it stopped there. Sebastian was shocked by the offensive effectiveness of this shark''s attack but his brain no longer felt slow as he already recovered from his shock, he reacted fast to this attack. [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill!] Boom! The attack drilled a hole through the shark''s metallic skin immediately but this didn''t make it relent in its attack, it ignored the damage like it was from a mere bug scratching at its skin. At this moment, the deadly sound effect of this skill was completely nullified by the metal shark who seemed deaf. Only the physical effects dealt damage but Sebastian was not discouraged as he already rushed out. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Almost immediately after he moved, Tosh who seemed to have recovered from his shock attacked too. Without hesitation, he threw one of his strongest skills again, the Crazy god''s punch! With the light magic punch hitting squarely and Sebastian colliding against the enemy, the metal shark was finally pushed back, granting the already severely injured Shanks a moment of respite. This was when Sebastian finally knew how severely injured his companion was. The bite from the metal shark was so dangerously close to Shanks'' head that his internal body structure from the head could be seen from outside. The rolling chain did not do much better, it ripped so much flesh from Shanks that the shark now seemed emaciated. Shanks was in agony as he thrashed around in pain, unable to control himself. His life force was already at that dangerously low level. With the metal shark pushed away after being hit by him and Tosh''s attack, Sebastian had the time to take in the full sight of Shanks'' sorry state. Originally, on seeing a strange metal shark like this, the first thing that dominated his mind was fear and wariness but seeing Shanks like this, all caution left his mind as a drive for revenge dominated. "You can bite me, you can attack me, you can injure me, but you have no right to do this to someone under me!" Even as he spoke, the metal shark didn''t seem to care about him as it reoriented itself before rushing back. This time, Sebastian welcomed the shark with open arms as he also rushed at it. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Lightning Axe!] Boom! Boom! Boom! The 3 sonic drills all hit the metal shark squarely, but they didn''t do much in reducing its forward momentum. Sebastian loved it this way though as it presented the perfect mode of attack for his magic manifestations. The enormous pitch-black tower shield under his control first collided with the metal shark''s head, pushing it back after a fierce tug of war that left a crack in the metal shark''s metalhead. This disoriented the shark a bit, presenting the perfect angle of attack for the Lightning Axe magic manifestation. The ax came down with force. BOOM! Chapter 137 - A Bitter Battle- Sustaining A Serious Injury! [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite!] Crunch! [You have dealt staggering damage to your opponent.] [You have dealt 30% additional lightning damage to your opponent.] It seemed that the sudden stacked damage from the 3 sonic drills to the crushing bite startled the metal shark as its red eyes flickered warily before turning yellow and calculative. Sebastian didn''t pay attention to this little detail. Unlike the sweet metallic feeling of blood that he always felt on digging his teeth into prey, this time all he felt was oil and hard metallic objects. He ignored this detail still, all he aimed for at this moment was dealing even more damage to this blasphemy shark. Without hesitation, Sebastian took the battle to the next level. [You have activated skill: Empowered Tail Fin.] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite!] Sebastian''s enormous shark body seemed to have turned to a war machine. This time, he was not picky about his choices, he used all his skills against this metal shark, including those that he rarely used before now. The metal shark was not given a moment to organize itself for a proper attack run. Sebastian hovered close to it like a bug, annoyed it like a monkey, stung at it like a viper, and tore its body apart like a ravaging lion. As Sebastian''s teeth dug in even deeper, shredding metallic components apart, the metal shark finally retaliated. The metal shark first activated a basic magic shield to extricate itself from the unrelenting attacks of this shark, but unlike other predators, its shield was powered by its blue energy. Immediately after this, it went back on the offensive. Its tail recoiled like a springboard before launching at the enemy shark. With his active electroreceptors, Sebastian already saw the incoming attack as he reacted appropriately by activating his magic shield. At the last moment, before the 3-tip segmented tail could collide with his magic shield, the metal shark''s now yellow eyes glowed fiercer as each of the 3 tails suddenly jerked before widening to reveal what seemed like gun muzzles. All the muzzles aimed at Sebastian''s body, then the metal shark''s blue energy spiked again, transferring a large amount of energy towards the tail fin. Sebastian''s danger premonition acted up at this moment but his reaction speed was a little late, only his magic shield was on the way this time. Bam! Bam! Bam! From the metal shark''s 3 muzzle-tipped tails, explosive shells, and penetrative bullets were launched out as they all impacted the magic shield. Sebastian''s magic shield only held for about 2 seconds before it was breached, then his body was exposed. The explosive shells hit and set Sebastian''s enormous body ablaze in the water, while the penetrative bullets dug into his body at such speed and frequency that his body was left jerking like a faulty machine. [You have been hit by a skill: 3-Tailed Bombardment!] [You have been hit by a skill: Metal Bite!] Crunch! The metal shark viciously aimed at Sebastian''s head. For the first time since he reincarnated into this world, Sebastian suffered an injury that took one of his eyes, leaving him blind in a literal sense. Roar! He roared in pain; Tosh roared also in panic as he rushed into the battlefield to help but just one tail slap from the metal shark sent him flying away. The caliber of this battle was not one for him to interfere with. With no other opponent to obstruct its plans, the metal shark used its fearsome rows of metallic teeth to hold the fleshy shark in a death grip. Sebastian struggled but the metal shark did not let go. The bite on his head and the sensation of losing one of his eyes made his brain explode with so much pain that he found it a chore to think straight. While already trapping his opponent in this predicament, the metal shark did even more mischief. Its powerful engine revved again as the spiked metal chain started rolling. Grii!!! Sebastian felt his brain explode with even more pain as the rolling chain dug into his skin, tearing his muscle fibers apart like they were meat in the butcher''s hand. The sensation of his skin tearing apart was unbearable. Clearly, Sebastian still underestimated this opponent. Looking at his rapidly dwindling health points said it all, he did not dare hold back again. Without hesitation, he resorted to his trump card strategy, the magic manifestation spamming strategy! [You have created a magic manifestation: Heavy Armor!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Ice Spears!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Fire Sabers!] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] [You have created¡­] [You have created¡­] As the magic manifestations appeared one by one like the primitive magic of a medieval mage, Sebastian watched his mana points draining like a running tap but he did not feel discouraged at all. The metal shark was shocked after its sensors detected the strange weapons hovering around it and the damage potential evaluated by its sensors for them. It hesitated in its actions, and this hesitation cost it a lot. At Sebastian''s command, all the magic manifestations attacked. The metal shark was bombarded with attacks that overwhelmed it completely. Its metal surface revealed numerous cracks after the first series of attacks, its yellow eyes widened and glowed fiercer in shock. Seeing more weapons about to descend on it, its yellow glowing eyes rapidly calculated and arrived at the perfect decision for this predicament. Grii!!! Its engines revved louder than ever before as a blue shield appeared before it. The shield only held for a small amount of time under Sebastian''s bombardment, but this was enough for the metal shark. Already noticing its actions, Sebastian tried to stop it. [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Prison!] Seeing the pitch-black prison that was descending towards it, the metal shark''s yellow eyes flickered calculatedly. Its massive spiked chain was suddenly thrown out like a boomerang, surprisingly forming a platform that stalled the descent of the prison. While this happened, with one powerful flap of its tail fin, the metal shark moved with astonishing speed, escaping from the battlefield in the blink of an eye. Chapter 138 - I Did It! A few seconds after the metal shark escaped, Sebastian''s tense and rapidly beating heart finally calmed down. He had a lot of things in his mind due to this battle but he shelved them aside for now and rushed towards his companion. Due to this battle, not only was Tosh injured after the metallic tail fin slap from the metal shark, Shanks was severely injured after the first burst of attack. His companions were not the only ones injured; he was also injured. His reluctance to give his all at the beginning cost him severely for the first time, yanking that veil from his eyes that was hindering him from seeing reality. The dizziness as he lost blood due to the bite injury in his head, the numerous bullets lodged in his body, and the flesh he lost when the spiked metal chain tore through his body were painful evidence of that lesson. The most dreadful lesson of all was his current handicap of losing an eye. His only saving grace was that he had an electromagnetic vision in the form of his electroreceptors. Despite the pain from his injuries, he gritted his teeth and ignored them while rushing towards Shanks. Perhaps, it was because he was a predator now, but his tolerance to pain already increased a lot as he got used to this world. Shanks was so injured that hovering in the water now seemed like a chore to him. Hovering in place made his body sink like he was dead, he had no choice but to lean on one of the rock platforms to rest. Sebastian winced after getting close as he saw the fierce bite to the shark''s head which was currently bleeding. Not only that, the ram from the metal shark at the beginning left one side of its abdomen deformed. Of all the injuries, the one from the spiked metal chain was the worst. The chain almost cut through Shanks completely. Seeing and confirming this, he felt panicked immediately. Originally, Shanks was not taken into any hunting team because he was still too young to go out and face all the dangers of this cliff. Perhaps, impulsively, but he decided to take the shark in, believing that he could protect him. In normal circumstances, Shanks was expected to kill the stray creatures that escaped to the territory of the shark clan or eat from the clan''s reserves to slowly get battle experience and level up. This was so that by the time he evolved to the orange tier, he would be ready and prepared to face the world''s challenges. It was never like his own where he shot up, becoming a powerhouse in just a few months since reincarnating into this world. He was an anomaly. Now, seeing Shanks like this left Sebastian all panicky. His brain went to work as he started thinking of any way possible to heal the shark. He just couldn''t let Shanks die after being the one who personally took the shark into his team, after being the one who took the shark into the wild, after being the one who opened the shark''s eyes to the outside world. "Damn, you can''t die!" "At least, not like this". Amid his venting, ideas flowed through his head like water as he started a game of addition and subtraction. In his panic for ideas, he remembered another thing. The system once told him that eating a prey that he killed also meant ?ssimilating its magic essence. And through some strange mechanism, ?ssimilating the magic essence heals. But what if, he didn''t have to kill the prey with his own hands before he could ?ssimilate its magic essence? What if just eating any dead predator would allow him to ?ssimilate its magic essence. His system never said this was not possible, he was the only one who ?ssumed so after rationalizing it. This was when he remembered that this was Oceania and not earth, most of his rational deductions may be wrong. Without even asking his system to confirm it first, he accessed his system inventory immediately and brought out the enormous meat left of the Giant Squid. "Shanks, please, I want you to bite this meat and eat, do you understand?" "Please eat, it would save your life and make you healthy again. Eat and you''ll be able to dissect again. We''ll only be able to take revenge against the metal shark if you can dissect again". "Come on man, eat something!" Crunch! It took considerable effort from the shark but Shanks succeeded in opening his mouth to take a bite, then he fainted the next moment. Seeing this, Sebastian was stunned as he panicked even more. He felt the urge to cut the meat and pack it into the shark''s mouth, forcing them in but the annoying fact was that he no longer had human hands. He didn''t have human hands, but who said he couldn''t create them? As soon as this thought came to his mind, his head seemed to have exploded as a door to new ideas and discoveries seemed to have opened to him. For some reason, though he already thought of it before, he always felt that creating other magic manifestations apart from the ones already recognized by the system was impossible. This thought process only became stronger when he was rewarded invention points for merging 2 magic manifestations. It always felt like he had a mental block that always prevented him from thinking deeper into this route. But now that he thought of it, his system never said doing that was impossible. He didn''t succeed in creating a machine gun magic manifestation because it was too complex and required too many mana points from him. As he thought, he immediately put it into work. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Cutting Knife.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Prying Rods.] Seeing the first magic manifestation appear, Sebastian''s eyes glittered, seeing the next appear, his eyes glowed, and seeing the last one appear, his eyes literally exploded with a bright light akin to the sun. "I did it!" "I f*cking did it!" "I actually, literally, freaking f*cking did it!" Suppressing his excitement which only aggravated his injuries, Sebastian took control of the magic manifestations and went to work on Shanks. He first used the extremely sharp cutting knife to cut huge chunks of meat from the Giant Squid''s meat, then he used the prying rods to pry open Shanks mouth. After this, he finally used the human hands to start feeding the shark. This continued for 10 minutes until he was satisfied that Shanks had already eaten enough. Though Sebastian was not sure if his theory of the magic essence would work, his first success increased his optimism that it would work. After taking this vital step, he heaved a sigh of relief before turning around to face Tosh who had been watching all along in awe. He wondered how the shark was able to keep its mouth close throughout. "Let''s dig in". He muttered before taking a bite from the Giant Squid''s meat. Chapter 139 - Speculations And The Reticular Activating System. [You have eaten the meat of the Giant Squid: You have unlocked the basic profile information of the Giant Squid family.] [You have ?ssimilated part of the Squid''s magic essence: Your health points are slowly being restored at a rate of 10 HP/sec.] Seeing this, a smile finally lit up Sebastian''s sharky face since the encounter with the metal shark. He heaved a sigh of relief as this verified his theory about magic essence in Oceania creatures. After a few minutes of digging into the Giant Squid''s meat, it did not take him and Tosh much effort before they devoured the purple tier predator''s meat. After eating, Tosh asked for permission which he granted before going to a corner of another rock platform to sleep and rest. Though his participation in the previous battle was minimal, he still felt exhausted. "I wish life can just be full of talking, talking and talking, instead of this hunting, killing, and getting injured. It''s seriously so exhausting". Tosh muttered before drifting on into the sweet dreamy world of sleep. Sebastian heard the shark''s words but like before, he simply ignored it. As he spent more time with Tosh, he learned to just ignore his shenanigans as pursuing them would just give him a headache. Though he felt tired too, Sebastian didn''t drift into sleep like the other 2 sharks. He already saw enough of this world to be wary; he was ready to stay awake and act as the watch shark till both sharks woke up. In his silent watch, a lot of things went through his mind, most dominantly induced by the battle encounter with the metal shark. The strange metal shark, seeing it really shocked Sebastian so much that he didn''t know how to react immediately which led to Shanks'' current state. He was not too hung up on it though, that already became history. On seeing the shark, the first thing that he thought was that it was a special machine created by Atlantians. This was more predominant after his previous speculations of the region where they found themselves being the base of operations of an Atlantian crew. About the legend of Atlantis that he knew, he knew that it described the ancient city as a city that thrived technologically and magically so seeing a machine shark like this was not anything strange. The only problem was that he knew that this metal shark was living. It was not a machine, but a living metal shark. And this time, his electroreceptors said that the metal shark was living. This discovery boggled his brain so much which led to his slow reactions. Is the Atlantis of this world so developed? Can they create living organisms? If they can, then doesn''t that make them gods? From his memory, only a God could breathe life into an object to make it live. All these speculations were so groundbreaking that he found it hard to believe himself anymore. Another speculation of his was that this shark had no relation to Atlantians. After seeing so many strange predators in this world, his brain was more open to strange encounters. If there was a Necromancy King who birth the Death Dragons, why can''t there be a Mechanic King who birth these metal sharks? It felt absurd, but this was the only thing that he could think of after excluding the Atlantians. From his understanding of the little that the system revealed, Sea Kings were such monsters that any adaptation and mutation were possible to them. The only annoying problem in his speculations was that he could not know if he was right or wrong, and it drove him nuts. To prevent himself from flipping out and doing weird things, he forced himself to focus on another thing. After reincarnating into this world, he already found out that the longer he stayed, the more he was inclined to think like a shark. Perhaps, if he still thought as fast, intelligent, and rationally as a human, the disaster of the metal shark would have never happened. As an anatomist in his previous world, there was this scientific term that he got exposed to, ''the reticular activating system''. Through this system, sentient beings could consciously direct their brains on what to think every day. There were so many things that a sentient being encounter in a day that if the brain takes it all, it would literally explode. That''s why the reticular activating system was needed. Through this, the brain only sees and notices what the sentient being preferred. After reincarnating as a shark, Sebastian already noticed that his reticular activating system was already changing with him, now filtering a lot of human things away to focus on the more shark-oriented things. Things that he would have never missed as a human, he missed them now as a shark. And things that he might have never seen as a human, he could see them now as a shark. For the shark clan, he already classified every shark there as a sentient organism. The ability to resist instincts, even to the mildest degree was what made an organism sentient. That was why he addressed Tosh and Shanks as he, not it. The ability to create such an elaborate clan cave, put so many complicated facilities in place, and the system of shark points alone was all the evidence that he needed to confirm that his new friends or perhaps brothers were sentient. In his previous world, they referred to humans as higher animals because of their sentient intelligence but he was no longer sure if in this world that would be still viable. Perhaps, the only thing really separating the ruling Atlantians from the numerous creatures of Oceania was how sentient they were. As he thought, for some reason, he now wanted to meet the Atlantians. With all these things thought of, his mind relaxed as he felt like a burden was suddenly off lifted from his shoulders. As he couldn''t sleep right now, he started looking for things to think of. Then, his brain immediately went to his new discoveries due to his panic and pressure induced by wanting to find a way to heal Shanks. He perked up immediately because he was entering exciting territory. Chapter 140 - Ideas Upon Ideas; Heavenly Ideas! Before he started thinking of his new discoveries due to attending to Shanks, Sebastian deviated as he just remembered something that he observed. After the fierce battle in his previous seamount that almost wiped out the Mammoth Crocodile family and also involved the frightening Octumpedam, Sebastian noticed a change in all his battles that followed. Of course, this was excluding the duel against Bush. He noticed that, in almost all his recent battles that showed a bit of tight intensity, he almost seemed to rely on his unique skill to survive. An example was this encounter against the metal shark. He knew that the frightening metal abomination was at the purple tier, but still, his preference to go with his magic manifestation spamming each time to survive was now becoming a little shameless. Analyzing the strange metal shark and substituting it with himself, he drew a mental comparison chart. He took it that the skill used with the long metal spiked chain adaptation was the unique skill of the shark while all the other skills that it used were normal skills like his own. Now, if they were aligned, it would easily be noticed that unlike him, the metal shark didn''t rely too much on its spiked chain, instead, it fought like a real predator with a myriad of skills to choose from and still deal real damage. This was the problem with him currently. Though with his unique skill he was powerful, he already started noticing that his other skills were slowly becoming a liability to think of in battle rather than an ?sset. Apart from perhaps his sonic drill, his bite skills, and his sonic reflection skill, all his other normal skills were more or less just so-so now. Perhaps, this was because he was not a purple tier predator yet but he still felt a need to up his game. From the day he reincarnated, he necessarily didn''t see himself as better than other predators but he definitely had more potential. If this was so, then why limit himself to their standards? His ultimate goal since getting this new life apart from dissecting all the most powerful creatures and finding the mystery of his transmigration was that he wanted to be the most powerful predator also. Without being the strongest, how could he have the face to take on the mantle of the Ocean Master that his system expected him to take? "I''m f*cking better than this". It now seemed like a self-motivational talk but he didn''t care, he needed to up his game and no longer rely as much on his unique skill. At this moment, he had a sizeable stockpile of skill and adaptation points. Originally, he wanted to keep them all till his evolution but why wait till then when he only had 30 minutes to choose? From now on, he gave himself another goal to level up all his small skills as much as possible and upgrade them. He was not buying a new skill, for now, he already had enough, he just wanted to upgrade them and make them OP. To him, that was the ideal thinking faculty of a future Ocean Master. With this already marked in his mind as a goal to strive towards, he finally went back to his new discoveries due to attending to Shanks. Of course, this discovery was the one about his sole unique skill. At that moment of desperation, his brain limits seemed to have been pushed to an even further limit, enabling him to break the strange shackles deterring him and officially creating his first dissecting magic manifestations. Before when his system did all the dissecting for him, presenting the results to him in the form of basic system information, he felt a little dissatisfied with it but he did not complain. He did not complain because getting to hunt and kill rampantly with his system doing all the brainwork before seemed cool, but now he grew bored of it. Doing the actual dissecting and brainwork with them was a thrill that he missed a lot. He finally seemed to realize that this was what made him the crazy dissector, not just brainless killing. This discovery was just too significant in his life, it meant the whole world to him. Now, he wasn''t sure if he should be angry at the metal shark or even grateful for encountering it. Ambitions that were originally hidden at the deepest recesses of his mind finally seemed to sprout, having found water and sunshine to photosynthesis and grow with vigor. What if he formed a department of anatomy in the shark clan, just like the way that the healing and construction departments were formed? The possibilities of this discovery were so groundbreaking that just thinking of it left his brain overly excited. What if through this discovery, he could finally unveil the mystery behind why creatures in Oceania could evolve by killing other creatures? What if through this discovery, he unveiled the mystery of his transmigration? What if through this discovery, he could make scientific deductions by analyzing the internal structure of Oceania creatures to create a way for both himself and his close friend sharks to evolve safer and faster? What if through this discovery, the purple tier bottleneck heavily emphasized to him by other predators as dangerous was no longer as dangerous to evolve to? Man! Sebastian felt on top of the world as idea after idea was sprouted in his mind, leaving his head feeling like he was floating in the clouds. As all these ideas formed, floating in what he could refer to as his sea of consciousness, a legendary thought slowly started forming in Sebastian''s mind. "In a world where no one frown upon my tendencies, where I can dissect all the creatures that I want, where I''m even revered for how proficient I am at dissecting". "Man! This is heaven!" Chapter 141 - Shanks Is Evolving! Hours later as Sebastian continued his watch, morning in the Green Mist Sea finally came. Feeling the familiar green glow of this world which represented day shining down on his skin, Sebastian felt refreshed. For the past few hours, his brain continued dwelling on all the heavenly ideas that he came up with, improvising and finetuning them to a more perfect degree. He could not wait to get back to the shark clan, his anticipation kept on rising every moment and at this moment he was already close to the climax. Exactly like when he was still on earth, when he was focused on what he was interested in, the 2 keywords called procrastination and sleep would run away far from him lest they were toasted by his overly excited brain. His excitement at coming to these discoveries was so much that he occasionally burst into pearls of crazy laughs. Well, in his current body, it was represented as him simply shinning his teeth while making weird noise. When he just reincarnated into this world as a Great White Shark, he made some mistakes and wrong deductions that would seem silly to others considering that he was an anatomist but to him, he called it passion! Even as an anatomist, he still needed to focus on a specific aspect of anatomy. His focus point was on sea creatures, specifically on sharks, but he was still a little peculiar and different when compared to others. When he was still a secondary school and university anatomy enthusiast, he loved reading and playing with his books. But after graduation, reading became a chore, he started loving the main thing more. From an all-around anatomy scientist, he evolved. He evolved to become a full-fledged dissector, the crazy dissector! Even at his level, he may forget some of the most basic knowledge about theoretical anatomy and sea creatures, but the real dissecting was still perfectly entrenched inside his brain. Why care about textbooks when he could experiment and do the thing himself? This was the type of person that he was. It''s not like it was a god who wrote the textbooks, humans wrote them after experiments. So why not engage in the experiment himself to form his own Sebastian-style anatomy textbook? If great scientists like Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Elon Musk, and Mack Zuckerberg focused too much on the theoretical aspects of their fields, they would have never become as great as they were. They were experiment freaks! And so was Sebastian! The great inventor, Thomas Edison would have never developed the electric light bulb if he was not such an unrelenting experiment freak. He worked his ?ss off experimenting every day, and so did Sebastian as a human. This was the only reason why he was able to overcome all odds and create his shark variant between the Great White and Whale Shark families. Sebastian agreed completely with this. You may be a bookworm and may have engaged in hundreds of experiment runs, but it was still the weight of your experiment that would determine your success. And it was mostly eccentric scientists like Sebastian who got the last laugh. "You may know all the details in the Advanced Anatomy Textbook. For me, I only know the basics, but I''m an expert in wielding my cutting knives and scissors. Put the both of us to the text and you''ll see that I''m 10 times better than you". This was Sebastian''s ideology and the source of his confidence in himself. For some reason, as he thought of all these, he seemed to have understood why he was chosen as a target for reincarnation. Numerous bookworms died across the world every day. They could have been chosen but no, a freak like him was chosen instead. He boldly guessed that this was because of his dissecting tendencies. He guessed that through experiments, perhaps he could influence the adaptation choices of creatures and control their mutation direction. Even on earth, his focus on dissecting took him so far in his field. He did not dare predict his future in this world which supported him on every facet imaginable, his future prospects in Oceania were unlimited! Amid his rapidly thinking brain filled with heavenly ideas, he felt a rough stir close to him which annoyingly yanked him out of his moment of heightened thinking and intelligence. "Seba bro, are we home yet? I feel kinda hungry". "¡­" Sebastian didn''t need to look with his eyes nor his electroreceptors, the choice of words already revealed the identity of this companion. "You''re awake?" "Yeah, I''m awake". As Tosh slowly roused himself from the deep sleep, a weird expression suddenly came across his sharky face as he looked at Sebastian. "Why do you feel so strange and excited?" "Huh? The f*ck are you blabbering about?" Sebastian already understood what Tosh meant but he was not having that now. "If you''re hungry, go hunt for food. I''ll protect Shanks, remember to also hunt for me and Shanks". "Ok, I''ll go find food then. I just hope that shark doesn''t appear". Like the simple-minded shark whose only passion was blabbering all day that he was, Tosh muttered this before swimming out to go hunt. During the last night, through his electroreceptors, Sebastian already scouted the area and deemed it fit to let Tosh go hunting. This was the only reason why he let the shark go out alone. The only problem now was still Shanks. After Tosh left, Sebastian turned his head to look at the still-sleeping shark. Compared to the previous day, Shank''s injuries already healed a lot but the more severe injuries were still there. This once again showed Sebastian that the healing induced by ?ssimilating the magic essence of predators was not full-proof. To heal from really severe injuries, it needed time or attention from a predator with healing magic. "I hope nothing happens during this period". As soon as Sebastian muttered this, he paused as he noticed something. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] Through the more intense scrutinizing advantage of his electroreceptors, Sebastian was able to look deeper to observe what he noticed. "Shanks is evolving!" Chapter 142 - The New Shanks. Shanks was evolving! As soon as Sebastian noticed this, he was stunned. His plan originally was that after getting back to the shark clan, there, Shanks would have the perfect and secure environment to evolve to the orange tier. He did not expect the shark to start evolving right away. This confirmed one of his hidden speculations that unlike him, other creatures in Oceania have little or no control over their evolutions. Perhaps, they had slight control over it but it was definitely not as precise as the one he enjoyed through his system. For a long time, he''s speculated about skill and adaptation points. Now, through this encounter, he somehow answered his queries himself. He guessed that like him, other creatures in Oceania got skill and adaptation points with each kill but they couldn''t see it tabulated clearly the way his system simplified everything to him. Perhaps, all they felt was a little change which became the metric in which they used to measure skill and adaptation points. Clearly, Shanks was evolving for some time already as visible changes could already be seen in the shark''s body, the most prominent being its size. From his previous size of 5 meters, as time went by, Shanks already silently ballooned to a size of about 8 meters and was still growing. From this change, he was not taking the more compact growth route like Verni. He was taking the more common route of gigantism, which was evident in Sebastian and most of the other sharks. For adaptations, Sebastian could not see any that was visibly outwards yet but he was sure that even more complicated changes were going on inside Shanks'' slowly ballooning body. As someone who had already undergone 2 evolutions, he knew how long the process was so he resigned himself to wait a few more hours. He rested his body at a more comfortable angle and watched the shark. In silence like this, the time ticked forward as Shanks experienced even more changes in his body. About 30-40 minutes later according to Sebastian''s estimate, Tosh finally came back from his hunting spree with food in his mouth. Tosh obeyed his team leader''s instructions. He didn''t eat all the prey that he hunted; he brought some back to feed the 2 other members of the team. With 1 enormous Yeti Crab and 2 mutated Giant Seals in his mouth, he swam closer to where Sebastian and Shanks hovered. But on swimming closer, the sight before him made his mouth open wide, dropping all the food in the process. "Shanks is evolving?" "¡­" "Really? What a moment this is! The little Shanks has finally grown-up". "Seba bro, what did you call it the other time? Yes, power leveling. We power leveled him, now he''s evolving. Damn, what a proud moment!" "Tosh!" Sebastian directed a glare at him. "Keep quiet, can''t you see he''s evolving, you want to disturb him?" "Seba bro, I mean, this is a proud moment, right?" "Tosh!!" "Why do you guys hate speaking your thoughts so much? I resent¡­" [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Bonking Rod!] Bonk! "Ouch! I''m sorry¡­" Bonk! "I''m sorry!" ¡­ A few minutes later, a now docile Tosh hovered beside his team leader as they both silently watched the proceedings of their other member evolving. Each minute that passed, more and more changes appeared in Shanks'' body. Like a dream, the small Shanks of yesterday was now twice his size, towering at a size of 10 meters already. After getting to this size, the growth finally stopped but other minute changes happened in the shark''s body. It felt like a snake that was shedding its old skin to emerge with brand-new shiny skin afterward. Seeing this, Sebastian suddenly felt that Tosh was right. This was a proud moment and he indeed felt proud, this was like his first student or follower who benefited from following him. Like this, seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, and soon, 5 hours got elapsed. It was at this moment that a brand-new Shanks emerged. Shanks was now an enormous Great White Shark towering at a size of 10 meters, with a visible adaptation on his snout that made it seem like the sharp bill of a deadly mutated swordfish. Shanks smiled on feeling his 2 team member''s gaze on him. "Team leader, Tosh, I feel so¡­, powerful!" Hearing this made Sebastian feel excited, his team was getting stronger. If even he felt excited, Tosh felt it even more. "Oh Sh*t! Shanks is powerful! Seba bro, you hear that? Shanks is powerful!" Sebastian almost instinctively yelled the shark''s name but, in the end, he held back. Tosh was talkative, it was annoying but not that much annoying at this moment, Sebastian didn''t want to ruin the atmosphere. Sebastian also made the cringe declaration. "Shanks is powerful!" ¡­ [System Snooping tool has been utilized.] [Host is stronger than target, snooping successful.] [Target Name: Shanks.] [Power Tier: Orange Tier.] ***** [Level: 11] Stats: Power: 41 Speed: 24 Mind: 21 Constitution: 28 Luck: 15 MP: 380/380 [Body Skills: Poison Bite; Advanced Swim; Dash; Dorsal Fin; Tail Fin; Advanced Electroreceptors; Spike Headbutt; Snout Ram.] [Magic Skills: Water Wall; Water Control; Water Shield; Water Cultivation.] [Adaptations: Head Spike; Sword Snout; Fire Skin; Mana Conductor Coating; Water Conducting Organ; Magic Organ; Water Reservoir.] ***** With this last checkpoint, Sebastian confirmed that his Ultimate Dissectors hunting team really got another orange tier powerhouse. About the normal stats, skills, and adaptations, of course, they could not be compared to his own which was something that he already observed when he saw Bush''s stats, the shark that he dueled with. Shanks skills and adaptations were interesting, but what really caught Sebastian''s attention was the magic skill, water cultivation. If he remembered correctly, bush had a similar skill that was named fire cultivation. He couldn''t help but speculate if this was some really important universal skill that he missed when he got his magic domain ability. This was for some other time though, at this moment, it was time to go home. After his evolution, Shanks'' body healed completely which presented them with the perfect opportunity to leave. With Sebastian taking the lead, the trio of sharks finally left. Chapter 143 - Survival Of The Fittest. Boom! The water raged, spreading ripples in every direction as a great battle between a group of Great White Sharks and a family of mutated Sea Lions continued unabashedly. Of course, the Great White Sharks were the ones winning despite their lesser numbers but the mutated Sea Lions were still putting up a good fight. This was a battle for survival and food, a survival of the fittest battle. The sharp teeth of the Sea Lions were the least of their advantages, their mutated Fire Skin adaptation was even thicker than other predators of their size, granting them frightening defense. They also had the home ground advantage which meant a lot and at this moment where it was needed the most, it showed. The Sea Lions were not advanced enough to come into contact with Atlantian technology to use in battle, and they didn''t have magic weapons either, but still, their family lair was finetuned to aid them in battle. Inside their lair, the enormous Great White Sharks were like a tortoise stuck in a basket, but they were like fish in water. This was their domain! Through the holes that filled every part of the lair, they were able to rapidly swim in the lair, and unlike their attackers, they changed pace and direction in the blink of an eye while rapidly retaliating against the bigger predators. Their teeth repeatedly met the flesh of the Sharks, but the problem was that compared to them, the sharks were bigger with even thicker skin. Only the underbelly of the sharks was a little weak, but against intelligent sharks, it was a herculean task to target their underbelly and still expect them to look on like a fool. This and a lot more disadvantages meant that they were losing and there was little that they could do about it, but they still gave their all. Another Sea Lion rapidly swam through one of the holes inside the lair, colliding against a shark and sinking its sharp teeth into the predator''s skin in the process as blood flowed. Almost immediately after this Sea Lion attacked, another followed, doing exactly the same thing to the shark but the shark retaliated the next moment. The shark''s tail fin hardened before flapping sideways with force. Unable to dodge on time, one of the Sea Lions was hit as the force of the tail sent it flying at the walls of the cave lair. Before it could recover, it saw a dark shadow rapidly coming towards it before hitting it the next moment. Bam! The Sea Lion was crushed to death by the sheer power and weight of the shark''s body as it rammed against it, pinning it to the wall and to its death. Like with each death from their brothers, the other Sea Lions roared angrily as they attacked with even more frenzy but it meant little before the enormous bully Great White Sharks. In a few minutes, from their previous number of almost 40 Sea Lions, they were now reduced to not more than 8, almost at the point of annihilation. It was more apt to say a massacre because they never succeeded in killing one of the Great White Sharks in revenge which was sad. "The leader is escaping, block the R exit". "Yes, team leader". While giving out the order, Tungsten already sprang into action as he chased after the Sea Lion, smashing the more fragile obstacles in the lair apart with the sheer physical strength of his body. 4 other sharks acknowledged his order and went after the escaping Sea Lion. Seeing that its only escape path was about to be blocked, the Sea Lion roared in frustration before it quickly gave up escaping. With its bloody and injured eyes, it glared at the sharks, a yearning for revenge bubbling in its heart. "Die!" It suddenly turned and roared this at the sharks, opening its mouth in the process as raging hot fire erupted out. As calm as a horse, one of the sharks took the lead before stirring its magic power as a huge water wall was erected before the raging fire. The fire was stopped in its path, calmly nullifying the Sea Lions'' strongest attack. Before the Sea Lion could recover, Tungsten took the lead again. The enormous Great White Shark controlled its magic domain impeccably as what seemed like a light bulb appeared above his head. Bam! Without compromises, the sword impaled the Sea Lion as the force carried it backward before pinning it to the cave wall. "It''ll be your turn one day, filthy shark¡­" Tungsten swam closer without much of a reaction to the dying Sea Lion''s words as he replied. "Till then, you die now". Crunch! The Sea Lion''s head was bitten cleanly off, ending its misery. When Tungsten turned around, the remaining Sea Lions were already finished off, leaving a cave lair filled with blood. The 12 Great White Sharks didn''t eat the meat, they rather stored them in small pouches that were attached to their underbelly. This was the Gigantic White hunting team with Tungsten as the leader and founder. As the elders and clan head didn''t have a hunting team, this was the biggest hunting team of the shark clan under Old Mak. This was a world where only the fittest survived, and the unfit becomes food for the fit. Every day, in this cliff, dozens or even hundreds of predator families suffered a fate similar to what the Sea Lions just suffered. No one cared though, this needed to happen to make sure that other predators remain well-fed to keep the ecosystem normal and evolving. After the sharks finished dealing with the meat left by their latest victims, they turned to leave but stopped as the water suddenly made a tearing sound. Warp! "It''s Torpedum". One of the sharks announced which the others agreed to with their silence. After this tearing sound, the water space was torn open, revealing what seemed like a portal. Through this portal, a line of words appeared. "Your new friend is back, and the little fella he took surprisingly survived". Chapter 144 - Atlantians! Seeing this message, Tungsten kept quiet as he reflected on it. This message was for him because it was from his childhood friend and current greatest rival. In the whole shark clan that was under the leadership of Old Mak, he and Torpedum were the only level 20 sharks at the pinnacle of the orange tier. They were both given birth to in the same year, they grew up together at the same period, becoming friends in their tender years as a shark. As the years went by, with their ambition growing too, they slowly grew apart. They were not enemies; they were rather bitter rivals. Extracted from their last public duel, Tungsten was the stronger shark though their strength was almost tied. The main difference between them was in their adaptation and magic domain abilities. Tungsten was a powerful light domain magician, while Torpedum was a powerful shark magician of the rare space domain. According to knowledge that was taught by the elders, the 4 basic magic domains were the elemental domains- water, fire, earth, and wind. Any other domain magic apart from those 4 were advanced magic domains and could only be unlocked by predators with a high-tier bloodline, or through an inheritance of any type. Still, the advanced magic domains were further subdivided into the rare advanced and pinnacle advanced magic domains. Magic domains like light, sound, thunder, and shadow were all rare advanced magic domains while the pinnacle advanced magic domains consisted of the even rarer space, time, healing, necromancy, and other hidden magic domains. The different types of magic domains were not necessarily stronger than the other as the strength of a magic domain was reflected in the strength and intelligence of the wielder. The rarer magic domains just reflected more potentials for growth, and they also gave more ground for developing strange, revolutionary, and terrifying domain magic skills. The pinnacle advanced magic domains could not be encountered even once in some predator clans for decades. As soon as all this information went through Tungsten''s brain, they unearthed some bad memories from the depths of his mind which he quickly suppressed. After doing this, he finally went back to the contents of the message. Before leaving to hunt with his team, he met with Torpedum and asked for the movement of the new shark to be monitored and sent to him. Though they were rivals, they still talked. The reason why he went to meet Torpedum though was that he was the only Space magician of the shark clan, and also, Torpedum had a skill that he called Long-range Space Communication. This was what he used to communicate with them a few seconds ago. Tungsten expected Sebastian to go out hunting after familiarizing himself with the clan. What he didn''t expect was for the shark to take one of the still-growing young sharks of the clan out to the wild. Though no rule was made by the clan head against it, it was already widely seen as a hidden rule that no hunting team should take the young sharks out to the wild until they were grown up and powerful enough to survive the perils out there. When he heard the news of what Sebastian did, of course, he was angry, thinking that the clan would lose a promising young shark. What he didn''t expect was for Shanks to return safely. "How did he do it?" This was the only question that was on his mind though he was relieved that the young shark was safe. If Sebastian was a defense-oriented shark, perhaps, he would have found it easier to believe but having fought alongside the shark once, he was pretty sure that Sebastian was a pure offense freak. He didn''t try to crack his brain just to know how Sebastian did it though, he was an intelligent shark but definitely not an intellectual reasoning one. He used his intelligence for his day-to-day activities, deep thinking was not his forte. "Team leader, what next?" One of the sharks suddenly called. "I think it''s time we go back to the clan, we already hunted enough". As he said this, Tungsten looked down at his magic storage pouch which contained tons of meat from the different species of prey that already fell victim to him and his crew. Among the meat included those of Sea Lions, Seals, Crabs, Shrimps, mutated Water Snakes, and mutated Cobras. "Does anyone object to going back?" "¡­" Tungsten took his team member''s silence as a yes as he turned to lead the way back home to the clan cave. In the boundless water world filling the middle of the wardrobe-like cliff surrounding the volcano, Tungsten and his group of 12 sharks continued swimming forward as they navigated their way back to their clan. Throughout the journey, as they swam, none of them spoke, keeping absolute silence which was a rule set by Tungsten himself. This was to enable absolute focus to react properly in case of an enemy attack. In this ocean volcano, there was nothing like too much preparation. After all, prevention was better than cure. As they swam with Tungsten taking the lead from the front, they all suddenly stopped having noticed their leader stop. "I feel something". All the sharks perked up on hearing that. Tungsten''s tail fin became as stiff and straight as an antenna all of a sudden as he closed his eyes, focusing his attention to increase the range of his electroreceptors. "Is that¡­? Dodge!" Without hesitation or thinking, all the sharks dived out of the way. 2 metal rods were thrown in their direction at a very fast speed, but Tungsten''s OP electroreceptors detected the danger on time, preventing the team from suffering injuries so early into a fight. "Prepare for battle!" Even without Tungsten''s reminder, the sharks were already arranging themselves into shape as they got prepared to face this new challenger. The next moment, thinner and shorter arrows came at them with even more speed, perplexing them at which type of predator this was and what strange magic domain ability it had. This time, 3 of the sharks were shot as they started bleeding immediately. Seeing this, Tungsten was already about to order his team members to charge forward when the invisible enemy finally appeared before them. A mini-submarine that was designed like a diver''s cage but much bigger and developed technologically suddenly appeared, having left stealth. "Reporting: 12 Great Whites". "Their leader is big, probably at the pinnacle of the orange tier already or just a fat balloon shark. It''s hard to believe it''s a purple tier already or we''ll be having a hard time". "I recommend using the stun harpoons, the 0-89-12 too". Seeing these strange creatures, Tungsten was shocked because it was these exact same creatures that his master always talked about, told tales about, and all that. These strange creatures were¡­ "Atlantians!" Chapter 145 - A Fierce Battle! Seeing the strange but memory familiar sight before them, the sharks were shocked. They had a million unanswered questions in their minds that they didn''t even have the privilege to ask now, not to talk of being answered. Before the sharks could organize themselves further, without hesitation, the 2 Atlantian soldiers already shot their guns after aiming carefully. Their speed from aiming to shooting showed that they were experts with their weapons. The next moment, what seemed like mechanical harpoons with a green mixed with red glow covering it suddenly rushed out through the muzzle of the gun. The water rippled as the trail left behind by the harpoons was tainted with an even darker green shade, thickening that which was already being released by the region''s magic essence. Through their electroreceptors, the 13 Great White Sharks were all able to see the tiniest of actions made by the 2 Atlantians and they saw when they made the tiny action to pull the trigger. Without hesitation, they activated their magic shields. Surprisingly, despite the number of targets in the water, the 2 Atlantian soldiers both focused on one target. Bam! Bam! As soon as the first harpoon came into contact with the shark''s shield, the red glow enveloping the harpoon was released, tainting the magic shield and leaving only the green glow behind. In less than 2 seconds after the red glow was released from the harpoon into the shield, the magic shield was tainted completely, making it turn dark red. The impact on the shield was not strong, almost seeming like a pat from the harpoon but the chain reactions after the impact were shocking. The shark who was attacked revealed a shocked expression the next moment. It strained its face like it was exerting effort to do something, but it clearly didn''t work as the strangest of things happened next. Despite the soft impact, the magic shield shattered! Pop! Before the other sharks could express their shock, the other harpoon which seemed to have been held back by some kind of energy originally was suddenly released as it accelerated. Shocked and defenseless, the target shark was unable to react as the sharp harpoon dug into its body with force. In the process, the last glow which was the green in the harpoon was released. Pure destructive power was suddenly released from the green glow which invaded the shark''s body, spreading tyrannical power as all this power exploded from within the shark''s body. The shark let out a sound of pain as a part of its body exploded, spreading a part of the green glow which now seemed like a deadly poison from its body. In the process, red blood dyed the seawater red. "Magma!" One of the other sharks called out in surprise and anger. All the sharks were shocked, never has one of them been injured so severely and so easily except when they went against purple tier monsters which was an extremely rare occurrence. The Atlantian soldiers were clearly ready to take advantage of their shocked state, or more like they were trained to take advantage of monster''s shocked states as they attacked again. They aimed and shot again, once again at the same shark who they already injured severely. But this time, someone intervened. At this moment of truth, this enormous shark showed why he was the leader of this hunting team as his glowing pure white eyes glowed even fiercer which represented a spike in activity of his pool of magic power. In response to this spike, his demon-like horn adaptation at his forehead was enveloped by a pure white light-induced by his light magic. He accelerated having timed it as the glowing horn collided with the first harpoon, knocking it off course which told him his answer that these harpoons'' force was in no way soft. It was like he collided against a Mammoth, but he did not back down. For the last harpoon, a white glowing vortex suddenly appeared beside him which swallowed the harpoon whole. Grinding sounds reverberated as particles of the mechanical harpoon were released from the vortex less than a second later. "Fight!" Having stopped the 2 harpoons, Tungsten finally growled his order as he took the lead into the battle. The sharks finally recovered from their shock, feeling a little ashamed that they felt it in the first place. The fact that they were meeting their first real Atlantians just left them feeling unreal. They may have been shocked originally, but after recovering, they quickly showed why they were members of the Gigantic White hunting team. Like a specially-trained unit of soldiers, all 12 sharks arranged themselves behind Tungsten as they charged towards the mini-submarine. Surprisingly, despite seeing over a dozen sharks charging towards them, the mini-submarine nor its inhabitants showed much of a reaction to the mobilization. Seeing this, the sharks did not give a damn, they only felt relieved and more pumped for battle. With Tungsten taking the lead again, they each gathered their magic power and unleashed their strongest skills. At the last moment before impact, the mini-submarine suddenly erected a glowing blue energy shield. Before the might of the combined magic skills, the energy shield could not hold but it bought the mini-sub enough time to move. As smoothly and calmly as before which was a constantly observed trait of the Atlantians already, the mini-submarine accelerated, moving from its previous location before the energy shield finally popped. The advantage of this to the Atlantians was that the 2 soldiers already marked their targets again. Without hesitation, they pulled the trigger. Bam! Bam! Bam! It was supposed to be 2 shot sounds reverberating through the water, but once the sounds of harpoons being shot increased to 3, then to 5, then to 6, Tungsten knew that something was wrong. All the Great White Sharks instinctively activated their shields, but like before, it didn''t do much as the shields popped like tofu before hot knife. 8 Harpoons were shot this time, all focusing on only 3 sharks. The first shark which was attacked, Magma suffered again and without prompt reinforcement from his teammates died on the spot. While feeling the need to avenge their brother, they were still intelligent and wary enough to try deducing why the Atlantians shot 8 of those weapons instead of 2 this time. This was when they noticed the newcomers. The 2 Atlantian soldiers on the first mini-submarine shot only 2 harpoons like usual, but in the frenzy, the sharks failed to detect on time the emergence of 3 other mini-submarines. Boom! A second volley of harpoons came from the 4 mini-submarines. This time, having learned their lesson, neither Tungsten nor the other sharks activated their magic shields. They separated and charged forward, towards each of the 4 mini-submarines. Of course, they were injured by the harpoons, but they continued forward. Seeing this, the Atlantians suddenly changed their modus operandi as the 2 Atlantian soldiers manning each mini-sub went back in. Then the mini-sub revealed hidden weapon ports as they all aimed at the sharks. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Bullets shot out rapidly from the gun muzzles aiming at the sharks, but this did not stop the sharks completely as they persevered, continuing forward until they collided against the mini-subs. A fierce battle erupted immediately. ¡­ A few minutes later, 4 sharks lay dead on the battlefield while the remaining 9 survivors all already sustained severe injuries from the Atlantians. Their decision to stand was not stupid and without fruits though. Despite being battered, they succeeded in damaging all 4 mini-subs to dangerous degrees and one of them already stopped working entirely. The reason why the battle stopped was that another newcomer entered the battlefield, a newcomer whose presence alone was capable of stopping the warriors of both sides. This burly Atlantian soldier was geared in silver and black armor, the helmet which only covered part of his face enabled the warriors from both sides to see his face and they had different reactions to it. On his hands was a mechanical trident which was clearly also a magic weapon due to the magic fluctuations emitting from it. "Staff Sergeant Barnes". A sound was transmitted from the 3 still working mini-submarines. The Sergeant did not answer as his sharp eyes surveyed the battlefield. While he did this, all the sharks were shocked by the fierce magic power presence currently being detected by their electroreceptors. "Brod, take the others and leave". Without waiting for his 2nd in command to respond, Tungsten was covered with a bright light the next moment as he charged towards the strong Atlantian powerhouse that was currently hovering in the water. Staff Sergeant Barnes did not back down, he also charged towards the shark as he pointed his trident straight at it. They collided the next moment. Boom! Chapter 146 - The Rushing Elders. "Home at last!" Tosh exclaimed exaggeratedly. After a journey that was filled with ups and downs despite them deliberately trying to avoid danger along the way, Sebastian and his 2 team members finally returned to the shark clan cave. Though they didn''t exclaim like their talkative partner, inwardly, Sebastian and Shanks felt the same way as Tosh did. After getting their identity verified by the 2 shark guards at the entrance of the cave, confirming that they didn''t come back with any dangerous substance, they finally gained entrance inside the cave. As soon as Sebastian took his 2 team members into the main staying chamber of the cave, he noticed the unusual glances that the other sharks directed at him and his teammates immediately. Most of the gazes at them by the other sharks were mostly that of shock, and the majority of them were directed at him and Shanks. Though he found it a little odd, it did not take long for him to ignore it, ?ssociating it with the fact of Shanks having grown in size. Well, to him, that was really something worth being shocked about. Just after one hunting session, the little Shanks evolved, becoming an orange tier predator while growing to twice his original size. As soon as he thought of this, he felt a little proud. Tosh told him about team promotion the other time. Well, this was his way of promoting the team. "Come to the Ultimate Dissectors team as a white tier shark, you''ll emerge at the orange tier. Come to the team as an orange tier shark, with time, you''ll emerge as a purple tier shark". This was something that was normal in every hunting team originally, but with Shanks'' outrageous example, it immediately gained more meaning and served as good advertising material. "Hey, do they do advertisement notices here?" "Huh?" Tosh was stunned, with an expression of ''how the hell did you know that'' on his face. Sebastian felt like facepalming. "Answer my question". "Yeah, there''s advertisement notices but it requires shark points and¡­" "Forget it". Sebastian waved his dorsal fin; he should have expected it. With that conversation done, it did not take them much time before they arrived at the Mission/Reward Hall. In the hall was a place for sharks to place their mission hauls after hunting. As Nanga was just one shark, he couldn''t attend to the needs of every shark so digitalization worked best at this point. According to Tosh, a machine was under the hall that tabulated the mission hauls and awarded shark points. Apparently, this machine was a wreak that was savaged by the clan head from an Atlantian ship ruin. Without hesitation, Sebastian placed the hundreds of Stinging Jellyfish that he brought with him into the machine. Ding! The loud sound made by the machine attracted attention immediately, drawing the eyes of other sharks as they widened the next moment on seeing the huge harvest of jellyfish. Even Nanga who was originally having a nap woke up to the sound. [Shark point value: 1390.] Seeing this, the other onlooking sharks were surprised. Not because this was the highest sharp point value that a hunting team ever got from a single hunt, but because it was probably the highest for a newly created team on its first hunt. Sebastian didn''t pay attention to the onlooking sharks as he made his calculations on seeing the figures, then he arrived at his stat table. -->1 white tier predator= 5 Shark points. -->1 orange tier predator= 10 Shark points. Perhaps, this value may fluctuate in correspondence to how big the said predator was but this was still the basic point value that Sebastian settled with. For now, he didn''t know about purple tier predators. After the points value was finalized, Sebastian did not waste time as he divided the points on the spot. He divided them according to the amount of effort put in by each of them in the previous hunting expedition. The machine responded to his decision immediately. [Ultimate Dissectors Hunting team tab.] [Team Members:] [Shanks: 340 Shark points.] [Tosh: 450 Shark points.] Sebastian gave Tosh 450 points because of his impact and help in the previous encounters. Without him, perhaps they would have never survived the mommy jellyfish''s thrashing so he deserved that. "Ok, you guys can go do anything you want with your points, I have some things to attend to". Sebastian did not waste time as he shooed his teammates away before confidently swimming towards Nanga. Due to the slight commotion caused by his submission, this shark who was in charge of the hall already had his attention drawn to Sebastian. As Sebastian swam closer, an excited gleam flashed through his eyes which made Nanga for some reason shudder. After thinking extensively about it, Sebastian decided to be direct with his ambitions. Beating around the bush and sugarcoating things was not his forte, he was a bro that loved being direct at every opportunity possible. "Welcome¡­, Sebastian right?" "Yes, hall master". Sebastian smiled. This was the first time that Nanga heard such a term, but for some reason, it appealed to his ears immediately which made him smile back at the shark. "What can I do for you?" The huge shark asked warmly. "Can I like, speak with you about important stuff here?" "Yes, you can". "I want to create a department in the clan!" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­.." Silence descended into the originally boisterous hall as every shark stopped his/her activity and turned to look at this shark in curiosity. Even Tosh and Shanks who haven''t left the hall completely paused mid-swim as they both turned to face their team leader in shock. "Is there a problem?" Sebastian asked, suddenly feeling like the atmosphere was turning odd which was strange. Nanga gave the shark a deep look before replying. "About that, I''m not the best person that you should meet. Elder Marble is responsible for that". "Oh! Thanks then". Sebastian waved a fin at the older shark before turning to swim away. He already knew where the shark elder''s special chamber was, all he thought of now was how to secure a meeting with the elder. As he wracked his brain, it did not take him long before he got to the entrance where he met Tosh and Shanks. "You guys are still here?" "Umm, we forgot something. So, we were trying to search if we could find it, but as we couldn''t find it¡­". "Sorry, we forgot something". Shanks answered before scurrying away, leaving Tosh who was still blabbering away dumbfounded. "Umm¡­, that¡­, that was¡­" "Never mind". Sebastian left before Tosh could say more. As soon as Sebastian came out of the hall, going back to the main staying chamber, he was shocked as an enormous shark rapidly swam across, almost hitting his face in the process while leaving the cave in commotion due to its speed. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] "Where is he rushing to?" Sebastian seemed to have asked too early, as 4 sharks rushed out consecutively the next moment. Whoosh! Tracing them with his electroreceptors, he was shocked. The clan head, Queen Heareth, and the other 2 elders were the sharks who just rushed out and they seemed to be in a hurry. Sebastian was spooked, feeling like- what the heck could rile up these powerhouses so much? "Is the world coming to an end?" Chapter 147 - The Devastated Hunting Team, The Severely Injured Tungsten. The bright green glow of the Green Mist magic essence remained prevalent, shining its brilliance upon the seawater and illuminating an area covering hundreds if not thousands of kilometers. There was no location in the water where something like a sun was, this bright glow seemed to come out of everywhere. The weeds, the grass, the trees, the algae, the microorganisms, the predators forming the ecosystem of the sea, and even the seawater itself were the source of the glow. They were all part of what made up the magic essence of the region. At a certain region of the sea, a fierce battle just ended. The slight depressions in the cliff walls, the blood still floating in the water, and the changed color of the water in this region told of the intensity of the battle. Whoosh! At this moment, the water suddenly parted, becoming rowdy with white bubbles coming out as an enormous Great White Shark swam through with unmatched speed. Unlike other Great White Sharks whose main body color was blue, at this moment, this shark''s body was covered by a brown earthen film-like armor, making its skin brown in color. Its thick and powerful tail fin flapped left and right, propelling it forward with a speed that even cars on earth could not match. It didn''t have any visible adaptation, perhaps they were all hidden inside its body only to be unleashed when the situation asked for it. Despite this, the status of this Great White was announced due to its outrageous size of 20 meters just like the alpha Great White, Old Mak. This was Marble, the strongest and oldest elder of Old Mak''s shark clan. As soon as he arrived at the location where a battle was fought and just concluded, the water parted with speed again as 4 other enormous Great White sharks rapidly arrived after it. These 4 sharks were the elder Dangle who towered at a size of 18 meters, the elder Shine who towered at a size of 17 meters, Queen Heareth who towered at a size of 16 meters, and Old Mak himself. As purple tier sharks, also making them the upper-echelons of the clan, they had privileges which most of the other sharks didn''t have. One of those privileges was a magic weapon in the armory called Soul lock. It was acquired by elder Marble after killing a purple tier Barracuda over a decade ago, and its only ability was to mark the soul of predators. The soul lock itself was the magic weapon, but it could produce what is called a soul pin every 5 years. Throughout the years, each of the elders, Old Mak, and his favorite wife already had their own exclusive soul pin. Through this, they had the soul imprint of every shark in the clan, and this was done after each evaluation without the knowledge of the sharks. Through their soul pin were they able to get the alarming discovery of 5 of their best sharks dying successively. And through the soul pin, they were able to know that their strongest junior, Tungsten was in danger. After the 5 of them arrived at the location of the just-concluded battle, their sharp eyes immediately surveyed the area while at the same time a dense magnetic field seemed to have been created as their powerful electroreceptors blasted out. It took them less than a second before they found who they were looking for, Tungsten was hidden under a pile of sand in the seabed. The problem was that they found only Tungsten. All the other sharks in Tungsten''s hunting team were nowhere to be found. Old Mak moved before the others could. He quickly swam closer before scooping the sand away with his tail fin to reveal the shark that was trapped below, then anger blazed in his eyes the next moment. At this moment, Tungsten was weak, extremely weak. His horn adaptation already broke in 2, leaking blood. All over his body was filled with blood, his own blood which was evidence of how injured he currently was. The injuries all over his body were so much that his underbelly now seemed like a sieve, it was a gory and painful sight to the eyes. Most of the injuries were from sharp objects that dug deep into his body. The biggest injury in his body was inflicted on the left side of his enormous body. 3 stab marks from a weapon with 3 sharp edges were inflicted on him, digging so deep that all his internal body system could almost be seen through it. At this moment, Tungsten didn''t even notice the presence of his master. His eyes were open but he could not see, his vision was blurry, all he saw was blood and water. His brain could no longer think properly, all he knew was that he felt cold. For a shark like him, it felt strange but this strange cold seemed unbearable. The pain all over his body already muddled his consciousness. He was just a step away from death but at this moment, a white light filled with vitality suddenly enveloped his body. Queen Heareth was already swimming closer as she gave her all to apply her healing magic to the shark. It worked, some of the milder injuries in Tungsten''s body immediately started closing up but the more severe ones remained stubborn. While pouring even more mana into the shark, she turned to her husband. "I need to take him to the healing chamber". Old Mak closed his eyes to calm his scattered emotions. He was about to give his consent to take the shark away when Tungsten spoke. "Run¡­, Brod¡­, run¡­, don''t look back¡­" Hearing the younger shark''s mutterings, Old Mak was about to speak but his wife beat him to it. Queen Heareth tendered gently to the shark, pouring even more healing mana into his body while trying to calm him down. "Tungsten, calm down and tell me what happened". Her strategy seemed to be working as Tungsten calmed down a lot, then he finally spoke. "We saw them¡­, th-they are too powerful¡­, we saw them¡­" "Who did you see?" She asked even more gently this time. "At-atlantians!" Chapter 148 - The Atlantian Base And Operation. At a certain part of the sea, inside the cliff surrounding the ocean volcano was another influence of Atlantians after so many years. The Crimson fleet under Staff Sergeant Barnes'' command already created their base of operations in the cliff. They imitated the sea creatures in this region, annihilating a family of predators that once occupied a cave in the cliff. After annihilating the predators, they took the cave for themselves. Some of Barnes'' advisors suggested that their base should be made inside the 17 warships and not inside a cave originally inhabited by dirty predators, granting them more maneuverability but the Staff Sergeant refused. Making their base of operations inside the warships was not impossible, but the Staff Sergeant still refused. This was because they were no longer in their large military base. This was not an area where Atlantians had a strong presence, this was a region that was infested by sea monsters that could annihilate them with just one small mistake. Making the warships their base of operations would lessen the alert level of the fleet as a whole. The soldiers would no longer feel as tense and serious, they would become negligent, thinking that everything was under control. Such a situation could prove dangerous, easily leading to unnecessary deaths and setbacks which he was not resigned for. Barnes did not want a situation where the need called for it, but his fleet couldn''t respond to battle immediately because non-combatant crew filled the warships, and taking them to battle may endanger them. All non-combatants were to stay inside the cave and do the day-to-day activities there, only war-hardened soldiers were qualified to man the warships. With this decision from him, the base of operations was finalized. Outside the entrance to the cave hovered the 17 warships, keeping a safe distance from each other while maintaining a tight battle formation at the same time in the case it was needed. Stealth shuttles with soldiers manning them were placed at different locations in the area, where they acted as the danger-scouting unit. Accompanying them in the danger-scouting job were mechanical dogs, fish, and sharks. These machines of technology were non-sentient, purely machines that were created and programmed to scout for danger. They swam around the military base, blasting everywhere with their sensors to search for any danger or intruder into the base. At this moment, bright orange light shone from the distance into the military base as 3 mini-submarines found their way back to the base. One of the mini-submarines towed another from behind. "It''s the Staff Sergeant". As soon as the soldiers confirmed the identity of the mini-subs, the warships parted slightly, opening a part for them to pass through. The mini-submarines were granted unrestricted access to the entrance of the cave. There, Staff Sergeant Barnes, a group of Atlantian soldiers, and researchers came out as they all swam inside the cave. As they left, another group of soldiers came out of the mini-submarines. They worked together to drag 3 enormous iron cages inside the cave. With Staff Sergeant Barnes taking the lead, they all entered the cave. From its original plain background, the cave was already renovated slightly. The Atlantians worked on it, demarcating it into chambers and rooms for research and other purposes. This mission to look for the inheritor of the Ocean King''s ability was like looking for a needle in a haystack. This was because they didn''t know the species of the inheritor, and there were thousands of species in Oceania. This was the main reason why the Crimson Fleet came with scientists of various fields for the mission. After so little time, with the help of the scientists, the search radius of the fleet was already narrowing a lot. Before becoming the Ocean King where he evolved into his own unique species, the 1st Sea King was once a Megalodon. This necessarily didn''t mean that his inheritor would be a Megalodon or the lesser Great White Shark, but the connection alone meant that Great White Sharks would be targeted by the fleet. Another fact was that no creature with a low-tier bloodline had what it took to inherit a unique skill. This basically eliminated all species of creatures with low-tier bloodlines, leaving only those with the potential to become apex predators. With this and other deductions, the fleet''s targets gradually narrowed and they already had a scale of preference of which species of creatures to give special attention to than others. A few days ago, they officially started their operation. They started a hunt for all the creatures with high tier bloodlines in this region, catching them alive if possible but killing if taking them alive was not feasible. Like in the previous battle, though their mini-submarines also suffered, they succeeded in killing 4 Great White Sharks on the spot and capturing 3 which were stored in the iron cages. For those that were captured, they were all to be handed over to the scientists. After over a millennium of development, Atlantis already had numerous technological and medical breakthroughs. One of these was the ability of scientists to check the bloodline of creatures through the use of special machines and calculations. Through this, they could also check if a creature had a unique skill. This was the fleet''s trump card for this mission. Clang! After taking them to the special labs, the 3-iron cage was dropped by the soldiers. The 3 sharks were already beaten to the point of death, so they didn''t even resist as the soldiers dragged them out. Inside this lab, structures like deep freezers were placed all over the place where captured sea creatures were kept and preserved. These were the creatures that were already captured by the fleet and experimented on by the scientists. They were not the target, but the scientists still kept and preserved one of each species for documentation purposes. With the scientists directing them, the 3 Great White Sharks were placed on iron beds that were placed in the lab. There, they were restrained by strong durable ropes as the scientists started controlling their machines to start work. Whoosh! A white substance was diffused in the water surface, entering the shark''s pores as their aggressiveness was toned down to the b?r?st minimum before the scientists went closer. The blood of the sharks was then taken through injections. As the scientists worked, Staff Sergeant Barnes silently watched through the transparent screen that was used to demarcate the lab from other chambers. As he watched, his second in command, Sergeant Raila swam into the chamber. "I heard you had an encounter with a group of intelligent Great Whites". "Yes". "I heard you couldn''t subdue their leader". "¡­" Barnes didn''t answer that and Raila didn''t press on. Sergeant Raila joined him as they both watched the scientists working silently. While watching, the female Sergeant played with her dagger. "From this encounter, do you perhaps think that a shark clan is around here somewhere? If there is, that''ll be the best target for us". Hearing the question, Staff Sergeant Barnes kept quiet as he was submerged in thought. He didn''t think of this before but now that Raila said it, he couldn''t help but feel that she was right. Before he could reply, the scientists stopped their work and removed their water-proof masks. The lead scientist also removed his mask and turned to face his superiors. "Negative". Chapter 149 - The Shocking News. The news came like a bombshell, hitting all the Great White Sharks in the shark clan with a force that left them shuddering from non-existent cold. When the 5 main pillars of the shark clan all rushed out of the cave at the same time, the other sharks were left panicking. But when they finally returned, the news that they returned with left the sharks even more stunned. Each of the news that followed was more impactful and shocking than the last, leaving the sharks mindlessly blasting with their electroreceptors to confirm that they were not hallucinating. The Gigantic White hunting team which was the face of the shark clan suffered an attack. 4 Sharks died on the spot, another died due to severe bleeding while escaping, and 3 were captured. Of the 12 Great White Sharks of the Gigantic White hunting team, only 4 escaped with their own ability after suffering the attack from the Atlantians. Yes, Atlantians came and were now on the cliff together with them. Lastly, the face of the youngsters, Tungsten who was the leader of the Gigantic White hunting team suffered an injury that left him at the point of death. He survived only after being saved personally by the clan head and elders. For hours after this shocking news arrived, the shark clan was thrown into a commotion as every m?tur? shark analyzed these so-called Atlantians from their own point of view and imagination. One thing that should be noted was that the Gigantic White hunting team was not just the strongest hunting team of the clan, the members forming it was also the best and strongest sharks of the clan. The fact that they suffered such a tragic ending from encountering Atlantians was what really left these sharks shuddering in fear. The fact that they still haven''t recovered from their injuries despite being personally healed by Queen Heareth only added more dread to the news. Now, they were all admitted to the healing chamber. The shark clan was in a frenzy. At this moment, their impression of the Atlantians was invisible, indomitable, ruthless, and unfathomably powerful. This was detrimental to morale in the clan but Old Mak didn''t suppress the spread of the news. He may be an intelligent shark, but neither he nor the other sharks had a clue about politics and its rules. Inside the main staying chamber of the cave, amid the intense reaction from the other sharks, Sebastian hovered, also reacting to the news. In his mind, he was still a stranger to this world but after spending some time together with Tungsten, he knew that hearing of the shark''s sudden death would have been traumatizing. He felt relieved at the timely intervention. Putting this aside, his focus went to the main part of this news, Atlantians! For long, Sebastian had heard of Atlantians from his system. He''s encountered places that were stepped on by Atlantians, the experiment ground, and the region he recently passed through with his team members. Also, he''s heard of Atlantians from Old Mak. All this while, while hearing about it, he never paid much attention to it because it always seemed far from him. But now, knowing that this thing that seemed far suddenly came near left his heart skipping a beat. The first thing that came to his mind was the metal shark. Was it really related to Atlantians? Did this mean that Atlantis already grasped the secrets to creating life like he speculated? Putting this aside, he went to the second thing that came to his mind which was that these Atlantians came for him. Perhaps, it was paranoia, but this speculation came suddenly. Before now, in almost all his battle encounters, though some were close, he always came out victorious with the help of his system, making him seem OP and indomitable but he knew that this was far from the truth. In the encounter against Octumpedam, if he got so arrogant and decided to start the war himself, he was pretty sure that he would have never met Octumpedam even with the help of his system. The alpha Croc and the Mystery Pryer Crocodile alone would have f*cked him up, turning him into shark soup. Now that his possible opponent was Atlantis itself, he felt fear engulf his heart. He didn''t know if his speculation was true, but his hyperactive brain never rested as it brought evidence to him. From his understanding of Sea Kings, their fearsome power meant that they would always be the main target of attack from Atlantis. If this was true, then won''t that mean that the Atlantians would do anything in their power to kill a young budding Sea King if they somehow found out about his existence? Sebastian shuddered at the thought. "Oh boy! I''m f*cked!" He may be wrong, and this may just be a ridiculous conspiracy theory but Sebastian did not care as this concerned his life. He already confirmed with his system once that dying here meant dying, no third life for him. Immediately, a lot of thoughts surged into his mind, plaguing him with the dilemma of which to start with. Should he directly start his evolution first? Or should he go forward with his department creation plan first? Or should he flee from this region completely? As the thoughts rapidly surged through his mind, almost making it seem like his brain would explode, he quickly came to a decision. He decided to go for stability rather than to take a rash step that he may regret in the future. His decision was to go meet Elder Marble, he wanted to create his anatomy department first. Every other thing was ignored, he followed the rule of his second love, emphasizing the more important one first. In the future, if the need came, he could attend to the others. The only problem now was how to secure a meeting with the elder, and at a time like this when the clan just suffered a setback. As he didn''t have any special plans, he could only bite the bullet and go straight to the elder''s special chamber. "This is a restricted territory, what are you doing here?" As soon as Sebastian got there, he was blocked by one of the earth domain shark magicians acting as guards to the elder''s chamber. "I''m here to plead for an audience with the elder". "The elder is¡­" Amid the guard shark replying, a voice reverberated from deep inside the demarcated cave chamber out. "Let him in". Chapter 150 - Meeting The Elder Marble. "Let him in". As soon as this voice reverberated, the shark guard hovered in the water while making its body straighter as it obediently opened a path to let Sebastian through, leaving him dumbfounded. "How did the elder know I was coming?" Sebastian asked this in his mind but it did not slow him down as he was already on his way inside. Going through the entrance, he immediately noticed the difference between this chamber and other chambers in the cave. Apart from the more perfect caving craftmanship on par with that in the throne chamber, inside was a long spiraling passageway that led downward. The water in this passageway flowed faster, just like water rapids. Seeing this gave Sebastian weird vibes but it could not stop him as he continued inside the passageway. Whoosh! As soon as his head entered, he was shockingly pulled downwards by the water force despite his weight. His body spun, following the patterns of the spirals in the passageway as he soon disappeared from sight. With his electroreceptors active, Sebastian finally escaped the feeling like he was stuck in a washing machine. He tracked his movements from here in the spiraling passageway until he entered normal flowing water again. Immediately after his body stopped, Sebastian''s eyes widened as through his electroreceptor vision, he felt like he just entered a new world. A world under the clan cave presented itself before Sebastian. Dozens of sharks were in this place, and different from other sharks, they had a brown earthen armor film covering their body as they engaged in different activities, mostly working. This was an underwater vacant space inside the cliff walls. Pillars were made at different locations of the space to hold the earth ceiling. Some of the sharks worked on the cliff walls, using their control over earth magic to manifest various effects. Some worked together to soften the walls, while others-controlled boulders and threw them at the wall. This action made the cliff walls have depressions and break, a chip at a time. Before Sebastian''s eyes, after consecutive breaking from the sharks'' teamwork, they succeeded in extracting a glowing orange orb which another group of sharks came to take away. The sharks didn''t just break from one point. They formed various teams that broke the cliff walls from other locations. Sebastian didn''t know the use of the strange orange orb, but he felt immediately that they contained magic power. Apart from those working on the walls, other sharks engaged in other activities in this expanse. Another which caught his attention was those that worked at a remote corner of the expanse. This group of sharks manipulated the cliff walls, using some strange earth magic technique to extract hot flowing magma from the walls. While they did this, other sharks collected this hot flowing magma in iron plates. Even as others did this, others controlled specialized hardened rocks, using them to hammer the flowing magma into shape before they solidified completely. Seeing all these, Sebastian felt like he entered a medieval blacksmith workshop. He was awed. Apparently, this was the construction department chamber under Elder Marble''s leadership which he couldn''t see the other time. After taking in and digesting all the eye feast before him, he finally turned to look for who he came to meet. He didn''t have to look long, the elder''s much bigger size than the other sharks easily revealed his identity. This enormous shark was currently hovering before the cliff walls, he was working too. With eyes filled with focus, the shark looked at the wall as it shook to his will with rock fragments falling like an earthquake was imminent in the walls. While the others cooperated to do it, he broke through the cliff walls alone, showing his power as a purple tier earth domain magician. Seeing that the shark was focused, Sebastian kept quiet, not knowing if speaking would disturb but his worries were misplaced as elder Marble spoke first. "Nanga already told me about your proposal". Hearing that, Sebastian immediately became excited but what the elder said next brought him straight from heaven back to Oceania. "My answer is, No!" "¡­" The elder continued. "I don''t know what induced such fantasy in you, but creating and maintaining a department is not as easy as it seems". "Besides, before creating a department, you have to bring evidence that it would bring tangible benefits to the clan. We don''t just create departments; we create departments with a goal to benefit the clan". "You''ve seen the benefits that my construction department brings, you''ve seen the benefit of the healing department, what benefit does your department idea brings to the clan?" "By the way, what is the name of the department that you want to make?" "Anatomy department!" Sebastian blurted out. The elder''s non-stop talking and reprimanding seemed to have affected him, causing him to answer immediately after being asked. "Hmm". Elder Marble turned to face the shark. "Anatomy¡­, what''s that?" "It''s¡­" "See kid, you need to stop living the life of your dreams and start living a realistic life. I heard of you taking Shanks out to hunt, the fact that he survived and even benefited does not mean your action is justified". "Be warned!" "Talk about creating a department only after you have crossed into the purple tier, just like me". "Leave my chamber, I have a meeting to catch up with". "¡­" Sebastian felt it once more, from his heaven, the elder''s ruthless reprimanding words grabbed and threw him back to Oceania. He felt like laughing at himself. For years or even decades, only these departments have been in the clan, what gave him the fantasy of believing that his idea would be accepted once he proposed it? Besides, as the elder said, he had no idea what anatomy was. Adopting a department for it without even knowing what it meant was plain stupid. The elder''s words a moment ago showed how intelligent he was, but it also showed how different his thought process was from Sebastian. Compared to him who lived through a world where every child went to school where they learned every basic knowledge, in Oceania it was vastly different, perhaps the only exception being Atlantis and Atlantians. This was a predator world, not a diplomatic and political world. "How many times do you want me to repeat it? Leave my chamber!" "Sorry elder". Sebastian apologized and turned to leave the chamber. As he left, only one thought was on his mind.. "I''ll prove to you that anatomy can benefit this clan". Chapter 151 - A Gathering Of The Upper Echelons Of The Shark Clan. Throughout the reprimanding session, none of the earth domain magic sharks in the construction department expanse stirred. It was like they were already used to such scenarios; they simply gave their work one-minded focus. As soon as Sebastian left, elder Marble also stopped his work as he turned around to swim out of the expanse. He didn''t lie, he indeed had a meeting to catch. ¡­ Inside Old Mak''s throne chamber, a gathering of the strongest sharks in the clan was organized as a meeting was about to commence to discuss the issue that cropped up in recent times. Elder Marble was the last shark to arrive due to his encounter with Sebastian. As soon as he arrived, the meeting officially started. The participants of the meeting were the strongest 5, Old Mak, Queen Heareth, Elder Marble, Elder Dangle, and Elder Shine. Being the leader of the clan and also the only shark most familiar with the strange creatures known as Atlantians, Old Mak spoke first. He first deliberated on the matter of the attack against the Gigantic White hunting team. After expressing his anger and regret at the death of 5 of their most promising young sharks, he finally diverted to those that were captured. What was the motive of the Atlantians for capturing them alive? This became the point of focus of the meeting for the moment. Throughout their life as predators, they hunted prey only to eat and harness their magic essence. Though this was the case, they have also met rare encounters where some predators capture their prey alive. In this scenario, these predators either capture their prey alive to feed their young ones or to torture them. As soon as Old Mak asked the question, Elder Marble speculated that the Atlantians captured the sharks to torture them. In the stories told by Old Mak, he already revealed that Atlantians could not harness the magic essence in monsters unlike them. After eliminating this was why Elder Marble settled for the reason of torturing. Unlike the first elder, Elder Dangle speculated that it was probably to serve as a show of power towards the clan, while Elder Shine and Queen Heareth remained silent the whole time. If he didn''t know, perhaps, Old Mak may have seen the speculations of his 2 elders as rational and feasible but as someone who knew what the word Atlantians represented in the outside world, he knew better. Atlantians were the undisputed ruler of this world. It was too beneath them to come engaging in a game of power with a shark clan like theirs in a region as backward as this ocean volcano region. Without hesitation, Old Mak shot down the speculations of his 2 elders, revealing his sound argument to them. He''s told them stories about Atlantians, but he had never emphasized the power of this hegemon in detail to them. He didn''t know much, but the little that he knew was able to paint Atlantis as a mountain while they were mere ants. Though the elders felt that he exaggerated a little, they still believed him due to the credibility that he already developed among them. And though Old Mak shot down their speculations, the problem was that he also didn''t have a counter speculation to explain the motive of the Atlantians. In the end, with no feasible speculation in mind, Old Mak took the meeting forward and introduced the second topic. What should be the clan''s reaction to the Atlantians'' appearance, and the attack on the Gigantic White hunting team? Without hesitation, all the elders except Queen Heareth voted that they retaliate and fight despite already hearing Old Mak''s Atlantian explanation. Marble took the lead and spoke. "As you said, they may be stronger than us but that does not mean we should cower. I don''t believe these Atlantians came with their whole forces to beat ants like us like you said". "Against a small Atlantian team, I believe we can emerge victoriously". "Old Mak, remember, the day we start cowering is the day we regress. That is the law of our world, that is the law of predators". Hearing his old friend''s words, the clan head was put in a dilemma as he struggled with going with his own plan or listening to his elders'' suggestions. In the end, after thinking extensively, he decided to temporarily settle for balance. They wouldn''t retaliate immediately, neither would they stay silent permanently. He decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach. The permanent decision will be taken once the Atlantians make their next move and they''ve observed enough. Then, they would understand the real motive of the enemies and make proper preparations to face them. With that settled, the meeting was about to come to an end but Old Mak brought up another point. This point was about the new shark, Sebastian. What did the elders think about the abnormally peculiar young shark? Elder Marble once again spoke first, having just recalled his talk with the shark. Without mincing words, he told the clan head and every one of the shark''s ridiculous ambitions. "What''s anatatomy?" This was Old Mak and the others'' reaction to the term. For once, everyone in this seat of upper echelons agreed with Elder Marble. Creating a department in the clan was something that had a lot of implications, it could not be taken lightly. After they finished talking about the department ambition from the young shark, they diverted to the shark himself. The elder''s view about Sebastian was a watch-and-see approach. For the first time in years, they didn''t believe the figures of their own evaluation, they were more inclined to believe that the shark altered them in some way. This was another fact to legitimate the fact that Sebastian was special. Not only did he have abnormal strength, he perhaps had other secrets too. And this was verified again when after one hunting session with him not only protecting Shanks, but the young shark evolving in the process. With that, the meeting finally came to an end. Chapter 152 - Elder Dangles Lecture. As soon as Sebastian came out of the construction department expanse, he silently swam leisurely as the conversation with the shark elder came back to him. Though he declared confidently that he would show the elder that anatomy could benefit the clan, he wasn''t exactly sure how he could prove that when nobody even believed him. It was frustrating, but he had no choice but to take the stabler choice. After thinking, he decided that growing his hunting team further and engaging in more hunts with them was the most stable choice right now. That way, while accumulating shark points, he could also prove to the sharks that he had no ill intention with joining the clan. It may prove difficult but he believed that he was up to the task. But before all that, he needed to address the problem of his evolution. Like the elder told him, if he became a purple tier shark was when he would have more talking power in the clan. Then, the idea of him creating a department in the clan would no longer seem as alien and would be better received by both the normal sharks and the elders alike. Still, this was the problem, because he felt afraid of going ahead with his evolution without receiving guidance first. The example of the now Goblin Shark, Teeth was still firmly ingrained in his mind. As he thought of this problem, he soon discovered that it was not much of a problem Afterall since he now had shark points. When the rules were explained to him, he was told that shark points could enable him to register into any of the domain departments of the clan. And with enough shark points, he could also seek the guidance of any of the elders. As soon as this thought settled in his mind, it could not be stopped as he turned to swim towards another part of the working segment of the cave where the sound domain department was located. It did not take him long before he arrived at his destination. As Sebastian swam closer, he saw 2 sharks standing guard at the entrance inside the department expanse. There, he was stopped. He revealed his motive before he was allowed entry. For some strange reason, even though this department was not like the other main working departments, it was still filled up with sharks. Apparently, the sharks already mostly recovered from the blow dealt by the news of what happened to the Gigantic White hunting team as they chattered on, engaging in different conversations with themselves. In the end, though they were intelligent, they were sharks, not humans. Even humans forgot things easily, not to talk of sharks. Through their conversations, though some were mostly random, Sebastian was still able to sieve through them to deduce that a lecture by Elder Dangle was scheduled to commence in 30 minutes. For some reason, he felt relieved on hearing this as he was once again already worrying about how he could secure a meeting with the elder. "50 Shark points to register into the sound domain department". "This is but a discount, after the lecture from the elder today, the price would be brought back to 100 Shark points so take advantage of it". Hearing this, Sebastian''s face became weird. If he had lips, they would have already started twitching furiously as he felt vibes from his previous world here. "Are shrewd marketers in every world that I go to?" He ignored this and swam closer. "I want to register". "Welcome, young shark. You just made the best decision of your life". Through a machine, the enthusiastic fat Great White Shark immediately went through with the procedures and confirmed Sebastian''s shark points. Through the machine, 50 shark points were extracted for the registration. "Congratulations lad! You are now part of this department". Sebastian smiled back at the fat shark as his system confirmed it to him. For some reason, he felt fat merchant vibes from this shark which only made the current situation all the more weirder. "Do you want to attend the elder''s lectures? You need just 15 Shark points". "Yes, extract the points". After he paid, the fat shark used what seemed like a magic stamp to put an imprint on his body which was his ticket to the lecture. After that, Sebastian waited with the other sharks. "The Elder is here!" "The Elder is here!" Exactly 30 minutes later, Elder Dangle arrived at the department expanse. With her entering, the 2nd gate to the lecture chamber was finally opened to allow the sharks with tickets in. ¡­ A few minutes later, after everything settled down, with all the sharks scheduled to receive the lecture in the chamber and the elder hovering above, Sebastian finally had a close-up view of this shark elder. Apart from her enormous size, another defining factor of the elder was that her upper body was a light blue color. If not told beforehand, Sebastian would have found it hard to know since the elder had no defining factors pointing out that she was a female shark. In conclusion, Sebastian felt a sense of oppressive suppression from her. This was a formidable predator that already experienced the tribulations of numerous battles and a survivor of near-death experiences. "¡­Sound is everywhere, sound is omnipresent!" "¡­To be the ideal sound domain magician, you need to be imaginative and swift in harnessing the sound around us¡­" "¡­When we breathe, we make sounds. When we eat, we make sounds. When we kill, we make sounds. Practically doing anything induces sound, which means that we sound domain magicians can never truly be restrained¡­" "¡­To be the ideal sound domain magician, you need to be proficient in sensing vibrations. They are the key to fulfilling your potentials with sound magic¡­" "¡­Here with you in this lecture, I can feel dozens of beating hearts. I don''t need to attack you physically; I can kill you all by just tempering with the sound beats of your heart¡­" "¡­This is the power of Sound!" "¡­All you need is an imaginative spirit and you can excel as a sound domain magician. Think beyond the boundaries of your brain, try to be a trailblazer all the time as this is the way to excel with sound magic¡­" "¡­When swimming, think of how you can make your peers quake in their tail fins without them knowing that it was caused by you. When in battle, think of how to attack your opponent without them even knowing they are being attacked¡­" "¡­Be daring! When your elders speak, think of how to sound-slap them without them knowing that you did it¡­" "¡­In your everyday life, let your thoughts be ''how can I turn the growling of my enemy into the most lethal attack ever?" "¡­Always remember this, sound is everywhere, all you need to do is to be imaginative and harness it. Only the swift sound harnessers are the real sound domain magicians¡­" "This is the end of today''s lecture. Next time, we''ll be going deeper on the techniques to identify and swiftly harness sound around us". With that, the shark elder finally flapped her tail fin to swim away after a long lecture that left every of the listening sharks in a trance. "Thank you elder!" "Thank you elder!" The sharks hastily recovered and expressed their gratitude. Apparently, they learned a lot from this lecture including Sebastian. Though Sebastian badly wanted to find a quiet environment to devour and properly understand the knowledge that he just got, he swam out of his position as meeting the shark elder was still his priority. "Shark sensei, please wait". Chapter 153 - Intelligent, But Still Great White Sharks. "Shark Sensei?" Hearing this strange term amid the cacophony of thank you from the sharks she just taught, Elder Dangle stopped in her path as a curiosity to know who said it emerged in her mind. Seeing this, Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief as his plan worked. Seeing Nanga''s reaction to being called hall master, he guessed that doing the same here may induce a reaction and he was not wrong. "Elder, it is your humble junior, Sebastian". This declaration felt shameless, even super shameless when it was coming from a shark but after the encounter with Elder Mangle, Sebastian felt that it was right expressing goodwill before the conversation started. The elders were really intelligent sharks, but the fact remained there that they were Great White Sharks, not humans. They had tendencies in their bloodline that could not be eroded off by intelligence. If she had eyebrows, the elder''s eyebrows would have risen on hearing the way this shark phrased his words. It would have risen even higher when she saw the identity of the shark. "Junior Sebastian?" Sebastian was surprised, feeling a little flattered that the elder was able to so easily identify him among the group of sharks who attended her lecture. Seeing Sebastian, Elder Dangle was stunned at first but she quickly recovered after recalling that the shark was a sound domain magician. It was only normal for junior sound domain shark magicians to attend her lectures. She didn''t specifically know the information and name of every shark in the clan, but Sebastian was a clan member who left a deep impression on her. Even if she put effort into it, she doubted that she could forget him. But immediately after she recognized Sebastian, what seemed like a frown came over her enormous shark face. Of course, the first thing that came to her mind was about the young shark''s ambition to create a new department in the clan but she was surprised by Sebastian''s next words. "Yes, elder. I hope to seek guidance from you". Elder Dangle kept quiet, ruminating over the word for a few seconds which was a first for her before she understood what it meant. The next moment, she recovered, exuding the aura of a shark elder again. "Did you read the department note? Or, you can''t read yet?" "¡­" Sebastian felt exasperated at these silly ?ssumptions from the sharks in this clan, but he resigned himself to encounter even more during his stay here. "Yes, I can read elder". "Good, read the department notes outside the chamber". "You''re a good seedling of the sound domain, work hard and you will fulfill your magic potential". "¡­" Sebastian was left gaping, stunned. The elder left so abruptly that it took him some time before he digested her orders to go read the department notes. When he registered into the department, close to where the fat shark hovered and engaged in his business, he saw what seemed like a rock note on the wall with some words written on it. At first, he ignored it. This was not only his first time seeing real words being plainly written by the sharks and not on an Atlantian machine, but he seemed to have once again underestimated the intelligence of the sharks. When he felt that he already overestimated them, they revealed more, showing him how wrong he was in his ?ssumptions. None of the other sharks with who he attended the lecture spoke to him, so he simply flapped his tail and also left the department chamber. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] As the elder already left, Sebastian finally felt the freedom to activate his electroreceptors without feeling like he was being rude. This time, he read its contents. {Sound Domain Department} ¡­ >Rules< >Requirements< >Department Prices< The rock note contained the name of the department and those 3 large tabs written under it. Sebastian rapidly skimmed through the rules, with most of them emphasizing not fighting when lectures are going on. Seeing this section of the writing, Sebastian felt a sense of nostalgia hit him. He could feel his secondary school rules and regulations vibes in the writing. The second tab was about the requirements to do anything in the department, including the requirements to become a member of the department, and the requirements to be a worker in the department. All the work positions were interesting and each worker got paid in shark points weekly, but the one which caught Sebastian''s attention was the department lecturers. This was his first time seeing and hearing of this. Apparently, if Elder Dangle deemed you competent enough in the sound domain, you could be a lesser lecturer of the department with a fixed pay. "Bruh, is this set up by sharks? Th-this feels so illogical and unbelievable". Sebastian felt that he was hallucinating. Perhaps, this Oceania thing was even an abnormally long dream that he was refusing to wake up from. "But if it''s a dream, I love staying here forever though". The last tab which was the department prices tab, it included not just the pay for every work position in the department and the prices to attend lectures, but what Sebastian was looking for. It included the price for a personal consultation with elder Dangle, including the price for what he was looking for. Apparently, consultations concerning knowledge about evolutions were special and needed more shark points to access. >Elder Personal Consultation Price: 150< >Evolution Consultation Price:< - White tier: 20 Shark points. - Orange tier: 100 Shark points. - Purple tier: 1000 Shark points. "¡­" This was Sebastian''s reaction to seeing the sharp spike in shark point price, but in the end, he reasoned it as normal since the purple tier had a far greater significance than the 2 lesser tiers. "Sigh, no wonder the elder directed me here". He thought he could get guidance and start his evolution immediately, but he could not have been more wrong. Nothing was free in every world. Though he felt a little depressed at that, he cheered himself up as this was not a problem too big. All he needed was to get more shark points, and well, he didn''t see that as much of a problem. Without hesitation, he turned to leave but was attracted by a small commotion happening close to the entrance to the department. "Sound is everywhere, sound is omnipresent!" One of the young sharks yelled excitedly as scenes from the previous lecture filled his brain. Another joined. "To be the ideal sound domain magician, you need to be imaginative and swift in harnessing the sound around us". A bigger shark joined. "Be daring! When your elders speak, think of how to sound-slap them without them knowing that you did it". "So bold! I''m daring! Whoever says otherwise, scam!" Boom! "You attacked me? You attacked me? Take this!" "Chicken Soup Sonic Vibration!" Boom! "You dare use sound magic on me, a powerful sound domain magician? I''ll bite your ear off!" Crunch! Seeing this scene, Sebastian was dumbfounded but not for long though. He turned and swaggered out of the department chamber. "Intelligent, but still Great White Sharks". Chapter 154 - Coco, The Baby Shark With A Big Dream! Sebastian swam out of the sound domain department chamber with a lot of things in his mind. A lot of things to do were in his mind, now he was conflicted on which to start with and how to start them. When he envisioned most of the plans, he failed to put in the possibility of experiencing rejection and setbacks which plagued him now. On his ultimate anatomy department plan, Elder Marble flatly rejected him. In his guidance to evolution plan, he encountered the blockade of insufficient shark points which were all not pleasant to experience. Even in his plan to check if staying for Elder Dangle''s lectures could enable him to learn her sound domain skills failed miserably. He was now an enormous Megalodon who engaged in cannibalism to feed daily, but still, he could not help but feel a little depressed at the circumstances. "Why do I seem even unlucky now when my luck points are no longer 0?" He''s already been experiencing signs of even more awful luck after his luck points finally grew, though it was faint. Before he always ignored it but now he could not again. In almost all his recent battle encounters since his luck points grew, they were always won by the skin of his teeth and some of his advantages that were only useful with luck seemed as good as sh*t now. The most prevalent of all these was his damage reflection skin coating. In the battle involving the Sperm Whale and Giant Squid, even that of the strange metal shark would have been much easier if this adaptation didn''t botch. He bought this adaptation as a secret trump card to surprise opponents in battle but he could not help but feel silly as it now seemed useless. Of course, he now understood that this was because of his system harnessing his luck and safekeeping it for harrowing encounters. But despite knowing this, he couldn''t help but feel a little indignant. "A little harnessing and a little freedom wouldn''t hurt right, system?" If it was before, he would have started pestering his system already but since he knew that a supposed Sage''s consciousness was residing inside his system, he became much more restrained and respectful. Well, because of the respect that he had, he could ignore this for now but this did little in solving his problem of depression. While all these went through Sebastian''s mind, unknowing to him, he already left the working segment and arrived back at the main staying segment of the cave. Immediately after he regained focus, his eyes clashed with one of few sharks in this clan cave that he was familiar with. "Verni, you''re finally free?" "Yeah, big bro, I was released a few hours ago. Queen Heareth pleaded with the clan head on my behalf, so I was released ahead of time". "That''s good, congrats". Seeing this extremely familiar shark, for some reason was able to erase most of Sebastian''s worries. As he noticed Verni staring at him, a phrase immediately entered his mind and the young shark did not disappoint. "Big bro, hunting?" Sebastian revealed a sharky grin. "Yeah, let''s go dissect all¡­" "Seba bro!" Another shark suddenly yelled this while swimming closer to both of them. "I thought you were resting, I didn''t expect you to still be roaming around, you really got some energy in there. As expected of Seba bro". Who else was this other than Tosh? Sebastian didn''t even need to look, the mere presence exuded by the shark ruthlessly revealed his identity. "Oh! Verni, the genius, you''re free? Haha, I thought you''ll be grounded forever. How did it feel like to go without food?" If sharks could make a poker face, the current look on Verni''s sharky face was one. "Tosh, what do you want?" "Nothing, I was just about to go visit little Coco". Tosh flapped his tail fin leisurely. "Ahem, I almost forgot, Seba bro, didn''t you want to visit the pen?" "We can go together, and you''ll meet little Coco too. Gosh, she''s the most adorable baby shark in the pen! I love her small snout so much!" "I guess that''s doable". Sebastian finally spoke after minutes of keeping quiet as this chatterbox shark blabbered away. Like he answered Verni, he wanted to go hunting but he had even grander plans for the hunt this time. To calm his brain and let thoughts flow, he didn''t mind visiting the clan''s pen. And besides, after being relentlessly hyped so much by Tosh, he wanted to see this little Coco. "Verni, follow us too". ¡­ A few minutes later, the 3 sharks arrived at the pen. They were not allowed inside where the baby sharks were kept and trained, they watched from a distance. The pen was made in a very simple style. It was a plain square-shaped rock chamber filled with little adorable and cheerful baby sharks. Hovering alongside the baby sharks were a special group of ?du?t sharks. The number one characteristic of these female ?du?t sharks was that like their leader Phase, they all seemed like nanny sharks. At this moment, one of these nanny sharks hovered before the baby sharks and was engaged in an act that surprised Sebastian. "Is this¡­, a school?" "What are we supposed to do daily?" The nanny shark asked. "Bite, eat, play, and sleep!" The baby sharks roared. "Why are we supposed to do these daily?" "We bite our food to strengthen our teeth, and we kill our dying food to get the magic essence in them to grow!" "We eat to remain fat, grow, and get powerful enough to become hunters of the clan! We play to develop! And we sleep because it is good, sweet, and enjoyable!" They roared again. "Good! What is our future goal and mission?" "To become the greatest, fiercest, and most loyal hunters of the clan! To become like the elders! To become like Queen Heareth! To become like the clan head! To bite and kill off all our enemies!" "Good! Ok, it is time to know what your dream for the future is. Nimo?" "My dream is to become like the clan head, a powerful purple tier predator!" "Good! Ortive?" "My dream is to grow big and become the leader of the pen, just like leader Phase!" A young female shark replied in a sharky but dignified manner. "Good! Makra?" "My dream is to become a shark princess where I don''t have to hunt for food. I only need to sleep and food will be hunted by my workers!" "¡­Umm, Dork?" "My dream is¡­" "Good! ¡­" "My dream is¡­" "Good! ¡­" "My dream is¡­" "Good! Dorm?" "My dream is to become extremely powerful, surpassing even the clan head, awakening the ancient bloodline to become a Megalodon, and being the most powerful Megalodon of the Ocean, the Ocean Master!" "Hmm, what a lofty dream! It seems that I got a competitor". A distance away, Sebastian reacted inwardly on hearing this as his eyes quickly turned to the next baby shark. He was having a good time. "Good!" The nanny shark called again. "Coco?" "My dream is to surpass and dwarf the clan head. I dream of growing super powerful and having the biggest harem across the whole Ocean!" The young baby shark roared confidently and enthusiastically. "¡­A harem?" "YES!" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­.." "That''s my little Coco!" Tosh roared from the side. Chapter 155 - [Bonus Chapter]Call Me Hall Master! "¡­" For a moment after Tosh''s roaring, all the nanny sharks descended into a state of absolute silence as they looked at this little Coco with such strangeness like they''ve not seen her before now. The other nanny sharks felt it from a distance, but the nanny shark who asked this question felt it personally, receiving the most impact. This sentence from the baby shark instantly made her start doubting the reason for her existence. "Is this the little Coco that I know? Is this the little Coco that I trained? Is this the adorable little Coco?" In the end, all these questions in her mind divulged together into one all-powerful question. "Who did this?" Immediately after she asked this question, her mind narrowed down on a shark. One of the more powerful sharks but also the most talkative of the hunter sharks, Tosh! Instantly after she concluded, her eyes narrowed down on the shark coldly. A distance away, Tosh shuddered on feeling this gaze land on him. His deadly rows of teeth were still shinning in cheerful delight a moment ago, but they clamped shut on feeling this originally nanny shark''s fearsome gaze. He referred to her as originally nanny because to him currently, he was no longer facing a nanny shark, but a demon shark that just arose from the abyss. The nanny shark''s piercing gaze intensified, suddenly seeming to glow a bright orange while her body emitted imaginary smokes of anger. The next moment, her eyes seemed to experience a spike, turning red. "Tosh! Pay for your crimes!" Boom! Shockingly, this nanny shark whose all her adaptations and skills were supposed to be focused on tending to the baby sharks erupted with a speed that shocked Tosh, even Sebastian who was watching from the side. Her fearsome row of teeth was b?r? dangerously towards her opponent, then she got prepared to attack. Seeing this, Tosh was dumbfounded. "Run! Run!" As he yelled, on turning back he was stunned to see that his 2 companions already abandoned him without hesitation. "Take this vile chatterbox!" Crunch! "Ouch!" Crunch! "Waaahhh!!!" ¡­ >Healing Department Chamber< "We have extracted 50 shark points from your account". "Congratulations for experiencing the feeling of using the healing rocks mins bandages made by the Queen. Thanks for patronizing our services, we wish to see you next time and engage in even more profitable business with you". Though business in this department was not slow due to the large number of hunter sharks in the clan, one more still meant more business and was more than enough of a reason for this shark to celebrate. While the shark celebrated, Tosh mourned. He felt a strong urge to thrash about and wail his heart out but he could not, he felt super sad. Even if he did wail, the seawater would just carry his tears away. He felt depressed. His encounter with the nanny shark was in no way pleasant, now his body was covered with mins bandages. Mins bandages were a form of bandages that were magically made by Queen Heareth herself and were in the form of rocks. By infusing her healing magic into rocks, these could serve as bandages to heal a certain degree of injuries. Of course, his injuries would have been easily resolved by ?ssimilating the magic essence of a predator but he was not like the baby sharks who got free food. To get good, he needed to hunt for it. "Sigh, I hate being an ?du?t shark". "Stop whining and just follow". Sebastian could not help but interject on hearing Tosh say this term for the umpteenth time since coming from the healing department shark. "I told you we''ll all be getting tons of shark points soon. If you continue like this, I''ll drop you from my team". Hearing that, Tosh jolted. "Sorry team leader, I won''t wh?n?, I promise". "Good!" "Umm, but what''s actually whining?" "¡­" For that, Sebastian didn''t answer, he rather focused on what was on hand. After a lot of contemplating, and monologic planning, he finally concluded to go recruit other sharks into his hunting team. He was not good at promotion, but once circumstances forced his hand, he was good at anything. Right now, he was ready to engage in aggressive promotion of his shark clan. "Refuse to let me create my anatomy department? No worries, I''ll force you to swallow back your words with plain achievement and genius". ¡­ Inside the Mission/Reward Hall was boisterous as usual as sharks went on with their activities, the majority checking available clan missions and taking any one of their choices while others engaged in other activities. As this happened, a group of sharks suddenly swam inside the hall, going straight towards the keeper''s position. "Keeper Nanga¡­" "No!" The old shark immediately flared up. "Huh? Did I offend you?" The shark who was the leader of this hunting team was confused as it asked plainly after seeing the elder shark''s reaction. "No, you did not offend me. It''s just that, don''t call me keeper Nanga again, my title changed". With that, the elder shark''s hovering position changed, becoming a bit more dignified. "Call me hall master Nanga!" "¡­" This shark was stunned, but on turning and seeing the reactions from the other sharks, he understood. Nanga rarely felt motivated to do or enforce something, but when he felt it, he was unstoppable. Apparently, he already persuaded all the other sharks to start calling him hall master. He could not help but think, perplexed. "Where did this strange new trend come from?" Almost immediately as he asked this in his mind, he seemed to have invited the culprit as Sebastian swaggered into the hall with his gang of tea members. Compared to the previous time where their swimming was much more restrained, slow, and normal, this time, they barged into the hall, attracting the attention of almost all the sharks immediately. "Oh, Sebastian, you''re back?" Nanga reacted immediately. "Yes, I''m back". Sebastian replied while waving his dorsal fin to direct Tosh on where to drop what he dragged into the hall. Tosh did as was instructed, immediately flipping over the large stone pavement to present the words that were written inside it to the sharks. Voila! "Welcome to the Ultimate dissectors hunting team, the hunting team of milk and honey! The next strongest hunting team of the clan, the hunting team that can literally perform miracles!" "Come to the Ultimate Dissectors team as a white tier shark, you''ll emerge at the orange tier. Come to the team as an orange tier shark, with time, you''ll emerge as a purple tier shark". "Come to the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team and you''ll be among the first batch to experience the heavenly touch of perfection!" "Experience the hands of anatomy and your life will never remain the same!" Chapter 156 - [Bonus Chapter]The Legendary Propaganda And Click-baiting! "¡­" For the next few minutes after Sebastian made his bold declaration that almost bordered at the boundary of ridiculousness, the Mission/Reward Hall fell into a strange silence as the sharks were unable to react. The next moment, they exploded, reacting in different ways. "What? The next strongest hunting team? Is he drunk?" "Hmm, perform miracles, is this some high-level scam like those always played by Tosh? Beware, Tosh is also in this hunting team already!" "Those shameless declarations felt like a fool''s declaration. But what is actually a fool? The term feels formidable though". "Is that not the hunting team where Shanks joined and broke through in just a day? Maybe he is not really bluffing, Shanks was indeed a miracle". "Maybe you are right, is that not Verni?" "Verni, the clan head''s favorite student?! He''s in this team too? Maybe this new guy, Sebastian really has some basis behind his declarations". "But this heavenly touch of perfection, what does it mean?" "And that anatomy term, it feels so strange and leaves me kind of fearful". Hearing all these conversations, Sebastian did not have much of a reaction. After staying here for a few days, he already got used to the sight of so many Great White Sharks speaking so intellectually. Of course, the awkward silence at the beginning after his declaration almost made him want to give up. Being silently ridiculed was not pleasant in any way, and silence the majority of the time meant that. When he decided to create such a grand speech for his promotion, it was kind of an abrupt decision but also carefully planned. In this world, there was an advantage that he had over all the sharks here which was his experience from earth. Due to his weird nature, he didn''t know much but the few that he knew were valued in gold in this world. What he used this time was the power of Propaganda! In his previous world, this was used a lot most especially by politicians. His was not exactly direct propaganda, but a more advanced version. He was a crazy anatomist, but he also spared some of his time as a football fan which did a lot in curbing his degree of craziness. Then, Lionel Messi was his best football player. The rivalry between this legendary footballer and Cristiano Ronaldo was something that even companies specialized in selling und?rw??r used as promotion material. Who cared if these 2 players were not related to und?rw??r? So long as using them brought traffic, then come on, go on with it. Authors were the same. To attract and keep their readers interested in a book, some may write action novels but put the image of a s?xy lady as the book cover. These were all various forms of the legendary click-baiting! This made Sebastian remember a saying in his previous world. In the real world, the process didn''t matter, it was the result that meant everything. What he just did was a milder form of click-baiting. Due to a lack of resources, he could only settle for this basic form of click-baiting but it was working. He took advantage of terms such as the heavenly touch of perfection and the strange ''anatomy'' term to the sharks as click-bait to attract their attention. Once their attention was attracted, the game was on. This was like the case of using the carrot and stick approach to attract them. Some may ignore it, yes, definitely, but others would also be attracted to try it out. Why not since it was not taking their life as leverage? Sebastian was right, he didn''t have to wait long, the first shark emerged and it was a Great White Shark that he knew. "Bush!" At this moment, this enormous Great White Shark already seemed to have gone over the anger and shock from his defeat to Sebastian or he actually didn''t care in the first place. He boldly came before Sebastian. "I want to join your hunting team". It was natural that the weak would always follow the strong. This was nature, and it was in no way different here in Oceania also. After the duel against the newbie shark, Bush already had enough time to ruminate over it and digest the battle. He was intelligent, but his emotions were not as warped to have as many d?s?r?s as humans. The goal of every creature was to become strong and powerful in Oceania. With Sebastian, a powerful superior willing to take him in, why would he not take the opportunity to gain insight from him? Though Sebastian was a little surprised that Bush was the first shark that came to register under his team, he was not stunned for long. "Good, welcome to the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team". Seeing this, some of the sharks that were originally hesitant finally moved. They were originally waiting for the first brave shark to open the door, and with that success, they no longer had misgivings. "I want to join your hunting team". "I want to join your hunting team". "I want to¡­" "I want to¡­" "Is there no restrictions in numbers for now". "No, at least not yet". Sebastian revealed a sharky grin as things were progressing even faster than he expected. In just a few minutes after Bush joined, about 10 sharks joined the hunting team. Those joining were not every shark though. Despite his strategy, there would always be those abnormal outcasts who were different from normal, like himself so he was not discouraged. Those that came already widely surpassed his wildest expectations. "I want to join your hunting team". "I want to join your hunting team". A team joining spree seemed to have started. About 45 minutes later, the sharks no longer moved again but Sebastian was already grinning from ear to ear. The Ultimate Dissectors hunting team now had 18 Great White Sharks registered. Sebastian was unsure how to react. "Click-baiting is the best!" Chapter 157 - Lets Go Conquer This World! Verni and Tosh had no other expression on their faces for the past 45 minutes but that of shock and awe as their team leader performed what seemed like black magic before their eyes. When Sebastian originally chipped off the rock pavement and wrote on it, they both felt that it was silly but the result shocked the sh*t out of them. "What the hell are we seeing?" Like they were brainwashed, 18 Great White Sharks were now hovering before Sebastian, having registered into the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team. It had to be noted that the strongest hunting team in the clan, the Gigantic White hunting team originally only had 12 Great White Sharks. Did this not directly mean that Sebastian''s team became stronger though, the difference in quality was not something that could be easily overcome. The Ultimate Dissectors hunting team was not the biggest team in the clan either, there were hunting teams in the clan with registered members up to 25 but these people still couldn''t claim the top spot. Unlike the Gigantic White hunting team were like their leader Tungsten who was already at the pinnacle, almost all the members were absolute hegemons at the orange tier, other hunting teams fared much worse. Of the 18 Great White Sharks that came out to join Sebastian''s hunting team, only 5 were of the orange tier with the remaining 13 being white tier. Of course, these white tier sharks were a burden in battle when brought out to the wild to hunt but after the encounter with Shanks, Sebastian already had enough battle experience to refine an impeccable hunting plan. In his plan, while feeding themselves, power-leveling the white tier sharks, and hunting to fulfill the clan missions, he also wanted to use this opportunity to sharpen and strengthen all his basic skills. Since his plans to start dissecting immediately were not working, he no longer forced it. He took this as a vacation to increase his strength, and he wanted to make use of his every energy in pursuing this goal. Despite 18 sharks already coming out, Sebastian did not order Tosh to drop the rock pavement nor did he leave with his new clan members. He was not in a rush. He still waited, anticipating more sharks breaking the shackles of their mind and deciding to jump into his wild train but he was destined to be disappointed as none came out even 10 minutes later. During the time that he waited, he already sent Verni to go search for the last member of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team and now Shanks was here. After evolving, Shanks felt strange urges to sleep to regulate the energy in his body and now he finally slept enough, energetic for battle. With his last puzzle piece found, Sebastian finally moved. "You all have 20 minutes to go settle anything that is holding you, we are about to go for a long hunting mission". "If you already have the dimensional magic ring to store large hauls of food, bring it along. But if you don''t have, indicate, you''ll be sent 20 shark points to purchase it from the clan''s armory". On the spot, 8 sharks, all among the white tier category indicated that they were without dimensional magic rings and Sebastian transferred the required shark points to them to facilitate their purchase. Dimensional magic rings were like storage rings to keep things, just like Sebastian''s inventory but much smaller in capacity. It was a godly tool for long ocean hunt expeditions. This time, Sebastian didn''t want to just go and come back, he wanted to go deep and stay long. As soon as every shark got a dimensional magic ring, they were finally dispersed. Throughout the session, the other sharks in the Mission/Reward Hall watched silently, vaguely feeling that they just missed on something important. Unknowing to them, this start-up today was about to make this ocean volcano region a lot more turbulent and exciting. After all the sharks left, through Hall master Nanga''s help, Sebastian got his hands on all the information that he needed to know about all his new members. As he said, he was not taking this as trivial. He was serious! [Ultimate Dissectors Hunting team tab.] [Team Members: 22.] [White tier Great White Sharks: 13.] [Orange tier Great White Sharks: 8.] [Orange tier Megalodon: 1.] [Sound domain magic sharks: 4.] [Light domain magic sharks: 5.] [Water domain magic sharks: 3.] [Shadow domain magic shark: 1.] [Dragon-Spike domain magic shark: 1.] Seeing all this information, Sebastian''s eyes flashed as a lot of things went through his mind. Instantly, he was already thinking of battle formations. Old Mak already set the precedence of orderliness in the shark clan, but Sebastian was determined to take this to an even higher level, high enough to awe all the elders, including Old Mak himself. Of course, all he knew was dissecting, he knew cheekily little about battle formations but he hardly cared. In his previous life, he watched war movies, he played war games, so they didn''t seem too alien now that he needed them. Thinking of this, he couldn''t help but chuckle. "So it''s actually good to watch movies and play games. Who knew I would be reincarnated where I would begin to need and appreciate these previously trivial things?" With this vital step of preparation taken, he finally left the shark clan cave. 20 minutes already elapsed. Outside the shark clan cave, war seemed to be imminent as a group of 21 Great White Sharks was gathered, ranging from small to big while radiating fearsome power as they all looked at their leader with shining eyes. Sebastian swept one last look at his team members before speaking. "Today, you are all about to take part in something far bigger than all that you''ve been used to before". "Today, you are all about to take part in a grand plan that will herald something extremely great in the future". "I b?r?ly know you, but you all agreed to put your trust in me and join my hunting team. Rest ?ssured, under me, there will be successful hunts and gains". "Under me, you will see past the veil that has been blocking your eyes". "Under me, we shall subdue this ocean volcano together". "Let''s go conquer this world!" Chapter 158 - The Great Fall! Oceania was boundless, it''s many waters spreading and covering the seven ancient Seas. Every magic essence revolution, the ocean water rippled, spreading its reach far and wide amid waves that were induced both naturally and artificially. These waves were sometimes subtle and gentle, but at times ferociously dangerous, showing the different facets of Oceania. The magic essence of this world was also another important anchor point. The beautiful, rich, and colorful glow in each of the seas were induced by the origin magic essence in these seas. It could be said that without the origin magic essence, there would be no Oceania. The origin magic essence made up Oceania. In this seemingly dead world filled with water, the numerous creatures, including the flora and fauna added life to it. The daily hunting, the daily chasing, and the daily cannibalism that happened between predators and prey added life to this world. This was the law of Oceania, the strong prey upon the weak. Having known and understood this important law governing this world was why Atlantis became the overlord. They learned; they learned to adapt and subtly alter this all-powerful law in their favor to make themselves overlords. It was currently the time of the zenith glow, which in Atlantian time was 12:00am. This was the time when the glow in each of the seven seas was at its highest point, and today, it meant sometime more to Atlantians. This was the monthly remembrance manna time. Every month, Queen Auralis made it a compulsory rule that every Atlantian under her rule gather to listen to the tale of the great fall that was told and compiled by the ancestors over a millennia ago. And today was the time, at the point of the zenith glow. At the newly established base of the Crimson Fleet, a call for convergence seemed to have been sent out. Mini-submarines and other Atlantian machines came back from their ?ssigned missions with speed. In the last 10 minutes before the zenith glow officially clocked, the base buzzed with activity as soldiers of the Crimson Fleet rushed back from their various ?ssigned missions. 2 minutes before the zenith time, every soldier, including the non-combatant crew of the fleet settled in each of the 17 warships of the fleet. Even Staff Sergeant Barnes and his ?ssistant, Sergeant Raina responded to this invisible summon and sat at the largest hall of the Bloodhound. In moments, all of them seemed like students about to receive a lecture. In this projection, there was a woman who sat on a simple chair with a large book on her hand. This book was large, extremely large, almost as large and long as the woman herself which was outrageous. This woman''s gaze no longer caried that fearsome solemnity that she was known for, now it reflected gentleness and respect. This was Queen Auralis of Atlantis! "Elders, Soldiers, Scholars, Civilians, and Atlantians¡­" The Queen paused for a moment before she continued. "The day of remembrance has come again, and we are gathered again to re-imprint the tale of the ancestors in our memory". With that, she flipped the impossibly enormous book open, removing it''s wrap to reveal its real cover. There, a title was written in bold. "THE GREAT FALL!" Queen Auralis flipped over to the first page and started reading. "August 13 2032, the world as we knew it came to an end!" The first line in the book carried a vibe of solemnity, and Queen Auralis''s emotions and tone changed with it, becoming solemn as she read. "The U.S, China, and Russia formed a tripartite alliance that enabled them to control the world. With all the resources in the world free for them to use, they triggered the dimensional descent, the experiment tagged Death!" "If the experiment succeeded, our world would change. Life would improve, technology would improve by leaps and bounds, transversing the universe would no longer be a dream, but¡­" "Life is always filled with uncertainties, that''s why it''s called life". "The experiment FAILED!" "The next dimension to our world was indeed opened, but what came out was beyond our expectations. Dark mist descended from the next dimension, submerging and su?k?n? the life out of us". "Everyone died¡­" "Except the few¡­" "The few consisted of the rich and the incredibly lucky¡­" "Humanity was almost extinct". "At the point where we least expected it, when all hope was lost, a glimmer of change appeared. A bolt of lightning accompanied by thunder descended from the next dimension, striking earth''s center". "Earth shattered with a boom!" "Amid this terrible explosion, a light expanded from the lightning bolt and enveloped us¡­, the few. Surprisingly, we survived!" "When the light left, we found ourselves here, Oceania". "We were confused, shocked, and of course scared, but we had no choice but to face our circumstances. We prodded the outside world". "Then we discovered the rule of this world, get strength or die!" "Different creatures from all over the place attacked us, ravaging us and tearing us apart. All our knowledge from the previous world seemed useless, we were dying and going extinct by the day". "In the end, we''re going extinct Afterall, or so we thought". "When we lost all hopes, the first emerged. The first magician, our greatest ancestor, King Orchestra!" "With an iron fist, he fought and killed the Dragon, saved our race from the threat of extinction and brought the advantage of our knowledge back". "Under him, we prospered, then we finally understood this world". "We were not the only survivors from earth, others survived but we were the only intact survivors. Of course, we mutated after the light, being able to breath underwater and harness magic, but they mutated more". "These 2nd group of survivors mutated, most turning to terrifying intelligent monster races while the others mutated to become intelligent races; the elves, the tree moguls, the man-trolls, the dwarves, man-insect race, and a host of others". "Once we discovered them, we tried to integrate back with them but we couldn''t. The experiment angered many, and none of us was able to forget the fear and anger, so we went against each other". "For over a millennium, we''ve been fighting a war amid the tyranny of the Sea Kings and all the other dangers of Oceania". "This war was not baseless though. After we became the overlords of this world, King Orchestra started another experiment to know the truth of the dimensions and what exactly happened". "After planning and experimenting for centuries without success, in his frustration, he let his magic power go berserk. Surprisingly, he was su?k?d away, into another dimension". "We thought it was finished, but at the last moment before the ancestor disappeared, he told us the name of the dimension that he was su?k?d into". "It was¡­, the Myth Realm!" "He said another thing- Gather all the unique skills!" "This has been our goal for centuries, finding the unique skills to deduce the secret in them. The only problem is the Sea Kings are too strong, we''ve subdued only 1 after 4 centuries but we are never resigned to give up". "Remember this, we would never give up!" "Our life goal is to fulfill the ancestor''s wish, gathering all the unique skills". Bam! After a long read, Queen Auralis finally closed the big book. She looked forward, her eyes seeming to penetrate through the projection to all the Atlantians that were watching from all over Oceania. "Remember the goal!" "And remember, we are Atlantians, but also humans". Chapter 159 - The First True Conquest. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite!] Crunch! [You have killed a mutated Bone fish- Level 15: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 8 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] [Your Crushing Bite skill has leveled up to level 3.] [Your Advanced Dash skill has leveled up to level 4.] Sebastian''s eyes flashed excitedly, first because of the system notification that just came to him and secondly because of the prey or more or less food that was swimming before him and his hunting teammates. All these already verified that his planning was on the right path. At this moment, tons of fish and sea creatures were before the group of 21 Great White Sharks and 1 Megalodon, and they were engaged in a fierce battle with them mostly overwhelming the fish. About 2 hours ago, the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team started implementing their leader, Sebastian''s ultimate hunting masterplan. The plan was not too complex, it was all about making use, amplifying, and stretching the limits of each team member''s strengths while using ingenious means to cover up their weaknesses. Taking a cue from his knowledge of computer games from back on earth, Sebastian formed what could be referred to as a basic dungeon team. After knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the sharks, he divided them into units. Now, the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team had the attack unit, the defense unit, the support unit, and the scouting unit. For those sharks with aggressive and fierce magic domains like fire, sound, and others, they became the main attack unit of the team. Sharks with more defense-oriented magic domains like water, and some light domain sharks became the main defense unit of the team. For the scouting unit, it comprised of shadow, light, and sound domain magic sharks whose magic skills were suited for scouting purposes. With the numerous advantages of a Great White Shark like the keen sense of smell and the OP electromagnetic sense, there was no lack of sharks to be inducted into this unit. For them being the most versatile, it was because when the situation called for it, they could provide help. This was because the sharks that formed this unit also had basic attacking and defending skills. For the support unit, they were comprised of the weakest of the white tier sharks in the hunting team. Their sole job was to intrude when the situation became too dangerous to save team members that were at the point of dying in battle. Also, they had food inside their dimensional magic ring. Their job wasn''t just to drag injured team members out of battle, they were also tasked with feeding the injured sharks to enable them to ?ssimilate magic essence and to recover. All these units added together formed a frightening combo. 2 hours ago, the scout unit went out. Under the leadership of their unit leader, an Orange tier sound domain magic shark called Boom, they followed Sebastian''s orders to go look for prey. They didn''t fight, all they did was to attract prey. They were like a magnet, going left and right, angering prey who followed in pursuit. In 30 minutes, they attracted the pursuit of over a hundred fish and sea creatures until they finally decided that it was enough. A small group of mutated Poison Cobras survived the onslaught of the sharks till now. With the other survivors, they fought for their life. Pushed to the wall and with no way out, they erupted with their last and most powerful skill. A dying monster never really dies without giving its all. They worked together, breathing out what seemed like a purple mist of death from their mouth which soon pervaded into the surroundings. "Water Domain Sharks, Water Wall!" Sebastian ordered timely. Almost immediately as the purple mist came out, following Sebastian''s orders, the water domain magic sharks reacted as they erected an enormous sturdy water wall shield that protected the other sharks. In this scenario, it was like a large block of water overlapping the water and spreading across an ocean. It was a fascinating but terrifying sight. Sizzle! On coming into contact with the purple mist, sizzling sounds immediately reverberated as a violent reaction like pouring acid inside soup started. This violent reaction made the purple mist turn black, obscuring the vision of both parties in the battle but the Great White Sharks and the few other predators in the battle with other sensory skills were not affected much. "Attack unit! Attack!" Like a plague, bright light suddenly lit up in the battlefield as the offense-oriented magic domain sharks with mana points remaining attacked with force. Sonic blasts that with such high decibels that burst ears were released, light magic manifestations with tyrannical destructive power were released, strange shadow skills with even stranger abilities were released. All these converged together to form a fierce wrecking force on the battlefield, the fish and sea creatures remaining suffered the full impact. Them surviving till now meant that they were powerful with impactful life-saving skills but it meant little before the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team. They were troublesome prey but still prey before the sharks. Tosh and Verni led the team from the front. Immediately after the purple poison mist from the Cobras dissipated, they charged in for the last battle. Crunch! Sting! The numerous prey who were already at their wits ends also retaliated with force. Those with stingers stung with their all, those with teeth bit with force, making the battle turn extremely rowdy and bloody. Amidst this bloody battle, Sebastian also charged in. He didn''t use any of his trump cards, he used his body and basic skills to duke it out with the monsters. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have triggered adaptation: Spikes.] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] [You have¡­] [You have¡­] As Sebastian rushed into the battlefield, his system continually lit up with skill activation notifications until he was saturated with them. The beasts that were on his path burst into a bloody mist on impact. Boom! Boom¡­!!! 8 minutes later, Sebastian hovered in the water, teeth bloody and deadly as he surveyed the water with his blood-red eyes, looking at both his teammates and at the corpse of his prey. The Ultimate Dissectors hunting team won their first true conquest. Chapter 160 - The Great White Machines! As soon as the battle came to an end, the Great White Sharks of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team finally pulled themselves out of the magical influence that they were under for the past few minutes. This was a magical influence that they could not explain nor describe. Tosh, Verni, and Shanks felt it the most, this feeling indeed felt like heaven. For the first time in their lives, they felt alive while hunting prey. When Sebastian first started detailing his hunting plan before them, though none of the sharks protested, most of them still couldn''t help but feel that such meticulous procedures were unnecessary. Well, after the first major hunt, they discovered how wrong they were and how right their team leader was. They discovered the power that was hidden in meticulousness and planning. Hunting in a set-up where they were divided into units with clear and finely divided purposes, they felt and fought smoothly like the cogs of a machine. In this huge machine, Sebastian was the artificial intelligence that controlled the whole body. The unit leaders were the main machine parts like metal arms and others, while the remaining Great White Sharks formed the cogs of the machine. This way, they hunted as precisely and terrifying as a machine. For some reason, these sharks couldn''t help but feel a sense that history was slowly being formed with them as the ancestors who heralded it. While they felt this, they heard a phrase inside their minds also. "The Great White Machines!" Yes, this was exactly how they felt in the previous battle, like war machines. And of course, this sound didn''t come from nothing. Sebastian induced it through his sound control skill as he felt that the atmosphere was right for it. From the onset of the battle, despite the terrifying number of enemies that were before them, they held the upper hand, controlling the situation at the pace and accuracy of a machine. But of course, in the end, they were not machines. This was because of the casualty that appeared on their side from the previous battle. Despite all the counter-measures against casualties that Sebastian set up, there was still this small and deadly word called a mistake. Consumed with the passion for battle, one of the sharks was unable to be saved by the support team till he died to the powerful jaws of a mutated Wolfish. This was the only casualty from their side in the previous battle, and this could not take over the feeling that they felt in the battle. Dying was not a strange term to these sharks, it was more like a common daily word instead. Great White Sharks of the clan die every day, and the example of the Gigantic White hunting team was clear to see so why fret about the dead? Instead of worrying about the dead, they would rather think of the next prey and the next battle experience with team units. Seeing the look on the sharks'' faces, Sebastian revealed a secret sharky smile. He finally officially got team members inside his hunting team. Those sharks that already joined his team could leave if they were not satisfied after the first hunting experience with the team, but the look on these sharks'' faces said that they couldn''t wait to battle more. Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief before ordering the sharks. "Pack and keep the food into your dimensional magic ring". During the hunting, each of the sharks also used the opportunity to feed and fill their stomachs, so now all the meat floating in the water was for keeping. Without a doubt, they got a huge haul of meat this time and coincidentally, they were able to kill some mutated Cobras which meant that they could contribute to the mutated Cobras mission at the same time. Sebastian didn''t use his inventory to join in the food keeping, he let his team members do it as a crazy idea started cooking up in his mind. Instantly, he felt excited which was a trait of his when crazy ideas start coming with force. This time, his idea was to open Pandora''s box. After going out of the cave, for the first 30 minutes, all the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team encountered were lone predators and small gatherings of predators which they easily killed together. This was an encounter that was not too dangerous or exciting, showing that Sebastian''s luck seemed to have been reset too normal. This also showed that Sebastian''s luck was normal again. The only problem was that Sebastian was no longer satisfied with normal. After this first true large-scale battle experience, most of the sharks that survived already evolved in subtle ways that made them even more deadly. This evolution was what was called experience. And for the sharks in the hunting team to get more of it, they needed to get embroiled in battle more. To others, it may seem like a problem to increase the encounter intensity and danger level but to Sebastian, it was just a matter of¡­ Luck! "System, decrease my luck to the lowest possible realm". As soon as Sebastian ordered this, a grim but excited smile enveloped his shark face as he anticipated the response from his system. He was not disappointed, his system complied with his wishes. [Affirmative! Host''s luck stat has been reduced further.] "Everyone be careful, we are about to¡­" Hooo¡­!!! Hooo¡­!!! Hooo¡­!!! This sound seemed to stir Oceania''s laws of nature itself, at times sounding smoothly and gently with a cool melody, while at other times fluctuating to high decibels that it felt like a child wailing at a microphone. The fluctuations of this melody affected the surrounding green glow of the sea, making the glow brighter with the sound increasing in volume, and glowing lesser when the sound became a cool melody. All the sharks were shocked, Sebastian also. "So fast?" Sebastian was surprised at how fast the effects of bad luck appeared, and the next thing that happened showed that whoever was inducing this sound was not a gentle smiling trumpeter but a deadly aggressive predator. The sound waves in the water seemed to be the sense organs of this predator. Immediately after the waves came into contact with the sharks, they changed before turning into a full-fledged melody-less sound blast. Boom! [You have been detected by a sound domain magic skill: Melody Sensing.] [You have been attacked by a sound domain magic skill: Anti-Melody Blast!] [You have been attacked by the purple tier Basking Shark!] Chapter 161 - The Terrifying Basking Shark! [You have been attacked by a Basking Shark!] The last thing that Sebastian saw from his system notification was this, then his consciousness directly shut down. The melody-less sound blast was so powerful that his inner ears seemed to have ruptured from the sound. Boom! The sound drummed like thunder, echoing to hundreds of kilometers in seconds as both the 21 sharks and every other creature on the path of the sonic blast fell into a moment of unconsciousness. Of course, it was only the stronger creatures that felt this. Most of the white tier creatures with low tier bloodlines all exploded into a bloody mist immediately after coming into contact with the sound waves. About a second later, Sebastian became the first shark to open his eyes, recovering from the immobilizing effects of this sharp sonic attack. Despite also being a sound domain magician, this attack affected him the same way that it did to the other sharks without compromise. The only thing which helped him was his Megalodon bloodline and probably his higher mental stat. As soon as Sebastian''s eyes regained focus, he felt a strong sense of pain erupt from his body as through his already active electroreceptors, he felt blood flowing out from every orifice of his enormous body. His ears suffered the most, he now seemed like a deaf shark, all he could hear was static buzzing sounds chaotically filling the background. While still bearing the pain from his internal injuries, he directed his electroreceptors around and was relieved as no shark died from the attack. Despite this fact, almost all the white tier sharks were severely injured. As he felt the stimulation from the pain, his adrenaline level slowly rose. Without even having to think, Sebastian knew that this opponent was a purple tier hegemon of this ocean volcano cliff. "Defense unit, prepare the shields!" He almost didn''t finish yelling this when the water ahead of them suddenly started bubbling up and down, inducing waves and spreading ripples across the water with speed as an enormous brown predator sped towards the team. This was no ordinary predator; this was a Basking Shark! With an enormous 25 meters brown long body that was almost 2 times bigger than Old Mak in terms of wideness and countless times heavier, this enormous shark immediately revealed its identity as a terror of this region. Its enormous mouth remained widely opened, revealing the blackhole-like depths inside it. Though it had no teeth, the mouth alone was dangerous enough. And at this moment, this enormous shark was rushing towards the group of 21 sharks. From afar, it seemed to have heard Sebastian''s orders to his teammates as this prompted it to act from a distance. With its mouth still opened, bright light erupted as a ring-shaped green sonic blast was released. Unlike the previous incorporeal anti-melody blast, this was corporeal and extremely dangerous. It was at this moment that it attacked that the sharks forming the defense unit of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team also reacted. A huge water defense wall was suddenly formed in the path of the green sonic blast which was quickly followed by a light magic vertical defense wall. Crack! Immediately after both skills came into contact, the first vertical light magic defense wall revealed cracks. In 2 seconds, it dissipated. The water defense wall''s performance was worse, it could not stop the sonic blast either. All it did was slow down the sonic blast as it passed through, but this was enough for the already prepared Megalodon. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield!] Boom! At this moment, the heavy but fast Basking Shark already appeared. Before it could go on the attack, Sebastian charged head-first into it. Sebastian no longer created another magic manifestation; he used his basic skills instead. From experience, there was no other opponent better than purple tier predators to train and level up skills with. With a loud booming sound like those of a metal drum hitting against a rock, Sebastian''s glowing head collided against the shark''s upper mouth. Having recovered quickly from the impact, Sebastian went for the bite, digging his teeth into this predator''s upper mouth flesh before it could react. Crunch! Blood finally flowed from the basking shark but it was not resigned. It could swim at impossible speeds with its heavy body, but it could not stir right or left as quickly which proved a little troublesome now. As soon as Sebastian''s teeth dug in, he did not let go as he went in fully. His spikes quickly grew out as he propelled his body, striking the spikes inside its mouth and causing an injury that caused blood to flow out. This enormous shark was not without countermeasures for a swift and cunning enemy though, it immediately activated another skill. [You have been affected by a sound domain magic skill: Guitar!] This melody was not to purely attack, but they were to restrain too. While dealing damage, the randomness of their melody constantly affected Sebastian''s brain, making his actions and decisions to experience time breaks. The Basking Shark took advantage of this immediately. From the side of its widely opened mouth, curved spikes like the tusks of an elephant rapidly grew out as they dug into Sebastian''s body amid his time-break suffering. Not only that, it activated another skill, causing the guitar strings to turn flexible as they all moved, tying down the enormous Megalodon that was before them. Before Sebastian could break free from the time breaks, he was restrained. Now, with his opponent immobilized, the Basking Shark charged again. This time, without hindrance, its glowing green body forcefully collided against Sebastian''s small puny body in comparison to it with a skill that Sebastian was familiar with. [A skill has been used on you: Rupturing Sonic Ram.] [You have received staggering damage from your opponent.] The rupturing sonic ram was a powerful random advanced version of the battering ram skill. After the impact, Sebastian felt dizzy from the force before feeling like he was invaded by a snake, a snake that was attacking and rupturing all his blood vessels. His body was ravaged by the internal sound waves of this skill as blood vessels in him snapped before rupturing into 2. Amid this agony, Sebastian received worse as the Basking Shark''s enormous mouth came slamming down at his body. He instinctively activated his magic shield but it did little before this falling disaster. The Basking Shark had no teeth, but its mouth has terrifying crushing power. Its mouth closed shut with a crushing bam sound. [A skill has been used on you: Crushing Jaws!] [You have received staggering damage from your opponent!] [Warning! You lost 8% of your health points in one attack.] [Your Hard Dense Skin adaptation has been crushed.] [You have been severely injured: You have lost 10% of your defensive capability and 4% of your attacking capability.] [Your Mana Conductor Coating and Damage Reflection Skin Coating has suffered damages.] [You are currently suffering from back pain.] Grii!! Chapter 162 - Verni Taking Charge, Surrounding The Basking Shark! Under the powerful and almost-indestructible jaws of the Basking Shark, Sebastian experienced the peak of agony. Apart from the extreme back pain, the damage to his skin adaptations made him feel like his flesh was being peeled away. The damages to the damage reflection and mana conductor skin coating made him feel like he just lost an important aspect of his body. He immediately felt out of place, suddenly being forced to adapt to living without them was hard. The sensation of losing the mana conductor skin coating was worse. It made him feel inadequate all of a sudden. For the first time, he finally appreciated this adaptation''s use as he found his mana conducting process now extremely slow. His mana recovery speed was still the same. But when channeling magic power, it needed to pass through a process of changing reactions. This was what was affected, now this process was terribly slow. Squash! While Sebastian still adapted to the pain in his body, the Basking Shark exerted pressure in its toothless mouth again, crushing the enormous shark more. [You have been dealt with staggering damage.] [Warning! You have lost 10% of your health points in one attack.] After this last crushing attack from the Basking Shark, combined with the damage from the shark that Sebastian already received, his health points crossed the safety threshold, going below 50%. The jaws of the Basking Shark were so powerful that the sensation Sebastian felt with them crushing his body was like that felt by a human under the weight of a Truck''s enormous tires. Instantly, Sebastian felt the suffocating feeling of death approaching. This was when he remembered to retaliate and struggle. For some strange reason, the strength displayed by the Basking Shark intimidated him, disorienting him a bit which now affected him. But now that he discovered it, he retaliated immediately. Sebastian activated all his body skills, turning his body into what seemed like a mobile war machine. Due to the crushing force of the Basking Shark''s jaws, his spikes were affected but were not exactly damaged yet. With his spikes taking the lead, his tail fin and dorsal fins turned sharp as they tried stabbing and cutting through the enemy''s mouth but to no avail. The Basking Shark occasionally got some injuries amid the struggle, but it firmly ignored these injuries, believing that his opponent would be dead before his injuries escalated to anything serious. His crushing jaws kept on dealing additional pressurizing damage. [Warning! Your health points are below 30%.] This struggle has lasted for only a few seconds, but it was at this moment that Sebastian knew that conventional struggling would not work. After the defense unit sharks blocked the new enemy''s sonic attack, the other sharks of different units were about to go attack when their leader jumped into battle without waiting for them first or giving instructions first. Seeing this, they were stunned as this was not part of the hunting plan that was explained to them. They were intelligent sharks, but they were still confused, hesitant on which step to take. In their hesitation, Sebastian grew closer to death. Seeing this, a light bulb seemed to have lit in Verni''s head as he finally reacted. "Activating plan B, the contingency take-over!" Hearing Verni''s roar, the other sharks immediately understood. This was the plan B that Sebastian prepared for scenarios where he was undisposed to control the hunting team, and Verni was to take charge in his absence. Plan C was Tosh taking charge, while plan D was Shanks. Shanks may not be among the strongest sharks in the hunting team yet, but his seniority to the other sharks in time spent in the team was worth their weight in gold. Having spent much time with Sebastian meant they knew more about him and may decide to make decisions like him when needed. All the sharks immediately shifted their attention from Sebastian to Verni after hearing his roar, awaiting orders to go into battle. "Attack unit, surround the enemy, and attack!" "Support unit, follow and support the attacking sharks!" "Defense unit, create shields to form a cage. The enemy''s movements need to be restricted and kept in one spot!" "Scout unit, scout the area and prevent any intruder from disturbing our battlefield. Kill if the need calls for it!" While Verni was still in the process of giving orders, the attack unit already moved. Like a group of honey bees, they advanced together, immediately forming a circular formation around the Basking Shark. The support sharks followed closely behind them, while also taking refuge behind them to survive in the scenario of a sudden attack. With them all gathered, they finally attacked. Bam! Bam! Feeling a threat to its life, the Basking Shark did not let go of its primary prey. It instead kept its jaws on Sebastian while its body jerkily vibrated. This vibration-induced sound ripples outwards. Like a plague, this sonic skill swept outwards, disintegrating all the attacks that were sent by the sharks while using its remaining energy to go towards them. Before the sonic skill hit its target, bright blue light lit up as the defense sharks set up another shield, completely protecting their partners. With their enemy''s attack blocked by their comrades, the attack unit sharks prepared again and attacked. This time, the Basking Shark was unable to set up another shield in time before it collided against it, spreading explosions. With the attack unit sharks attacking unrelentingly, the defense unit sharks finally found the opportunity to form a square-shaped magic shield that kept on being tightened to subdue the Basking Shark. At this moment, Sebastian already suffered a lot but he held on. After over a minute, the magic shield was compact enough as the Basking Shark''s movements finally started being restrained. Before the enormous Basking Shark could react, others did. "Take this ugly monster! Take my Crazy god''s Punch!" With a loud booming sound, the light magic attack from Tosh traveled with such speed that it hit the Basking Shark with force, forming a slight and almost negligible depression in its skin. The Basking Shark ignored it at first but changed the next moment on sensing the sound waves in the water while also feeling the rapidly increasing water temperature. Having timed it, Verni''s powerful fire breath was unstoppable. It hit straight into the Basking Shark''s powerful jaws where Sebastian was held, spreading fire straight through the tiny holes inside the mouth as chaos started. The Basking Shark immediately opened its mouth and howled strangely, letting Sebastian go in the process. Having guessed and anticipated this, Sebastian reacted immediately. [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] Bam! Bam! Both skills hit the Basking Shark with force, knocking some pain, discipline, and sense into it as the stimulating pain immediately made it wary. Unfortunately for it, its time was up, it was already too late. Having been surrounded from all sides by 20 Great White Sharks and a powerful Megalodon, its chances of retaliating or even escaping became terribly low. Before it could think more, Sebastian and all his team members attacked. Chapter 163 - Killing The Basking Shark, But An Intruder. [You have activated skill: Rejuvenation.] Instantly after activating this vital skill, Sebastian''s body was covered with a greenish-white magic glow that was filled with immense vitality. As his injuries started healing with speed, all the depressions formed by the Basking Shark''s powerful jaw attack rapidly reconstructed themselves. Seeing this, the Basking Shark immediately realized that he was fooled. From his vast battle experience as an old purple tier monster, the Basking Shark knew that most lesser tiered predators would opt to use a skill like rejuvenation immediately due to panic when they were trapped in a situation like Sebastian was a few seconds ago. Not only the extreme damage dealt by his crushing jaws, but the suffocating feeling from the force and the pain was also enough to make any normal predator go berserk from panic and make stupid decisions. What he didn''t expect this time was that he was up against a Megalodon with an ingenious human soul. He met a sturdy roadblock this time. For the first time in his life, after evolving to the purple tier, he lost in a game of wits and intelligence against an opponent predator, the humiliation only increased when this was a lesser ranked opponent. Instantly, the Basking Shark felt a feeling of extreme rage dominating its mind as it decisively charged towards Sebastian. Having predicted and expected this, Sebastian reacted impeccably to it. Without even needing to think, he willed it in his mind, activating his unique skill again as the tower shield magic manifestation appeared before him again. This time was unlike the first time, Sebastian was not going against the Basking Shark alone. Dozens of Great White Sharks surrounded the Basking Shark this time, and they all attacked as soon as it moved. Seeing him materialize his tower shield magic manifestation, the defense unit sharks instinctively reacted and set up support defense magic shields to help him. While they did this, the attack unit sharks threw out their skills. Loud sounds accompanied it as the skills landed on the Basking Shark''s enormous body, dealing shock damage to it that penetrated through the defense of its enhanced magic shield. The shield was not breached yet, but the stacked shock damage was significant. The Basking Shark wavered in his charge but seeing Sebastian hovering before him, he snorted in rage and increased his speed. Sebastian smiled on seeing this, this was what he wanted. He didn''t know the life-saving trump cards that this predator had, but with it charging towards him so blatantly, he was now confident that this fellow was dead. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] The Basking Shark was a little surprised as Sebastian suddenly dashed towards him instead of retreating, but this did not last long. He even felt appreciative of seeing this as his wide-open mouth started glowing a yellowish-green color. Sebastian instantly recognized the skill that this fellow was about to use. Yes, it was the ring-shaped sonic blast again. He did not retreat on seeing this, with his tower shield magic manifestation taking the lead, he continued the charge towards the Basking Shark. With a loud boom, both enormous sharks collided. Instantly after the collision, Sebastian felt like a million-ton heavy hammer was slammed at his head. He felt dizzy but his relatively high constitution allowed him to recover, even faster than the Basking Shark who was still dizzy. Bam! Bam! Skills from the other sharks with Verni and Tosh as the lead still fell on the Basking Shark''s body, with some even spilling towards Sebastian''s body but the Basking Shark could no longer see this, he was temporarily disoriented. With immobilization complete, killing intent flashed through Sebastian''s eyes like ripples in a calm lake. He mostly fought personally to train his skills, but when a purple-tier opponent was on the line, he could go unrestrained. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] And so, the mass magic manifestation spamming began! With his outrageously high mana points stat for an orange tier predator, Sebastian could afford to be unrestrained. The flaming sword, war hammer, and almost all the magic manifestations were used on the Basking Shark. Boom! Before the astonished gaze of most of the team members of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team except Tosh and Verni who already saw it before, the magic manifestations wreaked havoc across the Basking Shark''s body. The booming sound was like rippling thunder while the painful wails of the Basking Shark were the music playing in the background, highlighting this scene. At the last moment, when the Basking Shark was just one step away from death, Sebastian suddenly stopped. He stopped because of 2 reasons, 1 because his experience was already full, and 2 because there was an intruder. Sebastian already suspected it since, making him alert. There was no way that the lowest possible realm for his luck would only bring one purple tier predator, it looked too good to be true. Whoosh! What seemed like a menacing purple whip suddenly lashed out from afar, elongating till infinity like an immortal whip that had no limits until it arrived close to the dying Basking Shark''s body. It struck intending to finish off the shark, clearly to reap all the benefits with minimal effort but Sebastian having detected it and being on guard against it beforehand was prepared. The sound that reverberated was not of the strange purple whip making contact with juicy flesh, but of it hitting against a metallic object. Clang! For the first time since Sebastian started using his unique skill, apart from the battle against Octumpedam, his tower shield magic manifestation suffered damage that tore a straight line hole through its sturdy metallic hide. Seeing this, he felt imaginary cold sweat flowing down his shark face but this did not make him slow, but rather he reacted even faster. With adrenaline now coursing through his body, his brain flowed at the speed of a supercomputer, creating another magic manifestation in less than a fraction of a second and quickly following with another. A flaming sword appeared and slashed down before the whip could be retrieved by its owner, cutting a part of it away with one smooth slash. The red tip of the flaming sword made sizzling sounds as blood flowed through its sides. This whip was actually living, or a living organ or body part. Sebastian''s brain did not slow down despite this discovery. The second magic manifestation that he formed already came down, covering the dying Basking Shark before any other movements could be made by this strange opponent. Almost instantly after that, Verni rushed towards the prison. Having given Verni instructions through his sound control skill stealthily, Verni rushed in through an opening in the tower prison as soon as the Basking Shark was captured. While rushing towards the enormous Basking Shark, he opened his mouth wide, activating his fire magic domain in the process as he bit down with force. Crunch! The kinetic biting force and the raging fire magic finished off the Basking Shark who was already dying, ending its life for good. All these from the arrival of the new predator commenced in just a little more than a second, and it seems the owner of the whip adaptation finally reacted to a part of its body being cut off and the sound was not pleasant. "CROAKKKK!!!" Every member of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team turned their head to the direction of the sound where this new opponent was. The battle was not over. Chapter 164 - The Six-Legged Toad! "I WAS TOO CONFIDENT!" At the last moment before dying, this was the last thought of the Basking Shark. A thought of indignancy filled with regret, double regret, and regret again. As an old purple tier predator who was the only one of his species in this whole region, he could be said to be a veteran who already survived countless near-death experiences and was already daily life to him. As a veteran, he almost never acted rashly, preferring to evaluate risks before engaging. He also evaluated this group of Great White Sharks before engaging. At first, they didn''t seem like threatening opponents at all. And this ?ssumption was what caused his death. After the first clash with Sebastian, the mere fact that he couldn''t kill a lesser-tier shark brought him huge humiliation. This was more prominent when this shark had the sound domain too, it was like a tight slap across his face. Originally, with the normal modus operandi that allowed him to survive for decades to today, he would have immediately retreated when his first full-force offensive didn''t succeed in overwhelming the enemies. This was before, but his pride held him back this time. Despite being a purple tier shark who unlocked the hidden Basking bloodline, facing an encirclement of dozens of orange and white tier Great White Sharks was dangerous but he did it because of his confidence in his escape skill. In the end, faced against Sebastian''s spamming attack method, he didn''t even have the opportunity to use the escape skill before being beaten to a near-death state. He was shocked and furious, but also regretful. When Verni dealt the last blow to him, all he could think of were sad thoughts that left him feeling indignant till death. "I didn''t die to the terrifying brainless Jellyfish, not to any other purple tier predator, but I actually died before the jaws of an orange tier Great White Shark". "Pride, is dangerous¡­" ¡­ The battle was not over yet, and this was proven as the remaining part of the whip-like adaptation rapidly retreated towards its source. As soon as its retreat stopped, its source was detected by all the sharks. The source was, a TOAD! Of course, compared to the 15 meters long Sebastian, this toad looked like a little brother but the tag called purple tier that was attached to it elevated its status to a realm that made all the Great White Sharks wary. This enormous hunch-backed toad had orange-red eyes. Eyes that glowed from its previously hidden location, revealing a gait of extreme wisdom inside them like those of a wise tortoise told in fairytales. The whip-like adaptation was actually its tongue. The tongue clearly mutated to become this, being able to elongate and contract at will, and also being able to turn unimaginably strong and sharp, like a real magic weapon. The toad''s back was covered with ugly blisters. The blisters may look ugly, but Sebastian immediately identified them as a defense adaptation. The set-up, sturdiness, and arrangement of these blisters across the toad''s hunched back against all odds formed a frightening defense formation almost on par with the shell of a turtle. This was a purple tier powerhouse, a powerful predator. The enormous toad originally hid inside an almost negligible crack inside the cliff walls. Its emergence was clearly caused by the battle that just ended, which meant that a round 2 battle was about to start. Against other purple tier predators, after clashing with them so many times, Sebastian would not have been afraid but this toad was different. Its orange-red eyes that were filled with wisdom, its whip-like offensive and blisters defensive adaptation and its ability to enter the battle without alerting his electroreceptors all told Sebastian that this toad meant trouble. The toad also felt wary as it saw the death of the same-tier predator a few seconds ago. Of course, it was shocked at the power displayed by this enormous Great White Shark, but even more, confused at how it was possible. Though it still felt wary, its curiosity to know this shark''s secret soon became the overwhelming influence. No matter how strong they may be, the divide between the purple and orange tier realms was still significant. All these from the emergence, to the silent observation, to thinking, to all the deductions, took less than 3 seconds. The toad attacked first, striking before the Great White Sharks could react properly. Whoosh! Whoosh! The whip-like tongue adaptation shot out again, this time with an even faster and deadly speed that took the sharks by surprise. Due to the speed of the tongue''s movements, the tip of its side became orange-red as the toad took this opportunity to pour in its fire domain magic. From normal red, the tongue turned molten red before hitting the first target. Squash! Meat paste! The unfortunate Great White Shark was immediately squashed into a bloody meat paste, showing the offensive power of this whip-like adaptation. "Defense formation!" Bam! Bam! Bam! Water defense shields and light defense shields lit up at the last moment, preventing the 3 tongue attacks from connecting at full force but they were all still breached, showing the horrifying power of this toad again. Of the 3 tongue strikes, 2 of the target sharks were left terribly injured while another died. After the first successful conquest, the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team felt invisible, but from this, they were terribly wrong. [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill {¡Á3}.] Sebastian finally struck. A raging water cyclone erupted, spreading its influence far and wide and forming a huge magic defense wall to protect the Great White Sharks from the lethal tongue adaptation. While the cyclone raged like a tsunami, 3 drilling sounds like those from a gunshot reverberated as 3 deadly sonic drills shot towards the dangerous toad. Pat! Pat! Pat! Sebastian''s eyes almost popped in shock. He didn''t put his hopes too high, but at least he expected some effect from his attack. Unfortunately, he was wholly disappointed this time. The 3 sonic drills hit the toad''s carapace-like blister defense adaptation, making pitty pattering sounds like drizzling rain which showed how trivial they were to this dangerous toad. They felt like a mere itch to him. Perhaps, the only damage dealt was internal and from the sound waves but this compact sturdy toad clearly didn''t suffer much. The impact may have only felt like an itch, but it was enough to irritate this toad. It already observed enough from its hole, this pack of Great White Sharks just had some filthy luck to have defeated the Basking Shark. Its 3 legs made loud thudding sounds as it pushed itself out of its hole, coming outside to face the sharks directly. Its intelligent orange eyes flashed and narrowed down on Sebastian, then its powerful leg muscles contracted. Whoosh! With a powerful leap, this enormous toad soared high across through the water like a jet taking flight. Chapter 165 - A Fierce Battle Against The Six-Legged Toad! In the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team, the battle formations had meanings that were already explained to the sharks by Sebastian. Attack formation meant that all the sharks with some degree of offensive skills should all join in the battle. All-out attack formation meant that everybody was attacking. As Great White Sharks, even Queen Heareth who was a pure healer domain magic shark had the basic biting offensive skills of a shark. Stand-by formation meant that the sharks should hover in one place while staying alert to their surroundings in anticipation of battle at any moment. Defense formation meant that every shark with some degree of defensive skills was to all help in making sure the other sharks were protected. All-out defense formation of course meant that every shark was defending. As Great White Sharks with a high-ranked bloodline for magic, it was a given that they all had the basic magic shield so this battle formation was not unrealistic. Sebastian formed these battle formations and some other basic rules in anticipation of any troubling encounters. Troubling encounters such as this six-legged toad who was currently flying towards him. With the order of the defense formation already given by their leader, all the Great White Sharks obeyed the order without complaining. They''ve only survived one large-scale battle together, but due to Sebastian''s meticulous handling, planning, and directing, the sharks moved in tandem like a specially trained elite group of spy sharks. As the defense formation was in use, the defense-oriented sharks finally found a platform to shine and show their talents. As a newly evolved orange tier shark, Shanks was not the leader of the water domain magic sharks but was definitely among the respected bigshots already. At this moment, with him, the leader of the water domain sharks and other sharks, they rushed forward to form a defensive perimeter around the other sharks. They worked together with defense-oriented sharks with other magic domain abilities. While all these happened, the toad like a meteorite was already hauling itself towards Sebastian''s position at an astonishing speed. Without a doubt, if the toad was allowed to move so rampantly, the impact would result in a lot of sharks on his side being severely injured or even dying. With flickering eyes, Sebastian rapidly came to a decision. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] While the sharks waited in a tense state under the formless pressure already established by the six-legged toad, Sebastian suddenly rushed out from their midst. Of course, they were surprised but just that. This was not the first time that Sebastian did this, so they reacted milder to it. All their attention was focused on the 2 figures that rapidly closed the distance towards each other, their hearts turning as high strung as steel bars. With a whoosh, the water separating them suddenly swirled, tumbling and jumbling, wreaking havoc as what seemed like an underwater tsunami was formed. By intentionally adding more magic power, Sebastian was able to create this not only to reduce the impact of the possible collision but to also deal more damage to the toad. Before the collision, the toad activated its fire magic again as its body turned a glowing fire red. The fire didn''t materialize from the water, clearly, the toad was a magician who focused more on buffing himself, but this was already OP enough. Both sides finally collided. Boom! Compared to his collision with other predators, hitting against the toad to Sebastian was softer. The toad''s body was for some reason soft and elastic, making him bounce back after impact. Mid-swim jump, the toad opened its mouth again as its whip-like tongue adaptation emerged, rapidly rushing towards Sebastian. Bam! Bam! [You have been attacked by a skill: Tongue Whip!] Sebastian could not dodge at such close range; he took the full power hit of the tongue-whip as a bloody gash was drawn across his body immediately. Perhaps, stimulated by the feeling of experiencing his own blood flowing, adrenaline surged even faster, filling Sebastian''s brain. All of a sudden, his head felt light-headed and hyperactive like a drunkard who just went high. Like an aggressive bull, Sebastian threw himself at the toad who greeted him with tongue attacks and a strange kung-fu-like style of boxing with its six legs. The sound of the water rapidly moving reverberated continuously, indicating the intensity of the battle as both predators exchanged bites for blows at a completely dangerous and outrageous speed and frequency. In just 2 seconds, Sebastian''s body was filled with blood. The toad looked better, but its injuries were equally severe, more so when dozens of Great White Sharks were attacking it from the side. As soon as Sebastian got embroiled in battle, Verni took charge again, calling the sharks on the offensive as they actively engaged to help their leader. 3 minutes after, they were still locked in their stalemate with both of them already suffering severe injuries. Seeing this, the six-legged toad changed its strategy, instead of bypassing him to attack his team members. Remembering the sight of the sharks being squashed to death by the toad''s powerful tail, Sebastian growled in rage and went in pursuit. Like 2 superstar racers in a car race, one pursued the other, while the other continued running, trying to keep the distance between them. This way, the toad succeeded in kiting Sebastian for another 5 minutes, making the total battle time almost 10. In this period, not only did he kill another 2 Great White Sharks, he left 5 injured. Though this performance enabled him to show his dominance again, secretly, this old toad was shocked by the performance of the sharks. "Is another Old Gab being born?" Of course, he knew of Old Gab. Amid the toad''s inner monologue, Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief. After a lot of effort on his part and that of his team members, he finally managed to trap the old toad without him noticing immediately. Of course, this trap was to provide a platform for him to use his mass magic manifestation spamming technique while preventing the toad from escaping. Boom! [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite.] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] Crunch! "Sh*t¡­, another???" Chapter 166 - Emergence Of The Frightening Shadow Domain Praying Mantis! The toad was shocked, extremely shocked. The battle performance displayed by Sebastian and his team members already left him feeling shocked secretly, but the feeling that he felt from Sebastian the next moment was what left him really shocked. As a toad with a bloodline that was not too up there in the food chain, he learned to battle and to survive with wits and intelligence. Through all his numerous near-death experiences, he developed a keen intuition towards danger. And for the first time in a while, he felt a feeling of extreme danger as soon as Sebastian activated his unique skill. He didn''t know what the shark was up to, but his survival instincts told him to run now and ask questions later. The water made loud whooshing sounds as his deadly tongue adaptation shot out with speed, rotating and forming what seemed like a bubble cage with him at the center which prevented the sharks from attacking him. Immediately after doing this, his powerful legs hit the water again which replicated the effect of having hit something tangibly strong as he propelled himself above the sharks and out of the battlefield. To his surprise though, Sebastian didn''t attack. Sebastian didn''t attack because his system-manipulated bad luck just did it again, attracting another predator. The six-legged toad could not see it immediately as he didn''t have a skill like electroreceptors, but Sebastian and the other sharks did. He f?r??b?? disintegrated the magic manifestation that just formed mid-water to focus on this new enemy. At this moment, a 2 meters small fish that looked like a Tilapia was rapidly swimming towards the sharks'' position where the battlefield was. If it was any other fish, the sharks would not have paid attention to it but this fish was peculiar, dangerously peculiar. This fish had white scales all over its body that glimmered and sparkled like the body of a diamond. It had no eyes, in place of its eyes were what seemed like 2 sparkly white diamonds that sparkled more than the others. These features were eye-catching but they were not its most glaring specialty, its most glaring feature was the magic power level being emitted by it. This small 2-meter-long fish was a purple tier powerhouse. "What the heck?!" Verni imitated his big bro and complained using this tone. He was already injured but he ignored it, solemnly preparing for another bloody battle. While he prepared, he could not help but think. "Since I knew and met big bro Sebastian, why does it seem that my luck hit rock bottom?" While the sharks prepared in silence, and the toad finally turned to see who the new opponent was, Sebastian, observed with a frown. For some reason, he felt that something was wrong. [You have actively manipulated your electroreceptors.] Actively manipulating this skill, Sebastian was able to gather its focus in one specific direction, which was behind the 2-meter-long fish and he was not wrong, he found something. Perhaps, the other sharks, not even the toad could notice a detail so tiny but Sebastian did. The more time he spent in this world, the more perfect he got at detecting the tiny little details from other predators'' expressions. The problem with this fish was that, unlike other purple tier predators, it didn''t have that arrogance of superiority on seeing them. And at this moment, the expression on its face told Sebastian that this fish was not coming with the intention to kill and eat them. The expression on its face was more like it was anxiously escaping from an enemy. While feeling an urge to curse in alarm, he f?r??b?? calmed himself down and focused more behind the rapidly swimming fish. This was when he saw an almost invisible illusory blob of black gas going after the fish. This illusory blob of black gas''s form looked similar to the soul fragment of Octumpedam, the Devouring Octopus that Sebastian killed which immediately left a deep impression on him. This black gas moved in such a subtle and experienced manner that b?r?ly any ripple was left by it in the water, and the most glaring fact about this was that it escaped the normal setting detection of Sebastian''s electroreceptors. If the fish gave Sebastian neutral vibes, and the toad gave him danger vibes, this illusory blob of black gas gave him extreme danger vibes. "All-out Defense Formation!" While shouting this, Sebastian attacked with a roar. "YOUR FATHER!!!" [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection.] Having compared this black gas''s form to that of Octumpedam''s illusory soul form, Sebastian instantly decided to attack with his magic domain and he was not disappointed, it worked. Bam! After impact, the illusory blob of black gas shook disorderly. This was when the other sharks detected it, including the old toad. The blob of black gas swirled crazily at the water after being hit before calming down the next moment, but its forward momentum to pursue the sparkling diamond fish already slowed to a crawl. It no longer pursued; it instead directly revealed its true form. While this happened, from afar, the toad activated a skill as its orange-red eyes glowed brightly, increasing its sight and allowing it to see everything. When the true form of the black gas was revealed, Sebastian, the other sharks, and even the toad itself froze in shock. The shock of the old toad was because it recognized this bastard. This black gas''s true form was a 7-meter long Praying Mantis! This enormous Praying Mantis, unlike the commonly seen back on earth, had a purely black body. Its huge compound eyes eerily stared at the sharks, the toad, and the escaping fish, amid illusory whisps of black flames revolving around its body. These whisps of black flames were magic power, this Praying Mantis was a shadow domain magician, a terrifying purple tier powerhouse. Seeing the reaction of the toad, Sebastian knew all that he needed. He got prepared to give his all, fight, and protect his team members, but the further reaction from the 2 predators gave him other ideas. "Old Toad, to think that you are still alive. And you actually came from your hole, what gave you the guts?" "Today, I''m feeling benevolent, I''ll let you live, go back to your cave and leave this puny prey to me before I count to 5". The old toad snorted on hearing that, immediately knowing that this old enemy was up to something. Then he remembered something, the fish that the Praying Mantis was going after. He still hasn''t seen the fish clearly since he focused on the black gas after activating his keen sight skill. It was at this moment that he turned to see the rapidly escaping fish, and his eyes almost exploded on the sight from shock and excitement. "This¡­, this¡­ Holy!" The toad''s intense almost fire-inducing gaze on this fish immediately revealed a lot to Sebastian. As he observed, he noticed the toad''s eyes showing shock, excitement, disbelief, and most dominantly greed! Immense greed! Boom! Seeing that the old toad already recognized the fish, the Praying Mantis explode forth with speed, chasing after the sparkling fish again. "Stand Down! Sexual Cannibalism Freak!" Boom! Chapter 167 - Shadow Domain Skill: Shadow Clone Displacement! "Huh? What just happened?" Not only Verni but all the surviving Great White Sharks of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team were also confused by what just happened. Seeing 3 purple tier predators appear on the battlefield, they were originally shocked, feeling despair that they were dead and gone for good. They didn''t think wrong, going against such powerful purple tier predators was suicide itself. This was verified when Sebastian ordered the all-out defense formation which they obeyed immediately. At this moment, every shark already activated a magic shield, and they all huddled together to make the defense compact, sturdy, and difficult to break into. What confused them were the words and reactions of the toad and Praying Mantis. The sparkling fish was even weirder. Compared to all the predators on this battlefield, the fish was the undisputed fastest but it never attacked, not even once to take advantage of this godly speed. As soon as it detected that the Praying Mantis that was going after it was obstructed, filled with joy and relief, it continued escaping. It bypassed the formation of Great White Sharks, taking another direction to escape towards. Unfortunately for it, the old toad also recognized it, now the other 2 purple tier predators were after it. The fish became anxious again. Seeing everything that just transpired, Sebastian was quiet as his eyes flickered silently, his brain rapidly processing the information. He was ready to engage in an even tighter battle but was stunned at the circumstances. It did not take him long to arrive at some deductions though, the only problem was that he didn''t know if they were right. Well, it was this uncertainty that made deductions interesting. After his battle with the toad, he already concluded that this guy was stronger than both the Sperm Whale and Giant Squid that he went up against some time ago, including the Basking Shark that was just killed. Also, the toad''s reactions to seeing the Praying Mantis revealed a lot. They were old enemies, the Praying Mantis was stronger, but it didn''t escape because of the fish who was now the focal point of attention. Through all these observations, he deduced that the fish was the main point. The praying mantis arrived in pursuit of the fish, the toad forgot its fear of the mantis and joined the chase just because of the fish also. Sebastian''s eyes sparkled; this fish''s value was unimaginably high. After making all these deductions, Sebastian could not help but laugh inwardly. "Extreme bad luck is bad, but bad also contains good at times". [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Sebastian decided to join this hunt. He may not know the value of this fish, but joining the hunt did not mean immediate death so why not? He was someone who would not escape without even trying first. Seeing the enormous shark that was rapidly swimming towards them, the Praying Mantis snorted disdainfully. "A shark that is trapped in a well, not knowing how big the world is". Clearly, this guy had the same personality as Tosh, talkative. The only difference was the status, this mantis was a purple tier predator with arrogance and high prestige while Tosh was still an orange tier predator. This fish hunt soon turned into a tripartite fish hunt. Consumed by greed, the old toad''s last jump was accompanied by a skill, toad jump. Through this, he was able to leap extremely high, propelling his body so far that he landed farther than the fish, stopping at its front. Now, he was at the fish''s front, while Sebastian and the praying mantis pursued from behind. But Sebastian and the praying mantis pursued from different sides, which formed the tripartite chase. Like they communicated beforehand, all 3 pursuers attacked. The old toad''s deadly tongue lashed out again, straight at the sparkling fish with deadly speed, tyrannical force, and lethal accuracy. Sebastian''s body glowed with his green magic power as they concentrated mid-water to form 3 enormous sonic drills. These 3 sonic drills shot out consecutively with more force and speed than others. The Praying Mantis''s attack was even more bizarre. With his hunting team harboring a shadow domain magic shark, Sebastian already saw some displays but the mantis showed that he had only seen the tip of the iceberg. Poof! With a soft sound like that of gas coming from a fat troll''s bu??, the Praying Mantis rotated on the spot before disappearing, turning into whips of black gas again which was the same form that Sebastian attacked a few moments ago. As soon as he turned into the black gas, his speed increased exponentially. Not only that, the black whips extended out from the main branch, forming what seemed like giant shadow spikes in the air. Whoosh! Whoosh! The giant shadow spikes accelerated, all shooting towards the fish with speed and force. The fish was in danger of death once again. Even before the giant shadow spikes arrived, the old toad''s deadly tongue arrived, lashing out like thorn-edged whips at the fish''s sparkling body. With loud bam sounds, the tongue hit, its sharp and sturdy edge digging into the fish''s body to dig out chunks of flesh as the fish immediately opened its mouth soundlessly in pain while still perseveringly swimming forward. Before it could recover, the giant shadow spikes arrived, ruthlessly impaling its sparkly body. Like this, the toad and mantis dealt damage from afar, rapidly chipping away the health points of the fish. Sebastian threw sonic drills also but none of them hit the target not only due to the distance but because of the speed that they moved at. Sebastian revealed a sharky bitter smile; this was revealing his shortcomings. He may be powerful, but compared to these old monster predators who''s refined their skills for years, he was still relatively new. He could deal damage from afar too with his sonic drill skill, but his relatively lower battle experience was glaringly shown at this moment. What made him feel even more anxious at this moment was that the fish never retaliated. All it had was its faster speed, and the sturdy basic magic shield surrounding its body, it never attacked. Sebastian observed this for another minute where the fish was already bloody from all the attacks before coming to a bold conclusion. For some strange reason, this fish could only escape, it never attacked, or more like it couldn''t attack. For some weird reason, this fish had no single offensive skill when even a Blue Tang had. Instantly, Sebastian changed his battle strategy. Compared to before, his mana points were higher now, and some skills that he could only use sparingly before could be used more casually now. Boom! Sebastian rapidly accelerated, turning into a streak of green light in the water as he instantly closed the distance to the fish before it could react. Activating his crushing bite skill, he ruthlessly bit down at the fish''s head. Crunch! Still some distance away, both the toad and the Praying Mantis were stunned on seeing this sight before feeling enraged. The toad could only thrash angrily and swim faster, but the praying mantis could do more. It suddenly stopped its pursuit and hovered in one place, tightening its deadly forehands that were already in a prayer stance further. While doing this, its shadow in the water suddenly flickered before turning more corporeal. The next moment, the shadow elongated, extending so far that it collided with Sebastian''s body before he could react. [A skill has been used on you: Shadow Clone Displacement!] Warp! The next moment, to Sebastian''s shock, the Praying Mantis disappeared from its previous position. In less than a fraction of a second, the mantis dug itself out of Sebastian''s shadow. "¡­" Chapter 168 - The Oriole Stalking The Mantis. The battlefield seemed to have fallen under the effects of a space amber. Sebastian''s sharp rows of teeth were still embedded inside the head of the white sparkling fish as it struggled, but its struggles were now extremely slow like it was under the influence of a real space amber. The angry toad was still rapidly swimming from afar while his long lethal weapon in the form of his tongue wreaked even more havoc on the fish. At this moment, the originally rapid and swift whip-like attacks of the tongue adaptation now seemed slow and dragged-out also. The last scene in this slow world depicted the black Praying Mantis as it pushed itself out of Sebastian''s shadow. This shocking scene was imprinted into the eyes of the other 3 predators on the battlefield, and their reactions were extreme. Sebastian was shocked as he saw a predator coming out of his own shadow, the toad''s rapid swim slowed down a bit as he watched in shock, while the struggling fish''s eyes revealed a look of despair. The implications of this god-like skill were numerous. Not only did it mean that the terrifying praying mantis could ambush them at leisure and at the deadliest angle possible, but it also meant that escaping from the mantis was literally impossible. This impossibility was at this point not only for the struggling fish but also for Sebastian and the old toad if the Praying Mantis proved stronger than them. "You actually created a new trump card skill?" After the momentary silence, the old toad finally spoke in a tone filled with regret, anger, and indignance. It hesitated, clearly no longer wanting to vie for this jackpot encounter with the terrifying Praying Mantis but as soon as his orange-red eyes laid upon the struggling fish, a raging fire of d?s?r? spread in his heart. Boom! He didn''t escape, he may be cautious but was not a coward, he would compete for this treasure till the end. With one powerful flap of its hind strangely webbed feet, it propelled itself forward faster. The Praying Mantis heard what his old enemy said, he also detected the old toad rapidly swimming towards them resolutely, but still, he couldn''t reply nor be distracted because Sebastian lashed at him the next moment. Sebastian already used the mass magic manifestation strategy once on the Basking Shark, then all the battling since then, and the short speed burst with his supersonic speed skill already used up his mana points a lot. His mana recovery speed kicked in but was not enough. He was in a situation where he could no longer be as extravagant, but Sebastian still pounced at the praying mantis, completely abandoning the bleeding sparkling fish. He knew even more about the dangers of a skill like the one the Praying Mantis just used. If left alone, he may not even know how he died, this mantis needed to be focused on. At this moment, he erupted with force at the Praying Mantis. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Lightning Axe!] Boom! Due to the close proximity after appearing, the Praying Mantis was unable to react on time as Sebastian''s considerably larger and heavier body slammed against his small body. He was not crushed but he suffered. Sebastian also suffered, the praying mantis could not dodge but it retaliated, using the ideology of an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth. Sebastian''s large body slammed into his body, while his sharp hands like those of the blade of a katana ruthlessly sliced through Sebastian''s huge body. Its compound eyes suddenly stared in surprise as whisps of lightning magic seemed to descend, accompanied by a large pitch-black ax. It dodged but was still a little slow as it lost a hand to the ax. While crying out in rage, its shadow domain magic rampantly spread into the surroundings, forming giant shadow spikes that shot at Sebastian''s body. Only rough bam sounds were heard as Sebastian''s magic shield held most of them at bay. Before the magic shield was breached completely, Sebastian already materialized the tower shield magic manifestation. While the both of them duked it out, they soon forgot the concept of time, even forgetting that they had a prey to catch as the battle instincts of a predator in their blood kicked in. Seeing this from afar, the old toad was excited as schemes started forming in his intelligent eyes. He looked at the severely injured fish that was escaping. With gleaming eyes, he went in pursuit while trying hard not to startle the 2 competitors. To its surprise, the fish only escaped a few meters before it was engulfed. The fish was engulfed by a familiar cluster of black gas that started strangling it immediately. From this black gas, a new predator emerged that dug its sharp fangs into the fish''s already damaged head. The old toad''s eyes constricted. "Another shadow domain expert!" This new emergence clearly had a skill to hide its aura, which enabled it to remain hidden since. Not even Sebastian''s electroreceptors detected it, which was something that already left Sebastian feeling spooked. This new predator was a snake, a Devouring Cobra! This ?du?t Devouring Cobra was enormous, its tail extending so far that the old toad could not see its end. Devouring Cobras loved swallowing and devouring their prey, but this ?du?t cobra didn''t do it immediately. While removing its 2 deadly fangs from the fish, an ominous dark purple liquid flowed as the Devouring Cobra turned to face the old toad. The fish was already poisoned, now all it had to do was protect the fish from the other''s attack while letting the poison do its work. With this in mind, the Cobra aimed at the next closest opponent who was the old toad. Hiss! What seemed like a spray of the purple liquid was ejected, mixing through the water while spreading towards the direction of the old toad. Feeling the danger, the old toad dodged, leaping away. With this unknown figure gone, the enormous Devouring Cobra that looked like an Armageddon figure turned to feast on its prey. Its predatory eyes revealed an excited look as it turned to feast on its prey. Before it could do this though, its shadow suddenly twisted. Chapter 169 - The Cunning Cobra Snake. Warp! Through the long shadow that was formed of the enormous Devouring Snake that was induced by the green glow of the Green Mist Sea, the dangerous Praying Mantis appeared. They may both be shadow domain magicians, but they had different fields of focus. This was like a situation where 2 university students studied engineering, but one focused on civil while the other on electrical engineering. Clearly, from the scene of the toad being intimidated and fleeing from the attack of the Devouring Cobra, the Cobra had the same power level as the Praying Mantis if not even more. The Devouring Cobra was startled on seeing the Mantis suddenly appearing. He turned his head without hesitation; with this fellow here, there was no way that he would be allowed to feed on the fish. Well, he didn''t need to feed on the fish, all he needed to do was to protect the fish until his poison did the work on his behalf. Hiss!!! In the blink of an eye, the enormous Devouring Cobra raised his head, spreading them to become as wide as a bowl as he looked down intimidatingly at the Praying Mantis while his body partly curled up. At this moment, his full size was finally revealed. From afar, Sebastian estimated that this Cobra was over 25 meters long! And clearly, the Devouring Cobra intended to hinder the Praying Mantis while equally protecting the fish with his enormous body. Despite the enormous size of the enemy, the Praying Mantis did not cower, the value of the target was too high to give up on after getting this far. "Chopping Blade Hands!" "Mutated Shadow Spikes!" While yelling this, the Praying Mantis attacked in a frenzy. Black wisps of gas rapidly revolved around him, forming what seemed like a shadow domain as giant spikes after spikes were created with them all flying at the Cobra. The fact remained that his hands when attacking gleamed sharply like the blade edge of a katana, and at this moment, their sharpness was put to the test. Hiss! The enormous Devouring Cobra hissed loudly in pain as the giant shadow spikes impaled him. But this was not the real pain, the real pain came when the katana-like blades of the mantis''s hand chopped at his skin ruthlessly. Have you ever seen a chainsaw cutting through flesh? Well, this looked like one. The Devouring Cobra''s enormous body thrashed in pain, clearly, he did not expect such ferocity from the Praying Mantis. The mantis''s sharp hands cut rapidly with speed and force, tearing the snake''s flesh apart despite their sturdiness as a huge hole where blood flooded out was immediately formed through the Cobra''s skin. Having been stunned by the ferocity of the Praying Mantis, the Cobra finally reacted, not daring to underestimate it anymore. As a purple-tier predator with one of the highly ranked bloodlines, he was born innately proud. He disdained other predators with lower-ranked bloodlines, and this resulted in the injury that he just sustained. But now that he reacted, the situation no longer felt one-sided. A purple magic shield filled with shadow magic power immediately shimmered to life before him, finally blocking the sharp chopping hands of the Praying Mantis. From afar, the old toad saw this confrontation as his eyes flickered. Originally, he loved being in control. He hated situations where he was not in charge but at this moment, the chaos benefited him greatly. He was going to fish in troubled waters. With a loud booming sound like that of a drum being played, his legs hit the water with force again as he leaped towards the lone fish who the Devouring Cobra protected with its large body. Compared to before, his jump this time was far more precise. He landed just beside the fish, and immediately, he attacked in a frenzy. Bam! Bam! The toad''s deadly tongue lashed out again. The fish was already severely injured, and his defense was at its lowest. With such vulnerability, he could not resist as the deadly tongue adaptation wreaked havoc in his body. The 2 strikes from the tongue tore such deep holes in the fish''s body that almost showed on the other side. The fish opened his mouth in pain, gasping for life, fighting for that tiny chance of survival. At this moment, his sparkly white body was already tinged with purple lines. This was the terrifying poison of the Devouring Cobra, and this attack from the toad worsened its situation more. Seeing that the old toad was about to take advantage of the situation, both the Devouring Cobra and the Praying Mantis reacted. Bam! The giant shadow spike dug into the fish''s body, worsening its situation further. From the side, when he saw this, the Devouring Cobra hissed as he knew that his strategy to let the poison kill the fish would no longer work. It was time to give his all, and he did. With soft whooshing sounds, so gentle that it seemed like the sound heard when you''re in the embrace of your mom, black gas started seeping out of the water space. This was shadow magic! Apart from hiding in the black gas form at the beginning, the Devouring Cobra never showed any other shadow domain magic. Now, he did. Whoosh! Like a raging tsunami, from the originally soft and gentle movements, the shadow magic became berserk as it descended, saturating the water with speed. Then, the Devouring Cobra disappeared, dissipating in the form of smoke. Both the Praying Mantis and the old toad were surprised, they subconsciously looked around warily but they saw no one, not even one sign of the Cobra''s presence was left behind. Crunch! From nowhere, smoke suddenly materialized behind the mantis''s back as the snake''s terrifying jaws came down with force. His fangs dug into the mantis''s skin as the terrifying purple poison was injected. While making a weird loud sound, the Praying Mantis raged, shooting giant shadow spikes behind his body while he turned to attack but the cobra was gone. The Cobra was gone, back into the shadow smoke that saturated the water. Crunch! From nowhere, the same thing happened again, the toad was bitten this time. Immediately after this happened, the old toad and the mantis felt a chill crawl down their spines; this Devouring Cobra was a terrifying ?ssassin! Like a plague, the Cobra did not stop, extending the shadow smoke domain even farther which indirectly meant that his area of activity increased. Crunch! Crunch! The old toad and the Praying Mantis only saw shadows, while the terrifying Cobra ?ssassin kept on attacking, chipping away at their health. They could only defend to their best to safeguard their lives. While attacking, the Devouring Cobra did not spare the already dying fish, he also occasionally dug his fangs into it again, dealing even more damage. From afar, as Sebastian observed this, he felt his heart grow cold. At this moment, he understood the 2 popular quotes; ''the green snake under the green grass'' and the commonly used ''as cunning as a snake''. Chapter 170 - Finally Killing The Fish. Snakes were cunning back on earth, but even more, cunning in Oceania. For a moment, Sebastian could not help but think if the person who made the quote about the cunning snake also once stayed in Oceania. This was because, at this moment, the Cobra''s terrifying skill exhibited too much cunningness. Though Sebastian was sure that the Devouring Cobra''s mana points were currently draining at the speed of a running tap, it was also frighteningly effective. With this skill alone, the Devouring Cobra firmly held the upper hand. When he was still a Great White, Sebastian once encountered a Devouring Cobra but compared to this fellow, that fella was indeed a teenage Cobra. The Cobra singlehandedly suppressed the old toad and the terrifying Praying Mantis despite them all being at the same tier, showing the difference in the quality of bloodlines, and the cunning of a snake. While doing this, the Cobra also kept on chipping at the fish''s life. Yes, the fish, this was the problem, Sebastian already detected something strange from this. Since the fish and the Praying Mantis first appeared on the battlefield, over 2 dozen minutes already passed which was a lot of time. In this time, despite all the damage already dealt by the 3 of them to the fish and despite the terrifying poison of the Cobra that was currently flowing through its veins, this strange white sparkling fish remained living. From this, Sebastian changed his evaluation of this fish. Originally, all that he observed was that this fish had fast speed, sparkling white skin, and high value to make purple tier predators so frenzied about it. He also originally observed that the fish had no offensive prowess, and its defensive ability was far below sea level, not up to par at all. Now he deduced something new. This fish may be low on all the points already mentioned, but it had frightening vitality, almost bordering on the point of being impossible. Sebastian was 100% sure that if he was the one on the receiving end of so many attacks, he would have already died twice and over. From this, he guessed that this was what gave the fish such a high-value evaluation from the purple tier predators. Though from the look on the fish''s face, it was already close to death''s door, Sebastian guessed that it could still take some hits before dying. The Praying Mantis already lost another hand to the Devouring Cobra. The old toad lost one of its hind legs with 2 others being injured, despite this, he could still battle because he originally had six legs. And besides, his legs were not his strongest point, his tongue was. For the sparkling white fish, it already lost almost all its sparkling scales. Its body was submerged in its own blood, it could no longer swim, now it could only hover in the water, waiting for its death. The battle was already at that extremely tense point where fast mechanical music played and the winner was about to be declared. Sebastian silently watched the battle from afar, his brain rapidly calculating amid the booming sounds from the battle as his eyes suddenly lit up with the light of an epiphany. Due to the fierce combat power displayed by the Devouring Cobra, he originally already gave up on the fish but now he had other ideas. He laughed. "It is never over until it is over". [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Like a racing sports car, Sebastian''s enormous body suddenly started swimming in reverse, away from the raging battlefield. He was already a distance away from the battlefield, but now he increased the distance further. While swimming in reverse, he suddenly turned his body, simulating a water movement like a drifting car as he accelerated further away. His strange actions of course caught the attention of the 3 battling purple tier predators, but they didn''t have the time to pay focused attention to him. Originally, they disdained him, an orange tier shark joining a battle among purple tier powerhouses but after the combat ability that he displayed, none of them dared to underestimate him further. Any movement from him was worth paying attention to, but just that. Sebastian felt the other predators looking at him but he didn''t care. He was indeed escaping from the battlefield, but at the same time not leaving completely. While rapidly swimming away, he willed his system to check one of his most important stats in relevance to his combat strength. [MP: 414/1070.] After his unrestrained use of his mana points, they descended to an all-time low but with the efforts of his mana recovery mechanism, these were the mana points that he had currently available for use. Sebastian''s eyes flickered calculatedly on seeing this, the rough idea on his mind was already being finetuned to become a masterpiece plan. Seeing this, the purple tier predators forgot about him and focused on their own battles. This was exactly what Sebastian wanted, he repeatedly confirmed that this was the case before finally stopping. He checked again, confirming that his mana points already recovered to above 550 which made him heave a sigh of relief. After checking, he removed any unnecessary thoughts from his mind and let his body calm down, slowly merging with the water as his thoughts flowed alongside the ripples formed in the water. His eyes slowly narrowed, then he aimed carefully. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Bow and Arrow.] Sebastian didn''t just materialize one arrow this time, the first arrow appeared followed by the second then the third. Only one of the arrows was on the bow while the other 2 hovered silently in the water. With all these done, Sebastian maintained his aim and waited. Far away in the distance, the fish already lost a significant part of its body. Now, only its head still had wisps of vitality but this was about to be devoured by the Devouring Cobra. While they did all this, a bright light suddenly exploded from afar, in the direction where Sebastian was, rapidly filling their vision. Sebastian finally released the arrow after accumulating over 200 of his mana points to power it. The arrow''s speed directly broke the sound barrier, propelling it with such speed that the friction made its path ignite with fire. While the first was still moving, Sebastian shot the remaining 2 arrows. The Water Transmutation unique skill worked with imagination, and imagination worked with thoughts, and thoughts flowed at the speed of light. This meant that Sebastian''s sequence of attacking from the first to the third arrow also commenced at the terrifying speed of light. Feeling danger for its life, even the Devouring Cobra escaped, dissipating and entering its smoke shadow in the blink of an eye. This effectively left the poor fish defenseless, and it took the full blow of the 3 arrows. Boom! Boom! Boom! The fish had no chance, the remaining flesh left of its body directly exploded from the force and might of the magic power, turning it into a pitiful but colorful bloody mist immediately. [Congratulations! You have killed an Origin Fish!] Chapter 171 - The Longevity Origin Fish. Blood, only blood was left of the originally white sparkling fish. As soon as this transformation was done, a chilling silence descended on the battlefield. The gentle ripples in the water that were induced by the just-concluded battle finally found the opportunity to raise their head as they battered at the surviving predator''s bodies. Both the old toad and the Praying Mantis who was originally escaping stopped in shock, including the enormous Devouring Cobra as they stared at the bloody mess before them in disbelief. A second ago, all of them, including the Devouring Cobra already believed that the outcome of this competition was set in stone, they never expected such a drastic change at the last moment. "What just happened?" They questioned themselves doubtfully despite the evidence of what happened directly facing them. The disbelief in their eyes and the shock of what just happened was so overwhelming that their brains seemed to have short-circuited. They intended to react but they could not, they just kept on staring motionlessly. Faraway in the distance, Sebastian felt a wave of fatigue hit him immediately after his 3 consecutive arrow shots met their target but he was happy. [Congratulations! You have killed a Longevity Origin Fish- Level 0: You have gained 0 Experience.] [You have gained 0 Skill points and 0 Adaptation points.] [You have gained the longevity origin essence; your lifespan has increased by 200 years.] Seeing this, Sebastian''s eyes almost popped in shock but he suppressed his raging feelings and turned around. He had all the time to express his shock later, but right now, he needed to escape. Of course, thoughts flowed at the rapid speed of light but in a tense situation like this, Sebastian decided to play it safe. He already guessed that the value of the already dead fish was enormous, but never, not even in his wildest dreams did he expect such value from it. He took the safe route because if he thought deeper into this, he was not confident that he would be able to extricate himself from it fast enough before danger came. He first checked his mana points again to determine his escape chances. [Mana Points: 128/1070.] This was what was left of his mana points after the 3 powerful arrow shots. He deliberately left this behind to facilitate his escape from this region. All his team members were already gone, so he only had to fend for himself. Though 128 mana points were not enough for him to take a comfortable ride with his supersonic speed skill, it could still take him somewhere which was all that he needed to survive at this moment. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] With these 3 skills active, Sebastian was surrounded by a green glow that soon increased to a blinding intensity as Sebastian bolted out of the area, leaving a green streak of light behind him. In a few seconds, he disappeared into the distance. As soon as Sebastian moved, the 3 purple tier predators finally reacted. They were stunned at first, but after understanding what just happened, they exploded in extreme rage. None of them spoke to the other, but they moved in tandem. If the Devouring Cobra was the one who got this valuable fish, both the old toad and the Praying Mantis would have no choice but to leave regretfully, but the fact that Sebastian was the one who got it felt like a tight slap across their faces. An orange tier predator like Sebastian outwitting them in battle and taking their prey was a humiliation that their pride as purple tier predators were unable to take, not today, not tomorrow, and not a millennia later. The old toad moved first. His orange-red eyes suddenly started glowing ominously, the black slit in his eyes narrowed as they started emitting a strange mythical glow like they could see through time and space. In his field of vision, as he poured more magic power into his eyes in an unrestrained manner, black and red lines appeared in his vision. The black lines were numerous, filling everywhere, intertwining together and leading to every corner, but the red line which was now glaring when placed together with the black lines led to one direction. This direction followed the trail left by Sebastian''s green magic power. Boom! The Old Toad''s powerful hind legs suddenly hit the water with force, leaving a fierce shockwave behind that spread ripples crazily as he was propelled at the speed of a jet towards the direction of the red line. Immediately after he moved, both the Praying Mantis and the enormous Devouring Cobra also moved. The Cobra curled his body up, forming what seemed like a mountain hill in the water as his eyes turned pitch-black with black shadow gas swirling inside them the next moment. Suddenly, his body straightened again as he shot forward with enormous speed. While advancing, the Devouring Cobra''s enormous body rotated like a deadly drill, enabling it to pierce through the water and increase its speed further. The Praying Mantis''s pursuit method was the most bizarre. As the Devouring Cobra rapidly advanced forward like a rotating drill, he left circular rippling shadows in the water, and at this moment, this was what the dangerous Praying Mantis made use of. Warp! His body disappeared from its previous location one moment, appearing from the circular rippling shadows of the Devouring Cobra the next. After emerging from the Cobra''s shadow, before the Cobra could rotate further, completing one revolution, he already disappeared again, dissipating and easily blending into the rippling shadows. This way, all he expended was his magic power while being able to keep up with the Devouring Cobra. This ability of his was why Sebastian and the old toad felt that they could not escape from him, and this was verified here. The water raged, making loud whooshing sounds as the 3 of them rapidly disappeared into the depths of this ocean volcano region where Sebastian escaped to. They pursued with vengeance and anger. Just like the way it started; the battle was already over. Now, a hunt for Sebastian was on! Chapter 172 - The Old Toad With A Dignity To Restore. Throughout his whole life, the old toad suffered disdain from other predators, an experience that gave him huge trauma, which resulted in an inferiority complex and cowardly nature. This suffering was because of his low-ranked bloodline. This suffering also meant that sometimes, powerful predators felt it beneath them to specifically target and kill him amidst a group of prey. Well, it could be said that this suffering saved his life on numerous occasions but he felt indignant. Why was it that other creatures with better bloodlines had deadly teeth for biting, a powerful tail for swimming, and access to powerful magic, while a toad like him only had his useless pair of jumping legs? Why was it that those creatures were the predators while he was the prey? Why was he born a toad? How dare nature decides his species without asking for his consent first? For years, since his days as a young mutated toad, he felt indignant at life. Despite his indignance, despite wanting to courageously go and kill those arrogant predators, despite wanting to bravely break this curse that was decided by his bloodline without his consent, he could never do it. He was not brave enough to do it. Perhaps, as a young mutated toad, he had some stupid confidence but as he grew and m?tur?d, as he saw prey like himself die, being turned to food with them being unable to struggle, his cowardly nature became dominant. Slowly, he learned to protect his life above all. He no longer felt brave, not that he cared, he fully embraced the cowardliness that was expected from a creature with a bloodline like his. Surprisingly, as nature would have it, he grew, he mutated, he evolved, and through a brilliant stroke of luck, he became a purple tier predator. Purple tier predator! With a bloodline like his! He was ruthlessly beaten to the point of death, he escaped only because of his powerful jumping legs that he once called useless. This was when he understood; every creature was not born equal. From then, he embraced his cowardliness. No matter what situation that he found himself in, he never complained of his bloodline again, like the veteran he was, he hunted and lived his life cautiously day in day out. This was his life philosophy until today, his understanding of this world was challenged again. He thought he would never regret or complain of his bloodline again, but today, he wavered in his resolution. For decades, he had fought with other purple tier predators, losing most while winning some but he continued living his life. Slowly, he grew stronger, even stronger after he got his tongue adaptation but still his cowardly nature prevailed. This was until he met this shark, this was until he met Sebastian today. Against purple tier predators, he would accept any loss with a calm heart, but who said he could also suffer a loss to a petty orange tier predator? At this moment, his rationality was already eroded, he no longer cared about the fact that both the Devouring Cobra and the Praying Mantis also suffered the loss, all he cared about was his dignity, the dignity of his species, and himself. Right now, he discovered that he had been wrong all his life. He decided on the spot never to be cowardly again, he would rather die than live a coward. Though Sebastian''s supersonic speed skill was extremely overpowered, the fact remained that the relevant mana points to power it was unavailable. Sebastian was only able to power it for less than 4 seconds. During this time, he crossed a great distance, but the time still limited him severely. With his 3 pursuers also giving their all, they caught up to him before he could find a proper hiding location. Sebastian immediately felt anxious, with his low mana points, his battle strength was effectively reduced by half. Amid his racing thoughts, the conflicted and raging old toad attacked. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] Bam! Sebastian dodged at the last moment as the powerful toad''s tongue adaptation struck, exploding the rock that it came into contact with to fragments. The old toad was not satisfied with missing. At this moment, his thought process was already warped, he immediately ?ssociated his missing with his low-ranked bloodline which agitated him even more. "I may be a species with a low ranked bloodline, but I''m an old toad, no bloodline can change that". While saying this, the old toad''s orange-red eyes glowed again in an ominous manner. Throughout the many decades of his life, he already had a lot of encounters, and though he came with a loss in most of them, he also gained from some. In these gains, he got monster cores which he already used, he learned useful information about Oceania and this ocean volcano region that preserved his life till now, and he also acquired some magic weapons. For material magic domain predators like Sebastian, what was the most effective way to weaken them? The most effective way was to take their ability to manipulate magic away. And coincidentally, the old toad had a consumable magic weapon with this effect. This was his greatest treasure, but he was about to use it without hesitation. Shing! Orange-red light erupted with him as the center as a rapidly rotating wheel like a wall clock appeared above him. This magic weapon emitted such magic power that seemed to suppress the origin glow of this region itself. Before Sebastian could react, a blood-red glow was shot out from the rotating wheel which landed on his body. [A magic weapon has been used on you: Wheel of Arcanity!] [You have been inflicted with the magic weapon effect: Bane of Magicians!] [Warning! Your mana stat has been locked.] [Warning! Your control over your magic domain has become berserk¡­] [Warning! You have lost control over your magic domain ability.] Instantly after being hit by the blood-red glow, Sebastian saw these series of system notifications as his eyes immediately narrowed into slits. Horror erupted in his heart. "What black magic is this?" Before he could think further and contemplate ways to remedy this or at least suppress this effect, Sebastian felt his danger sense experience a great spike that left his heart shuddering. Both the Devouring Cobra and Praying Mantis were stunned at the sudden resolution of the old toad, but this didn''t prevent them from attacking. Sebastian didn''t feel the danger from them though, he felt it from the raging old toad who was out to restore his dignity. Chapter 173 - Badluck Is More Dangerous Than The Ambush From 10,000 Black Tier Predators. Without his magic power, Sebastian was like a toothless tiger, or better still a toothless shark. This ruthless move from the old toad effectively lowered his overall battle strength to a dangerous level. Without his magic power, Sebastian had no access to his Water Transmutation unique skill, he had no access to his basic magic shield, and he also had no access to his important sound domain magic. Instantly, he felt like a sheep without shepherd. Perhaps, in normal circumstances, this would have not been too dangerous but the fact remained that at this moment, 3 dangerous purple tier predators were after his head. He wanted to rapidly start thinking of a solution but he was given no time. The 3 stronger predators rushed after him with malicious expressions on their predatory faces, and of course, the previously cowardly old toad took the lead. The dangerous tongue adaptation was used again as the whip-like tongue lashed out at Sebastian. Without his magic shield and his tower shield magic manifestation, he was completely exposed to this attack. Bam! Bam! Sebastian instinctively positioned his body in a way to minimize the impact but it did little as the sharp tongue cut through his skin like a hot knife cutting through bu??er. He gasped in pain as blood flowed from his belly like a fountain. Due to the viscosity of the water, the blood immediately mixed with it, making his surroundings turn dirtily bloody as more poured out. Before he could react and move, both the Praying Mantis and the Devouring Cobra attacked. The Praying Mantis sent a Giant Shadow Spike that impaled him on the head, while he manipulated his shadow. Sebastian''s shadow twisted as the Praying Mantis appeared out of it the next moment. Then like the legendary Mohamed Ali, this Praying Mantis started an experimental fight technique that could only be referred to as hardcore boxing! Bam! Bam! The Praying Mantis''s dangerous hands punched and cut relentlessly, causing depressions and cutting deep injuries through Sebastian''s skin. The pain from all these attacks stimulated Sebastian, causing his Megalodon primal instincts to take over. Like a ravaging Lion that was pushed to the wall, his enormous body shrugged off the Mantis as his jaws came for the bite. But before he could bite, a thick cluster of black gas that was released by the Devouring Cobra covered him up. Instantly after this, Sebastian lost control of his body, seeming like a stroke or paralysis patient. This was an immobilization skill that the Devouring Cobra didn''t use when it fought against the old toad and the Praying Mantis, this was because it could only work fast and better on lesser tiered predators. At this moment, all Sebastian''s flaws were amplified to the extreme. Before, he could b?r?ly battle against purple-tier predators. This was because of the advantages of his transmigration, his system, and most especially his unique skill, but now with magic gone, he was ruthlessly exposed. As soon as the Devouring Cobra immobilized him, the Cobra disappeared, turning into a swirl of black gas as he reappeared beside Sebastian the next moment. Unlike the Praying Mantis, he attacked with his deadly poisonous fangs. Crunch! [You have been poisoned: You have been inflicted with the dizzy feeling!] Instantly, Sebastian felt his health points draining away as his vision turned hazy. The only thing which kept his consciousness awake at this moment was the pain as the 3 predators inflicted more injuries on his body. Seeing both the Praying Mantis and the Devouring Cobra dealing so much damage to him, the old toad was enraged. "This is my prey! No one has the right to kill him before me!" Like a crazy freak, he erupted, using his whole body to compliment his tongue attacks to deal even more stacked damage as time went on. For 2 straight minutes, Sebastian received damage while being unable to move as his body was still locked by the Devouring Cobra''s immobilization skill. His body was filled with blood, he already lost one eye, but he was not dead yet which meant hope. The stacked damage from the 3 purple tier predators was enough to have left him dead already, but his health recovery mechanism was what helped, keeping him alive to this moment. If he was still a Great White Shark, perhaps, he would have already been saying goodbye to Oceania. As the predators dealt more damage to him, Sebastian felt despair. "Am I going to die here?" He asked inwardly in a trepidatious manner. When it felt like all hope was lost, his tail fin shook gently. He was free! The Cobra''s immobilization effect finally ended! Instantly, Sebastian''s eyes darted about without making it too obvious so as not to attract his enemy''s attention. Even the Devouring Cobra didn''t notice yet, which meant this was his greatest opportunity. He fought through his pain to observe carefully. As they attacked him, they already unknowingly pushed him close to the cliff walls. At this moment, just a little bit further and his body would hit the wall. And embedded in the wall were sharp-pointed rocks. Sebastian secretly activated his electroreceptors to confirm, then he moved. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] Sebastian used all his remaining willpower and power to propel his body, moving with such speed that he collided against the cliff walls. Boom! The 3 of them, including Sebastian, slammed at the wall as the sharp spiky rocks dug into their bodies, causing blood to gush out in waves. Amid their wails, Sebastian moved. He gritted his sharp rows of teeth, ignoring the pain as he used all his might to swim far away. He didn''t know what to do, he didn''t know where to go, all that was currently in his mind was to swim and escape far away. The 3 predators immediately went after him after recovering but his little lead granted him some time to catch his breath. But this didn''t last. Just 3 minutes after his momentary escape from his pursuers, Sebastian heard a loud cry reverberating through the water followed by the descent of an enormous predator. A Hawk-Eagle! A purple-tier Hawk-Eagle! Sebastian despaired on the sight. "Bad luck¡­" Chapter 174 - The Hawk Eagle; A Cornered Shark! Eagles are some of the largest birds ever known to man. They are at the top of the food chain, the bigshots of the wild air. Their most dangerous feature was their amazing eyesight, they could see up to 2 miles away. Another fact about them was that they were birds of prey, they were never known to live on water. Well, in Oceania, this was different. This dangerous Hawk Eagle that appeared was 3 meters long. It was smaller than all the other purple tier predators on this battlefield, but this did not lower its lethality in the slightest. Clearly, this was a predator that focused on compact strength. The powerful muscly legs of its 3 meters long body, powerful talons that could grab and tear flesh into pieces, a large hooked beak that could rip flesh apart, and its enormous powerful wings for swimming kept it at the top of the food chain. Yes, powerful wings for swimming. Unlike the conventional flying wings of a Hawk-Eagle, this eagle''s wings were adapted to look like enormous thin tails that each flap could propel the eagle meters ahead. Its terrifying eyesight meant that it almost always saw opponents first before it was discovered. And this time again, it was indeed the case. On earth, it could see up to 2 miles away but here in Oceania, with the help of magic and as a purple tier predator, it could see over dozens of miles away. It saw the commotion of this chase from 12 miles away. What first attracted its attention was the bright green eye-catching streak left by Sebastian as he escaped with his supersonic speed skill. First, it didn''t pay attention to Sebastian and the chase, its decision was more influenced by the fact that 3 other purple tier predators were involved in the chase. But just a few seconds later, its eyes adaptation discovered treasure! Other prey attracted them, their instincts telling them that eating them was good which in this term was the skill and adaptation points. But for the Origin Fish, the attractive feeling was explosive, almost like their thought process was hacked. Of course, this was because longevity was far more precious, important, and valuable than skill points. Immediately after seeing the fish, they resolved to settle for nothing less than killing it and taking every valuable thing in it. Of the 3 purple tier predators, only the old toad knew exactly what the Origin Fish was, having seen another of its species decades ago when he was younger. Then, he could only watch as a bystander as other powerful predators took it. And the purple tier predator who took it then already advanced, now being the predator overlord of this ocean volcano region. The value of the Origin Fish was exactly what the Hawk Eagle saw through its eye adaptation, not its name or its features. The adaptation had a feature that could help it deduce the value of prey, and what was displayed to this Hawk-Eagle was so high that it attracted greed in its heart the next moment. Birds die for food, humans die for wealth, while creatures in Oceania die for experience and the 2 different kinds of points. The high evaluation in value displayed of Sebastian to the eagle was not just because of the Origin Fish that he just ate that was yet to be digested, it was also because of his system. Instantly, the Hawk Eagle went in pursuit in a frenzied manner. It was getting Sebastian and nothing else, it was not settling for less. 5 minutes later, it finally arrived at the location where Sebastian was escaping from the 3 predators'' pursuit. Without wasting time, it pounced on the enormous shark. One of them was a 15 meters long predator while the other was just 3 meters long. This scenario was like a bicycle rushing towards a truck to topple the truck, it looked ridiculous but Sebastian did not dare to take the risk. After the struggle with the predators, despite his health recovery mechanism, Sebastian had less than 100 of his health points remaining, he did not dare take the risk of colliding with the hawk. As someone interested in marine creatures in his previous life, he also knew a bit about birds of prey. He was absolutely sure that if he collided with this Hawk-Eagle, then it was over for his life in Oceania. Facing this life and death situation, adrenaline flowed through Sebastian''s body like bolts of lightning as his brain seemed to start glowing in a fiery manner as his thought process was set ablaze. If before, he could think of 100 things in a second, his brain activity was so high now that this figure rapidly increased to a million things in a second. He felt a painful burst of headache in his brain as this happened but he did not care, all his attention was on how to stop this upcoming disaster. As his brain experienced this unique state, his perception of his surrounding changed. Suddenly, it looked like he was living in a black and white world before but finally evolved into a world of colorful pictures and sounds. The world turned slow, everything started playing for him in slow motion. In this peculiar state, Sebastian was exposed to things that he did not notice before. His world seemed to have changed. This was when he noticed the large scar on the eagle''s face, and it''s injured right-wing, which was probably due to a recent battle. He also deduced the degree of injury that the right-wing suffered, and that one perfectly timed narrow attack could slice it off. Also, he noticed the deep injury on the old toad''s belly which was inflicted by the Praying Mantis''s sharp hands. One heavy and precise strike could widen the injury, causing all its bowels to pour out but this was in the case that it did not defend on time. Sebastian similarly saw weak points on the Praying Mantis and the Devouring Cobra''s bodies that he could take advantage of though they were milder than the previous 2, the problem was that he could not act. His mana was cut off by the old toad''s magic weapon, he had no access to magic at this moment and even his health points were dangerously low too, any risky action could easily lead to his death. In normal circumstances, taking advantage of these weak points could have given him a chance of escaping but these circumstances were not ideal at all. Sebastian looked and looked, trying to find loopholes that his extremely weakened self could take advantage of but he saw none. Seeing this, he laughed bitterly. "Am I dying today?" He had a row of grievances in his mind to complain of, he had a ton of objectives that he had not accomplished yet, dying now was not what he wanted. As time ticked by at a super slow pace, Sebastian felt his headache increasing, he knew that his brain would probably shut down if he did not think of a solution. In his dilemma and under the pressure of life and death, his thought process speed increased even more, now with a speed akin to that of a supercomputer. In this manner, a light of inspiration flashed. Sebastian saw a small crack on the cliff wall. This crack was unlike the others, it looked peculiar in a way that could be taken advantage of. In normal circumstances, he would have ignored it immediately, referring to the thought in his head as too dangerous but at this moment, he was a beggar and a beggar was not a chooser. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] At the last moment, he twisted his enormous body at an abnormal angle that defied gravity, narrowly dodging the Hawk Eagle''s talons as he rapidly accelerated towards the crack on the cliff wall. This decision may save him or ruthlessly kill him. Chapter 175 - Isolated And Trapped! The old toad attacked with his tongue adaptation again, giving Sebastian another injury but his momentum was not stopped. Both the Devouring Cobra and the Praying Mantis also attacked but his momentum was not stopped. The distance to the small crack rapidly drew nearer, then he collided against it with a force that left that part of the cliff wall trembling. BOOM! Sebastian''s shark face twisted in pain as he hit the cliff wall with force, with a part of his face forcing itself into the crack in the cliff wall. Yes, this was his plan, forcing himself through this crack. Due to his peculiar state of mind at that moment, he was able to observe and analyze at a level that he could not enter before. Through this peculiar state of observation and analysis, he discovered the difference in this crack from the other cracks in the cliff wall. The rocks surrounding this crack were softer than the others, and something like this could have only been caused if water was inside this crack. Water being inside the crack meant that a big hole enough to hold water was inside. Not all the cracks led to a hole inside, being able to identify a crack that had a hole inside in such a tense atmosphere was entirely due to the special state that he was in a moment ago. This was where his guts and daring nature came to play. He gambled with the fact that if he rushed and hit the crack with his body with an impact as heavy and forceful as possible, the crack entrance would expand due to the hole that was inside it. This plan was unimaginably dangerous, considering the fact that 4 purple-tier predators were behind his tail. If it did not work, it meant that Sebastian was dead since the other predators would quickly end his life. Despite the risks, Sebastian felt relief as it worked. The impact was so much that his face deformed directly in a terrifying manner, compressing in such a manner that his Megalodon head now seemed like the head of a Hammerhead shark. Of course, he received a lot of damage from this, both internal and external but since his organs were not damaged, it was not too much. Despite this, he now had less than 50 health points remaining. The stacked damage from the Devouring Cobra''s poison was what put him at the edge, decreasing his health points faster than his recovery speed could keep up with. The fruit of all his sacrifices was that the crack entrance expanded a bit. The cracks already expanded, spreading towards other directions but the main location of the crack now revealed what seemed like a tunnel entrance. Overjoyed and fatigued, Sebastian forced himself to go again. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Boom! He collided against the crack entrance again, expanding it more, but it was still not enough for him to force his way in. Despite feeling exhausted, with the sword of Damocles hovering above his head, he worked like a horse, going at it again. Boom! Boom! While this happened, time slowly moved forward and the 4 predators rapidly swam closer to their prey. As they got closer, their faces showed clear excitement and relief as their claws and talons were already ready to pounce on the shark meat. Despite seeing their movements clearly through his electroreceptors, Sebastian did not pay attention to them, all his attention was now on doing the only mission that dominated his mind- expand the crack! "Expand the crack!" "Expand the crack!" He kept on yelling this in his mind as his d?s?r? to live blossomed. Due to the continuous impacts with his head as the focal point, his face was already crushed so much that he lost his left eye also. Despite this, he remained focused on his goal just for that chance of survival. Since coming to this world, he had one main goal in his heart that he was not resolved to die until he fulfilled it- and this was successfully dissecting all the species in this world or the strongest creature in this world. Recently, he just learned that he could engage in real dissecting. Now, he had still not dissected his first prey, he felt indignant to die now. Apart from his main goal, he had other important minor goals. He wanted to find the motherf*cker Lord, he wanted to know her identity and confirm if she was an earthling like himself. Also, he wanted to know the mystery of his reincarnation. These 3 goals were the most important minor goals up in his scale of preference that he was not resolved to die and leave without fulfilling apart from dissecting. He was not resolved to die now. [Warning! Host''s health points have gone below the dangerous territory!] [Host''s health points are now 18/821.] "I am not resolved to die now!" Seeing the system notification, Sebastian became agitated which became a kind of death or life motivation to him as he increased his ramming intensity. He repeatedly hit the cliff wall with such force that his face was now almost crushed to meat paste. Mangled flesh was better to now describe his face. Despite the self-damage that he engaged in, it was working. Boom! Boom! Boom¡­!!! Crack! Like a farmer that has been toiling for over a century for a hidden treasure who finally found it, Sebastian''s badly mangled face revealed joy as he saw through his electroreceptors that the entrance finally became big enough. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Without hesitation, he accelerated, narrowly dodging the powerful hands of the old toad that were about to grab and pull him back. Boom! Boom! His actions were so forceful that the hole vibrated, the vibrations rapidly spreading out to affect the foundation of the crack. The next moment, the crack collapsed, thick heavy rocks falling down as they quickly covered the entrance to the cave before the astonished eyes of the 4 predators that were after their prey. The purple tier predators were isolated, while Sebastian was trapped. Chapter 176 - Anxiety- The Missing Sebastian. "The team leader is not here yet?" "Do you think something happened to him?" "Do you think¡­, he died?" The surviving sharks of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team worriedly speculated among themselves, with most of them observing their surroundings alertly to detect any new prey on time. They got to this location safely after escaping for over a dozen minutes, and since that time, their team leader was nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, during this escape, they didn''t experience such surges of bad luck encounters which were strange and spooky at the same time after what they already experienced for the past few minutes. "Senior Verni, what do you think? Is the leader¡­?" "Shut up! Do you want to attract another purple tier predator?" Verni was tired of the morale-killing speculations of his teammates. He snorted, ruthlessly admonishing the restless sharks. Yes, at this moment, he also felt uneasy, scared, and a little confused, but he didn''t know the exact decision to take. According to Sebastian, Verni was the leader when he was not around, but at this moment of truth, this Great White Shark hesitated, feeling that he was not up to the task. At this moment, he felt like a burden that was heavier than him was handed over to him for him to carry and he felt inadequate. This feeling of self-doubt was a first to Verni. This was because of the encounters of the past few minutes to an hour. Verni could swear that never in his life had he encountered such a dangerous situation. It was like they were cursed; his brain just couldn''t wrap around it. In Oceania as a whole, the purple tier realm was the middle realm among the 6 power tiers. This meant that purple tier predators were dangerous predators with vicious battle reputations. In this ocean volcano region, and Oceania as a whole, from the purple tier upward, the number of predators decreases progressively up the group. This meant that in most regions of this world, there were only a few purple tier predators. In some regions, there were no purple tier predators at all which showed how rare this realm of predators was. In his 5 years as a Great White Shark, Verni was absolutely sure that apart from the purple tier sharks in his family, he had met only 7 purple tier predators and most of these encounters were from following big bro Sebastian. And now, in just one hunting session, in fact in just one battle session, he met 4 of these dangerous predators which was a frightening probability. What were the odds of this happening? To him, none. When they met the Basking Shark, he already felt weird that why does it seem like they encountered them whenever he followed big bro Sebastian. "Are we cursed?" This was the only question that dominated his mind at that moment that felt like he was in a dream. From the ?ssault of these predators, the hunting team lost 5 Great White Sharks. Added to the one that was lost in the first conquest battle, 6 Great White Sharks were already lost in their first large-scale official hunt. Originally, this result would have seemed extremely poor but considering that they had the meat of the purple tier Basking Shark secured, it could be referred to as a win on their part. Despite this, all the sharks surviving in the hunting team were spooked. While they escaped, their hearts were as tense as the strings of a guitar, fearful that another purple tier predator would emerge at any moment but surprisingly, they were safe throughout. Tosh felt it more, the anxiety in his heart could no longer be restrained as it was expressed in his talkativeness. "Verni, do you think we are cursed?" "I''ve once heard of this curse magic during one of Elder Shine''s lectures. Do you perhaps think that I''ve been inflicted by curse magic?" "Damn! What if I died in the previous battle?" "Damn! Does being cursed decrease luck?" "Damn! Does this mean I would be plagued with bad luck?" "Damn! Will I suddenly lose my claspers one day without knowing how it happened?" "Damn, I''m scared!" "Shut up!" Verni flared up again. Throughout, as all the sharks expressed their fear and agitation in various ways, Shanks kept quiet at the back of the group. He felt the impact of Sebastian''s disappearance more. Though he saw Sebastian as his hero, his brain could not wrap around the fact that his team leader would survive the ?ssault of so many purple-tier predators. The term ''purple tier'' was already ingrained so much in his brain that the mere mention of it meant danger to him. Sebastian was the one who took him in when others refused, he was the one who took him out to face the world, who also saved him when he almost died. He could never forget Sebastian, and now he dared not think that his team leader was dead. The thought alone left him feeling like melting. Since he evolved into the orange tier, his intelligence experienced an upward surge and now his emotions had greater dominance in his mind. This was the reason why he felt Sebastian''s disappearance so much. After Verni''s last flaring up that was directed at Tosh, the enormous Great White Shark''s eyes darted left and right in anxiety before he came to a decision. "We''re going back to the clan!" Sebastian transmitted to him through his sound control skill to wait for him after they escaped, but he was ready to defy Sebastian for the first time. None of the sharks complained, they all left. ¡­ About 12 minutes later, they arrived back at the cave lair. As soon as they entered inside, Verni left the others, rushing straight towards the throne chamber. Throughout the journey back, he regretted not having a skill like Sebastian''s that could make him explode with super-shark speed. After getting back to the cave lair and still not seeing Sebastian, the fear in his heart grew to its peak. He decided to go tell his master immediately. ¡­ In Old Mak''s throne, the enormous Great White Shark hovered silently as he looked down at his favorite student with anger on his face. "Verni! How many times did I tell you to only come here on my summons?" "Clan head, I know but Sebastian¡­" "Enough!" Old Mak slowly hovered up from his throne as he said this, his enormous body towering above the younger Great White Shark intimidatingly. "It seems that since coming into contact with this Sebastian, you''ve forgotten a lot of the morals that you were thought as a young shark". "When the shark points for this hunt have been calculated, forfeit half. That is your punishment". "Now leave my chamber". "But¡­" Verni wanted to speak more but on feeling his master''s reproachful piercing gaze, he could only lower his head and turn to leave while feeling conflicted inwardly. As soon as Verni left the throne chamber, 4 enormous Great White Sharks swam out of hidden corners in the chamber, revealing themselves before Old Mak. These 4 were Elder Marble, Elder Dangle, Elder Shine, and Queen Heareth. At this moment, their shark face all had solemn expressions as through their soul pins, they knew of the current plight of Sebastian. This enabled them to know the moment that Sebastian''s health points went below 100. They knew that Sebastian was in danger, but none of them moved. From the evaluation, they already knew that this young shark was mysterious and probably carried a huge secret, now they wanted to know. Under the gaze of the other sharks, Queen Heareth brought a magic weapon artifact that was in the form of a mirror. This was not an attacking magic weapon; it was a special magic artifact that was created from the fusion of the eyes of a Giant Squid, a Death Dragon, and an Eye Dragon. At this moment, through this artifact, they saw Sebastian. Chapter 177 - The Next Plan. Sebastian was trapped, trapped inside a cage that he created. He was now blind, breathing was difficult inside the cage of rocks that he formed himself, and his face was a bloodily mangled mess. Not only these, but his health points were also now 12 and were still decreasing slowly. His Megalodon bloodline was doing a good job in suppressing the effects of the Devouring Cobra''s poison, but it could not be expelled completely. The Devouring Cobra was also a creature of a high-ranked bloodline. Just as terrifying as the jaws of the Megalodon, so also was its poison. Sebastian''s bloodline suppressed the damaging effects of the poison to the b?r?st minimum, but that was all that it could do, the poison was still spreading and slowly killing his life force. With only 12 health points left, Sebastian was stranded. It only needed a matter of time before he was drained completely. Before deciding to kill the Origin Fish with his bow and arrow magic manifestation, Sebastian already planned how he was going to escape but the fact remained that life was always random and filled with possibilities. His original plan consisted of the main plan and several contingencies. He was a Megalodon now, but he remained faithful to the laws that he created, they were part of the few things that demarcated him from other predators. His main plan was to escape directly with his supersonic speed skill. The skill didn''t disappoint, but his mana points did. In this situation, his contingency plan was to escape with his advanced dash skill, engaging in a battle of who is the fastest with the purple tier predators. And if that didn''t work too, if he was forced to engage in battle with the purple tier predators, he was still confident of surviving. He would bid his time, enduring attacks with his large body while kiting the purple tier predators until his mana points recovered. From there, he would find a tunnel to enter in the cliff walls. When he just reincarnated into this world, then, tunnels were one of the more frequent parts where his brain went to for escape routes. If this plan didn''t work and he discovered that the tunnel was a dead end, he also had a contingency for this. Due to the sturdiness of the cliff walls, no attack from him could easily break them. So, his contingency plan for this was to form a defense wall in the location where the dead-end blocked his path. There, while withstanding the attack of the purple tier predators, he could recover then he would start thinking of a better plan. Considering the fact that the tunnel would probably be too small for all his pursuers to enter, he had the advantage. And with skills like his rejuvenation, he could lick his wounds and slowly recover to his peak. This was his original plan, but as he said, this world was filled with endless possibilities, and the old toad''s magic weapon was one. This terrifying magic weapon rendered all his plans ineffective. Since he bought his magic organ and unlocked magic, this was the first time that he was deprived of using magic. He should have thought of this, but in the tense situation, his brain couldn''t think this up among the many possibilities. After the magic weapon, all those happened, and now here he was, slowly waiting for the tentacles of death to come to engulf him. In this dark place, blind and injured, he felt despair overwhelming him. If it was before, he would have already cried out to his system for help but he did not do it. He could be said to have an unscrupulous nature, but he still had principles. His pride did not allow him to ask for help again, but he found no trouble in asking the system to return his luck to normal. After the encounter with the Hawk Eagle, the fact became clear to him that until his luck became normal again or increased, becoming good, he had literally 0 hopes of escaping. But after asking, his system''s answer demoralized him further. According to the system, it expended energy to manipulate its luck. Every action of it was at the expense of a form of energy, nothing was free. The previous manipulation of his luck to the extreme bad end already expended too much energy, now he needed to wait for some time for the energy to be recovered and ready for use again. This was the same for the previous time when his system manipulated his luck. It always took some time to change it again. Hearing that, Sebastian gave a bitter laugh. "Can I be called a fool now? I actually made my system expend energy to decrease my luck?" Sebastian used this as a joke to alleviate his anxiety, but the effect was not much. He sighed, feeling that his situation was turning grimmer. Boom! Instantly, he felt the pressure increase. "Damn these monsters!" Despite all these, he did not ask his system for help still. He rather forcefully calmed himself, thought through his next plans, and started acting on them. After his first encounter with the mins bandages that were made by Queen Heareth, he expended some of his shark points to purchase some. Taking food out of his system inventory to eat and ?ssimilate their magic essence would have been the best remedy for his low health points, but in this cramped hole, he could not do this. The mins bandages were his only shot. Though they probably won''t be able to purge the Devouring Cobra''s poison, he believed that they could do something. As he applied the mins bandages, he thought of his magic power. Unlike his health points, he knew and had no means to rectify this problem. In this area, he met a roadblock. The last area of his plan was how he could escape from his pursuers. This was a big problem, and it was the key to his survival. He thought and thought amid the booming sounds of his enemy''s attacks and his slowly recovering health points. After some rapid calculations, he deduced that it would take at least 2 hours before the purple tier predators would be able to break into his rock cage. He was able to break into here because it already had cracks and was not covered with rocks, but after his breaking in, lots of rocks fell and blocked the entrance which increased the difficulty of breaking in again. This was a lifesaver to him now, he had 2 hours of preparation time for escape. After thinking some more, he arrived at his plan. He was already level 20, he was evolving. Chapter 178 - Evolution! After thinking long and hard, Sebastian concluded that only evolving to the purple tier would be able to save his life at this point. This was the next plan that he arrived at to save his life. Of course, he already heard of the dangers of rushing the evolution to the purple tier from others. With Teeth and other sharks of the Old Mak shark clan as forerunners, he should have been cautious but not now. Right now, he was at the terrifying junction of life that separated death. One single wrong move and his name may be referred to in the past tense the next moment. He regretted his decision to lower his luck further, but he forced himself not to regret it anymore, he made the decision himself. The more he stayed in this world, the more he resolved to take responsibility for each of his actions and decisions. These were his gradually expanding principles that he developed since his transmigration. Considering the painful fact that after his hunting team''s recent hunt, he would have been able to seek guidance from the shark elder, Dangle, he could only laugh bitterly. "Screw bad luck!" He was a Megalodon who spoke with action rather than words, he acted on his plan immediately. He was a shark who already underwent the process of evolution twice, he was not a newbie to it. "System, give it to me!" [Affirmative!] [You have reached the limits of the 3rd level cap; you can proceed to attempt a breakthrough. Your chances of success are 50%.] [Proceed with breakthrough attempt: Yes/No?] "Yes!" [Breakthrough mechanisms have been put in place. Stabilizing host¡­, host has been stabilized.] [Mental check: ...] [¡­] [¡­] [Mental check: Slightly Unstable.] [Physical check: Unstable.] [Warning! Does host want to continue with breakthrough attempt despite an unstable physical state?] Sebastian hesitated on hearing that, weighing his options. Breaking through from a normal Great White Shark to the white tier, according to the system, his chances then were 75%. From the white to the orange tier was 65%, now to the purple tier was 50%. Sebastian didn''t know if 50% was because his system secretly helped him from the shadows. After all, such a percentage could not warrant the current dread that was held towards it in the shark clan. To be sincere, 50% still scared him a lot but he had no choice. Now, with his mental and physical evaluation not at their peak, his chances would be further lowered but he didn''t hesitate much. "Yes, continue the breakthrough attempt". [Affirmative!] [All parameters for evolution are complete, the host''s consciousness will now be drawn into the illusion realm.] Compared to previous times, Sebastian had no reaction to feeling the mental prick, the pain he was currently feeling in his body was worse. A few seconds later, his consciousness left his body for a magical outside exploration. The bright green light intensified, then darkness descended. ¡­ Blink! Sebastian simulated this sound again as his consciousness was aroused to remind himself that he was now in the illusion realm. With one observation glance, Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief. Like before, he was now existing as a phantom. The only strange thing was that he was no longer in the red background environment of the ocean volcano region. Before he could observe what brought this anomaly, the light intensified to a blinding level as he instinctively shut his eyes. When he opened them, he was back in the familiar bustling city of great white sharks. Before Sebastian could observe properly, he immediately noticed a difference. He randomly made a guess during his previous evolution and he was right, his vision this time was countless times sharper and better. It was like his eyes suddenly turned to that of an eagle. Before he could relish this experience properly then observe this bustling shark city again, he was shocked as an enormous shark appeared before him the next moment. Unlike the previous times, he was given no time to observe the city of sharks again, neither was he given another chance to see his shark dad battling which meant he got zero references for his choices later. The shocking thing was that his shark dad directly appeared before him, and the enormous shark looked at him straight in the eyes like he could see him. "Descendant heir 248". The enormous shark said as he looked at Sebastian, which exposed the fact that he could indeed see Sebastian. Sebastian was gobsmacked, absolutely shocked. It took him a few seconds to recover from his shock, and immediately after, he secretly observed his shark dad. This shark was the best reference for his choices later. His shark dad was as plain as plain could be. Towering at only 20 meters long, and with no visible adaptations, Sebastian was disappointed. But this disappointment soon turned into respect. As a shark who already interacted extensively with purple tier powerhouses, he felt a peculiar feeling from his shark dad immediately. His shark dad was a Red tier predator! Sebastian was ecstatic, feeling that he finally found a path out of the dangerous wilderness that he found himself but he was disappointed again. "Prove your aptitude by becoming a purple tier Megalodon, that is your ticket to coming back to the city and getting your inheritance". With that, the enormous shark disappeared. Crack! This illusion world suddenly revealed cracks before shattering the next moment before Sebastian, the illusion journey was over, so fast. [Host has experienced the illusion realm.] [You will be given a lot of options; choose wisely.] Seeing this, Sebastian was stunned for some time but 2 seconds to the time, he calmed down. Having experienced a lot since transmigrating into this world, he was able to forcefully ignore what just happened for later. Right now, he still had an uphill target to overcome. He relaxed his mind and let the portal that suddenly appeared suck him in. When he recovered, he was already in the rainbow-color world filled with clouds. [Host''s evolution process has started. You have only 30 minutes to contemplate and make the choices that you want for your evolution route.] [Your authority level with the system has gone up a grade.] [Your remaining evolution time- 29: 57.] [Make your choices.] Sebastian took a deep breath, then he started. Before starting, he already faintly planned and had targets in mind so he did not waste time. Of course, he met some roadblocks that took more of his time but in consideration of time, he made choices that he couldn''t think deep into first. He felt regretful of all these but he had little choice to do anything about it. After completing all his skill and adaptation purchases, he relaxed and finally decided on his main evolution route after choosing from the 5 evolution routes that were presented by his system. [You have chosen your evolution route: Sabertoothed Megalodon!] [Would you like to confirm your choices?] "Yes". His vision turned black, then his evolution began. ¡­ Blink! Sebastian opened his eyes after just 30 minutes since his evolution started to see a system notification that could induce suicidal thoughts. [Evolution Failed!] Chapter 179 - Fulfilling A Dream Before Dying. [Evolution Failed!] Seeing this notification that felt glaring to the eyes and piercing to the heart, Sebastian sighed, dejected. He should have expected it, the odds of this being a success were just too low originally. He went through with it because he expected a miracle. With his system in his head, and with the status of a transmigrator, he saw himself as unique which was true. In normal circumstances, he would have never done it but as he said, he expected a miracle. Now that there was no miracle, he felt depressed and indignant. He wanted to forfeit his principles and angrily blast his system for not ?ssisting him at such a crucial point, but he still forced himself to stop and rather decided to encourage himself. "In every defeat, there is a silver lining". Not even a second after he said this did his system light up again. [Every evolution failure is plagued with consequences!] [After adding up your skills, adaptations, battle strength, and species, and after subtracting them from the level of evolution failed, you have suffered the following evolution consequences.] [You have fallen, losing 2 levels- You are now level 18.] [The difference between your advantages and level of evolution is low: Full-fledged Mutation chances are low, Major Mutation chances are low, and Minor Mutation chances are between low/mild.] [You have suffered a Minor Mental Mutation- Mild Madness.] [Mild Madness: When engaged in an intense battle, the host is susceptible to minor bursts of madness. Madness in the form of loss of body control, inverted body control, misplaced skill activation control, and others.] [In some cases, this mutation may prove beneficial.] [Note: Mild Madness evolution''s definition of intense battle is subject to your brain and what your reticular activation system is programmed to.] [This mutation can only be removed by host evolving to the purple tier.] "Mild Madness?" Reading this, Sebastian felt his head turning dizzy. The fact that after all the efforts that he put into making his situation better, he ended up with a mutation like this left Sebastian even more depressed. Of course, he was happy that he didn''t suffer a terrifying mutation punishment like in the case of Teeth or the other pitiful sharks that Verni told him stories of, but this consequential punishment sounded a little bit funny to him. It sounded a little bit funny didn''t mean that he ignored it. He only needed a little bit of thinking to know the terrifying effects of this mental mutation. When engaged in an intense battle, in his view, entering a state of mild madness or whatever was a straight ticket to the next world. Just the 3 examples of mild madness revealed by the system scared the sh*t out of him. Loss of body control, inverted body control, and misplaced skill activation control were so terrifying that Sebastian shuddered on imagining it. Loss of body control meant that he would no longer be in charge of his body, madness would take over which was frightening. Inverted body control was a little milder but still terrifying. It was like going back to when he just reincarnated into this world when he swam like a clueless SpongeBob. He dreaded the thought of going back to those days. It meant that if he perhaps activated his supersonic skill to escape, this mild madness could translate it to him having activated his electroreceptors. This was dreadfully terrifying. Thinking of these 3 effects alone eroded most of Sebastian''s hopes of surviving, the fact that there may be more only demoralized him further. Another thing that demoralized him further was the words of his shark dad. As an anatomist, he knew of it, sharks were bad parents who didn''t know how to take care of their kids but he was still depressed after encountering it. Knowing it and encountering it was entirely different scenarios. Due to his pitifully injured state, there was a tiny hope at the back of his mind that his shark dad would use some advanced magic to render him help but welp, he received none. At this moment, he was as alone and lonely as lonely could be. For some reason, all these alleviated his mental burden a bit. For the past few minutes, he had to endure the feeling of having lost both his eyes, having suffered severe injuries all over his body, having lost his magic domain, and having to think of surviving the pursuit of 4 purple tier predators. Even for a Megalodon like him with a human mind, this was undoubtedly stressful. The stress was already threatening to affect his mind, but now, having to avoid thinking of surviving his pursuers alleviated the stress a lot. Despite applying mins bandages and recovering some of his HP, both his eyes were still damaged, and the pain from his severe injuries was still there. Now, he just rested his body against the rocky walls and let his brain drift aimlessly. He tried to avoid thinking of his pursuers and thought of other things. Surprisingly, his first thought at this moment was about his life on earth. He thought of the research company that he worked in, he thought of his fat-faced mean boss, he thought of his colleagues, most especially Dave, and of course he thought of his pets. He thought of how many sharks he dissected, including some of his pets, he thought of his hilarious ''crazy dissector'' nickname that Dave first called him, then he thought back to Oceania. He thought of the first day that he reincarnated into this world, he thought of how he betrayed Dave to his system after first encountering it which made a sharky smile spread across his injured face. He thought of his first kill, he thought of the first companions that he met, Leroy and his clan members, then he thought of all his adventures since then. After thinking and thinking for more than 20 minutes, he finally thought of one last thing. He thought about the fact that he still hasn''t dissected any prey with his legit dissecting skills. As soon as he thought of this, he felt a little depressed again. He wanted to sigh in a sad manner but the next moment, the water suddenly shifted beside his enormous body in his small dark hole. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] With this skill active, Sebastian was shocked to see that he had a companion in this small hole. And surprisingly, it was a fellow that he was familiar with. A Blue Tang Fish! In an ocean volcano region? Sebastian immediately asked this as his brain was filled with question marks. He already saw a lot of weird things since coming to this world, but a Blue Tang in a region like this was surely one of the weirdest. Such weird things were supposed to be the least of what he should be thinking about, but he did because he was entering exciting territory. "If I''m about to die anyway, why not dissect this fish first so we can die together unluckily?" Chapter 180 - Im A Legend! I Dissected The First Magic Fish! "Why not dissect this fish first¡­?" "Why not dissect this fish first¡­?" Immediately after this thought appeared in Sebastian''s head, it kept on ringing like the ringing tone of his phone in his head. It could not be suppressed again, and he succumbed to it. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Bam! With one slam from him, the Blue Tang fish that was already suffocating from him having taken the whole place in the hole immediately went still. He controlled the impact of the ram to prevent the fish from dying immediately, but the force was still able to incapacitate it completely. While he was still a white tier shark, Sebastian could already deal with Blue Tangs, now as an orange tier Megalodon, it was countless times easier. Of course, before taking action, he already took into account that his Water Transmutation skill was locked. This restricted him a lot, but this could not stop him. At this moment, he may not even live to see the next hour, so he was much less picky. He was ready to go with anything that was available to him. Of the 3 magic manifestations that he created the other time, he could substitute other things for the first 2 except the human hands. No matter how much he cracked his brain and thought, he could not come up with a suitable alternative for the human hands. At this moment though, it was not compulsory for him anymore, he was not aiming for a perfect job. He would substitute for the cutting knife and prying rods with his pair of pectoral fins. He already observed long ago that activating his dorsal fin skill also affected his pectoral fins, now was the time to use them. Activating the skill could make his pectoral fins as sharp as a knife, they were the perfect substitutes for a cutting knife. Well, to make them prying rods, he just needed to control the force after activating his dorsal fin to prevent them from cutting. That way, he could forcefully use them as prying rods. The small size of this hole could not hinder his actions. This made things a lot easier for him, he didn''t need much movement to get things done, and his electroreceptors could substitute for his eyes. Before starting, Sebastian carefully observed his test subject. Compared to his enormous body, this Blue Tang fish was super small. It was a normal Blue Tang fish, but a part of its tail and dorsal fins was crushed, probably due to his rough actions in breaking through the crack inside the hole. There were no abnormalities in its outwards superficial appearance. It looked just like the normal Blue Tang found on earth. In this dark hole, its blue body was a little eye-catching. Its white lateral lines glowed in a blueish white color of magic in the hole, making it glaring to Sebastian''s electromagnetic vision. Sebastian observed to his fill before he went to work. [You have activated skill: Empowered Dorsal Fin.] Ptui! A soft but sharp cutting sound reverberated inside the hole as Sebastian''s suddenly sharp pectoral fin cut through the fish''s skin. The fish shuddered like a bolt of electric current just went through its body but Sebastian didn''t stop. Putting all his effort to remain concentrated and in full control, Sebastian maintained a straight cut line through the Blue Tang fish''s body. He cut at a location just below the fish''s lateral lines, and some distance away from its pectoral fins. With his knowledge as an anatomist, he knew that cutting deeper inside here would expose the fish''s spinal cord. In a few seconds, he was able to cut a straight line to the fish''s tail amid its weak spasms like electricity was moving through its body. After that, he changed location and started cutting a vertical line down the fish''s face. This location was just behind the Blue Tang fish''s eye and just above its operculum which served as its facial support structure. After doing this, he exerted even more effort to delegate more of his willpower to control the sharpness of his pectoral fin. After fine-tuning it for about 10 seconds, it became hard and blunt enough to act as a prying rod. Sebastian steeled his mind as he used his pectoral fin to stab and grab the fish''s cut skin, then he pulled outwards. Squeak! The Blue Tang fish immediately made a strange squeaking sound in pain as it thrashed about, but it was firmly held in place by Sebastian''s enormous body. Amid the intense pain that it was in, Sebastian ripped its skin open, pulling and exposing its internal body structure amid blood flowing out and mixing with the water trapped inside this hole. The fish''s inner body was finally exposed to Sebastian. Sebastian recognized this light immediately; this was magic power. This blue light was concentrated on the important organs of this Blue Tang fish, making it seem like it was feeding the organs or empowering them. The cranium where the fish''s brain was located enjoyed this special treatment, including the gill, cranial and caudal kidney, the liver, stomach, gas bladder, and other major fish internal body parts. The most glaring organ that enjoyed this special treatment was the heart! The Blue Tang Fish''s heart was covered by a layer of fish muscle and flesh, but this could not hide the brilliant blue glow that was concealed underneath. The blue glow was so concentrated here, dwarfing all the others that Sebastian immediately knew why. This was where the origin of the blue glow was. [You have activated skill: Empowered Dorsal Fin.] Ptui! Sebastian ruthlessly cut with his pectoral fin inside the thick layer of flesh that protected the fish''s heart, revealing what was hidden underneath. After this obstacle was removed, an excited Sebastian whose anticipation already reached the peak finally saw what was hidden underneath. Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump! The heart beat twice, yes, Sebastian saw that but something else beat twice also. The Blue Tang fish''s magic organ also beat twice! If Sebastian still had his eyes, they would have widened to the limit in astonishment at this moment. His heart literally froze at this moment, he felt like he was witnessing history. "I''m the first anatomist who saw this inside a Blue Tang right?" The magic organ was oval, oval-shaped like an egg. It looked as delicate as the heart, its rhythmic beats were so organized that Sebastian''s heart eased, he felt like this was the best music ever. This magic organ was completely blue, and it equally glowed with a blue light. What seemed like blue roots emerged from its center, extending all the way to the other parts of the body and transferring the blue glow. Each of its pulses relentlessly spread the blue glow. Sebastian already made other minor observations since he ripped open the fish''s skin, but the magic organ was the most fascinating, it captured his anatomic heart immediately, inciting his greatest d?s?r?s. "I''m a legend! I dissected the first magic fish!" Boom! Before he could relish this feeling to the full, another loud sound of impact reverberated as rocks fell down inside Sebastian''s hole, hitting him with force. His heart tightened immediately, it seems that his calculations were wrong, his 4 enemies were about to break through inside his hole ahead of schedule. Boom! Chapter 181 - The First Real Life And Death Battle! BOOM! Rocks fell, hitting Sebastian''s enormous body as the force of inertia made him almost crush the Blue Tang fish beside him that was b?r?ly hanging to life despite his ruthless manipulation and dissecting. From the way that the hole shook, compressing his body further, it only needed a little more effort before a passage was breached through but he did not care much at this moment because of his discoveries. The excitement in his heart could no longer be subdued, not even by the threat of death. The significance of the discovery that he just made was so enormous that he literally felt blinding scales falling from his blind eyes. He was now blind, but he could see clearer than when his eyes were intact. Oceania now seemed more believable and explainable to him, he no longer felt as out of place as he felt before, he felt good! His observation was on point, the blue magic power empowered the fish. His eyes of observation were already stuff of legend in his previous life, and it was proven here again though it was better-called electroreceptors of observation this time. Apparently, the magic organ that the Blue Tang fish had was the physical magic organ. Instead of giving it the ability to manipulate magic through magic domains, it was focused on internal body empowerment instead. And this was the reason why the Blue Tang fish was still alive. Despite the traumatizing and painful dark arts that Sebastian did on its body, this Blue Tang fish tenaciously clung hold to life and this was possible only because of its magic organ. The blue glow of the magic organ submerged and bathed the fish''s internal organs daily, cleansing them of toxins, strengthening and energizing them, and even empowering them as time went on. Sebastian also guessed that the theory of ?ssimilating magic essence from eating the meat of dead predators was also related to the physical magic organ. A lot of things that happened to him before and things he saw that when looked at from an earthling''s perspective seemed ridiculous were now explainable. He finally understood why he could breathe through his gills properly even when he was stationary, it was all due to the empowerment of the physical magic organ that he bought during his first evolution. If his guess was right, the physical magic organ was like the stabilizer of the body. When he ?ssimilated magic essence, it was responsible for breaking it down to pure energy for the body''s use. And it was also responsible for delegating this pure energy to engage in useful activities such as healing his injuries and other important things. When he ?ssimilated the magic power stored in magic cores, it was probably also responsible for breaking it down to pure mana for his accommodation. He guessed that the physical magic organ was responsible for a lot of things that he didn''t even know of yet. He finally knew why even though creatures with low-ranked bloodlines don''t have magic domains, they still had basic magic. Sebastian was submerged in knowledge all of a sudden, he felt terrific! He observed a lot of things from seeing this Blue Tang fish''s internal organs that ideas and realizations continually hit his brain like bouncing ping pong balls. If he had the time, he would have preferred to sit down and carefully devour this knowledge but he no longer had that luxury. His enemies were here. Perhaps, it was because of the excitement that he felt from successfully dissecting his first test subject in Oceania, but the will to live now bloomed more than ever in his heart. "I don''t want to die!" "I can''t die!" "At least, not until I dissect all the species that Oceania has to offer or I dissect the strongest monster on Oceania!" After his first successful dissecting, he wanted more, he needed more. Of course, Sebastian still didn''t know how he was going to escape and survive but he was optimistic that his brain would cook up something and it was not idle. He didn''t ask his system for help still, he just dissected this Blue Tang fish himself even without his water transmutation skill, who said he couldn''t find a way out of this dangerous situation? Boom! The gradually crumbling hole added more pressure to him but his brain was still hyperactively working like a tireless horse. Even at the last second, he could not arrive at a seamless plan. Despite this he didn''t give up, he rather went with the flow, following his heart. He checked his health points. [Health Points: 431.] Sebastian''s brain followed the flow that his instincts suggested as soon as he saw this, this was when he remembered something. In that moment of life and death when he still hadn''t entered this hole and was cornered by his 4 enemies, he entered a peculiar state where his brain activity became outrageous and spiked to a super-shark level sharpness. In that state, he was able to notice flaws in his 4 enemies, flaws that he could take advantage of if he planned well and had basic strength to back it up. At this moment when he was out of ideas, he settled for this. "I''m brute-forcing my way out". Immediately after he made this decision, the wall of rocks that were blocking the entrance to the hole from outside fell mightily. Boom! [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim!] This time, Sebastian used the full essence of this skill''s name as he swam in reverse out of the hole with astonishing speed. When the hole was covered with rocks, his tail was injured a bit but his brute force and willpower overshadowed this little inconvenience. He drove his enormous body out of the hole like the ghost rider. In other battles that he''s engaged in before, he always had something to rely on, things like his water transmutation skill and other trump cards. But at this moment, he was with none of them. This was his first real battle with his life on the line. This was his first real life and death battle! Chapter 182 - Killer Move- Ten Thousand Years Of Pain! Sebastian rushed out of the cave with a rough plan in mind. The main point of his plan was to take advantage of his enemies'' weak points, while the minor points of his plan that when added together ?umulated the most importance was to react to any change in the situation as swiftly as possible. This was his strategic counter against the outrageous power of bad luck. In more understandable terms, he would follow the lead of his bad luck without cursing, complaining, despairing, or questioning. If rocks came at him, he would smash through them. If fire came at him, he would refine his body like gold through it without blinking an eyelid. If thunder and lightning came at him, he would diligently endure through it like a cultivator enduring through a lightning tribulation. Back in his previous world, his natives called this perspective the legendary ''Anywhere belle face!'' Immediately after he emerged out of the cave, the 4 purple tier predators saw him. Outside the hole entrance, the old toad hovered the closest as he attacked the rocks with his body''s full might. The Praying Mantis, like the shadow domain boss that it was hovered some distance away from the hole entrance as he threw shadow spikes at the rocks. The Devouring Cobra used its enormous body to repeatedly hit the rock pillar, its outrageous size, thick skin, and other benefits of monster gigantism made sure that it dealt the most damage to the rocks'' foundation. After attacking the hole entrance in a combined offensive for minutes, their efforts finally paid off but their mutual enemy rushed out first. Immediately as their eyes laid on Sebastian after he came out, they felt something. They no longer felt the peculiar attraction to him. In simple terms, this meant that the aura of the Origin Fish was no longer on Sebastian. And this meant that Sebastian already digested the fish, which translated to a painful fact that the Origin Fish was out of their grasp forever. In theory, the fact that they originally felt the attraction of the fish on Sebastian meant that if any of them succeeded in killing Sebastian then, he would get the full benefits. Winner gets all was the logic. Now that they no longer felt the attraction, like a dream, the ticket to living a few centuries more was gone like smoke. Poof! Instantly, all 4 predators'' eyes turned red, their emotions went through a cycle of disbelief, confusion, and regret before finally settling on anger. Boom! They erupted! Sebastian''s eyes were still damaged despite his use of the min''s bandages, but his inner eyes still felt the blinding intensity as fire raged towards him from the hovering Hawk-Eagle. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Sebastian''s reverse swimming stopped at once, his backward momentum and sudden stopping made the water spread ripples afar but he was not affected as he accelerated towards another direction. [You have been hit by a skill: Raging Eagle Breath!] Sebastian''s timely reaction and rapid escape ensured that the majority of his body escaped the calamity, but the other part of his body that was not fast enough bore the full brunt of the fire domain skill. His face twisted in pain, but he gritted his teeth to persevere and focus because the battle was just starting. Warp! Like the fabrics of space were torn apart, the Praying Mantis tore Sebastian''s shadow apart to let its body emerge as its furious eyes glared at the shark. For this Origin Fish, he gave his all, he pursued for kilometers, persevering just for that fish. Now, this filthy shark who was not even at the purple tier yet took all the benefits, he was mad in rage. [You have been attacked by a skill: Mantis Assault!] At this moment, his enormous size became a liability more than an ?sset. Bam! Bam! Bam! The Praying Mantis''s furious ?ssault left Sebastian helpless, all his petty defense was breached, the blows came towards him like an attack from a million raining bamboo poles. His health points drained like water. Whoosh! Before he could curb the Praying Mantis''s offensive, his electroreceptors alerted him of another enemy appearing in his position. The Devouring Cobra appeared out of the shadows like a shadow ?ssassin. Its enormous body stretched tight like a rope then its tail came slamming down with force. The tip of the enormous tail rotated like a drill, then it stabbed into Sebastian''s skin. [You have been attacked by a skill: Drilling Dripping Poison!] Boom! Instantly, just the first wave of attacks from these 4 predators wiped Sebastian''s originally 500+ health points down to below 100. This was possible because the enemies were originally stronger than him, he could not defend, and the enemies used some of their strongest skills on him. The pain from all the attacks filled Sebastian''s brain, pricking him like needles but he was still able to read his system''s notification. Seeing this, he knew that his time was up. So, he went berserk! Even a meek dog would turn to a rabid dog when cornered, lions and other predators would explode forth with even more tyrannical strength when pushed to the wall, including humans, including Sebastian. Sebastian went berserk. He no longer had any intention to escape, not that he could. If he was going to die here, so be it, but others must feel his pain also. [You have activated skills: Shredding Bite; Crushing Bite; Empowered Dorsal Fin; Empowered Tail fin; Spike Attack; Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor¡­] Sebastian activated all his available skills, then his rabid battle began. The nearest predator to him at the moment was the enormous Devouring Cobra and the Praying Mantis, and they both suffered the brunt of Sebastian''s crazy and unrestrained counterattack. Bam! Crunch! From the originally young and harmless shark that he originally was, Sebastian turned deadly. Spikes emerged from his sides, his body enlarged, becoming over 20 meters, all his fins turned as sharp as knives. The Devouring Cobra was stunned by the battering ram attack from Sebastian, then was further surprised as the closest part of its enormous body suffered numerous lacerations from the now rabid shark. The Praying Mantis was almost dissected into 2 from Sebastian''s rabid attack, its timely defense activation was what saved its life. The Hawk-Eagle breathed even more fire again, but Sebastian directly rushed through the raging fire straight at the eagle. After ramming into it, Sebastian went for the bite at a deadly angle. Crunch! [You have dealt staggering damage to your opponent.] The well-timed ram against the Eagle''s right-wing snapped its bones, then Sebastian''s unrestrained bite directly tore it off as the Eagle shrieked in pain. Sebastian may now seem like a rabid shark making its last stand before death, but his mind was still lucid and his plans were still vivid in his mind. One precise attack, taking advantage of the Eagle''s previous injury incapacitated it for good. The 3 other predators were shocked on seeing this, but this did not stop their offensive. They attacked again, and this time the old toad took the lead. Unfortunately for him, Sebastian reacted first. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Boom! Sebastian rapidly accelerated, going under the old toad to hit its belly before it could react. The next moment, it croaked loudly in pain as its injury was widened, causing blood to pure out like a fountain. In just 2 moves, Sebastian severely injured both the Hawk Eagle and the old toad despite the dire situation that he was in. He was injured, his body was dyed all over with blood though the seawater repeatedly washed it away. Despite all these, he counterattacked hard, inflicting severe injuries on his opponents too. He may be an orange tier predator going against purple tier predators, but he still had something to prove that his bite was painful. Instantly, he rushed out to target his remaining 2 predator''s weak points but the Praying Mantis and the Cobra were wiser after witnessing what just happened to their counterparts. They decided to play it steady and cautious. This way, they avoided their weak points being targeted for 2 minutes as Sebastian continued madly attacking like a rabid shark. Despite his efforts, in the end, he was still just an orange tier Megalodon that was going up against 4 purple tier predators. His rabid attack b?r?ly held the 4 predators to a standstill, causing his health points to decrease less, but this standstill presented an opportunity for the old toad. Furious from the pain that it was in, the old toad let go of all its misgivings and revealed its trump card killer move. "Ten Thousand Years of Pain!" The next moment, a thick green magic power enveloped with a tinge of purple surrounded his tongue adaptation as the tongue lashed out like a whip, straight at Sebastian''s enormous body. Sebastian''s body was too big of a target, and he was unable to dodge. This killer move hit him fair and square, or it did not. But the sound-induced was explosive. BOOM! Chapter 183 - The Cobweb Cave. Sebastian knew of killer moves, he''s read and heard of killer moves. Though he was someone whose sole attention was focused on his shark pets and anatomy in his previous life, he loved reading novels too to kill time. By reading novels, he read of killer moves. He didn''t know if any of his attackers was intelligent and genius enough to create a killer move, but he thought of this when he was still trapped and huddled up in the hole. Despite thinking hard, he was not able to arrive at a solution to counter killer moves. That was why they were called killer moves, the variables were too much to speculate, it could be anything. In the end, he resigned to embrace death if he faced one. This was supposed to have been the case because the old toad''s furious killer move would have cleanly wiped away his remaining health points without compromise, but another variable came into play. During his rabid and furious counterattack, after dealing serious damages to both the Hawk Eagle and the old toad, though the remaining 2 opponents were wiser, he still succeeded in severely injuring another. He severely injured the Devouring Cobra who had the greatest weak point of them all. In his hyperactive state when he deduced the weak points, the Cobra''s weak point was so glaring like a light bulb glowing in a dark environment. Close to the most important organ of its body, the Devouring Cobra suffered injuries that resulted in residual internal injuries at the same point in its body. Due to this, it could not exert its full strength in battle. Calling this organ the most important of its body was no joke, but Sebastian ruthlessly attacked this organ. He rammed his enormous body against the Cobra''s reproductive organ, ruthlessly crushing it. It was a painful and extremely effective attack, but it also succeeded in making the Devouring Cobra turn rabid just like Sebastian. Just like a man losing his reproductive organ behaves like someone whose eyes are filled with hot pepper, so also did this Devouring Cobra behave. Its red eyes glared at Sebastian for revenge never to leave again. It ignored any misgivings, bypassing its stranger helpers in this battle as it rushed towards Sebastian. Its frenzied offensive would have succeeded in ending Sebastian''s life, but it coincided with the old toad''s killer move activation. In the end, it moved too fast, entering the way just after the old toad released its killer move. Instead of Sebastian, it took the full brunt of the killer move attack head-on just like a scapegoat exiled to atone for sins. As soon as the glowing purple mixed with green dangerous tongue adaptation hit its skin, its skin was torn apart. From that point of impact, the Devouring Cobra was directly dissected into 2 as large amounts of blood came pouring down to dye the seawater red. While the Cobra hissed in pain, the killer move continued forward unhindered. The tongue adaptation hit the nearby cliff wall with force after moving forward a little distance as a hole was torn through the cliff immediately. This was when the tongue''s fearsome momentum finally died. "A tunnel!" Sebastian''s dying eyes immediately brightened like a torch on seeing what was revealed after the tongue hit the cliff wall with force. Without a doubt, the remaining 3 purple tier predators and Sebastian were intimidated by the power that was just displayed by the old toad, but this tunnel appearing was like a healing tonic to Sebastian. Of course, he already planned to follow as changes came and that was exactly what he was going to do. He still didn''t trust his luck, this tunnel appearing after the old toad''s attack just seemed too good to be true after all that he already experienced but Sebastian still chose it rather than waiting for death. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Sebastian rapidly activated his 2 swimming skills, even adding his battering ram skill to increase his speed further. This was to escape the furious counterattack of his enemies, most especially the old toad who just failed to kill him despite expending a ton of effort to activate his killer move. This was a question for later, now was to focus on attacking. Boom! Boom! The sounds of the attacks landing at the cliff walls were so loud, seeming like those of exploding dominoes as the cliff wall revealed cracks. Despite all their efforts, Sebastian slipped away. His health points were now at an extremely dangerous level, below 30 points already but he was relieved as he temporarily escaped inside the tunnel. Knowing that his enemies would not let him off and were probably already coming for him, Sebastian did not dare waste time as he escaped deeper inside the tunnel to face whatever was waiting for him inside. He only swam for a few meters inside before the tunnel started expanding, the red walls of the tunnel turned redder as it now seemed that he was swimming into the heart of the volcano itself. Even the temperature increased slightly which he was able to endure only because of his Fire Skin adaptation. If he received another stacked damage from heat, he was not sure if he could survive for 2 minutes more. As he swam deeper inside the enlarging tunnel, he observed more things. For some strange reason, what seemed like dust started filling the walls of the tunnel though the tunnel was underwater. It took him about 3 minutes before he got to the tunnel''s end, at the end, the tunnel expanded into a vacant wide cave. Sebastian had no time to observe his surroundings properly, this was because the scene in the middle of the cave was just too eye-catching. He finally knew where the clouds of dust came from, they came from inside the cave. They were not actually dust, they now seemed more like pale yellow cobwebs. In the middle of the cave, the thick cobwebs intertwined from the cave floor to the top, covering the whole cave and forming what seemed like a prison. This was a cobweb prison! Seeing this, Sebastian instantly remembered common knowledge from his previous life. It was common knowledge that spiders set their cobwebs as prison traps, then they wait patiently for their prey to be caught in these webs. "Spiders¡­, spi-spiders!" Sebastian''s eyes widened the next moment. His pursuers finally caught up to him but he did not pay attention to them, he rather looked up. It was at this moment that ominous flickering red lights started appearing to illuminate the cave. In a few seconds, over a hundred of these flickering red lights already appeared which granted perfect illumination to the cave. Hundreds of these fellows were in different places in the cobweb prison. At this moment, the 4 pursuers who followed Sebastian in immediately knew that something was wrong. They were screwed! The spiders collectively looked at them before opening their mouths wide. Shriek! Chapter 184 - Volcano Spiders! Following the loud shriek, the spiders came rushing down like a tide. Like expert mountain climbers, each spider expertly maneuvered down the complicated network of tangling silken webs with fearsome preciseness, speed, and frightening coordination. They charged down like an elite troop of soldiers, none of them collided against each other, it was like they all had one mind. As they charged down, their eight legs made rhythmic sounds like those of battle drums of war while their deadly and poisonous fangs made clicking sounds in the water in a hungry manner. Unknowing to Sebastian, when he entered the cave, a spider was just beside him. The spiders were not only spread at the top, they were spread at every single corner of the large and complicated network of tangling cobwebs. Sebastian was the first to react to this attack, and he reacted fast. He escaped inside this tunnel because it was a necessity, he was left with no choice then. Despite entering, he was alert and on guard because experience told him never to trust coincidences with bad luck in play. Now, not only was he right, his bad luck placed both him and his pursuers in a den of dangerous poisonous spiders. This was his bad luck, but also his pursuers'' bad luck. For some reason, he felt that the more others stayed close to him, the more chances of their luck decreasing which was already being displayed in his pursuers. He reacted first not just because he was here first and saw the spiders first, it was mostly because his enemies were not on guard against bad luck like him. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [Your Advanced Dash skill has leveled up to level 5.] [Your Triple Reverse Swim skill has leveled up to level 5.] Instantly after Sebastian activated these 2 skills again, they leveled up. It was already long overdue since he already overused them since his escape began. The 2 skills leveling up didn''t grant him superhuman speed immediately, but his swimming became a lot smoother and calmer. He no longer had to put as much attention on his swimming, it prominently felt more like instinct to him now. His stamina was already drained by a lot after escaping for so long, so immediately after he activated his 2 skills, he felt dizzy but he still persevered. Apart from him, the old toad was the second predator to react. Even in this dangerous situation, he was still determined to restore his dignity by killing Sebastian. The number of spiders rushing towards them already told that their only hope of surviving was by escaping. Despite this, he was confident that he could still escape after successfully killing Sebastian. Bam! He attacked again but was surprised. For the first time since his encounter with this shark, Sebastian was able to move his body in such a smooth and rapid manner that he narrowly dodged the edge of the sharp deadly tongue. This granted him all the time in the world to escape before the old toad recovered from his shock. After the old toad recovered, the other predators also finally recovered. Without hesitation, they all turned to escape but they forgot that the spiders were the owners and the rulers of this cave. Before they could escape, the network of cobwebs through which the spiders moved suddenly started glowing in a red magic light. The cobwebs suddenly started expanding and extending crazily. The expansion speed rapidly exceeded that of the predators, in seconds, the cobwebs covered the whole cave, also sealing the tunnel that led outside the cave. Against 4 purple tier predators, if it was an ordinary clan of spiders, they wouldn''t have been a match but Sebastian''s electroreceptors already observed that for some strange reason, these spiders were all orange tier predators. This was frightening. Purple tier predators were powerful, this was undeniable, but they could still be defeated if the quantity of the opponents were enough to tip the scales. At this moment, the spiders had all the qualities to win. They had the quality in tier ranking, the quantity in numbers, and the increment in cooperation. Before the intruding predators could react, the spiders pounced on them. Crunch! Crunch! Loud nauseating sounds immediately reverberated as the nearest spiders dug their poisonous fangs into the body of the already severely injured Devouring Cobra who let out a hiss in pain. The Cobra was already severely injured by the old toad, not only that, it lost its precious reproductive organ and due to anger, it pursued to vent on Sebastian. Unfortunately for it, it encountered this. As soon as the first spider lashed out at him, the second appeared, then the third, then the fourth, then the fiftieth spider lashed out at his skin. The suffering Devouring Cobra hissed loudly in pain but no one came to its rescue, the other intruders were also in a fix. In this cave, its shadow magic was powerful but not invisible. It could disappear and appear in another location inside the cave, but unfortunately for it, the spiders filled the cave. The spiders attacked in a frenzy in such large numbers like a colony of ants, and with such ferocity like a pride of lions. In this situation, Sebastian who escaped first and was at the back of the group suffered less as those at the front bore the full wrath of the raging spiders. [You have killed a Connected-Soul Volcano Spider- Level 15: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 5 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] Killing one of the terrifying spiders revealed their names to Sebastian, but he didn''t care at this moment because it meant nothing to him. He was scared of course, he now had less than 20 health points remaining. He felt indignant but he could only leave his survival to fate, he even laughed on seeing his pursuers in such dire states. Their relentless pursuit led to his present state. Revenge was sweet, even if it was being dealt by other predators on his behalf, it was still sweet. Immediately after this happened, Sebastian despaired as the spiders now had more room to attack him. Like a cornered rat, he retaliated, fighting and giving his all just to preserve his life. [18¡­, 15¡­, 14¡­, 12¡­, 9¡­] Sebastian''s health points slowly but steadily decreased amid his rising panic. The closer he got to death, the more indignant he felt about his life. About a minute later, the now one-winged Hawk-Eagle died to the spiders after letting out a loud cry of regret. With one of its vital wings already lost, it was a miracle that it survived till now. With another predator dead, the pressure on the others increased. [5¡­, 3¡­] Seeing this, Sebastian laughed bitterly. He could no longer look because his consciousness became muddy and scattered. After consecutive tough battles, he could no longer hold on, his injuries were now too much. "I''m really about to die, sigh¡­" With his scattered consciousness and unclear vision, he suddenly saw what seemed like a sharp metallic object drilling through a group of spiders and killing all of them at the same time. "What are these¡­" This was Sebastian''s last thought before he fainted. Chapter 185 - Doctor Statham. "¡­the Cobra is already dead, what a waste of resources". "¡­reporting, the mutated Hawk-Eagle has also been confirmed to be dead". "¡­this is a huge chance encounter; our mage detectors show that all 2 dead beasts are purple tier predators. 2 of the 3 surviving predators are purple tier also". "¡­block the entrance, intercept the 2 escaping bastards!" "¡­surround and round em up, shoot your enchanted harpoons, don''t be stingy, these guys are dangerous". "¡­elite team A, pressurized beams!" "Yes Sir!" Bam! Bam! "¡­the toad has been shot, its speed slowed". "¡­throw in the electromagnetic net". Bzz! "¡­the huge toad has been caught, but the giant Praying Mantis escaped". "¡­intercept it. Fuck! It escaped". Bzz! "¡­this is cave exploration team 5-B, we need reinforcements, the Volcano Spiders has gone berserk". "¡­send in a doctor also, we have a big fellow here who needs attention". ¡­ "¡­team leader, the mana bomb will explode in ten seconds". "Got it. Confirming one last time, is everyone out of the cave?" "Yes Sir!" "All soldiers have been accounted for, the injured have been helped out, but 2 excavation drill vehicles have been wrecked by the Spiders". "Filthy beasts! Blow them to bits!" 3¡­2¡­1¡­ BOOM! ¡­ Bzzz! "¡­hello, this is Dr. Statham, am I speaking with cave exploration team 5-B''s team leader?" "Yes Sir! It''s an honor to speak with you, Sir!" "I heard you caught a living 20-meter-long shark. Use all your trump cards without reservation to annihilate those filthy Spiders and keep him alive". "Do anything in your power to keep him alive, you got me?" "Umm¡­, ok Sir!" "Assure me!" "Yes Sir!" ¡­ "¡­the area is clear Doctor Sir, you can descend". Whoosh! "Doctor Statham, my team temporarily stabilized the big fellow but his vital signs keep showing threatening signs of shutting down". "Good job set a defense perimeter and make sure that no beast comes within close distance of this place". "Leave the rest to me" "Yes Sir!" "You heard the Doctor". "DEFENSE PERIMETER, NOW!" "Yes, team leader!" ¡­ "Set up the emergency treatment tent!" "Yes, Doctor Statham". "Bring all my equipment out, including the mage life stabilizers and the revitalization mage tonic". "Yes, Doctor Statham". ¡­ "¡­this big fellow is dying, give him a shot of magenaline". "¡­his injuries are severe, and for some reason, his body feels shackled which worsens his internal recovery more". "¡­even his magic organ feels dead, it is restricted in some way, causing the meganaline''s effect to be lowered by 70%". "¡­Doctor, what is your advice?" "¡­his size is 15 meters, give him 2 doses of mage life stabilizers and give him a shot of pure 10,000mg adrenaline". Whoosh! "¡­his vital signs are hyperactive, now is the right time for rapid treatment". "¡­80% percent of his tissues are fried; dead cells now fill his body and for some reason, they are not regenerating". "¡­his pituitary gland is becoming bland and inactive". "¡­ignore those signs, now commence hyper heart shock, connect the B-12 cord and increase his brain activity to the maximum, cut a hole through his mage operculum, tear the hazy membrane apart, then start mass flesh cloning and implanting". "¡­tear his anus apart and inject the revitalization mage tonic". "...yes Doctor!" "¡­" "¡­reporting Doctor, he is jerking, his vital signs are extremely unstable". "¡­tie him down and hold his body in one place". "¡­he is too powerful, area 2 of the emergency tent ropes snapped. No, an apprentice mage doctor has been crushed, immediately retreat". "¡­no! no one retreats, I am the one in charge here". "¡­maintain the mass flesh cloning and implantation!" "¡­yes Doctor, but¡­" "Do it!" "Yes, Doctor!" "¡­" "¡­his heartbeat has increased above normal, almost 4 times that of normal, his internal regulation has gone berserk, heat is rising inside him, his body is expanding, he has entered the heat death zone". "¡­there is a great risk of an internal breakdown and a shark explosion". "¡­Doctor, I think he''s a lost cause, we need to evacuate this area before he explodes. The losses from an explosion far outweigh the cost, we can''t save this shark¡­, what?" "¡­what did you discover?" "¡­the Oceanic binomial nomenclature identification machine just picked up, this is not a Great White Shark, this is a rare orange tier Megalodon". "¡­what? No one leaves, listen to my orders, we''ll be reviving his magic organ". "¡­give him 2 doses of mage shock stabilizers to stabilize his body and 1 dose of internal regulators for his body heat conservation, then connect the 2-mouth tube to his magic organ through his heart". "¡­connection done". "¡­good, now give him 20,000mg of meganaline". "¡­what? Doctor, he''ll die!" "¡­do it! He''s a Megalodon for Doc''s sake!" Whoosh! "¡­the shot has been administered". "¡­then wait¡­" "¡­" "¡­doctor, his heat is rising again, we''ll be dead before we know it¡­" Boom! ¡­ "¡­reporting, 40% of the Megalodon exploded". "¡­we have casualties, 8 apprentices were lost, the emergency treatment tent has been destroyed but the Megalodon survived". "¡­for some reason, the 20,000mg of meganaline that was supposed to be deadly has a weird effect on his body. A part of his body exploded but he survived, now his recovery mechanism has kicked in". "¡­his vital signs are brightening up, the Megalodon lived!" "¡­good, suppress him in the mage-shackle frozen box and take him away. Set up the second emergency treatment tent, we''ll be attending to the mutated toad also". ¡­ 15 minutes later¡­ "Doctor Statham, the mutated toad also survived". "His injuries were less severe, just a little dose of adrenaline and some timely injury patches revitalized him and his recovery mechanism took care of the rest". "Though his recovery mechanism is far inferior to that of the Megalodons, this is still enough to keep his life". "We were lucky that we encountered them injured, or there is no way that we would have survived an encounter with such deadly purple tier predators". "Good, keep the 2 test subjects, we''re going back to base". "Team leader Tod, I''m sorry for your losses". "Doctor, I suffered this time. I lost 25 of my team members, including my 2nd in command, I hope all these were worth it". "Don''t worry soldier, I''ll take full responsibility for all the losses". "And be rest ?ssured, this was all worth it". Chapter 186 - Waking Up. A week passed, and Sebastian finally woke up. After what seemed like an eternity to him, Sebastian woke up from his greatest nightmare to see himself in a completely different environment. He was shocked, a little confused, and spoked. His memories were a little jumbled and messed up. "Is this what I think it is?" This was his first thought after waking up and after he observed his surroundings carefully. He was in a laboratory, an extremely huge laboratory. This enormous laboratory was divided into segments, and the part that he was kept had 5 iron cages placed inside the large vacant space submerged in water. He was trapped inside one of these iron cages, just opposite him were 2 other iron cages that trapped 2 Great White Sharks that looked just like him but were smaller in size. The remaining 2 iron cages held a giant old toad that seemed familiar and at the same time strange to him, and a large Python with 2 pairs of legs! A Python with legs! Seeing this abomination up close, Sebastian shuddered in excitement and slight fear. After taking his gaze off the snake, he observed further. Attached to his body and the 4 other predators from the top of the cage were tiny metal tubes with a blood-red color. The blood-red color was because what was stored inside the tubes was blood. This strange tube diligently leached Sebastian and the 4 other predator''s blood, and through some strange act, this leaching was able to suppress both Sebastian and his companions back to the level of ordinary predators. Sebastian felt weak, just like the first time when he transmigrated into this world and it felt weird and scary at the same time after he already experienced the feeling of wielding boundless strength. He could not feel his magic organ, he could not feel his adaptations, everything seemed bland and simple. For some reason, this strange state left him confused and panicked. [System Rebooting¡­] [System is now back online!] [Active Disguise mechanism has been deactivated.] [Passive Disguise mechanism has been activated.] [Congratulations Candidate Sebastian! You have passed your first candidate test in the race to become the Ocean Master.] [1st Rank Test: Willpower in A True Life and Death Encounter.] [Reward: You have received a unique system clue.] [Actively open the reward tab to access the unique system clue.] Boom! Sebastian''s brain seemed to have exploded. Instantly, a bright light seemed to shine from the depth of his soul, illuminating his whole body and spreading to the deepest corners of his body and mind. His mind became refreshed. He felt like the light bulb was just invented again, and the first one was shining brightly inside his head. He felt like a prisoner in a foreign country that have been roaming aimlessly and cluelessly for decades who now finally knew and understood who he was. Like a flood, all his memories came surging back to him. He immediately remembered everything that happened, from his courageous almost foolish rampant engagement with his hunting team, to killing the Origin Fish, to getting all the benefits, and then being hunted down. He remembered everything, up until when he almost died. "I thought I would die, I actually survived!" He yelled in his heart. He could not think of anything else right now, all his thoughts were filled with joy and his heartfelt relief for surviving the crisis that he pushed himself into. It was one thing to encounter a disaster, and it was another thing to suffer a disaster. Against all odds, surviving this disaster that he caused with his own hands made Sebastian extremely grateful for his life. To value life, you need to see the shadows of death first. After jubilating inwardly for a few minutes, he finally calmed down and focused on the notification that was just revealed by his system. "1st Candidate test?" He was surprised because he was the one whose stupid bravery and guts orchestrated the whole disaster, so how did this suddenly turn into a candidate test? He was curious to know but he restrained his d?s?r?. After spending so much time with his system, he already had a vague idea of the type of answerable questions and those that may disturb the old sage that was taking a nap in his head. After his curiosity over this candidate test passed, he finally came back to the present as the expression on his shark face immediately turned grim. He survived, yes, but clearly his survival came at a terrible price. He was now a captive, and though he just woke up and haven''t seen much yet, the little that he already saw ruthlessly exposed the cruel fact that he was likely captured by Atlantians. His heart immediately went cold like he was a lone boat sailing through the coldest depths of the Atlantic, he shivered from the cold. From his interactions with the shark clan formed by Old Mak, though powerful beasts in this world had high intelligence, it still couldn''t match up to what he envisioned of Atlantians. Without even needing to crack his head over it, he knew that his fate was now reduced to the level where he was now a test subject. He shuddered at the mere thought of it. In his previous world, he was the one who reared sharks as test subjects, but in this world, he was now the one being reared as a test subject. "Perhaps, this is the work of fate. Retribution, right?" Sebastian felt bitter in his heart. He was now at the lowest point of his life, with no companion, with no partner, all by himself, with no idea of what would happen to him the next instant. His fate was up in the air, to the heavens to decide. Helplessly, he curbed the d?s?r? in his heart to probe his surroundings and laid low.. In this situation, his common sense and experience since transmigrating into this world told him that lying low was the best choice. Chapter 187 - Life As A Test Subject. In the blink of an eye, another 3 weeks passed with Sebastian still in captivity. During these weeks, Sebastian had nothing doing. Though he woke up long ago, he could do nothing since his power did not recover completely with him. His power recovered in an agonizingly slow motion. For this one month, he was nothing more than a test subject. And now, once again, the enthusiastic doctor was back with his dangerous crew to perform their dark works on his body. "Raise the iron cage, increase the pressure of the steel bars". "Yes, Doctor Statham". "Inject 5 doses of mannequin torium into his bloodstream, the Megalodon proved more resilient than we thought to the suppressants". "And also, suppress his magic organ with 2 doses of killer wine tonic". Whoosh! With a loud sound, the cage that Sebastian was held in was raised up, high above the other cages as it was hung against a giant hook that was attached to the top of this laboratory. After doing this, tight ropes were attached to Sebastian''s enormous body, and he was pulled up, turning his body upside down in the cage. After this, even stronger ropes, this time metal ropes with a faint red light flickering through them came as they were attached to Sebastian''s body, keeping him firmly in place. These strong metal ropes not only restricted Sebastian''s body firmly but also tightly restricted the flow of the still weak magic power in his body. Paired with the 2 tonics that were just injected inside his body, he was firmly suppressed and restricted. After this, the group of apprentice doctors heaved a sigh of relief, the big fellow was finally restrained and could now be worked on. While this was done, Sebastian began to feel dizzy and weak. He didn''t panic though, he was used to this, these were the effects of the 2 tonics that were just injected inside his body which he had already gotten used to over the past month. "Inject the nerve killer". Whoosh! After this, Sebastian''s nerves were temporarily fried, he could not feel any pain again, granting the doctors the perfect platform that they needed to work. Throughout all these, Sebastian was as calm and obedient as a mouse. Under the leadership of Doctor Statham, the apprentice mage doctors started working on his body, of course, this was accompanied by tearing and cutting. Ptui! His belly was cut apart, but the blood did not flow out because of another mechanism that was activated by the Atlantian Doctors. Doctor Statham hovered at the side, calmly ordering his apprentices. This Doctor had a firm face like a rock, with flat facial features that made him look like a wall. His hair was messy and curled like fried pasta rolls, his eyes were sharp but dark like the abyss like they could see through everything. With his dark eyes that glimmered occasionally with wisdom and excitement, he stared fixedly at this priceless test subject. This was the man who saved Sebastian''s life and also captured him. After over a month of being worked on by him, Sebastian already knew him from head to toe, from his habits, to his catchphrases, and to his strange hobby of always having a toothpick stuck in his mouth. The excited look on the Doctor''s face whenever he laid his eyes on him, Sebastian also already got used to it. He felt nostalgic anytime he saw that look on the Doctor''s face, it felt like he was looking at himself on earth. Due to the casualties during the operation of rescuing and capturing Sebastian and the purple-tier old toad, it attracted the attention of the leader of the Crimson Fleet, Sergeant Barnes. Of course, Doctor Statham was ready for the Sergeant. As the head Doctor of the whole fleet, and the only master-level anatomist of the fleet, despite not being a soldier, he was someone with status. Despite this, it could not warrant the death of so many soldiers. It could not warrant it, but he had an explanation. First, due to Sebastian using his cardiac sphincter constrictor skill, he was too eye-catching, being the first-ever orange tier Great White Shark that the doctor has seen towering at such an enormous size. Though later, he shrank back to 15 meters, it didn''t matter anymore since it was discovered that this big fellow was actually a Megalodon! This changed the narrative immediately. In the whole history of the Crimson Fleet, this was the first time that their doctors were capturing a real ancient Megalodon which had great significance. Just this alone was enough of an explanation. The bloodline of this shark was not only extremely valuable, but his body''s research value to the fleet was also priceless, and most significant of all was that there was a high chance of the race''s target being him. In history, every Black tier predator always left an inheritance before death. And those that always inherited them were frighteningly talented predators, which was a category that Sebastian fit in perfectly. Without a doubt, Sebastian''s value was priceless. Due to this, Doctor Statham received the Sergeant''s full support, which granted him all that he needed to experiment freely on the shark. This was not without fruits. After 2 weeks of experimenting with the Megalodon''s blood, he created a tonic that could help the fleet''s mages in recovering their vitality in battle. The best fact was that this was 3 times more effective than the tonic originally available to the fleet, this was the benefit of experimenting on a Megalodon and he believed that there were more benefits. Because of this, he worked on Sebastian every 3 days. The intervals were to allow the shark to rest and slowly recover from the strain each time. Sebastian was now like a captured army General, without his troops, he could only lie low and strategize on how to escape and make a comeback. And after this one month, he already had some breakthroughs. And this breakthrough was mostly because of this Doctor Statham, this was why Sebastian never threw tantrums, unlike the old toad who wreaked havoc each time. 2 hours later, the experimentation finally ended. As soon as Sebastian was released and placed back safely in his cage, with the Doctors leaving, his originally dizzy and weak eyes snapped open. He wasn''t looking at the departing doctors, rather his consciousness was focused on his system notification, an old system notification. Precisely, the unique system clue after he woke up from the disaster. Chapter 188 - Unique System Clue. [Unique System Clue: The Doppelganger and Invisibility King!] [Clue Details: An alliance between the Atlantian race, the Dark Elf race, and the Snowmen race finally succeeded in hunting down the notorious Sea King, the Doppelganger and Invisibility King!] [With the crux of his unique ability analyzed, and his weak point found, this Sea King was pushed into a corner. But as a peak Black tier predator, he escaped with the skin of his teeth using a forbidden skill.] [Despite his escape, he was dying. Before dying, he set an inheritance with his unique skill as the ultimate goal, then he self-destructed.] [In a month and 3 weeks, the node of the inheritance would drift towards the Ku Niu Ocean volcano, starting another inheritance struggle.] [Only the strongest would benefit, this is a contest of the fittest!] ***** [Ocean Domination Mission: Unique Skill Hunter.] [Mission Reward: Skill points and Adaptation points shall be given according to host''s level when he completes the mission, and clues on how to get stronger will be given to host.] ¡­ Sebastian''s eyes flickered slightly on seeing this. His body was weak and exhausted after the rough experimentation session on his body that just concluded, but these system notifications were like a heavenly tonic that gave him fresh vitality when he needed it the most. On the first day of his awakening, he opened the system''s unique clue and saw this. Due to his situation then, he had no bodily reactions to it, but his brain was thrown into chaos. Another Sea King! Not even one that he needed to hunt, a Sea King who died, leaving its unique skill up for grabs, Sebastian was attracted of course. Unfortunately for him then, he was at the weakest point of his life since he reincarnated into this world submerged in water. With no other choice, he settled for patience, he had a month and 3 weeks to prepare. A month already passed, and he was not stagnant. As an anatomist also, he understood the Atlantian, Doctor Statham''s obsession over him though he hated the doctor''s guts. The Doctor may seem to be exploiting him without him being able to resist, but a silent snake was always the most dangerous Snake. For his current condition, he had to thank Doctor Statham. After over a month, he already knew a lot of things, not only through his communication with his system but also through his observations of the Atlantians that moved and worked around him daily. Of course, when he first saw humans, he was overwhelmed. Despite this, he did not behave impulsively, after spending months in this world, he was already acclimatized to the fact that he was now a shark. They were Atlantians, he was a Megalodon. They may look a lot like humans from his previous world, but he was not human again either. Why should he give a damn about them? It was not like he could just go and yell at them that he was a human, who''ll believe that? After all this time, his physical condition already recovered to its previous peak. All his basic physical skills were now accessible again, but his magic organ was still a case in progress. Apparently, the old toad''s wheel of arcanity magic weapon was not something whose effects could be easily shrugged off. Through communications with his system, he knew that his magic organ was practically dead already before the Doctor intervened. In a sense, Doctor Statham was his benefactor. The magic organ revived, but it was at its weakest point. It was slowly recovering, and after one month, his max mana points were just 508 and this was only possible because of the supplementary treatment from the doctors. So, staying here was a win-win situation for both him and the Doctor. The Doctor got to work on him with him being docile and obedient, getting research breakthroughs, and creating miraculous drugs and tonics through his body, while he got free treatment to repair his magic organ. Also, with the help of his system, he was able to understand how he was saved. He was unconscious but his system was not. At the last moment, just before he went unconscious in the cave, Atlantians appeared. This was because coincidentally, an Atlantian cave exploration team was working inside the cave. On seeing 4 severely injured purple tier predators, these excited soldiers ignored the risks and went in for the hunt. Even if they could not keep any of them alive, purple tier predators were priceless. Every part of their body, from their skin to their organs, to their adaptations, they were resources that could replenish the Crimson Fleet. Of course, it was Sebastian''s bad luck that brought this encounter then. At some point, too much bad luck may result in a stroke of good luck. The bad luck ensured that he was captured, he lost his freedom, but a twist of fate decided that he kept his life. What an irony of life! After that, he met Doctor Statham, the treatment started. In the end, both he and the terrifying old toad were captured, becoming test subjects. All those culminated in his present state. As for the old toad, after wreaking havoc during every experimentation session for over a month, it seemed that it was now resigned to fate, it hardly did a thing during the last operation of its body. About the unique system clue, seeing things like elf race shocked Sebastian of course but the impact to him was on the mild side. After seeing the term Atlantians when he reincarnated, and as he encountered more about this world, he was already suspecting that other races apart from beasts may be present and he was not wrong. Through the system clue, he learned of those 2, and he learned even more from the mouth of the 5 Atlantian soldiers that guarded this chamber. Through the mouth of these 5 soldiers, he learned a lot about Atlantis and even more about Oceania as a whole. At this point, he could not help but agree with the fact that there''s a measure of joy in any situation, including captivity. Through these blabbermouth soldier guards, he learned a lot about this laboratory, and also knew that his captors were the Crimson Fleet. To the terrifying old toad, most of the 5 soldier guards'' words may seem like jargon, but they were detailed intel to Sebastian who was from earth. He was a great fan of the movie series, Prison Break in his previous life. He watched enough action movies to deduce a lot from the soldier''s words. And now, he was in the process of planning his escape. With his magic organ slowly recovering, a lot of things became much more convenient to him. The Atlantians may be cautious, but they were not cautious enough, at least not when their captive was him. Through his electroreceptors, he already had a clear picture of this enormous laboratory inside his head. One month was more than enough time for him, the finishing touches were what remained for him to commence his plan. Without a doubt, he was enthusiastic to go join the hunt for the Doppelganger and Invisibility King''s inheritance. This was a unique skill that was being talked about. After he thought some more, his eyes slowly closed as he rested his mind. Things were about to get exciting and he knew it. "3 weeks remaining¡­" Chapter 189 - Starting The Game. "I swear, guarding this laboratory is boring me to death". One of the guards complained, swearing loudly while sneaking peeks at the surveillance camera to make sure that he was not being seen. "Chill, Gab, you complain too much". "You know nothing Dammy, you''re a good for nothing". While these 2 bickered, the 3 other guards that were ?ssigned to this chamber of the laboratory where Sebastian and the other test subjects were kept engaged in different leisure activities. 2 sat on a mechanical chair set-up, where they played a game of cards. This was different from the one on earth, the rules were vaguely similar, but the characters were far more different and varied. Most of the characters in the cards were sea monsters, but some had human characters which in this term were Atlantian characters, while even fewer of them were of famous mythical gods like Poseidon and others. These cards of famous gods being the rarest were called rare cards. In this card game, each of the cards had different powers in importance. It was a mechanical set-up of cards, but also had magic mixed in to make it more interesting and life-like. While these 2 played the special card game, the last of the guards was solitary. He sat on another mechanical chair at the corner of the chamber, where he held and operated a small electrical device like a smartphone. Of the 5 of them, only the first 2 who were engaged in a pointless conversation were actually doing their job of watching the predators, the others were simply immersed in their own world. This was the daily life of these 5 soldiers. Compared to others in the fleet, their work could be said to be much easier. Originally, they thought this was going to be a tough ?ssignment, but the Megalodon that was already famous throughout the fleet hardly threw a tantrum since the first day of its capture. They were disappointed and speechless. This Megalodon was far more docile and cowardly than they thought, almost to the point of being embarrassing. Left with no choice, they could only continue doing their job. "Well, Gab, calling me a good for nothing just shows how shameless you are when you can simply decide to apply for another ?ssignment in the fleet rather than to stay stuck here, complaining of the ?ssignment being boring all the time". "To be sincere, our job is the simplest in the feat. The toad was the stubborn one before, but now it''s tame, making our work much easier". "Easy work, steady money. Is there anything better than this?" "Humph!" Gab snorted, unwilling to back down though he knew that his comrade was right. He was in the process of thinking of a counter in his head when another of his partner screamed, shocking him. "Damn!" The guard with the smartphone exclaimed. "Lord Tinirim actually broke through again!" The other guards were about to complain about his screaming but they stopped on hearing the name that was just called. "What? Did you just say Lord Tinirim?" "He broke through?!" They all asked at the same time. The guard with the smartphone revealed a smug expression on his face. "Yep, he fought and defeated the notorious Black Tier predator, Snow Tiger Max". "What does that mean? It could only mean that he broke through to the Gold Realm. Sigh, Lord Tinirim is my role model. He did it again!" "¡­" The other 4 guards were silent for some time as the information sank in before they erupted. "Damn! Lord Tinirim is awesome!" "But he broke through to the Silver Realm just 3 years ago, what a talented freak he is. He is really blessed by the gods and King Orchestra". "I wish I was like him. In fact, I wish I am him". "So shameless, your wish is baseless". One of the guards that were bickering a moment ago sneered, not forgetting to jab at his companion. "Lord Tinirim is Queen Auralis''s only son, your dogsh*t luck cannot compare". In a moment, all the guards erupted with different emotions to show their awe and surprise as they surrounded the guard with the smartphone to watch the recorded battle against the Black Tier predator, Snow Tiger Max. While all these happened, a pair of eerie blue eyes flickered, Sebastian watched in silence. These 5 idiots were at it again. They were Sebastian''s information vendors, with them, he slowly arranged the pieces of information like a master perfectly arranging the pieces of a strong puzzle. Through these 5 guards, he already knew a lot about Oceania. He knew of their Queen Auralis, and of course her son this Lord Tinirim. In the numerous information that he already got in the past month, one of the most important was about what these guards just mentioned again. After carefully arranging the pieces of information, he arrived at this. Unlike mutated beasts like him, Atlantians developed in the scales of an entirely different power system. Their power levels were divided into the Bronze Realm, the Silver Realm, and the Gold Realm. Queen Auralis was a pinnacle Gold Realm mage, now her son just became one from these guards'' information. After getting more information for comparison, Sebastian made some deductions. The power level of the Bronze Realm was the most popular, and most Atlantian mages were at this Realm. A pinnacle Bronze Realm Atlantian mage could battle equally with a pinnacle orange tier predator. A pinnacle Silver Realm Atlantian mage could battle with a Red tier predator. And a pinnacle Gold Realm Atlantian mage could battle with a Black tier predator. Of course, they were numerous variables in every battle, but this was the basic scale that Sebastian came up with. 3 of the 5 guards that guarded him were mages at the lowest grade of the Bronze Realm, while 2 of them according to information from the guards were strength path practitioners. About this strength part practitioners, Sebastian already had some ideas but without tangible information for evidence, he could not conclude. "Weird, why is it staring at us?" One of the guards suddenly noticed something, Sebastian''s stare was indeed too intense. For these guards, it was like having the sword of Damocles directly hovering above their heads, having such a terrifying predator stare fixedly at them which was terrifying but their reaction was surprising. "Oh, I thought it was the toad, so it''s that good for nothing Megalodon. It''s all talk and no action, what a disappointment!" The other guards laughed. "To think that the Sergeant even suspected that it was the inheritor of the unique skill, what a farce!" "Comparing this coward with the terrifying reputation of predators like the Necromancy King is like comparing the abyss realm to the myth realm, hahaha". "This myth realm again". Sebastian''s eyes narrowed but he kept silent. This was not the second time that he''s heard this term since he was captured, and the expression of awe, excitement, and fear on the guards'' faces whenever they said it left him thinking hard. "Where is this myth realm? What does it signify?" "Ignore that piece of shit". The guards finally continued with their actions. Sebastian did not give a damn to their words, he only listened to get useful information. But at this moment, unknowing to the guards, he was about to do something else. Sebastian looked towards the opposite cage where the toad was kept. After so long, it was now docile, it finally accepted the cruel reality of fate. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] The game finally began. Chapter 190 - Seeking Knowledge From The Respectful Sir. Inside the laboratory, the six-legged toad rested calmly inside the cage. His eyes were shut closed, but his mind was active. He felt depressed. The past 1 month was probably one of the darkest periods of his life. As a purple tier predator, he loved freedom, captivity was one of his worst nightmares ever. Throughout the past month, he had tried various means to escape, but they were all futile. He was like a fish trapped in a pond, none of his schemes and plans could work, he was firmly in the grasp of his captors. Despite his terrifying strength, he was still easily suppressed. The more effort that he exerted to force his way towards escape, the smaller he felt, and the more he felt like a frog in a well. The means available to the Atlantians were too mysterious, strange, and powerful for him to comprehend. As the old monster that he was, of course, he knew of Atlantians. He was not born inside the Ocean Volcano region; he wandered the world for decades before he finally arrived at this region coincidentally. Every time that he thought of the tyrannical reputation of his captors, he always felt despair. Now, he hated himself for going after the Origin Fish though it was captivating then, he hated himself for going after Sebastian. "Why was I so proud? Dignity, what''s dignity? Now it landed me into this". Though he felt grateful at times when he recalled the ending of both the Devouring Cobra and the Eagle, he still felt resentful. Amid his inner struggle, inside his mind, a clear picture suddenly appeared, the picture of a shark. This was the culprit of it all, this freaking shark brought all his problems, he was the reason why he was now in captivity. He absolutely hated this shark. Thinking of the fact that Sebastian was just a few distances from him but yet he couldn''t do anything about it only infuriated him more. He felt like striking with his tongue immediately but he knew that it would mean nothing. In the end, he calmed down, he already experienced this numerous times throughout the past month. As he calmed down, a negligible purple light started glowing in his body as he activated a skill. Through this, his riled-up nerves rapidly calmed down. "Old Toad". "¡­huh?" The toad was surprised, one of his eyes opened slightly as he glared hatefully and suspiciously at the guards but he was surprised on seeing the expression on their faces. They loved calling his species name randomly before which always left him angry, but from their expressions, it was not them this time so who? "Old Toad". The old toad''s other eye snapped open as they both suddenly became as sharp as daggers. He glared at the space just before him, his special senses just detected a magic fluctuation in this place. As he glared, greenish-purple lines started flickering through his eyes. The next moment, he saw an ethereal green magic line that extended from inside his cage towards the other side, precisely Sebastian''s cage. The greenish-purple lines in his eyes dissipated after this, then the old toad slowly turned his body around before glaring at the opposite cage. His eyes clashed with Sebastian''s, sparks seemed to light up like there was a sudden spike in the proton and electron charges in this space. The water seemed to freeze up, making the environment turn chilly and suffocating. The guards felt it but they were clueless. "Weird, what''s happening?" This staring contest continued silently. On Sebastian''s part, seeing that the old toad did not flare up immediately, he heaved a sigh of relief. This meant that phase 1 of the plan was a massive success. "Let''s cooperate". Sebastian was decisive, going straight to the point. The old toad''s eyes narrowed even further on hearing this. This sound was not audible to the outside world, it echoed directly inside his mind. He knew that Sebastian was a sound domain shark, but he didn''t know that he had such a skill. A bright light flickered through his eyes; he finally knew how this enemy commanded his brothers to deal so much damage to him back then. "Let''s cooperate? Hehe, after all that you made me lose? Dream on". Croak! Hearing the loud sound, the guards were startled, jumping up. They hovered up in the water, hastily taking out their weapons as they pointed them at the terrifying toad whose webbed feet was now flapping gently at the water. Seeing this scene, their heart froze, they didn''t know what to do. While all this happened, Sebastian already retracted his gaze, closing his eyes silently. The croaking meant direct refusal from the toad. Though he already expected it, Sebastian still felt disappointed. ¡­ The next day¡­ "Let''s cooperate. Pooling our strength together, that''s the only way that we''ll be able to escape from this situation alive". "You''re an intelligent powerhouse, I know that. You proved your intelligence in the round with me, I almost died to you remember? Put sentiments aside, even I almost died, but I''m doing the same". "If you love your life, join me so we can escape together". "¡­" ¡­ The next day¡­ "You''re too stubborn. Tomorrow, we''ll be subjected to another hellish treatment, we''ll see who will last longer since you like it so much". "Don''t croak when the knife pierces your precious skin. Hours later¡­ "You''re a fool you know that right?" "How can you be so foolish?" "In fact, calling you a fool is an understatement, you''re a plant". "Yes, a plant!" "Animals react fast to stimulus, it''s the specialty of predators but you can''t. Why? Because you''re a plant. You''re always fixated on pride, dignity, honor, that''s all bullshit when our life is on the line". "You''re a plant, that is why your brain is stagnant, hopeless, and senseless. You react slowly to stimulus. I don''t care if you don''t know what stimulus is, but know that it''s something very vicious". "Crii!" "You''re a plant!" Bam! Bam! "Shit! It erupted again, is this toad going insane? It keeps on bashing at its cage since morning, do you think we should inject in him some suppressants?" The guards were frightened. Instantly, the toad went calm again on hearing what the guards said but he directed a hateful glare at Sebastian. Sebastian ignored him. ¡­ The next day, after another dissection and experimentation session. "You love this life, right? I know you do, a life where your life is worth as much as a Praying Mantis''s dung, where your whole existence is nothing more than a test subject, where they cut your skin and heal it back". This time, Sebastian did not stop. He hammered word after word at the toad but perhaps the toad was already immune to his words, but it did not answer. After doing this for minutes amid the pain of his body being cut open a few minutes ago, Sebastian finally stopped and changed his strategy. "Ok, I admit defeat". "You''re strong, you''re powerful. In fact, I''m an ant before you. All I beg of you right now is to cooperate with me, without you I''m dead". "Please respectful sir, help me". "What''s sir?" The toad finally asked. It was curious having heard this term from the 5 Atlantian guards before. Of course, the 5 guards jumped immediately. The toad didn''t have the sound control skill like Sebastian so they heard it, but they didn''t understand what was going on so they could only stare cluelessly in apprehension. "It is a term used to refer to great and honorable people, and I believe Sir Toad is one that is why I referred to you with that". "Humph!" The toad snorted. "Keep your flattering lies to yourself kid, but I think you''re right, I can''t endure this anymore. Like you said, let''s cooper¡­, no, tell me what to help you with". "Thank you, respectful sir". Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief, after putting in all his effort, he finally succeeded. If he knew that the crux to the problem was inflating the toad''s ego, he would have accomplished this long ago. Despite feeling this, he knew that the toad agreed not just because of his ego. He observed the toad every day, and after this experimentation session, he knew that the toad was absolutely fed up with living like this. The toad agreeing to his demand was due to a lot of factors coincidentally falling together, like the perfect alignment of stars in the night sky. Of course, Sebastian struck while the iron was still hot. "Please respectful sir, I seek knowledge on breaking through to the purple tier". "¡­" Chapter 191 - The Mysteries Of Evolution [1]. Sebastian shamelessly and directly hit at this point. His plan to cooperate with the old toad to escape was incomplete without this additional benefit. After thinking long and hard about it, he decided to ask the old toad instead of waiting to meet the Elder Dangle later. All his original plans were already scattered, perhaps, he would never even meet the shark elder again so why not go with the next best option? Also, it was because he learned a lot of things from his failure. At that moment of desperation, under the pursuit of 4 purple tier predators, he bit the bullet and commenced his evolution. Unfortunately for him, he failed woefully but it was not without benefits. He got the experience. Experience was something intangible, but it had inestimable value. From his previous experience, Sebastian was sure that the breakthrough to the purple realm was not as straightforward as he originally saw it. He discovered that it involved or needed something more. The only problem was that he didn''t know what this thing was, that was why he decided to ask the old toad for help to get over this obstacle. If he could secretly evolve to become a purple-tier predator without alerting the Atlantians, he was sure that his future escape was full proof. This confidence was derived from his observations and planning. From the 4 guards'' mouths, he knew that the leader of this fleet who rarely visited this chamber was a pinnacle Bronze Realm mage. When he knew this, he was ecstatic but that was all. The Sergeant may be as powerful as just an orange tier predator alone, but unlike predators, he was geared from head to toe. This was the advantage of Atlantians. Though monsters could also plunder and even create their own magic weapons, their use, effects, and ingenuity were far below that of Atlantians. Atlantis was a civilization that excelled in technology and magic. From the little that Sebastian already saw and heard, comparing Earth as a whole to Atlantis in terms of development was like comparing his dilapidated village to the capital city of the United States. And from these same guards'' mouths, he heard of the power of the variant humans. They were also powerful in their own rights. Thinking of all these powerful future opponents left Sebastian''s heart in his throat, but he ignored all that and quickly focused on the present. Right now, escaping from this military base was the top priority. Sebastian looked at the old toad, the old toad looked at him. Silently, they engaged in a staring contest for a few minutes before the old toad snorted. "Kid, do you know the value of what you just asked?" Hearing this, Sebastian smiled inwardly. Compared to the previous tone which the old toad addressed him with, it was now countless times milder, this old toad was open to compromise. Of course, the guards were spooked by the toad''s words but they continued with their activities. "This toad is really going insane". According to the toad, its knowledge of breaking through to the purple tier was too valuable to be shared without a corresponding price. For 30 minutes, Sebastian kept on trying to convince the toad without success. Then left with no choice, he finally decided to batter his only valuable treasure at the moment, Octumpedam''s magic weapon, the Octranezion. It was painful but he had no choice. He didn''t have an immediate use for this magic weapon, so he was fine with exchanging it for tangible benefits. As soon as the old toad heard this, his originally stubborn eyes glittered for a moment before f?r??b?? dimming the next. "Connect me to your sound domain". Sebastian complied without a word of complaint. He could use his sound control skill to directly speak inside another predator''s head, he learned this after following the principles from his only lecture with Elder Dangle. He could speak inside another predator''s head, and he could also use the same skill to make the old toad speak inside his head. It was a simple set-up. "Humph! Kid, I''ll accept it but this is all because of the situation". "Now, listen carefully. This information that you''re about to get is priceless, I dare claim that even the head of your clan may not know as much as I do". The toad was unimaginably old, so he may be right, and this was the reason why he approached him sincerely for advice in the first place. "Breaking through to the purple tier is not just an evolution, it is like a crystallization of your being which would determine your strength at the next tier and your potential for life". "The most important factor that influences evolution is the bloodline". "The second most important factor is your physical core or qi". "The third important factor is your magic core or qi". "While the fourth most important factor is the ever-present Origin Essence Magic". "Oceania is a magic world, our world is powered by magic, which is the Origin Essence Magic. This power birthed us, nurtured us, and empowered us". "To break through to the purple tier, you need to properly harness this power hidden in the Origin". "The perfect fusion of all these 4 important factors is what makes the purple tier. It is the most significant tier of a predator''s life, it brings the first great increase in strength, and its bar of success is extremely high". "Only 1% of predators in a region succeeds in crossing this boundary". "The proper way to harness these 4 factors is what I am going to impart to you. First, I will explain the bloodline". "Your bloodline is not the blood that runs through you, it is something more profound that lives inside of you. It lives in your heart and also does not live there; it is something that you can only understand yourself". "From progenitor to offspring, this bloodline is transmitted. It is what Atlantians call muta-gene, it is what we predators call the seed of life". "It determines everything from the day you set your eyes open to face this world. It determines your talent, your future prospects, everything, and most especially the amount of physical and magic qi that you can accumulate". "This is why it is the most important factor for the purple breakthrough". "Cases like me and old Mantis are rare, fortuitous encounters play a major part in it. This is the beauty of nature, providing a way for those with the so-called low ranked bloodlines to defy fate and break the paradigm". "The second and third important factors are closely tied together, listen closely". Chapter 192 - The Mysteries Of Evolution [2]. "The second most important factor for the purple tier breakthrough is your physical core or qi". "During your evolution to the white tier, I believe that you got the magic organ mutation. The magic organ is one, but it has 2 phases, one phase is the physical empowerment while the other is the material magic manifestation". "The physical empowerment phase of the magic organ is the pivotal point that creates physical qi, but not the only point that creates it". "As you evolve through the tiers as a predator, there is something referred to as qi which slowly develops alongside you". "The modern era calls it the core, but the old era called it qi". "Qi is an important aspect of the purple tier breakthrough". "Qi is ethereal, it cannot be seen, it can only be felt. Of the numerous magic domains in Oceania, only one directly mobilizes the power of qi". "The Mind or Soul magic domain". "The Mind or Soul magic domain is one of the most bizarre and most powerful of the pinnacle advanced magic domains. Those who control qi control life, this quote from the Black Ruler, Crocodile Menace is not baseless". "Accumulation of physical qi is a factor that influences the success rate of the purple tier breakthrough". "If the physical qi is vast enough at the point of evolution attempt, you are one step into the purple tier". "Now, on how to accumulate physical qi". "As I said, the physical empowerment phase of the magic organ produces physical qi but it is not the only source of physical qi". "Your body is the second-best source of physical qi". "When you get an epiphany from the origin essence and create a physical skill, it serves as a source of physical qi. When you comprehend a bloodline physical skill, it serves as a source of physical qi". "When you comprehend your innate race skills, these also serve as sources of physical qi". "Apart from skills, it could also be gotten through adaptations". "After getting epiphanies from the infinite origin essence, any adaptation that you create both during evolutions and normal living, they serve as sources of physical qi". "Also, if you comprehend and successfully create an adaptation from your bloodline or any inheritance, they also serve as sources of physical qi". "When I created my tongue adaptation, I remember feeling an extreme sense of satisfaction. This satisfaction was not just ordinary, it was an innate reaction of my body to the creation of physical qi". "When I created my killer move skill with my tongue adaptation, I experienced what it felt like to feel qi for the first time in my life". "It is a wonderful and otherworldly experience". "The third important factor for the purple tier breakthrough is the magic qi". "If your brain works, you may have already guessed it. Yes, the material magic manifestation phase of the magic organ is the pivotal point that creates magic qi". "The magic qi requirement is of the same importance as the physical qi". "Accumulation of magic qi greatly influences the success chances of evolution, perhaps even more than the physical qi". "Your body is the second-best source of physical qi, while your magic domain is the second-best source of magic qi". "It all takes the same precedence. When you create a magic domain skill, it serves as a source of magic qi". "When you create an adaptation that is tightly tied to magic and your mana, it serves as a source of both physical and magic qi". "During our battle, I noticed that you had the mana conductor coating adaptation. This is an example of a source of both physical and magic qi". "The fourth most important factor that affects the purple tier evolution is the ever-present Origin Essence Magic". "We originated from the origin, we received power from the origin, and back to the origin would we return after death". "This summarizes all the factors of this significant evolution point". "Now comes the steps during the evolution". "Unlike previous evolutions where after accumulation, the process simply starts in a straightforward manner, the purple tier evolution is different". "Only competent predators can cross this tier; this is a law of nature". "To evolve successfully, you need to control 3 important things- your physical qi, your magic qi, and the origin magic essence that comes rushing in". "The physical and magic qi is your foundation. When you''re ready for the breakthrough before the transformation process starts, you need to pass the control test from nature". "The purple tier is a dividing tier of predators with great significance". "As soon as the process starts, the origin magic essence in that area will be formlessly and soundlessly stirred. Pure origin magic will pour into your body, this is where the test begins". "Taking in primordial origin magic essence is dangerous, it can kill you". "To curb this, it needs to be controlled and refined. Taking your foundation as a measure would determine the amount of origin magic that will pour into your body. And it is an age-old fact that the more the better". "The more you can refine, the more your potential for future growth. This is a part where bloodline also plays a major role, it is a part of your foundation". "As soon as the magic essence pours in, to control it, you need to mobilize your physical and magic qi. Due to the significance of this breakthrough, you will receive heightened senses where you can feel qi directly". "With this, you mobilize your physical and magic qi. You carefully mix them together until it forms a firm mix of white and black, then the origin magic enters". "This mix of white and black is the home of the origin magic, and after evolution, this is what crystallizes to form your magic core". "Since the antiquity age, there are 5 cores but only one evolvable core. The only evolvable core is the magic core, the others exist in nature". "The 4 natural cores are the longevity, strength, endurance, and luck core. The Origin Fish that you killed is a natural carrier of the longevity core". Sebastian''s eyes widened to the limits, he was lost for words and also suspicious. He had a lot of questions in his mind but he kept them temporarily. "That is all that I know about the purple tier breakthrough". "Without forming the mix of white and black, anything else means failure according to my knowledge". It took Sebastian some good number of minutes before he finally calmed down. This information was too explosive to ?ssimilate at a go, he was not sure how to react, this was more than he bargained for. He didn''t doubt anything that the old toad said, it was just too logical and astonishing to doubt, and at the same time, his system didn''t object to it which was kind of a silent approval. Despite this, he felt suspicious. At this point, he guessed that even Old Mak didn''t know this much so why did the old toad tell him everything? He could have told him just even a quarter of everything that he just learned, and Sebastian would have still believed while the toad walked away with a new magic weapon so why did he not? Is it benevolence? Sebastian immediately doubted it, he and this toad were on bad terms till a few minutes ago. He narrowed his eyes. "Why did you reveal so much information to me". In the opposite cage, the old toad looked straight at Sebastian with eyes that now seemed respectful and fanatical, then to Sebastian''s astonishment, he put all 6 of his legs down and formed a stance like that of kowtowing. "It is my duty to do this, Ocean Master". "What?" Sebastian''s mind exploded. Chapter 193 - My Name Is Tonado. "What?" This exclamative word repeatedly echoed in Sebastian''s mind. The significance of the word that the old toad just mentioned was so important and personal to him that Sebastian was left dumbfounded, confused, before finally turning to panic. How did he know? Is my identity already exposed? Is this the effect of some skill? Sebastian''s mind was filled with suspicion and panic as chaotic ideas upon ideas to rationalize the old toad''s words kept on bombarding his mind. Since he transmigrated to this world, this was the first time that someone called him by this term. As something that his system set as a goal for him, he was especially s?ns?t?v? to it. He already regarded it as one of his greatest secrets, so now that it seemed like it was exposed, he fell into panic. Throughout his inner struggle, the old toad remained silent and at the same position, a position like it was prostrating before Sebastian. Seeing the old toad again, Sebastian was, even more, dumbfounded all of a sudden. Why was he panicking? The old toad referred to him as the Ocean Master, but did that make him the ocean master? No. his system''s goal for him was to become an ocean master, but now he was still some nameless shark. In other words, he was panicking for nothing. After deducing this, Sebastian calmed down. Inwardly, he knew that his calming down was temporary. He was not the ocean master, but this old toad calling him that meant something. He had to get to the bottom of this. "What do you mean?" Sebastian tried to make his tone as normal as possible. "I''m sorry for looking straight at your exalted face since, please can I raise my head and answer appropriately?" To Sebastian''s astonishment, this was the old toad''s reply to his question in all sincerity. "Umm, yes you can". Hearing that, the old toad finally raised his head. The previous arrogant toady expression on his face was already gone, all that was left was respect, awe, excitement, and relief. "You don''t have to hide it again; your secret is safe with me". "¡­" "I was not sure of your identity during our first encounter, but after spending so much time with you, I''m now sure of my deduction". "Of course, you are not strong enough to be the ocean master, but I''m pretty sure that you''re the origin son. You already inherited the greatest unique skills of all, the legendary Water Transmutation". "According to my master, this also means that you already inherited the will disc of the myth sages". "I already made an oath to swear allegiance to the origin son if I am fated to meet him during my lifetime. Please, command me". "¡­" Throughout this session, Sebastian was as silent as a dead fish. On one hand, he was astonished at the accurate words of this toad that seemed to be poking at his soul, while on the other hand, he was thinking rapidly. In the end, all the thoughts in Sebastian''s head culminated into 3 questions. "Who are you?" "Who is your master?" "What do you know of me?" "My name is Tonado". The old toad''s face became reverent and respectful. "My master''s name is the Black Healer". "Talking of what I know about you, I know some things about you¡­" ¡­ 30 minutes later, Sebastian''s face finally showed a look of understanding. After knowing the truth, he was even more dumbfounded. "What are the odds of this encounter?" According to the old toad, he was called Tonado and his master was a black tier powerhouse called the Black Healer, also a toad but who had the bloodline of the ancient Poison Dragon. The old toad recognized Sebastian''s identity through his unique skill. Due to their hunt for the Origin Fish the previous time, he could not recognize it on time, but in captivity, after his brain calmed down, he finally realized. According to the toad, he met his master over a century ago. This big toad was severely injured and seemed to be dying. The then small Tonado was scared. His primordial instincts told him to escape from such a disaster and preserve his life, he almost did, but in the end, his na?ve heart then could not bear with leaving a creature of the same species to die. After a fierce inner struggle, he decided to help. He tried dragging the bigger toad away to safety, back to his hole but he was too small and was not strong enough. Despite this, he did not give up, continuing with this for minutes before someone else barged in. This new intruder was the bigger toad''s enemy. And surprisingly, this enemy was simply a white-tier mutated Spike Lizard. The intruder was just a white tier predator, but to Tonado then was a powerful enemy. The lizard did not give him time to react, attacking immediately, and Tonado foolishly decided to protect the bigger toad to the death with his life. The battle intensity increased so much that he was drenched in blood shortly after. When it seemed concluded that he would die, the dying bigger toad suddenly let out a loud cheeky laughter and intervened. He healed Tonado''s injuries, he also healed the lizard''s injuries before letting him escape. Then, he turned to face Tonado. "Lad, you''re a good toad. You have an annoying cowardly nature but it doesn''t matter, I guess you can shoulder this opportunity and responsibility. From today, you''re my student". "From today, you''re part of the sage''s hands". "From today, you''re the origin son''s envoy". "Stay on the lookout for him, and help him. That is my only mission for you". Then, this toad who called himself the Black Healer gave Tonado a complete magic inheritance that could help him evolve to the purple tier realm. That was the only interaction that he had with his master since then. Before his master left, he left some words behind for him. "If for some strange reason, you grow through your cowardliness and you get powerful enough and know some significant secrets about the myth realm; when you choose, choose the Divine Healing Water Fairy". "Also, always remember this, the greatest enemy to our cause is¡­" "The Ancient Cthulu!" Chapter 194 - Fictional-Myth Realm. After getting all these bombastic pieces of information from the old toad, Sebastian was overwhelmed but he heaved a deep sigh of relief. When the toad first called him ocean master, amid his panic, he got ready for the worst-case scenario where he may be needed to act to silence the toad. Fortunately, it didn''t get to that extent. As for how the toad knew his identity, he was helpless about it. Apparently, apart from the unique skill, the old toad suspected his identity because of the outrageous strength that he displayed for an orange tier predator. According to the toad, it was abnormal for orange tier predators to have as many powerful skills as he had, and also his amount of magic power was too good to be true, far above normal orange tier predators. Putting all these together, this old monster toad guessed at his identity. Well, he shouldn''t be calling him old toad again, but Tonado now. The process from transiting from enemies to temporary collaborators, then to a superior and helper status was so abrupt that Sebastian was caught off-guard. Tonado already pledged allegiance to him, and he meant it. About Tonado''s master, Sebastian had zero clues about him even after asking his system. Of course, he did not disturb the old sage for it. What shocked Sebastian the most in all these revelations were the terms sage''s hands, origin son, the recurring myth realm again, the Divine Healing Water Fairy, and the even more goosebump-inducing mention of the Ancient Cthulu". "Also, the mentioned will disc of the myth sages". Sebastian asked Tonado, but unfortunately, the toad also had no idea what they meant so he could only try to understand them himself. For the sage''s hands, Sebastian was not sure but his only guess was that it was related to the Sage 54 that was residing inside his system. For the origin son, his theory for this was even more casual. His ultimate goal was to become the Ocean Master, and he was a special soul who was reincarnated into this world, that was enough of a reason to call him origin son right? This myth realm was what mystified Sebastian the most. He already heard this term numerous times, but never was it delved into in detail. The more he heard it, the more he grew increasingly sure that it was extremely important, and the more resolute he felt in wanting to know about it. He vowed to actively look for information about it. "¡­when you choose, choose the Divine Healing Water Fairy. What did this mean?" Sebastian wanted to know badly but even Tonado didn''t know. As for the Ancient Cthulu, as a marine enthusiast, Sebastian knew of this fictional cosmic entity. He even knew of its titles, High Priest of the Great Old Ones, The Great Dreamer, The Sleeper of R''ley. The more Sebastian thought of it, the more he shuddered. "Don''t tell me that because I transmigrated into a fictional world, I''ll encounter fictional entities too. But this is too illogical, too fictional". "Fictional¡­, myth realm¡­, are these two related?" His eyes suddenly narrowed as he thought of this, but it didn''t lead to anything conclusive so they could only dim again disappointedly. Of all these terms, the one that impacted Sebastian the most was the so-called will disc of the myth sages. "According to my master, this also means that you already inherited the will disc of the myth sages". This was exactly how the old toad phrased it. Sebastian may be a lot of things but he was not a fool, he made a connection immediately. It may be that he was thinking too much, but if he was not wrong, this will disc of the myth sages was referring to his system. "Damn! This Black Healer even knows of my system?" "So, is my system a disc?" The questions in Sebastian''s mind were so much that they could not be sorted out immediately, so in the end, he shelved them aside. Then he went back to the point of Tonado. What were the odds of this old toad meeting him among all the creatures in this ocean volcano, among all the numerous creatures in Oceania? Is it related to fate? Sebastian was too insecure to take it as a coincidence. It may be that this Black Healer also had a lot of students like this and if he hadn''t met Tonado, he would have met another but it still reeked of outside manipulation. In the end, Sebastian calmed down. Perhaps, he was thinking too much. If he looked at it from the bright side, he was the one who benefited. And since the old sage in his head was not reacting, then everything was fine. Not only did he get so much useful information, but he also got a powerful unconditional helper out of the blue which was a good bargain. Of course, he would still give the Octranezion to the toad. He couldn''t use it, so why not hand it over to his helper. The more powerful his helper was, the better chances of escaping and surviving that they had. Now that he didn''t have to pay to get information from the old toad, Sebastian was ready to take complete advantage of it but this was for later because his magic power was already exhausted from the use of the sound control skill. His mana points were still not at their peak state yet. And also, it was feeding time. As precious test subjects, Doctor Statham was not about to let them starve. Every day, both of them and the other 3 predators in this laboratory consumed a ton of meat. "Shitty Megalodon and that mad toad, it''s feeding time". "Open ya mouth!" Whoosh! Of course, Sebastian obediently opened his mouth as soon as the already cut portions of meat were dropped inside his cage by the guards. He gulped them all down, swallowing them in one mouthful as others were dropped. In the other 4 cages, the same thing happened as the predators ravenously devoured the food that was being given to them. A few minutes later, feeding time elapsed. Chapter 195 - The 7 Sea Kings! A few days later¡­ [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a 2-way sound communication channel.] "What topic do you want me to dwell on today". As soon as the communication channel was created, Sebastian smiled as the familiar aged voice of the old toad sounded in his mind. "Today¡­" Sebastian paused like he was contemplating his choice before he replied in a solemn tone. "I want to know information about the Sea Kings, you said previously that you knew information about them". It took some time before the old toad answered. "Yes". The old toad did not beat around the bush, just like he did in the previous few days, he started and directly went straight to the point. During the past few days, their conversation engagements already proved how vast of a knowledge that he had. In Oceania as a whole, his purple tier strength may only put him at the middle spectrum of strength, but few wild predators could match his knowledge. He was an old monster toad. "As you may already know or guessed, there are 7 Sea Kings which corresponds to the 7 Origin Seas that form our world". "In the Blue Sea where I came to life, we call them the 7 Pinnacles!" "The Ocean King of the Atlantian Domain or the Origin Peak Sea". "The Necromancy King of the Dungeon of Souls". "The Beast King of the Blue Sea". "The Clown King of the Green Mist Sea". "The Doppelganger and Invisibility King of the Black Veil". "The Blood King of the Red Cove". "And the Pugilist King of the Hot Realm". "These 7 titles belong to 7 predators who are at the absolute pinnacle of the Black tier realm. They have no leader, all 7 of them are proud predators who are undisputed overlords of their various origin seas". "According to rumors, though they have no leader, the Ocean King was the strongest of the Sea Kings. Of course, that was before his tragic death to the great alliance of the variant humans". "For centuries, no one could completely understand his unique skill. Rumors said that his Water Transmutation unique skill was related to the power of imagination, but it could never be proved". "He reigned for centuries in the Origin Peak Sea before the rise of Atlantis. His death cemented Atlantis''s reputation as the overlord of this era". "The Necromancy King is the most notorious of the 7 Sea Kings. His infamous reputation spreads so wide that predators in each of the 7 Origin Seas shudder at the mention of his name, even more than the mention of the Ocean King''s name". "His unique skill is related to souls". "His greatest battle feat was during the great alliance of the variant humans, where he slaughtered over a million variant humans in one move". "The souls of his enemies were wiped out, leaving empty body vessels". "On that day, the Ocean King died, but the Necromancy King''s notorious reputation soared, taking the variant humans as his stepping stone". "Unlike the Ocean King, he was never an upright man. He rampantly slaughtered his way to fame, annihilating civilizations is his best hobby". "The Beast King of the Blue Sea". "As the Sea King who lorded over my birth origin sea, I am most familiar with him. Compared to other Sea Kings, his personality is gentler but his strength cannot be questioned, those that did could not live to tell the story". "His unique ability is related to subduing and commanding sea beasts. Rumors say that his personal army of beasts once fought and emerged victorious against an Atlantian mega fleet". "The Clown King of the Green Mist Sea has the most low-profile reputation of the 7 Sea Kings, and is also the only female Sea King". "Addicted to pulling pranks at other predators and variant humans, she was always looked down on but her strength as a Sea King is unquestionable". "Her unique ability is weird and inexplicable". "Rumors speak of her greatest battle achievement which made the famous Atlantis sovereign, King Kun to choke and laugh till his death". "¡­" Sebastian fought hard to keep a straight face but he did not interrupt, he let the old toad continue. "The Doppelganger and Invisibility King of the Black Veil". "The second most notorious of the Sea Kings, nicknamed the Imposter Invisible Demon. His unique ability is simple but dangerous, it makes him invisible and also grants him the ability to endlessly create doppelgangers". "He is the only one of the Sea Kings who infiltrated the Atlantian headquarters to wreak havoc after the rise of Atlantis". "Rumors said that he has infiltrated every predator and variant human civilization in our world, and his doppelgangers are everywhere". "A famous quote was made by the Pugilist King about him- The Imposter Invisible Demon makes it hard for me to trust people, not even My Little Brother, it may be another doppelganger of the demon". "The Blood King of the Red Cove". "He is the most savage and bloodthirsty of the Sea Kings. The Necromancy King is notorious for mass slaughter, while the Blood King is notorious for mass brutal slaughter". "He never kills to leave his opponent''s corpse; he always kills to eat". "Rumors say that he needs 10,000 predators flesh every day to curb his bloodthirstiness, he lives in a lair of blood and his unique ability is related to blood". "Some call him a Vampire; others call him the Blood Demon". "The Pugilist King of the Hot Realm". "Renowned as the Sea King with the fiercest physical battle strength, the Pugilist King is a battle maniac and fanatic". "Rumor says that he condensed the natural core, the strength core". "His unique ability is might, granting him tyrannical strength, super thick skin for astounding defense, and bones as hard as the strongest metal discovered by Atlantians, Anatium". "Rumors also say that he took a bath in the Hot Realm''s eternity volcano for over 2 centuries before he came out with the unique skill, might!" "Ocean Master, that is all that I know about the Sea Kings". After an impartation session where Sebastian remained focused throughout, the old toad''s voice finally rose a pitch to announce the end of this session. Throughout, as the old toad explained, Sebastian''s mana points drained slowly and now were at a low point. Silently, he deactivated the skill, gave the toad an understanding look before closing his eyes to devour the knowledge. For the past few days, this was what he and the old toad were engaged in, a relentless impartation of knowledge and information. The more he imparted, the more the old toad understood some of his master''s actions. Such detailed information about the 7 pinnacles, of course, he got them all from his master. Back then, he thought that his master just imparted them in passing, but after his encounters with Sebastian, he discovered that his master''s actions had a hidden meaning. "Did you foresee all these?" He muttered to himself. While the old toad soliloquized to himself, Sebastian rapidly devoured the information. This was what he had been doing for the past few days. Over the past days, he already got so much knowledge that he needed to meditate to prevent them from evaporating from his head later. He may be intelligent, but the fact still remained that he now had the brain of a shark, just the soul of a human could not offset this disadvantage. While he did this, feeding time soon came. Meat was dropped inside the cage by the guards, but Sebastian did something surprising. After biding his time obediently for over a month, he finally showed his beastly side. The information about the Sea Kings was the last puzzle piece that he wanted, now he could no longer wait, he was acting. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram!] [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound translation construct: Atlantis language.] Boom! "GIVE ME REAL FOOD!" Chapter 196 - The Black Mamba Division Fleet! A few days later, inside the laboratory. "Good morning, Sergeant Barnes". "Good morning, Sergeant Raila". Doctor Statham greeted the esteemed guests that visited his library smilingly as his apprentice mage doctors and their ?ssistants hastily echoed after him. "Doctor, how have you been?" Sergeant Barnes floated forward with his hands behind his back in a dignified manner as he asked the Doctor with a faint smile on his face. "I''ve been terrific Sergeant; I think I''m close to the point of another breakthrough in my research. This Megalodon is truly a treasure trove, I told you that capturing him was striking a good deal, right?" Seeing the Doctor''s enthusiastic and excited smile that was asking for acknowledgment, Sergeant Barnes slightly raised his brows, surprised. He had known Doctor Statham for a long time and it was extremely rare to see this Doctor so excited, his excited days were mostly when he dissected a new test subject. "Is that so? Tell me more". "Yes". Doctor Statham''s smile widened. "Recently, I''ve been brainstorming over the complicated set-up of the Megalodon''s body, most especially its heart, and how the body could pack so much power inside it". "By studying the chemical makeup of the Megalodon''s blood and heart, and how its blood is pumped through the veins, I got an epiphany and mixed the blood with one of my special mixtures to form a new mixture". "Alone, the purple mixture that is formed from the combination is useless but I created a mechanical device to harness it". "This device is like a replica of the Megalodon''s unique heart structure. It took me a lot of time, but I finally got a prototype". "Inside this device is the special purple mixture that was obtained from the Megalodon and my drug". "Due to the unique structure of the device, when in a soldier''s hand, all he/she has to do is infuse their magic power inside it. The circuits inside would be activated, stimulating the purple mixture". "With this stimulation, the purple mixture would turn back to red, and would be pumped into the soldier''s bloodstream through their veins". "According to my research results, this is a strength serum". "The greatest theoretical value is that it can increase a soldier''s strength by half. In our Crimson fleet where we are not entitled to strength serums, this is of extremely high value". When the Doctor started, Sergeant Barnes'' eyes were neutral with little interest but after the Doctor finished, his eyes widened in surprise. A strength serum that could increase a soldier''s strength by half, this was some seriously good stuff. "Doctor, are you sure?" "According to my statistics, it''s feasible". "You said you created a prototype, let me try it out". Doctor Statham immediately revealed an excited expression, this was what he wanted from the beginning. In the whole fleet, there was no soldier more suitable than the Sergeant to test and know the effects of the serum. Sergeant Barnes took the mechanical device and observed it curiously. It looked like a complicated cube, while inside it looked like a beating heart. Curiously, this Sergeant attached it to his arm before injecting his magic power in. Instantly, he felt changes then he received feedback, he could feel the foreign blood pumping into his body. His eyes flashed, turning red for a moment as his face showed a look of surprise. Though it was far from a half-strength increase like speculated, he indeed felt an increase in his strength. His eyes glowed in a pleased and surprised manner. "Doctor, you created some nice stuff, well done". "Haha, thank you, Sergeant". Doctor Statham laughed stiffly, a little disappointed that the serum''s effects were far below his expectations. "This is a good starting point for you, I believe you can improve on it". Sergeant Barnes added at the right moment, already guessing what was going through the Doctor''s head. "Yes, Sergeant, I definitely will". Throughout the conversation, Sergeant Raila and the entourage of 4 soldiers were silent. They calmly followed their leader as he floated through the laboratory. Sergeant Barnes'' nodded to himself repeatedly as he inspected, everything was in order. The white background laboratory was still as clean and hygienic as possible, the records were intact, and the relics were perfectly preserved. Overall, the laboratory was in great condition. After inspecting the other parts of the laboratory, he finally led his entourage to the sturdiest chamber of the laboratory where the beasts were held. Clang! The heavy iron gate opened after the guards inputted the code. "Good morning, Sergeant Barnes". "Good morning, Doctor Statham". "Good morning, Sergeant Raila". "You look even more beautiful today". One of the guards did not fail to flatter on time, and the female Sergeant indeed smiled slightly at him. "How have they been adapting?" Sergeant Barnes asked as he looked straight at the Megalodon who was resting with its eyes closed". "They''ve been adapting fine, most especially the stubborn toad. The Megalodon understood its circumstances pretty fast, but the toad was much more stubborn. No worries though, it''s now tame". Hearing that, the 5 guards at the back snickered as they directed disdainful glances at the 2 strongest beasts. "Vile beasts!" Sergeant Barnes didn''t talk again after the Doctor replied. He kept on looking at the beasts for 2 minutes, then he finally turned to leave. "Doctor, I need to have some private time with you". "Yes of course Sergeant". With the remaining entourage staying behind, Sergeant Barnes, Doctor Statham, and Sergeant Raila entered a room that was blocked from the lab. Inside, both visual, auditory, and magic senses were blocked. This room was plain and small and was on a white background just like the main laboratory. It comprised of a single white table, and 2 mechanical chairs. As soon as they all sat down, Sergeant Barnes looked straight at the doctor. "Doctor, we just received a priority mission from headquarters". "Hmm!" Hearing those two words ''headquarters'' and ''priority mission'', Doctor Statham immediately perked up. Priority missions could only be issued by the headquarters of Atlantis, and it must be personally approved by her highness, Queen Auralis which showed how important it was. And to any fleet that a priority mission was issued, it meant that they should abandon any other priorities and focus completely on this new mission. Seeing the serious look on the Sergeant''s face, Doctor Statham knew that this mission was probably extremely important. Immediately, his face became solemn as he waited for the Sergeant to continue. "Our mission this time is to ?ssist the Black Mamba Division fleet". "What?" The Doctor blurted out in shock. Sergeant Barnes and Raila were not fazed by his actions, they would have been even surprised if he had no reaction to it. Unlike the puny Crimson Fleet, the Black Mamba Division Fleet was a tyrannical fleet worthy of being called a hand extension of Atlantis. With an allocation of 30,000 soldiers and over a hundred warships, this was a force that could cause earthquakes and level mountains in any Sea or region across Oceania. After his short outburst, Doctor Statham finally noticed his breach in etiquette as he immediately apologized and sat down. At this moment, he was as serious as serious could get. Sergeant Barnes continued. "That is the mission, and that is all that I came to tell you about, so I want you to start preparations". "We don''t know what the mission of the division fleet is, and we are not qualified to know. All we have to do is to focus on fulfilling our mission to the best of our activity, which is to support them". "I want the hound pets to be ready, we''ll be dispatching them all to scout. My first order in this new mission is for a newly revised map of this volcano region to be drawn at the fastest speed possible". "The location of the Black Mamba Division fleet''s mission is this ocean volcano; they need to come and see a blueprint to start their mission with". Chapter 197 - Ready For Action. "GIVE ME REAL FOOD!" The 5 guards were startled, shocked, and spooked. "What the heck just happened?" This question first came to their mind as their slow brains gradually comprehended its significance. "He-he spoke¡­, he spoke?" "Holy Shit! He spoke?!" They freaked out. Seeing this, Sebastian nodded to himself inwardly as he rammed against the iron cage again to drive home his point. The past 1 month of his life was not spent in vain. While he recovered, while he learned information from the old toad, he was biding his time, observing his surroundings, observing his captors, getting information, and deducing clues for his ultimate escape plan. Through his observations, he already confirmed that these guards could not understand it when he communicated with the old toad openly. For long, he had always wondered about the strange phenomenon where he could communicate with other predators without any language barriers. His system explained it as due to the origin magic essence but he was still not clear. Despite not being clear, this did not prevent him from exploiting it. Apparently, this ability to harness the ever-present origin magic essence to communicate was exclusive to predators, it was not available to variant humans, at least not Atlantians. From Atlantis''s technological and magical development, they may have created devices to bypass this obstacle but these guards didn''t have one. When he communicated openly with the old toad, to these guards, it was like they were both croaking and making weird shrieking noises. Now that he communicated for real with them, not only that but with their language, it was a given that these guards would be spooked. These were the thoughts that were in the 5 guards'' minds, Sebastian could read them like a book after spending so much time with them. Boom! "GIVE ME SOME F*CKING REAL FOOD!" "I WANT FOOD, NOT DEAD MEAT!" "¡­" "The Megalodon even learned f*cking too?" The 5 guards shuddered. Seeing them shivering in fear, Sebastian didn''t push them further least they broke. He already achieved his objective, now the next thing was to watch and wait, and of course hope. The crux of his escape plan was strength and the fastest way to get this was breaking through to the purple tier. After the detailed breakthrough information that the old toad revealed to him, he was already confident in breaking through. The only unfortunate problem that hindered him was his level. Now, this was coming back to haunt him. This didn''t put him in a dilemma for long though. To counter this, he drafted this meticulous scheme to reject already dead meat for fresh food. With fresh food, he could get experience. He wasn''t sure if Atlantians already extensively researched the beast evolution phenomenon, but he put all his hope in this gamble, keeping faith that it would work. His little confidence came from the fact that an important subject like evolution would be high-tier research, it would not be made available to crack troops and fleets. He hoped that his captors were classified among the crack troops. Amid his hoping, his eyes secretly lit up as the fish took the bait. Doctor Statham personally came to inspect the commotion after receiving the guards'' reports. This involved his precious test subject Afterall. The Doctor was surprisingly in glasses this time, he was probably interrupted amid an intensive research session. After entering this chamber, the Doctor had an interested expression on his face as he adjusted his glasses. "Interesting, such intelligence, he actually learned to speak Atlantian!" Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief on seeing the look in the doctor''s eyes. He knew that look, it was the look of a crazy doctor having found an interesting test subject, it was that look of curiosity that could level mountains and tear heavens. "It wants real food, right? Give it real food then". While the guards rapidly went to work to fulfill the order to Sebastian''s relief, the Doctor''s eyes shone as he stroked his beards. "Such intelligence! If I extract his brain juice, perhaps I may succeed in creating a miracle tonic to boost intelligence and treat brain diseases". Sebastian felt his soul shudder on hearing this, it took a lot of his willpower to prevent his eyes from glaring hatefully at the Doctor. "Be patient Sebastian, exercise patience". He consoled himself. 2 minutes later, tons of live prey were dumped inside Sebastian''s cage. [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] Crunch! ¡­ After his sudden outburst 2 days ago, the Doctor reacted according to his prediction and indeed started allocating live food to him. Despite this success, the Doctor was not stupid. The prey that was given to him was mostly fish with the lowest-ranked bloodlines, fish, and crabs with little to no value. Most of this prey had not even taken the first step in their evolution journey yet, they were not even white tier, which meant that eating them gave Sebastian nothing other than filling his stomach. Due to this, despite eating a lot of live prey during this period, Sebastian was not able to level up even once. Life was hard. He was not too disheartened by this though, the old toad already predicted something like this which made him take it in more calmly. Left with no choice, he could only switch to his plan B. Even after so long, Sebastian remained faithful to his rule of always having a contingency plan. For this grand escape, it needed even more meticulousness for him to create plans with contingencies. After over a month of planning, he was slightly confident in his chances of escaping though he may not be able to evolve before doing it. He would have loved to wait till he leveled up and evolved first but unfortunately, time waited for no man. It was remaining less than 2 weeks before the time indicated in his system clue would elapse. Chapter 198 - Prison Break. Yawn! "Doctor, it''s 3:00 am in the night already". Doctor Mariana could not help but remind again as she directed a worried glance at her superior. "We''re not mages nor strength path practitioners, you could break down". Hearing this reminder for the umpteenth time, Doctor Statham could not help but direct a hateful but tired glare at his female ?ssistant. For the first time, the lady didn''t flinch despite his glare, defiantly glaring back at him. Seeing this, he sighed, yawning loudly again. Yes, he was tired, he was freakishly tired but his excitement would not let him rest. This excitement started 2 days ago after his main test subject, the Megalodon showed a rarely seen beastly intelligence. This Megalodon actually learned to speak Atlantian! Inconceivable! Incomprehensible! Unbelievable! Intensive Research Worthable! Extreme Dissection Worthable! Brain Dissection Worthable! This was exactly how Doctor Statham felt immediately after fulfilling the shark''s d?s?r? to eat live food. As soon as he went back to his research cave, he plunged into relentless experimentation. After so many days, he felt that he was now very close, super close to getting that formula where he could exploit the Megalodon''s brain juice to create the most effective miracle brain drug ever. His results may seem outrageous and unbelievable but would be more understandable when this test subject was a Megalodon. It was not every day that a doctor gets to work on a Megalodon. The only problem now was his worried ?ssistant, Doctor Mariana. He sighed again when he thought of her, even more, when she was right as lack of sleep could affect his cognitive speed and clarity. In the whole laboratory, they were the only ones still around and working. The only others that were in the lab were the 5 guards ?ssigned to the test subject chamber, but those guys were probably already sleeping in duty. "If-if you won''t sleep, then I won''t let you work". Doctor Mariana suddenly blurted out as she bit her lips and stared without fear at her superior, the worry and resolution on her face could not be masked. Doctor Statham was dumbfounded, when did this lady become so ferocious and eloquent? He wanted to talk but he was tongue-tied. With a sigh accompanied by another yawn, he stood up. "Ok, let''s go sleep". As soon as they stood up, his female ?ssistant stumbled and he had to support her. It turned out that she was feeling even more tired than he was. Unlike mages and strength practitioners, they could not manipulate the origin magic essence to enable free water floating, they needed external help. While staggering, they supported each other as the strange belt in their waists lit up with a bright blue glow, allowing them to slowly start floating away. This was when Doctor Statham suddenly stopped. "Ow, I forgot my keys". Clink! With one fast move, he floated back, took hold of his keys before putting them in his pocket. Then he turned to float back with his ?ssistant. Bam! The door slammed shut behind them with a bam as the lights finally switched off, bringing darkness to the laboratory. ¡­ 10 minutes after the 2 Doctors left¡­ Whoosh! In Doctor Statham''s personal research chamber, from the ceiling, what seemed like a rope suddenly whooped down. With a gentle touch, this rope tied the bundle of keys that was lying on the ground before pulling up. It took no time before the rope disappeared back into the ceiling with the bundle of keys. All these happened in seconds, in such a timed manner that by the time the security cameras turned back, it was gone. The darkness in the laboratory suddenly seemed spookier after this. ¡­ Creak! A slight creaking sound suddenly reverberated; it was not enough to wake up the guards but the other 3 test subjects woke up with a jolt. As predators, one of the things that enabled them to survive the perils of the outside world for years was their experience and careful alertness. They slept with one eye open and all ears open. They didn''t make a sound though they saw what was going on at a glance. Under the aura of a purple tier predator, they were as tame as an obedient dog. With a serious but dangerous expression on his face, the old toad, Tonado''s mouth was wide open as his tongue extended infinitely into the distance like a snake, disappearing through the makeshift ceiling that hid the rock walls. The escape plan was already in motion, and the first step was a grand success. The first step of Sebastian''s plan was getting the master key, or better still Doctor Statham''s bundle of keys. To make this a success, the old toad had been secretly drilling a hole through the ceiling with his tongue adaptation for the past few days. After numerous tries from the old toad, the sturdiness of their cages was no longer in question. To escape, they needed the bundle of keys. To others, it was tell me your friends and I will tell you who you are. But to Sebastian, it was show me your occupation, and I will tell you who you are. His decision to ask for food was not just to get the experience, as an anatomist, he already understood the Doctor''s train of thought. His second objective for asking for food was to make the Doctor start working late. Clearly, his plan worked. Now that the key was gotten, the plan could begin rolling according to the drafted script. Sebastian''s slumbering eyes finally snapped open. His eyes immediately clashed with the old toads on opening, without exchanging words, they understood each other. Jingle! With one smooth throw, the old toad released the bundle of keys. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Human Hands.] Having been secretly practicing with this, Sebastian''s control of the hands at this moment could be called perfect. As soon as the hand grabbed the bundle of keys, it flicked them up and down in search of the right key as Sebastian watched with rapt attention. The hands stopped the next moment, the fated key has been found. Without hesitation, under Sebastian''s control, the pair of hands turned, bringing the key to the keyhole. Thankfully, opening the door was fully mechanical. The key entered before turning. Click! Sebastian''s cage door opened. Chapter 199 - Escape [1]. The Megalodon was finally unleashed! [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] Sebastian''s gigantic tail flapped left and right slowly as his enormous body rose and swam out of the cage gracefully. After over a month of captivity, this giant cage could finally no longer hold him. After over a month of inactivity and bottled-up feelings, he was free. After over a month of helplessness and being experimented on, he was free. Feeling his tail flapping freely without any constraints, he felt a feeling of freedom engulf his heart. He wished he could enjoy this feeling forever, but not now, now was the time to escape. His dark green eyes turned, focusing opposite him where the old toad''s cage was. At this moment, this predator was looking at him in anticipation. He did not disappoint, he swam forward. Click! Click! Click! Click! With 4 consecutive clicking sounds reverberating, 4 predators were released. The 2 Great White Sharks swam out, they instinctively moved towards Sebastian, having felt a sense of belonging with him. For the Python with legs, it coiled around a pillar that held up the chamber''s ceiling as its pair of arrogant brown eyes looked down at the others while the claws in its legs made grinding sounds as they scratched the metal pillar. It was an orange tier predator, just like Sebastian, but the look in its eyes showed no fear when it looked at the old toad. This was an innate arrogance that was induced by its superior bloodline. Despite this arrogance, it still respected the old toad''s strength enough to remain docile and it was undoubtedly in this with the other 4 predators. All 5 of them were intelligent predators, Sebastian didn''t need many words to persuade them to join this grand escape. This was the case when unlike Sebastian and the old toad, the others were treated not more than shit. The Python''s brown eyes were burning with mountain-splitting rage, a rage for revenge. With all 5 predators coming out of their cages, it was a given that the atmosphere in the surrounding would change, and the guards finally felt it. One of the guards shifted uncomfortably before opening his eyes slightly. The next moment, he cursed softly before rubbing his sleepy eyes. When he opened them, it was the same scene, leaving him dumbfounded. "Am I dreaming?" "Yes, you are". Sebastian replied before swimming forward. [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] Crunch! Sebastian''s teeth cut through, effortlessly splitting the guard in 2. Did he feel guilty? No. His soul may be human, but his body was a Megalodon. These guys didn''t care for him, so why should he care for them? [You have killed a Variant Human- Atlantian Guard!] [Level 8: ???] [You have gained nothing.] [Congratulations! You have killed your first Human Variant.] [Reward: You have gained random Experience.] [Congratulations! You have completed the hidden system mission: Ruthless Transmigrator; Race is just a Word!] [Reward: 1 Strength Core.] Sebastian killed his first variant human since transmigrating into this world, but his conscience was not as guilty as he thought it would be. This once again showed how much his humanity was already degraded by his stay in Oceania. About the system notifications, he just glimpsed through them before focusing on the present. Before he escaped completely, every gain now was meaningless. They would only get meaning if he successfully escaped. And for something that he didn''t know about now, he didn''t have the time to ask his system since he was now in a race against time. "What sound was that? What happened?" The other guards finally woke up as they hastily fumbled for their weapons. Whoosh! The water cut apart with speed, letting the tongue rip through like a space knife as each of the 4 other guards were cleanly cut into 2. They were dead before they could even put up a proper struggle. Seeing such deadly fluidity in skill and strength from the old toad, the other 3 predators shuddered. This was when Sebastian swam out, hovering at their front which was a place reserved for the leader. The old toad was the strongest, but Sebastian was the most enormous predator by a mile. His towering size made his actions even more prominent as he turned to face the other predators. "I am the leader of this operation". "You either listen to me¡­, or you die". Instinctively, the 3 predators turned to face the only purple tier predator. Seeing no reaction from him, they lowered their heads in submission. "Follow me". Sebastian turned around, taking the lead to the location of the chamber''s door with the bundle of keys floating beside him in the grasp of the human hands magic manifestation that he created. The operation began. ¡­ Click! With a soft sound reverberating, Sebastian finally led his team to the main chamber of the laboratory. From the chamber where they were held in captivity, they entered a long corridor before finally getting here. The laboratory was empty and deserted. Clearly, there were other places reserved for the apprentice mage doctors and workers here to rest. Seeing no enemy here, Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief. Though he tried his best throughout the past month, in the end, he was too constrained, his electroreceptors could not help him to scout everywhere. The limitations were too much, preventing him from knowing everything. Inside this main chamber, besides the huge technological machines and other medical accessories, the most eye-catching thing in the lab was a large transparent display cabinet. In this display cabinet were different anatomical samples like relics. Considering the size of the sharks, it was enough to show how big this display cabinet was. It took more than half of the lab''s main chamber. Apart from the freezing part of the display cabinet, there were other parts, like a part drenched in a yellowish orange liquid where various predator organs were stored and kept alive like relics. In one of the display boxes, a strange triangle-shaped heart beat in strange but consistent rhythms, making the yellowish-orange liquid emit foaming bubbles. In another of the display boxes raged fire. Inside this fire was a cube-shaped beating heart, each pulse from the heart made the fire blaze more. "Fire Heart!" The old toad muttered in recognition. Almost immediately after the old toad muttered this, Sebastian''s eyes turned to one of the rare neutral parts of the display cabinet. Inside the display box was something that he was familiar with, a magic core. A Purple tier magic core. They were escaping and were in a rush, but Sebastian was not going to foolishly leave something that could increase his strength behind when he needed strength the most to increase their escape success chances. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Going closer, Sebastian smashed the display cabinet open. Following the old toad''s advice, while taking the magic core, he also took the blazing Fire Heart and kept them inside his system inventory. There were numerous other useful things in the display cabinet, but as the old toad was not too enthusiastic about them, Sebastian decisively left them all. Escaping was the priority. None of the other 3 predators complained to him keeping the loot. He was the leader, and besides, they didn''t even know what a magic core was yet as they were still orange tier predators. With the bundle of keys in hand, going through the laboratory was smoother than expected. They passed through 3 main doors before they finally opened a door that led to an environment that was not in a dominant white background. They finally left the laboratory. With a serious expressions on their faces, knowing that the real challenge started now, they swam out of the laboratory. While he swam, Sebastian activated a new skill. In his one month of stay in this laboratory, daily checking for new skills was among his schedule and his efforts paid off when he found this new skill. [You have activated skill: Shrink.] Instantly, his towering 15 meters long body shrank to 8 meters. For this escape, such a large body size was a burden that Sebastian already recognized long ago, so he focused on remedying it. Now that it was gone, the escape team was finally uniform. The 5 predators swam out of the laboratory with gusto after their leader''s transformation, today was their death day or Freedom Day! Chapter 200 - Escape [2]. Adjacent to the fleet anatomical laboratory was the B-8 sleeping quarters. This cave where the Crimson Fleet took as their temporary base was huge, extremely huge which was why they took it in the first place. This enabled them to have more freedom to modify and personalize it. Unlike the anatomical laboratory where the environment was clean and hygienic and in an always sparkling white background, this sleeping quarters was in a grey background. The fleet constructors didn''t spend as much effort in reconstruction here. All they did was to modify this part of the cave, coating the rock walls with grey metal, while forming tent-like rooms for the fleet crew. The tent-like rooms were made in such a way that made them seem like tents that were used when camping. This was the military way; this was the Crimson Fleet way. Apart from the tent-like rooms that filled the ground, the walls and even the top of the cave were modified in such a way to accommodate even more tent rooms. This was because of the number of people who needed them. This set-up was compact and flexible. In the case of an emergency, 4 mini-towers were erected around the sleeping quarters where soldiers could easily man to mount a fearsome defensive force and a tyrannical offense. At this moment, the sleeping quarters was dark and silent. Everyone was asleep, and all the tent rooms were covered. Every crew of the fleet in this sleeping quarters, both civilian workers and soldiers were asleep as they recovered from the stress of the day. Since Sergeant Barnes changed the fleet''s mission priority, every single person in the fleet felt it as their workload multiplied by almost 3 times. They worked as hard as ants, trying to get information and to make sure that everything was in place for the arrival of the Division Fleet. Only the night like this was their time of rest which they dared not joke with. Even the 4 guards that manned the 4 different mini-towers were already asleep, the stress was simply too much for them to handle. All their hopes now in the case of an emergency were the electronic set-ups. Beep! At this moment, the motion sensors that were installed every few meters of the sleeping quarters detected a signal as the system picked it up immediately. As soon as the light shone in that direction, the intruders were exposed. The system rapidly scanned them in less than a fraction of a second. WOM! WOM! "Intruders!" "Intruders!" Sebastian and his crew were surprised and caught off-guard. After leaving the laboratory, they arrived at an extremely long corridor that had doors leading to many places. Most of those doors couldn''t contain their size, as soon as they saw a door that was big enough, they entered. It was not even 3 seconds after they entered that the light shone on them, then before they could react, the loud alarm already went off. "What the shit!" "In-intruders?" Everything happened so fast that even the old toad was unable to react on time, but Sebastian did. This was a matter that had his life on the line, he was diligently maintaining 120% focus since the escape started. At the same time that the guards manning the 4 towers reacted, shouting exclamatively, Sebastian''s eyes swept across as his other sense did too. Under his manipulation, the electromagnetic waves furiously spread like a sweeping tsunami, going round the sleeping quarters in an instant. Sebastian''s brain first registered the exit door out of this sleeping quarters that he saw, but he ignored it, focusing to look on for something else. This thing was pivotal in his escape plan. In his rapid search, he saw the 4 towers and the guards manning them, he saw all the tent rooms, he saw the underground armory that held numerous weapons, he saw a lot of other things before he finally saw a strategy hall. This tent room was much bigger than the others. Not only that, the fact that it was the only room in this quarters which flaunted a flag revealed a lot. For the first time, Sebastian finally laid his eyes on the Atlantian flag. This flag had black as the dominant background. In this black background was drawn the image of a rapidly expanding chaotic black hole, and in the middle of this black hole disaster stood a sharp-pointed sword. At the tip of the sword was written a giant A. Sebastian''s eyes focused on the flag for only a moment before resting on the strategy room. From Sebastian''s knowledge, in medieval settings, during war periods, strategy rooms had a lot of things. But he was not referencing that, he had a better reference which was in the form of the 5 blabbering idiots that guarded him for the past month. From them, he knew that each strategy room had the drawn map of this base. "That is our target". [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Sebastian didn''t finish speaking before his companions dashed after him. Without reservations, they all activated their movement skills to swim as fast as possible and get this done with. With their movements, the people that were not woken up by the warning alarm finally woke up. They were horrified to see these 5 predators. "Shoot and pin them down!" Most of the people were horrified but this was still a military base, not a soap opera theater, the soldiers responded like bulls on steroids after receiving the order from the preceding team leader. They slept with their weapons as their companions, so they didn''t have to engage in anything complicated before they could aim and shoot. Bam! Bam! Kinetic rounds, electrical rounds, laser rounds, and even magic beam rounds were released from the soldiers'' weapons as all these arrays of attacks flew at the 5 predators but they were unfazed. To the Atlantian soldiers, each of these 5 predators was like giant shooting targets that were waiting to be molested. They did release their rounds with the intention to molest, but the predators easily shrugged them off. The predators were not all defense and no attack, after suffering this barrage, an already irritated Tonado released his deadly tongue adaptation. Boom! The tongue lashed out like the whip of the goddess of death herself, reaping lives like rice in harvest season as all the soldiers that bravely obstructed their path were smashed to oblivion. Immediately after this, one of the sharks breathed wildly raging fire as other soldiers were set ablaze. Another''s willpower tensed the atmosphere as metals were condensed from the air and the surrounding before shooting at soldiers. Not willing to let the sharks steal the show, the Python threw himself up before throwing up a black domain that engulfed the motion detector lights. The sleeping quarters was plunged into darkness again, this time it was accompanied by a strong sense of confusion and dizziness. [You have come under the effect of a skill: The Drunken Shadow!] Sebastian felt dizzy at first but under the expert manipulation of the Python, he and the others felt better while the Atlantians experienced its effects in full. In a few seconds, they arrived at the strategy room but they arrived to meet an even stronger defensive force. The most important room was always the most protected. Escaping was not going to be easy. Chapter 201 - Escape [3]. Wom! Wom! "Intruders!" "Intruders!" "Damn! What happened? It''s already so late in the night". Inside one of the most heavily guarded and pivotal quarters of the Crimson Fleet camp, a commotion started as the workers woke up from their slumber to the sharp alarming sounds of the system A.I. This chamber was the central control quarters [C.C.Q] where every electronics-related machine of the fleet was master controlled. The work of the crew here was not only to master control the electronics-related machines, but they were also in charge of the security cameras. The walls of this huge chamber were filled with virtual screens. In these virtual screens, every part of the fleet camp was being shown. At this moment, the dozens of workers were startled by not only the warning sound but also the alarming red light that repeatedly blinked in the virtual screens. "Narrow it down!" An authoritative voice suddenly ordered. After being stunned for a few seconds, the President of the central control quarters finally reacted to the anomaly. His workers immediately went to work under his urging as they rapidly narrowed down the location of the anomaly. In a few seconds, all the virtual screens combined into one, forming a large virtual screen in the air that was showing the scene in sleeping quarters B-8. In this large virtual screen, the scene was magnified for maximum impact. Blood dyed the water red, forming a disgusting sight of mixed blood and flesh as Atlantian corpses floated lifelessly in the dozens. A path of blood led straight towards the direction of the strategy room. The tent form of the strategy room was already battered and destroyed. Inside, the sleeping quarters B-8 master strategist leader''s head was floating lifelessly at a corner, separated from his still twitching body. In the virtual screen, the 5 predators swam closer to the revised detailed map that was hanging proudly in the wall of the strategy room, close to the flag. Seeing this scene, every worker in the central control quarters felt a chill running down their spine. Their heart went cold in anger, fear, and shock. "Show me the anatomy laboratory". The President of the central control quarters maintained his stance and calmly demanded. "Yes Sir!" Immediately, the large virtual screen was divided in half with one half still showing Sebastian and his crew while the other showed the anatomy laboratory. The laboratory was still dark, calm, and silent. The workers manipulated it from their master computers, overriding the original authorities as the lights switched on in the lab. With the light on, the workers were able to see everything. There was no slaughter here like in the sleeping quarters, only the 5 guards were nowhere to be found, which meant they were probably dead. "Search for Doctor Statham and Doctor Mariana". "Yes Sir!" The next moment, the virtual screen divided again, turning into 3 screens. On this third screen, a room was shown. Doctor Statham and Doctor Mariana were surprisingly together in the same room, asleep. They were n?k?d, huddled together in a bed, with a water spread blanket covering them protectively. Seeing this, the President''s eyes twitched but he heaved a secret sigh of relief. The loss of any of these 2 Doctors would have dealt a severe blow to the fleet, the loss of 100 soldiers couldn''t compensate for their lives. With these 2 safe, the President''s eyes flickered coldly as he calmly made decisions. His mouth opened the next moment, shouting orders at the pace of a rapid machine gun. "Send an order for sleeping quarters B-8 to receive reinforcements". "Lockdown sleeping quarters B-7, B-8, and B-9". "Release the origin magic suppressants in all above-mentioned sleeping quarters". "Release the metal Hounds and give them their target". "Unleash the meta-shark, but keep him on standby at the Main Armory''s central gate". The President paused slightly before continuing. "Inform the Sergeant". "Yes Sir!" ¡­ The battle that he started as soon as the lights shone on him was fast, going smoother and easier than he expected. Their superior strength directly crushed that of the soldiers, granting them access to the strategy room without facing any significant obstruction. Tonado may know a lot of things as an old monster, but he still looked at things from the perspective of a toad monster. He didn''t understand why Sebastian placed so much importance on this drawing, but he trusted the Ocean Master. He hovered beside Sebastian, looking intently at the drawing to deduce its mysterious aspect. While both of them did this, the 3 other predators tightly defended against the strong counterattack from the Atlantians. The military base''s map was simpler than Sebastian expected. The name of the fleet was written at the top of the drawing, before the elaborate drawing itself. >>Crimson Fleet<< >Garbage Recycling Quarters< >Mechanical Domain Quarters< >Fleet Garage< >Experimental Battle Pet Quarters< >Anatomy Laboratory< >Sleeping Quarters B1-B8< >Main Armory< >Leaders Sleeping Quarters< - Sergeant Barnes'' Room. - Sergeant Raila''s Room. - Engineer Macuck''s Room. - President Neiber''s Room. - Doctor Statham''s Room. - Doctor Josephine''s Room. >Sleeping Quarters A1-A9< >Medical Quarters- Fleet Hospital< >Defense Domain< >Exit/Entrance< Seeing this, Sebastian quickly understood the map as his expression turned grim. From what was before him, their situation was grim. Without a doubt, the Atlantians were already alerted about what happened. Facing such overwhelming circumstances, according to the map, they still had to cross through 5 main quarters before finally getting to the exit. This task was hard, most especially when the Leaders Sleeping Quarters was also ahead. This made things a lot more complicated, but the task was still not impossible yet. Of course, Sebastian did not believe that the fleet didn''t have a contingency back exit. A wise and capable rabbit always had more than one hole. The only problem was that the back exit was not here which was normal. If there was one, it would probably only be known by the higher-ups of the fleet and would require special conditions to open it. Sebastian''s brain rapidly thought as he quickly improvised with his plan. "Let''s move!". ¡­ In the Leaders Sleeping Quarters, in the biggest and most luxurious room of all, Sergeant Barnes slept soundly as he diligently focused on shrugging off the fatigue and tiredness of the previous day''s exertion. Unfortunately for him, he wasn''t fated to enjoy his sleep today. Beep! Beep! The Sergeant''s eyes snapped open instantly after the first beep sounded. His right hand moved fast, grabbing his military pocket phone as he swiped it open. -->New Message Notification<-- ->The test subjects escaped, now they are¡­<- Sergeant Barnes sprang up from his bed from the first sentence alone as his eyes shone like lanterns, sleepiness running far away from them. He carefully and meticulously read through the message. -->The test subjects escaped; they are now wreaking havoc through the camp. They are already in the B series sleeping quarters, and casualties are already in the dozens, approximately 26 confirmed dead soldiers<-- Grab! Without saying a word, the Sergeant whose face had already become solemn grabbed his trident that originally rested against the wall. With a swift wide step forward, he soared high, rapidly floating through the water into the distance. The hunt was on! Chapter 202 - Escape [4]. Boom! Boom! Atlantian soldiers died left and right as Tonado''s deadly tongue adaptation tore what seemed like space rifts through their formations, allowing Sebastian and the other predators behind him to attack rampantly without a need for defending. For this escape, all 5 predators were putting everything on the line, including their lives so they did not dare to hold back or slack. Tonado was like a bull on steroids, his body blisters defensive adaptation enabled him to brute-force his way through the Atlantian soldiers. With his defensive adaptation covering this problem, and with his magic shield as second defense insurance, he wreaked havoc like the Godzilla. His tongue repeatedly shot out like slingshots, precisely hitting targets with speed and force, reaping lives like they were mere weeds in a vacant field. Behind him, his 4 companions gave their all. [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill {¡Á2}.] [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth.] Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Behind Tonado, Sebastian took the lead as he threw skill after skill at the Atlantian soldiers. He released skills that reaped Atlantian lives with each impact, giving a perfect example to the other predators that were behind him. The 2 Great White Sharks followed closely behind him, releasing skills at such an efficiency like they were in a race to know who could spam skills faster. The one with the fire domain had a more tyrannical battle approach. Perhaps, if not for respect for the much bigger Sebastian, this fellow may have already ditched the hierarchy and swam to the front to steal the show. Around his enormous predatory body, a fire raged wildly, forming a scene that could be more perfectly imagined as a Fire Dragon''s lair. Fireballs were fired out at intervals from his enormous mouth, roasting the Atlantians and scattering their battle formations. At some intervals, he released a loud cry which caused a fire supernova to descend from the water surface. Whenever he activated this skill, the temperature increased drastically. Not willing to be outdone, the other Great White Shark tried to be even more overbearing with his magic domain ability. His magic domain ability was special, it was an ability that was related to magnetism and metals. When the north and south poles of 2 magnets are placed close to each other, they attract each other. This was the ability of this shark''s magic field, any hostile person or predator that entered the field were turned to the north and south poles of a magnet. The unfortunate Atlantian soldiers that entered the range of this magic field could not live to tell the story. The soldiers were suddenly attracted to each other with such a force that they could not resist. In a gruesome manner, these Atlantians were forcefully smashed and joined together before being crushed together in an eerie manner. In just seconds, what was left of them was a forcefully condensed round ball of crushed flesh and blood. Even Sebastian shuddered at the sight. This ability of the shark was for close-range combat. For long-range combat, he materialized metal spikes from any metal residue available in the surroundings before throwing them at the Atlantian soldiers. Despite still being at the orange tier, this shark''s ability was so good that when no metal residue was nearby, he could even extract metal from the blood of his victims, forming an endless source of power for battle. The Atlantians avoided this shark like the plague. The orange tier Python was less overbearing than all the others but was much more cunning with tricky battle skills. Disappearing from here one moment, appearing there the next moment, then ambushing Atlantians, then disappearing again before they could react. It ruthlessly toyed with the Atlantians to death to express its anger. Though it killed fewer Atlantians than the other 4 predators, its unpredictability on the battlefield severely obstructed the Atlantian soldiers, rendering most of their battle formations and plans useless. After 8 minutes of unstoppable momentum, under Sebastian''s direction, the group of escapees was now in the B-2 sleeping quarters. Throughout these 8 minutes, they fought and killed non-stop. The order from the central control quarters'' President was promptly acknowledged. Immediately after the order was circulated, every soldier that was in close proximity to the B series sleeping quarters mobilized with full force. Under the leadership of the elite team leaders, these soldiers arrived and mounted a fierce defense-offense battle against the 5 escaping predators. While they did this, the B-7, B-8, and B-9 sleeping quarters were locked down. All the doors were locked, turning these 3 sleeping quarters into a giant prison to restrain the predators'' movements. The only problem was that despite the Atlantian soldiers'' advantage in numbers, their weapons, and their special monster-hunting skills, the 5 predators were too strong for them to handle. All of them were low-ranked Bronze Realm soldiers. Also, in the military base, from the Entrance to the Main Armory were referred to as the emergency domains. This was because they were closest to the entrance which was more susceptible to outside predator attacks. Due to this, the strongest soldiers of the Crimson Fleet were concentrated in this region and their sleeping quarters were the A series sleeping quarters. The other areas of the military base from the B series sleeping quarters to the Garbage recycling quarters were the safe domain. This was the main reason for Sebastian''s crew''s current snowballing escape rush. In the past 8 minutes, the soldiers were not their greatest foe, the origin magic suppressants were. This terrifying drug targeted at wild predators was horrifyingly effective against Sebastian and the others. As soon as it was released, Sebastian''s still recovering mana points were suppressed. He could only use 80% of his recovered mana points for battle, while the others could only use 70% of their mana for battle. Without a doubt, this affected their battle strength in subtle ways. In these few 8 minutes, Sebastian estimated that over 50 soldiers already died to them. After so many casualties, the Atlantians finally relented in their offensive a bit, which made their escape speed even faster. They took advantage of this opportunity to rush even faster but for some reason, in Sebastian''s heart, he felt that this was the calm before the storm. 2 minutes later, they finally left the B-1 sleeping quarters and arrived before a large metal door. Sebastian didn''t need to reference the map, the large word in bold that was written on the door revealed where this led to. >MAIN ARMORY< Seeing this, Sebastian immediately started thinking of how to breach this sturdy door, but what happened next alleviated and also increased his worries. The enormous door opened on its own volition, then a white light entered the groups'' vision, quickly followed by a loud sound that could burst eardrums. BOOM! Chapter 203 - Escape [5]. Boom! The sound was like thunder, deafening and bombastic, and it was the only sound that Tonado heard before he was hit by the extremely bright white streak. Crack! A loud cracking sound reverberated through the water before Tonado flew away like a kite without its control ropes. In the trail left behind by him, blood dyed the water a deep red. This was an ambush! As the predator who took the lead at the front of the group, Tonado bore the full brunt of this ambush. This extremely hot and swift shot was a charged gunshot that packed tyrannical destructive power. Tonado didn''t explode into a bloody mess immediately only because he was always alert towards any danger. His magic shield was active, and his blisters like adaptation did the real protection though his skin now had a huge crack. Amid his rapid backward flight, he felt hot like his body was thrown into boiling oil in a giant frypan. The feeling was awful. In just one move, the strongest predator among the 5 was temporarily taken down and the elite Atlantian soldiers were not ready to stop. Sebastian and his remaining crew were shocked, the soldiers acted again before they reacted. Thud! Thud! Loud thudding sounds of heavy boots stamping the metal floor reverberated from the armory as the first group of elite Atlantian soldiers finally showed themselves immediately after the first ambush shot. Unlike the previous group of Atlantian soldiers whom Sebastian and his group fought with, these guys were prepared for battle. They were already in their military uniform, a black military uniform with decorative stars around it that made it look like the starry sky. This weapon shot the bullet that injured Tonado in one blow. From the first shot from the submarine-like vehicle to this moment, only a second had passed. The vehicle just shot a bullet, and now it was recharging for the next shot, but this delay did not mean a halt to the Atlantians'' offensive. The soldiers already had their weapons aimed at their targets even before the vehicle unleashed the first shot; they simply pulled the trigger. Boom! Boom! [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] Almost at the same time that Sebastian moved, his other crew members moved, using their various means to dodge the volley of gunshots. Sebastian rapidly dodged to the side with his advanced dash skill while being protected by his magic shield. Despite his speed, 3 bullets still hit but their force was absolved by the magic shield. The first shot that injured Tonado revealed one thing to him, these soldiers came prepared with a plan. To counter their plan, the best way was to not let them even execute it in the first place. His own plan was to disrupt the enemy''s plan by his deadly offensive. While the soldiers adjusted their aims, Sebastian rushed forward as skills were rapidly activated in his mind. The next moment, he roared a word of profanity. "F*ck you!!!" [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection!] Sebastian started his offensive with this. Instantly, all the Atlantian soldiers grew dizzy from the attack, with blood even coming from some of their noses. They may be elite veteran soldiers, but they were still mostly low-ranked Bronze Realm soldiers. When they opened their eyes, a giant Megalodon was already in their midst. [You have activated skill: Crushing Bite.] Crunch! An Atlantian soldier lost his head instantly. With his rampant entry, Sebastian finally found space for his electroreceptors to blast everywhere without restraints. It did not take him long before he scouted the whole armory. Compared to the sleeping quarters, the armory was much smaller. This armory was built in the shape of a giant library, with the long column of bookshelves now being giant columns that held various military weapons, both heavy and light, mechanical and electrical, technological and magical. The space between these columns was already filled up, Atlantian soldiers filled the area, having set up sturdy defense battle formations. The only saving grace was that these soldiers may be elites, but they were not perfect. Sebastian saw a negligible weak point from one of these groups of elite soldiers and he acted on it immediately. "Attack this point". Without a word of complaint, the 3 other predators followed Sebastian as they focused all their attacks at one of the groups of soldiers, ignoring all the others that were spread across the other columns. The soldiers reacted, shooting rapidly but Sebastian and his crew ignored this negligible damage and charged on with no intention to stop. The fire domain shark started the offensive, clearing a path open with his super-hot fire. Sebastian acted on it, shooting his magic teeth like a sub-machine gun, while the metal domain shark threw metal spikes rampantly. As for the shadow domain Python, it followed Sebastian''s orders and focused on releasing disorienting shadow skills at the enemies. An organized enemy was always the most dangerous. Sebastian''s plan on seeing this ambush was to destroy the cohesiveness and organization of these soldiers, and it worked wonders. As soon as the cohesiveness of the soldiers was disrupted, this originally negligible weak point turned into a glaringly large weak point. Under Sebastian''s leadership, the 4 predators bulldozed their way forward, killing if they could and ignoring if they could not. This way, under the astonished gaze of the elite soldiers, this predator crew continued forging forward. These soldiers were tasked to stop the predators until their trump card arrived, but to their shock, they couldn''t even keep them in one place for a minute. As for Tonado, Sebastian was not worried about the old toad. If Tonado could be so easily taken down, then they had no hopes of succeeding in the first place. He hadn''t finished thinking of the toad when he arrived furiously. Tonado now suffered a huge crack in his back blisters'' adaptation, but the pain only stimulated his fury more. He directed this fury into strength, wreaking havoc as the strain on the Atlantians increased. Their escape speed increased exponentially with his return. Originally, the plan here was for the soldiers to overwhelm the predators with numbers and perfect cohesive cooperation. Unfortunately for them, these predators'' decisions somehow countered this plan perfectly. It was like the predators strangely understood their thought process and pattern which was in itself terrifying. Left with no choice, all the other elite soldiers started converging towards the single column where Sebastian and his crew escaped. The battle intensity increased in a constant upward trend as time passed. The lethal weapons of the Atlantian soldiers started inflicting injuries on the predators, but the predators also started killing them. The tension in the water increased, intense bloodthirstiness from both sides diffused everywhere, making the atmosphere turn as hard as steel. Woof! Woof! Tonado''s ears twitched on hearing these loud woofs like those from wild dogs that could rip an elephant apart. The barking sounds continued unrelentingly, increasing in volume to the extent that Sebastian focused his electroreceptors backward. It took a few more seconds, but those that were responsible for these barking sounds emerged. These were terrifying metal Hounds with thick skin that glowed with a metallic gleam, and teeth that gleamed like the sharp edge of a dagger. Their red eyes flickered ominously like those of a horror zombie robot. Almost as soon that these Hounds appeared, a connection was established in another chamber of the military base, the experimental battle pet quarters. A group of soldiers sat in special mechanical chairs in the experimental battle pet quarters with consoles over their heads, and at this moment, after coming online, their vision was exactly what the Hound dogs were seeing. [Order Received: Attack!] Back in the armory, the Hound dogs suddenly made this sound of acknowledgment before letting loose and going berserk. The next moment, they pounced towards the predators without fear. If it was just one, it was manageable but these Hound dogs were more than 50. Their strength was not measured yet, but Sebastian''s intuition told him that they faintly had normal orange tier strength. These were dangerous new variables. [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill.] Clank! Sebastian attacked first but only a loud metallic sound of impact reverberated, then the Hound dog attacked in retaliation. Seeing this strange metal dog abomination, he felt familiar danger vibes but he ignored them and focused on surviving first. While Sebastian''s magic shield was still flickering to life, a tyrannically destructive magic presence suddenly emerged inside the main armory. Through his electroreceptors, Sebastian saw a huge trident that was covered with destructive lightning magic rapidly stabbing towards him. Sergeant Barnes was here! Chapter 204 - Escape [6]. Sebastian felt goosebumps filling his body, he was in danger! As soon as Sergeant Barnes arrived, he was furious seeing the number of his subordinates that floated in the water dead. Despite this, he did not act impulsively, this scene only increased his apprehension against these predators. Like a mantis stalking the Cicada, this powerful Atlantian hid his presence and observed from the dark. In just a few seconds of observation, he knew that despite the purple tier Toad being the strongest of the 5, the Megalodon was actually the real menace. Instantly, he decided on his target then he erupted. Unlike predators who get magic domains after evolution, variant humans had to work hard themselves to deduce and harness the power of the origin magic. Due to this, variant humans also had various areas of focus in magic. Just like strength practitioners, mages were also practitioners in either sound, fire, ice, or others. For Sergeant Barnes, he was a thunder practitioner. And anywhere there was thunder, there is lightning. Lightning crackled fiercely in the water like snake water dragons, engulfing the Sergeant in his magic armor as his already white eyes focused on the huge Megalodon while his body rapidly launched forward like a canon. His speed was so fast that he left a blur. With his hands tightly clenching his magic Trident, thunder boomed as what seemed like a black cloud with heavenly tribulations in it shrouded the ceiling of this armory. He got close in seconds, then he struck. Boom! Sebastian felt his body tense up, he was in mortal danger but his mind was calm. This was because he already expected this, and it was already taken note of when he made his plans. While he fought, he was secretly waiting for Sergeant Barnes. And now that he was here, it was time to switch to plan B. After staying in this military base for over a month, he already knew what the Atlantians were after thanks to the 5 blabbering guards. Though he knew this, he was not about to cripple himself just to keep this a secret which would severely affect his plan and decrease their escape chances. He planned that after Sergeant Barnes arrived, he would surprise the motherf*ckers with this gift to injure the most pivotal Atlantian soldiers here. That way, their escape chances would instantly increase by 20%. He was the one who started the activation of plan B, he would take the lead as an example for his other crew members to follow. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Ice Spears!] Sergeant Barnes'' eyes suddenly widened, first he saw a huge pitch-black heavy shield appear out of nowhere, then his highly s?ns?t?v? mage body suddenly started feeling the temperature dropping rapidly. Something was wrong! Bam! Bam! Bam! Under Sebastian''s meticulous control, the ice spears flew out like spikes that were released by an Ancient Ice Dragon. They left no time for the Sergeant to react as they all impaled him squarely on the ?h?st. A loud metallic ringing sound reverberated, the Sergeant''s magic armor acted up, erecting a brown magic shield but it only stopped 2 ice spears. The others ruthlessly impaled Sergeant Barnes. Ptui! The Sergeant coughed blood as he felt his bodily functions rapidly being suppressed by the invasive ice magic power. A part of his abdomen froze before he could react, and the Megalodon was coming after him again. [You have created a magic manifestation: Flaming Sword!] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] [You have created¡­] Instantly after Sebastian erupted with his full power, this powerful Atlantian Sergeant was suppressed despite all his magic weapons and gadgets, before finally being thrashed like a ragdoll. Sebastian did not leave any holes behind, he attacked with his all, straining his mind to the limits to give this Sergeant the beating of his life. Almost immediately after he attacked, the other predators under Tonado''s leadership also erupted with even more power. Previously, they were bulldozing through the ranks of the Atlantians, but if that was all that Tonado was capable of, then his status as a centuries-old monster and a terrifying purple tier Toad would be a farce. He was extremely powerful; he was capable of much more than this. Boom! Boom! His tongue adaptation shot out again, but this time with almost as much as 2 times the force and speed propelling it. Like a sickle, this deadly whip-like tongue reaped the harvest that was obstructing it clean without any leftovers. Over 8 unlucky Atlantian soldiers died from this one blow. And at the same time that the old toad moved, the shadow domain Python and the 2 sharks also moved. With the fire domain shark starting it, they put in their all to wreak havoc without caring about their injuries. "Ocean King''s inheritance? The Legendary Water Transmutation?!" Every Atlantian soldier was shocked, including Sergeant Barnes who was at the receiving end of Sebastians'' attack barrage. Instantly, scenes from a month ago when Queen Auralis addressed them emerged. This was the main mission target that was given to every Atlantian fleet, find the shark and retrieve the water transmutation unique skill. Now this shark, this priceless treasure, this thing that could decide the fate of their race was here. Of course, they became frenzied immediately. The predators disregarded defense to attack rampantly, but theirs was even more extreme, they disregarded everything to attack even more rampantly. This was the Crimson Fleet''s main armory in the first place. In here, there was no lack of ammunition, weapons, mage bombs, and other accessories. An armory was a war resources storage, this was the perfect battlefield for them. Bam! Bam! Bam! Instantly, every Atlantian soldier changed his/her target. Their weapons released gunshot after gunshot, others laser shot after laser shot, with others releasing bullets with various strange effects all at the enormous Megalodon. Suddenly, they felt like gym freaks who had just taken 10,000mg of the legendary Tramadol, their eyes were red, their breathing was rapid, their heartbeat was super-fast, and their energy levels were at a hyperactive level. Of course, Sebastian was not omnipotent in his planning, he underestimated the Atlantians'' resolve. He did not expect them to leave everything to attack him so rampantly, but fortunately, during his speculations, he once arrived at this. Then, he felt that it was unlikely but he still created a contingency for it. Contingency plans were now his second nature going into any battle. Instantly after the Atlantian soldiers all changed targets, the old toad and the others intensified their attacks. They didn''t rush to reinforce Sebastian, they rather focused on dealing even more astronomical damage to the Atlantian soldiers. As for Sebastian, of course, facing so many attacks from enemies was strenuous but he was up for the task. While maintaining his offensive against the Atlantian Sergeant, he activated his most mana-draining magic manifestation. [You have created a magic manifestation: Heavy Armor!] As soon as this pitch-black armor covered Sebastian''s enormous body, he saw his mana points visibly decreasing at the rate of a running tap. He and his predator crew were now in a race against time. With this armor, he ignored defense, none of these Atlantians, not even Sergeant Barnes with his full-powered attack could breach this armor. He was like an Ancient Dragon that was finally let loose to spread destruction, and he did. Sebastian focused his all on Sergeant Barnes, battering him to the extent where the Sergeant now seemed like a helpless ping pong ball, while the Atlantian soldiers focused on him, helplessly attacking without any meaningful result. In a few seconds, blood submerged this armory like a river. In just about 2 minutes, Sebastian''s mana points were already getting low but the Atlantians suffered worse. Over 100 soldiers already died, their leader was in a pathetic state, and Sebastian was still firmly protected in his armor. Seeing this, Sergeant Barnes finally knew that he screwed up. "Retreat! Defend yourself!" The Sergeant roared indignantly. The soldiers were unwilling but the reality in front of them was painful. With indignant hearts and furious minds, they started retreating in shame. Sebastian also felt that it was a shame, a real painful shame because despite all his efforts, in the end, he could not kill the Sergeant. Sergeant Barnes was a veteran Atlantian fleet leader. He was gouged full with magic weapons and gadgets; he could not be so easily taken down. Though this was the case, he was satisfied, his plan here was a massive success. He moved as soon as the Atlantian soldiers started retreating. With the layout of the military base still in his head, Sebastian rapidly swam away with speed, leading his companions in the direction that lead to the next chamber of this military base. About a minute later, they arrived at the Leaders Sleeping Quarters. Chapter 205 - Escape [7]. Huff! Huff! Sergeant Barnes let in deep gasps for breath in the water, his eyes were red, and his lungs felt fried. If not because of his water-mutated gills, such violent gasps for breath would have long choked him. His body was filled with injuries, his blood seeped out from every orifice of his body as the pain stimulated his brain in waves, making him feel slightly dizzy. At the place where he stood, he could feel his brain oscillating like electromagnetic waves. The world felt like a spiraling giant wheel to him, everything was spinning and was upside down. The previous battle battered him badly. Despite his sorry state, this Sergeant was not worried about his body. His mind was completely preoccupied with the previous battle. He arrived as a hero, but he was beaten black and blue like a thief. He couldn''t even fulfill the reason why he entered the battlefield, rather he became a magnet that attracted more trouble to his subordinates. The thrashing that he suffered under Sebastian''s tyrannical might was still fresh in his mind. It was a humiliating eye-opener to him. He survived only because of his life-preservation magic gadgets. What made him even angrier was the fact that he had been sheltering this ticking time bomb disaster for over a month. After clarification from Doctor Statham, he never would have thought that the Megalodon actually had the unique skill that his whole race was hunting everywhere for. He felt angry, but he also felt relieved. The fact alone that his Crimson Fleet was the one who found this Megalodon was a great contribution on their part that could propel them to higher heights in the nearest future. Of the over 300 soldiers who came into the armory to intercept the predators, only a little more than 180 survived, and most survived with injuries. The previous battle was a painful loss on their part. The more he thought of this, the more pain he felt so he simply closed his eyes as he rested his tired body against one of the columns in the armory. His brain gradually calmed down as he did this. With a much calmer demeanor, he dropped his hands before pulling out a magic gadget that seemed like a radio transmitter from his storage bag. "Good day, this is the Atlantian Information Unit Headquarters". "Good day, I am Staff Sergeant Barnes of the Crimson Fleet". "Ok Staff Sergeant, how may I help you?" "I found the race''s target. I found the shark with the Water Transmutation unique skill, he''s already a Megalodon". "Wait¡­! What?" The voice on the other end of this transmission immediately perked up. The information that was just revealed was so important that she lost her cool for a moment, but as a professional, she quickly calmed down again. "Tell me the details". "It''s this way¡­" "Understood, Staff Sergeant". "You have to hold that shark down even if you can''t bring it down!" "You mustn''t let it escape!" "Yes ma''am!" Barnes was calm, he already expected to hear this. "Ok, reinforcements will be coming your way as soon as possible. Remember, you''ve done a considerable contribution to the race''s development". "Well-done soldier!" "Thanks, ma''am". Click! As soon as the transmission ended, Staff Sergeant Barnes slumped down and rested his body against another pillar while he held his head with his hands. With this, the pressure for success just increased exponentially. He still remembered the Captain''s words clearly. "Remember, when you get any clue, no matter how inconsequential about the appearance and use of the Water Transmutation skill, don''t inform us, inform headquarters immediately". As soon as this word played in his head, his mind calmed down, he had already done the needful. Now, he was ready to give his best to stop this Megalodon. He may be severely injured, but as the leader of this fleet, he had more than 10 ways to rapidly heal injuries that were more severe than this. Once again, he took up the magic gadget that looked like a radio transmitter. "Staff Sergeant, I''m awaiting your orders". Hearing this confident female voice, Staff Sergeant Barnes smiled which alleviated the stress that was prominent on his face a bit. This was his ?ssistant for this mission, Sergeant Ralia, and having known the severity of the situation, her playful side was gone and was now replaced by a sturdy mountain personality. She was ready to do anything to hold this Megalodon now. Staff Sergeant Barnes nodded his head before giving his orders. "Empty the Fleet Hospital, and make sure that the Doctors are tightly protected". "Inform Engineer Macuck and his crew to personally go activate the Doomsday defense mechanisms". "Then converge everyone at the Defense Domain". "Yes, Staff Sergeant!" ¡­ Boom! Boom! Sebastian''s magic shield flickered under the might of this explosive bombardment, the other predators in his crew also protected themselves as they got prepared to counterattack. Another round of pressurized bombs was thrown by the Atlantian soldiers immediately after the first, not giving the predators any time to react. This was what Sebastian and his crew faced after they barged into the Leaders Sleeping Quarters, they faced bombs! After the bloody scenario that just happened in the Main Armory, where even Staff Sergeant Barnes almost died, the Atlantian soldiers finally had a reality check and their eyes were now open. After the Armory encounter, the President of the central control quarters who was watching everything improvised. Through his guidance in acknowledgment of the Staff Sergeant''s orders, they adjusted their approach. They no longer barged out bravely to duke it out with the predators, rather than doing that, they hid in the background and bombarded the beasts with bombs which they had an abundance of. Highly pressurized bombs, gravity bombs, electric bombs, highly explosive bombs, time bombs, they used them all against the predators. Faced against such a passive but dangerous offensive, Sebastian and his crew developed a headache. They could not abandon their escape to pursue and kill their enemies, but their enemies kept on injuring them. The situation was suffocatingly frustrating to the predators but the originally volatile predators didn''t make an impulsive move, this was because Sebastian didn''t allow it. Sebastian was intelligent, he could feel another plan in play. He knew that him revealing his unique skill would bring even more problems and variables, he felt no regret though, he was ready to face anything. As they escaped, he already noticed that most people that were in this Leaders Sleeping Quarters were already evacuated. This alone revealed a lot to him, a huge plan was being executed. This was the reason why he forced his companions so they could keep moving forward at the fastest speed. The more time they spent, the more time the Atlantians had to prepare and mount a frightening offensive or defensive force. This was something that they absolutely couldn''t afford to see happen. Like this, despite the constant damage from the bomb bombardments around them, they kept on swimming forward. The Leaders Sleeping Quarters comprised of a long corridor, and the leaders'' rooms were spread in a cross along the long corridor. This way, Sebastian and his crew didn''t have to pass the rooms to get to the next chamber, they just had to continue threading the long corridor before they got to the next sleeping quarters. Amid the damage from the bombs and their occasional rapid counterattack, another 4 minutes passed and they got to the last part of the corridor. The room closest to this part of the corridor was Doctor Josephine''s room. Clang! While Sebastian swam along, a door that was hidden in the walls of the corridor suddenly opened. And out of this corridor came out Atlantians. 15 Atlantian soldiers, a group of civilians in white clothes and others in blue clothes, with the most eye-catching of them being the middle-aged Doctor Mrs. Josephine and the middle-aged Engineer Macuck. This group was the last group of evacuators from the Leaders Sleeping Quarters. They were delayed because the lead Doctor returned to get one of her most critical diagnosis gadgets, and now here they were. They were originally supposed to have returned and gone smoothly, but they failed to add in the variable of the predators'' rapid advancement through the military base. The central control quarters tried to warn them but it was too late. Every Atlantian in this group widened their eyes in shock and fear on seeing these predators, while Sebastian''s eyes revealed an ominous glint. Chapter 206 - Escape [8]. [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] Whoosh! Sebastian moved before his teammates could blink and before the Atlantians could think, arriving before them in the blink of an eye. His speed was so fast that all the predators and Atlantians saw was a blue blur. As soon as Sebastian saw the Atlantians, his already alert mind paired with the tense situation was immediately stimulated, going into overdrive. The map of the military base first flashed through his mind again, then it narrowed on 2 names- Doctor Mrs. Josephine and Engineer Macuck. Without a doubt, these 2 names belonged to these 2 middle-aged individuals. Due to the time that they already spent escaping, Sebastian was already fearing for the worst which was evidently waiting for them in the Defense Domain. He knew that with his original plan, they were probably fried toast already, he needed a breakthrough point. He had been cracking his head for minutes without success about this, but who thought success would land so easily? To him, the emergence of these Atlantians was his road to success! As usual, he used the strategy that he was already growing to love, move and strike before they could think, plan, or even react. This whole area was called the Leaders Sleeping Quarters, the elite Atlantian soldiers were here, and leaders like this middle-aged Engineer and Doctor would probably be protected by some of the very best. As he had no intention to play around, Sebastian went all out from the onset. He was escaping, not playing, dignity was not needed here at all. So long as he survived this encounter, to hell with dignity. He arrived before the Atlantians while they watched motionlessly, then he penetrated their tight defensive line like a hot knife cutting through bu??er. In the process of doing this, he activated another skill. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Pressurized Water Blades.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Airbag!] Whoosh! While the Atlantian soldiers still haven''t reacted, blue crystalline pressurized water blades suddenly materialized as they rapidly cut through the surrounding soldiers with force and sharpness that could cleave mountains. Sebastian got the inspiration for this in his one month of captivity. One day, he went deep in thought. A lot of his queries about the water transmutation skill were already answered, so if he could create unconventional magic manifestations like human hands, it meant he could create much more. Instantly, he tried it and he created what his mind thought of. He finally started understanding why this unique skill was said to be powered by imagination. He still had some queries about why he couldn''t create them at first even though he tried, so he asked Tonado, who told him the full gist of the story. His magic manifestation creation was so monotonic and limited because he hadn''t comprehended any origin law of the unique skill yet. According to Tonado, each skill in this world contained origin marks or laws. To improve the power and proficiency with a skill, the user needed to comprehend more origin laws of the said skill. This was why the same Battering Ram skill that Sebastian had, in other more veteran predators'' hands was much more powerful. The comprehension levels of origin laws were separated into the initial level, the intermediate level, the advanced level, the Red Master level, and the Black grandmaster level. Tonado has a proficiency of the initial level with his normal tongue adaptation attacking skill, while for his killer move, his proficiency of the origin laws was at the intermediate level which explained its outrageous power. These attainments showed that his claim as an old monster was not false, Sebastian comprehending to the initial level at such a young age was due to a lot of factors aligning together which made him a genius. After a lot of thinking and meditation, while he was in captivity, Sebastian''s comprehension of the Water Transmutation unique skill''s origin laws finally climbed into the initial level which was the reason for his increased proficiency. Now, his use of the Water Transmutation skill was already bordering on the level of being beastly. All these thoughts went through Sebastian''s mind in an instant as a strange smile lit up his shark face, the battle was still ongoing but was already decided. A fraction of a second finally passed, the elite Atlantian soldiers finally reacted but it was too late, a pivotally important figure was just taken captive. The magic manifestation that looked like an airbag captured and yanked Doctor Mrs. Josephine away before the others could react. After thinking rapidly, Sebastian decided that the Doctor was more valuable. "Devour them!" Sebastian finally ordered. Even before he ordered, his pressurized water blades were already wreaking havoc through the ranks of the Atlantian soldiers. 2 apprentice Engineers and 4 apprentice Doctors already died. While this happened, Tonado and the other predators attacked. Boom! Boom! 5 Atlantian soldiers died in less than a second, bringing the originally fat defensive force of the Atlantians to a mere 10. This was when the middle-aged Doctor Macuck finally reacted to his shock. Sebastian''s move took a lot of mana points from him, so he was now lay low at the back of the group to recover which granted this Engineer all the time that he needed to move. He took advantage of it without hesitation. This Engineer reacted like a don. Calmly, he first brought out a special cloak that covered and enabled him to blend into the surroundings in a camouflaged state. Then with his ?ssistant''s help, he brought out strange gadgets from his storage box. This Engineer threw these gadgets in the predators'' directions. The first one that looked like a serum sealed in a glass bottle exploded, releasing red gas that immediately diffused into the surrounding. The others exploded soon after, revealing different gases that moved with an abnormal speed, rapidly diffusing through the water. One of the glasses after the explosion revealed a green gas that diffused into the water with a smell that could kill demons, it was the smell of 10,000 rotten eggs mashed together and stuffed inside a sardine can. [You have been inflicted with the gas drug: Drunk-Craze Gas!] [You have been inflicted with the gas drug: Ultimate Rotten Gas!] [You have been inflicted with the gas drug: Crazy Living!] [You have been inflicted¡­] [You have been affected by a weakening effect: Mild Confusion.] [You have been affected by a weakening effect: Mild Dizziness.] [You have been affected by a weakening effect: Sensory Smell Disorder.] [You have been affected¡­] [You have been affected¡­] These gases were deadly! Instantly, Sebastian''s sensory organs were bombarded with different sensations that almost drove him crazy. His eyesight became blurry, his targets seemed to have disappeared, his nose twitched like crazy as the mad rotten smell invaded his senses like a plague, his body felt a great sense of disgust that was capable of driving him insane. While this happened to the 5 predators, the Atlantians took this chance to reorganize their formation, this time around Engineer Macuck alone. In a few moments, the elite soldiers already formed a sturdy defense. "Ignore them and escape!" Before the soldiers could start their offensive, Sebastian decisively ordered his companions to leave, they were in a race against time. Chapter 207 - The Final Battle! Inside sleeping quarters A-1. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound translation construct: Atlantis language.] "I''m asking you for one last time, tell me the exit door location of this military base or you''re dying with me". Doctor Mrs. Josephine pursed her lips as a sad and complicated feeling invaded her heart, but her lips remained tightly sealed. Though she heard it more than 20 times already, she still couldn''t get over the fact that this Megalodon was communicating with her language. It felt strange, satisfying, but spooky at the same time. For the past 10 minutes, as Sebastian expected, almost every Atlantian was already evacuated from the A series sleeping quarters, leaving only the soldiers behind to obstruct Sebastian and his crew. This way, they exerted effort to break and pass through all the traps that were set by the Atlantian soldiers, ruthlessly killing them at every opportunity. At this moment, Sebastian and his companions already suffered a lot of injuries, their chances of escape kept on decreasing with time which was the main reason why Sebastian kept on pressuring this Doctor. Seeing the resolute look on the Doctor''s face, though Sebastian felt like ending her life immediately, in the end, he couldn''t bring himself to do it. After over 10 minutes, he already understood this doctor''s personality. She was knowledgeable, highly inquisitive, curious, was scared of him, and was annoyingly honest. At this moment, he really felt like killing her but still couldn''t. In the end, he simply yanked her inside her airbag again before sealing her up. He was taking her with him, if in the Defense Domain, he was really going to die, this middle-aged woman was going down with him. "Let''s continue". Without a word, the predators continued their escape journey. About a minute later, they arrived at the Medical Quarters which was also the Crimson Fleet''s main hospital. Entering this environment and seeing how deserted it was, Doctor Josephine revealed a complicated expression on her face but Sebastian paid her no heed. In this chamber, unlike the previous chambers, no soldiers were left behind to intercept and wear out Sebastian and his crew. The hospital was eerily silent, just like the scene in a graveyard. Instead of feeling happy at this scene, Sebastian''s shark face turned grave. The tension was increasing, the water pressure seemed to be increasing rapidly. With a heavy heart, they continued their escape in silence. Just 2 minutes later, they arrived at their last and possibly their greatest hurdle of all, the Crimson Fleet''s Defense Domain. With a solemn expression, Tonado got prepared to use his killer move to tear down this enormous metal door that seemed to be made out of Vibranium but the most inconceivable of things happened the next moment. Clang! This enormous door opened! It opened on its own accord! Its opening was extremely slow, perhaps deliberately done by the Atlantians but Sebastian swore that it was effective in messing up with his mind. The water now felt as thick as a quagmire to him. It took about 45 seconds before the door opened completely to reveal what was behind it, and it was mind-blowing. Sebastian felt like laughing to himself bitterly, the Crimson Fleet was indeed now prepared for them. The indomitable Atlantians were prepared to deal with the escapee predators. The Defense Domain was a huge square-shaped chamber, and this huge chamber was already filled with heavily armed Atlantian soldiers. The Atlantian soldiers already formed a heavy defense line. The first line of defense was the biggest and was filled with about 300 soldiers holding enormous circular shields and spears, their formation was exactly like the legendary 300 Spartan defense-offense formation. Most of the soldiers that made up this defense line hovered high in the water for a wilder field of vision. Most held different types of hot guns, while others wielded cold weapons like spears, bow and arrows, and other strange weapons. The last 2 defense lines were the versatile group. Apart from wielding different types of weapons, both for close and ranged combat, this group had heavy war machines in their midst. Apart from the crab-like war underwater vehicles, the underwater tanks, the truck-like harpoon launchers, and the metal war hounds that roamed their formations, there were 4 most conspicuous war machines on the battlefield. Roaming freely at the back of the defense lines were 2 enormous battle submarines, an enormous mechanical metal shark, and a huge menacing tank-like underwater vehicle with a muzzle as big as Sebastian''s head. At the top of this menacing tank-like underwater war vehicle was written a name in bold. Being the only war machine among all of them to have a name written so boldly, it told of its status. >The Destroyer!< 10 seconds passed, the Atlantian soldiers remained silent, and the 5 predators including Tonado remained frozen in their position. They all seemed to be in deep thought, but a loud voice awoke them the next moment. "Surrender!" Sebastian looked up only to see a huge mechanical shuttle floating in the water at the top of this chamber. This mechanical shuttle carried 2 familiar figures and a bunch of elite Atlantian soldiers. "Surrender!" The Staff Sergeant intoned loudly again to drive home his point. Seeing no reaction from the other predators nor the Megalodon after more than a minute, Staff Sergeant Barnes calmly opened his mouth to speak again. "You''re surrounded! You''re cornered!" "This Defense Domain is indestructible, at least to the means available to all 5 of you. The cliff walls are also impenetrable to your skills, so forget any hopes of breaking a path to your escape". "There are over 800 soldiers currently gathered inside this domain". "Putting aside the other war machines, our experimental battle pet, the Doom Metal Shark can contend equally with your strongest". "The Destroyer is worse; it can destroy any of you 5 in just one shot". "Be grateful that Doctor Statham still has a use for the 5 of you in his lab, that is the only reason why you have a chance of living after all the atrocities that you committed". "You beat me once does not mean you can beat me again". "Surrender!" After this, the Defense Domain was plunged into a grave silence again. The silence was suffocating to both sides, the inactivity was grating at their nerves, the tension in the water was almost solidifying. Tonado wavered, seeing this enormous force, his will to fight started evaporating but still, he hardened his face and turned to face the Ocean Master. As for the other predators, fear was already planted on their faces. After enduring attacks for so long, having to pass through an overwhelming force like this completely evaporated all their confidence. They failed! They failed to escape! With his electroreceptors active, Sebastian saw all that was going on, including the minute changes in his companion''s bodies and expressions. "Well played Atlantian". He commended in his mind as a word that the Atlantian Staff Sergeant said kept on playing in his mind. "You beat me once does not mean you can beat me again". 2 minutes after Barnes finished speaking, Sebastian finally replied. "You think so?" "Huh?" The soldiers were confused, including Staff Sergeant Barnes. While they speculated about what this Megalodon meant, Sebastian continued. "You beat me once does not mean you can beat me again, you really think so?" Hearing this, Staff Sergeant Barnes immediately felt a bad feeling creeping up his mind, his heart tightened. "If you had phrased it in another way, I may have indeed surrendered, but unfortunately, I''ll have to prove to you that I can beat you again". Sebastian took a deep breath before ordering loudly. "ADVANCE!" The final battle began! Chapter 208 - Fierce Battle [1]. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Pressurized Water Blades!] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Ice Spears!] While Sebastian said those words to the Atlantian Staff Sergeant, his blood was already boiling hot. After spending more than 3 months in this world, his personality already adapted and developed to an extreme Megalodon realm. He may be in a terrible situation, but no one, not even a fully m?tur?d Sea King had the right to tell him such words. In certain situations, he could compromise if the need called for it but definitely not here, the situation was not at that certain realm yet. And who said they would be let off if they surrendered? Atlantians could not be trusted. Sebastian ordered the advance and led the charge! As soon as the first series of skills activated, Sebastian''s huge body was propelled forward with speed, with lightning, bashing, and biting accompanying it. Behind him, the 4 other predators in his crew ignored their misgivings and followed their leader with undaunting courage and unstoppable momentum. "Toad Killer Move: Ten Thousand Years of Pain!" The familiar thick green magic power enveloped with a tinge of purple immediately appeared as it rapidly wrapped around the fearsome tongue adaptation that was already lashing out at the targets. Instantly, Staff Sergeant Barnes felt a strong sense of danger. He tried to alert the soldiers that were at the first line of defense, but they seemed to not need it as they were already in a sturdy defensive shape as soon as the Megalodon moved. But did this really matter? No one knew. Seeing these 2 extremes move from their 2 default leaders, the 2 Great White Sharks and the mutated Python were riled up. Like 3 bulls on steroids, they erupted like ancient Dragons that just woke from a deep slumber. Even before this lavish galore of skills hit, the temperature in the Defense Domain already turned freezing and the loud sound that accompanied the skills were like rapidly exploding dominoes. The soldiers making up the first line of defense managed to form a perfect circular defensive battle formation with their shields before the killer move hit. BOOM! Boom! Boom! Boom! Tonado''s killer move was the first that arrived, and it dealt the most damage also. The super sharp tongue ripped through the first row of shields like they were mere paper while ripping through the rest like they were mere logs of wood. The killer move was just too powerful. The move instantly destabilized the formation of the Atlantian''s first defensive line, and before they could react Sebastian arrived with his huge body accompanied by his magic manifestation. Whoosh! The pressurized water blades took the lead, cutting through the Atlantians'' bodies despite their heavy armors like a hot knife cutting through bu??er. While the blades cut through, the pitch-black war hammer descended like Thor''s legendary hammer, the Mjolnir, crushing the Atlantians, their armor, and their special shields alike. Behind the war hammer was the ice spears'' magic manifestation. Their impaling power and the damage that they caused to the Atlantians were insignificant compared to the other attacks due to the Atlantians'' armors, but this was not why Sebastian decided to use it. As soon as the spears arrived, the Atlantians shuddered as a fierce wave of extreme cold and frost spread through them like the unstoppable spread of the legendary covid-19. About 20 Atlantian soldiers were frozen stiff immediately due to the amount of magic power that Sebastian pumped into this magic manifestation. The Atlantian soldiers didn''t have time to recover from their predicament when raging wildfire bombarded them. The attack of the 3 other predators added pepper to their injuries, increasing their suffering. This attack started less than a fraction of a second ago, but the Atlantians'' first line of defense seemed to be crumbling already. Sebastian led this charge for another 5 seconds, killing about 20 Atlantians in the process before they were stopped in their path. Clang! After the first unstoppable charge, their momentum decreased and a shield finally stopped Sebastian''s enormous body in its path. A mere Atlantian soldier could not stop a rapidly swimming Megalodon, the shield did the most job. At the last moment, the shield erupted with an aggressive blue glow that succeeded in pushing Sebastian backward. Tonado and the other predators tried to continue the charge but they were all simultaneously stopped just a second later, the Atlantians were indeed prepared. They were fearsome when prepared. Almost immediately after the predators were stopped in their tracks, the soldiers counterattacked with their spears. Powered by a red aggressive glow, their spears succeeded in penetrating the predators'' bodies except Tonado''s. While the soldiers of the first defense line counterattacked, those of the second defense line also finally stepped up and attacked. Mages were prominently ranged experts. Those Atlantian soldiers that made up the second line of defense were mostly mages, and at this moment, together with the strength practitioners, they showed their strength. Huge fireballs, tiny but deadly fire needles, pressurized water blades, frost spikes, shadow, and other magic abilities were released by the Atlantians, including countless arrows that covered everywhere, pressurized water beam shots, and numerous bullet shots from the strength practitioners. In just a few seconds, the Defense Domain was plunged into a chaotic battle. From the shuttle high up in the water, Staff Sergeant Barnes looked down at the chaotic battle with a regretful expression on his face. In the end, the Megalodon was too intelligent, he failed in hoodwinking it. This didn''t matter much though at this moment, to him, this battle was already concluded before it even started. Bzzz! Lightning suddenly buzzed loudly around him as his magic Trident appeared in his grasp, from the normal white and black, his eyes also turned, first into what seemed like clouds before being filled with raging thunder and lightning. Staff Sergeant Barnes'' voice deepened coldly. "Annihilate the beasts!'' Hearing their leader''s orders, the last 2 versatile defense formation soldiers finally moved. They moved like a unit, and according to the central control chamber President''s orders, they started surrounding the predators. While they did this, the monsters in metal skin were finally unleashed. The enormous metal shark''s roar announced the start of the heavy machine battle. As soon as it swam out, the 2 submarines also moved, including all the other war machines that were mobilized for this battle. Only the huge tank-like underwater war machine was left behind, but this still represented the greatest threat as its enormous muzzle was auto-locked on Sebastian''s inconveniently huge head. Sebastian couldn''t pay attention to this though, the battle became hot just a minute after it started with blood flowing, flesh being dissected and flying randomly, and deaths occurring. Sebastian and the other predators already started bleeding severely, but the more they bled, the more berserk they became. All of them used all the skills in their repertoire that were available for battle just for that tiny chance of escaping. Tonado was still more powerful, but Sebastian''s body seemed to have turned into an unstoppable war fortress. His countless body skills came to use in this place, he bulldozed through the ranks of the Atlantians despite his injury. Boom! Another full-powered thunder blast from the Atlantian Staff Sergeant hit his back, causing him to spasm in pain for a second but he gritted his teeth and counterattacked, sending a powerful sonic drill back at the Staff Sergeant. Tonado was the least injured due to his back blisters defense adaptation, but as the strongest, he was targeted by the Atlantians the most after Sebastian. The more he fought, the more he felt the shadow of death drawing closer but seeing the Ocean Master in a more terrible situation, he shrugged off his instinctive fear of death and fought with his life. Another battering ram from Sebastian sent the Atlantian Staff Sergeant flying away, but another menace arrived. After evading it for over a minute, the huge metal shark finally caught up with Sebastian. [You have been hit by a skill: Magnetic Qi Bite.] Crunch! Sebastian felt a pain that he''s not felt before invading his bones but with his teeth tightly grinding against each other, he counterattacked with his spike attack skill which only made clanging metallic sounds against the metal shark''s skin. Sebastian was pinned in one place by the shark''s fearsome rows of teeth. Sebastian surveyed the surrounding with his electroreceptors but found no helpers, all his companions were also in a pinch, and both submarines finally aimed their main weapons at his motionless body. He and his companions were already surrounded tightly, there was no point of escape for the 5 of them. Death was beckoning. If he was hit without any defense shield covering his body, the impact would cripple his battle ability immediately. He was in a deadly situation. Sebastian tried to think but he was given no time, the first submarine shot its deadly canon that increased the water temperature exponentially. Boom! At the last moment, Sebastian used his fearsome strength to drag the metal shark to the side, dodging on time but the shockwave impact dealt considerable damage to him. This shockwave impact succeeded in doing more than just injuring, after fighting heroically for minutes with its shadow domain magic, the huge Python finally died to the Atlantians. This increased the pressure on Sebastian and his teammates. Amid Sebastian''s rapid thinking of a solution, the last submarine released its load from its main weapon, sending the raging canon towards the target. The Atlantians no longer cared about Sebastian''s life after he ignored their offer so many times and even killed a lot of their comrades. At this moment, they were ready to blow this Megalodon to pieces. Seeing the canon flying towards him, the Staff Sergeant''s trident still bashing against his skin, the Atlantians and their war machines attacking him from all sides, and most especially his already dangerously low health, he made a decision. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound translation construct: Linked Communicator.] "I''m doing it, it''s the only chance that we got". "Do it!" The old toad''s weary voice replied to the linked communicator. Boom! [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Heavy Armor!] At the last moment, before the canon hit, Sebastian''s body was wrapped up with the pitch-black heavy armor. While his mana points drained rapidly, Sebastian''s brain focused on his system. His body flew away rapidly from the force of inertial induced by the canon shot, Staff Sergeant Barnes floated after him but Sebastian seemed like a meditating monk shark as he no longer paid attention to his surroundings. [System Inventory has been accessed.] [Purple tier magic core has been retrieved.] As soon as the magic core appeared, Sebastian popped it inside his mouth like a gym maniac taking his daily muscle pills. Sebastian was trying something that he had not tried before that even Tonado had not heard of before, he was taking in a magic core while engaged in battle and a battle of such intensity. This may be a foolish move or the move that would turn the tides of this battle in their favor, this was the last gamble that he included in his plans. To the astonished gaze of everyone, Sebastian swallowed the magic core. Instantly, a chilling cold feeling invaded his body. The atmosphere in the surrounding seemed to have frozen at this moment, all eyes were on Sebastian, including the muzzle of the Destroyer. The water turned tense and offensive; the time ticked forward slowly. Chapter 209 - Fierce Battle [2]. [You have ?ssimilated a purple tier magic core.] [Magic structure has been broken down¡­] [Your mana points are rapidly recovering at a rate of 200 MP/sec.] [Warning! Due to the current state of your body and magic organ, your body-mana coordination is going berserk!] Instantly after this warning appeared from his system, the cool feeling in Sebastian''s body disappeared only to be replaced by an extremely hot feeling. His body felt like it was placed inside a volcano, it was blazing hot. As soon as this feeling appeared, it started increasing. From the intervals of the 1st second to the 2nd second, this hot feeling intensified exponentially. Sebastian''s enormous body was still flying backward rapidly from the submarine''s main cannon shot, but in his mind, time seemed to be flowing at a speed 10,000 times more than normal. His situation worsened extremely fast. Boom! With a loud boom, his enormous body broke through every obstacle obstructing his path due to the force of inertia as he hit a part of the Defense Domain''s walls, causing another channel for blood to flow from his body. As soon as his body hit the wall, perhaps stimulated by the force from the impact, his internal body condition worsened even more. Suddenly, he felt something that made his heart shudder in fear. For some reason, the hot feeling became so much that Sebastian felt that his body was about to forcefully self-detonate like a suicide bomber. While he felt this, his system spammed other warning notifications at him, the imbalance between his physical body and his magic power was now too much, now his body was about to pay the price for it. Shockingly, like it was a dream, Sebastian was dying slowly. From the moment when the canon hit his body to now, only 3 seconds passed and Staff Sergeant Barnes who was tightly after him finally arrived. "Killer Move: 3-Tipped ThunderBolt!" The Staff Sergeant was already hovering above Sebastian in the water, his hair was rough and standing like stubborn trees while being curled by lightning, his eyes flickered with raging thunder, and his body was shrouded with thunder also. If beasts were intelligent enough to create killer moves, surely, variant humans were more than capable of also creating theirs. After charging the full power for this attack, the Staff Sergeant descended. Boom! The impact was mighty as the vibrations spread through Sebastian''s body, wreaking his body from within. The tyrannical might of the thunder mixed with lightning dealt even more internal damage to him. Blood sprayed out of Sebastian''s mouth like a fountain, all his orifices were opened by the force where blood poured out from his body in waves. [Warning! Your HP is now below 10%.] Sebastian laughed bitterly to himself; the Staff Sergeant''s last attack succeeded in breaching his already fragile heavy armor magic manifestation which was the main reason why he received so much damage. In these 3 seconds, he already recovered 600 mana points which were outrageous considering that his mana points were now capped at 820 but he could not use them due to the disharmony of his body. "Am I going to die here?" Internally, he was not resigned for death. [You have been hit by a bolt of lightning and thunder attack that far exceeds your tolerance¡­, this dangerous hit has succeeded in using its aggressive origin essence to temporarily stop the disharmony of your body.] [Host''s blood is currently in a hyperactive state which increases bodily functions, the magic structure of the magic core has been broken again.] [Your mana points are recovering at a rate of 300 MP/sec.] [You have entered a mini-mana saturated state: The quality of your mana points has temporarily increased, your magic power and magic skills have temporarily experienced a 4% increase in power, and your sealed mana has been unsealed and recovered.] [MP: 947/1070.] 4 seconds passed, Sebastian''s mana points recovered to this, and the most shocking of all was his sealed mana that was just unsealed. This was a benefit that he didn''t anticipate when he took the magic core. During these 4 seconds, the other Atlantian soldiers on the battlefield did not seize their attacks that were directed at the Megalodon. 4 seconds seemed small, but in a battle of this intensity, a lot of things could be accomplished by either side in this period. The Staff Sergeant''s attack destroyed Sebastian''s heavy armor magic manifestation but Sebastian instinctively created another shortly after as his mana points recovered which was the only reason why he wasn''t dead yet. As soon as he was hit by the submarine''s destructive canon, Tonado turned around without hesitation in pursuit to help him. Of course, the Atlantian soldiers obstructed him but his sturdy willpower helped him to forge through. As soon as he got close enough to Sebastian, he started activating the few defense skills that he had which were not much. He regretted a bit at this but was not too concerned, at this moment, every tiny help could do a lot. He went to help Sebastian, which indirectly translated to the 2 already severely injured Great White Sharks being abandoned in the middle of the Atlantian soldiers'' tight encirclement. With these 2 sharks'' cornerstone fighter gone, they were now equivalent to dead meat on this battlefield. The 2 Great White Sharks became easy pickings for the Atlantians. The Atlantian soldiers attacked them even more, spreading injuries across their bodies almost 10 times faster. The sharks were flustered. When Sebastian was thrown away, they were scared and now that the old toad also left, they lost all hopes to keep on trying, and in a battle of this intensity, this was fatal. The Atlantian soldiers directly tore them to pieces. Only 2 predators were now left on the battlefield, and these 2 were together, biding time to live out the remaining few minutes or seconds of their lives. In these same 4 seconds, after Staff Sergeant Barnes attacked with his killer move while Tonado swam closer to the Megalodon, he retreated. The changes in Sebastian''s body did not escape the detection of this highly s?ns?t?v? Staff Sergeant. As soon as his killer move struck Sebastian, he felt a shocking change, then he retreated immediately. He solemnly watched the changes going inside the Megalodon from afar. To his astonished gaze, the magic presence of this Megalodon was rapidly increasing, almost getting to a realm where he felt suffocated in its presence. The Staff Sergeant was not sure about what was happening, but experience told him to do something now. He thought only for a fraction of a second before he arrived at his decision. He ordered loudly. "Unleash the Destroyer!" [Warning! Your HP is now below 5%.] Almost immediately after this notification, Sebastian shuddered as he felt like he was suddenly being targeted by a bloodthirsty predator. After so long, the Destroyer''s muzzle finally locked on to him. This feeling stimulated Sebastian''s brain and he finally recovered from the hot feeling that was afflicting his body a few seconds ago. [You have activated skill: Rejuvenation!] While Sebastian felt the refreshing feeling of recovery engulfing his body, with a loud boom that seemed like the sound of clapping thunders, the Destroyer''s muzzle jerked as a black and red energy ball was shot out. BOOM! Chapter 210 - A New Magic Manifestation- Magic Bazooka! Every life in its path was erased from Oceania, every structure on its path was destroyed tyrannically, and every heart that witnessed it shuddered as this energy ball that was made both mechanically and magically traveled forth. Blue chaotic magnetic fields that distorted the water atmosphere followed the energy ball as it moved, while the dense origin magic that was condensed inside its frame made the surrounding water vibrate madly. This was a call that was made hastily which meant that not all the Atlantians soldiers were able to leave its path completely, they also suffered. Though none of them was on its direct path, the shockwave that followed this energy ball disintegrated both the soldiers and their battle gears on impact. Even those that were faraway suffered the impact of the shockwave as the force pushed the soldiers backward, even causing some to cough blood. This was a horrifying force! And its speed was even more horrifying! From afar, Staff Sergeant Barnes had a look of regret on his face. This was not because of the soldiers that died, this was because of the enormous resources that were just wasted with this attack. The menacing tank-like vehicle war machine, the Destroyer, was the most powerful weapon and war machine of the Crimson Fleet and was also the most expensive weapon to use by miles. There was always a price for power, which increased marginally with the power increase, and the Destroyer was no exemption to this rule of ages. For a year, the fleet was allocated only 3 shot chances of this mad war machine which was enough to show how pivotal it was in the fleet. This was the main reason why they didn''t use the war machine and instead only kept it as a deterrent force. But undoubtedly, now that it was used, the battle was over, every Atlantian was confident of this. ¡­ Boom! Boom! All Tonado heard was this, his ears vibrated crazily, the loud sounds induced by the speed of this energy ball already exceeded his tolerance limit. His ears bled, his eyes bled, and his heart bled also. All he saw in his vision was the bright light of this energy ball. Seeing this, Tonado''s sense of self disappeared like escaping smoke. Fear gripped his heart, he forgot the mission that was given by his master, he forgot the goal to protect and help the Ocean Master. This was a force that was too terrifying for him to withstand. At this moment, this old toad''s cowardly nature acted up again at the worst time of all. Sebastian was the main target of this shot, Tonado was not in its direct path but the examples of the Atlantian soldiers that already disintegrated into red dust told this old toad to raise his heavy bu?? and move. Tonado''s eyes became bloodshot, his magic power became berserk as his blister''s adaptation stood up like the thorns in a forbidden forest before enshrouding his body to form a defense like that of the ancient walls of China. Still not feeling safe with this, Tonado hit his powerful legs against the water before activating his trademark jumping skill. He soared high a little, but compared to the rapidly advancing energy ball, his speed was negligible. A little was the height that he could reach before this formidable energy ball streaked past him. Bzzz! This was all that Tonado heard before he lost consciousness immediately. Sebastian who was at the receiving end of this shot, whose body still rested against the wall of the Defense Domain saw all that happened, from the disintegrating soldiers to the probably dead Tonado. Tonado didn''t disintegrate like the Atlantian soldiers, but his blisters adaptation evaporated into red dust immediately. His body took the remaining shockwave force damage as he sustained severe injuries that could make Doctors faint at the sight. Now, after removing all the variables and obstacles, the energy ball was finally on a straight course towards its target. Sebastian''s eyes widened, not in despair, but focus. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Heavy Armor!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield {¡Á2}!] [You have activated skill: Rejuvenation.] This was all that Sebastian could do at the limited time that was available to him. He stacked another heavy armor on top of the one that already covered him, 2 tower shields, then he left the rest to his rejuvenation skill. His dying or living all depended on this moment as the energy ball finally collided against the first tower shield magic manifestation. BOOM! BOOM! Another boom then Sebastian''s vision and perception darkened. ¡­ Boom! [HP: 197/821] ¡­ [HP: 453/821] ¡­ [HP: 121/821] [HP: 342/821] ¡­ Boom! [HP: 74/821] ¡­ This was all that Sebastian saw, his eyes were blind again. The energy ball''s impact hit him and pushed him deep inside the wall of the Defense Domain, using his body to break the sturdy cliff walls. This first impact carried the full and main force of the energy ball and it succeeded in almost wiping out Sebastian''s health points, directly cutting through his heavy armor magic manifestations and leaving his health points at only 197. His rejuvenation skill countered it immediately but the residual shockwave of this energy ball wreaked more havoc across his body. Sebastian''s body and mind were tense, he suddenly felt like a daredevil extremist who was threading the thin path of life and death with mad stunts, his health points increased and decreased rapidly, almost giving him a heart attack. This continued for 10 whole seconds before the impact of the energy ball finally died down, leaving his health points at 21. At this point, Sebastian''s body felt like he was placed inside the hellfire of legends where his body burned nonstop. He could not even think, he simply endured the pain with his remaining willpower while activating his rejuvenation skill again. Silence descended inside Sebastian''s world. ¡­ Silence reigned in the Defense Domain for 20 seconds after the energy ball was shot by the Destroyer before it was finally broken. "Is it finally dead?" "It seems so, there''s no way that it could have survived that". "It is definitely dead". While his subordinates muttered among themselves, Staff Sergeant Barnes calmly looked at the enormous hole that was made in his Defense Domain by the powerful energy ball. The damage to the Defense Domain and the expenses of this battle was considerable but compared to the gains it was nothing. After so long, they finally took down the Megalodon. Staff Sergeant Barnes felt fulfilled and thrilled. Throughout his life, he always lived the life of your everyday Atlantian guy, he never saw himself as lucky. But after this, he would have to reevaluate his luck. Of all the Atlantian brigade fleets, division fleets, and mega fleets, to think that his Crimson Fleet would be the one to bring down this target was unbelievable. He found it hard to believe which only made it more memorable. He turned to face his ?ssistant, Sergeant Raila. "Bring the ultra-extractor and follow me, we''ll be extracting the unique skill". Creak! He didn''t even take a step before he heard this creaking sound that made his movement pause, including his heart. In this silent environment, this sound was amplified countless times. "What was that?" Sergeant Raila asked with a frown, not hoping for any response but to her shock, she received the spookiest response ever. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Magic Bazooka!] To the Astonished gaze of the Atlantian soldiers, a loud sound reverberated followed by the rocks covering the hole that was just created falling down as a canon enveloped with magic power accelerated out with force. This canon tore through all the defenses along its way and hit Staff Sergeant Barnes before any of the soldiers could react. BOOM! Chapter 211 - Legendary Magic Manifestations- Finally Escaped! Boom! Staff Sergeant Barnes coughed out blood in waves, his face turning pale immediately as the tyrannical force that accompanied the magic canon pushed him backward with speed. The explosion that followed the canon was mighty, the surrounding water body spread ripples rapidly as every Atlantian soldier suffered the impact. The Staff Sergeant''s magic armor bore the full brunt of the attack, successfully reducing most of the force that got to his body in the end but the damage was still considerable. Sergeant Raila and the other elite soldiers that followed their leader also suffered the impact of this canon shot, some even died as they were flung towards random locations as they sustained numerous injuries from the explosion. It took about a dozen seconds before the explosive might of the canon finally died down, then every Atlantian soldier turned to look at the hole where the energy ball pushed Sebastian into. As they looked, they saw the perpetrator of this powerful attack, the menacing pitch-black Magic Bazooka that was now slowly disintegrating into faint wisps of white light after it shot its load. Silence descended everywhere, the atmosphere turned even more offensive and the soldiers'' expressions became grim as they expected the worst. Originally, they thought that the battle was over after the Destroyer shot its magic energy ball but clearly this was not the case. For some reason, against all odds, the Megalodon survived the deathly ?ssault. How is this possible? This was the only question that dominated their minds. They looked on anxiously until the magic manifestation disappeared completely, but they didn''t even have the time to celebrate this, what they feared most happened next. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! In front of the hole that was created by the Destroyer''s energy ball, weapon after weapon started appearing with speed. Automatic machine guns, laser guns, electromagnetic guns, magic bazookas, machine guns with kinetic stun bullets, anti-gravity bullets, freeze bullets, and other bullets with even more varied effects appeared on the battlefield. In an instant, this area was covered with guns of various types and sizes. While even more guns appeared in the water, those that already materialized released their loads at the Atlantian soldiers without restraints. Boom! Boom! The Defense Domain turned chaotic again as the Atlantian soldiers forgot their offense and focused on defending against this barrage, while inside the hole, a severely injured Sebastian grinned crazily. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Automatic Machine Gun {¡Á5}.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Laser Gun {¡Á6}.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Magic Bazooka {¡Á2}.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Pressurized Water Magic Beam Gun {¡Á2}.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Harpoon Launcher!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Grenade Launcher!] Still stuck inside the cave, Sebastian''s eyes shone brightly as his mind was focused on creating magic manifestations one after the other. At this moment, Sebastian''s mind seemed to have turned into a cosmos-level force as they cooked up dangerous magic manifestations. In a few seconds, outside the hole turned into a sturdy defense-offense perimeter. It was like Sebastian no longer cared about mana points expenditure as more magic manifestations appeared after the first ones appeared. All these were possible because of the magic core that Sebastian ?ssimilated. After he started ?ssimilating the magic core, the situation turned dangerous at first but later improved considerably after the Staff Sergeant''s attack. After that, he entered a mini-mana saturated state. This experience not only increased the quality of his mana, his magic power, and magic skills experienced a 4% increase in power, and his sealed mana was unsealed and recovered. The only problem was that he didn''t harness any mana points. Considering that the main use of magic cores was to harness the magic power in them to increase his mana points, Sebastian seemed to have lost out, but not in this case, this was a special case. Sebastian was in a dangerous situation where harnessing more mana points wouldn''t have meant much in changing his battle prowess, but this mini-mana saturated state was exactly what he needed. Since he transmigrated into this world after he got his first unique skill, he had a hidden goal of trying to create guns magic manifestations but he always failed because his mana was of a low quality. But at this moment, due to his mini-mana saturated state, this flaw was covered up, granting him the freedom to create as he wished. Rampant creation of magic manifestations would have not been possible because he had limited mana points, but the recovery speed of his mana points brought by the magic core covered this point up perfectly. Right now, the stars seemed to align perfectly for him to shine. He was still severely injured and was bleeding, but his raw power was at the strongest since he transmigrated into this Ocean world. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] [You have activated skill: Rejuvenation.] With these 3 skills active, while his body recuperated slowly, Sebastian succeeded in covering the problem of the fact that he was now blind and the advanced dash skill enabled him to bolt out of the hole. As soon as he got outside, through his electroreceptors, Sebastian finally saw the raw power that was available to him at this moment. The Atlantian army that was suppressing him on every side before was now in shambles, and this was all due to his magic manifestation army. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Bullets flashed about on the battlefield, wreaking havoc everywhere as Atlantian soldiers died every minute. The different bullet effects became the deciding factor on the battlefield. Also, the Magic Bazookas were a pain in the ?ss to the Atlantians. Due to the fearsome barrage, Staff Sergeant Barnes almost died but his numerous magic weapons and gadgets saved him again. This Staff Sergeant no longer seemed heroic as he stayed at the back of his soldiers, mending to his injuries while looking in fear. Sebastian really did it this time! As soon as he confirmed that he could now create guns with his increased mana quality, Sebastian''s brain went into overdrive. This unique skill relied on imagination and he made use of it to the fullest. Almost all the weapons and guns magic manifestations that he created were from movies that he watched in his previous life, they actually worked and their effects were tyrannically amazing. The rest like the harpoon launchers, Sebastian either stole the idea from the Atlantians'' weapons or he randomly came up with the idea. This way, he formed a personal weapon army of his own that swept through the Atlantian soldiers like a plague. Despite his current good situation, the Atlantian soldiers were still defending themselves though clumsily, he was still in a race against time. He needed to escape now that his mini-mana saturated state lasted. Amid the chaos of the battlefield, Sebastian swept through everywhere with his electromagnetic vision. He instantly found what he was looking for, Tonado''s huge body which was now floating motionlessly at a corner of the battlefield. Sebastian also pinpointed the location of the airbag magic manifestation where he stored Doctor Mrs. Josephine, this was when he acted. [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed.] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Fishing Net!] With his supersonic speed, all that the Atlantian soldiers saw was a blur as Sebastian rapidly moved away. His fishing net magic manifestation moved, rapidly covering Tonado''s body as it reeled him in. After this, the legendary Mjolnir appeared! Since he could even create magic bazooka magic manifestations now, couldn''t he also create weapons of myths? As soon as Sebastian had this thought, he acted on it, and here he was. This legendary hammer that was wielded by the God of Thunder now floated beside Sebastian''s huge body as thunder and lightning raged in the surrounding. The Atlantian soldiers'' eyes widened on the sight. As soon as the Mjolnir appeared, Sebastian acted. With his supersonic speed still active, he accelerated to a corner of the Defense Domain. After he got close to the wall, he used his will to throw the Mjolnir magic manifestation. Bzzz! Lightning flashed and thunder raged as the Mjolnir collided against the wall. Boom! With a loud sound, a hole was torn through the walls of the Defense Domain. This was a hole that went so deep and directly lead to the outside water expanse which was exactly what Sebastian needed the most at this moment. After this attack, the Mjolnir magic manifestation disappeared and Sebastian also entered the hole that was created with speed. A few seconds later, he disappeared. He finally escaped! Staff Sergeant Barnes and his subordinates watched in a daze as the magic manifestations that ?ssaulted them finally dissipated. They felt mixed feelings of fear and awe engulf them. Chapter 212 - The Feeling Of Freedom Again, And A Different Perspective. Boom! With one last loud booming sound, Sebastian finally escaped out of the Atlantian military base with his new friend beside him and an important Atlantian who was still captive inside his airbag magic manifestation. As soon as he laid his eyes outside after over a month of staying behind closed doors, Sebastian took in a greedy suck of the familiar water contentedly. The boundless water body that was in his vision made his eyes narrow in joy, the familiar green glow of the Green Mist Sea made him feel fuzzy and cheesy all over, this was a sense of home. He was back! Sebastian, the Megalodon was back! It was nice and exciting when you made plans, but it was even more exciting when your plans succeed in yielding as you speculated. At this moment, Sebastian felt extreme contentment. When he first formulated his plan to bust his escape out of the Atlantian military base, he thought of a lot of obstacles, but despite all these obstacles, he was able to overcome and force his escape. Of course, he improvised a lot during the escape, and without Tonado and the magic core, he probably wouldn''t have survived. A lot of the coincidental occurrences were all due to luck. With this thought, he turned to look at the severely injured toad who was floating in the water beside him. Just one look made his heartache, Tonado suffered a lot for him in this battle. For the first time in both his lives, encountering a situation where someone deserted his benefits and life to protect his interests made him feel weird, awkward, and even a little guilty. Even now, he was not sure of the toad''s state which only made his heart ache more. What did he do to deserve such from the toad? Because of his identity? Bullsh*t! He was not even the Ocean Master yet. Tonado was severely injured, the blast from the energy ball made him lose consciousness immediately. Though Sebastian couldn''t confirm if he was still alive, he still decided to take his body along. This encounter made him remember stories of historical aristocrat families, where servants and guards are trained in a way where they are ready to lay down their lives just to safeguard the life of the young master or prince. It felt weird for him to experience the same here. Though in the end, Tonado''s survival instincts took over and he tried to escape, to Sebastian, that was completely normal. If he was in the place of the toad, he was pretty sure that he wouldn''t have been able to do the same. This encounter with Tonado changed a lot of his outlook on this world. Since transmigrating into Oceania, his perception of this world was simply cannibalism, killing and feasting on each other. For the first time, Tonado showed him a different perspective. Also, he remembered his current bad luck, how did all those coincidences happen? Without any hesitation, he questioned his system, and the answer that he got only alleviated his tense heart the more. Finally, his luck was reset back to normal. Sebastian''s body was still severely injured, but his eyes gleamed excitedly every time he thought of how he fought his way through and escaped such an army of Atlantians. It was an exciting and unforgettable encounter. At this moment, all his outrageous magic manifestations already dissipated. This was because he already left his mini-mana saturated state. Perhaps, it was related to his active battle state but as soon as he escaped out of the military base, the special state of unlimited strength and energy that he experienced before disappeared. Despite this, Sebastian was satisfied with just the fact that he escaped. He had 2 weeks remaining before the time indicated in his system clue would elapse, he needed to act decisively and fast. Also, he knew of a fact that he escaped the Crimson Fleet military base didn''t mean that he escaped the Atlantian forces'' grasp. He needed to get moving. As he thought, a part of the supportive rocks in the hole that he created with his Mjolnir magic manifestation shook before collapsing further. The power of the Mjolnir already destroyed their foundation, now they simply collapsed. Sebastian looked at these collapsing rocks for a few seconds before acting, he aimed at the top of the still sturdy rocks and activated a skill. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound construct: Sound Recording Domain.] Sebastian''s face turned serious after creating this sound construct as he spoke and recorded solemnly. "I know that you''ve been watching me, this is my proposal¡­" He completed his recording in about 30 seconds, then he hid the little water bubble which hid this sound recording in a place where the Atlantians could not easily detect. After this, he turned around. He may not be in the mini-mana saturated state again, but after leaving that state, his mana points were left at the pinnacle of 1080. This was his time to move out of this location and he did. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed.] Sebastian''s fishing net reeled his toad companion and the Atlantian Doctor in before his body flashed with a bright light, then he disappeared from this area the next moment at a supersonic speed. Calm and tranquility were restored to this location again. ¡­ Creak! Creak! Silence reigned in the Defense Domain, a deafening silence like that experienced in a graveyard as the surviving Atlantian soldiers still stood in a daze like zombies remembering their days as living beings. At this moment, only the damaged surroundings of the Defense Domain made spooky creaking and crackling sounds as electrical weapons malfunctioned while collapsed structures broke down further. The Atlantian soldiers didn''t pay attention to these though, their eyes were unfocused like their brains were finding it hard to comprehend what just happened, it was unbelievable. It felt like an awful nightmare when the Megalodon erupted at the end. After the first bazooka cannon shot was unleashed, leaving Staff Sergeant Barnes injured, it was like they were captured from their heaven and ruthlessly thrown down all the way to hell. They could not resist at all; they were like meat before the slaughter as the numerous magic manifestation guns wreaked havoc through their ranks. At this moment, out of the hundreds of soldiers that gathered in the Defense Domain for this decisive battle, only a little more than 400 survived, and about half of them were killed by Sebastian''s magic manifestation bombardment. With blood leaking all over his body, Staff Sergeant Barnes'' eyes twitched at every interval as the scenes from the previous battle kept playing in his head. "What are your orders?" At this moment, Sergeant Raila who was equally injured made the right decision and asked. Hearing that, the Staff Sergeant subconsciously closed his eyes while clenching his fists tightly. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth to speak. "Send out all the soldiers with mini-submarines¡­" Staff Sergeant Barnes paused before continuing. "Even if you can''t capture him, at least pinpoint his location, reinforcement is coming our way". "Yes, Staff Sergeant". Chapter 213 - 1st Lieutenant Lookman. 4 hours after the decisive battle at the Defense Domain¡­ After over 2 hours of a futile search effort for the Megalodon, the old toad, and Doctor Mrs. Josephine who was abducted, the Atlantian soldiers finally gave up and returned to their military base. On getting back to their base, they followed their leader''s orders and set up a seamless defense perimeter around the base before starting recovery measures. For the past 2 hours, the Atlantian military base has been busy as the soldiers worked non-stop on gathering the dead, taking the injured for treatment, while scouring the base to save anyone that was trapped somewhere. In a situation like this, the fleet''s medical quarters were cramped up with work as the apprentice Doctors rushed to attend to the injured soldiers. This was where the situation of the main Doctor stung the most. With Doctor Mrs. Josephine gone with the Megalodon and probably eaten already, the fleet was plunged into a conundrum of severe medical expertise inadequacy. The apprentice mage Doctors were also good, but not nearly as good as Doctor Mrs. Josephine. With her not here, the situation became tenser, putting the apprentice doctors under more pressure to work faster. About 50 injured soldiers already died due to the slow administration. When Sebastian first abducted the Doctor, he didn''t think so far ahead but after he was cornered by the energy ball and after he entered his mini-mana saturated state, his thoughts flowed at the speed of light. Seeing Tonado''s pitiful state, the rage and helplessness of the situation made him take such a ruthless decision. Since the Atlantians were so decisive and ruthless in taking him down, all the shackles and bottom lines in his mind were exceeded so he also decided to take ruthless decisions against them. In this world where exceptional Doctors like Mrs. Josephine could wield magic, their treatment skills were miles better than the best Doctors on earth so they were valued more here. The loss of this one Doctor dealt a huge blow to the fleet. The Crimson Fleet was at its most fragile state since its creation, the situation was tense, and the fact that they lost their race''s main target who was under their noses only spread more unrest across the troop. At a time like this, if a horde of powerful predators attacked the base, it was a doubt if the elite soldiers would be able to fight at their full potential. The effects would be disastrous. The subordinates felt unrest, the superiors felt pressure from all directions. Doctor Statham and his ?ssistant felt it the most, considering the fact that they''ve been sheltering this murderous Megalodon for over a month and seeing the countless casualties, this Doctor felt too guilty to see others. At this moment of unrest across the whole fleet, they hid in their rooms to ride through this tense period safely. Atlantians were not such consumable goods, though measures were already made to aggressively increase the chances of their women giving birth, every Atlantian was still treasured. As the one who indirectly caused so much death, his career was already going towards a downwards trajectory unless he achieved a significant feat that could override this shortcoming. While everyone in the fleet experienced various emotions after this depressing battle, Staff Sergeant Barnes locked himself inside a room. Knock! Knock! "Come in!" Staff Sergeant Barnes'' deep voice reverberated in the central control President''s room. President Neiber acknowledged the order as he opened the door calmly before floating in. "The battle report is out, sir!" "Good! Give it to me and leave". "Yes, Sir". As soon as the middle-aged President left, Staff Sergeant Barnes took hold of the magic book that was on the table and flicked it open. >Battle Casualties: 518< >Battle Losses:< - 45 Dead Metal Hounds. - Doctor Mrs. Josephine. - 1 Wrecked Submarine. - 1 Destroyer Energy Ball. - 18 Wrecked War Underwater Tanks. >Approximately 102,000 Atlantian Credits in war resources lost- Excluding the participation of the Destroyer< >Including the Destroyer, approximately 818,000 Atlantian Credits in war resources lost< >Battle Gains:< - Discovery of the Race''s Number 1 target!< After thoroughly going through the battle report that was compiled by the central control chamber of the military base, Staff Sergeant Barnes took a deep breath before standing up from his chair. His eyes showed no burden, they were calm and deep like the abyss. His mind was serene as scenes from the previous battle flashed in his mind. In the previous battle, without a doubt, his fleet was the one who suffered the most. Just thinking of it left his heart aching, but he had no choice but to accept it because this was reality. The deed was already done, now he had to face reality and give his own report to the superiors. He calmly took out his communicator before solemnly dialing a number. "Hello! This is Staff Sergeant Barnes". "He escaped?" The voice from the other end asked this in such a nonchalant way like he already predicted it which only made the Staff Sergeant feel more humiliated, but he still held his emotions in check and responded calmly. "Yes, the¡­" It took only a second before he confirmed what he wanted; his stance became straighter immediately as he saluted. "1st Lieutenant Lookman!" "Continue". The same nonchalant expression was on the Lieutenant''s face. "Yes, sir! The Megalodon escaped due to our incompetence, we severely underestimated his power sir!" "That''s ok, I already expected such". The lieutenant said this calmly before his face became serious the next moment. "You already screwed the mission; all I want you to do now is to remedy it". "I''m on my way to your location with my team, the captain sent me ahead to help since he already predicted a situation like this". "All I want from you is some data to start my work with, got it?" "Yes, Sir!" "Good!" As soon as the call ended, Staff Sergeant Barnes collapsed back on the chair as the imaginary sweat on his forehead was watched away by the water. In Atlantis, soldiers that were qualified to become Lieutenants were veteran Silver Realm powerhouses. The fact that Lieutenant Lookman was sent ahead to intercept the Megalodon just showed how important this mission was. In the Black Mamba Division fleet, the highest hierarchy was Captain Omega who was the leader of the fleet, then his 2 right-hand men, 1st Lieutenant Lookman and 1st Lieutenant Zorro, then the other soldiers. Captain Omega was a reputable Atlantian soldier who was at the peak of the Silver Realm, and though his 2 right-hand men were not close to the peak yet, they were still veteran Silver Realm powerhouses. The lowest unit in the Atlantian military was the team, and a team that was led by Lieutenant Lookman could only be described as overpowered to hunt down this Megalodon. As he thought to this, Staff Sergeant Barnes'' fear was slowly replaced by a wide smile. Finally, someone was going to get revenge for him. He grinned. "I can''t wait!" Chapter 214 - The Eye Of Ikaros- The Proposal. Old Mak''s Shark Clan¡­ Inside the Throne Chamber of the Shark Clan, in acknowledgment of Elder Dangle''s emergency summons, the 5 most important sharks of the clan were now gathered in here as they all focused on a magic mirror that was before them. This mirror was not only extremely huge, its sides were wide enough to accommodate its name which was engraved on it. >The Eye of Ikaros< At this moment, after everyone was gathered, Elder Dangle''s eyes were opened as her gentle but overwhelming magic power calmly permeated the atmosphere and penetrated into the magic mirror. Unlike previous times, in addition to showing an image, under Elder Dangle''s manipulation, the sound was transmitted in the form of a recording. Despite the distance that this transmission was being tapped on from, Elder Dangle''s master-level sound control managed to tame it and keep it under control. All 5 sharks listened silently. "¡­I know that you''ve been watching me for a long time, Elder Dangle". "¡­I wasn''t sure before since I occasionally just felt a feeling like someone was peeking at me, but I confirmed a few minutes to an hour ago when I entered a peculiar state in the battle". "¡­If the Clan Head and the other clan elders are there, please extend my greetings". "¡­Yo Clan Head! How ya doing?" "¡­Putting that aside, I don''t know how you can watch me from so far away, but from the little that I know, I think you already know everything about my circumstances". "¡­I am not the Ocean Master like Tonado said, at least not yet, but my aspiration is to become the Ocean Master". "¡­This aspiration may sound foolish, but my ownership of a unique skill despite being just a few months old is enough to verify this claim". "¡­Yeah, don''t be shocked, I''m just a few months old". "¡­I''m not bragging but despite being just a few months old, if I go against any of you in a fair life or death battle, except when going against the clan head, I doubt I would be the one dying". "¡­" "¡­This is not a threat; I''m just stating a fact". "¡­With these qualifications, I believe I can speak with the 5 of you on equal terms. I admit that I entered your shark clan as a strange fellow, but it''s not my fault and I had no evil intentions against the clan". "¡­The little exploits that I achieved alongside Verni and Shanks should speak a lot of my good intentions. Also, say hello to Coco for me". "¡­My intention is this, I have a win-win proposal for the clan". "¡­If you saw everything that I saw inside the Atlantian military base, I believe that you may already have an idea of what I''m about to say". "¡­I¡­I" Bzzz! The mirror suddenly shook as the sound connection turned shaky but Elder Dangle reacted impeccably like she already predicted it. Her eyes glowed brightly as the magic power calmed the agitated mirror. A few seconds later, the recording continued. "¡­Atlantians are extremely dangerous, the Crimson Fleet is just a fraction of their power. After staying for over a month with them, I already kind of understand their mode of operation". "¡­If I''m not wrong, an even more elite team of Atlantian soldiers are already coming after me at this moment". "¡­After having experienced my strength once, it would be a foolish move to send just powerhouses at the level of that Staff Sergeant Barnes". "¡­I will be frank, I need help, I need your help, I need the clan''s help". "¡­Of course, I''m not simply asking for help, remember that I tagged it a win-win proposal. In exchange for your help, I know of a way to rapidly increase the strength of the clan so long as we are successful". "¡­" "There''s a Sea King inheritance, in this volcano region". "If you want details, please help a young clan shark". "My regards to everyone over there". Buzz! This time, the mirror made an even longer sound before finally calming down. The sound recording was over. After this, all that was seen in the mirror was the scene of the Atlantian mini-submarines coming out as they scoured the area in search of the escaped Megalodon monster. They could manipulate the mirror to narrow down on Sebastian again, but neither of the 5 sharks moved as silence descended into this cave. Their enormous bodies silently hovered in the water, all of them fell deep in thought as they absorbed the information that they just got. This continued for 15 seconds until Elder Shine interrupted. "A Sea King? What''s a Sea King?" None of the other elders responded, including the Queen, instead, they all turned to face their leader, Old Mak whose shark face remained tranquil after listening to everything that Sebastian said. "A Sea King is an overlord". He finally spoke. "Apart from Atlantis, they rule each of the 7 seas. I''ve always thought that this Sebastian kid''s skill was weird, but I would never have thought that he wielded one of those unique skills of legends". "What an envious kid indeed". Old Mak didn''t explain further than that, and Elder Shine didn''t insist either. Old Mak first turned to face Elder Dangle who answered before he spoke. "The recording was not tampered with". "Good!" After saying this, he turned to face his wife. "Sebastian is fine, with his recovery speed and his recovery skill, his injuries can be healed with time. The only problem is the toad, his injuries are too severe, without treatment, he wouldn''t survive a day". "That means he is still alive, correct?" "Yes, my Lord". "Good!" Old Mak paused for a few minutes before activating his electroreceptors skill to focus on all 4 sharks at the same time. "What do you all think of his proposal?" "He sounds sincere, but he refused to elaborate to give us a more general idea of the situation". Elder Marble was the first to answer and give his opinion. "I think he wants us to help him before he elaborates". Elder Dangle joined. "He may be right". Queen Heareth finally spoke. "When taking the strange actions of the Atlantians into account, only a big target like a Sea King inheritance could attract their attention". Elder Shine was even more decisive, going straight to the point. "Should we go in now? Leaving the toad to die is not a good move". "No!" Old Mak''s eyes shone brightly, the previous kind nonchalance could no longer be seen in them. "Wait some more". Chapter 215 - Meeting Queen Heareth Again. 4 days after the great battle at the Atlantian military base. "How''s your Queen, she''s pretty?" "How many times will I have to answer? Yes, of course, she''s pretty". "Like, give me some descriptions so I can recognize her when I see her in the future you know". "Pfft! A Megalodon admiring variant human beauty?" And here was one of the weirdest situations that have ever happened even when measured in the scale of galaxies, a scene of an Atlantian chatting with a 15-meter long Megalodon. Yes, Sebastian was chatting with the Esteemed Doctor Mrs. Josephine. It was already 4 days since his desperate escape from the Crimson Fleet''s military base, and in these few days, his decision to carry the female Atlantian Doctor along has proved to be more beneficial than detrimental. Though he always kept to his idea of keeping contingency plans in every situation, most of the time, contingency plans could not make up for the rapid change in situation that was brought by nature. When he decided to take the female Doctor along, it was solely to harm the Atlantians in return after all the troubles that they caused him but the benefits proved better than expected. About his decision to leave the sound construct recording for the expert sound domain shark, Elder Dangle to intercept, he already thought extensively about it in his one month in captivity but he perfected the plan at the last minute. The system clue that his system gave to him simply stated the date when the Sea King inheritance would appear, it never mentioned where in this huge ocean volcano region it would appear. Though currently, he was powerful, the same could not be said if the goal was for him to scour the whole volcano region for the location of the inheritance. This was the main reason why he thought of seeking help from Old Mak''s shark clan. Of course, the second reason was the Atlantians. During his one month of captivity, as someone who was once a human, he already faintly understood the modus operandi of this overlord race. They were overbearing, and they absolutely hated failure most especially when the bait for the catch was so valuable. He was almost a hundred percent sure that stronger Atlantian soldiers were already coming after him, perhaps monster ?ssassins were already baited to hunt him too if there existed one. He was strong, and he had an even stronger companion now in Tonado but unfortunately, this fellow was still injured. He needed outside help; this was his second reason for contacting the shark clan for help. In this whole volcano region, they were the first group that his brain went to in search of help. Though he sought help from them, life is unpredictable so he also added in the fact that they may delay their provision of help due to various reasons. He also added in the more ruthless fact of Old Mak not accepting his proposal at all, which would successfully leave him in a passive situation. If Old Mak didn''t accept at all, that was his worst-case scenario. In that case, he would have no choice but to personally look for the inheritance ground himself and to also fend off the possible attack of the Atlantians alone. In the case that they just decided to delay, that was better and was within his plans, he had another plan in place to safeguard his benefits. This plan was precisely Doctor Mrs. Josephine. She has survived for 4 whole days alongside a predatory Megalodon because she managed to keep Tonado alive, though b?r?ly. Under Sebastian''s constant pressure and threats, she gave her all to treat Tonado but he was still unconscious. This was because not only was she out of her comfort zone, all her medical resources were unavailable too. For the basic medical resources that she needed, Sebastian provided with his magic manifestations which was the only reason why Tonado still lived, and also the reason why she still lived. During this period, after she administered her treatment to the toad, she had no choice but to accompany this enormous Megalodon. Sebastian took her with his airbag magic manifestation hunting, so she stayed beside him every single time for the past 4 days. She only left his sight when she wanted to have her bath, but this was merely an illusion because Sebastian still kept a tight look on her with his electroreceptors. As a doctor, she knew of the electroreceptor ability, so she also played cool on her part, remaining calm throughout these 4 days. This way, she already grew to overcome her fear of the Megalodon to even beginning to understand it quite a bit. This was why they could engage in such silly conversations. "Megalodon Lord". The middle-aged doctor pouted her lips before calling out. She was forced to address Sebastian this way. "Huh?" Sebastian directed his senses her way. "Why¡­, how do you know so much about the nature of Atlantians?" "Oh, about that?" Sebastian directed a playful look at this Doctor which in her perspective only made him look more menacing. He was about to think about what answer to give her but he suddenly paused. [You have activated skill: Electroreceptors.] Sebastian smiled. "We have company". "Company? Who?" Doctor Josephine was triggered as she immediately floated up and rushed behind Sebastian''s enormous body. A few seconds passed before she peaked through, this was when she saw a huge Great White Shark calmly swimming in their direction. Sebastian broke the silence. "Queen Heareth, it''s nice to meet you again". "Sebastian, you''ve grown". This was the only word that the shark queen said before she swam inside the cave that Sebastian constructed. Without a word, a white magic healing light came from her body and enshrouded the unconscious toad. Queen Heareth started her healing immediately, while she did this, she turned her enormous body to face Sebastian properly. "Kid, we have a lot to discuss". Chapter 216 - Monster Inheritances. "Kid, we have a lot to discuss". "I''ve been waiting for 4 days, Queen Heareth". [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] After activating the skill this time, Sebastian actively manipulated and spread it out, extending it to the surroundings which enabled him to survey the whole area. He quickly confirmed that Queen Heareth came alone. Of course, his electroreceptors didn''t get any signals didn''t mean that other sharks were not here. For the record, after he knew about the phenomenon of origin laws, he would be na?ve to compare his attainments with this skill with old monster Great White Sharks like Old Mak who lived with this ability their whole old lives. All he knew was that the fact that the other sharks didn''t reveal themselves meant that a ploy or something of the sort was in play. As for him, he just had to play along since the appearance of Queen Heareth alone was a good sign of goodwill in his favor. While he observed the surrounding, Queen Heareth observed this cave. She didn''t have to move her enormous body nor her eyes, like Sebastian, her even more powerful electroreceptors easily did the job. Her eyes didn''t show it, but inwardly she heaved a sigh of relief when she discovered nothing nefarious planted inside the cave waiting for her. The only thing that confused her was the ugly thing that was floating behind Sebastian. To her knowledge, this thing was a variant human, precisely an Atlantian, and was even part of those that hunted Sebastian. If this was the case, why was this shark entertaining her living presence? Despite these deductions and the questions on her mind, Queen Heareth composed herself as she looked straight at Sebastian. She didn''t beat around the bush; she went straight to the point. "The Sea King Inheritance, please elaborate". On hearing this, Sebastian smiled inwardly, it seemed that his strategy worked. "There''s no rush, I''ll explain slowly". "The Sea King Inheritance is as it is, it''s an inheritance left by a Sea King". "How does that concern the rapid increase of the clan''s strength?" While she asked, Queen Heareth did not pause her actions of healing the enormous Toad. Since she arrived, she never mentioned the fact of how the toad survived till now which confirmed some of Sebastian''s speculations. "The inheritance does and can rapidly increase the clan''s strength, it is not a speculation. Perhaps, this is the first time that you''re hearing of an actual monster inheritance but they are real". "My companion here will elaborate". Almost immediately as Sebastian said this, Tonado''s eyes snapped open. Actually, Tonado regained consciousness 2 days ago as he was being administered to by Doctor Josephine. He was not a human; he was a purple-tier predator who could recover by feasting on other predators'' flesh. Though his injuries were severe and most still required special treatment to be healed completely, with Sebastian at his side to provide food for his nourishment, his life was safe. This was also the main reason why Old Mak didn''t rush his decision. During the past 4 days, Sebastian''s hunting spree not only enabled Tonado to regain his consciousness, but he also already increased his level 2 times, now he was back at the limit required for his breakthrough again. For this ultimate unique ability inheritance hunt, Sebastian was ready to give his all and his laziness evaporated as his ambition grew. An idle mind is the devil''s workshop; Sebastian could not agree more to this quote now. With his mind occupied with this ambition, his heart, mind, body, and everything was focused on that ultimate goal of improving. This was why he was able to level up twice despite not encountering a single purple tier predator because of his now relatively good luck. After Sebastian introduced Tonado and the toad opened his eyes, Queen Heareth also turned her attention to him. As a professional magic healer shark who was also the wife of the powerful Old Mak, she knew long ago with just her electroreceptors that the toad already regained consciousness so she was not startled. "I am Tonado, the Rock Toad!" "You already know who I am so I won''t elaborate, I''ll go directly to the point which is explaining what monster inheritances are". "In essence, inheritances are the unfulfilled ambitions of powerful beasts". "Every powerful beast has an ambition since it is the main drive that carried them to the heights that they reached. When I say powerful beasts, I mean Red tier and upper predators". "Any predator below this is unqualified to leave an inheritance". "Among the powerful beasts in this world, only few can fulfill their ultimate ambitions. Most of these powerful beasts, at the point of their death or before their death decide to leave inheritances to enable other predators to carry their dreams, grow strong and fulfill it on their behalf". "I encountered my first inheritance in a huge Seamount outside this volcano region. Inside most inheritances are not only the riches of the said powerful beast but his understanding of Oceania which is priceless". "I acquired my priceless Wheel of Arcanity magic weapon from the inheritance ground left behind by the Leaping Toad Overlord". "I think this alone is enough to explain why my friend here said that his proposal would benefit your shark clan". As soon as Tonado finished his explanation, silence descended into this cave. Queen Heareth despite her control could not stop her eyes from shining brightly, her tail fin flapped irregularly which showed her excited state of mind. Sebastian and Tonado also kept quiet and waited. This explanation was all that they needed to say, if this could not convince Old Mak to mobilize his shark clan, then Sebastian was better off going alone. For about 40 seconds, the silence prevailed until Queen Heareth raised her head. "I''ll consider it¡­" "I accept your proposal". Sebastian''s electroreceptors immediately narrowed down on the intruder, and a smile lit up his shark face. "Clan Head!" Sebastian subtly bowed his head in respect. Old Mak''s enormous body that never failed to shock Sebastian swam into the cave majestically. "Keep the pleasantries for later, I accept your proposal which means that I''m obligated to help you, but¡­" "The first thing that you have to know is that your enemies are already here!" Chapter 217 - Light Illusion Skill- Distorted Images! "Oh, they are here already?" Sebastian exclaimed a bit after listening to Old Mak but he quickly controlled his emotions due to having expected something like this. It would have been weird after so long the Atlantian reinforcements still haven''t caught up to him, so he was already planning against them long ago. Seeing Sebastian''s slightly nonchalant reaction, Old Mak was not surprised. After having watched this Megalodon throughout the period when he was severely injured till now, he was one of the few predators who had a clear idea of his strength and cunning wits. Sebastian may be young, but he was already a formidable Megalodon so Old Mak''s reaction was even calmer as he demanded. "So, do you have a plan?" "Well, not exactly a plan¡­, but can I know how many of them there are?" "We''ve discovered 6 of them, we have no idea if there are more". Sebastian was surprised. "That''s lower than I expected, I guess the quality of these soldiers would be despairing then". "If they fall within my calculation range, then I have a plan". Sebastian''s eyes gleamed excitedly. "Actually, to the current me, completely escaping their pursuit is not impossible to me, but they have something that I need which makes them a pivotal point in my plan". "Here''s the plan¡­" ¡­ "Reporting, Lieutenant, we just pinpointed the Megalodon''s location". "Good! Is the Doctor still alive?" "Yes, the Doctor is strangely still alive but the toad is nowhere to be found. It seems our speculations were right, they probably separated along the way, or its severe injuries already led to its death". "Hmm? The Doctor is still alive?" This time, the tone of the 1st Lieutenant carried a trace of doubt and suspicion. He paused for a few seconds before ordering his subordinates to continue with the report. "We just sent their current location details; they are both huddled up and hiding in a rock cave". "Good! Converge and wait for my signal to attack". "Yes, Sir!" As soon as 1st Lieutenant Lookman aborted the transmission, his face became serious again as he silently looked into the distance with a lot of things rapidly going through his mind. He was currently inside what seemed like a triangle-shaped underwater carriage. Unlike mini-submarines, apart from its triangle shape, it was much smaller with a maximum capacity of just 3 individuals. This triangle underwater transport vehicle was called a Tridod. Its outward make-up was entirely mechanical, but a part of its body was filled with strange magical circuit lines. Its overall body make-up was mechanical also, only its weapons were magically powered. The weapons in this magic Tridod were not complicated, just a pair of openings where what seemed like gun muzzles jutted out from the bottom edges of the triangle-shaped machine. There was a pair for the front and another for the back. These 2 were the entire make-up of the Tridod''s weapons, but they were dangerously lethal. Inside this magic Tridod alongside 1st Lieutenant Lookman were 2 other Atlantian soldiers. Just like the Lieutenant, their faces were cold and nonchalant like they didn''t give a damn about anything happening in their surroundings. They were donning special gear consisting of weapons, armor, and different support gadgets. Their armor was like a shirt, being extremely flexible which enabled easier maneuverability in battle. At the center of the armor was a drawing of a large Black Mamba snake whose enormous body coiled around a long golden-rod. The most prominent feature of this Black Mamba was its golden-colored Eagle head. 1st Lieutenant Lookman''s Spider team consisted of 9 team members. To enable easier reaction speed and flexibility in mission battles, Lieutenant Lookman divided his team into 3 sub-teams with each one having a magic Tridod. It was 3 days ago after they arrived at this volcano region that they started tracking down the Megalodon but without effective results. Sebastian was too tricky. Aware of the fact that stronger Atlantian soldiers were probably after him already, he consciously erased his traces and hid from view which succeeded in frustrating this Lieutenant. Whenever he thought that he was close to capturing Sebastian, that was when he discovered that he was still far from the truth. Though his face remained calm throughout all these, his emotions were already getting riled up. Now that the location of the Megalodon was finally confirmed, he felt his blood boiling hot. The patient dog gets to eat the fattest bone, he guessed that it was now his time to eat this fattest and over-bloated bone. Without hesitation, he ordered his magic Tridod to move. Whoosh! ¡­ Whoosh! 5 minutes later, in a deserted area of this volcano region, close to the cliff walls, 2 magic Tridods suddenly accelerated here before stopping silently. From one of the Tridods, a small door opened through which 2 Atlantian soldiers armored from head to toe and on helmets floated out. These 2 elite soldiers rapidly surveyed the surrounding before moving forward. Putting aside their other gear, their most important weapon was a spear and a spiked mace. The buffier soldier held the mace while the leaner soldier wielded the spear that was somehow shaped like a Trident. As these 2 soldiers moved, an orange glow surrounded them which kept on spreading to the surroundings in rhythm like the pulse beats of a heart. This orange glow was their magic power, and they were both currently using a scouting skill that could enable them to see ahead though with little effectiveness but astonishing flexibility. While they did this, it did not take long before the third Tridod arrived. As the 2 soldiers still moved, 1st Lieutenant Lookman grabbed his royal Trident before also deciding to get dirty. He personally joined this hunt. Doctor Mrs. Josephine was forced to stay close to the Megalodon though it was sleeping, she was safe and this distance to soldiers like them was something that they could cross in moments. Surprisingly, the situation seemed perfect for them. Their hunt target, the Megalodon was actually asleep when they arrived and their fellow countrywoman was also not in a compromised state. Which other scenario could be better than this? Lieutenant Lookman watched for 3 minutes more, showing his cautious side before he finally decided to move inside with his soldiers. "Move in!" Unfortunately for them, the battle already started without them noticing. "Light Illusion Skill: Distorted Images!" Chapter 218 - An Ambush! "Move in!" As soon as this order was given by the Lieutenant, the soldiers showed their elite flair as they moved swiftly with a neat order like the perfect movement of the programmed cords of a machine. The entrance to the rock cave was not blocked nor camouflaged, there were no predator guards either like the entrance to Old Mak shark clan''s cave which gave the soldiers easier access. Among the soldiers that made up the Lieutenant''s elite team, though they were heavily geared all over and were all physically buff, from their shapes, it was easily deducible that 2 were female while the rest were male. As soon as they got to the entrance of the cave, the leaner of the females dived into the cave without informing the others first. The most glaring feature of this elite female Atlantian soldier was her glowing brown eyes with slits like those of a Cobra, her movement in the water was also swift like a snake and she wielded a pair of magic daggers. Her movements were fluid, only a slightly gentle sound was heard as she disappeared inside the cave the next moment. A second later, her voice was transmitted out to the others. "No traps detected!" As soon as he heard this, Lieutenant Lookman personally led the dive this time as 5 of the other soldiers followed him in immediately, leaving 2 behind to stand guard at the entrance of the cave. As soon as they entered the cave, they swam with such speed as if they were in a rush. This was because of Great White Shark''s iconic electroreceptors ability, they wanted to get the Megalodon before it could react. The sound of the water cutting apart due to their speed reverberated in the cave, but they suppressed the sound using special magic sound dampeners as they got to the heart of this cave in just a few seconds. The female soldier who was at the front got there first, and she transmitted clear footage to the Lieutenant and her other companions. The Megalodon was still asleep, and Doctor Mrs. Josephine was at her side, exactly in the same position that they saw from their deep surveillance. All 7 soldiers moved simultaneously after they digested the contents of this footage, their targets being both the Megalodon and the female Doctor. Whoosh! Crackle! Crackling sounds suddenly filled the cave as Lieutenant Lookman who was in the front growled loudly while his magic Trident lit up in flames. Not willing to underestimate the beast, he used his best move from the onset. The other 4 soldiers did the same as a terrifying presence of pure might and magic bombarded the Megalodon''s body. Boom! Boom! Boom! The first impact sound was soon followed by the second, then the third, and fourth to the extent that the terrifying power on display made cracks rapidly start spreading through the cliff walls. This was a powerful display of power that died down only after a few seconds passed which was quickly followed by a tense silence. When the colorful aftermath of the skill bombardment died down, the Atlantian soldiers were stunned, no corpse was before them. The place was clean and vacant like it was the day for worldwide environmental sanitation, and there was no Megalodon on sight. It was like, this cave suddenly turned into an entirely new cave. Seeing this, they all felt a chill crawling down their spines. As soon as he thought of this, he reacted. "Dodge!" The Lieutenant''s loud growl echoed through the cave as his muscly body was already floating rapidly out of that location. His companions were all elite soldiers, they also made the same deduction that he did so they also reacted but the more big-boned companion in the team reacted a little bit slower. This big man was the target. Ptui! Blood splashed out before quickly mixing with the water as a pitch-black arrow that was enveloped with astonishing magic power pierced through this big man''s face. The destructive power in the arrow dealt even more damage to the man after penetrating both his shield and armor, but it could not go all the way through as this big-boned soldier finally reacted. "Ahhhh!" The big-boned soldier survived, but a battle was beckoning. This was an ambush, a well-timed ambush, the 7 soldiers easily deduced this after the sudden disappearance of the Megalodon and the female soldier. For the arrow, as elite soldiers who had the authority to go through some of their race''s records, they instantly knew that this was the work of the Water Transmutation unique skill, it was the Megalodon who attacked. As for the other enemy in the dark apart from the toad, they had no idea. They already knew that they probably suffered under the influence of illusion magic, and with the Megalodon being a sound domain practitioner, it meant that apart from the toad, there was another enemy. About their theory of the toad probably dying already or having separated from the Megalodon, they instantly eliminated it after understanding that all their previous evidence was just an illusion. The soldiers didn''t communicate with each other, as well-trained elite soldiers, they each came to this same conclusion like they had the same mind. The time that took them to think and come to this conclusion was less than a second, which meant that the arrow was still the only attack that was released. "Spiked Diamond Formation!" Lieutenant Lookman suddenly growled an order which the soldiers acknowledged immediately. Of the 3 soldiers that formed the spikes of the battle formation, one was Lieutenant Lookman who was the strongest, the other was the other female soldier, Sergeant Major Chloe, and the big-boned soldier, Sergeant Major Bam who were both the second strongest soldiers in this elite team. "We suffered an ambush". Lieutenant Lookman quickly transmitted again, this time to the 2 soldiers that he left to watch the cave entrance to remind them to stay alert and to not let down their guard. As soon as they formed their battle formation, this was when they saw the Megalodon who was already advancing towards them. Sebastian''s enormous body was now back to its previous outrageous size of 15 meters. Before the soldiers, he was like a huge warship that was before a group of bicycles, the comparison was too lopsided. At this moment, his eyes were burning hot like fire as he fixated his gaze on this group of 7 Atlantian soldiers. Though they were mere 7 soldiers, his face was serious, this was because he knew that these 7 were completely unlike the soldiers that he faced back in the Crimson Fleet base, even Staff Sergeant Barnes. He acted while still moving. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Overcharged Lightning Axe.] Almost at the same time that he created these 2 magic manifestations, another illusion was cracked by the soldier''s fierce willpower, this was when they discovered the toad that was perched at the roof of this cave like a night ninja. It was too late though, Tonado''s terrifying tongue adaptation already lashed out with astonishing force and tyrannical speed. Boom! Chapter 219 - Lightning Thrashing! At the entrance of the rock cave where Sebastian turned into his new base. The 2 soldiers that were left behind to guard the entrance to the cave looked alertly at their surroundings, while also paying attention to everything that was going on inside the cave. Individually, they were both heavy punchers and few predators could stand their might but they were never arrogant. Prudence, seriousness, and staying calm in dangerous situations were one of the most important qualities that made them elite Atlantian soldiers. Bzzz! "We suffered an ambush!" As soon as they heard this through their ear comm, their ears stood as erect as antennas as their blood pressure increased immediately. Adrenaline flowed through them as they seemed to develop heightened senses instantly. Their eyes that now shone like lanterns on a Christmas night roamed the surroundings even more alertly. Crack! This was when something cracked before them. They felt strange, it was like scales were originally in their eyes which now fell off. It was like they were living in a fake world before, and they finally now burst their way into the real world. Shockingly, this real-world was far different than what they''ve been alertly watching for the past few minutes. Unknowingly to them, as they kept watch, the surrounding was tampered with without them noticing. As soon as the fake world shattered, what appeared in the real world was a terrifyingly menacing shark whose enormous body was just a few inches from them and whose rows of teeth were opened for that deadly bite. Of the 2 soldiers, one was still some inches further away but the other was now extremely close to this enormous Great White Shark. The shark''s teeth were already covering this soldier''s head. In normal scenarios, due to the sudden nature of the situation, the soldier at the further end would have instinctively retreated to safeguard his life but in the case of these elite soldiers, the situation was completely different. Whoosh! Bam! This Great White Shark was stabbed at the last moment on the face as blood poured out like rain, dying the surrounding water red. This was when the targeted soldier finally reacted and moved. The shark''s teeth grazed his face, injuring him but he still safeguarded his life. Unlike his companion, he was a magic swordsman. As soon as he moved to the side with speed, narrowly dodging the shark''s fatal blow, he turned back, this time with his sword following as a bright streak of sword light swept through the water with force. Shing! The super sharp sword cut through the water, producing a loud crisp sound but the sword only hit an intangible shark that dissipated the next moment. This was another illusion! When the first soldier attacked with his spear, that was when Elder Shine retreated. But with his light magic domain, he created a light illusion illustrating the flying blood and that he was still there. This way, he indeed grazed the soldier''s face but he also dodged both of their attacks successfully. This meticulous set-up was not just to dodge, it was to prepare a platform for an even stronger attack. "Super Light Battering Ram!" After the soldiers attacked and realized that it was another illusion, they both immediately decided to retreat to form a proper defense. Before they could move though, a bright white light suddenly filled their vision that made them close their eyes. This bright light not only affected their eyes, it scrambled all their surveillance magic devices, and it was also paired with a magic effect that messed with their senses. They instantly felt dizzy and groggy like they just woke up from a night of sleep. This was Elder Shine''s even more advanced version of the Battering Ram skill. With the 2 soldiers feeling this way, the shark elder received no obstruction at all as she rammed into the 2 soldiers with her enormous body. Boom! With a loud sound, the 2 soldiers flew backward into the cave-like kites that had their strings cut. They both coughed out blood due to the disordered nature of their internal system, even some of their bones fractured from the impact. As soon as the effect disappeared, both soldiers turned around mid-water before rapidly swimming deeper inside the cave. As they moved, their boots released red-hot energy which increased their swimming speed countless times. They already discovered that their opponent was a purple tier predator, and not just a purple tier predator, a powerhouse of the tier. While they rapidly swam, the one at the front transmitted into his comm. "We encountered a purple tier Great White Shark!" All these happened in less than a minute. ¡­ Boom! The illusion that was created by Elder Shine was cracked by the soldiers, but Sebastian and Tonado already received the best opportunity to strike and they did. The ambush was seamless, the execution was flawless and fast, but the fact remained that their opponents were powerful elite Atlantian soldiers. Tonado''s tongue adaptation attack was so fast that it seemed like a bolt of lightning streaking through the water, but the soldiers were still able to react. Almost immediately after the tongue lashed out, Lieutenant Lookman raised his free left hand that was not holding a weapon. On his hand was a gauntlet and as soon as he raised it, the gauntlet lit up with a blue light. The blue light intensified before erecting a glowing energy shield. After the Lieutenant did it, like the other soldiers could read each other''s minds, they did the same thing as 6 other shields lit up in their formation. Suddenly, all the shields combined together to form a sturdier shield that was circular in shape. This shield covered all the soldiers from the head to toe, covering every loophole in their defense. This was when Tonado''s powerful tongue struck. Bang! This was the strike from a purple-tier predator, such a hastily made-up shield was powerful but nearly not powerful enough to stop Tonado''s attack. The shield tore from the middle accompanied by a loud sound. The tongue''s attack power was almost depleted after it tore through the combined shield, but the remaining power still propelled it down. The soldiers all dodged in different directions till the tongue struck. Almost immediately after Tonado retrieved his tongue, the soldiers returned swiftly, quickly restoring their battle formation. Sebastian''s copper lightning rod magic manifestation dropped there. In earth terms, a lightning rod is a metallic rod, usually copper that protects a structure from lightning damage by intercepting flashes and guiding their current into the ground. This was the logic that Sebastian used for this attack. After the Atlantian soldiers broke the first illusion, he came up with this battle strategy and instantly transmitted his plan to Tonado using his sound control magic skill. Tonado''s attack with his tongue adaptation was not mainly to deal damage, but was to separate the soldiers to allow the rod to fall into their midst. Well, if they didn''t separate and rather decided to take it head-on, that was that but now, this was not the case. After the soldiers discovered the metallic rod magic manifestation and felt no damage done by it, they were confused but common sense still told them to get rid of it. They instantly decided to throw it away, but Sebastian''s Lighting Axe magic manifestation was already before them. The Axe struck down with Herculean force and as expected, the soldiers erected another shield to protect themselves. The lightning could not resist, neither could the shield. All the lightning magic was drawn crazily, then they concentrated at the center of the soldier''s battle formation. After this, the lightning was finally discharged. Bzzz! Bzzz! It was hell! The concentrated lightning was so terrifying that all the soldiers, including the Lieutenant, were affected. Their weapon and gears were originally made lightning resistant, but this one was too much. The terror was to the extent that the lightning literally started evaporating their blood. From the normal damage of the Lightning Axe magic manifestation originally, the damage was amplified several folds to a horrifying level. All the soldiers jerked while spasming like convicts that were sentenced to death by execution, all of them turned pale in just a few seconds like all blood was drained from them. The lightning died down after 10 seconds. After this, the pale soldiers looked at the enormous Megalodon while gritting their teeth to hide their horror at what just happened, while Sebastian glared back at them as a wide grin spread across his face. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram!] Chapter 220 - Beating The Elite Atlantian Soldiers To A Retreat. The Atlantian elite soldiers were vulnerable for the first time since they arrived inside this rock cave and since the battle started. This was all part of Sebastian''s plan, he wanted to weaken them as much as possible. He didn''t know how strong the reinforcements would be, but having fought with Staff Sergeant Barnes before, he had a basic idea. From the onset, he didn''t believe that he and Tonado alone were enough to kill these soldiers, all he aimed for was to weaken them. Of course, he didn''t expect his copper lightning rod magic manifestation to be so effective in dealing damage but he was more than happy to see it. At this moment, the soldiers were not only weakened and drained of blood after the lightning bombardment but their movement speed was also weakened due to the paralysis effect of the lightning magic. They could still move, but movement now required more effort from them. This was the reason why Sebastian decided to take this battle close and personal. Before the soldiers could react, his enormous body was already moving. Boom! Boom! Before he could attack, Tonado already did as his tongue adaptation struck from the roof of the cave again, wreaking havoc across the soldier''s formation. They were unable to erect another shield against the terrifying tongue attack, but none of them were injured by it either as they got prepared to receive Sebastian''s charge. His teeth became guns as under his control they shot at the soldiers rapidly, sonic drill after sonic drills were activated as the water seemed to turn into a giant vacuum where sound turned into a dangerous weapon of warfare. While he did this, Tonado continued attacking unrelentingly. These 7 soldiers were the super elites of the elite of their race, they were powerful but after such a dangerous lightning blast, they were weakened by a lot. Just after the lightning blast, when they haven''t even recovered yet, then this. It was too much. In the end, they were still only variant humans. These combined ranged attacks from Sebastian and Tonado turned into a thorn on their side, causing them countless troubles as they struggled to protect themselves from death. In a few seconds, most of them received injuries. This continued for about a dozen seconds until Sebastian closed the distance and got to their location. At this moment, they finally recovered from the aftereffects of the lightning blast a bit. They were still weak, but they were organized again. Seeing this, Sebastian''s eyes gleamed coldly as he increased his speed again, rapidly closing the remaining distance to these Atlantian soldiers. Lieutenant Lookman''s originally calm face coldly watched the approaching Megalodon with a rage that was hard to detect hidden within. "Bam!" He growled out a name. At the last moment before collision, the soldiers quickly changed positions with impeccable understanding and speed, leaving the part of the spike formation that directly faced Sebastian to the big-boned Sergeant Major Bam. This big Sergeant Major whose fat seemed to have been burned slightly by the lightning blast faced the Megalodon with rage evident on his face, then he placed his ax vertically at his front before raising his 2 hands. The next moment, his hands came down slamming at the ax. "Tsunami Barrier!" Sergeant Major Bam yelled as his hands collided against his magic ax the next moment, then a green impact blast that stirred the water to form a tsunami spread with him as the center. This Atlantian soldier was a strength practitioner, his magic weapons were self-powered since he had no magic power and they had to be refilled with magic power after their reserves were exhausted. He was the backbone and the fist of this elite team. His only shortcoming was the lack of magic power, but he actually didn''t need it as his genius talent since a kid in the strength path already covered for this. As soon as the tsunami barrier started raging, Sebastian''s momentum was stopped completely, the barrier trapped him still as he suddenly felt like he fell into a thick quagmire. While Sebastian struggled, Sergeant Major Bam moved. He abandoned his magic ax who was the core of the defensive martial arts skill, then with his ordinary fists, he threw himself at the enormous Megalodon. The fat on his face shook as he moved, then he started yelling in rage. "Steel Tiger Punch!" "Red Aurora Dozen Palm Strike!" "Mountain Head-butt!" "Roaring Dragon Body Slam!" "Toad Style Jumping Kick!" Bam! Bam! Bam! The big-boned soldier arrived beside Sebastian before he could react, then his fists, head, big belly, legs, and everything started battering the shark. [You have been inflicted with staggering Damage!] [You have been trapped by a skill: Tsunami Binding!] Sebastian''s enormous body suddenly became a big punching target to this big-boned soldier as he vented all his anger on the Megalodon while yelling. Some of his skills broke the sound barrier which told of their strength, Sebastian was already bleeding from a lot of places but despite putting in the effort, he could not break free from the strange binding skill. Tonado tried to help him but the other soldiers obstructed him. With Sergeant Major Bam temporarily trapping the Megalodon, the other soldiers finally had the freedom that they needed to act. Without hesitation, 5 of them went after Sebastian while the remaining 2 remained to hold back all of Tonado''s ranged tongue adaptation attacks. Lieutenant Lookman''s eyes flickered as the rage in them was unleashed, he was about to finally battle this Megalodon but something interrupted. Woo! [You have been hit by a skill: Nightmare Illusion.] Sebastian''s system notified him of this skill but he didn''t feel the effect since Elder Shine suppressed it on her own but the Atlantian soldiers felt it. Instantly, their greatest nightmares that they never wanted to remember were dug up as these soldiers started yelling madly and trembling nonstop while others started crying with their eyes closed. This was an illusion light magic skill that was aimed at the mind. The 2 Atlantian soldiers that stood guard outside finally arrived, but their effect in the overall battle situation was not felt as the enormous Elder Shine dominated them all. As soon as he arrived on the battlefield, he used one of the hidden skills that he had rarely ever used in a battle since he created it. The Atlantian soldiers were now complete, but all 9 of them were pulled into a terrifying illusion that they were unable to wake up from immediately, presenting them as perfect punch targets to the 3 predators. Of course, the 3 predators did punch them hard. [You have activated skill: Spike Attack.] [You have activated¡­] [You have activated¡­] Sebastian rapidly started activating his close combat skills as he bullied the variant humans who were now at his mercy. Amid his pummeling, they started waking up due to the stimulation of the pain from their injuries. When Lieutenant Lookman saw the situation, he immediately knew that they were out of favor this time. They needed to escape. With the appearance of this purple tier Great White Shark reinforcement, who knew if this Megalodon had other friends to call for reinforcement? Since it already developed to this, they were already on the losing side, so it was better if they cut their losses and retreat now. Instantly, he acted on it without feeling ashamed the slightest. The ability to observe, analyze, and make appropriate decisions no matter the situation was something that also separated them, elite soldiers, from normal soldiers. "Flash Bangs!" He ordered. The soldiers immediately acknowledged their Lieutenant''s orders, from their bags, a white box appeared which they threw at the water without hesitation. Bang! Bang! Loud sounds reverberated as the water was filled with a grey cloud that hindered vision, but couldn''t stop Sebastian''s electroreceptors. Through his electroreceptors, Sebastian saw these 9 Atlantian elite soldiers bring out a device that projected a bridge that looked like a teleportation portal. As soon as they activated it, they all passed through it. Then, like phantoms, they evaporated into the water. The Atlantian soldiers escaped. Chapter 221 - The Deduced Location Of The Unique Inheritance. In just a few minutes after the first clash between the Atlantian soldiers and the predators, the Atlantians were forced to retreat, leaving Sebastian, Tonado, and Elder Shine behind in the cave. A few seconds passed before the retreat of the soldiers was confirmed, this was when a group of familiar Great White Sharks swam into the cave. "They escaped". Hearing Old Mak''s voice, Sebastian turned to face him calmly like the situation was completely under his control. "Yes, they escaped, but it doesn''t matter because I got what I wanted". As soon as he said this, the slight foggy mist that covered the battlefield that was induced by the intensity of the previous battle was cleared up more as a pair of human hands appeared. This was a magic manifestation that Sebastian secretly created and hid inside the chaos during the previous battle without alerting the Atlantian soldiers, not even his comrades knew of it. And inside this pair of human hands was a small cube-shaped black gadget, this was the communication device of the Atlantian soldiers. This was his target from the onset, not exactly the soldiers'' lives. As the one who called for help, though Old Mak had the right to refuse it, he was the one who was still allowed to make critical decisions on how the fight should go and the battle strategy on facing the Atlantian soldiers. He already had such a large and high-profile clash against Atlantian soldiers, so he more or less knew most things about them already. He knew that apart from the variability in weapons and magic gadgets that were wielded by the soldiers, a common fact with them was that each soldier had this cube-shaped black gadget for communication. In his one month of captivity, Sebastian made an experiment with the guards who watched him and explored the cube-shaped black gadget. The cube-shaped black box was just a covering, the real gadget was a chip that was stored inside this cube. The chip was the gadget responsible for communication, and it had a lot of other uses. Through his secret exploration, Sebastian already knew a lot about this gadget. Though there were a lot of differences, its features still had a lot of similarities to smartphones in his previous world. This was the reason why he went for this gadget rather than the soldiers. His opponent this time were elite soldiers, he didn''t know the hidden techniques and cards that they had against predators. Unlike against the Crimson Fleet, he was even less confident against these 9 elite soldiers. Of course, he had a reinforcement of 5 powerful predators now but until his hand was forced, he wanted to keep this force as hidden as possible. This attack was just a preliminary to the real battle in the inheritance ground; the inheritance ground would probably be the real battlefield between him and the Atlantian Division Fleet that was on its way. While he was being punched and battered by the fat soldier, this was when he secretly created this magic manifestation. The intense clash and the bright light that followed were able to obstruct the appearance of the magic manifestation, which allowed them to stealthily steal the fat soldier''s communication gadget. Another facet of the communication gadget was that it had security measures. Against other predators, this was an unsolvable puzzle but against Sebastian who was too familiar with this, it was like he was a bug in this game. All he needed to unlock the gadget was the owner''s face i.d. In the intense battle, while the fat soldier was agitated and excited, he was unable to detect it when the small chip swiftly moved past his face. This was all that is required; the chip got the user face I.D that it needed. With that said, Sebastian finally manipulated the human hands to open the cube-shaped box to expose the glowing chip that was stored inside. {Face I.D confirmed: C.G unlocked!} Huff! Huff! "Damn! To think that we would be ambushed!" "And to think that it had reinforcements, what a crafty shark!" "That illusion magic purple tier shark changed the whole situation or that Megalodon stands no chance against our combined offensive". "Lieutenant, we shouldn''t have left so hastily, I had the situation on hand. I already had it locked with my unstoppable martial combo, if I was allowed to continue for just 2 minutes more, the vile shark would be dead". "Silence!" Lieutenant Lookman had a livid expression on his face as he glared at his team members, his rage was evident for all to see so the soldiers wisely decided to keep quiet and to let him speak. The Lieutenant closed his eyes as his clenched fists clenched even tighter than he opened them before speaking. "We lost". "But Lieutenant¡­" "Silence! I want no more of it, we lost, accept it". "We underestimated the Megalodon and we paid for it in the most painful and humiliating way possible, we were beaten to a retreat". "But we¡­" A glare from the Lieutenant shut the fat soldier''s running mouth. "Of course, I also see this as a humiliating result but it only drives me to give my all the next time. We lost once, but we succeeded in probing the enemy, we''re the ones who actually benefited". "We''ll recover for 30 minutes before moving back". "This time, I want us to gather as much information and if possible confirm that we are not being deceived again before engaging". As the Lieutenant said this, a dangerous glint flashed across his eyes. "This time, we have to show these beasts the might of Atlantians". ¡­ Old Mak and the other sharks did not completely understand Sebastian''s logic in letting the Atlantians escape, but they still let him continue. {Welcome back Sergeant Major Bam! You have 0 missed calls and 2 unread messages!} {To access advanced communication gig features, please complete the 4-way security set-up.} Seeing this, Sebastian''s face scrunched up a bit since this 4-way security set-up was not in the communication devices that he experimented on. He already expected this though, elites were different from normal soldiers Afterall. Unfortunately, he could not access the advanced communication gig features of this communication device now but he could read the 2 messages. {Message access granted!} {Message #1: Congratulations Big-boned Twig, you have won your sports bet for the Shark hunter battle team vs the Big-boned Ultimate Monsters battle team ending in a flawless victory in favor of the Big-boned Ultimate Monsters battle team. You have won 12,000 Atlantian credits.] {Message #2: Priority Mission Update- The location of the unique inheritance''s destination has been pinpointed; the coordinates are T.i2-oir67-2400- 1109. Deduced Location: Seamount 56.] The first message on the communication device made Sebastian''s eyes widen in surprise, this was an eye-opener to him that lit up his curiosity as he started thinking about Atlantian culture. His curiosity did not remain for long though as the second message captured his attention immediately after just the first sentence. This was a seamount that he already marked inside his special achievement location tab; he marked this seamount as Octumpedam Seamount. Chapter 222 - Back To The Shark Clan. ''Octumpedam Seamount¡­'' This word kept on reverberating in Sebastian''s mind like the echoes of a legendary singer, this name was too familiar to him, his heart and soul felt full and excited as he wildly let out his emotions inwardly. Finally! I found it! These were the best exclamations to describe his current feelings, after a lot of thinking and planning behind the scenes, he succeeded in getting the location of the inheritance ground ahead of time. After getting the system''s unique clue about the extremely rare chance of getting another unique skill at his current low level, no day went by without him secretly thinking about it. The anticipation in his mind could not be expressed with words. Though he never truly expressed his feelings outwardly, he always thought of ways to plan and make sure that he never missed out on this opportunity to get strong in one swoop. After enjoying the conveniences that his first unique skill made available to him, the prospect of getting a second one was too alluring to miss. Now, with the location of the inheritance ground confirmed, things became a lot easier for him and he could better plan ahead. Also, the fact that the location was the Octumpedam Seamount which he was extremely familiar with left him feeling that the goddess of luck was finally shining her luck halo at him for the first time. The location being this seamount alone simplified a lot of things for him. In the probable upcoming battle, fighting in this seamount would be like his home ground which also translated to the Atlantians'' away ground. In their perspective, after Sebastian opened the box, he took his time before suddenly starting to shake excitedly the next moment. It felt weird. "So?" Old Mak could not help but ask as Sebastian''s shenanigans were becoming too awkward to ignore. This was when Sebastian was finally extricated from his inner world. He turned to face his comrades with a wide predatory smile on his face, the kind that could send chills down any variant human''s spine. An Atlantian indeed felt a chill go down her spine, this was Doctor Mrs. Josephine who watched all the happenings from a hidden location of this cave. Sebastian ignored her and focused on his comrades. "I already got what I wanted. At least, for now, we don''t need to seek them out". "So, what next?" Old Mak asked. "We go to the clan cave". Sebastian smiled again. "Our work here is done, all there is to do now is to get back to the cave and start preparations". Old Mak looked at him for a few seconds before he gave his consent. "Ok". As soon as Old Mak gave his consent, Elder Shine swam to the middle of the group before bringing a familiar magic device that looked like an old typewriter with a large circle at its middle. This was a long-range teleportation device. "Please, put me inside the magic manifestation you called airbag again. Without special resistant clothing, my fragile body cannot resist the tearing power of space through a teleportation portal". After such a long time, and even after an elite team arrived but she could not be rescued, she already resigned to her situation completely. If she died now, she would only feel a little regret since there was nothing more that she could do with her own power to escape. She didn''t know why she was not dead yet; she didn''t know why this strange Megalodon still kept her but at any opportunity possible, she would try her very best to at least stay alive and to keep hope alive also. By the time that the airbag magic manifestation wrapped around her body, the teleportation portal already appeared fully as the surrounding water space visibly contracted. With a flash of bright light, they were all enveloped by the raging space power that came out of the device. Warp! They were gone. ¡­ Sebastian simulated a blinking sensation in his mind as he tried to acclimatize his eyes to his new surroundings. Unlike what he expected, teleportation was not so complicated, it happened before he could realize it. All he felt apart from his closed eyes was a dizzy feeling and a feeling like he wanted to throw up. The experience was so similar to what he felt when he first used an elevator. As soon as his eyes recovered completely, he immediately recognized his surroundings. This was the familiar territory of the Old Mak shark clan, this was exactly where he gave a speech to his team members before going out to their extremely long hunt. For some reason, on coming back to this territory, he experienced a feeling that he''s only experienced in his 2-bedroom apartment back on earth and in the Leroy clan lair. This was a feeling of home. Unknowingly to him, though he spent only a little time here, probably because he was surrounded by predators of the same species always and the friends that he made here, he already developed a sense of belonging here. "Welcome home, Sebastian". Surprisingly, it was the biggest Old Mak who kept on acting strangely cold since they reunited was the one to make this invitation. Sebastian understood immediately. Old Mak was suspicious of him previously which led to the cold reception, but after he explained and clarified things, this powerful predator reverted to his normal self. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] Sebastian flapped his enormous tail as he swaggered his way into the clan cave alongside the 3 elders, Queen Heareth, and Clan Head Old Mak. Both Tonado and the Atlantian Doctor were not allowed in, Sebastian knew the laws of the clan so he understood, and he already explained to Tonado beforehand which made things easier. Tonado had no problems with it. He was a lone predator, he hardly ever lived with any other predator, he preferred this decision the best. Now, he simply took on the role of protecting the Atlantian Doctor. He looked on from a distance as Sebastian and the other sharks slowly disappeared through the entrance into the shark clan cave. ¡­ [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] As Sebastian swam deeper into the cave, memories were relived as he greeted every shark that he met on the way. After over a month in captivity, meeting comrades again left him feeling peaceful. The shark clan didn''t change, everything was the same up to the Main Staying Chamber. Like always, this chamber of the clan was filled with sharks. The emergence of the 5 most important sharks of the clan would obviously attract attention, and this also attracted attention to Sebastian. As the sharks greeted the elders, the queen, and the clan head, Sebastian suddenly heard a familiar voice that made his heart beam happily with joy. "Big bro¡­, you are back?" Sebastian turned his head only to see a huge Great White Shark that stood out from the others, who were now trembling with excitement all over. The sight alone made his heart feel cushy all over. "Verni!" He called back. Before Sebastian could swim closer and reunite properly with this shark though, he was rudely interrupted. "Damn! Seba bro, you survived?!" Sebastian''s face turned livid immediately. "TOSH!!!" Chapter 223 - A Surprising Welcome. Sebastian received the warmest reception that he never expected on his return to Old Mak''s Shark Clan. His entrance with the 5 biggest and most powerful sharks in the clan made it all the more iconic. Of course, coming in with him was all that the elders did, without saying a word to him, they acknowledged the greeting from the enthusiastic sharks that saw them before going to each of their chambers in the cave. With this, Sebastian was quickly left with the 2 most enthusiastic members of his shark hunting team. And they gave him some surprising piece of news. Surprisingly, despite his absence for over a month, Verni and Tosh were able to keep the dream of the Ultimate Dissectors team alive. Sebastian was seriously shocked on hearing this. The focal reason that led to the shark hunting team surviving was the astonishingly successful first hunt that they experienced under the leadership of their powerful team leader. Despite the number of sharks that died in the hunting mission, despite the fact that even the leader of the hunting team went missing, and despite all the mischief that was wrath by Sebastian''s bad luck, the fact was indisputable that the gains from the hunting mission were massive. The gains overshadowed the losses by a mile. The success that was accomplished by this randomly matched-up team of sharks that was originally looked down on by other sharks broke a record that even the strongest of hunting teams in the clan could not achieve yet. Killing hundreds of orange tier predators, thousands of white tier and lower-tiered predators, and 2 purple tier predators in a hunting team that neither had a shark elder nor the clan head in it was a legendary feat. This was why the hype brought by this successful hunt was so shockingly massive and was also one of the main reasons why Tosh and Verni were able to maintain the hunting team. When this success was combined with the huge propaganda mission that Sebastian engaged in before he went for the hunt, the number of sharks in the hunting team exploded upwards like a floating balloon. Though he went missing for over a month, the success that he accomplished with the hunting mission already placed him as a rising shark legend in the clan who was already at the level of Tungsten and the other prodigies. All the team members of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team benefited tangibly due to the successful hunt in shark points. This point was what made Sebastian''s joy explode to the peak. The other sharks in the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team already collected their shark points, and surprisingly, Sebastian''s quota of shark points was stored for him. When Sebastian first heard this, he at first felt that his hearing was getting worse due to the unbelievable situation but after coming to terms with it, his heart grew even more peaceful. Money brings peace, at this moment of truth, Sebastian was able to comprehend the truth behind this saying. Without hesitation, he had his 2 companions take him in the direction of the Mission/Reward Hall. ¡­ "Sebastian, you survived?" "¡­" Sebastian had a weird look on his face as he faced the hall master of the Mission/Reward Hall, why was everyone asking him that? "Umm, haha, yes, I survived. Long time no see, hall master Nanga". The elderly shark laughed loudly which at this moment simply sounded like the sound made by 2 metals rubbing against each other. "My boy, it''s relieving that you survived, it feels good to see you again". "He''s lying". "Huh?" Sebastian turned to face Tosh who said that with a questioning look on his face. Tosh didn''t shrink under his glare though; the shark simply did a sharky shrug before whispering to him. "He''s been secretly celebrating for one month ago when you disappeared. There''s a rule that if a shark fails in collecting his shark points for 3 months, the shark points automatically belong to the clan head". "And if the clan head can''t take it in one month which is plausible since the clan head already has an abundance of them, the hall master is permitted to take the said shark points for himself". "¡­" Sebastian was dumbfounded. On the other hand, the elderly shark glared at the mischievous Tosh and laughed again awkwardly. "Ok, Sebastian, what brings you to my hall today?" "Oh, about that, I just want to check my shark points value and also the shark points record of the hunting team that I created". "Ok, Sebastian, there you go". Ding! [Individual Section.] [User: Sebastian.] [Personal Shark Point Value: 11,320.] ¡­ [Group Section.] [Ultimate Dissectors Hunting team tab.] [1st hunt''s shark point value: 1390.] [2nd hunt''s shark point value: 54,935.] "Bingo!" Sebastian reacted fast enough as he backed his words with another human hands magic manifestation that directed a thump up at Nanga. "Sh*t! This feels so damn good!" Sebastian yelled in his mind as memories of his glorious campaign with his buddies in his hunting team came back to his mind. Despite the dangerous circumstances that followed, the results of the hunting mission were worth being proud of. The comparison between the results of his first hunt and the massive results of the second hunt showed how successful he was. And during this period, the hunting team already ballooned in size again, now harboring 8 new sharks with 5 of them being orange tier sharks and only 3 being white tier sharks. This was a huge improvement compared to the previous recruitment attempt that he put so much effort in. With this, he finally compiled the necessary shark points that were equivalent in value to the meat of a purple-tier predator. -->1 white tier predator= 5 Shark points. -->1 orange tier predator= 10 Shark points. -->1 purple tier predator= 500 Shark points. The difference was massive, but considering the considerable difference in strength between predators of both tiers, this was not too illogical. Sebastian felt happy and satisfied. Work towards perfection and success would run after you, this was one of his core values and was also reflected in his current success with his hunting team. Well, with all these, he could say that they did conquer the clan, even if it was not the world yet it meant something so he didn''t lie to his team members. Also, with so many shark points in hand, he could do a lot of things in the shark clan that he could not do before. Thinking of the countless possibilities made him excited. Despite all his excitement, he succeeded in calming his mind down because this was not his ultimate goal, his ultimate goal was the unique skill. And to get this unique skill, he needed to plan. "Verni, I want the both of you to go gather all the team members of our hunting team outside. Tell them that the team leader is back and that he wants to have a word with them". "You''re not going with us? What are you doing? Besides, you haven''t told us how you survived, when will you tell us?" "I¡­" Sebastian tried to explain but he was interrupted by the blabbering Tosh who talked non-stop but never listened. "You stayed outside for over a month, I believe you must have enjoyed a lot of thrilling adventures, when are you going to tell us about it?" "Also, you¡­" Sebastian closed his eyes, smoke seemed to be coming out of his head at this moment. When he opened his eyes again, they were blazing red with fire. "TOSH!!!" Chapter 224 - The Unique Skill Hunting Plan. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound construct: Sound Barrier.] After listening to Elder Dangle''s lecture over a month ago, Sebastian''s insight into the origin laws of sound increased by a lot without him realizing it at first. Compared to before when he just became a sound domain shark, his understanding and instincts were now more finetuned towards the sound domain. And after such a long time of making use of his sound control skill, his proficiency with the skill also increased. Of all the skills that he currently had in his repertoire; Sebastian was positive that his sound control skill was the one who was now closest to the initial stage in terms of origin law comprehension. His origin law comprehension of the water transmutation unique skill was also increasing rapidly, but the increase with this skill was faster. Now, he could practically create any basic magic construct with his sound control skill that was related to the sound domain. Like now, the sound barrier magic construct that he just created was to isolate himself from every outside disturbance. With it, except a sound domain expert like Elder Dangle personally intervened, no one else in this shark clan could make a sound that would penetrate the barrier that he created. He created this barrier so that he could concentrate and plan. He already got most of the significant information that he needed about the system clue that he got, now all he had to do was to plan on how to engage. About 20 minutes later, his foggy eyes regained focus. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] Without hesitation, he activated this skill as he propelled his enormous body out of the corner of the main staying chamber that he huddled at before. He turned and swam straight in the direction of the throne chamber. ¡­ A few minutes later, Sebastian was hovering before Old Mak''s enormous throne with Queen Heareth and the 3 Elders also gracing the gathering with their esteemed presence. "So, have you perfected your plan?" "Yes, clan head". "Tell me". In this situation, he was like a bounty hunter who received a clue on a criminal but called other friendly bounty hunters to ?ssist. Of course, he was the one who was making the plan and would also call the shots. Sebastian simulated taking a deep breath in his mind before he spoke, his shark face already turned serious long ago to match the current atmosphere. "After thinking hard, I succeeded in drafting a plan with 3 main stages". "The first stage of my plan is the preparation stage which I further subdivided into the personal preparation, clan preparation, allies'' preparation, scouting preparation, retreat preparations, and contingency plans". "The personal preparation is about myself, I won''t elaborate on that". "The clan preparation is about the clan. You already agreed that the whole clan would be participating in this, and of course, we need to prepare". "I already have a sound recording of my detailed plan for the clan preparation. Of course, you guys can optimize this part of the plan if you perceive that anything here is inadequate or incorrect". "The allies'' preparation plan is as it is. Yes, I decided that we need an ally after I discovered the location of our target, and I already have a perfect candidate in mind". "The Lizard Lord?" Old Mak asked. "Yes". Sebastian grinned. "I already dealt with the Lizard Lord before which makes things easier, and I know the way that he thinks, I believe that he and his clan can be the best ally that we could ever wish for". "Of course, I also already confirmed that allying with them would not infringe on the benefits of the clan. The inheritance of a Sea King is enough for both our clans and dozens more to eat and become bloated". "The scouting preparation is self-explanatory. This entails us first probing the seamount to see its current state, which would help a lot in us contacting our candidate ally and in all the future changes in our plans". "The retreat preparation is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. I don''t want to die, neither do any of you want to see the extinction of this clan". "I believe that this alone is enough to show the importance of this step in my main plan, it is indispensable and must be addressed". "The contingency plans are just a shenanigan of mine that I find hard to ignore, it simply means me drafting more plans on top of my already drafted plans to account for any change in the situation". "The second stage of my plan is the insertion stage or its better referred to as the engagement stage". "I created this stage of my plan from my understanding of Atlantians after staying over one month with them in captivity". "Atlantis is an overbearing race, and for something as significant as this, I am sure that they would do it in an overbearing manner". "The crux of this stage of my plan is active engagement, in other words, staying smart and acting before they do. I want us to always remain a step ahead of them, this is the only way to guarantee success". "The third stage of my plan is action. This stage of my plan is open to suggestions and modifications since it is the most pivotal part of the plan". "That is the most accurate summary for my plan". After Sebastian finished speaking, silence reigned in the throne chamber for a few seconds before Old Mak spoke again. "Good! I will look into your sound constructs and give my opinions at a later time". "Thank you, clan head". The main purpose of this gathering was to hear Sebastian''s plan, now that he already presented it to them, the gathering was officially over but Sebastian didn''t turn to leave immediately. He waited quietly, and Old Mak indeed spoke. "I heard you now have over 10,000 shark points". "Yes, clan head". "Good, I''ll be organizing a lecture 2 days from now. My evolution consultation price is 4000 Shark points, while my consultation price on origin laws is 2000 Shark points". "I also want to inform you that your authority within the clan increased". "Congratulations! You passed the loyalty and courage test that is placed on every new shark after evaluation. Now, you have the authority to visit the junkyard and the armory". "Thank you, clan head". Sebastian was ecstatic! After suddenly getting so many shark points, he had long been thinking of where to spend them on, he never knew that his luck would shine at this moment to receive such a surprise. After expressing his gratitude, he immediately revealed his intention to visit the clan''s armory. After he was permitted by the clan head, he bid farewell and left the throne chamber. The 5 sharks watched him silently as he left. "He''s a promising but dangerous young lad". Elder Marble mumbled as he used his electroreceptors to focus on his clan head.. "I can almost see the young you overlapping in him". Chapter 225 - First Magic Gadget! [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] For the first time since he was evaluated and allowed inside the shark clan, Sebastian had the privilege of swimming farther than he usually did into the clan head''s throne chamber. Of the various sections of the shark clan, the throne chamber was the smallest but the most important of them all. This section consisted of Old Mak''s throne chamber which was the first part of the section, with the second being the armory, and the third being the most protected part of the clan, which was the junkyard. According to the information that Verni revealed to Sebastian long ago, the armory was where the clan kept magic weapons and gadgets that they acquired or created themselves. As for the junkyard, it was a place where strange machines of technology and magic that the clan acquired as spoils of war were kept. The main difference between the armory and the junkyard as just revealed to him by the elders was that the magic weapons kept in the armory were understood by them, and they held no danger towards the clan. As for the junkyard, almost everything that was kept inside it was still mysteries to the clan. Magic weapons that could not be understood yet, whose effects were still a mystery to the clan were predominantly stored here. Only the 5 biggest sharks could access the junkyard in the clan, this was because the things stored there may contain unpredictable power that could even bring the annihilation of the clan if misused. Sebastian was not permitted to go to the junkyard, he only received permission to visit the armory. Though he really felt curious about the junkyard, he knew better than to let himself be controlled by his impulses. He was 100% sure that even now, every movement of his was being watched by the 5 powerful sharks that he left at the throne chamber. This alone was enough to calm his wildest tendencies. Beyond the throne chamber was a sight to behold. The cave was no longer straightforward, as soon as Sebastian left the throne chamber, he noticed that the path forward started sloping downwards. Another observation of his was that the walls of the path now formed into beautiful spirals. These spirals in the wall were beautiful, but his danger senses told him to stay at a respectful distance from them. Just a little thinking told him the reason, this spiral was a form of a defense structure that was created by the clan to hamper intruders. Sebastian could subtly feel a sense of sound noise from the spirals that warned him that getting close would be deadly to his eardrums, he also felt a sense of dizziness the more he looked at the spirals in the wall. He easily guessed that this defense structure was made with a combination of sound magic, light illusion magic, and earth magic. There may be an addition of lightning magic that he probably failed to notice. Sebastian followed this spiral pathway to the end before he found a huge black earthen door. This earthen door was extremely medieval, but circular magic circuits were drawn around it that glowed in soft yellow light. Already informed of this beforehand, Sebastian placed his snout before the yellow orb. He felt a prick the next moment as a little of his blood was su?k?d. {¡­Identity verified!} {Welcome to the armory, Sebastian!} Creak! As soon as Sebastian heard this, the black earthen door opened with a slight creaking sound. Sebastian swam in without thinking too much. After entering, the inside of the armory was revealed to Sebastian. The armory was very simple, it was made in a normal circle shape. The only complex factor about it was that the things in the armory were placed in what seemed like a circular magic wardrobe that kept rotating. On each shelf of the wardrobe was a blank board where information about the magic weapon or gadget that was kept inside it was recorded. The magic wardrobe rotated with Sebastian floating in its center, while white light from the wardrobe illuminated the small space inside the armory. {Magic Weapon: Paralysis Needle.] {Weapon Description: A needle with little damage but terrifying penetrative power. When magic power is injected into it, a grey liquid is ejected into the opponent''s bloodstream that could cause paralysis of various levels.] {Duration and Lethality of paralysis depends on the user''s power and the opponent''s resistance power.} {Passive Effect: Internal Blood Freezing.] {Passive Effect: Internal Bleeding.] {Price: 6,000 Shark Points.] Seeing the effects of the first random magic weapon that he encountered, Sebastian''s excitement hit its peak. He didn''t choose it immediately though; he had all the time in the world to search and to make his choice. This was not like in his evolution process, it felt much better this way. Without wasting any time in trivialities, he went from the first shelf as he started exploring all the shelves of the circular wardrobe as it rotated slowly. After decades of development, Old Mak and the other main sharks of the clan were able to amass over 2 dozen magic weapons and gadgets here that were available for younger sharks'' purchase. Because the choice was not too expansive, it did not take Sebastian much time before he explored all 23 magic weapons and gadgets that were stored inside the armory and all that he could say was that he was satisfied. In terms of magic weapons, apart from the paralysis needle, Sebastian saw even more awesome magic weapons like the Molten Knife, the Water Creed Shield, the Thunder Rod, and even a magic weapon called the Tsunami Summoner. The molten knife was a small knife whose primary effect was summoning a lava descent to aid in battle when needed. The water creed shield''s primary effect was erecting a huge water shield just like the way Shanks could do. The Thunder Rod''s primary effect was a fierce lightning blast that was accompanied by thunder, and it could deal the most damage among all the primary effects of the magic weapons. As for the Tsunami Summoner, it was a magic weapon that was in the form of a cube. Its primary effect was summoning a terrible tsunami that could protect the summoner and also deal terrifying damage to enemies. Of all these magic weapons that left the most impression on him, they were all mighty but neither of them fit his purpose. They were all magic weapons that needed to be held to be used in battle, Sebastian easily understood why Old Mak and the other elder sharks were not making use of these magic weapons. Like him, all 5 of them were magic sharks that didn''t mutate grip adaptations on their fins to enable them to hold onto magic weapons to use in battle. And since no magic weapon that fit him like the way the Octranezion perfectly fit an octopus-like Octumpedam, Sebastian gave up on them all. {Magic Gadget: Mana Box.} {Gadget Description: A box with stored mana. This box can store mana which can be tapped from when in a battle situation.} {Mana Box Limit: 500 Mana Points.} {Passive Effect: +2 MP for every mana recovery.} {Active Effect: Desperado!} {When in a situation where all means of mana have been exhausted, you can activate this skill by sacrificing some of your health points to instantly recover 500 mana points.} {Price: 10,500 Shark Points.} When Sebastian saw this magic gadget, he decided to take it immediately despite its outrageous price. This was a bargain that was too good to be true. As a shark who could now be called a veteran, he knew more than anyone else the importance of mana in every battle so this magic gadget was a must to him. He bought it first before he continued his search for others. {Magic Gadget: Hero''s Song.} {Gadget Description: A sound domain shark''s heart that was turned into a magic gadget. This heart keeps on singing a hero''s song that reflects its owner''s happy life, this aids in better concentration that leads to slightly faster health and mana points recovery speed.} {Passive Effect: Hero''s Song.} {Active Effect: Sound Blast!} {When enough sound ripples have been created in a battlefield environment, when activated with magic power, a terrifying AOE sound blast is created that can deal astronomical damage to every predator in the surrounding except the user.} {Active Effect: Heart Blast!} {When activated, an internal sonic attack is directed at the opponent''s heart that could bypass any external defense, thereby dealing true damage.} {Active Effect: Vacuum Space!} {When activated, a special vacuum space is created where sound domain skills are amplified 2 times while the sound blast and heart blast effects are amplified by 4 times.} {Price: 18,000 Shark Points.} {Note: Only Sound domain sharks can make use of this magic gadget.} On seeing this, Sebastian was shocked. He didn''t even need to think about it, he made his choice immediately. The only problem was the lack of shark points, which means he needed to wait till later before being able to collect them. Though he felt some regret, he left the armory feeling extremely satisfied. Chapter 226 - Meeting The Lizard Lord. "You made some very good sensible choices in there". Old Mak commented calmly as he gave the young Megalodon a good look while also scrutinizing him with his electroreceptors. The calmness that Sebastian displayed in the armory surprised even a veteran like him. Sebastian was not the first young shark to enter the armory. Other young sharks already entered before him, with prominent examples being Tungsten, Torpedum, and Strong. The one constant between all these sharks was that after they entered the armory, the awesome magic weapons and gadgets on display immediately blinded their judgment. Most of the time, they all ended up taking the strongest magic weapon in their opinion that they could afford even if they could not use the said magic weapon. They only came to a realization after leaving the armory. Despite the flashy magic weapons that were on display, the fact that Sebastian took none was commendable already. And the fact that he was sensible enough to take a mana box showed his level of maturity already at such a young age. If he was still doubting it before, now Old Mak no longer doubted it. Sebastian was definitely a genius shark with a talent that was rarely seen even in millennials. "Thanks for the compliment, clan head". Sebastian was not overly proud nor was he pretentiously modest either, him not emphasizing how good his judgment was showed his modesty. After he received another round of complimentary comments from the other sharks who praised his intelligence and talent, they finally became serious and went to business. Surprisingly, the originally silent Elder Marble was the one who spoke this time while Old Mak kept quiet. "We already went through the plan that you proposed in detail, and all that we can say is that you are indeed a genius". "There are no problems with the plan, we give our approval. But there are a few places in the detailed plan where we find the need to make some changes, and we already made the relevant changes". "About the preparation stage of your plan, we tweaked the clan preparation a little and added our own personal touch". "We also made some changes in the little details of the scouting preparation phase of the preparation stage of your plan". "In your opinion, the action stage of the plan is the most important part, but in our opinion, the insertion stage of the plan is the most important part". "The insertion stage is very crucial and therefore needs a lot of carefulness in decision making. It will solely dictate if we would run into death straight in this endeavor or if we would come out successful". "There is a term that you like using, improvisation". "We want to be the ones responsible for improvisation in the insertion stage of the plan. With our knowledge about this region, I believe that we are more than capable of taking on this task". Elder Marble kept silent after this and simply stared at Sebastian. Seeing no reaction or objection from him, he continued. "The first improvisation in the insertion stage of the plan that we made is this. We''ll be dividing the clan into 2, the elite squad and the normal squad". "The elite squad''s leader is the clan head, and it comprises of Elder Dangle, Elder Shine, Queen Heareth, and you, making it 5". "The 5 of you will be the vanguard force". "I will be the leader of the normal squad, and the 3 young prodigies will be my ?ssistants. We improvised the plan so that we would not be placing all our cards in one basket. We decided on a 2-pronged approach". "For the third stage of the plan, we leave that to you". "According to you, the day of the inheritance''s appearance is a week and 2 days from now. I want us to go visit the Lizard Lord today, and when you''re back, you''ll also visit the 3 young prodigies of the clan". "If you''re ready, the clan head is ready to go visit Tundra, the Lizard Lord". "I am ready". "Good!" Old Mak finally took over. "Then off we go". As expected, Old Mak used the teleportation magic device again as both he and Sebastian disappeared from the throne chamber the next moment. Silence descended back inside the clan''s throne chamber. ¡­ The water space squeezed and contracted a bit before expanding the next moment as a teleportation portal was opened at a certain Seamount. Out of this portal swam out 2 enormous sharks. On regaining his orientation, Sebastian experienced a feeling of nostalgia as he looked down on the solid ground of this seamount that was before him. This was a region of water that he spent his first meaningful month after Leroy''s clan lair since his transmigration into this world. Also, he made a friend here and also had a fierce battle here which was enough to create unforgettable memories. All these were the reasons for his special feelings about this seamount. After just a few months, there were few changes in the seamount. Everything was more or less the same as he left it. Old Mak was very precise in his teleportation, they appeared just a few meters away from the boundary that separated the poisonous kingdom of the Draconic Crocodiles. Before they could swim forward, they both heard a familiar voice followed by a huge shadow swimming in their direction. "To what do I owe this sudden visitation, Old Mak?" "It is a friendly invitation". Old Mak replied calmly as he looked at the huge Draconic Lizard that was swimming in his direction. Both parties looked at each other for a few seconds before they averted their gazes, then the Lizard Lord finally turned to look at Sebastian with a smile. "Long time no see, Shameless Lord, it seems that you haven''t changed a bit". "Haha, you too". Sebastian laughed which at this moment was just him shining his deadly rows of teeth. "I thought you already escaped the confines of this seamount considering your fearsome ambitions". The Draconic Lizard directed a disdainful glare at Sebastian before asking. "So, about my friend, the motherf*cker Lord, any word from him?" "No, but I think he''ll contact me soon enough". "Humph! You better inform me when he contacts you". "Also¡­" "Ahem¡­, we came here for a friendly invitation". On seeing the trajectory that this conversation was taking, Old Mak had no choice but to interrupt as his face was already turning slightly livid. "Cough¡­" Sebastian simulated a cough in his mind as he peeked at the clan head. "Sorry, clan head". "Old friend, sorry, please come in". ¡­ "A Sea King inheritance?" The Lizard Lord was confused. "Please bring your voice down". "What''s a Sea King inheritance?" "Damn!" [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound construct: Sound Barrier.] It seems that the Lizard Lord didn''t feel Sebastian''s glare, it was until Old Mak glared at him coldly that he realized the repercussions of his actions. "Umm, sorry, but what does this sea king¡­" "Be quiet and listen". Old Mak said coldly. "I believe that you know who Atlantians are. Sebastian was taken captive by Atlantians for one month, that is where he got the news about the inheritance". "A Sea King inheritance is¡­" A few minutes later, the Lizard Lord finally understood. "Does that mean that this seamount is about to get dangerously turbulent soon?" "Yes". "¡­" "That is why we came to ask you and your clan to become allies with us. Together, we can survive the upcoming turbulent times and also benefit". The Lizard Lord fell into a deep contemplative silence. "The benefits may be huge, but against Atlantians, I''m not sure if my clan is up to the task. Perhaps, participating in this may smell the annihilation of my clan". "Such a thing is abominable to me. I''m not outrightly rejecting you, but all I''m saying is that you give me time to think through this". "That is reasonable". Old Mak agreed. "When do you want us to return? We have only a week till the deadline, and before then, I believe that this seamount would have turned turbulent and inhabitable to you already". The Lizard Lord thought before replying. "Please give me time to think". Sebastian suddenly interrupted. "For something this big, there is a high chance that the motherf*cker Lord would come. Even if she doesn''t come, if you ally with us, I promise that I would find a way for you to meet her in the future". This was when the Lizard Lord really fell into a dilemma. He gritted his teeth audibly, in the end, he still gave the same answer. "Please, give me time to think". "Ok, we await your allegiance". With that, both sharks left. Chapter 227 - Ultimate Dissectors; The Conquerors! Bzzz! Sebastian''s vision flashed again, then the next moment, he was back to the throne chamber of the clan with Old Mak. Seeing the familiar chamber, he could not help but feel some slight regret. Having received the extremely rare opportunity of going out of the clan along with the clan head, it would be a lie if he said he was not attracted to the prospect of going on a hunting spree with the powerful shark. Hunting alongside a killer machine Great White Shark like Old Mak, he was pretty sure that the haul, in the end, would be legendary. In the end, he could only fantasize about this possibility. On getting back to the throne chamber, Sebastian immediately noticed that all the other sharks left already, leaving only Elder Marble behind. Old Mak did not waste any time, after taking his rightful place in his throne, he turned and started narrating the discussion with the Lizard Lord to the elder. In just a few minutes, he was done. After this, Elder Dangle turned his enormous body around and alongside Sebastian, they both left the chamber to meet the 3 young shark prodigies. Since the first day that he was taken into the clan, Sebastian had heard several rumors about the 3 prodigies. Apart from Tungsten who he already met before; he was finally about to meet the other 2. ¡­ "Elder Marble!" "Greetings, Elder Marble!" "Gooday, Elder Marble!" After the 3 huge sharks that were before Sebastian greeted the shark elder, they finally turned their attention to him. Tungsten being the only one of the sharks who knew Sebastian before now, nodded at him as a form of greeting. Before any of them could do anything, Elder Dangle made himself disposable immediately as he started the introductions. "Tungsten, Torpedum, Strong, this is Sebastian". "Sebastian, this is Tungsten who I believe you are already acquainted with". "This is Torpedum, the only space domain shark of our clan". "And this is Strong, the only strength domain shark of our clan. He succeeded in unlocking the ancient bloodline, the Pugilist King bloodline". "Tungsten, Torpedum, Strong, I came to congratulate the 3 of you today because a new shark finally fulfilled the conditions to join your ranks". "Welcome the new young prodigy of the clan, Sebastian". "Welcome to the rank of the prodigies, sibling Sebastian". While the 3 sharks said this outwardly, inwardly, their mind was occupied by another thing entirely. They were shocked, who was this new shark that they didn''t know about who suddenly fulfilled the conditions to be a prodigy? Instantly, their gaze at Sebastian changed. They started to observe and look closer at this shark, they finally took Sebastian seriously. Already knowing what was about to happen, Elder Marble excused himself at this moment. "I''ll leave the 3 of you to help your new friend better integrate into your group". With that, Elder Marble finally left the prodigy chamber of the main staying chamber, leaving the sharks all the time in the world to observe each other. Like Tungsten, the other 2 prodigy sharks towered at a size of approximately 15 meters. The only difference was that in terms of physique and body mass, Torpedum was like Tungsten while Strong was a different beast entirely. Compared to the other 2 and even Sebastian himself, Strong was like a giant shark. Despite being a Great White Shark, muscles could still be seen visibly bulging out of his body, making him look like a gym freak. Apart from this, his body was entirely plain looking like a normal Great White Shark. Despite this, Sebastian was not fooled, he knew that they were probably hiding deadly adaptations under their body''s enormous frame. Seeing these 3 sharks, the relevant information that was revealed about them from Tosh immediately resurfaced in his mind. All 3 of these sharks were age mates, and since their days as young sharks, Tungsten and Torpedum were widely recognized as the prodigy sharks. When they unlocked their magic domain, Tungsten unlocked light magic while Torpedum unlocked space magic, immediately placing him above Tungsten. Due to this, Torpedum felt a sense of superiority over his friend which succeeded in destroying their friendship. From then on, they became rivals. To get better than his rival, Tungsten put himself into dangerous adventures to get better through experience and fortuitous encounters. His luck was good, on his 3rd birthday, he got a surprising light domain shark magician''s inheritance. Through this inheritance, his strength grew by leaps and bounds which enabled him to climb back to Torpedum''s level, placing them as young shark prodigies of the clan. This was until he entered a secret cave at an extreme region of this volcano region where a beast inheritance was hidden. This inheritance was an ancient strength domain inheritance that was left by an unknown predator. Inside this inheritance cave, he was fortunate enough to fulfill the requirements where a lot of other predators already perished. Through the inheritance, he got one of the legendary natural cores, the strength core which became his core. Through that, his talent skyrocketed, not as a magic shark but as a strength domain shark. Later in the future, he evolved and became a Pugilist King Shark. This was when he was recognized as a young prodigy of the clan. Rumors in the clan said that in terms of brute strength, Strong could take on both Tungsten and Torpedum, and thrash them without breaking a sweat. This was the power of this strength domain Great White Shark. "Welcome to the rank of the prodigies Sebastian, I''m your big bro Strong. If you need anything, just hola me, I''ll be there quick and fast". "Thanks, big bro Strong". Sebastian felt awkward, from Verni calling him big bro, now that he had to call someone else a big bro too felt too weird. "Welcome, prodigy Sebastian". Tungsten finally smiled at Sebastian. "I heard you were injured pretty bad, how was it?" "Oh, that? I recovered with time". As the 2 sharks were about to continue, they were interrupted by the last of the prodigies, Torpedum. "A mere sound domain shark can become a prodigy these days, it leaves me wondering about the accuracy of the elders'' evaluation". Without waiting for a reply from the others, Torpedum turned to swim away. He swam forward only for a few meters before his body faded into the water. This was not teleportation; it was another space displacement skill that Sebastian could not identify. The comment from Torpedum made the atmosphere awkward, which Tungsten tried hard to remedy by cheering up Sebastian. Sebastian didn''t pay too much attention to it, he only felt that the space domain shark was weird. His first impression of the shark was arrogance, self-centeredness, and pride. The comments of a stray shark could not destroy his mood though. He enjoyed quality time with Tungsten and Strong before he finally excused himself to leave, he had a hunting team to address. ¡­ "Welcome back, team leader!" On swimming outside the cave entrance, this was the reception that Sebastian received as the dozens of sharks that were before him all greeted him with a single voice that resonated together in echoes. On seeing this scene of dozens of Great White Sharks gathered and all eagerly awaiting a word from him, Sebastian was dumbfounded. At this moment, he seemed to be hearing a word that kept on singing in his mind "little drops of water makes a mighty ocean". He still remembered how he started the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team with such a meager number of team members. Now, in so little time, the difference was so obvious that it was unbelievable. This sight made Sebastian''s heart feel full. It was not a scam, it was true that hard work pays, Sebastian wholeheartedly believed this. Seeing the eager gazes of the sharks, Sebastian confidently swam to their middle before addressing them in a loud voice. "We are the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team!" "Winning is our watchword, we are winners!" "A month ago, I told those of you that were there that we should go conquer the world. Though we haven''t fulfilled that goal yet, the second hunting mission taken by our hunting team proves that we can do it". "In that hunting mission, we gained a lot, but we also lost". "I want to use this opportunity to appease the souls of those that we lost in the previous hunt. They died for a good cause, so they should be celebrated". "From today, they are heroes of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team!" "Today, I want to tell you not to forget the sacrifice of these heroes". "We need to take the mantle from them, we need to take on even more hunting missions, and we need to break even more records". "I believe that soon, enemy predators shall tremble at the mention of the name of our hunting team". "Ultimate Dissectors, the conquerors!" "The Conquerors!" Chapter 228 - Battle Preparation. The next day¡­ [You have been affected by a skill: Sound Waves Manipulation.] "Gooday everyone, this is your Elder Dangle speaking". "Today, I have an extremely important piece of information so please listen carefully. We received news that our home as we see it may not be the same in about a week to 2 weeks from now". "Because of this, a clan-wide hunting mission was issued by the clan head. Every single shark of the clan is to respond to this mission summons". "From today, precisely this morning, every shark is to engage in rampant hunting missions. To face the incoming challenge, we need the best version of ourselves which means that every shark needs to train and develop". "By taking on hunting missions, battling other predators, and killing other predators is the basic way for predators like us to develop". "This is why this mission is compulsory, and it is effective immediately". "About the danger that is about to befall our home, detailed information will be sent to you in due time so be alert and always prepared". "Also, in this mission, all 3 of the elders will be mobilized for safeguarding. When hit by an unsolvable obstacle, we would swoop in to help to maintain the stability of the large-scale mission". "Good luck, siblings, I hope that none of you dies". With that, the sound waves that tyrannically invaded the peace and privacy of the sharks finally subsided under Elder Dangle''s manipulation. After the sound waves stopped transmitting, all the sharks in the clan cave fell into a long silence as they ?ssimilated the contents of the announcement. Though some of the sharks were super-intelligent, most of them still just had basic intelligence. Most of them didn''t understand what the announcement meant, but they understood the term that their home was in danger. They also understood that what they needed to do to save their home was to go take on hunting missions, hunt predators, and train with them and use them to develop their skills and power. By the time that they got there, the hall was already filled with numerous sharks of various sizes as they all scrambled to get a mission for themselves and their hunting team. Sebastian was among the early comers. As the one who revealed the truth of the Sea King inheritance to the clan and was partly in charge of the planning, Sebastian was already aware that today and tomorrow were the preparation days. Of the preparation stage of the plan that Sebastian proposed, this part was the clan preparation phase. 2 days were for the clan preparation phase, while the last week was for the scouting preparation phase and the insertion stage of the plan. As Sebastian waited, it did not take long before it got to his turn. >Wide-scale Hunt Mission- The Hunt Training Order< - Mission Details: Either individually or as a team, the worker is expected to go out and hunt stray creatures, killing them for the experience and the growth. Rewards shall be given according to the hunt result that is submitted. >Confirm Mission Acceptance: Yes/No?< "Yes!" Ding! With that, the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team officially was thrown into the game of preparation before the ultimate struggle at the inheritance ground. Sebastian did not waste any time, having informed his team members of another hunt mission this morning, unlike other hunting teams, they were ready and were already waiting for him outside. As soon as he swam out of the cage, they left. While they swam away, Sebastian gave an order to his system. "System, please improve my luck points". According to his system, the increase or decrease of the luck points was what took the most energy. Stabilizing luck took less energy which was why Sebastian could do this after his system stabilized it not too long ago. With this problem addressed, Sebastian felt a lot more confident in himself. ¡­ [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] Crunch! [You have activated skill: Shredding Bite!] [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.] [You have created a magic manifestation: Pressurized Water Blades!] Bam! Bam! [You have killed a purple tier mutated Boa- Level 22: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 37 Skill points and 50 Adaptation points.] Finally! After a fierce battle that dragged across a kilometer, Sebastian finally put an end to this powerful mutated Boa''s life. The day was already getting dark but Sebastian and his team members were not done. Due to his increased luck that also infected companions that were around him, this was the hunting team''s second purple tier kill in just a single day. They would have increased the tally to 3 kills but the 2nd purple tier predator that they saw, a Deep-Sea Monkey fled after exchanging just a few moves with them and discovering the disparity in strength. Apart from the purple tier predators that died to their hands, Sebastian''s hunting team also killed over a thousand other predators that were not purple tier creatures already. This record was astonishing and now, some of the sharks in the team who had dimensional magic rings already indicated that their rings were full. The speed of the hunting team''s progress was mind-blowing. For the problem of transport, the team didn''t disband because of it because Sebastian already anticipated it and also already created a contingency for it. The members of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team were not big enough for complicated methods yet, but they were more than capable of basic methods. Sebastian simply divided the team into 2. With a companion like Tonado helping in his team, he could afford to do this. While he stayed behind, leading the sharks to engage more predators, Tonado led the other group of sharks whose dimensional magic rings were full back so that they could empty them in the clan. This way, the efficiency of the hunting team remained top-notch throughout. ¡­ The Gigantic White hunting team¡­ Boom! Boom! This ferocious hunting team was back to its best after the setback more than a month ago. At this moment, together, the elite group of Great White Sharks bombarded the group of mutated Cobras to bits. Elite sharks die, other sharks become elite and replace them. This cycle of growth and death was the reason why this hunting team was still alive. As soon as Tungsten recovered, he worked hard in rebuilding his team and now they were back at their very best. They battered their opponents until the enemy predators could only beg for mercy. Their killing efficiency was mad, they moved like unstoppable grinding machines with no brakes. The result of their first-day hunting was also nice. Though they didn''t kill a single purple tier predator, they already killed over a thousand predators that were below the purple tier. Tungsten was the cornerstone of the team with his light domain magic, at this moment, he was on fire. The Genius White hunting team¡­ Torpedum hovered over the battlefield like an ancient blood asura as his space skills repeatedly bombarded the enemies, slicing space and flesh apart as a bloodbath was left in his wake. Unlike other hunting teams, his Genius White hunting team had only 5 members but they were all OP Great White Sharks. Torpedum only accepted genius sharks with genius magic domains like his. Even if it was not the legendary space domain magic, sharks with rare and unique magic domains were his only recruit targets. Of the 5 members of his hunting team, 2 had a strange magnetic magic domain, 1 had an augmentation magic domain, while the last 2 were powerful Mystery Pryer Great White Sharks. Together, on just this day, they already killed 1 purple tier predator and over 800 predators who were below the purple tier. ¡­ The Shark Power hunting team¡­ If Torpedum was like an ancient blood asura, on this battlefield, Strong was like a reincarnation of the mythical god of war. A heavy brown aura like a magic field revolved around him as he moved about, wreaking havoc everywhere as predators after predators fell before his tyrannical advance like weeds before the cutlass. His presence was mighty, any movement of his body was like the shot from 10,000 planetary grade destroying canons. No beast stood a chance against him when he charged, he was like a bull facing a group of cute rabbits. Unlike the other prodigies though, his Shark Power hunting team was entirely made up of Great White Sharks who were condemned as untalented as they could not mutate a magic domain. This meant that all the sharks in his team followed the strength path. But without his advantages, this group of sharks was the lowest of the lows. Fighting with such a handicap, he only managed to kill over 500 predators that were below the purple tier but due to a stroke of luck, they met an injured purple tier Golden Crab. Without hesitation, Strong engaged the injured beast. After a fierce battle, he emerged victorious, clinging to their first purple tier kill. This way, they propelled themselves to the top among the hunting teams with the best results on the first day of relentless hunting training. Today, this region and all its inhabitants experienced a shark plague. ¡­ Some hunting teams retired for the night after the day grew too dark but Sebastian''s Ultimate Dissectors hunting team and other top teams persevered, hunting throughout the night like there was no tomorrow. By the end of the second day, this region was practically devoid of any other predators since the sharks already wiped them out of existence. On the evening of the second day, Sebastian and his team members finally returned to the clan for the first time since they started the hunt. Sebastian benefited greatly from this hunt, through it, he was able to fulfill the phase of his plan that was personal preparation. [Your Empowered Tail Fin skill has leveled up to level 5.] [Your Empowered Dorsal Fin skill has leveled up to level 5.] [Your Advanced¡­] [Your Advanced¡­] Of his body skills, he succeeded in leveling them all to the limit of level 5 except the cardiac sphincter constrictor skill that was at level 4. Of his material magic skills, magic teeth and magic shield leveled to the limit, rejuvenation was stuck at level 4 while supersonic speed was stuck at level 3. Of his sound domain skills, sound control and sonic drill leveled up to the limit, sonic reflection was stuck at level 4, sonic dissonance was stuck at level 3 while water cyclone was stuck at level 4. This was a huge bargain that Sebastian could smile at forever. On getting back to the clan, Sebastian also fulfilled his last urgent wish. {Congratulations! You have used 18,000 Shark points to purchase the Hero''s Song magic gadget.} Chapter 229 - Old Maks Lecture. The Ultimate Dissectors hunting team was experiencing a period of success and rapid growth after their third official hunting mission. Against all odds, this new hunting team that was created by the new shark became the ultimate winner of the wide-scale hunting mission whose reward was an additional 5000 Shark points to the hunting team. With an astonishing record of 4 purple tier predator kills, the looting of 1 magic weapon, and killing over 2500 predators who were below the purple tier, they overtook the 2nd placed team by a large margin. Torpedum''s Genius White hunting team came 2nd with 1 purple tier predator kill and over 2000 kills of predators below the purple tier. Tungsten''s Gigantic White hunting team came 3rd with 1 purple tier predator kill and over 2000 kills of predators below the purple tier. Strong''s Shark Power hunting team came 4th with 1 purple tier predator kill, and over 1500 kills of predators below the purple tier. Using this massive spike in fame among the sharks of the clan, Elder Marble finally announced Sebastian''s new status as the 4th young prodigy shark of the clan. Of course, this announcement sent the members of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team into a frenzy. They felt even more confident of their choice to join this team when the opportunity first opened up to them. The spike in Sebastian''s fame also translated to a spike in the hunting team''s fame. That same evening, the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team ballooned to a size of 54 members, instantly becoming the hunting team with the most members. From the predators alone that the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team got, it amassed 25,875 Shark points. The Spear of Doom magic weapon that Sebastian looted from his third purple tier opponent was given to the clan in exchange for 10,000 Shark points. Adding these 2 figures together, the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team succeeded in getting 35,875 Shark points from a single hunting mission. This was a record that exceeded the previous one by miles. With this, even after sharing the shark points with all the members of his hunting team, Sebastian was still able to purchase the magic gadget that he wanted. That same day, he also exchanged for a magic weapon. Precisely, it was magic armor but it was still classified into the categories of magic weapons. Originally, his Shark points would not have been enough but he sold his Octranezion to the clan for an astonishing figure of 25,000 Shark points. Sebastian was shocked on seeing the figure. According to the machine that was placed inside the armory, the Octranezion was a high-tier magic weapon that had more value than all those that were originally in the armory. With those Shark points, Sebastian was able to purchase a magic armor worth 12,000 Shark points for his companion at the moment, Tonado. After all the help that Tonado rendered to him, he found it right to pay the old toad even if it was just a little. And besides, strengthening Tonado now would help him when the fight for the Sea King inheritance began. This alone was another massive propaganda step that played an important role in the increase of members in the hunting team. After all these, the commotion of the past 2 days finally started dying down as the exhausted sharks left to get a much-needed rest. Sebastian and some other sharks didn''t go to rest though, this was because this evening was the time that was scheduled for the clan head''s lecture. ¡­ After Sebastian transferred the 4000 Shark points that he specifically reserved for this, he was finally allowed inside the large hall in the cave where a group of Great White Sharks was already gathered. Compared to the previous lecture that Sebastian attended, the sharks here were much fewer, only the elite sharks who were close to the boundary of the purple tier were qualified to attend this lecture. Old Mak just finished his lectures on other consultation subjects, now he was finally about to start the lecture on the purple tier evolution. 2 minutes after Sebastian entered, Old Mak finally came in. "¡­Evolution is ethereal, but it is something that we predators encounter from the first day of our lives in this world". "¡­Evolution does not just entail when you evolve from a normal Great White Shark to a white tier shark or the orange and purple tiers. Evolution entails more, every increase in strength is an evolution". "¡­I already thought you about origin laws. From the first day of our existence into this world, we start exploring our world which instinctively translates to exploring the mysteries of the origin laws". "¡­While exploring our world, we learn to swim, that''s an evolution". "¡­We learn to bite, that''s an evolution". "¡­During the exploration of our world, we learn a lot of things that change us and the type of predator who we eventually become, this is an evolution". "¡­By learning how to swim and bite, it becomes a skill that we could evolve by knowing more of the origin laws about that specific domain". "¡­All these are evolutions, but it is the purple tier evolution that is the most important and the most pivotal which explains the danger in going at it". "¡­Breaking through to the purple tier is not just an evolution, it is like a crystallization of your being". "¡­There are 3 factors that influence the purple tier evolution, your bloodline which we have an advantage in, your physical core, and your magic core which are your accumulations in both domains". "¡­The combination of these 3 makes the evolution complete". "¡­What I said about the purple tier evolution being a crystallization of your being is correct. Every successful subject emerges as a new being, your bloodline becomes purer and your skills change in different ways". "¡­For the purer bloodline, I am a perfect example. Like the way, Strong unlocked the ancient Pugilist King bloodline, my purer bloodline after the evolution enabled me to unlock the ancient Thunder King bloodline". While Old Mak said this, his electroreceptors secretly narrowed on the only Megalodon who was among this group of Great White Sharks. This fellow somehow already enjoyed the benefits of a pure bloodline that he was speaking of. "¡­Apart from the purer bloodline, the changes in your skills are more magical. Basic skills like biting and swimming no longer require effort from you, it becomes more instinctual, more passive". "¡­In the purple tier realm, biting, swimming, and all these other basic skills evolve to such a passive state that it feels no different from eating". "¡­This is one of the reasons why purple tier predators are countless times more powerful than their orange tier counterparts, and also the same reason why we encourage you to go at it despite the dangers involved". "¡­Always remember this, an additional purple tier Great White Shark in the clan means better protection of our legacy and the younger sharks who all depend on you the seniors for protection". "This is the end of today''s lecture". With that, the class was dismissed. ¡­ Sebastian left Old Mak''s lecture feeling enlightened. Pairing this with the knowledge that he already knew from Tonado, the mysterious purple tier realm became a lot more open, friendlier, and welcoming to him. He left with a heart filled with smiles. That same night, before he slept to rest his already aching body, he received another piece of news. Tundra, the Lizard Lord finally sent his reply. "I accept your proposal!" Chapter 230 - The Enemy In The Dark. Very early in the morning, the strongest sharks in Old Mak''s Shark clan woke up from their slumber as they finally got ready to go on probably the most epic and most dangerous mission that the clan had ever taken on. It was now just a week till the Sea King inheritance arrives and the effects could already be felt, the region was turning chaotic. In Sebastian''s plan, it was agreed that the 5 sharks who were to be the vanguard team would go to the seamount to engage the insertion stage of the plan before the arrival of the main team. At this moment, the 5 sharks were already gathered outside the clan cave, and before them was a revolving vortex that indicated the teleportation portal. Tonado was not in this group. Of course, the old toad insisted on following Sebastian but was stopped after a lot of persuasion on his part. In this one week before the official arrival of the Sea King inheritance, Sebastian was confident of keeping his life. And with powerful Great White Sharks like the ones currently going alongside him as companions, he had nothing to worry about. Instead of Tonado following him and not being able to do anything throughout the whole week in the end, Sebastian preferred leaving Tonado behind to take care of some sharks that meant more than just sharks to him now. After spending so much time in the clan, Sebastian already developed kind emotions over some of his shark companions. Companions like Verni, Tosh, Tungsten, and Shanks, would be devastated if any of them perished in this battle. Perhaps, this was his human side acting up again but, in this case, he was okay with letting it dominate since it resonated with who he was as a person. At this moment, Elder Marble''s enormous body hovered beside the group of 5 as he stood as the clan''s representative to send the vanguard team off. "Old Marble, I''m leaving the clan in your hands". Old Mak spoke without turning back as his eyes were fixated on the revolving teleportation portal. "No worries, Old friend, the clan is in safe hands". "I''m glad on hearing that". With that, Old Mak took the first step as he swam inside the teleportation portal. Queen Heareth followed, the 2 elders followed, then Sebastian did also. The 5 sharks were gone in an instant. ¡­ When Sebastian''s vision was restored, he was back in the familiar Seamount. Unlike the last time where they appeared at a certain distance away from the Draconic Lizard territory, this time, they directly appeared inside. As soon as they appeared, they saw the familiar Lizard Lord hovering in the water just a few distances away from them. Due to his presence, the other Draconic Lizards refrained from doing anything against the intruders. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] As the predators looked at each other, Sebastian keenly noticed a difference in the seamount compared to 2 days ago when he came with the clan head. Though his electroreceptors were not OP enough to extend across the whole seamount yet, the little distance that it could cover paired with his knowledge of this seamount enabled him to notice the difference. The seamount felt deserted compared to before. Mutated beasts didn''t necessarily roam every part of the seamount, but Sebastian''s familiarity with this region helped him to notice the desertion. While Sebastian made his observation, Old Mak swam closer to his new ally. "Thanks for accepting our proposal, but what pushed you to decide now?" Hearing the question that was posed, the Lizard Lord could only laugh bitterly. "The situation pushed me; I can already feel the formless pressure". Immediately after Old Mak and Sebastian left his territory 2 days ago, he went into deep research to know more about monster inheritances. Due to the rigidness of the system among beasts like them, the efficiency of information gathering was super slow but he still succeeded in getting some midgets of information about what he wanted. The information that he got chilled his heart. He didn''t get details, but the dominant points of the different pieces of information that he got were the riches that accompanied each discovered inheritance and also the bloodbath that followed. In history, the regions where monster inheritances were discovered almost always suffered disasters that left that region uninhabitable. He wondered if this was going to be the case in his seamount. And considering that this was but a mere seamount, his heart leaned more to allying with the Great White Sharks under Old Mak''s leadership. He got all this information after searching for 2 days, but still, he didn''t rush to contact the Great White Sharks, he still wanted to observe. Originally, apart from the predators that resided in this seamount, it was rare for stray predators to frequently take this seamount as a route to their destination since it was fairly backward compared to the other seamounts. Though this was the case, in just these past 2 days, so many predators already swam across this seamount with some even deciding to settle down in it that the Lizard Lord''s little hope for peace was ruthlessly crushed. Among these predators that swam across were 8 purple tier predators, powerful beasts that were originally supposed to be rarely seen. This was the last evidence that the Lizard Lord needed, he knew that he had to act immediately or he would definitely regret it and he didn''t waste any time. Now, the sharks were here. After listening to the Lizard Lord''s account, Old Mak remained calm since he already expected something like this. Among powerful predators, there was this phenomenon called the 6th sense. The 6th sense was mysterious, it could sometimes act as a danger warning sense when the said predator is in danger, while it could also act as a directional beacon to lead the said predator to a fortuitous encounter depending on their luck. Apparently, these powerful predators that moved across the seamount were attracted here by their 6th sense who already discovered that something good would befall this region soon. The Lizard Lord faced Old Mak directly. "So, now what?" Old Mak did not reply, he instead turned his enormous head towards Sebastian, sending the question towards him with his eyes. "For now, we wait for the Atlantians". ¡­ "F*ck! How sneaky is this Megalodon exactly? It''s been freaking 2 days already but we still haven''t found any significant trail left behind by it!" "At this rate, I''m gonna break down from frustration. Damn! I want to tear a beast apart at this moment!" "Calm down, Bam, allow the Lieutenant to think". "Humph!" While the soldiers of this elite Atlantian team vented their anger about their inability to pinpoint the sneaky Megalodon''s location, only 2 members of the team kept quiet and were deep in thought. Lieutenant Lookman was doing exactly the same thing; the only difference was that he was standing while Chloe was seated. The Lieutenant thought for a few more minutes before his confused eyes started shining with clarity, he turned his head only for his eyes to clash with the equally shiny eyes of his female Sergeant Major. "You arrived at the same conclusion?" He asked. "Yes". Sergeant Major stood up while clenching her sword tightly as a grim expression already dominated her face. This was when the other soldiers noticed something wrong. "What happened? Did you guys discover something?" "Shut up!" Sergeant Major Chloe was not polite at all. "If my speculations are right, we probably swam right into a meticulously prepared ambush already". "What do you mean?" Sergeant Major Bam frowned. "Have you not noticed? The little inconclusive hints here and there that we''ve been discovering in our pursuit, and how it always leads to a dead-end only for us to discover another little hint there". "Unknowingly to us, another enemy has been discreetly directing our movements for the past 2 days and we never noticed". "This is definitely not the Megalodon, there''s no reason for it to not escape and to stay behind and play with us. Besides, the Megalodon has a fast escape skill but its flaw is that it always leaves a clear trail behind". "As for this new enemy, it doesn''t even leave traces behind, it is like it simply disappears when we finally pinpoint its location. All the hints that we saw were meticulously arranged to deceive us". "We are facing a formidable enemy, be prepared for battle". On hearing this, a lightbulb finally seemed to light up in Sergeant Major Bam''s head as the humiliation of being led by the nose without him even noticing caused anger to erupt inside his heart. "Who is it? Who has the guts to toy with this man?" "I am the one". "What? Who is that?" Bzzz! The Atlantian soldiers already entered their battle formation on hearing the voice, so they were able to observe what followed next. Just before them in the cave where they met their latest dead-end, what seemed like a metal door suddenly appeared in the water. The door opened, and out from within came an enormous predator. The predator looked straight at them. "I am the one that has been toying with you". Chapter 231 - Arrival Of The Black Mamba Division Fleet. At the military base that was established by the Crimson Fleet. Inside a room of the military base, all the leaders of the fleet were gathered including Staff Sergeant Barnes. At this moment, their eyes were focused on the green dot that was blinking on the virtual screen that was before them. This was the deduced location of their target, where the Sea King inheritance would land on. They pinpointed this location as soon as the data was sent over by the superior Black Mamba Division Fleet. After his second consecutive defeat to the Megalodon, as a veteran soldier, Staff Sergeant Barnes did not fall into depression but the results still affected his mental state significantly. To fight off the awful state that he was left in after the battle, he devoted all that he had to this new priority mission that was sent by the headquarters. He left the Megalodon to the elite unit that was specially sent by the Black Mamba Division Fleet to eliminate it. He believed that against such opponents, no matter how many cards the Megalodon had, the Lieutenant and his companions would still come out on top. Though since the Lieutenant and his crew left, he hadn''t heard any word of communication from them, he was still confident in their abilities. His reasoning even told him that the Megalodon was dead already but the Lieutenant disdained to spread the information to him deliberately. With such a mindset and reasoning, he no longer cared about the Megalodon which helped him to give full attention to the priority mission. For the past few days, though he had not raided the seamount yet, he kept on sending scout soldiers to go scour and provide a comprehensive picture of the whole seamount for both himself and his superiors to see. Through this, he was able to get an overall idea of the situation in the seamount, including the number of beasts, their basic strength, and the most important layout of the seamount. The layout of the seamount was the most important part of his mission. Due to experience from other monster inheritances that they''ve encountered, Staff Sergeant Barnes knew that inheritances were mostly set up in the richest part of a region in terms of mana and other minor parameters. Through the layout of the seamount, Staff Sergeant Barnes wanted to thoroughly examine them to try predicting where the Sea King inheritance would be placed on. This was what he had been doing for the past few days, and his effort paid. Though he was not sure, he identified 9 places in the seamount which was ideal for a monster inheritance. Though he was not sure if he was correct, exploring these 5 locations to know-how inside them looked was still better than nothing. At this moment, inside the room where the last pre-mission gathering commenced after the leaders came to a consensus on the mode of operation, they finally all stood up to leave. As soon as they swam outside the room, the heavily armed group of soldiers that were waiting for them reacted as they started tightly escorting them out of the military base. Throughout the swim outside the military base, they encountered no other Atlantians apart from the soldiers that escorted them. The military base was already deserted by the soldiers and civilian crew. On swimming outside, the Crimson Fleet was finally presented before them in its full glory. All 17 warships of the Crimson Fleet were already revving their powerful engines, all eager to move. As soon as the leaders entered the warships, the fleet left. ¡­ The Seamount turned more turbulent and dangerous by the hour. Perhaps, it was their intuition warning them of the impending crisis, but the mutated beasts on the seamount were slowly turning restless. Mutated Giant Crabs attacked with their giant pincers and claws, while the other mutated beasts retaliated with their adaptations as blood flowed in waves. The main thing had not arrived yet, but its impending arrival was already causing a bloodbath among the mutated beasts that were inside the seamount. The only group of mutated beast predators that didn''t engage in the pointless battle due to the pressure was the Draconic Lizard kingdom and other predators with powerful mutated beasts as leaders. Despite not participating, every single beast kingdom in the seamount was in a state of constant pressure and extreme alertness. Most of them didn''t know what was happening, all they knew was that something was happening, their senses just kept on messing with them. While the unrest continued, that same day that Sebastian and his group arrived at the seamount, the Crimson Fleet also arrived with frightening grandeur. 17 enormous Atlantian warships suddenly arriving at the seamount was a big deal and was definitely eye-catching. Practically every beast group saw the entrance of the tyrannical newcomers. Of course, such an arrogant entrance irritated some of the beasts and they went along to act as the scapegoats to test the strength of these newcomers. Boom! Boom! Boom! They cleared a path into the island with their enormous warships as Staff Sergeant Barnes immediately ordered the fleet to move toward the 5 locations that he marked. He did not waste time; he started his work immediately. While killing every mutated beast that obstructed their path, it did not take them long before they arrived at the first location. Staff Sergeant Barnes came down with his soldiers, armed to the teeth as they broke their way deep under. It did not take them long before they found that this place of the seamount was just a crater that was slowly being recovered into the normal ground again. There was nothing special about it, so the fleet moved on to the next location. They continued like this until they arrived at the fourth location. On getting to this location, Staff Sergeant Barnes and his companions immediately noticed a difference that was not present in the others. This was a huge crater just like the first location that he discovered, but this one was different. From what was on display before him, this was a crater that survived an astonishingly fierce battle. The signs left by the battle showed how intense it was. A lava pool was at a corner of the crater but perhaps due to the battle, the lava was now disorderly as it flowed through the cracks that were induced by the battle into different parts of the crater. As mage soldiers, Atlantian soldiers trained on harnessing and controlling the power of mana all their life so distinguishing the density of mana in an environment was not too hard a task for them to do. An area with increased mana density translated to faster training speed for an Atlantian mage, with a lot of other benefits as supplements. This fact itself already revealed that this crater was special, Staff Sergeant Barnes'' interest was aroused and he probed deeper without hesitation. About a minute later of thorough searching, they discovered a deep dark abyss-like hole in the crater. This hole looked spooky enough, but the thick chain that floated lazily in it which glowed in a faint rainbow color made it spookier. To the other soldiers, this hole and the constantly dangling chain were spookily suspicious enough but Staff Sergeant Barnes thought otherwise, he was shocked on seeing this. "A pair of magic boxing chains, rainbow-colored magic power¡­, it can be no one else, I can''t believe it". "This belongs to the legendary Boxing King, Colonel Tada!" Staff Sergeant Barnes was about to speak more due to his excitement but he was interrupted by his subordinate. "Staff Sergeant, the Division Fleet is here". Chapter 232 - Captain Omega! After an extremely long journey that involved a lot of ups and downs, the Black Mamba Division Fleet was finally here. As soon as he was informed of this by his subordinate, Staff Sergeant Barnes finally snapped out of the excited state that he was in due to this discovery. He turned his head to see the majestic fleet that was now before the seamount. Compared to the Black Mamba Division Fleet, the Crimson Fleet was like a rat before a bulldog. The difference was clear as 7-up. Staff Sergeant Barnes could not count them all, but he estimated that at least 50 warships were now hovering above the seamount and each of these warships was of a far higher grade than the ones allocated to his fleet. All of the warships were clad with extremely destructive weapons, and their iconic black color made them seem like a fleet of ghost ships. Their pitch-black color made the emblem and flag of this fleet more prominent. The flag of the Division Fleet flaunted an enormous Black Mamba snake who opened its mouth wide and was swallowing the world. The enormous frames of the warships and their tight formation that made them form a cluster enabled them to cast a huge dark shadow in the seamount, making it seem like night suddenly descended. This was the Black Mamba Division Fleet in its full glory. To the mutated beasts that were on the island, the appearance of these strange metal creatures on the top of the seamount meant trouble. Their ability to bloat the sky, depriving them of light only spooked them the more. Instantly after the Division Fleet arrived and bloated the sky of the seamount, most of the mutated beasts in the island were thrown into a panic. Their already agitated emotions were agitated the more by the darkness. The little bit of morality that was induced by their beastly intelligence was eroded off by the fear that now dominated their hearts. This group of metal creatures was the danger, and they were out for their heads. Instantly, a mixture of panic, fear, and anger dominated their minds so much that they all erupted and rushed towards the fleet. At this moment, they no longer wanted to stay in the seamount, they now wanted to put their life on the line and fight their way out. In a situation where over 70% of the mutated beasts in this seamount were intimidated and decided to fight their way to safety, from the Division Fleet''s perspective, it was like an infinity tide of beasts was rushing their way. Despite what was happening, the Black Mamba Division Fleet was calm. None of the warships left their formation, they simply awaited orders. While the mutated beast tide rushed towards them, from the main ship of the Division Fleet, the Toothed Mamba, floated out a soldier that was geared from head to toe in samurai-like gear. This soldier''s armor was not too heavy, a samurai sword was attached to his waist belt and his hands were wrapped with boxing magic chains. He was wearing what seemed like a pair of black leather sandals, but these sandals emitted a blue light as he floated in the water. All these were minor features of this Atlantian soldier though. The main features of this Atlantian soldier were his big eyes that looked like an Owl''s, and his bald sparkly head that looked like a stainless-steel plate''s surface. The features of his face were stone-cold and plain, which reflected his personality. He was a no-nonsense and straightforward Atlantian soldier. At this moment, this Captain''s eyes were narrowed as he looked at the mutated beasts that were swimming towards him as a sense of irritation sprouted in his heart that made him feel like hitting his bald head against something. In a few seconds though, his heart calmed down as a sense of disdain sprouted in his heart. These beasts were too weak, they were not his opponent, his opponents were not here yet. "Wipe them out!" He finally ordered his soldiers. "Yes, Captain Omega!" As soon as the soldiers acknowledged their Captain''s order, the 50+ warships of the Division Fleet moved in tandems like pieces of clothing that were attached together by a needle and thread. For a group of chaotically escaping mutated beasts like this, the controllers of the warships knew the most effective way to take care of them on a textbook level. All that was needed was an area of effect bombardment. The warships charged their weapons for a few seconds, then the rapidly escaping mutated beasts experienced hell. Boom! Boom! Boom! ¡­ Blood dyed the water red, the originally free and clean water turned muddy and heavy due to the overflowing blood. This display to the onlookers was like a demo of what was coming ahead. In an instant, the seamount turned even more desolate and deserted. It now seemed like a forbidden ground that was suffering from an ancient curse. After all the beasts were wiped out, Captain Omega was finally satisfied. While his warships descended slowly, his impatient nature kicked in as he rapidly swam downward towards where the Crimson Fleet docked. On getting closer, all the soldiers of the fleet expressed their respect as they saluted reverently. "Captain Omega!" The Captain nodded slightly. "Who is in charge here?" "I am the one, Captain!" When the Captain turned his head to see who it was, his eyes could not focus on the Atlantian soldier again as it was immediately drawn to the hole that was just a few distances away from the soldier. Without saying a word, he swam closer and bent as he carefully examined this hole. "This Boxing Chains, they belong to Colonel Tada!" "Yes, Captain, we just noticed". Captain Omega raised his right hand to stroke his beard for a few seconds before he spoke again. "Good! Very good! It''s mine now, dig it up!" "¡­" What Staff Sergeant Barnes was originally about to say next was stuck in his throat. He could only look blankly until the Captain reminded again, that was when he went to work with his soldiers on retrieving the boxing magic chains. As the soldiers went to work, the Division Fleet already docked its warships and now its soldiers were finally coming out. While they did, Captain Omega kept quiet as thoughts went through his mind. Seeing this hole already made him understand some things. Colonel Tada was a famous Atlantian warlord, being a powerhouse who trained to the legendary Gold Realm. According to the race, he died by sacrificing his life to protect an Atlantian outpost city by dying with the enemy predator. Through this hole, this Captain made his own conclusions. From the boxing chains that were here which were renowned for being the Colonel''s main magic weapon, he confirmed that the Colonel indeed died. But from the magic power on the chain, he noticed another thing, he recognized the skill that the Colonel used before his death. If this skill was placed into the equation, then the race''s story was not entirely correct. This skill could only be used on an enemy when it was already guaranteed that you were dying and could still not take down your opponent. The mechanisms of the skill involved sacrificing your own soul to form a soul lock that could lock your enemy''s soul for eternity, putting your enemy in a state of endless torture and constant weakening. Then, if all these speculations were right, it also meant that these legendary boxing chains were the inheritance that was left by this Atlantian Colonel. On speculating to this, Captain Omega''s face fell. If this chain was the main catch of an inheritance, then his plan to dig and just take this magic weapon for himself was bound to fail. To get this chain, he needed to take on the inheritance requirements and fulfill them which would probably take a lot of effort. He would have loved to do it immediately, but despite his hotblooded nature, he was still aware that he came here for an important mission. Reluctantly, he called Staff Sergeant Barnes and his subordinates back, then without mincing words, he directly asked for a status update. "Tell me everything that you managed to get about this seamount, the mission starts now". Chapter 233 - The 9th Hour Is Here! "Tell me everything that you managed to get about this seamount, the mission starts now". Captain Omega''s face was finally serious since he arrived with his fleet as he asked demandingly. "Yes, Captain!" Staff Sergeant Barnes did not dare to dally around. Since Barnes arrived with his Crimson Fleet, the number one thing that they had been engaged in was scouting the layout of this seamount. Now, at this moment of truth, the benefits of this decision shone brightly. Sergeant Raila reacted as soon as the Captain demanded it. She turned around and swiftly swam towards a location in the seamount where a huge machine that looked like an old telephone booth was erected. When she swam there, Staff Sergeant Barnes and Captain Omega followed behind her. This machine was called the Statpadder, it''s main use was to properly compile important data amidst a myriad of other uses. After Sergeant Raila swam closer, her gloved hands glowed in bright yellow light as she placed it on the Statpadder before closing her eyes. As soon as she closed her eyes, her perception changed. She was drawn into a blue world of data like a virtual world where the whites in the blue background were the numerous data that were stored in this Statpadder. Having experienced this before, Sergeant Ralia was a veteran already. Without panicking, she willed as her yellow roaming virtual spirit started rapidly navigating through the myriad of data that were before her. In just an instant, her virtual spirit narrowed on a piece of data that was shaped in the form of a white mountain. She moved her virtual spirit closer until it made contact with this data that was in the form of a white mountain. The next moment, her virtual spirit jerked, then her perception returned to the real world. She didn''t return alone, a large virtual projection returned with her, this was the data that was compiled and recorded inside the white mountain data. On the large virtual projection, a map of this seamount was shone. In other words, this was now a safe region of this seamount. The smaller black part of the map was still an explored region, but it was marked as the dangerous regions of this seamount. This black part of the map, though was the smaller part was still big. At this moment, the Atlantian soldiers were in the middle of this black part, they were at the very heart of the dangerous regions of the seamount. The map didn''t just show a monotonous black color to describe danger, it also showed the reason why these regions were dangerous. Captain Omega impatiently skipped to these parts of the map. - Point A1: Mutated Giant Crab family with 8 orange tier predators. - Point A2: Mutated Sea Lion family with 5 orange tier predators. - Point A3: Draconic Lizard family with 1 purple tier predator and 16 orange tier predators. - Point A4: Mutated Devouring Cobra family with 1 purple tier King Cobra as the leader and 7 orange tier predators. After the originally ruling Crocodile family was dethroned, as the Lizard Lord didn''t claim this territory for himself, the remaining purple tier predator in the seamount saw it as no crime in claiming the territory for himself. The Captain turned to face the Staff Sergeant. "Their lair is here?" "Yes, Captain!" Almost immediately after Staff Sergeant Barnes answered, an extremely loud sound blast reverberated across the seamount. This was a sound that could only have been caused by a powerful collision between 2 heavy objects, Captain Omega turned his head immediately as his sharp eyes and bald head shone brightly. After taking care of the mutated beasts that were attacking them in their panic, the warships of the Black Mamba Division Fleet followed their routine and hibernated their warships in strategic locations to form a large defense perimeter. The hibernation setting of the warships meant that their energy levels were at the lowest, not switched off entirely, and the warship''s lightning-fast reaction to danger was still very much effective. At this moment, an enormous King Cobra that looked like a mountain tried to sneak through the warships and deliver a terrible sneak attack but it was discovered and was blocked by one of the warship''s shield generators. At this moment, the shadow domain King Cobra was already revealed. After shrinking its size, it did not wait for the humans before it started a mad swim far away as it swam for its life. Seeing this, Lieutenant Zorror transmitted into the comm. "What are your orders, Captain?" Captain Omega took a deep breath of crazy excitement as he could not help but rub his smooth bald head, then he intoned in a deep voice. "Kill them all!" "Scour the 4 danger points, uproot and kill them all!" "Yes Sir!" A wide-scale hunt by the Atlantian soldiers began the next moment. Boom! Boom! ¡­ After Captain Omega gave the order for the total annihilation of the beasts, pushed by the excitement of battle, he also joined the brawl which destroyed any tiny hopes that the beasts had before. The 4 points that were indicated after the Crimson Fleet''s meticulous scouting was also scoured completely by the ravenous Atlantian soldiers. On getting to the first 2 points that were indicated, the beasts were only able to put up a little struggle against the overwhelming might that they came with. Despite the beasts'' struggle, it was all proven futile as they wreaked havoc through the beasts, annihilating them and suffering no casualties in the process. It was when it came to the last 2 points on the map that they encountered problems. Concerning the Draconic Lizard family, on getting there, they discovered that their lair was actually covered by a poisonous membrane. Of course, they tried to clear the membrane away but it was not that easy. Left with no choice, they could only barge in forcefully. After suffering 9 casualties to the poison, with countless others weak from the poison''s effects, the Atlantians were stunned to discover that no beasts were in the region. This was when they discovered that the Draconic Lizards already escaped this region more than 2 days ago, having sensed the threat to their existence. They were furious but there was only little that they could do. The Atlantian army still steamrolled through them. With this, the army finally secured the seamount for real, holding it with an iron grip. They didn''t rest though, they quickly started forming a defense perimeter to defend against the enemies that were bound to come in the next few days. For the 5 days after that, attracted by their 6th sense, powerful predators and groups of predators kept on being attracted to this area which led to terrible battles in which both sides lost. The intensity and frequency of battles kept on increasing by the day, which placed more and more of the Atlantians into strain. Because of this, they suffered more casualties each battle than was after the next. Now, after persevering through the stormy period of these 5 days, the remaining 2 days before the appearance of the inheritance was here. Just one night more and the one week would be complete. Today, the Atlantians felt tense and alarmed, the 9th hour of this defense battle was here and stunning changes always accompanied it. They watched their surroundings with bated breaths, waiting for it. Chapter 235 - Battle! The Sea King Inheritance finally arrived! When the Atlantian Division Fleet was at their lowest point, the light of hope appeared, the light of the Sea King Inheritance, the light that would alleviate their pressure and also give birth to the main battle for this inheritance. In better terms, the light of destiny shone on all these predators who were currently gathered and ready to vie for this important opportunity of a lifetime. No one knew what form the Sea King Inheritance would take, if it would take the form of a bed, a machine, or the form of even a pile of sand, no one knew. All that they knew was that at the first moment that the bright white light erupted, their hearts told them that this was the ultimate price that they were all frenzied over and were after. As soon as the light erupted, all the predators froze in reverence of the majesty and power in display, including the Atlantian soldiers. For the Atlantian soldiers who didn''t hold as much reverence for a Sea King but rather hate, they didn''t freeze of their own will, they froze because of the power of gigantic proportions that was seeping out of this bright light. Everyone freezing meant that they got to see everything that happened next from a first-person perspective without being disturbed. The bright white light first erupted from the distance like the light effects after a nuclear explosion, then slowly the bright light started dwindling. This time, the bright light was not as expansive as that induced by a nuclear explosion, it was rather focused on one point to form what could only be described as a shooting star. The shooting star was not close yet, it was still far away but the ripples could already be felt by the predators and Atlantians from such a distance. Sound waves, water waves, electromagnetic waves, all these waves seemed to turn berserk as they wildly oscillated, spreading dangerous ripples everywhere. Most of the weaker predators immediately turned into fools. The interference was too much, the loud sound accompanied by a disorderly water environment that seemed like the inside of a washing machine was so chaotic that they seemed to have been brainwashed to become fools. The stronger predators only b?r?ly persevered through this. As for the Atlantian soldiers, despite being immobile, a thick blue membrane of water like a shield already covered their heads that protected them from this impact. Despite this, some of them bled from different orifices in their bodies but overall, they were in a vastly better position than the predators. All these effects were just spillovers when the shooting light was still far away. It was far away a moment before, but it was nearer the next. The speed of the shooting star was like the speed of light, an apocalyptic speed that could only be imagined in an apocalyptic scenario. From just turning to fools, the effects of so many waves acting together became a terrifying power that started ripping the beasts apart. Some of the weaker predators literally started disintegrating into dust. Those that were still sane enough reacted immediately and activated their magic shields. This saved them from disintegrating immediately, but all the other predators met their deaths in an untimely manner. To someone hidden in this seamount, this scene felt too spookily familiar, it felt like when the legendary villain, Thanos snapped his fingers. From disintegration, the seamount started breaking down the next. Not just this seamount, all the other seamounts that were close by started breaking apart like the apocalypse was imminent. The seamount shook ominously like its crust was about to burst. Cracks rapidly spread across it like it was a barren wasteland that just suffered the effects of a century-long famine. The predators in the scene wanted to roar in alarm and fear but they were frozen, they could not. Even the Atlantians were shocked, nothing like this was ever recorded in the history of their race about an inheritance. The power on display was too dangerously mighty, too powerful, it felt like the world was coming to an end. BAM! They saw how the life was torn out of this seamount, they saw how all the ecosystem in it was wiped out, annihilated out of existence. They saw how a work of nature was torn apart with sheer power. While all these happened, the shooting star was still rushing closer from afar like a giant space meteorite that was out to destroy the universe, which went to show how far this inheritance was relative to its speed. The distance felt like it was light-years away from the seamount. Fear gripped every heart, perhaps, their greed would now lay birth to their death. It was a funny but sad joke that could not induce any smile in any spectator. Crack! It was finished! A large crack was now rapidly spreading through the middle of the seamount. All heartbeats stopped; perspiration flooded the seawater. When it seemed that this seamount was also about to explode, a shiny blue light suddenly shot out from underground and like needles, this light started mending the holes and imperfections that were now in the seamount. The terrifying power of the shooting star affected the seamount again as everywhere shook disorderly, but the blue light from underground continued mending all the imperfections and holes. The situation continued like this as seamounts kept on exploding. Even the cliff walls that seemed indestructible originally started having cracks everywhere, cracks that threatened to herald the downfall of this cliff that has stood for possibly a millennium already. All these were signs that the shooting star was getting closer. More deaths were recorded, more seamount explosions were recorded, more cracks were recorded on the cliff walls including some part of the walls falling off, this continued for 8 minutes until everything suddenly stopped. The white light from the shooting star suddenly started restraining itself. It was now too close, any further letting out and this region would be destroyed, leaving no place to plant the inheritance. As soon as this light was released, everyone experienced a moment of respite and relief but this only lasted for 30 seconds before the inheritance landed on the seamount with a force of gigantic proportions. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! Bzzz! This continued for an indefinite time that no one could calculate before it finally died down and their senses started recovering. When they recovered, they discovered something else in the seamount. At a certain part of the seamount that was not paid attention to before by the Atlantian Division Fleet nor the predators, blue light was now shining there and a huge tunnel that led underground was now there. Unlike other underground tunnels, the walls of this one were still fresh, it was clear that it was just dug up. This is where the Sea King Inheritance was just set up. Seeing this, the Atlantian soldiers were confused. Of all the possible locations of the sea king inheritance that Staff Sergeant Barnes predicted, this place was not among them, so what was so special about it? While they cracked their heads over this mystery, a predator that was hidden inside the seamount was shocked as his eyes widened to the limits. "The Catacombs?!" Almost immediately after the tunnel appeared to everyone, another bright light erupted from the tunnel followed by an illusory feeling of extreme d?s?r?. An extreme d?s?r? for the inheritance entered each of the predators'' hearts, a d?s?r? that even Sebastian with his human soul could not suppress. The Sea King Inheritance was finally set, it was now free for all! ¡­ As soon as the illusory feeling of extreme d?s?r? swept across, at the deepest and hottest depths of this ocean volcano, a pair of large eyes opened as a beast that was in a deep slumber finally woke up. This beast''s pair of large eyes were fiery red like the eye of a volcano, and the deep bloodlust in them showed that the owner was not simple. This predator was a huge Lizard with the head of a Dragon and the tail of a snake, this predator was the overlord of this ocean volcano region, this predator was the Rogue Snake Overlord. This predators'' eyes flickered ominously as a feeling of d?s?r? erupted from deep inside it at the same time. "A Sea King Inheritance? Exciting!" ¡­ At another region outside the ocean volcano region, at a place of the ocean which was covered by a cluster of stubborn weeds which refused to die year-long despite the extreme methods that were used against them. At this region hovered another predator, an exaggeratedly huge turtle beast with a predator eye that reflected the number of lives that it already took. "Paku was right!" "A Sea King Inheritance, so interesting!" ¡­ The Atlantian soldiers froze for a bit as the sense of d?s?r? for this inheritance spread through all the predators, excluding only them. While this happened, all of them stood, watching blankly as their brains seemed to have short-circuited. This continued until Captain Omega snapped out of his daze with a livid expression on his face. "Wake up!" "Secure the inheritance entrance, now!" His yell woke his subordinates up, but it also brought the predators back to reality. Before his subordinates could move, the heated gaze of the predators was already long fixated on the inheritance entrance. There was no referee, there were no rules, there were no restrictions, this was simply a battle for power and wealth. Battle erupted immediately! Chapter 235 - Battle! The Sea King Inheritance finally arrived! When the Atlantian Division Fleet was at their lowest point, the light of hope appeared, the light of the Sea King Inheritance, the light that would alleviate their pressure and also give birth to the main battle for this inheritance. In better terms, the light of destiny shone on all these predators who were currently gathered and ready to vie for this important opportunity of a lifetime. No one knew what form the Sea King Inheritance would take, if it would take the form of a bed, a machine, or the form of even a pile of sand, no one knew. All that they knew was that at the first moment that the bright white light erupted, their hearts told them that this was the ultimate price that they were all frenzied over and were after. As soon as the light erupted, all the predators froze in reverence of the majesty and power in display, including the Atlantian soldiers. For the Atlantian soldiers who didn''t hold as much reverence for a Sea King but rather hate, they didn''t freeze of their own will, they froze because of the power of gigantic proportions that was seeping out of this bright light. Everyone freezing meant that they got to see everything that happened next from a first-person perspective without being disturbed. The bright white light first erupted from the distance like the light effects after a nuclear explosion, then slowly the bright light started dwindling. This time, the bright light was not as expansive as that induced by a nuclear explosion, it was rather focused on one point to form what could only be described as a shooting star. The shooting star was not close yet, it was still far away but the ripples could already be felt by the predators and Atlantians from such a distance. Sound waves, water waves, electromagnetic waves, all these waves seemed to turn berserk as they wildly oscillated, spreading dangerous ripples everywhere. Most of the weaker predators immediately turned into fools. The interference was too much, the loud sound accompanied by a disorderly water environment that seemed like the inside of a washing machine was so chaotic that they seemed to have been brainwashed to become fools. The stronger predators only b?r?ly persevered through this. As for the Atlantian soldiers, despite being immobile, a thick blue membrane of water like a shield already covered their heads that protected them from this impact. Despite this, some of them bled from different orifices in their bodies but overall, they were in a vastly better position than the predators. All these effects were just spillovers when the shooting light was still far away. It was far away a moment before, but it was nearer the next. The speed of the shooting star was like the speed of light, an apocalyptic speed that could only be imagined in an apocalyptic scenario. From just turning to fools, the effects of so many waves acting together became a terrifying power that started ripping the beasts apart. Some of the weaker predators literally started disintegrating into dust. Those that were still sane enough reacted immediately and activated their magic shields. This saved them from disintegrating immediately, but all the other predators met their deaths in an untimely manner. To someone hidden in this seamount, this scene felt too spookily familiar, it felt like when the legendary villain, Thanos snapped his fingers. From disintegration, the seamount started breaking down the next. Not just this seamount, all the other seamounts that were close by started breaking apart like the apocalypse was imminent. The seamount shook ominously like its crust was about to burst. Cracks rapidly spread across it like it was a barren wasteland that just suffered the effects of a century-long famine. The predators in the scene wanted to roar in alarm and fear but they were frozen, they could not. Even the Atlantians were shocked, nothing like this was ever recorded in the history of their race about an inheritance. The power on display was too dangerously mighty, too powerful, it felt like the world was coming to an end. BAM! They saw how the life was torn out of this seamount, they saw how all the ecosystem in it was wiped out, annihilated out of existence. They saw how a work of nature was torn apart with sheer power. While all these happened, the shooting star was still rushing closer from afar like a giant space meteorite that was out to destroy the universe, which went to show how far this inheritance was relative to its speed. The distance felt like it was light-years away from the seamount. Fear gripped every heart, perhaps, their greed would now lay birth to their death. It was a funny but sad joke that could not induce any smile in any spectator. Crack! It was finished! A large crack was now rapidly spreading through the middle of the seamount. All heartbeats stopped; perspiration flooded the seawater. When it seemed that this seamount was also about to explode, a shiny blue light suddenly shot out from underground and like needles, this light started mending the holes and imperfections that were now in the seamount. The terrifying power of the shooting star affected the seamount again as everywhere shook disorderly, but the blue light from underground continued mending all the imperfections and holes. The situation continued like this as seamounts kept on exploding. Even the cliff walls that seemed indestructible originally started having cracks everywhere, cracks that threatened to herald the downfall of this cliff that has stood for possibly a millennium already. All these were signs that the shooting star was getting closer. More deaths were recorded, more seamount explosions were recorded, more cracks were recorded on the cliff walls including some part of the walls falling off, this continued for 8 minutes until everything suddenly stopped. The white light from the shooting star suddenly started restraining itself. It was now too close, any further letting out and this region would be destroyed, leaving no place to plant the inheritance. As soon as this light was released, everyone experienced a moment of respite and relief but this only lasted for 30 seconds before the inheritance landed on the seamount with a force of gigantic proportions. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! Bzzz! This continued for an indefinite time that no one could calculate before it finally died down and their senses started recovering. When they recovered, they discovered something else in the seamount. At a certain part of the seamount that was not paid attention to before by the Atlantian Division Fleet nor the predators, blue light was now shining there and a huge tunnel that led underground was now there. Unlike other underground tunnels, the walls of this one were still fresh, it was clear that it was just dug up. This is where the Sea King Inheritance was just set up. Seeing this, the Atlantian soldiers were confused. Of all the possible locations of the sea king inheritance that Staff Sergeant Barnes predicted, this place was not among them, so what was so special about it? While they cracked their heads over this mystery, a predator that was hidden inside the seamount was shocked as his eyes widened to the limits. "The Catacombs?!" Almost immediately after the tunnel appeared to everyone, another bright light erupted from the tunnel followed by an illusory feeling of extreme d?s?r?. An extreme d?s?r? for the inheritance entered each of the predators'' hearts, a d?s?r? that even Sebastian with his human soul could not suppress. The Sea King Inheritance was finally set, it was now free for all! ¡­ As soon as the illusory feeling of extreme d?s?r? swept across, at the deepest and hottest depths of this ocean volcano, a pair of large eyes opened as a beast that was in a deep slumber finally woke up. This beast''s pair of large eyes were fiery red like the eye of a volcano, and the deep bloodlust in them showed that the owner was not simple. This predator was a huge Lizard with the head of a Dragon and the tail of a snake, this predator was the overlord of this ocean volcano region, this predator was the Rogue Snake Overlord. This predators'' eyes flickered ominously as a feeling of d?s?r? erupted from deep inside it at the same time. "A Sea King Inheritance? Exciting!" ¡­ At another region outside the ocean volcano region, at a place of the ocean which was covered by a cluster of stubborn weeds which refused to die year-long despite the extreme methods that were used against them. At this region hovered another predator, an exaggeratedly huge turtle beast with a predator eye that reflected the number of lives that it already took. "Paku was right!" "A Sea King Inheritance, so interesting!" ¡­ The Atlantian soldiers froze for a bit as the sense of d?s?r? for this inheritance spread through all the predators, excluding only them. While this happened, all of them stood, watching blankly as their brains seemed to have short-circuited. This continued until Captain Omega snapped out of his daze with a livid expression on his face. "Wake up!" "Secure the inheritance entrance, now!" His yell woke his subordinates up, but it also brought the predators back to reality. Before his subordinates could move, the heated gaze of the predators was already long fixated on the inheritance entrance. There was no referee, there were no rules, there were no restrictions, this was simply a battle for power and wealth. Battle erupted immediately! Chapter 236 - Battle For The Inheritance; Hidden Monsters! "Secure the inheritance entrance, now!" "Secure the inheritance entrance, now!" This sentence kept on reverberating through the minds of the Atlantian soldiers, it kept on agitating them, they wanted to wake up immediately but they could not which was frustrating. While the inheritance spread a feeling of d?s?r? into the predators, it placed an illusion curse on the Atlantians which only Captain Omega was able to break free from after just a few seconds. This was an illusion curse that could be broken faster if the target had extremely strong willpower that was trained with time or was stimulated by strong emotions like loyalty, fear, or anger. While the remaining Atlantian soldiers suffered against this, the predators directly went on a rampage since they were not restricted. Boom! Boom! A stampede! This was a water-mutated beast stampede! The frenzied mutated beasts erupted with their greatest strength, all to be the one to get to this ultimate price that was up in the air. Those with tail fins flapped their tail with all the power that they could muster, those with legs jumped as high as they could, those with webbed feet pushed the water as hard as they could to swim faster. Despite all these, speed was impossible if an obstacle was obstructing your front. The beasts were too close to each other, they obstructed each other''s path. Too impatient to ride it out the traffic way, these predators easily decided to ride it out the rough way. If diplomacy is impossible, then fists, claws, and teeth would certainly do the job. Crunch! Bam! Bam! The frenzied predators attacked each other in a bloody manner, not caring about their injuries or the state of their body, all they cared about was how much damage they could deal with their opponent and how fast they could go. In such a chaotic battle environment, the vulnerable Atlantian soldiers who still couldn''t move were the victims. At this moment, not even the powerful Captain Omega could protect them all. The beasts moved with such momentum that they were ready to steamroll through the Atlantian soldiers who were hindering them the previous time, but at the last moment, the Atlantian soldiers were stimulated. They all felt humiliated. They were not stimulated when the mission that their race gave them was on the line and was under the threat of being jeopardized, they only got stimulated when their life was placed on the line. They all felt humiliated and ashamed, their loyalty to the race was still not enough. This situation to them felt like they just committed an unforgivable crime. A tug of war started. Boom! Boom! Both sides clashed like the clash between a cat and a dog, there were cuts, stabs, sword and claw slashes, and also biting. Almost immediately after this battle started, casualties started appearing. The casualties increased with such a speed; driven by the d?s?r? of both sides that it quickly broke the record for the fastest deaths in a second in any battle. The Atlantians fought like a shark who just saw blood, while the predators fought like a dog who got deprived of its food and bone. Nothing could stop them. Everything that happened after the arrival of the inheritance took only a few moments, so both sides were still in the process of acclimatizing to the situation, especially the Atlantian Division Fleet. When the illusion curse was placed, it was not just on soldiers who were on the water, it also affected the soldiers and crew that were huddled in the warships. Because of this, the most important weapon of the Atlantians, their 50+ warships were eventually rendered useless. This was not for too long though, because the soldiers and crew manning them finally started waking up. "We''re waiting for your orders, Captain¡­" "BOMBARD THEM!" An already furious Captain Omega roared at his soldiers. They didn''t need any confirmation again, the warships received the order and started releasing their massive load of weapons furiously. Boom! Boom! The beasts were directly plunged into hell by the fierce firepower. Orange lights of explosions filled the battlefield as the main weapon of the warships wreaked havoc, leaving the predators in a scene of pure chaos. In just a few seconds to a minute, the fierce firepower of the warships brought a sense of organization to the originally chaotic battlefield. What was exactly happening inside the battle could now be understood. For the first time since this battle started, the Atlantians finally caught their breath. They finally regained their tempo and their style. Unlike the beasts who fought chaotically with their skills and body adaptations, they were soldiers and they fought in units. In an organized battlefield were they able to display their strength in its full splendor. "Soldiers, our mission is the inheritance entrance!" "Once we get the entrance, we are one step closer to victory. And when we control the entrance, the battle would be as good as won already!" "Right now, I want the best of you all!" "Give me your best! Persevere with me and let''s make Atlantis proud!" "For Atlantis!" "For Atlantis!" Captain Omega was a simple leader, he was not too outspoken and his speech was that simple but this simple speech was all that it took to stimulate his soldiers to get the best out of them. Sometimes, reputation speaks louder than words. Captain Omega''s reputation in the Division Fleet was more than what the words of any other outspoken leader would achieve. This was the hidden power in individual strength. As soon as the Atlantian soldiers received the words of their Captain, it was like they received doses of Adrenaline stimulants as they erupted with power that was far more than they''ve been releasing so far. This time, organized and ready, the Atlantian soldiers revealed the lethality that they were renowned for throughout Oceania. With their weapons, they became what could only be described as a stabbing sword as they stabbed through the hearts of the mutated beasts, injuring them where it hurt the most. In the end, these beasts were just random groups of mutated beasts who were simply attracted here by the inheritance. Against a prepared troop of Atlantian soldiers, they would easily fall apart. The Atlantian soldiers tore through them and ripped them apart. In just 2 minutes, they overcame all the obstacles that were before them as they got closer to the entrance of this Sea King Inheritance. Now, they were only a few meters away from their target but this target still seemed out of their reach. At the last moment, a new variable appeared. Rumble! The Atlantian soldiers hastily blocked with their shields as rocks were hauled everywhere by an unknown force. While they dodged, the deep scanners of their warships immediately scanned to pinpoint the new enemy. It did not take them more than a second before they narrowed down on the enemy, it was a mutated Rock Monster that was originally hiding among the rocks that were spread across the seamount. The fierce attraction by the Sea King inheritance f?r??b?? woke it up. It was at this moment that it woke up, and on seeing the soldiers that were before it, it simply snorted and started smashing its way across. The most dangerous fact about it was that it was a purple-tier Rock Monster. It smashed its way through the Atlantian troops without facing any resistance. "Shoot it down!" Captain Omega did not try to devise tactics to finish this monster, he simply ordered his warships to finish the job. The tense state of the situation made him decide to act as fast as possible. At the back of his mind, he knew that these were not their main enemies so they had to take care of these minor characters as soon as possible. Almost immediately after he gave the order, one of the warships readjusted its aim before charging up for the ultimate shot to take down the Monster. But before it could shoot¡­ Whoosh! What seemed like green vines suddenly shot out from the warship that was closest to it. Since the warships were arranged in a tight formation, this warship was unable to react on time as the green vines immediately tied it up tightly. The next moment, the warship that attacked opened its front like a mouth as a terrifying tongue adaptation shot out with force. The tongue elongated and wrapped around the warship before squeezing. On seeing this, only one word reverberated in Captain Omega''s mind. "A Purple-tier Mutated Chameleon!" Chapter 237 - Emergence Of The Space Beast! "A Purple-tier Mutated Chameleon!" Seeing this sea monster who despite having revealed its animosity was still in a shape that made it seem like one of his warships, Captain Omega''s face turned even more livid as the muscles in his bald head shifted ominously. On earth, according to Sebastian''s knowledge, chameleons were only capable of changing the color of their body to blend with their surroundings. That was on earth though, this was Oceania, the laws were vastly different, this was a world in which rules were defined by the origin magic. This was a magic world that could not be explained by human understandings. Here, predators could do things that were vastly more advanced than the basic due to evolutions, skills, and adaptations. This purple tier mutated Chameleon was one of these advanced predators. As it evolved, apart from changing the color of its body to blend with the surroundings, it also learned a skill to adapt its body shape. This was the reason why it was able to blend with the fleet of warships without alerting a single Atlantian soldier, and successfully ambushing them. It didn''t speak a word to the Atlantians, it didn''t even know what these tiny creatures were, all it knew was that they seemed dangerous, so it simply did what it normally did to dangerous opponents, it attacked them. Boom! Boom! What seemed like illusory green tentacles lashed out from the Chameleon''s body in waves, while tying the first warship that it attacked down, these illusory tentacles also wreaked havoc across the ranks of the Atlantian soldiers. Though it was not able to destroy the sturdy warship due to the strong metal alloys that its armor was made of, it was able to tie the warship down. These illusory green tentacles revealed the Chameleon''s domain as a powerful light domain magic predator. These tentacles were not entirely real and were mere simulated reflections from light magic, but they were tangible enough to deal real damage to opponents. At this moment, these tentacles turned into a menace to the Atlantians. At this moment, the emergence of the 2 originally hidden purple tier predators gave a purpose to the other mutated sea beasts that were behind them. These 2 predators instantly became the default leaders, all the other predators flocked behind them and amassed an even more terrifying force. An enemy with a purpose was far more terrifying than a purposeless genius, at this moment, the momentum that could be accumulated by purpose was released as the sea beasts created another tsunamic stampede. They rushed towards the Atlantian soldiers like the plague. Seeing this, Captain Omega was not flustered, he was silent as he looked at the top of the seamount with a huge frown now on his face. Unlike what he expected, the situation already changed faster than he predicted which could affect his plans negatively. Unlike other Atlantian Captains, he was not a good fan of meticulous plans and loved playing the direct game. His plan for this mission was simply to hit and fight hard, eliminating all enemies before they could react and getting to the inheritance entrance first. Then, after getting there, his Division Fleet would form a defense perimeter which would serve as the main battleground while his advance troops already rushed in to take in the tests of the inheritance. Because of this, it was calculated that the first 30 minutes after the setting up of the inheritance was the most crucial since the situation would be less chaotic and more controllable. This was the optimum time for the Division Fleet to take control of the situation, then set up a defense perimeter and grind it out with the beasts. Pairing it with this information, Captain Omega''s mission plan was actually feasible but this new variable already spoiled it, the hidden predators. Different types of predators had different sensitivities with their 6th sense. Whereas other predators would only feel the d?s?r? and start rushing over after the inheritance was officially set up, others would have felt it long ago and would have arrived long ago also. Most of these predators on arriving and seeing nothing may decide to trust their instincts and stay temporarily on the seamount while the impatient ones may leave immediately. From the display of the Rock Monster and the mutated Chameleon, it was clear that the Black Mamba Division Fleet encountered such s?ns?t?v? predators this time and they were not just one. Captain Omega stared upwards with a frown, he was about to give an order to his fleet but perhaps sensing his intention already, another predator acted. Hooooooooooo!!! On hearing this loud sound that seemed like the singing of a whale and at the same time the singing of a divine bird, Captain Omega''s face darkened even further as his heart skipped a bit for a moment. All the sea beasts in this battlefield also froze for a moment on hearing this voice like it was a decree from their beast Emperor. As space-time seemed to freeze up, the mutated beast who made this sound finally emerged out of the shadows where it originally hid. Captain Omega only needed one look at this beast to confirm his speculation as his heart turned heavy, this was a Sea King Inheritance indeed. This enormous hidden beast that just appeared was among the extremely rare race of beasts in Oceania with the pinnacle bloodlines. This sea beast was widely known as a Space Beast. Towering at a size of 30 meters, this beast looked like a mountain as its shadow was reflected into the surface of the seamount. It looked like a Leviathan with 3 enormous horns poking out from its head. It had enormous fins that made it seem like a manta ray, through which currents of electricity rapidly moved across like snakes being reared in a den. Just a slight opening of its enormous mouth revealed the unreal rows of dangerous teeth that were hidden underneath. With sizes akin to giant spears, these teeth could pierce through virtually anything. From underneath its enormous belly, 2 rows of hands with dangerous-looking claws jutted out, successfully making this beast a complete allrounder with little to no flaws and weaknesses. Feeling this predator''s gaze, Captain Omega felt a chill go down his spine but he shook it off the next moment, this wordless challenge made his blood start burning hot already as the muscles in his bald head squirmed excitedly. This was still just a purple tier beast, but its identity as a Space Beast alone already set it above every other creature that was here for this inheritance. According to legends, Space Beasts were the original inhabitants of Oceania. It is a race of beasts with sea beasts of different species all tied together due to the similarity in their bloodline and the power that it contained. Not only could they swim freely through the water, on getting to their stage of maturity, but they also had a skill that could enable them to transverse dimensions. This was the main reason for their name, Space Beasts. As a beast race with one of the extremely rare pinnacle bloodlines in Oceania, Space Beasts were favored beasts of the origin magic essence and each of their young ones came to life as purple tier predators. Legends say that living in them is the rumored 5th and joint most mysterious natural core alongside the time core, the space core. These were beasts who controlled space magic from birth, space magic was more or less like instinct to them from the first day that they opened their eyes to this world. This was their talent. Though this space beast was still a youngster, it was now the undisputed strongest contender in this battle as soon as it appeared. Before the beast could move though, stimulated by the challenge already, Captain Omega''s eyes suddenly turned pitch-black. Black wisps of gas started escaping from his body to form what seemed like a dark fog around him. While this happened, the samurai gear that he wore vibrated gently as their surfaces were affected by the dark fog, turning them to a pitch-black color also. The Samurai sword on his waist vibrated intensely like an excited child that was finally about to escape the terrible fate of being grounded at home. For the first time since this battle started, Captain Omega was forced and was about to go all out with his strength. When he raised his head again, his eyes were equally blood-red like those of an asura overlord that just descended from the abyss. The water turned thicker, the atmosphere turned as cold as ice, time froze. Chapter 238 - [Bonus chapter]Forbidden Battle Technique- Brainless Blood Asura! The appearance of the Space Beast directly changed a lot of things, which meant that the original plan of the Black Mamba Division Fleet was no longer feasible and needed an immediate change. Throughout the rich history of Oceania, Atlantis recorded each appearance of a Space Beast and each of these appearances always had a huge significance in history including the future developments that followed it. Space Beasts were among the few favored of the origin magic essence, each move made by any from their race could induce tsunami-level consequences. Because of this, the Atlantian soldiers being the ones who understood this newcomer the best reacted immediately as they improvised to safeguard their lives, their war machines, and the purpose of their mission. Against a Space Beast, the best strategy against them was force and not just force, to hinder them required a perfect fusion of brain and forceful power. Another reason why the Atlantians reacted so fast was because of their leader. Alongside the danger brought by the Sea Beast, the danger brought by a berserk Captain Omega was equivalent or may even be more than the beast. When consumed by the excitement of battle, this Captain was renowned for forgetting everything, including himself just to satisfy his tendencies. As soon as the black gas started leaking out of the Captain''s body, Lieutenant Zorro took command of the Black Mamba Division Fleet immediately. As the second strongest soldier of the Division Fleet, and the direct second in command of the Captain, he had the authority to take over command once Captain Omega turned this way. Captain Omega was a dual-practitioner who practiced both the strength and magic path. As a mage, he focused on the mysteries of shadow magic while as a strength practitioner, he focused on the sword plays of ancient samurais. By combining the advantages brought as a dual-practitioner, this genius Captain was able to create a dangerous technique that was exclusive to himself. This battle technique did not involve a lot of intricacies which was in line with the Captain''s personality, it simply entailed him forcefully mixing harnessed magic power with the physical qi that he accumulated as a strength practitioner. He called it the Brainless Blood Asura! The name sounded demeaning, but it meant what it said. The Brainless Blood Asura battle technique temporarily sacrificed intelligence and brainpower for a terrifying increase in brute strength and body control. It had 3 stages, with each stage granting an even more tyrannical increase in power but the side effects were extremely destructive. At the 3rd stage, the user practically becomes an idiot battle maniac who can''t distinguish between enemies and allies. If this state was sustained for more than 30 minutes, Captain Omega was doomed to be an OP idiot for life. In normal situations, Captain Omega had complete control over when to activate this battle technique, but his personality made a back door to its activation. Captain Omega was a battle maniac. If stimulated by scenes that evoked deep emotions from him, this battle technique had a chance of activating abruptly which was exactly what just happened. The worse thing was that the Captain would not notice until it is getting too late, this was because power was addicting. Instantly after Captain Omega activated his forbidden battle technique, his aura changed, becoming that of a region filled with thick red blood. He and the Space Beast became akin to 2 torches in this originally dark battlefield, from the chaos, all the attention was directed at these 2. The Space Beast''s blood-red eyes narrowed on feeling the new aura of the tiny creature with its senses, then it moved the next moment. Warp! All it took was the blink of an eye and the Space Beast was directly above Captain Omega with maws opened wide, teeth ready to crunch this tiny prey to death and oblivion. At the last moment, Captain Omega looked up as his blood-red eyes clashed with those of this beast, then he opened his mouth and laughed crazily. "Hahahahaha!" "Hahahahaha!" "Hahahahaha!" Amid his laughter, the black gas in the surroundings increased at a crazy rate far faster than ever before. The next moment, the gas started seeping into the Captain''s boxing chains as the chains started glowing with a black sheen. His eyes flashed before his hands punched at a speed not discernable with the n?k?d eye, it collided directly with the Space Beast''s opened maw. Boom! The impact was mighty, like the clap sound made by 2 planets colliding against each other at full speed as a reaction of epic proportions was induced. The water space seemed to fragment as the space in that area started squeezing together like a black hole was about to force its way out from it. Every mutated sea beast in the vicinity suffered, they died without knowing how, some from internal injuries while others were ruthlessly shredded to pieces as their blood and flesh flew randomly like floating balloons in Christmas. When the effects finally stopped, both contenders were far away from each other. They observed each other from afar. The Space Beast was unharmed, just a bruise was left in the place where the tiny creature punched. Though it did not hurt, this beast felt so incensed since this was the first time that something like this ever happened to it. This was the first time that it was injured in its life, it was an unfamiliar experience to a beast like it that only rage now filled its mind. As for Captain Omega, his hand was fractured but was now healing rapidly as it was engulfed by the black fog. The Boxing Chains were unharmed despite the collision which showed their quality. At this moment, despite the pain that this Captain felt, his face showed none of it as it only revealed a crazy and excited smile. One thing about him was that the stronger his opponent, the more excited he became which in other words translated to more strength due to the tyrannical effects of his battle technique. He laughed crazily. "Hahahahaha!" "Hahahahaha!" While he laughed, the samurai sword that was attached to his waist kept on vibrating to an extent where its hilt could not hold it again. At this moment, it was like this sword had a will of its own. Shing! Suddenly, the sword unsheathed of its own will and landed on the Captain''s hand who only responded with an even more crazy laugh. "Hahahahaha!" "Today, we dine in hell!" "Killer Move: Asura Sword Momentum Rain!" Almost at the same time as Captain Omega moved, the already incensed Space Beast also moved. The Atlantian Division Fleet retreated more at the same time to escape the aftermaths of whatever was to come. The eyes of the 2 contenders clashed and the heavens seemed to shake. Chapter 239 - Captain Omega Vs The Space Beast! From the free for all battle royal for the inheritance that was dominant before, this battle was now concentrated on only 2 individuals. As soon as Captain Omega and the Space Beast moved, the terrain of this battlefield changed in different tangible ways. Whoosh! The Space Beast''s enormous tail fin and manta ray-like fins hit the water with force, allowing this beast that was more enormous than 2 Atlantian warships to move at a speed that left the water screaming in terror. The momentum and the force of inertia that followed its advance created water waves that squeezed nearby creatures that were caught in its path to death. Pairing this outrageous speed with its outrageous size, at this moment, this Space Beast looked like the second coming of the ancient Cthulu. This Space Beast was already incensed completely, so it released the full strength that was made available to it by its bloodline without leaving any behind. Every other mutated beast on this battlefield quaked before its feet. Faced against the aura of this pinnacle bloodline predator, even the purple tier Rock Monster and the mutated Chameleon became low-profile, hiding and deciding to watch the proceedings from a distance. The Space Beast was now on full throttle! Captain Omega didn''t cower in fear though, his face revealed an even more brainless excitement on seeing this. He laughed crazily as adrenaline flowed through his body, madly invading his veins as his bald head muscles squirmed. Following his rapid advance were an ominous-looking black and red magic field that made the water rapidly evaporate on contact. The Brainless Blood Asura battle technique combined Captain Omega''s proficiency with the shadow magic domain which represented the black, and his physical qi accumulation which converged to form the red. At this moment, covered by this magic field, Captain Omega''s speed took a rapid upward trajectory that seemed to never get exhausted. With his hands now fixed on his magic Samurai Sword, and his blood-red eyes fixed on the equally rapidly advancing Space Beast, his magic power erupted. On seeing this, the Space Beast''s eyes flickered as it instinctively activated a magic skill as its body was covered with what seemed like armor, an armor that was made of space magic. The water visibly distorted like it was being torn apart by a sharp knife as the space magic armor finally materialized completely with sharp edges like spikes surrounding it in a tight ball formation. "Space Armor- Spike!" Captain Omega''s magic power eruption was followed by a loud sound, including the Space Beast''s space armor, then both contenders finally collided against each other, inducing a shockwave of epic proportions. BOOM! The impact was mighty, causing the water to vibrate like an apocalyptic earthquake that cracked Oceania''s core itself just occurred. The aftereffects of the collision wreaked havoc across the surroundings, and the 2 contenders felt the power of these aftereffects the most but both of them reacted on the spot to recover. The Space Beast recovered its momentum by taking advantage of its enormous size, but Captain Omega had to do more as his eyes rapidly turned from the original blood-red to a pitch-black color. "Magic Skill: Shadow Binding!" Instantly, black shadow tentacles emerged out of the water as they extended crazily towards the Captain and held him in place, enabling him to recover his center of gravity at the same time as the Space Beast. Captain Omega''s refined battle tactics and experience showed at this moment, he reacted before the young Space Beast could understand the situation. He finally activated his killer move after triggering the energy points in his body for its activation, his samurai sword turned extremely hot the next moment. "Killer Move: Asura Sword Momentum Rain- 1st Move!" Whoosh! Before the Space Beast could recover, the water was already filled with black and red swords from all sides. The surrounding water body turned into a sword rain that descended with force on this beast. With their edges gleaming sharply under the green glow of the Green Mist Sea, their lethality was not in doubt but this Space Beast was not helpless. Roar! For the first time since it came, this beast finally roared angrily. "Space Armor- Repel!" "Space Descent- Grind!" "Space Descent- Stab!" "Space Descent- Destroy!" From its memories, this Space Beast triggered another version of its space armor before triggering 3 of the most dangerous skills that were recorded in its memory by its ancestors. Captain Omega''s sword killer move still descended, but under the shadow of the skills that this beast just activated, their lethality seemed to decrease. Despite this, they still descended like a sword rain. Bam! Bam! Bam! Most of the swords hit the Space Beast''s armor and dissolved into chaotic shadow magic, some were repelled back towards Captain Omega who shot it, while the remaining few stabbed through and injured this beast. Once again, this Space Beast suffered another injury, its anger increased exponentially as its enormous body started trembling in anger. Bzzz! The water space turned stiff all of a sudden like it was frozen by an external force, this continued for only a few seconds before this frozen space turned deadly. Grii!! The space water suddenly seemed to turn into an enormous grind mill that threatened to grind Captain Omega into pieces. The grinding force pressed towards him from all sides that he was practically suffocated. At the last moment, Captain Omega activated the special skill of his samurai magic armor as what seemed like a metal box surrounded him the next moment. This didn''t last long; the water space underwent another transformation the next moment as they turned into large stabbing space swords while a part of it still maintained the grinding power. Before Captain Omega could react to this, the destroy space descent skill finally came into effect and what followed was explosive. Boom! Unlike the previous 2, the destroy skill did as its name suggested. The raging power turned into deadly nuclear bombs; their activation practically tore the surrounding space into oblivion as tyrannical power was displayed. Only the loud booming sounds of Captain Omega being thrashed inside it reverberated, it was a wonder that the Captain was still alive and struggling considering the power that was on display. Seeing this, the Space Beast added fuel to the already burning fire. "Bloodline Specialty- Space Slash!" This was the finishing move to end the troublesome enemy''s life. The space slash materialized in the air in the form of a giant transparent sword that was made entirely of space magic power, then it descended with speed and force. BOOM! The sound tore eardrums and blinded eyes as static filled the background the next moment as the mutated beasts quickly recovered to see the aftermath. The chaotic space domain that was formed by the convergence of the grind, stab, and destroy space descent skills were directly cut through by this power of epic proportions that seemed capable of destroying a moon. This area of the seamount was directly cut through, presenting its core as red bubbling lava started rapidly flowing out of this cut hole everywhere. The seamount shook as it seemed to be on the verge of crumbling apart. "Hahahahaha!" "Hahahahahaha!" "Good! Very Good!" "Hahahahaha!" "Samurai Battle Technique: Endless Combo Hits!" "Samurai Sword Technique: Eternity Slashes!" "Samurai Sword Technique: Sword of the Blood Asura!" "Samurai Skill: Demonic Speed!" When the fog dissipated, it revealed a bloody Captain Omega whose clothes were torn in different places, leaving only the Samurai sword intact. At the last moment, he dodged the core of the tyrannical slash skill but his proximity to the attack still made him suffer a lot from it. Despite this near-death scenario, he was not still scared of this beast, his eyes gleamed crazily all the more as he felt even more power entering his body. His intelligence degraded even further, leaving only power and his battle skills and techniques that were refined for decades. While the Space Beast was still trying to confirm if he was dead, he moved as his equally already excited Samurai screamed in a frenzy for blood. Boom! A blood-red color filled the Space Beast''s vision the next moment which was quickly followed by the appearance of a giant sword, the sword descended on its skin before it could react. Captain Omega moved immediately after the sword connected, his samurai battle techniques and Demonic speed skill all complemented each other to create this terrifying version of himself. An endless terrifying sword combo followed. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! The Space Beast was turned into a slashing target, each sword strike followed the next at such a speed that even blinking was slower. An unstoppable combo started after Captain Omega started the first. This Captain toyed with the enormous beast, rapidly moving across its body as his sword tore holes across its sturdy skin. This continued for 2 minutes without the Space Beast being able to retaliate for one second until Captain Omega''s samurai armor was now a red-hot color due to the unreal speed that he moved at. Sustaining this speed affected him, but it also provided a platform for him to accumulate so much momentum to prepare for one of his most dangerous killer moves that he created using his knowledge about samurais and swords. "Samurai Sword Skill: Blade of Extermination!" Captain Omega''s sword vibrated even more than before, the sword turned blood-red, then the aura of an Asura Emperor descended from it the next moment. Without wasting time, it slashed at the beast. For the first time since it came into this world, this Space Beast experienced a feeling of danger for its life. Instantly, it knew that its life was in danger. Though it felt strange, it knew that it had to act to safeguard its life immediately. While it was still in thought, the sword descended. Shing!!! Chapter 240 - Killer Move Vs Killer Move! Emergence Of The Real Contenders! The whole seamount turned deadly silent, all eyes were focused on the descending sword, and only the sound that accompanied it echoed. While the sword descended, all the heat that Captain Omega accumulated in his Samurai magic armor due to the unreal speed that he moved at started moving and converging on the edge of this sword. The edge of the sword became super-hot. Super-hot to the extent that apart from the water evaporating, even the surrounding rock started melting like the power of the sun was being harnessed and channeled to a single point of this battlefield. Mountains seemed to crumble and oceans seemed to dry up just to welcome the descent of this sword skill, it directly exterminated everything that was on its path tyrannically like the legendary Sword of Damocles. This was Captain Omega''s trump card skill, the sword that purges all evil, the slash that destroys demons and devils, the blade that exterminates reality itself. This was a sword skill that could injure a perfectly healthy Red tier predator. At this moment, time seemed to stop, space flow seemed to freeze, and this young Space Beast experienced emotions that felt strange to it since it has not experienced them before. It felt panic, fear, and an urge to escape from this battle. Its eyes looked up in a pleading manner at the extremely large sword that was now descending to cut it into pieces. It intended to beg for mercy, but almost immediately after it did this, it felt an extreme reaction from its bloodline. An extreme reaction of refusal, a reaction of disapproval. Space Beasts were predators with a rare pinnacle bloodline and were favored by the origin essence, dying in battle was their fate, and never were they permitted to beg for mercy when in a situation like this. It''s either they gave their all and survived with their own power, or they gave their all and died despite giving their all, there was no third choice. This thought for mercy in this young Space Beast''s mind suddenly turned, and like it was brainwashed, extreme anger erupted from its heart. It was a Space Beast, and space beasts had pride that each of them was tasked to protect. It was either they killed or be killed, their pride does not accommodate anything other than this. Fired up by this, this space beast was able to carry itself up. Its eyes blazed with the fire of motivation despite the threat of death being constantly present in its body, it forcefully overcome every predators'' instinct of fearing death and at this moment, it seemed to evolve into a higher beast. In the life cycle of Space Beasts of this era, rarely were they required to research and create their own skills and killer moves. All these were already stored in their memory which was part of their inheritance. In their life cycle, all they needed to do was to grow, evolve, and unlock more skills and killer moves as they do. As a young purple tier predator currently, the skills that it had access to were only so much. Even more powerful skills were available after it evolved to the red tier and the black tier, but at this moment, this young Space Beast tried to overcome the restriction and access the red tier skills when it was still just a purple tier predator. This was dangerous, but perhaps an arrangement of fate, he passed the dangerous phase quickly. Surprisingly, his bloodline inheritance also seemed to sense his predicament and actively helped him to complete this ordeal. All these happened at a speed faster than that of light itself, the speed of rapid thinking. In an instant, this Space Beast got what it wanted. "Killer Move: Ancient Space Breath!" ¡­ While the Space Beast was still thrown into panic due to the appearance of Captain Omega''s gigantic and extremely dangerous sword skill, at a hidden part of this seamount, a group of predators watched alertly. Sebastian watched the current happenings of this fierce battle through the light magic projected screen with a grim and focused look on his face. This predator was an ant, a terrifying ant predator, a famous purple tier ant who succeeded in breaking the shackles of its low bloodline just like Tonado, the Champion Digger, Anthony. Apart from its battle prowess, this beast was more widely recognized due to its accomplished and undisputed digging skills across the whole region. As a contingency in his plan, Morales convinced his other companions to invite and to also ally with this stray purple tier predator. This decision proved extremely important. When the Atlantian soldiers started scouring every part of this seamount, both underground, the Champion Digger, Anthony was the only reason why they remained unseen. Though the call was abrupt, this terrifying predator ant was able to prove that it could work in any scenario without being flustered, showing its veteran flair. At this moment, all 6 predators had their attentions focused on the light magic projection that was created by Elder Shine. Apart from Sebastian, all the other 5 predators were veterans. Instantly, on seeing the predicament of the Space Beast, they knew that this was the most critical point of the battle which was perfect for outside interruption. It took a lot of willpower for them to suppress their d?s?r? towards the Sea King Inheritance after it was officially set up. "This is the perfect time to act". Old Mak reminded coldly. All the other predators gave their consent but Sebastian hesitated. "I''m sorry, but let''s wait a bit more, my feelings tell me that there are other variables behind the scenes that we don''t know of yet". All the sharks said no more on hearing that. Seeing this, Anthony rubbed his antennas in a grumbling manner but at the end also calmed down. "I promise you won''t regret it". Sebastian tried to comfort them but none of them responded. ¡­ At the last moment before the collision, the Space Beast found what it wanted. Without hesitation, it activated the ancient killer move that was recorded in its mind through its bloodline inheritance. "Killer Move: Ancient Space Breath!" As soon as this enormous Space Beast opened its mouth, the space squeezed into what seemed like a ball of magic light that gathered in its mouth. Bzzz! The surrounding space grew berserk as the ball of magic light rotated in front of the beast, rapidly gathering power before it was released the next moment. It released the breath skill that looked similar to the fire breath released by an ancient Fire Dragon, and both powers of epic proportions collided the next moment, causing an impact that was felt throughout this volcano region. Crack! This time, the shockwaves did it, the water space really cracked as green origin magic started seeping into the water, contaminating it and turning it green. All the white tier beasts in a distance of a kilometer away from the center of this collision and the weaker orange tier beasts were directly annihilated by the shockwave that spread across like the spread of the deadly covid-19. These 2 powers of gigantic degrees engaged in a terrifying tug of war, trying to determine which one carried more force behind this. This only continued for a second before the blade of extermination prevailed. Not only did Captain Omega use his move first, but the Space Beast also was not qualified to use this skill yet and it didn''t even succeed in harnessing its power to the fullest before it released it. All these ?umulated into this, Captain Omega''s blade of extermination proved stronger. Without a proper defense, the remaining power propelling the samurai sword enabled it to dig deep into the Space Beast''s head. ROAR!!! Without hesitation, despite feeling jittery from the shockwave that accompanied the collision of both attacks, Captain Omega forced himself to rapidly swim closer to put an end to the beasts'' life but he paused the next moment. Out of nowhere, 3 silhouettes with a magic presence that even Captain Omega himself could not ignore suddenly appeared at 2 different parts far away from the battlefield as all 3 silhouettes rapidly started closing the distance. Captain Omega almost laughed bitterly; this was exactly what he had been trying to avoid when he devised his plan for this mission. After biding their time for minutes, the real contenders on this battlefield finally revealed themselves having judged the situation to be perfect enough. All the surviving predators turned to look at these 3 newcomers. Time once again seemed to freeze, the atmosphere turned tenser, the stakes were now higher since the real contenders for this inheritance were now here. Chapter 241 - The Battle Of The Real Contenders! [1] Whoosh! Whoosh! The sounds of the 3 silhouettes rapidly closing in from the distance reverberated through the water as every single contender for this inheritance suddenly felt the boss music that was playing in the water. The boss music was an epic and rapid mechanical one, the one that could make blood burn hot, the one that could make brains emit steam due to heat, and the one that could make adrenaline course through veins madly. Though the Space Beast was an enormous monster that towered at an outrageous size of 30 meters, the battle between it and the powerful Atlantian Captain was one whose time was measured in milliseconds. The battle was extremely fast-paced, starting and ending in mere seconds. Due to this, though the Space Beast was currently severely injured after the hit by the Atlantian Captain''s killer move, as soon as Captain Omega was distracted by the newcomers, it successfully escaped. In an instant, Captain Omega lost his best shot at killing the Space Beast. He didn''t have the time to wallow in regret though, this was because of the new enemies that were rapidly advancing in his direction. After escaping and safeguarding its life, this Space Beast experienced another strange feeling that it had not experienced before, it was traumatized by the strength displayed by the Atlantian Captain. Because of this, it abandoned its pride and escaped. Due to the advantage of its bloodline, its severe injuries were already recovering rapidly but this didn''t matter since the injury of the mind was much harder to heal. Captain Omega was as serious as a well-trained German Shepherd police dog at this moment. This Atlantian Captain grabbed his sword tighter as his eyes focused on the distance, trying to pin down the 3 silhouettes. While Captain Omega did this, every other individual and beast on the battlefield did the same since knowing your enemy was vital in any battle. While Captain Omega and the Space Beast fought, the other mutated beasts also continued fighting themselves since their d?s?r? for the Sea King Inheritance was still blazing like raging fire in a dark abyss. Because of this, corpses of beasts and some Atlantian soldiers now lined the path that led into the heart of the battlefield. While practically every other person watched with their n?k?d eye, Captain Omega''s magic power erupted again as his eyes suddenly divided into a white and black membrane that was enclosed in a circular film. "Yin-Yang Encompassing Skill: Enhanced Vision!" With this, his vision was amplified countless times over. All of a sudden, he felt shackles breaking in his perception as he seemed to be yanked out of the previous black and white world that he lived in into a real colorful world. Everything became clear and near to him like his previous sight was a mere illusion, this was the effects and power of magic skills. Of the 3 silhouettes, he recognized the 2 that moved together immediately as the terrifying Toad Alliance and the Turtle Confraternity of the outside world. The identity of the 2 alien spaceships was undeniable since they didn''t even put any effort into hiding their identity. At this moment, the disguise was not the priority since after some time they would still be recognized. At this moment, getting the Sea King inheritance was the priority. Captain Omega was shocked and confused on seeing these 2 contenders. How did they know of the inheritance? How did they get here? These were part of the questions that erupted in his mind, but he suppressed them all knowing that the last of the 3 silhouettes was the immediate danger that he needed to attend to. This was a mutated sea beast that looked like a Racoon with a tail fin and webbed feet for swimming exactly the same way that a raccoon ran on land. Ordinary mutated Racoons would not make Captain Omega react in such an exaggerated manner, he reacted this way because in the details that Staff Sergeant Barnes provided, a huge highlight point was left for this exact predator. This Racoon was one of the 3 pinnacles of this ocean volcano region, it was a purple tier predator but with a tyrannical reputation that showed its strength. This was a Racoon beast who once fought a stray Red tier predator that wandered into this region to a standstill. Though this standstill battle was only slightly, it was still a respectable legendary feat. This Racoon was popularly referred to as ''The more you look, the less you see!'' Captain Omega temporarily removed the threat of the 2 alien warships of the well-known beast organizations, this was because he knew this organization and had a lot of knowledge about their modus operandi. An unknown enemy was always the most dangerous. Staff Sergeant Barnes was able to get the name and reputation of this sea beast, but that was all, nothing detailed was pinpointed by the Sergeant. "¡­Speed Demon". "¡­The more you look, the less you see". Captain Omega''s limited reasoning faculty tried to crack the mystery of this beast, but at the point that he looked before, this beast suddenly disappeared. The Speed Demon moved! "Scan the area!" "Find it and pin it down!" Lieutenant Lookman yelled at his warships whose crew reacted immediately. While the Captain and the Space Beast fought, the Atlantian fleet while retreating carefully moved closer to the inheritance''s entrance stealthily. At this moment, the Atlantian fleet was the closest to the inheritance so as soon as they heard their Lieutenant''s order, they all activated blockade shields. "Umbrella Formation!" Lieutenant Lookman ordered coldly as all 50+ warships of the Division Fleet activated blue energy shields that combined to form what seemed like a huge umbrella-shaped energy blockade, with spikes. This defense seemed complete, but not before the Speed Demon! For this terrifying predator Racoon, apart from its tyrannical strength, was even more famous for its speed. The more you look the less you see, this was a title that was more than a title. This was a title that was achieved by real battle performance. All the Atlantian soldiers saw was a shapeless and formless blur, and all those the warships'' deep scanners were able to get was a slightly red form. Whoosh! The Racoon''s speed was constantly increasing, and not in a small amount. "Bombard the area!" Lieutenant Lookman roared. Boom! Boom! As the missiles descended, bombarding the area and turning it into a firestorm, from the Speed Demon''s perspective, this world was still calm. Apart from its intimidating speed, this Racoon had a skill that perfectly complemented its speed and was the reason for its fame, the Concentration Time! When this Racoon concentrated while swimming rapidly, this skill automatically activates. Its only effect was to isolate him from the outside world and place him in a special world where time flows slower. Because of this, this Racoon saw everything that happened in the real world at least 10 seconds before it actually happened. To it, the dropping missiles were too slow, they were dropping in slow motion. Due to this, all it did was simply outmaneuver the Atlantian warship''s aim and it did. This Racoon made it look so simple but this was a legendary feat. The frustrated Atlantian crew rampantly bombarded everywhere with missiles, but not even one of them touched this mutated beast until it arrived at the very front of the inheritance''s tunnel entrance. On getting here, the Speed Demon turned one last time and looked at the warships which tried to stop him. His red demonic eyes flickered before he showed a creepy smile at the warships. "See you later!" Whoosh! The first beast officially entered the inheritance ground through the entrance. Instantly, this caused ripples everywhere. All the beasts here came for this inheritance in the first place, even if it was the Speed Demon, another beast entering first indirectly decreased the chances of getting benefits from this inheritance exponentially. Instantly, they all went berserk. "Do it!" "Do it!" In this time when the beasts'' emotions were riled up, the 2 warships of the Toad Alliance and the Turtle Confraternity finally reacted. Both warships used a magic gadget and created a sound construct. This was not an ordinary sound construct. "Do it!" "Do it!" This ''do it'' seemed like a spiritual psychic power was accompanying it, the effects became apparent immediately as the already agitated beasts suddenly became at least 3 times more agitated and unstable. It was like they were a sinking ship already which needed a slight nudge to turn over, now this slight nudge was just given. If they were in the animation phase of going berserk previously, all the mutated beasts went berserk this time! They threw their instincts of self-preservation away and swam at the blockade formation that the Atlantian warships erected to stop the Speed Demon. If the Speed Demon could do it, so could they. Instantly, the battlefield became chaotic again. The fragile order that the Atlantian Division Fleet managed to create was destroyed with just one move by the allied Toad Alliance and Turtle Confraternity warships. Only one second and the Atlantians'' defense started crumbling. Seeing this, Captain Omega made a decision. In his previous battle against the Space Beast, he was pushed tight but he was not pushed to the wall where he had to maintain his brainless blood asura battle technique more than normal. At this moment, this Captain decisively stopped the battle technique. He received a backlash as he threw up blood, but he succeeded in recovering his rationality. Instantly, this Captain retreated to regroup with his fleet. While he retreated, the 2 warships of the allied best organizations arrived before the Black Mamba Division Fleet''s army. An exit opened from the front of the 2 warships, and from this exit rushed out an army of mutated beast toads and turtles who were all armored to the teeth. This was an elite unit of beasts specially organized for this mission by the 2 organizations, this showed the level of importance that was given to this mission. Without hesitation, the allied army collided with the Atlantian Division Fleet. Almost at the same time, Sebastian reacted in the hole where they hid. "Let''s move!" Chapter 242 - The Battle Of The Real Contenders! [2] For a long time, Sebastian has been observing the battle situation in the seamount while constantly keeping to his decision to remain still and watch calmly. While he observed, his mind was as active as a horse as he calculated at a pace that even exceeded world-famous scientists in his previous world. Perhaps, other beasts would blunder at this but his knowledge of Mathematics from his previous world finally found a means to play a huge role in helping him out of this predicament now. From what Tonado explained to him about sea inheritances, he already had a general idea of how the Sea King Inheritance struggle would play out. The greatest obstacle against his chances of benefiting was of course Atlantis. The Black Mamba Division Fleet was powerful, but at the back of his mind, he knew that this was not all that the rumored overlord, Atlantis could offer. Considering the level of importance that they placed on unique skills as he observed from his time in captivity, an intelligent race like Atlantis would not make the clumsy mistake of underestimating the allure of a Sea King Inheritance. Even if it was not showing now, he was 90% sure that Atlantis definitely had a hidden card that they were confident in to secure this inheritance. To overcome the outrageous might of this overlord race, with his puny strength and his little allies, he had no choice but to rely on his only advantage that he had from earth, his knowledge, and experience. The appearance of the Space Beast was an unexpected interruption that he did not expect, this was why it was important to have contingencies in any plan. The Space Beast, the stray purple tier predators, most especially the Speed Demon were great obstacles, but the greatest obstacle apart from the Atlantis army to Sebastian was the Rogue Snake Overlord. This was a terrifying Red tier predator that lived in this ocean volcano region and was the alpha predator of this whole region. Sebastian knew about this beast from Tonado. He knew that this Rogue Snake Overlord would definitely be attracted by the Sea King Inheritance, most especially when the inheritance itself didn''t play nice, shamelessly attracting beasts from all sides. He knew that sooner or later, no matter how deep the depths of this ocean volcano were, this terrifying Red tier predator would soon arrive. Sebastian was not as strong as the Atlantis army, so his plan to counter them was to place another strong opponent against them. The only candidate that was originally in his mind was the Rogue Snake Overlord. He planned to fight and try to fish in the chaos that ensued. From the chaos when the Atlantian forces would battle against the Rogue Snake Overlord, he planned to erupt and strike then. At the last moment, when he thought that his plan was screwed, the Space Beast appeared in such a grand manner. Despite the powerful display by the Space Beast with the legendary pinnacle bloodline, his hopes were still crushed by Captain Omega''s sheer power. Captain Omega proved stronger than expected, almost killing the Space Beast in the end after a fierce battle. Killing the Space Beast would have been a huge change in Sebastian''s predictions, but this didn''t happen as the 3 strange silhouettes appeared. Sebastian recognized the Speed Demon, having heard of this terrifying Racoon from the blabbering Tosh previously. The 2 warships were what he didn''t recognize but thankfully, he had allies. Only Old Mak, the predator who had once roamed the outside world knew of these 2 terrifying beast organizations. Without mincing words, Old Mak instantly revealed all that he knew about the 2 organizations to Sebastian and the others. After listening to Old Mak, Sebastian''s brain was filled with more ideas. Since the Rogue Snake was not here, why not turn these 2 warships with a powerful background to the source of the chaos that he longed for? The Speed Demon entering the inheritance ground first succeeded in agitating the beasts, then the clash of the 2 beast organizations against the Atlantian Division Fleet brought the chaos that Sebastian longed for. He may be correct, the Atlantian soldiers may have backup plans, but if he continued cowering, he would not gain anything from this inheritance. Only the risk-takers were qualified to gain big. "Let''s move!" As soon as Sebastian gave this order, Old Mak and the other predators swam up from the underground hole where their bodies were huddled in. Anthony, the Champion Digger puffed in excitement. The elite team that Sebastian gathered was not the only one who received the order, under Elder Dangle''s meticulous control, the sound was transmitted wide to where Elder Marble hid with the reserve force. "We are finally about to move!" The Lizard Lord''s face became serious as his predatory eyes narrowed dangerously, his deadly tail swished back and forth. He turned his head around to observe his children, his brothers, and his subordinates, fellow Draconic Lizards that were ready to put their life on the line again for the family. "I must help the Ocean Master secure his second unique skill!" Tonado vowed as his terrifying tongue adaptation stuck out, ???k?n? his rough lips wildly. "It is finally here!" Elder Marble sighed before his face became serious the next moment, the surrounding few meters around him suddenly turned heavier as gravity increased. This was this Elder''s Gravity Earth domain passive effect; the Gravity Field! As soon as the gravity field emerged, Elder Marble roared. "MOVE!" ¡­ Boom! The Atlantian Division Fleet was struggling. The stray mutated beasts that were attracted to the inheritance were all random elements, and random elements were better-taken care of with order. The situation would be in control with just these stray beasts as enemies despite the occasional purple tier beasts that joined the fray, but the warships of the Toad Alliance and the Turtle Confraternity were something else entirely. Like the Atlantian Division Fleet, this was an organized force of predators. The 2 warships that the Toads and Turtles came with could not fight to a standstill against the 50+ warships of the Atlantian Division Fleet, but it was not their intention to battle with warships originally. All they came here for was the inheritance, and they brought along more than enough elite soldier Toads and Turtles for this mission. At this moment, these Toads and Turtles gave the Atlantian soldiers a run for their money. These beasts were veteran killers, they were all deadly predators. All the mutated beasts already recognized the Atlantians as their number 1 enemy, so most of them ignored other beasts and focused on battling the Atlantians which at this moment worked in the favor of the 2 beast organizations. The 2 organizations'' beasts easily turned the stray beasts to canon fodder predators, they used them to tire out the Atlantians while their own army was the main sword that penetrated the Atlantians'' blockade. In just 2 minutes, 2 mutated Toads and 3 mutated Turtles succeeded in making it through the blockade and entering inside the inheritance ground. Amidst the chaotic battle, a new group of powerful mutated beasts suddenly appeared again, this time directly from underground. Crunch! Crunch! Old Mak did not show any mercy, they deliberately emerged at the heart of the Atlantian Division Fleet and started wreaking havoc. Old Mak bit and separated 3 Atlantian heads from their bodies in just a second as blood flowed like rain. While he did this, the other predators arrived as they wreaked havoc through the heart of the Atlantian army. From outside, the countless stray beasts and the elite predators of the Toad Alliance and Turtle Confraternity were there. While inside, there was the powerful Old Mak and his group of elite predators. Purple tier predators, especially those as powerful as Old Mak and co were not to be underestimated, not even by Atlantians. A bloodbath started among the Atlantians immediately. Their soldiers died every second but they stubbornly held to their ideals, fighting a defensive battle with their blockade while sending no one inside the inheritance entrance like they no longer gave a damn about the inheritance. No reinforcements came. It was like, they really had no reinforcement. At this moment, almost half of the surviving toads and turtles of the 2 beast organizations already entered the inheritance ground which said a lot about the power of these 2 organizations. Even Elder Shine succeeded in entering the inheritance entrance. It was at this moment that Sebastian came out. He didn''t come out with the others previously due to his fear for some s?ns?t?v? matters, but seeing the predicament of the Atlantians, he finally had the guts to come out. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim!] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] The enormous Megalodon finally made its debut on the battlefield! Shockingly, as soon as Sebastian made his debut, the top of this seamount revealed cracks the next moment as a huge illusion magic formation was destroyed from the inside. Every beast was shocked since they were unaware of this magic formation. Even Captain Omega was shocked, he didn''t know of this. As soon as illusion disappeared, reality appeared. Over 100 Atlantian warships came into view. Captain Omega''s eyes widened the next moment on the sight. "The Annihilation Division Fleet!" Chapter 243 - I Am Not Alone! The appearance of the Atlantian Annihilation Division Fleet was so abrupt and unexpected that it sent ripples of shock through the battlefield. Even Captain Omega and his Black Mamba Division Fleet were shocked, they were not informed of this change in plans when the mission of the Sea King Inheritance was given to them. Despite feeling shocked, they quickly recovered since they were already used to the way that their race''s military operated. Atlantis''s famed battle strategy was placing backup plans behind backup plans to form an unceasing connection of backup plans, this was one of the main reasons for their rapid rise to become the overlords of Oceania. Instantly, the chain of command changed. The Black Mamba Division Fleet was no longer the top command force of the Atlantian army on this battlefield, they were now the second top command force. The Crimson Fleet, the Black Mamba Division Fleet, and the Annihilation Division Fleet, this was the power that Atlantis amassed for this important mission. For something as important as a Sea King Inheritance which Atlantis was frantic about, it normally warranted the appearance of one of the race''s legendary Mega Fleets but none was mobilized. This is because the plan for this operation started more than a month ago when the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King were being hunted. The Atlantian Mega Fleets and the allied army of the Dark Elf race and Snowmen race were all occupied with an even more important mission. They were engaged in an even more frantic battle than the one here. For these races, even if they were not as powerful as the overlord, Atlantis, they were still powerful in their own rights and could not be underestimated. Something as significant as the death of a Sea King could not escape them. These races already discovered the death of the Doppelganger and Invisibility King, and without shame, they immediately mobilized their large armies to also take part in this huge meat that was before them. They never considered that they didn''t exert any effort or resources, nor did any of their soldiers die in the hunting down of the notorious Sea King, all they wanted was to reap where they didn''t sow. Already expecting this, Atlantis, the Dark Elf race, and the Snowmen race all reacted before the alliance could be formed. They contacted the remaining 4 of the 5 widely acknowledged strongest variant human races alongside the Dark Elf race and solicited them with benefits so that they could hold back their armies and refrain from joining this battle. This way, they could concentrate their strong armies on the allied army of the other variant human races that were coming their way. This was why no Mega Fleet was allocated for the Sea King inheritance. The obstacle was strong, but they believed that they had what it took to ride the storm out. if they decided to compensate every single variant human race, the losses would be more than the gains. The already bloodied Master Jiraiya and Master Paku widened their eyes. "The Annihilation Division Fleet?!" Both of them expressed their shock, this was because they knew the might of this Division Fleet. They were not exactly the best Division Fleet of Atlantis, but their Annihilation large-scale battle formation made them the best at large battles. They were famous for wiping out large armies. Also, they were even more famous because of their leader, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid. This terrifying soldier was still a Silver Realm powerhouse, but he had been at the pinnacle of this realm for so long that his battle strength could already match those that were able to get to the legendary Gold Realm. He was a soldier that could battle a Red tier predator. For the past few minutes, Master Jiraiya, the powerful purple tier Toad was the one who acted as the default leader of the Toad Alliance for this mission. Alongside Master Paku of the Turtle Confraternity, these 2 predators had been a thorn at the sides of the Atlantian soldiers for the past few minutes. With his long magic sword, and his water domain magic, Master Jiraiya has wreaked havoc everywhere, turning the Atlantian soldiers to his plaything as he killed dozens of them in the process. Together with Master Paku, they''ve killed more than 100 Atlantian soldiers already and were the main reason why so many toads and turtles already succeeded in entering the inheritance ground. For the past few minutes, they''ve been flexing their ego like heroes, but at the sight of this Atlantian Lieutenant Colonel, these 2 predators fled as fast as a cheetah who just saw the fire of an imminent apocalypse. Whoosh! Both predators moved so fast that all that was left of them was a blur, they slipped their way into the inheritance ground before anyone could react. They ruthlessly left the fate of their remaining subordinates to fate. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid paid no attention to the both of them though, this Atlantian soldier that towered like a Giant pinned his eyes on the Megalodon. He showed himself after Sebastian arrived, he came for Sebastian! In his mission that was signed by Queen Auralis herself, the main priority was to capture the young Megalodon alive or to present its corpse. The 2nd priority of his mission was to get the Invisibility unique skill. Every other thing that was inside the inheritance ground may be valuable but their importance paled in comparison to these 2. "Lieutenant Colonel, I await your commands!" Captain Omega did not waste time before he relinquished the authority of the battlefield to his superior. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid looked at the projection of the Captain that was before him calmly. "Surround the Megalodon, capture or kill it!" This order was not just directed at the Black Mamba Division Fleet, it was also directed towards the Crimson Fleet, and also the Annihilation Division Fleet which he commanded. Instantly, all the Atlantian warships moved intimidatingly. Atlantis revealed its domination flair again, this was the flair of a dominating emperor, the flair of the overlord race of Oceania. Master Jiraiya of the Toad Alliance and Master Paku of the Turtle Confraternity was gone, the Space Beast was still recuperating at a corner, while almost all the stray purple tier predators already entered the inheritance ground. At this moment, the Atlantian army had no opponent that could stop their momentum, they could finally concentrate on their mission. Sebastian felt his blood freeze, danger suffocated his senses from every side. Without waiting for him to react, the 100+ warships of the Annihilation Division Fleet moved. Paired with the warships of the remaining Division Fleet and Fleet, Atlantis had 160+ active warships on the battlefield. This was a horrifying force! Without hesitation, all the warships unleashed firepower on the Megalodon. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield!] Sebastian prepared his defense to take on this descending firepower barrage though he didn''t feel too confident about it. The might that was on display was too horrifying for a single predator to take. "I''m already at a state like this without even catching a glimpse of inside the inheritance ground yet, what a waste!" As the fire rain continued descending, Sebastian''s heart stiffened further and he quickly decided to stop rationing his mana points. He was about to create his ultimate defense magic manifestation and leave the rest to fate, but what happened next surprised him. "Protect Sebastian!" Old Mak roared as he rushed into the scene, his thunder magic already flaring wildly as this enormous Great White Shark turned into a monster that was akin to a glowing torch on the battlefield. His body literally turned to a magnet that attracted lightning and thunder. Sebastian''s eyes brightened on this sight; he remembered an important fact. "I am not alone!" Chapter 244 - Predators Show; Entering The Inheritance Ground! When plans for the Sea King Inheritance were being made by Sebastian, Old Mak, and their allies, they planned with the conscious knowledge that Sebastian was a highly wanted predator by the Atlantians. Because of this, in the plan, they emphasized that once the battle began, in the chaos if the Atlantians tried to pick out Sebastian from the rest, they would hide in the dark and stealthily provide help. In a chaotic battlefield like the one after the Toad Alliance and Turtle Confraternity''s warships appeared, Sebastian''s chances of surviving the onslaught of the Atlantians were pretty high. Unfortunately, life was too unpredictable. The appearance of the Annihilation Division Fleet spoiled everything. The appearance of this Division Fleet immediately placed the Atlantians above all. The chaos that the predators caused was nullified instantly, they had the situation in control once again which was something that Sebastian dreaded to see. Due to this, the Atlantians could conveniently focus-attack him. No matter how powerful Sebastian was with his unique skill, in the end, being just an orange tier predator, he had too many limitations that gave his strength a ceiling. He would not survive alone against such a mighty force. Against the individual champions of the Atlantian army alone like the Lieutenant Colonel and the Captain, Sebastian''s chances were more or less 0. But he was not alone. Old Mak was not like ordinary Great White Sharks, he was intelligent and knew how to improvise according to the situation. Immediately after he understood the gravity of the situation that Sebastian found himself in, he acted. While calling out to his allies and subordinates, he moved in personally to show his stance in this situation. In certain situations, action is better than words. This alpha Shark''s actions prodded the other predators. Without hesitation, all the Great White Sharks followed their clan head into action. His participation meant the participation of all the Draconic Lizards, and this force was not one to be scoffed at. Only Anthony, the Champion Digger was the one who truly hesitated. But this was not for long though, he also decided to help. As a complete newbie in this inheritance of a thing, he didn''t know the dangers nor opportunities that were inside the inheritance ground. Pairing and maintaining a good relationship with those who knew their stuff could protect his life, so he decided to help to protect his life. Instantly, the originally chaotic group of mutated beasts were divided into the majority of still chaotic predators, and the small group of Sebastian''s allies. With Old Mak at the very front, this tide of beasts surged forth towards Sebastian''s position like the stampede of 10,000 Rhinos. On seeing this, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid did not blink an eyelid, this was because, from previous reports, he already knew that this Megalodon had a backer. This was the reason why Lieutenant Lookman failed in killing it. The Lieutenant Colonel already expected this, so he was not surprised. He didn''t change his plans though, After all, missiles, cannons, energy beams, and laser shots were far faster than the speed of predators. On seeing his allies coming to his aid, Sebastian felt a strength that he didn''t know was there before invading his bones. He confirmed the validity of this quote; you eat alone, you die alone. There was power in friendship! For the second time in his life since his encounter in Leroy''s clan lair, he felt that he had companions who got his back. Instantly, his conviction to resist death increased exponentially. Without caring about the cost, he pumped more magic power into his Heavy Armor magic manifestation to make it as sturdy as possible. The warships'' attacks finally descended. BOOM! Bzzz! The impact of the collision spread a terrifying shockwave across that effectively blinded the senses of the beasts and the deep scans of the warships. Only one predator could see through this chaotic field that was formed by the shockwave. "Go in, he is still alive". At some point in time, Elder Shine came out of the inheritance ground again on noticing Sebastian''s predicament. Apparently, this elder didn''t leave his companions behind to enter the inheritance ground but only lurked at the entrance. With his mastery of light magic origin laws, he penetrated all the obstructions to see Sebastian. The Megalodon was now injured, but he survived. As soon as they received confirmation from Elder Shine, the predators engaged the Atlantians with Old Mak once again leading the charge. "Killer Move: Thunder Constellation!" He attacked with his best immediately, this was against an Atlantian army After all, underestimating them would be the most stupid mistake ever. As soon as Old Mak made his move, the green glow of the Green Mist Sea that shone here took a darker shade. Then from the glow, green streaks of lightning and thunder shot out with speed. This was an area of effect killer move! This killer move was extremely meticulous and deadly, Old Mak directly tapped into the power of the origin magic essence to empower it. In a few moments, this storm of thunder and lightning engulfed every single one of the Atlantian warships, then it finally detonated! Boom! The sound was like exploding dominoes, all the warships were rocked hard with 5 exploding immediately due to the tyrannical energy force that tore through their metallic frames. Almost at the same time that Old Mak attacked, the Lizard Lord moved. Sebastian was temporarily immobilized after he suffered the attack, now Captain Omega personally moved in to finish him off. Having detected this, the Lizard Lord moved in to intercept this Atlantian. It took them only 2 seconds before they met. There was no prep talk, no taunting either, they directly gave each other a piece of their mind, battle! His clan head already moved, as his second in command, Elder Marble was not far behind. With glowing brown eyes, and a brown magic field surrounding his body, Elder Marble focused on the Atlantian warships. "Killer Move: Earth Gravitational Prison!" A loud sound suddenly reverberated as the gravity increased exponentially around the Atlantian army, materializing in the form of a gray magic field. Their warships'' metallic frames made creaking sounds, while some of the soldiers with weaker physiques that were inside the warships directly lost battle effectiveness as the gravity weighed on them. This was not all, in the water, chaotic black holes suddenly opened up through which rocky gray tentacles emerged out. These tentacles entangled every single warship on the battlefield, tightly tying them down despite their rocky form. This was a confinement killer move! In an instant, all the Atlantian warships could no longer move. Seeing the situation, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid decided to get his hands dirty as he took hold of his magic Trident and floated out of his warship. Before he could move though, he met an obstacle. "Killer Move: Ten Thousand Years of Pain!" Seeing that the Ocean Master was in danger, Tonado did not hold back at all, he also unleashed his trump card skill at this terrifying Atlantian soldier. Bam! The terrifying tongue adaptation collided with his Trident with force. The might that accompanied this move surprised him, paired with his unpreparedness before receiving this, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was flung far away from the battlefield. The fact that he was not injured showed his terrifying strength. On seeing 3 of his equals revealing trump cards and shining on this battlefield in different ways, Anthony immediately felt awkward. If he didn''t reveal something of the same quality, his pride would be damaged forever. And to an ant predator like him, pride and honor were extremely important. "Killer Move: Teeth of The Champion Digger!" The top of this seamount first turned dark as what seemed like a cloud covered it, then from this cloud rained terrifying fang adaptations. This was also an area of effect killer move with terrifying power. Clang! Clang! Clang! The rain of teeth descended across the enormous fleet of the Atlantian army like a hail of rain, battering the armor of their warships, dealing astronomical damage, and destroying some already damaged warships. The momentum of the Atlantian army decreased exponentially. This was not all though, the originally docile Elder Dangle also moved. "Killer Move: Wail of The Undead Souls!" Screech! As soon as this killer move was activated, a loud sound like that of screeching birds of prey and wailing souls in hell suddenly descended on the Atlantian Fleet. This terrifying sound attack penetrated virtually all the defenses of the warships and directly attacked the soldiers who were inside. The sounds drilled into eardrums, tearing them as brains started bursting like watermelons. Over 200 Atlantian soldiers died instantly. With 5 killer move activations, the allied army rallied by Sebastian gained ground against the Atlantian army for their rescue plan to be a success. This sudden attack took the Atlantians by surprise, making them pay a huge price for their deficiency in information. Due to the confinement killer move that was activated by Elder Marble which tied the Atlantian warships down, the surviving soldiers had no choice but to come down and fight personally against the beasts. Great White Sharks and Draconic Lizards welcomed their challenge. The predators collided against the Atlantians like a group of rabid dogs. Crunch! Crunch! Bam! Bam! The beasts terrorized the Atlantians with their enormous bodies, skills, and their terrifying teeth, reaping a lot of life in the process. The Atlantians also terrorized the beasts. With their guns and other advanced mechanical and magic weapons, they were able to manifest a lot of effects to counter the advantage of the beasts. In less than a minute, over 20 predators died to their frightening barrage. It was at this moment that Sebastian was finally rescued. At this moment, he was already recovering from the immobilized state that he was left in after the warship attack barrage from the Atlantians. While he was led towards the entrance of the inheritance by Elder Shine, the other Great White Sharks and Draconic Lizards also started retreating gradually. The Atlantian soldiers pressed hard but they could not tear through the huge blockade that the beasts formed with their enormous bodies. With their most powerful leaders being restrained in different ways, and their warships still tied down, their overall strength decreased exponentially. When Sebastian got close to the entrance, a whoosh sound reverberated as Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid who was thrown out of the battlefield by Tonado finally returned with eyes blazing in anger. Before he could attack though, someone else did. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Bow and Arrow!] "Pow!" Sebastian put in so much magic power that he was sure that the Atlantian soldier would be affected, and he was indeed affected. The Lieutenant Colonel was forced to block again with his magic Trident since the arrow moved too fast. Once again, the force proved too strong, he was thrown out of the battlefield. The Atlantian army was given no time to react by the beasts, they all rescued and carried Sebastian to safety. Without hesitation, they all entered the inheritance entrance. Due to their battle that blocked the entrance of the inheritance ground, the other predators could only watch bitterly as they entered. From the onset, their chances of gaining anything were close to zero. With that, Sebastian finally entered the inheritance ground. ¡­ Huff! Huff! Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid breathed roughly as he looked at the inheritance entrance that was some distance away from his location. In the previous battle, he wasn''t even given a chance to reveal a little bit of his power, the situation was completely controlled by the beasts. He gave a hollow smile. "Truly a talented bunch of beasts!" Without any change in his expression, he took out his communication device. "Bring out the deep delvers". "We''re switching to plan B". "Yes Sir!" Chapter 245 - The Great Battle At The Border! Boom! Boom! Boom! Fire raged wildly from the attacks of both parties as they tried to overpower the other with their wits, strength, technological and magical prowess. Soldiers of different races formed a myriad number of battle formations, as through the advantages brought by these battle formations, they wreaked havoc for some time before their opponents quickly nullified their advantage. Apart from the melee battle that was mostly dominated by the soldiers, the warships of the various races'' armies were the ones who ruled the ranged battle. Energy beams that could vaporize blood, flesh, and the existence of soldiers were released constantly by the warships as soldiers died like chickens before the slaughter in the Christmas period. Kinetic machine guns that were installed in various parts of the warships unleashed hell, releasing all their loads on the battling soldiers. Some warships were dedicated to a specific type of weapon loadout. Those that were configured for fire damage were dominated by weapons like giant flamethrowers that could deal a lot of fire damage, others had titanic ice obliteration canons that each shot could freeze a region across kilometers. The ones who dominated the battle more were the multi-purpose warships. These were warships that were mechanical versions of Mystery Pryer predators, they complemented different types of attack methods to form a balanced system. With such a balanced system and with the condensed mana core that powered its magic system, these warships literally had no weak points and could react appropriately to any sudden change in the situation. They were terrifying jack of all trades. Warships and soldiers were not the only participants of this battle though. Different magic gadgets and weapons had different effects, with some outrageous ones having tyrannical effects that could change the situation of entire battlefields singlehandedly. In this fierce battle, these magic weapons and gadgets shone brightly. Apart from magic weapons, the elite armies of these races that were battling to the death all came from races that were extremely developed both technologically and magically. In a battle of this scale and magnitude, every single soldier had a battle pet. These were mechanically made war machines, but whose outwards appearance was made to look like battle pets. They fought bravely alongside their masters, putting their lives on the line to make sure that their masters didn''t die in this battle before them. This was an extremely intense battle, a battle of such magnitude that if sustained for a long enough time could result in the world ending. This battlefield was outside the border of the ocean volcano region. This was the battlefield of the variant human races! On one side of this battlefield were 2 of the legendary Atlantian Mega Fleets, the Overlord Mega Fleet and the Sword God Mega Fleet. The Overlord Mega Fleet was like most typical Atlantian fleets, with a balanced set of specialty distribution among the soldiers, special units in the fleet, and the rank of the Commander. The Commander of the Overlord Mega Fleet was General Jax Tim. The special units of the Mega Fleet were the crazy attack special unit of elite soldiers, the turtle defense special unit of elite soldiers, the support special unit of elite soldiers, and the hook special unit of elite soldiers. These special units were the backbones of the Mega Fleet, and each one of them had special roles that they played in every battle. They had each of the basic units that made up a Mega Fleet, but their main force was concentrated on just one special unit, the Sword God special unit. Each of the elite soldiers who formed this unit was called Sword Gods. Their strength was undeniable, only the best Atlantian soldiers and sword practitioners could make it into this special unit. Alongside the 2 Atlantian Mega Fleets were 2 enormous fleets that were mobilized by the Dark Elf Race and the Snowmen Race. Dark Elves were like normal elves, the only difference between them and other variant human elves was that they had this yin aura of coldness around them. They had a terrifying affinity to dark and shadow magic, and they were blessed with the origin blessing of sharpness. As for the Snowmen, it was as it is, they were snowmen. With bodies that were entirely made of snow, physiques that made them look like the legendary Titans of the Titan race, and with an unbelievable affinity towards water and ice magic, this variant human race were natural predators. Of course, their flaws were obvious, being especially fragile to fire and also one of the races with the least technological development, they seemed vulnerable but inwardly, they were variant beasts rather than variant humans. Their outrageous strength and frightening ice affinity alone made up for the lack of a good brain to comprehend technological skills and the weakness to fire. At this moment, the opening that led into the circular cliff that surrounded the volcano was covered by warships and variant humans. When looked at from inside the seamount, it was like a group of ants were huddled together, forming a huge army that bloated the sky. On this side of this extremely intense battlefield, the participants were frightening opponents but the variant humans that settled on the other side of the intense battlefield were not pushovers. The other side of this battlefield fielded an astonishing sight of tree mogul armies, dwarf armies, rock men armies, man-trolls armies, man-beast armies, batmen armies, a lot of others, and even the powerful army of the firemen race. The sight was astonishing, the battle warships extended for as far as the eye could see, hundreds of thousands of soldiers of these races were gathered together at this moment as they fought the opposing 3 races that obstructed them. They fought without giving any attention to the threat of death. They didn''t put their attention on just killing soldiers, what they wanted was to breathe through the blockade of their enemies to access the inheritance that was waiting for them inside this ocean volcano region. This was why they mobilized and gave their all in this battle, a Sea king Inheritance was too important to ignore to any of them. Getting it could propel one of them to become the next overlord of Oceania, such prospects was not something that could be casually forgotten. "Kill them all!" The furious Commander of the firemen race yelled at his soldiers to pick up the pace as he was already getting frustrated at the display before him. This variant human''s physique was like a walking zombie, virtually no muscles could be seen on his body but the fire that repeatedly blazed around him, which intensified with his anger showed that he was not someone to mess with. This was a powerful firemen soldier who could breathe fire from his mouth like a Dragon, and not just any fire, a fire that could obliterate armies. His name was General Tito, the Dragon of the Western Volcano! At his yell, his soldiers were motivated for some few seconds to a minute but the motivation quickly died down again since they were tired as the battle was going on for 4 hours already. General Tito could understand his soldiers'' situation, but he still felt angry since the stakes in this battle were too much to ignore. If this situation continued, the sturdy army of the Atlantians, Snowmen, and Dark Elf race would definitely hold on, so he needed to improvise with his allies. As the strongest individual soldier on this side of the battlefield, and as a soldier who came from the strongest race in this mission, he had a lot of authority and could give speeches the way that he liked. As he was ready to give the order that could quickly change the directive of this battle, he felt a pair of sharp pointy eyes pin him down from afar. Seeing this annoying eye, General Tito snorted disdainfully and ignored it before continuing with his decision. "All Commanders, move in!" Chapter 246 - Variant Race Vs Variant Race! The Might Of Variant Humans! Even before General Tito of the Firemen Race gave the order, the Commanders of the other races already saw the circumstances clearly, and they knew that it was time to up their game. Without upping their game, they would only end up wasting their efforts here without getting any tangible result. This would not only be painful; it would be extremely embarrassing. Though General Saber was the undisputed strongest soldier in terms of rare power of the opposing side, General Jax Tim who gained more fame with his brain than he gained with his strength was the leader of this alliance. On the other side, General Tito was the leader. As a General who gained fame with his brain first before his strength, General Jax Tim was extremely meticulous. From the onset of the battle, he already researched each of the opposing Commanders rapidly with the help of his implant. This way, he already had an idea of every powerful enemy on this battlefield. As a war strategist, he could guess what his enemies were thinking even though he was not there with them on the battlefield. So before General Tito gave the command, he already prepared for it. His reason for guessing the enemy General''s thoughts was very simple. This was because both sides were armies that comprised of variant humans. Due to the advent of magic, technology experienced an explosive increase as scientists could now view reality from a different perspective. As technology increased, from monotonous submarines with simple torpedoes as weapons, Atlantis became the first race to create a warship. This brought the era of warships in warfare among the variant races. Unlike a simple submarine, a warship was made with expensive and rare metal alloys that are not only light but could move fast despite their outrageous capacity, their weapons'' load capacity also increased. With a warship, the fantasy of scientists became reality. All their technological advances and discoveries could finally be put to work. The first warship that was created did not only contain the basic torpedoes, it contained deadly canons, ports for laser weapons, ports for heavy artillery weapons, and specialized gun ports to take in energy beam launchers. With such a beast created, it was inevitable that warships immediately became the go-to weapon of warfare between variant human races. Against mutated beasts, warships were practically invisible unless they were going against highly evolved beasts of the orange or purple tier and above. Despite this, warships were still OP against mutated beasts. The only problem was when one variant race went up against another variant race. Since both parties had warships, the battle would most of the time drag on to whose warship was better, had higher firepower, and could take more hits. This was the only way to decide the victor. And for this to happen, it took an outrageously long time since warships were built to be resilient against damage in the first place. This was exactly what was happening on this battlefield. Of course, General Jax Tim was more than happy for the situation to remain like this. By the time the opponents broke through, the struggle for the Sea King Inheritance may already be over. This was why General Tito was plagued with that dangerous choice. In a battle of warships, letting soldiers roam around and fight almost always led to disasters of casualties that no Commander could account for. Originally, in normal situations, no Commander would endorse this, but this was not a conventional case. To break this stalemate, General Tito commanded it. As soon as General Tito''s side received the command, they acknowledged it like they just received the decree of an Emperor that they''ve been waiting for. As the strongest on his side, he led the charge. Unlike others, he wasn''t armored, he was a Fireman, his fire was his armor and was also his weapon. One thing to note was that to become a General, a variant human must achieve the legendary strength that was quoted as the Gold Realm. General Tito was a Gold Realm powerhouse! Whoosh! "Passive Trigger Skill: Fire of The Undying Phoenix!" As soon as this General activated this skill, the originally modest fire that blazed around him was kindled, turning arrogantly tyrannical as the fire raged wildly, easily turning him to a torch on the battlefield. A torch in such an enormous battlefield could easily become the target of attraction to trouble, and trouble indeed came as the warships of the Atlantians and their allies shot their loads at this General. "Passive Trigger Skill: Absorbing Fire!" All the energy beams, the laser shots, and the torpedoes landed on this General but they were all absorbed by his fire. The fire absorbed the energy that was originally contained in these energy-powered shots, turning them to fuel as it soon started burning even wilder. The fire soon turned so blazing that the water boiled, its range of coverage was now as wide as a burning forest. This change happened too fast, leaving the Atlantians and their allies little time to react. Then the change finally followed as General Tito''s eyes glowed red! "Killer Move: Might of the Dragon''s Fire!" Whoosh! There was no explosive sound that followed, just the sound of the wind rapidly cutting forward with speed as the fire that occupied a range as wide as a forest now spread towards the enemy warships. The heat of the fire increased exponentially as this happened. Then still not inducing any explosive sound, the fire engulfed all the nearby warships. This was a silent engulfment. This was the perfect example of raging wildfire in harmattan, but at this moment it was raging wildfire from General Tito! BOOM! 18 enemy warships exploded instantly from the overheating as soon as the fire engulfed it, others were crippled instantly while even more sustained severe damages as the crew ran randomly to fix the damages. This was a show of raw magic power in its finest state. Of course, General Tito could thrash warships if Sebastian could destroy them also. The only difference was in how easily they destroyed them; General Tito was far superior with his fire physique. "General Tito!" The soldiers that were behind this General cheered loudly as their morale increased exponentially. The General didn''t do it just for fun, he destroyed the warships in such an explosive manner to increase the morale of his soldiers. Without waiting for them, he dove, rapidly swimming forward as he started targeting and destroying other enemy warships with abandon. His soldiers followed behind him in waves. Almost at the same time that the enemies moved, the Atlantian, Dark Elf, and Snowmen soldiers also moved out to intercept them. Atlantian soldiers with their big guns stood at the back, the Dark Elf soldiers occupied the middle of the formation, while the Snowmen soldiers were the vanguards of the formation. "Charge!" These huge snow-white variant humans with their enormous physique like the titans lumbered forward with frightening momentum at the enemies. While they were still far away, they raised their clenched fists, dragged at the air before throwing their hands at the enemies who were far away. "Battlefield Skill: Snow Hail!" The top of this region suddenly turned white and fluffy, then the next moment a snow hail started, directly on top of the enemies. Snow as huge as boulders fell under the control of the Snowmen as they bombarded the enemies who were charging at them. Gunshots erupted immediately as the enemies started shooting at them, but their thick snowy skin absorbed all the bullets while they remained unharmed like they were real snow and could feel no pain. While the Snowmen charged, the Dark Elves also unleashed their large-scale battlefield race exclusive skill. "Battlefield Skill: Arrows of Death!" Some of the Dark Elf soldiers brought out real bows and arrows, the more powerful ones simply conjured pitch-black bows and arrows from the water through their strong affinity to darkness and shadow magic. The next moment, all the Dark Elves aimed and shot their loads. Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! The arrows descended, and enemies started falling at an astonishing rate. The arrows had different terrifying effects, some with poison, others with immobilization effects, others dealt astronomical impact damage to the enemies, while others dealt true damage that could bypass armors and defense to attack the internal organs. The attack of the Dark Elves opened chances as the Snowmen''s attack now dealt more damage, and it was at this moment that the Atlantians also attacked. They didn''t use a battlefield skill, the strength practitioners simply brought out their ranged weapons and unleashed hell on the enemies. The mages among them simply conjured different magic effects that ranged from fire to lightning, to thunder, to earth, to wind, and a myriad of other magic effects as these were all hauled at the enemies. The enemies suffered, but they were not helpless. While they still suffered the onslaught, the soldiers of the Tree Mogul and Rockmen race finally took the limelight as they rushed out. The next moment, they raised their rough tough hands above their heads. Each of these groups of soldiers activated battlefield skills. "Battlefield Skill: Descent of the Forbidden Forest!" "Battlefield Skill: Rock Wall!" While the attack of the Atlantians and their allies still came fiercely, under the control of the Tree Mogul soldiers, chaotic black holes opened through which green vines started piercing out wildly. In a few seconds, the vines intertwined as they came out to form a huge forest that quickly served as a defensive structure against the enemy''s attacks. Almost at the same time that this happened, all the nearby boulders and rocks rose in the water like they were under the influence of a Telekinesis expert. The next moment, all the rocks hit with force and fused like they were magnets, forming a huge defensive rock wall that stopped the enemy''s barrage. The attack was finally stopped, then the counterattack followed. This time, the counterattack was led by the firemen race soldiers, the dwarf soldiers, the man-beast and batmen armies. "Battlefield Skill: Fire Aurora!" "Battlefield Skill: The Terminator!" "Battlefield Skill: Beast Transformation!" "Battlefield Skill: The Night Assassin!" As soon as they activated their battlefield skills, the counterattack began. The firemen soldiers controlled their fire to form fire Dragon manifestations in the air, then by working together, they fused all their fire to form a huge Fire Dragon in the air who breath raging hot fire at the enemies. The Fire descended like a revolving aurora of death, engulfing and annihilating anything in its path to oblivion. The dwarves were even more impressive. Their Commander, Captain Jack brought their race''s treasured magic weapon, the Terminator! This was a Giant robot that was built using a warship as a reference. It had all the weapons of a warship, with additions, and the best thing about it was that it was far more flexible and fast since thousands of dwarves operated it at the same time. "Take this, motherf*ckers!" Boom! Boom! Boom! Under their control, this Giant robot indeed turned to the Terminator as their terrifying handling skills made this Terminator start exterminating the enemies at a speed that defied logic. Their impact was felt immediately on the battlefield. As for the man-beasts, after activating their battlefield killer moves, they all started transforming from half-monsters into full-fledged monsters. Most of them turned into sea Cheetahs, they sprinted across the water with their agile legs as they pounced on their enemies and devoured them before they could react to their astonishing speed. The batsmen were masters of the night, and like the Dark Elves, they had a great affinity towards dark and shadow magic. Most of them turned into bats, while the mages among them manipulated their magic power as they started interfering with the Dark Elves army''s control over the shadow and dark origin laws of the region. By tying the elves down, they gained an advantage for their allies. The battle turned more chaotic and intense immediately. Despite all these, the Atlantian allied force under the leadership of General Jax Tim still held strong. This lasted until General Tito, the Dragon of The Western Volcano finally arrived before the vanguard that comprised of Snowmen. Snowmen were weak against fire; this General started a massacre as he carved his way through these titanic beings at the speed of a machine. He didn''t last long though, an originally idle General finally interfered. "I leave him to you". General Jax Tim said. "Leave that brat to me". General Saber grinned. The next moment, this Sword God General grabbed his long heavy sword before he jumped from his warship and rapidly floated towards General Tito. "Your enemy is me!" The battle was far from over. Chapter 247 - General Tito Vs General Saber! The arrival of this legendary Atlantian General directly changed the situation. General Saber was an expert swordmaster whose mastery of the sword could only be ?ssociated with words like legendary and unrivaled. His relationship with his sword was akin to that of a husband and his daughter, he showered the magic weapon with love who in turn returned the favor by resonating with him in every battle. With his sword, General Saber was unstoppable! With his sword, he was like his name, a saber that could cut through every obstacle without being hindered or stopped. He was a Red tier Powerhouse who was one of the 5 famous Sword Gods, where 3 of the Sword Gods originated from the Myth Swordmen Race. General Saber was widely referred to as the Annihilation Sword God! Annihilation was his battle style, his battle mentality slanted towards using absolute power to annihilate everything that was before him, annihilation was his way of the sword! He became a General due to the fierce power that he developed, in terms of commanding large armies, he was more or less a clueless veteran. At this moment, as his eyes clashed with those of the opposing General, the prodigy of the firemen race, General Tito the Dragon of The Western Volcano, his eyes blazed with excitement as his sword started vibrating crazily on feeling its master''s emotions. His sword, the Roaring Blood, was unlike other magic weapons. This was a magic sword that under the influence of the love that the General admitted to it throughout the decades and century together, paired with its extremely high quality succeeded in birthing a sword spirit. A Sword Spirit was the stuff of legends, it was a type of spirit that was birthed in exceptional magic weapons after certain conditions were met. With a Sword Spirit, a weapon not only becomes countless times more powerful, but it makes the owner also more powerful as the resonance between the owner and weapon becomes countless times smoother. General Saber''s Roaring Blood was one of the main reasons why he was able to gain his legendary worldwide status as a Sword God. The Roaring Blood fed so much on the excited emotions of its master that as it vibrated crazily, it suddenly let out a bestial roar. General Saber was ready for battle! On the opposite side of this veteran Atlantian General, General Tito of the firemen race clenched his fists subconsciously as his fire domain raged wildly. Despite the smooth youthful face that adorned the face of this Atlantian General, he was an old geezer sword expert. He was an old monster who had spread terror across the ocean with his strength for over a century. Putting aside his terrifying strength as a veteran Red tier powerhouse, General Saber was a rare genius who already attained outrageous heights in the art of the sword domain. The Annihilation Sword God was a formidable opponent! General Tito felt the pressure immediately but he did not back down, he was the leader of the alliance that was formed on his side, he could not afford to cower at this moment when every of his action was being scrutinized by his allies. He stood his ground not only because of this reason. General Saber was a formidable opponent of course, but this did not change the fact that he was also a Red tier powerhouse. He was not Tito, but General Tito! As all these subconscious considerations went through his mind, his competitive spirit started blooming like a flower budding in spring. All the excitement in his heart culminated into the power that gave him the right prompting to move. As he took his first step, he gave it his all. "Killer Move: Heart of the Volcano!" From the original orange fire field that surrounded him, the fire intensified, turning to a red color before they finally turned an ominous blue. As soon as this happened, General Tito became a real fireman. Before, though surrounded by his fire field, the features of a human could still be seen beneath the fire but at this moment, only fire could be seen. General Tito turned into a real fire existence. And with this change came tyrannically explosive power. "Come on!" A bestial challenge reverberated from the fire as this fire existence rushed forward with such speed and momentum that could level mountains. On seeing the transformation of his opponent, instead of being surprised or terrified, General Saber only revealed a silly grin. "Really a firemen prodigy!" "Finally, Roaring Blood and I can face a real opponent!" "Killer Move: Reality Slash- The White Lie!" Vroom! As soon as General Saber activated his killer move, his already vibrating sword vibrated even more intensely as a blood aura suddenly surrounded it. As the sword vibrated, a red magic manifestation suddenly appeared. The sword accumulated energy with the red magic manifestation before it slashed. General Saber did not hold back, he used his full strength. As soon as the sword slashed, the surrounding turned dark before turning red the next moment, reality seemed to have been slashed through, presenting an alternate world at this moment. It was like an apocalypse was imminent, but this was all a white lie. The next moment, reality returned, and the sword magic manifestation cleaved through the void like a reaper, arriving before General Tito in an instant. Fire and sword collided as energy and magic went berserk on impact. ¡­ Still in the seamount, the 2 Atlantian Division Fleets already took over control of the situation at the entrance of the inheritance ground after all the notable enemies that originally opposed them already rushed in. "Bring out the deep delvers". "We''re switching to plan B". This was Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid''s orders after the Megalodon and his companions succeeded in barging into the inheritance ground despite all the measures that they employed to stop them. After planning for such a long time, patiently waiting in a perfect ambush for the Megalodon, ending with a result like this left a sour taste in the Lieutenant Colonel''s mouth but he was more than capable to avoid being affected by it. When he started his mission, he knew that nothing was set in stone, life was always subject to changes which were why it was called a force of nature. Nature was always unpredictable. With such a mindset entering into the battlefield, he already had contingency plans for the rare situation of the Megalodon still escaping his grasp. Despite the advantage that they secured a few minutes ago, the soldiers of the Black Mamba Division Fleet refrained from entering the inheritance ground not because they are stupid but because they were knowledgeable. As the overlord of Oceania, no other variant human race had more experience about beast inheritances than Atlantis. From the experience of this race, beast inheritances were anything but sweet candy. Most especially for variant humans, beast inheritance grounds were extremely dangerous. This was what brought the notion of deciding to create a special unit of soldiers, the Deep Delvers whose main and only job was to learn how to delve and survive the hostile environment of beast inheritances. After years of fateful training, the first batch of deep delvers was created. Not only were these groups of soldiers able to disguise like beasts in such an impeccable manner to deceive mechanized settings, alongside remaining hidden, they also had a ton of other skills that they could make use of. Deep delvers were the ultimate beast inheritance puzzle crackers. The operation was a huge success, not only did deep delvers have a keen intuition against danger, apart from keeping themselves hidden, they also had this treasure intuition that could enable them to better detect treasure. This way, inside an inheritance ground, they were like a cheat code. At this moment, from one of the most secure warships of the Annihilation Division Fleet came out a group of unusual variant humans numbering 20. These 20 strange variant human races all had hoods that covered their faces, hiding most of the features of their faces. Their eyes and certain parts of their body glowed in red color. As soon as these deep delvers say the signs of it being an inheritance ground, they behaved like crazy cats who just saw fried fish as they moved with a speed that could leave sharks in shame. In just a few seconds, they entered the inheritance ground. The main Atlantian soldiers finally entered the inheritance ground for real under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid. Chapter 248 - The First Test Of The Sea King Inheritance! As soon as the Atlantian army finally dragged themselves inside the inheritance ground, the pitiful mutated beasts that were left behind after all the strong predators entered finally found a breathing space. The past few minutes were torturous to them. When all the powerful predators that came for this inheritance entered the inheritance ground, including the Space Beast who already once suffered a defeat from Captain Omega, they were left leaderless. Due to that, the Atlantian soldiers finally took control of the situation, leading them by the nose while venting their anger on them if they had any. Despite their powerlessness, the allure of the Sea King Inheritance was still there, the d?s?r? still burned like a raging fire in their hearts. In the end, the past few minutes to them felt like they were kids who were being bullied by their elderly classmates who deprived them of eating candy though they had a great d?s?r? for it. It was awfully torturous. Now that the Atlantians left, they were finally free! Without hesitation, the mutated beasts let go and started struggling with all their might to go for what they badly d?s?r?d. Whoosh! Whoosh! One by one, they entered the inheritance and in just a few seconds, this seamount was emptied up. All the commotion died out, giving birth to a rare moment of silence since the inheritance was set up. It was at this moment of silence that another sound intruded. This sound was not from the seamount, not even from this ocean volcano region as a whole, this sound was outside the circular wardrobe cliff. At huge distances away, bright light erupted which was quickly followed by these muffled sounds like those of rumbling and clapping thunder. The intensifying battle of the variant human races was already affecting inside the circular cliff that surrounded this ocean volcano. At this moment, it was like the volcano''s time of calm was numbered. ¡­ As soon as Sebastian swam inside the inheritance entrance, he was quickly devoured by the encompassing darkness that filled everywhere. As a Megalodon who could already be called a pseudo-veteran predator, he knew that his eyes were not his only sense of sight. He activated his electroreceptors instinctively after he lost his sight but he was bound to be disappointed this time. This encompassing darkness didn''t just hinder him from seeing with his eyes, it was some kind of magic that dealt with the dark origin laws, effectively preventing him from seeing with his other senses. Sebastian was effectively blinded. This continued as his body''s mechanism allowed him to keep on swimming downwards without him knowing where he was or where he was going. Sebastian had an advantage in where he was going though. Unlike other predators, he already explored this tunnel once and got to its end. He already had a basic idea of how deep the tunnel was, but as his body continued swimming downwards, his confidence shook as he discovered that his knowledge may not be as full-proof as he thought. This continued for a few more minutes in his estimation, then¡­ Thud! He was no longer in a tunnel that was filled with darkness, the tunnel was not even in sight anymore, what was before him was what seemed like a battle preparation room and he could see another room just opposite him. The most glaring theme of this room was that the light was very bright, serving as a sharp contrast to the darkness that already overwhelmed his senses. The drastic change in his surrounding took Sebastian aback for a second. After he adjusted, he finally started observing his surroundings. Of course, the first thing that he looked out for was anything that could endanger his life, anything that seemed like an enemy. Sebastian was surprised though; he was the only one that was in this bright room. This was when the questions came to him like a tide. How come? How did this place turn like this? Was I wrong, is this not the catacomb that I explored some months ago? Where is everyone? As he asked these questions in his mind, he quickly started giving the room and the one opposite it an overall observation sweep. The room was big enough to contain 10 Megalodons of his size, it was vacant with only him inside it, and the opposite room was even bigger, with a size big enough to contain 50 Megalodons of his size. This was extremely big, considering that he was a 15-meter long Megalodon. Where did they all go? Though the situation seemed kind of spooky, he quickly calmed down as he referenced the lessons from Tonado. According to the old toad, in an inheritance ground, anything could be created and anything could happen. Before Sebastian could do another thing, a bright blue light suddenly lit up which illuminated the sky as a group of words were rapidly written. "Hahahahahahahaha!" "So, you court death?!" "Good, very good!" "No need to guess, I am the will left behind by the strongest Sea King of all, the only wielder of the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill, the ruler of Black Veil, Sea King Carcarot Gorgoneon!" "You getting to meet my writing is the greatest privilege of your life. If you want to see my real form, pass the first test of my master''s inheritance". "The Great Carcarot Gorgoneon''s inheritance does not get to be taken by an insignificant no-body Megalodon. Only the worthy can shoulder the responsibility and pressure that comes with a unique inheritance". "The first test of the inheritance is extremely simple". "Hehehehe!" "Hahahaha!" Hohohoho!" "The first test is 1 on 1 Gladiator battles". "The only inheritor that is worthy of my master''s inheritance has to first prove that he is undisputed among his mates". "You have to be the undisputed best among your mates". "In this first test, hehe, there will the blood spilling". "If you want to opt-out, this is your chance to do it, but¡­" "Hehehehehehehe!" "Opting out means death!" "Hahahahaha!" "To get power, you have to sweat blood for it, or die trying, that is the number one rule that was set by my master, the Great Carcarot Gorgoneon". "I really choose the right location. With interesting predators like a Megalodon, a Space Beast, and a battle maniac like that Omega fool, I am in for a treat, I can''t wait to grab my popcorns for this fierce arena battle". "Bad luck, stupid Megalodon!" "Begin!" "Wait!" Sebastian quickly interjected as the bright blue light in the room started dissipating. "How many opponents am I required to beat to qualify?" Unfortunately for him, he received no reply. The arena battle had already begun. The next moment, a power that he could not resist acted on Sebastian''s body and he was immobilized completely. This power wrapped him up before taking him out of his room to the battle arena. As soon as he arrived, his opponent also arrived. Sebastian''s met his first opponent in the first test of the inheritance. Chapter 249 - Breezing Through The First Test! Though Sebastian''s first meeting with the will of the legendary Sea King of the Black Veil was very little and was only through projected writing, he could not help but have his own opinion of the Sea King already. The little that was revealed by the will already told him much about its thinking faculty and the type of personality that it was. From Tonado, he already knew about wills that were left in inheritances by powerful predators. In essence, they were the consolidation of the said predator''s obsesses during its living days. From the little that was revealed to him, Sebastian concluded that the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King was a crazy, arrogant, carefree, extremely lunatic, and tyrannically dangerous old predator. The only missing puzzle in his conjecture that prevented him from peering into the soul of this Sea King through its will''s writing was the fact that he didn''t know the main species of the Sea King. He didn''t know if the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King was a Shark, a Toad, or a Turtle. And this knowledge meant a lot. Although the will left behind by this Sea King was a possibly crazy one, Sebastian was helpless since he still had to play its game. The writing of the Sea King''s will was extremely clear, it was like he could hear the voice echoing in his head. "Opting out means death!" Though he didn''t have the d?s?r? to opt-out of the challenge after putting in so much effort and planning to enter the inheritance ground, he still put this at the back of his mind as a backup plan if things went south. Unfortunately for him, the Sea King''s will directly destroyed his plan. Now, he had no choice but to follow the will''s set up to the letter, or else he dies which was a fate that he was not ready to face yet, at least not again after he already died once to his shark pet. "The first test is 1 on 1 Gladiator battles!" The will''s words kept on reverberating in his head. Despite the craziness and ???kiness exhibited in the writing, they still conveyed the intended information. Sebastian was not surprised on seeing that this was the format of the inheritance''s main test, this was because Tonado already briefed him about it. According to the old Toad, each inheritance had various setups in which the dead predator''s will could select through the available candidates to get the perfect match to inherit its dead master''s ability. To get the perfect candidate, this was why the dead Sea King''s will arranged such a meticulous magic setup to arouse the d?s?r? of the predators outside. 1 on 1 Gladiator battles were one of the more common setups that were used in the inheritance ground of reputable predators. Through different stages of setups like this one, candidates would be continually eliminated till the survivors get to the stage of empowerment. This stage was where the survivors start benefiting. Through the resources placed inside the inheritance ground, the survivors would be strengthened in various ways where they will be molded to emulate the dead predator''s path. From the molded survivors would the last competitors who are already modeled towards the dead predator''s style emerge who would compete together in the deadliest setup to get the ultimate inheritance. In this Sea King Inheritance, the ultimate inheritance was a unique skill. As all this information went through Sebastian''s head, his eyes quickly focused on the enemy that was already in front of him. He hadn''t forgotten that his first opponent of this first test already arrived. "You have to be the undisputed best among your mates". While he looked at the predator who was now directing a confused but alert gaze at him, clearly still confused about the setup of the inheritance, this writing also flashed past Sebastian''s head. He grinned. This writing could be interpreted in a lot of ways, but on feeling his opponent''s aura, Sebastian confirmed his guess. In this round, all his opponents would be orange tier predators. These were his mates that were referenced by the Sea King''s will. On coming to this conclusion, instantly, Sebastian felt an enormous weight being lifted off his shoulders. His enormous body suddenly felt lighter. For a long time, he already grew accustomed to the fact where he had to cross levels to battle higher-tiered predators to get the most benefits. He didn''t know if other freak orange tier predators were stronger, but from his experiences in all the regions that he had been to, he was the freakiest orange tier predator out there. Sebastian also felt relief for another reason. He didn''t understand the circumstances inside this inheritance ground yet. According to Tonado, almost every inheritance ground was filled with untold danger since the predators who left the inheritance were not saints, they were predators whose fins were already stained with blood. In this Sea King Inheritance, Sebastian dreaded revealing his unique skill. If the will of the Doppelganger and Invisibility King knew that he had a unique skill, he didn''t know the reactions that would follow. Because of this, he deliberately gave himself this handicap of not revealing his unique skill. He believed that this was for the greater good. Growl! Hearing that, Sebastian finally gave attention to his enemy. His opponent in this round was an 8-meter-long orange tier Blue Shark. Perhaps, intimidated by his aura, this smaller shark through a skill made a strange growling sound that messed with Sebastian''s senses. Noticing this, Sebastian immediately deduced that this was an intimidation skill. It was similar to his Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor skill. He felt funny but he didn''t play around, he wanted to use this advantage that he got to the fullest and to eliminate his enemies at the fastest possible speed. Also, he instantly improvised in his plan to sweep through this test, he decided to use this opportunity to level up all his other skills that were still lacking to the maximum in preparation for the other tests that would follow after this. [You have activated skill: Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor!] [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim!] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Dissonance!] The smaller Blue Shark was petrified! It was shocked stiff as the originally 15-meter-long shark suddenly increased in size to a bamboozling 20 meters. Before it could recover from its shock, Sebastian was already rushing towards it like an unstoppable train. While it f?r??b?? tried to calm down and prepare for battle, Sebastian ground his teeth as spooky horrifying sounds invaded the poor Blue Shark''s head. Instantly, the Blue Shark succumbed to its horror. The collision was like that of an elephant against a deer. Squash! Blood splattered everywhere. [You have killed a Blue Shark- Level 16: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 3 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] The Blue Shark died from one move, the disparity in strength was too great that it was unable to at least put up a struggle. As soon as the shark died, its blood was absorbed by a hidden mechanism, leaving the battle arena as clean as it was before the battle. {Round 2: Begin!} After the words appeared, white light flashed as another room appeared opposite the battle arena. What seemed like a white bridge connected the battle arena to the room, and the immobilized next opponent appeared. [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection!] "YOU''RE A DEAD TOAD!" Boom! The speed of the collision and the accompanying sound blast finished the toad completely. It died before it could understand its situation. [You have killed a Mutated Toad- Level 14: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 2 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] The next opponent was brought, and Sebastian''s massacre continued. ¡­ [Round 33: Begin!] [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth!] Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! The battle started, and like usual, Sebastian began his attack barrage. The huge 10-meter-long mutated beast that looked like a Lion that was randomly smashed together with a flying Crane tried to resist, but Sebastian quickly followed his first with 2 quick skills. [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill!] Roar! Boom! This beast''s angry roar was what brought its end, the power that was accumulated by Sebastian''s sonic reflection skill due to its loud voice was so much that its brain was pretty much smashed to bits. This battle ended as fast as it started. ¡­ [Round 68: Begin!] The Gladiator battle continued, and Sebastian no longer had it as easy. The opponents were finally getting stronger, those that survived to the 68th round and were matched with him were all intelligent veterans. Another fact that hindered him was the fact that he wasn''t allowed time to recover after each battle before he was pushed into the next. His endurance was seriously put to the test. He loved this though, this gave him the perfect platform to wantonly use his Rejuvenation skill to try aiming for the ambitious goal of leveling this vital skill to the maximum level. [You have activated skill: Rejuvenation.] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] While a white light enveloped his body that constantly healed his injuries, a raging cyclone was stirred up close to the enemy Turtle. This time, the opponent was an extremely crafty one. Using its intelligence and its meticulous control over the water domain, this turtle managed to hold Sebastian in a single battle for the longest time before its thick shell was finally cracked open by Sebastian''s sharp rows of teeth. His 68th battle was hard-fought. ¡­ [Round 100: Begin!] In this round, Sebastian was pitted against a huge Cobra. Clearly, this orange tier predator got a special opportunity that enabled it to not only grow bigger than normal predators of its tier but also get stronger. This battle was Sebastian''s toughest by far. Of course, overall, the Cobra was nowhere his match but he exerted the most effort in this battle before he finally killed the Cobra with his shredding bite skill. Poison was left in his blood, so after the Cobra died, he immediately used his Rejuvenation skill to start healing his body. Fighting 100 straight battles was not an easy feat. Sebastian got ready for another battle though the effects of exerting himself without rest for so long were already getting to him, to his surprise, no new room appeared opposite the battle arena like usual. "Humph! You qualified!" Chapter 250 - Strength Test; Killer Move: Ancient Gods Blast! "Humph! You qualified!" On seeing the familiar writing whose writer claimed to be the will of the dead Sea King, Sebastian heaved a huge sigh of relief as he finally released control of his body and started relaxing his tense nerves. He did not let down his guard, but he tried to stop the various activities of his body to lower his feeling of fatigue. Though he was stronger than all the predators that he faced, without his Water Transmutation unique skill, he was severely handicapped. Fighting 100 straight weak opponents without his trump card was stress that even he could not take, he felt exhausted mentally. Even if he just needed his battering ram and crushing bite skill to overcome the opponents at times, activating a skill 100 times was still extremely exhausting. He was about to celebrate surviving the first test, but the next writings that appeared in the sky deflated him. "Against all odds, you dared to defy my wishing you bad luck and qualified!" "You''re a really daring fellow, you deserve death!" "Well, congratulations, you passed the first phase of the first test". "I call the first test- weeding the weak white from the strong black". "The first test comprises of 4 phases, the first balanced test which you just finished, the strength test, the defense test, and the endurance test". "Hahahahaha!" "Let the best predator win, my bad luck wishing or your luck". "This phase of the first test is the simplest. All that you need to do is to strike the object as hard as you can in one move". "If you can''t destroy it, you die". "Hehehe!" "Let the strength test begin!" Sebastian released a grimace. Though he had not met the will of the dead Sea King yet, he was already convinced that he hated it with passion through the writings that he saw. "I''ve not even rested yet". No one listened to his complaint though as the battle arena that was filled with a bright light that he was hovering in suddenly changed in such a drastic manner that he did not expect. Everything changed, the background was no longer a bright cherry white but was now a dark gloomy red that glowed from the walls of this strange hall. Sebastian was now inside an extremely long hall. Almost immediately after this change, Sebastian''s system lit up a new notification which attracted his attention immediately. [Current Environment Structure Detected!] [Warning! You are currently inside a large-scale Virtual-Reality Domain!] Below this system notification was a small explanation box of what a virtual-reality domain was by the system. According to the system, a virtual-reality domain was a special domain that was created by a predator with high attainments in the light origin laws. It was a domain world where visionary environments could change at the speed of light, creating new environments that were even birthed through imaginations alone. This was its virtual aspect. It was a fusion of reality and illusion through extreme control of the light magic domain and an outstanding understanding of its origin laws. In other words, all the predators who suffered under Sebastian''s 100 thrashing campaign all died for real. Sebastian already knew this through his system notifications, but still getting to know it in detail left him shuddering in fear a bit. This once again reminded him of what was at stake here, his life. He didn''t know how much time passed already since he entered the inheritance ground, but this time, he already killed 100 Orange tier predators. This was a massive number of deaths though he already killed more. The strange hall was in a rectangular shape, with an extremely long length and short width. The width of the hall was so short that Sebastian could not turn his body around without it colliding against the walls. Activating his electroreceptors, he tried but could not see the end of the hall that was behind him. The hall was just too long, all he could see was the end of the hall that was before his front. At the end of the hall that was before his front, a metallic structure that looked like a signpost and also like a hitting target was erected. As Sebastian observed the only structure that was in the hall, he heard this as he used his electroreceptors to narrow down where the sound came from. At the top of the hall, he saw a wall clock. The time was now ticking, and at the top of the wall clock was placed a poster where a huge 60 was written in bold. Sebastian was at first confused by the use of the clock and the meaning of the 60 in this hall, but what happened next enlightened him. Creak! Creak! To his shock, the width walls of this hall suddenly contracted closer to his body. Confused, he observed for a few seconds, and after 10 seconds, the walls contracted even closer. This was when his eyes widened in shock and enlightenment. "F*ck! You don''t mean this right?" The setting of this phase of the test finally became clear to him. The metallic structure that was before him was the target of this phase of the test that he was supposed to destroy in one move. Failure to do it would result in death from crushing. The way of dying was not hard to figure out as the walls were on the verge of contracting again. The clock served as his timer, and the 60 above it meant 60 seconds. He was meant to finish this round of the test in 60 seconds, failure to do so meant being crushed to death by the slowly contracting walls. From the 2 contractions of the wall already, he deduced that each contraction was at an interval of 10 seconds. This meant that another 4 more contractions and he would officially be a dead Megalodon if he did nothing. He had only 40 seconds more. Sebastian''s imaginary sweat increased. "What kind of messed-up setting is this?" Even as he questioned indignantly, he already moved. He had no time to consider his choices nor to engage in any meticulous thinking, he directly jumped in and did what he could. [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth!] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack!] Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Only clacking sounds reverberated in the long hall as Sebastian''s teeth hit the metallic structure, while new ones rapidly grew in his mouth. The metallic structure was too sturdy for such attacks. While this happened, his spike adaptations which already poked out from the side of his body scraped at the left wall due to his close proximity to it. Sebastian didn''t expect the structure to break from the onset though. He activated his magic teeth skill to test the sturdiness of the metallic structure, while he activated his spike attack skill to test the thickness of the walls, this was the best preparation that he could do. After he did this, he immediately started amassing the strongest power that he could accumulate to prepare his one move to break the structure. 38¡­, 37¡­, 36¡­ The time continued ticking forward which gave him more pressure. He had less than 35 seconds, there was no time for him to engage in a trying game, this one chance was probably his last chance, he directly gave his available all that he could muster. Sebastian could not think through deeply about it because of the limited time, but his imagination went to work and he quickly decided on a combination of skills that he had not tried before. In a situation like this, he knew that none of his skills could break the deadlock alone. He tried to see if he could combine his skills. [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone!] [You have activated skill: Sound Control!] [You have created a sound construct: Loud Speaker!] [You have activated magic gadget''s active skill: Vacuum Space!] [You have activated magic gadget''s active skill: Sound Blast!] [You have activated skill: Sound Reflection!] "F*CK YOU!!!" Instantly, hell broke loose as the implications of activating so many skills in such a dangerous experiment came into effect. Activation of his supersonic speed skill made him accelerate at an astonishing speed, paired with the water cyclone skill, he turned to what seemed like a tornado which was tyrannically sweeping across the long hall. With these 2, he turned into a deadly ball packed with kinetic energy. With his sound control skill, he created a loudspeaker sound construct, and once he ended it with his sound reflection skill, he screamed. Before screaming, through his magic gadget''s active skills, the vacuum was created that amplified all his sound domain skills before the terrifying AOE sound blast skill was released with force. All this amplified Sebastian''s scream to the maximum. Crack! The initial scream alone spread cracks through the walls as the tyrannical potential of the empowered sound reflection skill came into play again. With the loudspeaker construct, Sebastian''s yell was amplified several folds, which indirectly translated to the sound reflection skill''s effect amplifying. Pairing this with the massive amount of kinetic energy that he already amassed due to the speed that he moved at and the cyclone that revolved around him, the sound was amplified even more. The sound quickly exceeded safety levels, continuing on an unstoppable upward trajectory till it got to such decibels that the walls of the hall cracked. 34¡­, 33¡­, 32¡­ At the 32nd second, the sound was finally reflected in its full glory. The combination of so many skills to form such a powerful effect was no longer normal. In this situation where he was under a lot of pressure, Sebastian succeeded in creating his first killer move. "Killer Move: Ancient God''s Blast!" The skill finally collided with the metallic structure. BOOM! Chapter 251 - The Defense Test! BOOM! The mighty impact that followed the skill hitting the metallic structure induced waves that tyrannically spread through the virtual-reality domain, making the very structure of the domain itself shake. Sebastian outdid himself this time, pushed by the pressure of the situation, he was able to burst out with power that he never knew he wielded. He felt his perception of this domain shake, becoming unstable but his unwavering gaze like those of a dagger never left his target. He had less than 20 seconds remaining, his life or death depended on the outcome of the metallic structure after suffering the impact of his attack. As soon as the metallic structure was hit, its sturdy frame shook as it bent backward from the momentous force of the collision. Cracks rapidly spread across its frame as the tangible sound waves blasted at it with full force. Sebastian''s killer move was so powerful that it already exceeded the limits of its theorized base damage. It was no longer limited to just sound waves, the sound waves moved in such a tyrannical manner that they created something more in the form of a tangible hit like that from a sledgehammer. While the metallic structure made creaking sounds amid its struggle to contain the power that was acting on its frame, the shockwaves of the killer move wreaked havoc at the surrounding like a group of mischievous brats. The walls cracked before exploding the next moment, turning to what seemed like chaotic black holes as the atmosphere of the hall became unstable. As the chaotic atmosphere increased, they seemed to turn into a type of fuel to the still rampaging sound blast. The killer move crazily su?k?d on the force of the chaotic environment, increasing its own force in the process. With this, the skill went for its last charge, releasing all the power that it has been accumulating for the past few seconds for one last push. BOOM! The metallic structure held for 2 more seconds, then it tore to pieces. Metallic fragments and dangerous shrapnel flew chaotically from the eye of the destructive storm as the originally sturdy metallic structure saw its end. Tick! The ticking time like that of a time bomb finally stopped. Sebastian hovered in one place, stunned as he looked at the effects of the skill that he used while also reflecting on the awesome moments of the attack. "Hmmm, you actually succeeded this time also?!" Unlike the previous times though, Sebastian did not pay attention to the ramblings of this supposed Sea King''s will, his mind was entirely occupied with the moment when he activated his first-ever killer move. The moment felt surreal, to him it was like a movie. It happened before he could understand what he was doing. Pushed by the pressure of impending death, his mind worked at a super shark speed as he pooled everything to activate so many skills at once. He activated them with the hope of using their effects to amplify the overall attack since the Sea King''s will clearly stated that he needed to destroy the structure in only one move, he never expected to create something else entirely. The moment still felt like a dream that he didn''t want to wake up from. Finally, he seemed to comprehend the importance of monster inheritances that Tonado told him about. Tonado also created his killer move in a similar setting. Already pushed to the edge by the effects of fighting 200 same-tiered opponents without any rest in between, when he suddenly faced such a despairing circumstance, he activated a power that he never knew that he had in him. No way normally stacking those skills would have produced such a powerful effect, it all happened due to a special phenomenon that he still couldn''t understand yet. Perhaps, it was because of his physical qi accumulation after battling 100 opponents straight, or it was because his comprehension of the skills'' origin laws suddenly increased. No matter what the reason for this phenomenon was, Sebastian was satisfied. After so long of relying only on his Water Transmutation skill for hard battles, he finally created another trump card that he could rely on. The power that was displayed by his killer move effectively made it a trump card that he could confidently turn to when the situation turned thorny. He was satisfied, he was excited, he was thrilled! "¡­" For the first time, the Sea King''s will wrote nice things about Sebastian''s performance in the test but this will''s writing froze the next moment on noticing that this Megalodon was actually ignoring it. At this moment, Sebastian was immersed in his own world of joy, he never knew that the will was already writing on the wall again. "YOU TAKE MY GOODWILL FOR STUPIDITY?!!" Sebastian was jolted awake from his daze, he was shocked. For the first time since he entered the inheritance ground, he heard the Sea King will''s voice for the first time and it freaked the hell out of him. This was when he knew it, he actually ignored this crazy will. "Oh shit!" "Hahahahahaha!" "You actually dared to ignore me, so you choose death again?" "Your 5 seconds rest time has been canceled". "¡­" Sebastian was speechless but the will gave no damn about him. "Bad luck, stupid Megalodon". "Suffer the same fate as my main body and doppelgangers suffered". "Begin the Defense test!" Sebastian felt a little depressed at the circumstances, after exerting himself for 2 straight rounds of this first test, he needed to rest to recover his reserves but this crazy will clearly was not ready to entertain him. He had no choice; he could only get himself prepared. Despite the circumstances, the fact that he now had his own killer move served as the perfect consolation that he needed to focus on for the next round. Like it was an illusion, just like the battle arena and all the bright lights in it where he did the first phase of the test disappeared, the long hall and its gloomy aura also disappeared. The next moment, Sebastian recovered to see himself in a familiar region. He was back in the outside expanse water, inside the Green Mist Sea. He was no longer in the ocean volcano region; he was in a region of water that expanded towards every direction vacantly with nothing notable in sight. It was like, he was thrown in the middle of the Ocean. This region felt closer in similarity to the outside expanse of the cave where the Leroy clan lair was located, but Sebastian easily made connections to conclude that this was another region of the Green Mist Sea. Seeing the extremely realistic environment, he was quick to ask his system for confirmation, and the answer made him heave a sigh of relief. He was not teleported outside; he was still inside the virtual-reality domain. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors.] At this moment, all the excitement of creating a killer move already faded away from Sebastian''s mind. Tonado''s warning was still fresh in his brain, he was inside a dangerous inheritance ground, he could not afford to let his guard down. The first thing that he saw appearing was a huge shapeless shadow that looked like an amoeba, such a huge amoeba that could leave hearts beating faster. Sebastian could not estimate the size of this shadow, but in his heart, he knew that if this shadow was real, it was the biggest predator by a terrifyingly huge margin that he had ever met. Judging from the way that this shadow moved in the water, Sebastian guessed that it was probably running away from an enemy. The next moment, the shadow became a bit more realistic as shadowy depictions of blood started appearing. This was when Sebastian noticed that this shapeless predator was suffering from extremely severe injuries. Some of these injuries were so deep that just seeing them made his brain start churning in an unsettling manner. He was creeped out. Despite its severe injuries, the shadow beast continued escaping for its life confidently and unwaveringly that though it was the one who was escaping, it was still able to preserve its intimidating and dignified flair. This was when the beast''s enemies started appearing. Warships after warships started appearing the next moment, hundreds of warships that soon started climbing to over a thousand as Sebastian su?k?d in a deep cold breath in fear. On these warships, Sebastian saw 3 tyrannical emblems on their metallic frames that attracted his attention immediately. One of the emblems had white as the dominant color. Inside the background was a huge humanoid snow creature, this creature spread its huge arms in a gesture that made it seem like it was bigger than the world. What this creature actually held in its huge arms was a huge badge, a badge that depicted a word that quickly gave Sebastian ideas. {Snowmen Race!} The second emblem had black as the dominant background. In this emblem was a humanoid creature that Sebastian was familiar with, an elf. {Dark Elf Race!} The last of the emblems, Sebastian was familiar with it. {Atlantis!} On seeing these emblems, Sebastian''s eyes widened as he seemed to come to a realization. The next moment, his speculations were confirmed. The shadow beast suddenly disappeared, and Sebastian appeared in the previous place where this beast hovered last. Still stunned by the situation, Sebastian was unable to move as the warships surrounded him. The warships aimed all their war weapons at him, Sebastian''s heart practically froze.. He finally figured out the rules of this round, and it was not funny. Chapter 252 - Offense Is My Greatest Defense! Sebastian was depressed and filled with grievance after figuring out the rules of this round of the first test, and noticing how biased they were. Like all the previous rounds that he already passed, he was given little time to think as the action already started, but perhaps because his brain was already acclimatizing to the pressure, he was able to think faster than normal. The first thing that he thought of after seeing the emblems that were on the warships, was the unique system clue that he got. According to his system, these 2 races together with Atlantis were the ones who allied and succeeded in bringing down the notorious Sea King. With this, he easily connected the severely injured shadow to the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King who suffered under the combined might of these 3 variant human races. Now, he had to face this terrifying force. Sebastian didn''t know if there was supposed to be another test for the defense round of the first test, but the arrogant grievant words that were said by the Sea King after he ignored it indicated that this test was a form of revenge. This only made Sebastian more depressed. "I didn''t mean it!" Despite his whining, no one answered him which told him that this challenge was real. To safeguard his life, his mindset instantly became battle-ready. By actively manipulating his electroreceptors, Sebastian was able to blast everywhere with his electromagnetic senses as he was able to look in all directions to observe all his enemies at the same time. As he looked, he immediately noticed a difference in these warships compared to the ones that he was already exposed to. One fact about these warships apart from their despairing number was the fact that every one of them looked more technologically advanced than all those that Sebastian had seen in the 2 Atlantian Division Fleets that he''d seen. During his days in captivity in the Atlantian military base, during his escape, apart from gleaning details about the layout of the military base, he was also able to glean information that was originally hidden behind virtual locks. One of this information was about Atlantian military units. Seeing this extremely huge Atlantian fleet that completely dwarfed the combined force of the 2 Division Fleets that he already saw, a frightening conjecture could not help but emerge in his head. "Is this an Atlantian Mega Fleet?!" Almost immediately after he asked this, the allied fleet attacked. [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] As soon as the allied fleet attacked, Sebastian reacted instinctively as he erected a magic shield around himself to protect himself. The magic shield only lasted for a second before it popped. The power of the warships'' bombardment was not weakened that much after breaching the magic shield, they continued unimpeded towards Sebastian''s enormous body, he was too big a target to miss. As soon as he felt the impact of being hit which was quickly followed by explosions, Sebastian felt his skin fall apart as blood spilled out of his body while his brain was bombarded by pain sensations. It was at this moment that he knew how defensively vulnerable he was without his Water Transmutation unique skill. His magic shield was his only defense measure and was too inadequate for intense battles. Of course, he had skin adaptations to increase his body defense, but the defensive potential of his body could only increase so much. Adaptations like hard dense skin were to increase his skin''s hardness and tightness which could prevent most minor injuries, but against deadly attacks like this, it was proving inadequate. His mana conductor coating was unrelated to defense, his damage reflection skin coating which mostly relied heavily on luck was not a full-defensive measure, his camouflage organ was also unrelated. Removing all these from the equation, Sebastian for the first time in his life in Oceania realized how defensively deficient he was. A redemption point that he found and was relieved by was that the lethality of the warships'' attack seemed to have been toned down a lot to his level, equaling the attack from orange tier predators. This was the only reason why he had a chance to resist in the first place. At least, the Sea King hadn''t descended into full depravity yet. With this, though his injuries kept on piling on and his health points decreased steadily, he was able to stabilize himself and start drafting some plans. Though he was not being timed like in the previous round, in a sense, he was still being timed since his health points kept decreasing. This increased the pressure that he felt to make something happen. The success in creating his first killer move under pressure already left him in a high. At this moment of truth, Sebastian decided to try again against all odds to see if he could create a defensive killer move. He acted on the plan immediately. [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] [You have created a sound construct: Sound Barrier.] Sebastian activated these 3 skills, then he got stuck. He thought and thought, but he could not get another active defensive skill to use in this situation. He felt like laughing bitterly, his defense flaws were too much and at this moment where they mattered most, the flaws were showing glaringly. He had too few defensive skills. To add to his pain, when he activated these 3 skills, only their base defensive prowess was shown. There was no qualitative change like he expected. Compared to the previous time when he combined skills, this was too boring. And the effects showed immediately. Boom! Boom! Boom! His defenses were easily breached again, his health points started draining again as the pressure of death started acting against his mind again. Sebastian thought and thought but could not arrive at any counterattack, he kept on activating defense skills but they kept on being easily breached, he was out of options as his mind started straying towards his unique skill again. This was when Sebastian thought of the threat of the Sea King''s will again. Unwillingly, he could only give up on this course of action. Then, left with no choice, he decided to try a dangerous gamble. "Would I really die here if the warships keep bombarding me? What if the point of this round was not to defend in the first place, but to do something else?" As he thought of this, Sebastian suddenly decided on a crazy idea of letting his health points drop as low as possible and seeing the reaction. He indeed acted on it, he left his defenses and directly suffered the attacks. His health points drained like water, in just 4 seconds, his health crossed the extremely dangerous territory as his system issued a warning. While Sebastian gritted his teeth, already convinced that his course of action was an extremely stupid one, a change was effected. All the warships suddenly stopped, then a loud masculine voice was projected to him. "Surrender!" "Carcarot Gorgoneon, you have no other options, it is best if you surrender". "Wait, I can?" Sebastian was ecstatic as he felt happy, thinking that his gamble worked but his hopes were ruthlessly crushed the next moment. "Hahahahahaha!" "In your f*cking dreams!" To Sebastian''s astonishment, after the Sea King will''s writing appeared again, the scene before him was fast-forwarded. In just an instant, the part where he had the choice of surrendering was skipped. Sebastian was stunned for a moment, then he turned livid. "That''s cheating, bastard!" It was at this moment that his wildest nature was really unleashed. Facing death, then finally using wits to get an escape path, then suffering from sabotage the next moment could induce anger in any man or beast. Sebastian''s fear of a second death increased his anger against this Sea King''s will as he reflected it into his current enemies who were the warships. "If you want me to die so much, I''ll spite you and survive!" It was at this moment that Sebastian understood something. He was not a defense-oriented predator from the onset, offense was his forte. To be in his domain, he needed to attack. With this, Sebastian remembered a saying- offense is the strongest defense. Instantly after Sebastian arrived at this, he acted on it. [You have activated skill: Magic Teeth!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill!] [You have activated skill: Rejuvenation!] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone!] [You have activated skill: Spike Attack!] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram!] [You have activated skill¡­] [You have activated skill¡­] As the healing power of rejuvenation spread through Sebastian''s body, his eyes gleamed sharply as he reverted back to the offense maniac that he was. In his mind, skills kept getting activated as he rushed at the warships the next moment. Long-ranged skills, short-ranged, magic skills, body skills, he used them all, turning his deadly offense into his greatest defense. The battle became a long and intense one. For minutes, Sebastian was engaged in a tug of war with the warships, defending with his life on the line by attacking as fiercely as he could. He sustained severe injuries, but he made sure to deal more damage to the warships as they kept falling like dead leaves in autumn. This way, he continued till he was exhausted but he never stopped. When he thought that it would never end, a change finally happened. Everything suddenly disappeared, all the warships evaporated away as the familiar bright light and the Sea King will''s writing appeared again. "Humph! You qualified, again!" Sebastian grinned with his bloody mouth, he realized one of the battle styles that would probably remain with him in the future. "Offense is my greatest defense!" Chapter 253 - The Endurance Test; Back In The Catacombs! "You are actually something, daring to survive when I already gave my verdict of a death sentence against you". "Congratulations! Count yourself lucky because it''s not every day that predators get to escape after I declare the death verdict on them". Though the writings that appeared still projected the ???ky nature of the Sea King''s will, Sebastian did not complain, rather he was extremely satisfied since he gained much from this round once again. The more he got in touch with the writings of this Sea King''s will, the more he felt a sense of craziness from it that made him keep restraining his urges. Putting that aside, he focused on the battle that he just concluded. The defense test that he just passed revealed to him the difficulty of creating killer moves, it was not something that could be created when d?s?r?d. He also understood more about the criteria to create killer moves. When he tried the combination of skills, he quickly noticed the deficiency in the number of complementary skills that he had. For some reason, he felt that this deficiency could also be seen as part of his physical and magic qi deficiency. He felt that if he took care of this deficiency, he would have taken care of a qi deficiency also. From the first test of this Sea King Inheritance alone, he already had a lot of gains though there was one round remaining till he officially finished the test. Apart from the killer move that he gained from the strength test, he felt that realizing his battle style was much more of an achievement. Overall, Sebastian was extremely satisfied with the gains of the inheritance. Indeed, Tonado was right, monster inheritances were treasure troves to predators who were competent enough to take advantage of them. If these were the gains of the first test, Sebastian could not help but feel anticipation for the subsequent rounds that would follow after this. Also, the fact that the crazy will didn''t declare the start of the next round of the first test immediately meant that it finally acknowledged his power. Compared to the power that the Doppelganger and Invisibility King wielded at his peak, Sebastian''s power was too puny but for a predator of his tier, his current strength was commendable. As Sebastian thought process strayed towards this direction, he could not help but suddenly recall the fact that his brothers from Old Mak''s shark clan were also engaged in this first test. He didn''t know if the inheritance''s first test was the same for each of the predators, but if it was the same, he could not help but worry about them. None of his brothers were freak sharks like him, not even the powerful Old Mak. They may possess different advantages of their own that could give them an edge in fierce battles, but none was as OP as Sebastian''s advantage. Old Mak and the Elders of the clan may be purple tier predators, but if the test setting remained the same and they had to face purple tier predators also, the situation would easily turn upside down. Thinking of the fact that Verni and Tosh also had to battle 100 Orange tier predators consecutively, Sebastian felt his heart constricting on their behalf. In the end, he simply discarded all these distractions from his mind. If it was possible, he would have loved it better if the first test was a cooperative one where he could battle alongside his brothers. That way, the situation would feel more under his control like he loved. Though Sebastian wanted it this way, he already lived long enough in this world and experienced his fair share of hardships to know that life was not so easygoing and straightforward. It was like the beautiful game of football. The constant and random passing movement of the ball represents that the game is in play, once the ball stops, it indicates that the football match already ended or was temporarily stopped. As an anatomist who worked with advanced medical machines in his previous world, Sebastian also remembered that the random lines that were indicated in medical imaging machines of patients were what indicated life. Life becomes dead once it is no longer random. To help his brothers, he needed to help himself first. Also, he was worried about his brothers but he also believed in them. as Great White Sharks, they were formidable in their own rights, it was the reason why they were his brothers in the first place. His brothers were sharks, not pigs or rats or sloths. As his spirit suddenly turned extremely motivated, he finally opened his mouth to speak as his eyes now glowed with the light of resolution. "Sea King''s will¡­" "Call me the legendary Carcarot Gorgoneon!" The Sea King''s will was quick to interject, cutting his speech short. "¡­" Sebastian was left speechless, his impression of the Sea King''s will was constantly changing the more he interacted with it. "Umm, legendary Carcarot Gorgoneon¡­" "Good kid!" Sebastian ignored the kid part. "I''m ready to take the inheritance now". The Sea King''s will went incognito for a few seconds before the familiar line of writing appeared again. "In your mind, you think I didn''t announce the start of the next round immediately because I finally acknowledged your power, right?" "¡­" "Hahahahahahahaha!" "¡­" "Na?ve kid, na?ve Megalodon!" "I still hate your nerves for defying my bad luck wishing, I still hate you for surviving for so long and qualifying to this stage, I still wish you to die like a fish". "Hehehe!" "I am not foolish, neither am I crazy, perhaps I am but I did not acknowledge your power. In my prime, your current strength is so puny that I can erase you out of existence with a single sneeze". "I gave you time to recover because it is a core rule of this round that was set by my body which I, the will cannot disobey". "Well, I don''t need to since your death is only a matter of time". "The next round is the first real test. The endurance test is the climax, most important, and most dangerous round of the first test". "The endurance test is the last test to fulfill the motive of weeding out the unqualified from the qualified. The motive of the first test was to evaluate your strength, but mostly your foundation as a predator". "It is after the endurance test that the survivors can finally be called candidates. This is when you''ll finally start benefiting tangibly, so a bit of advice for you, give your absolute best or you won''t live to regret it". "Remember, this phase of the first test is the hardest". "To win, all that you need to do is to survive". "Do you know what defines a real predator?" "A real predator is not defined by how strong he is, not by how hard he can bite, not by how forcefully it can hit others with its body, and definitely not by how many enemy predators that it has killed". "There are predators who killed over 10,000 beasts in their lifetime, but were only able to live for a month before they died". "What defines a real predator is its survival skill" "Against odds that are extremely against you, against tribulations that are ready to strike and end your life, a real predator is defined by how it can survive through these circumstances where the odds of survival are practically zero". "This is the way to the peak, survival!" "The race of Oceania is a race of survival for only the fittest!" "Predators are Survivors!" "Let the endurance test begin!" This time, there was a massive change that made Sebastian even more alert as he quickly swallowed whatever was in his mind. The setting for this round changed! Crack! The world around him didn''t just change again, the world revealed expansive cracks that rapidly spread everywhere this time as this world shattered the next moment into pieces which were quickly followed by a system notification. [Host has escaped the effects of the Virtual-Reality Domain!] When Sebastian''s shaky perspective focused, the wide expanse of water where he fought the defensive battle with the warships was gone. He was now inside a familiar environment. He was back in the catacombs! Chapter 254 - Awakening Of The Catacomb Disaster! On entering this familiar and gloomily dangerous region where most of the area was filled with darkness, Sebastian was left shocked. "The Catacombs?!" His mind was thrown into chaos as he experienced mixed emotions. Outside the inheritance ground when the battle to secure the entrance was still ongoing when he saw the deadly predator called the Speed Demon become the first to enter the inheritance ground, he confirmed the location of the entrance. The Sea King Inheritance was unexpectedly planted in a region of this seamount where he originally half-explored once. Immediately as he knew this, he was happy, thinking that he had some form of information advantage over others. But when he finally entered the inheritance ground, his advantage hopes were ruthlessly crushed. When his system indicated that he was trapped inside a Virtual-Reality domain, optimism returned, but he tried to suppress it to avoid being disappointed. Now, he could finally feel the joy of having a unique advantage over others. The huge network of underground tunnels and passages that were built in the style of humans and the piles of human skeletons that were piled on top of each other could not be easily faked. This was the catacomb. Not only that, he appeared at the exact same place where he once did during his first time when he explored this spooky catacomb. The only difference was that he entered through a different tunnel entrance that the Sea King''s will already modified into the entrance of the inheritance. Like before, from his position of this underground water hall that he was, 5 tunnels extended into different directions. Sebastian didn''t pay attention to these though; his attention was more on the memories that he gained from his previous visit here which were the unique advantage that he now had over the others. At this moment, he had already become serious again. He knew that as the last round of the first test of this inheritance, it would probably be the hardest also. His brain went into overdrive as he started rapidly recalling. If he remembered correctly, his system gave him a system clue that this seamount as a whole was once a large experimental ground of crazy Atlantian Mage Professors during his last visit. This place was the heart of the experiment ground, and due to the experiment failing, an abomination was created here, forming a terribly dangerous and extremely desirable substance. During his last visit, the things that gave him the most impression of this place were the skeletons that filled everywhere which one of them later turned to a skeleton snake, the Poison Worms, and of course the Abomination Hounds! The Abomination Hounds were an encounter that Sebastian would probably rate among the most bizarre of encounters since reincarnating into this world. The strange monster that was formed from a mixture between a delicate Atlantian lady and a mutated Hound was so bizarre that he had nothing to describe it with. He simply referred to it as an anomaly. Another horrifying fact was that the strength of this monster was the real deal. Their impeccable control over earth magic, their almost instantaneous movement speed skill, and their undead magic made them terrifying opponents. Putting this all together formed the most bizarrely powerful monster ever. Just thinking back on the encounter now left Sebastian shuddering in fear. But, why was this the location of the endurance test? Almost immediately after Sebastian thought of this, his eyes opened as wide as they could, forming what seemed like giant glowing lanterns as a frightening possibility emerged in his mind. Sebastian was shocked. "Don''t tell me¡­" While he still spoke, the familiar writing appeared before him once again. "Hahahahaha!" "The endurance test is endless! The same way life challenges are endless!" "You know how inside here is, the only exception to this rule is if you manage to annihilate all the dangers that are inside which you know is impossible". "Let the race¡­" While the writing was still materializing, somewhere deep and dark inside the catacomb, a faint white glowing light that seemed like a spirit manipulated something as a green tonic was dropped inside a pure white orb. As soon as the green tonic was dropped on it, the pure white orb vibrated like it was resisting the green invasion before it became tainted the next moment. The white orb no longer resisted, the green invasion succeeded, the orb was no longer white, it was now a gloomy green color. It became evil, then this evil spread everywhere, through the whole catacombs, affecting the warped ecosystem that already adapted here. The Poison Worms, the experiment skeletons, and the Abomination Hounds were all tainted. Their eyes all turned an evil green color. The next moment, all these monsters that resided inside the catacomb went berserk. It was like, the catacomb finally woke up from a deep slumber. "Let the race of survivors begin!" When the writing finally finished materializing, the catacomb also finished waking up from its slumber, then its horrors were unleashed. ROAR!!! A deep guttural roar reverberated through the catacomb the next moment. "Let the race of survivors begin!" "Let the race of survivors begin!" This sentence kept on echoing in Sebastian''s mind, followed by the deep guttural roar, then he finally came to a realization. The endurance test already started. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors!] As soon as his electromagnetic sense blasted out, from the 5 tunnels, Sebastian detected a despairing number of terrifying monsters emerging. Creak! Creak! Crack! While this was still happening, Sebastian heard spooky creaking sounds. Once he turned his head, he saw yellow flickering lights from the skulls of the skeletons that were piled up in this hall. All the skeletons were awakening! The Catacomb Disaster was finally awoken! "Oh boy!" Chapter 255 - The 2nd Test- The Quest Of Benefiting In Danger! Though Sebastian was not able to explore the full catacomb during his previous visit, the only hall where he entered and battled before escaping was enough of a reference for him to guess the overall layout of the huge mausoleum. In his opinion, this catacomb''s structure was a huge network of underground tunnels and passages that led to other halls like the one he was in currently. And just like this hall, he guessed that the rest were filled with piles of skeletons. The reason for this was what he didn''t know. All he knew was that the dangerous experiment that was done by the Atlantian Professors was probably related to skeletons in some way or the other. Probably, the owners of the skeletons were test subjects who exhausted their living time and were discarded, or the skeletons may be a crucial ingredient that they needed to make their experiments a success. Whichever of these theories was true, Sebastian was not sure. Now, Sebastian felt that the whole catacomb was awake. Not just in the hall that he was in, in possibly all the dozens or hundreds of halls that made up this catacomb, the skeletons, and monsters who formed its ecosystem were stimulated by a strange phenomenon, causing them to go berserk. Crii! Crii! Crii! The skeletons made strange grinding sounds as they hurried up while struggling to stabilize their center of gravity with their feeble bone legs. While doing this, the yellow flickering light that took the place of their eyes looked on Sebastian hungrily. Sebastian felt his heart freezing under the glare of this yellow terror. In just a few seconds after the last writing of the Sea King''s will appeared, he was already surrounded from all sides. Waa! Bwa! Kwa! The Poison Worms made strange sounds like those of wailing babies as they slithered into the hall through its walls like snakes, while the terrifying Abomination Hounds simply thundered into the hall silently. Sebastian felt like he was in a zombie apocalypse, and he was trapped! Abomination Hounds filled his front, blocking the entrance to the other 5 tunnels which led to other places. Poison Worms filled the walls of the hall, while the awakened skeletons filled every other part of the hall. Despite all these, Sebastian still didn''t move yet as the last sentence that was written by the Sea King''s will occupied his mind. "The endurance test is endless!" "Let the race of survivors begin!" Sebastian referenced the first before going to the second sentence. The endurance test was endless, this term seemed vague and presented little clues. He could not infer much from it. As for the second sentence, he could not help but guess if the trick to qualify through this round was to defend and survive for as long as possible. This test was called the endurance test. Perhaps, if he persisted and survived for as long as possible, at some point, the test would just end which meant that he qualified. Such a simple but inconclusive theory. Though Sebastian''s thoughts moved at the speed of light, the only problem was that he could not be sure of the theories which stumped him. In the end, the first poison worm threw a purple poison mist at him. The mutated beasts also rushed towards him in intervals of less than a second, and now, Sebastian had to react. [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] Sebastian decided on the only theory that seemed more viable to him, he decided that the trick to qualify through this round was to survive as long as possible. Unfortunately, his defense strategy was to go on the offense. Well, to defend against these beasts, he would simply batter them. [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill!] Sebastian''s magic shield activated before the poison mist could spray on him, succeeding in blocking the damage as the water stirred to form the sonic attack which drilled towards the Poison Worm. Bam! Bam! Bam! The first sonic drill was quickly followed by the 2nd, then the last. The Poison Worm stood no chance, it died horrifyingly as its brain was finely punctured through. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram.] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone.] Sebastian activated 3 skills in quick succession. Once he arrived there, his water cyclone came into effect. As the fierce cyclone that seemed capable of developing into a tsunami raged, keeping the predators at bay, Sebastian finally got some much-needed time to settle down for this possibly long battle. With his back against the wall now, he didn''t have to worry about ambushes, all his enemies were now at his front where he could focus on them. While the terrifying beasts surged towards him, he bombarded them. If when he was still a newbie orange tier Megalodon, he was able to fight and survive an ?ssault from the Abomination Hounds, it could only be easier now. As the experienced predator that he now was, he simply shredded the beasts apart. A bonus to him was that none of his opponents were purple tier predators which would have been troublesome. Sebastian''s claim was not arrogant, it was a fact. Of all the enemies that he''s faced, he was the undisputed champion of his tier. Sebastian wreaked havoc to defend himself. Boom! Boom! Boom! [You have gained 8 Skill points and 8 Adaptation points.] [You have killed an Abomination Hound- Level 18: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 12 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] [You have killed¡­] [You have killed¡­] ¡­ 6 hours later, the battle was still ongoing. Blood already dyed every part of this hall; the water was now thick and viscous as the blood mixed up with it more. The strong smell of blood was so strong that it pervaded the hall in a choking manner. Apart from the blood, flesh, the pieces and broken parts of skeletons that filled every corner of the hall also showed the intensity of the battle. He had no injuries in his body, he was the one who kept on killing the predators with his overpowering might but he was not a machine. After keeping it up for so long, he was already getting tired. Only his high mana recovery speed and his magic gadget helped him to forget the problem of running out of mana while embroiled in battle. The only problem of doubt that now plagued Sebastian was that despite the number of beasts that died to him, there was no change. The beasts kept on surging out like they were endless, it made him feel a sense of frustration. He decided to wait an hour more which quickly elapsed. By this time, even more blood, flesh, and bones already filled everywhere. This was when Sebastian finally gave attention to the fact that he may have interpreted the working of this round wrong. What if to qualify didn''t mean that he should just defend and survive? While still battling, Sebastian started thinking hard. It took him only 2 minutes before he narrowed down on some of the Sea King will''s writings. "It is after the endurance test that the survivors can finally be called candidates. This is when you''ll finally start benefiting tangibly, so a bit of advice for you, give your absolute best or you won''t live to regret it". It is after the endurance test that survivors would start benefiting tangibly. This was precisely what Sebastian narrowed down on. A lot of questions filled his mind the next moment. He quickly referenced the Sea King will''s ramblings on what defined a real predator again. He thought hard, trying to uncover all the mysteries that were hidden in the Sea King will''s ramblings. Amid his thinking, he discovered clues here and there which he matched together to form better clues. It took him another 2 minutes before his eyes shone comprehendingly. "Real predators are survivors!" "Real survivors are predators who get benefits in dangerous situations!" He finally understood, he already finished the first test. The endurance test was the second test, and it was actually testing his intelligence and how he could improvise in situations. By lying to him, the will was testing his intelligence. By rambling so much, the Sea King''s will was trying to know if he could think beyond the normal. He already understood everything, this second test was actually on how he could survive the attack of so many creatures while benefiting from it. This catacomb was the inheritance ground, it was already filled with the treasures and everything left behind by the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King, it was left for the candidates to fight for the benefits. After coming to this conclusion, Sebastian also concluded that this hall had at least one benefit that was arranged by the Sea King''s will. Instantly, he changed his battle strategy. He no longer just focused on surviving, he now focused on surviving while searching for opportunities to benefit. Sebastian exploded into action immediately. Chapter 256 - Treasure Discovered! Sebastian finally had a basic idea of the set-up of the Doppelganger and Invisibility King''s monster inheritance. Due to his one month of captivity inside the military base of the Atlantian Crimson Fleet, through the time that he spent with Tonado, he already learned a lot of basic knowledge about Oceania, mostly about monster inheritances. The set-up of monster inheritances was different from one mutated beast to the other, but they generally had a template that they followed. In most inheritance grounds, the entrance to the inheritance ground was visible and not hidden just like in the Sea King''s inheritance, but there were those rare inheritance grounds that hide the entrance. To get access inside, special requirements had to be met. As soon as the predators get access inside the inheritance ground, the candidate screening process to get the ideal inheritor starts. This process was also different in different monster inheritances. The template though was mostly divided into the first inheritance test, the second inheritance test, and the third inheritance test. The first test was mostly focused on eliminating those predators that were not qualified to become candidates for the ultimate inheritance. It was designed to also know the foundation of the survivors. After the first test, the number of candidates decrease by a lot which not only means that the test could now be more thorough, but also meant that only the best of the best qualified to this round. The second test was focused on molding the inheritor. Through different settings of either adding benefits in misery, adding benefits after certain conditions were fulfilled, voluntarily adding benefits, and a lot of other settings, the will tries to mold the inheritor closer to the dead monster who created the inheritance. This was to enable compatibility and to make sure that the inheritor becomes as great as the dead monster if not greater while reflecting the essence of the dead monster. In most inheritance grounds, the second test was the last since the dead monster''s will would have found the perfect candidate already. Then, the ultimate price would be given to this candidate. Sebastian already understood the set-up of the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King''s inheritance ground, even if not fully. The first test that he already passed through was straightforward. Apart from eliminating the unqualified, it also served as the perfect platform to push the survivors to the limit and to reveal how deep their foundations were. In most cases that were not like Sebastian''s, those predators were forced to reveal all their trump cards to qualify, which gives the will all the information that it needs to understand every candidate that survived. The second test which the Sea King''s will tried to scam him about by calling it the endurance test was to build the candidates into the dead Sea King''s ideal form and definition of a predator. While molding them into the ideal form of a predator, the Sea King''s will would access them from their intelligence to their brute strength, every single advantage that they had while trying to change them if need be. To change them was the reason why there were benefits. Sebastian guessed that benefits were prepared in every single hall of this catacomb if the Sea King''s will was able to turn it all into the inheritance ground. Also, he guessed that the benefits in the deeper halls would increase in quality marginally with the increase in strength of hostile predators. He guessed that there may be purple tier Abomination Hounds here. Sebastian didn''t care too much about this at the moment though, the benefits in this hall were the reason why he exploded into action. Activating his movement skills, he rushed towards the extreme end of this hall that led to the other tunnels which were probably passages to the other halls. Sebastian still remembered his last visit here. In his memories, at the end of the hall where it branched into other tunnels sat a blueish white box. If he was not wrong, if that blueish white box was a treasure, the Sea King''s will probably already worked on it and turned it into the reward for this hall. Sebastian bulldozed his way through the mutated beasts, spamming them with skills endlessly along the way till he got to the end of the hall. On getting there, he was surprised, there was no blueish white box. He was about to denounce his theory, but he stopped the next moment. If the Sea King''s will already turned the box into the benefit of this round, then it had no obligation to keep it here, it could be anywhere in the hall. As soon as Sebastian thought of this, he turned around. With his enormous body, he started bulldozing through the mutated beasts and skeletons again as he looked for where this blueish white box was hidden. It took him 15 minutes due to the fierce retaliation and hindrance from the mutated beasts before he finally found the blueish-white box. This treasure was hidden in the middle of the hall which had the most cluster of beasts. As soon as Sebastian got close enough to the white box which constantly emanated cold out, his system lit up a notification. [Treasure Discovered: Elemental Tessaract!] [Description: This is a rare natural material that is nurtured for a century in an extremely cold region, and is formed from the temporary combination of extreme cold and an extremely hot region.] Seeing this description, Sebastian grinned. Just the name alone was able to take him over the moon, but what made him happiest was the fact that his deduced theory of how the inheritance ground worked was correct. There was nothing more worth being proud of than the results of your hard work, it means a million even if you killed yourself to achieve it. He officially got his first gain from this inheritance ground, a natural material that served as a core material in crafting advanced magic weapons and gadgets. Sebastian was over the moon with joy. Taking advantage of his sudden inactivity, a skeleton tried to bolt in and get some damage into his enormous body but from his sides suddenly jutted out a sharp spike that penetrated and wreaked the fragile skeleton. With this first success, Sebastian was motivated to do more. He didn''t know the plans of the Sea King''s will, he didn''t know the ideal inheritor that the will wanted, but since benefits were lying so helplessly before him, he would be a fool not to take them. Sebastian quickly went on the move again, bulldozing and killing his way through until he left this first hall where he found himself in the catacomb. After swimming through a long tunnel, he arrived in another hall. Some of the predators that battled intensely for the opportunity to enter the inheritance ground were now here, and while battling the berserk natives, they were already battling between themselves for the reward of this hall. Seeing the shiny reward, Sebastian did not hesitate to jump into the fray. He was quickly engulfed and embroiled in the battle. Chapter 257 - Atlantian Deep Delvers! The Atlantian army was steadily progressing through the inheritance ground, the tentacles of this overlord race slowly slithered deeper. Their progress could only be referred to as steady and not rapid due to the natural suppression that was prevalent in every monster inheritance against variant humans, mostly Atlantians. The fact that they were progressing was a significant feat in itself. Most monster inheritances were created with other mutated beasts in mind to become the inheritors, variant humans were not welcome since the inheritance belonged to a deceased beast in the first place. It was like when a predator eagle hunts to feed her young ones. This was food that was exclusive to her children, once this mother eagle finds an intruder trying to encroach and feast on the food, she retaliates furiously. This was the situation in most monster inheritance grounds. Due to this, most monster inheritances were extremely lethal towards variant humans. The will left by the dead predators of most inheritances mobilize all the means available to them to eliminate variant humans once they appeared. This was the reason why the Atlantian army created the special unit of soldiers referred to as deep delvers whose only purpose of training was how to become frighteningly proficient at navigating monster inheritances. This special unit of soldiers was not just good at navigating; their instincts were ground through rigorous training to react to all the dangers that may appear in an inheritance ground. Also, they had specialized weapons and gadgets that were created by prominent Atlantian Professors who devoted most of their lives to deducing how to hijack monster inheritances from the wills guarding them. This was an ambitious profession, but the fact that the profession stayed despite the competition from other professions showed that it was not baseless. Deep Delvers were extremist Atlantians who not only abandoned family and emotions to train harder than other soldiers but had their bodies tempered with just to get more Intune with their future missions. Each Deep Delver was unique, and they all had codenames starting with D.D for Deep Delver. The deep delvers that were mobilized by Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid were one of the reasons why his army was able to maintain their momentum in this inheritance ground despite it belonging to a Sea King. Though they had deep delvers, this was a Sea King inheritance whose power and hidden reserves against hostiles could not be underestimated. Their fortune was that surprisingly, the inheritance ground did not actively go against them like in other inheritance grounds. Unlike other monster inheritances, this Sea King Inheritance proved suspiciously generous. It did not discriminate between mutated beasts and variant humans, all were welcome, its inheritance was free for all. The Atlantians were only confused a little by this before they continued their mission. This was because, in the history of Atlantis, the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King had the weirdest and most unpredictable personalities. Instead of feeling worried, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was ready to take advantage of this opportunity that appeared. Ecstatic, he enthusiastically prompted his soldiers to clear all the tests at the fastest possible speed from the first day through a one-way communication device that he had as the overall leader of this operation. Yes, it was already a day and a half since the entrance to the inheritance ground was opened to the outside world. A day and a half ago, as soon as the Atlantian army entered the inheritance ground, just like the mutated beasts, they were all separated from each other. Despite all their methods to counter measures like this, not even the deep delvers were able to stop this. This was a Sea King Inheritance Afterall. Though they were unable to stop the separation, the deep delvers did not panic as they reacted impeccably as was drilled into their brain through training. They reacted in an eerie manner like robots. They were all separated, but each of the soldiers that made up this deep delver''s unit did the same thing. They opened their exploration bag and brought out a strange device that looked like a slab of cow meat. D.D 029 did the same as his other unit soldiers. On the middle of this slab of cow meat that was brought out by D.D 029 glowed an ominous red light that gave ticking time bomb vibes, a mechanical device was attached to the middle of the meat. Without thinking twice, D.D 029 pricked his left thumb finger with a needle before dripping his blood on the slab of meat. After this, he raised the meat and slapped it at his ?h?st. Vroom! While all these happened, the Sea King will''s writing already started appearing and the first balanced test was about to begin but this Atlantian Deep Delver didn''t give a damn about the damned will. D.D 029 grabbed his head in pain for 5 seconds before it subsided, when he raised his head again, his eyes were now glowing in an ominous red color. This soldier didn''t just change in his eye, his whole body changed. Half of this soldier''s body was now a spooky mix of mechanical parts and flesh. The visible bolts and nuts, the energy flowing within, the whirring sound of mechanism, and others revealed that this soldier was no ordinary soldier. Atlantian Deep Delvers were not normal, they were cyborgs! As soon as the transformation of D.D 029 was complete, he now looked like the alien Transformer. His eyes scanned the battle arena where he was now, including the mutated beast that was now before him. In his head, his powerful processors worked at high speed as they rapidly broke all the data down, including the fact that this was a virtual-reality domain. The magic level that was required to create a virtual-reality domain like this was extremely high, but this was Atlantis, their Deep Delvers received the best of cyborg technology that this overlord race had to offer. As soon as D.D 029''s processor completed the data breakdown, his overheating brain cooled down then the cyborg soldier finally attacked. Squelch! The helpless Crab stood no chance, it died instantly. Originally, D.D 029 had the means to directly break through the measures set up in most monster inheritances'' first test, but from its data breakdown, it already deduced that breaking this domain down was beyond its ability. This was why it attacked and killed the enemy mutated beast in the conventional way that was set up by the Sea King''s will. Deep Delvers were the nemesis of monster inheritances, but they also had limits. This Sea King Inheritance was a summit that they could not dance their way through with such ease. They had to do it the hard way, which they did. D.D 029 went into action, rapidly clearing the rounds of the balanced test with the advantages that were granted by his unique state. D.D 029 was not the only pioneer; the other Deep Delvers did the same thing as they rapidly started climbing the ladder of the first test. It took them about 12 hours of non-stop fighting before they finished this round. The subsequent rounds that followed were even easier for them, the strength test that pushed Sebastian to the edge was child''s play to them. As soon as the Deep Delvers officially stepped foot inside the catacomb, their cyborg connection was restored. Instantly, all the cyborgs knew where the other was in this huge catacomb. With this, they quickly got an estimate of how big this inheritance domain was while also trying to draw a map of the catacomb. While this happened, they already moved. The reaction that was drilled into their brains to react in a situation like this was to regroup. In 10 minutes, they bulldozed through multiple halls of the catacomb, annihilating every obstacle in their way before they finally regrouped. As soon as the 20 of them gathered again, their grouped virtual connection network increased. They were finally able to contact the Lieutenant Colonel. Lieutenant Colonel understood the gist of the situation as soon as he was called and everything was explained. With such information as the starting point, this Atlantian Lieutenant Colonel started issuing orders to the Deep Delvers. The Deep Delvers acknowledged the order without complaining. Together, they bulldozed through one hall after the other. None of them cared about the rewards that were hidden in these halls, the number one priority of the Atlantians was the ultimate prize. In 6 hours, the 20 Deep Delvers succeeded in bringing all the Atlantian soldiers that entered the inheritance ground together. Together, their strength soared, reflecting the majesty of Atlantis. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid hovered like a God in the water above the pile of skeletons as he overlooked his soldiers. "Captain Omega, take the 2nd strike force and go after the Megalodon". "Captain Naman, take the 3rd strike force and harvest any reward in these halls that are worthwhile and worthy of our attention and time". "Captain Thiery, form a defensive perimeter with the 4th strike force". "As for me, I''ll be going after the ultimate inheritance". "For Atlantis Domination!" "For Atlantis Domination!" The Atlantian plan was complete and in motion! Chapter 258 - Benefits Falling Like Leaves In Autumn! After a battle that kept on escalating in scale that saw Sebastian ending the life of 13 orange tier predators, and 22 white tier predators, the battle for the reward of the 2nd hall that he entered finally ended. Unfortunately, despite his impressive killing rate, Sebastian was unable to do anything when an elusive predator that looked like a swimming rat took the sought-after price before the eyes of all the powerful contenders. In the end, they could only watch, astonished while this predator rat escaped bravely from the midst of all the other powerful predators. This battle thought Sebastian a lesson about his approach to the second test of this inheritance which was to fish for benefits in disaster. Despite the fact that powerful predators like himself and other freaks were there, this rat taking the ultimate price drove home a point. The 2nd test of this inheritance was not just about who could throw the strongest punch, it involved a lot of intelligence. Since entering the inheritance ground, though most of the tests were heavily slanted towards fighting, Sebastian already observed enough to know that intelligence was also required to qualify through them. Clearly, the will of the Sea King was emphasizing a lot on the intelligence of the possible inheritor who would get the ultimate inheritance. Sebastian didn''t find this too odd. From the little description of the Sea King that he knew from Tonado, to perform all the feats that it achieved in its lifetime, the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King must have been an extremely intelligent fellow, though it was also crazy. Putting all these aside, Sebastian narrowed his focus on the clue that he gained from this discovery. To benefit more from this test, he needed to be elusive, scheming and calculating Megalodon rather than the cooler tyrannical Megalodon that he had always been. For some reason, Sebastian felt that this test was forcing him to learn how to live with different personalities stacking in his head which he loathed. Effecting and maintaining this change proved difficult at first to Sebastian, but once he got used to it, he entered his domain. By staying content with remaining in the background while the other predators battled it out, when he finally exploded with his full strength at the end, he managed to overpower all the opposing enemies. In the 3 halls, he took the 3 rewards, 2 rare materials, and a magic weapon. Compared to the reward that he harvested from the first hall that he appeared in; these 3 rewards were more mundane but they were still valuable. The magic weapon was a needle whose only weapon was to attack by stabbing it into the veins of enemies. Once its tip is embedded in the enemy''s vein, it automatically starts su?k?n? the enemy''s blood. This effect was not too interesting, but if by coincidence the needle was allowed to suck as much blood as it wanted, it had the potential of killing predators who were even a tier stronger than Sebastian. This coincidence was too good to be true though. Sebastian simply pocketed the 3 rewards and continued his extremely dangerous but thrilling tour. It was when he got to the 4th floor that Sebastian saw a change. Unlike the other damaged halls where he went through, this hall was intact. The lights illuminating it easily revealed its identity as a high-grade laboratory. This sight immediately made Sebastian remember some important details. ; During the previous time when he came to this catacomb, through his system''s special clue was when he knew that this seamount was a giant experimental ground of some crazy Atlantian Mage Professors. Back then when he just got the system special clue, he didn''t understand much but now with his knowledge, he understood much better. Clearly, this was one of the vital laboratories that were utilized by the Atlantian Mage Professors. ; The only problem was that the laboratory was empty, the previous owners didn''t forget to sweep it clean when they left, or so Sebastian thought. He was interrupted from his daze the next moment when he heard sounds of a fierce battle that suddenly erupted in this hall. [You have triggered Adaptation: Camouflage Organ.] [You have entered the camouflaged state.] Sebastian''s body turned into an extremely faint blue color as he easily blended with the prevalent color in the laboratory. Then silently, he swam closer to a huge counter in the lab where he could see the other side. There, Sebastian saw the ongoing battle which made his heart freeze. Bam! Bam! Bam! They tried to retaliate, but their disorderliness due to their different species and lack of understanding hindered them. The organized group of Atlantian soldiers thrashed the beasts like they were pigs before the slaughter. Seeing this, Sebastian''s eyes constricted, he knew that something was wrong and it chilled his heart. ; As someone who already understood the rules of the inheritance ground to an extent, he knew that it was abnormal without special circumstances for so many Atlantians to gather together this way. ; At this moment, it was like the Atlantians had everything at the back of their hands. Sebastian intended to retreat immediately, but the sight of a mutated beast among those that were being massacred stimulated him. This was a Great White Shark, not just any shark but one that he was familiar with. His eyes blazed with fury on seeing the injuries on this sharks'' body. "VERNI!!!" Hearing the roar, Captain Naman was alarmed as he turned sideways to see who the intruder was. Before he could prepare his trident to defend though, he was already slammed by a huge force that almost broke him apart. [Killer Move: Ancient God''s Blast!] As soon as Sebastian temporarily incapacitated the Atlantian Captain with his killer move, taking advantage of the fear and awe that was shown in the other predators'' eyes, he moved with speed. [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed.] Whoosh! Sebastian was gone before they could react. ¡­ Hours later, Sebastian was still faithfully engaging in the grind of getting as many benefits that he could before the test for the ultimate inheritance if there was any, to begin with. As soon as he discovered the advantage that the Atlantians got through some cheat, Sebastian became wary and a lot more decisive. He no longer engaged in the struggle for rewards that did not catch his interest. He only settled for the more important rewards, while also keeping his main focus on the ultimate inheritance. From the fact that he saw only one of the Atlantian leaders during the previous clash hours ago, he concluded that the others were already on the hunt for the ultimate inheritance which put him under a lot of pressure. He continually increased his efforts to search for the ultimate inheritance. Perhaps, it was also stored inside one of the halls as a reward. Though the ultimate reward still proved elusive, his hard work was not in vain. ; During his first encounter with one of the laboratories used by the Atlantian Mage Professors where he rescued Verni, the reward that he succeeded in getting from that lab was a special treatment tonic. [Special Tonic: Rapid Regeneration!] This was a reward that was at the upper-tier among those that Sebastian got already. The effects of the tonic when taken were to stimulate his body cells to rapidly start dying and regenerating. Through this, his body would receive a fierce self-recovery ability where even injuries to his brain could be recovered in mere seconds. The effect of this tonic was for 6 hours, and Sebastian''s saving grace was that its effects were both applicable to variant humans and mutated beasts. Apart from this, Sebastian''s other significant rewards were 3 mana cores. This was such a useful reward that he felt satisfied with his decision to come here already though he still wanted the ultimate inheritance. The next hall that Sebastian entered which was his 32nd was a laboratory also. On entering, he easily discovered that a fierce battle was ongoing already. In this battle, there were a lot of familiar faces. Elder Marble with 12 Great White Sharks from the clan were now battling against an Atlantian force that was led by the familiar Captain Omega. The Atlantian soldiers put up a good fight, but in the end, the unwilling Captain Omega had no choice but to retreat with his soldiers in defeat. This laboratory was the biggest that Sebastian had encountered, and to his shock, the reward of this lab were 2 invaluable treasures that he took a lot of time to believe were true. ; For the first time since he heard of the term, he saw the almost mythical Endurance core. His eyes almost popped on the sight. As the 2 strongest on their side, Elder Marble took the first Endurance core without contest before distributing the other to Sebastian. Sebastian did not ?ssimilate it immediately; he curbed his excitement and kept the valuable core in his system inventory. From here on, his confidence increased, going alongside Elder Marble directly placed his group at the forefront in terms of overall power in the inheritance ground even if he was pitted against Atlantians. The monster group continued, bulldozing through 4 consecutive halls and 1 laboratory where they gained 2 mana cores and another Endurance core. This Sea King Inheritance was indeed too filthy rich! Sebastian at this moment was saturated, feeling that it was too much, the benefits just kept coming like falling leaves in autumn. It was an amazing feeling. After bulldozing through 2 other halls, for some reason, Sebastian''s intuition finally told him that he and his group were now close to their ultimate goal. For some reason, he felt that the ultimate inheritance was near! Chapter 259 - Tungstens Fate. Exploring the Sea King Inheritance cautiously due to the numerous dangers that filled everywhere, from the spooky native predators to the ravaging competitors, to the tyrannical Atlantians was extremely stressful. Though most of the mutated beasts in the inheritance ground were still consumed by their desire to get the riches in here and could not feel the pressure, those intelligent ones who already regained their sanity felt the pressure. The tests of the Sea King''s will were the last straw that broke their wits. The pressure was so suffocating to most of these mutated beasts that it felt like they were slowly being squeezed to death by the tentacles of a giant octopus. Of all these mutated beasts who felt the pressure, a specific group felt it more, it was that group with heavy responsibilities on their shoulders. That group consisting of powerful predators like Old Mak. Old Mak was getting closer to his wit''s ends, the pressure that was induced in the inheritance ground was already getting to him. He felt like he would snap any second, only his compact and developed willpower kept him in check. Unlike other predators who willfully entered the inheritance ground for their greed and desire, he was the leader of a huge shark clan and entered with a reason. The number one reason why he entered this inheritance ground with his clan was the prospects of rapid growth that it proposed, and the second reason was if he didn''t participate to gain, he would only suffer when stray bullets flew his way. Due to how Sebastian explained everything about monster inheritances to the best of his knowledge as taught by Tonado, Old Mak already had a deep understanding before he entered the inheritance ground. Despite already being mentally prepared, what he saw still affected him a lot in ways that he did not expect. Like every other powerful predator who entered the inheritance ground, he already killed a lot of competitors and already benefited a lot, but not even for a second did he not worry about his clan members. He was the strongest shark in his clan. The others were not as freakishly strong as him, the way other predators were currently dying to him, his brothers may be dying the same way to some f*cked predator also. Just the thought of this left his snout vibrating nervously. Old Mak was a leader, a powerful leader but he also had emotions, he also could experience fear. At this moment, he feared for his brothers'' lives. After the traumatizing experience that he had with his master and best friend, Nathan, where he left the Megalodon to die, despite it being decades ago, he still suffered from the guilt. He vowed to take care of every single shark in his clan as a form of redemption for the sin that he committed decades ago against his best friend. Now that his decision may have put these same sharks in danger of annihilation, he felt guilty though he knew that this decision was for the best. Old Mak suffered from this feeling of guilt which affected his efficiency for hours before he finally snapped out of it. In the end, he decided that to really help the sharks, the best thing that he could do now was to do his best, kill competitors, forfeit any side benefit but to aim directly for the ultimate inheritance. If he got the ultimate inheritance, he was pretty sure that the inheritance process would have ended and his brothers would finally be free. Filled with hope, he worked towards this as he started bulldozing through every competitor in his way again with lightning and thunder accompanying. ¡­ Tungsten also felt the pressure induced by the setting in the inheritance ground. His mind was chaotic as he experienced a myriad of emotions. At this moment, he just finished his 15th consecutive battle where he was unable to get his hands on the sought-after rewards of the halls in the inheritance ground which only left him under more pressure. He was always so close to getting it, but there was always a stronger and more talented predator who simply takes it from his grasp. It was like nature itself was playing with him. This same thing happening 15 times could no longer be associated and blamed on bad luck, Tungsten felt that he was cursed. He was bleeding all over as his blood dyed the water red. Despite the pain of his injuries, he didn''t give attention to them because the pain in his heart was more. The reason for him feeling the pressure was different from his clan head. Unlike his clan head, his reason for feeling the suffocating pressure may sound a little immature, but it was because of his inferiority complex. "Why am I always second?" Tungsten roared in his heart. "Why am I always so close, but the catch always elopes me?" He vented all his grievances now that all his enemies abandoned him. "Why is it that despite all the effort that I put in, despite always training overtime, despite always being obedient and listening to the elders and the clan head, why is it that I still never come out first?" "Why? Why?" Tungsten already lost it as he broke down in an emotional fit. His sadness and loneliness at this moment were so strong that he practically started seeing his sad life playing before him like a movie. Since his days as a young shark, Tungsten was already favored to be among the best predators of his age alongside his childhood best friend, Torpedum. The both of them did virtually everything together, they were inseparable as kids. Then, they didn''t even understand the terms inferior and superior. Then, they treated each other like equals, friends for life. This did not last though, peacefulness and joy never last. It all ended when they both finally awoke their magic domains. That day, like usual, they were both ecstatic, extremely optimistic that they were both going to awaken legendary magic domains that were only seen in myth. In the end, he awoke a rare advanced magic domain while Torpedum awoke a pinnacle advanced magic domain. They were only separated by a small insurmountable rank. This small rank was what divided this flourishing friendship forever. Torpedum who was now confirmed to be the real unmatched genius immediately started experiencing that feeling of superiority that neither of them experienced nor knew of before now. Tungsten became the inferior one, while Torpedum became the superior. This became prominent in everything that they did after that. In sparring battles, hunting tests, and the even more important adult graduation test, Tungsten always came second while Torpedum came first. Torpedum now grew so unapproachable that both friends officially became public enemies, archenemies for life! This was when Tungsten took the challenge and made a vow. "Torpedum may be luckier than I am, he may have the advantage in magic domain specialization, but that does not mean he is better than I am. I vow that one day, I will surpass Torpedum before the watchful eyes of all the elders and the clan head". From that day, he developed a trait that he didn''t have before, hard work. From that day, Tungsten became the most hardworking shark in the clan. He trained more than others, fought longer than others, endured hits more than others, endured pain more than others, and even started studying more than others which was something every young Great White Shark hated. This became so much to the extent that he caught the clan head''s attention. Then, fate finally seemed to smile on him and he became the clan head''s student. His confidence grew, he became more optimistic that he would one day overtake Torpedum and become the strongest shark of his age. He held this belief till he grew to his current age, but never, not even once did he ever succeed in besting Torpedum in an official tournament. This became a thorny ghost that haunted him till now. Despite this ghost, he never gave up, he continued persevering. Even when Old Mak took another student, making Verni his best student, he never complained, all his focus was on overcoming the ghost that haunted him. Unfortunately for him, fate was cruel, he never succeeded. Tungsten thought he had already gotten over his cruel fate but clearly, he was wrong. At this moment when the circumstances in this inheritance ground proved extremely similar to his traumatizing experiences with Torpedum, he lost it. "Why me?" "Why always me?" "Why always me?" Tungsten wailed in his mind. Though this was not reflected outwardly, anybody who looked at him would know that this enormous Great White Shark was in pain, pain that could not be healed through conventional means. Tungsten tried to rationalize his circumstances to recover the way he always did with Torpedum but this time, it didn''t work. It was like the world really wanted him to face his inferiority now, it was like the world was laughing at him, it was like nature itself wanted him to feel pain. The pain in his heart grew so much that he became numb, his brain became numb and all his senses became numb. All that was on his mind was how inferior he was compared to his best friend and enemy, and also to everyone else. "Why me?" On saying this again, this was when he noticed the newcomers that entered the hall where his previous battle ended and he was abandoned. 5 menacing Poison Worms made threatening sounds on seeing the injured Great White Shark before they all rapidly slithered towards him with speed. Tungsten focused on the rapidly advancing Worms. He fell into a daze as he looked at them for a few seconds, then he became enraged. His inferiority acted up so much that his anger blew towards the skies. He may be inferior to Torpedum, he may be inferior to other predators, but he was definitely not inferior to a bunch of 5 random Poison Worms. If they thought otherwise, he was going to show them what a second-place inferior Great White Shark with the light magic domain could do. For some reason, his mind settled that killing these 5 Poison Worms would alleviate the pain that was on his heart so without hesitation he erupted. Tungsten ignored the pain in his body and his heart, he lifted his enormous body as he threw himself at the Poison Worms. He activated all his skills; he went berserk as he attacked ragefully with no plan in mind. The 5 Poison Worms were not his match. Though he suffered a lot of injuries, he did not give a damn about this little pain so long as he could inflict even more pain on those that underestimated him. He beat the Poison Worms so much that the 5 Worms were turned into crushed paste. This was when an even more bleeding Tungsten stopped. He was now poisoned; the pain was traumatizing and he was slowly dying but he didn''t give a damn. At this moment, he was ready to die if that was what it took to prove that he was not always second. After this victory, unknowing to him, there was a shift in his mind. A strange power was brewing inside him that he was unaware of. Tungsten suddenly raised his head as his originally lifeless eyes gleamed sharply. "From today, I make a new vow". "I no longer care about what the world thinks of me". "I no longer give a damn about fate". "All I know is that I''m the best, and there''s nothing no one can say about it". "To others, Torpedum has the better magic domain, but I now declare that my magic domain is the best in the world!" "I''m the best in the world!" "Deal with it!" "I''M THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!!" As Tungsten roared this for the second time, the shift that happened in his mind became more prominent. The power that was brewing inside him suddenly exploded, turning extremely vibrant with energy. Tungsten opened his eyes with shock. This feeling of energy rush, this feeling of invisibility, this feeling of unlimited potential, he was too familiar with it and would never forget it. This was exactly how he felt when he broke through from the white tier to the orange tier a few years ago. Now, he was about to break through again! Tungsten felt his body turn stiff from the shock and rush of emotions. Despite everything that he felt now, despite the benefits that were awaiting him if he continued persevering, and even though he may lose out on a lot of things if he started his breakthrough now, Tungsten didn''t care. He had been looking for this opportunity for half his life, there was no way that he would ignore it now that it finally appeared. Tungsten located a safe hidden place in the hall and placed himself carefully before he officially started his evolution process. The fate of Tungsten, the Great White Shark seemed to be turning. Chapter 260 - Final Test- The Doppelganger Test! The Atlantian army was now extremely dominant in the inheritance ground as the prowess of an overlord race was showcased by them. All this was a result of the Sea King will''s weird decision not to restrict variant humans. In such an inheritance ground were their only restriction was to follow the rules that were set, Atlantian Deep Delvers were beasts. With them unrestrained, they worked super hard to build up advantages for the Atlantian army to maintain their dominance in the inheritance ground. With the fact that the Atlantian army was able to regroup, they took the upper hand in quantity superiority since not even the toads of the Toad Alliance and the turtles of the Turtle Confraternity could replicate this feat. In this inheritance ground, the warriors of these 2 powerful monster organizations were reduced to the level of the stray mutated beasts. Unable to regroup instantly to stack their power to create a dominating force like the Atlantians, they could only fight individual battles. Though as they passed through hall after hall of this enormous catacomb, they were able to slowly regroup and amass their power, the scale still could not match that of the Atlantians. The Atlantians didn''t just dominate in quantity, with the presence of the captains and the Lieutenant Colonel, they also dominated in quality. Despite dividing their overall force into 4 strike forces which were led by different rulers, this race still maintained its trailblazing advantage. Most of the time, they destroyed every opposition force that clashed with them. The scenario where Elder Marble''s group after receiving reinforcement from Sebastian was able to force them to a retreat was a rarity. Despite this, they never suffered any significant setbacks. The plan that was proposed by Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was progressing extremely smoothly like the rigid nature of parallel lines. Captain Thiery already set up a defense perimeter with the 4th strike force that he was assigned to. Though the situation was currently going smoothly for them, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid already planned for the worse. If the situation turned hairy and another opponent snatched the ultimate inheritance from their grasp, the 4th strike force was ready to intercept the thief. Captain Naman who alongside Captain Thiery was the second in commands to the Lieutenant Colonel of the Annihilation Division Fleet did their jobs well and each of their strike forces was experiencing significant success. Despite the setback that Captain Naman suffered under the hands of the sharks, only a few of his soldiers perished from the clash and his strike force was still dominantly buoyant. He and his strike force were like professional steal-killers in a VR game, they bumped into ongoing battles here and there as they snatched the rewards from the initial competitors, leaving a group of furious beasts in their tail. They already harvested a ton of benefits in this inheritance ground, far more than what Sebastian and his group were able to get. Captain Omega was the only one who suffered setbacks. Till now, though he mobilized the full power of his strike force, this Atlantian Captain never caught trails left by the Megalodon which was his target. It was like the Megalodon disappeared all of a sudden. Fate was playing so much with him today, his luck seemed to have hit rock bottom in the most inexplicable way possible. Originally, since Captain Naman already crossed the Megalodon once, the right course of action would have been to inform Captain Omega but unfortunately, the Deep Delvers moved alongside the 1st strike force. Without the Deep Delvers, communication was impossible. This was why Captain Omega had to toil all day and night without any reward. Of all the strike forces, the 1st strike force that was personally led by Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was the one that enjoyed the most success. The success of this most important strike force which was going for the gold hidden in this inheritance ground was not only due to the powerful Lieutenant Colonel, it was also due to the help of the 20 Deep Delvers. These 20 cyborg soldiers were legendary cheat codes even in an inheritance ground of this stature. They were bestial machines in human clothing. With this strike force, the Lieutenant Colonel''s progress through the inheritance was extremely rapid. Despite this speed, even though they kept on annihilating the natives of the catacomb that tried to oppose them, rapidly entering one hall after the other, they never found the last hall where they deduced that the ultimate inheritance was hidden. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was frustrated but he never gave up. 4 days already passed according to the statistics of the special delving scan that was performed by the Deep Delvers but the last hall could still not be seen. For some reason, it was like the size of the catacomb was expanding the more time they spent inside it which was spookily interesting. Despite the distance that they already covered; the last hall was nowhere in sight. The more time passed, the more beasts died. At this moment, all the cannon fodder beasts already died. Those that remained competing for the prize were the cream of the crop, and most of these survivors already regrouped with their companions. Sebastian also already regrouped with all the survivors of Old Mak''s shark clan but like the Atlantians, they still couldn''t see any signs of the ultimate inheritance which was sought by every competitor that was still alive. This ultimate inheritance proved extremely elusive. This elusiveness was to the detriment of the hopeful survivors. Each second that they lived further felt like a gift to them, this was because as they all drew closer to the last few halls, they encountered enemy survivors and had no choice but to battle like crazy maniacs. Even those that saw themselves as extremely strong did not know how they died. Deadly predators died left and right. Apart from the Atlantians, the Toad Alliance, and the Turtle Confraternity, Old Mak''s force was one of the strongest but this did not prevent even more of their weaker brothers from dying. Despite the unrelenting administration from Queen Heareth, in the end, she was not a machine, her healing could not keep up with the damage that her clan members suffered from in this chaotic battlefield. Each death caused more pain to Old Mak. Unfortunately, he couldn''t do much since this battle was beyond what he could simply end with his strength. The Lizard Lord and the Champion Digger all fought like their life depended on it. If they against all odds got the ultimate inheritance, they still didn''t know who would take it but the plan was to hustle now and determine the plan later. Amid the crazy massacre that never stopped, on the 5th day, the force that was at the very foremost of the surviving competitors finally saw a change. Bop! Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid who led his soldiers from the very front of their formation was surprised as he hit a barrier and bounced back during the process of trying to step through a tunnel that led to another hall. As soon as he bounced back, the tunnel entrance that he saw suddenly became emaciated before it warped, turning into a strange teleportation portal. Before he could observe this portal, the familiar font appeared again. "Congratulations! You have proved the tenacity of your soul; you have passed the 3rd tenacity test of my inheritance". "Now, you can finally take the Doppelganger test". "Unlike the other tests, there is only one winner for this one". "The winner is my inheritor". "Swim inside the portal when you are ready". The streak of words ended before it erupted again in a last sentence that the Sea King''s will was already infamous for. "Bad luck to you all". Chapter 261 - Astonishing Changes; I Am A Dog?! On seeing the writings that appeared before them inside the hall, the Atlantian soldiers including their leader, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid went silent as they rapidly tried to deduce the nature of this last test. "Doppelganger test". The fact that the Sea King even went as far as extracting from his title to name this last test showed how much it meant to the deadly predator. Its importance in this struggle for the ultimate inheritance could not be undermined either, the writings of the Sea King''s will were clear, there was only one winner for this last test and the winner would become the inheritor. This was a situation of the winner gets all, and the loser gains nothing. Instantly, the Atlantians were faced with a huge dilemma. Should they follow the Sea King will''s intentions and go through the portal or should they not? Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid''s face was grim as he was faced with the most difficult point of decision-making in this important mission that he was assigned. Since he entered the inheritance ground with the whole Atlantian force, this Lieutenant Colonel had not for one second found the leisure to laze around as the implications of this mission were too big for him to screw it up. The weight of this mission was so heavy that it was already crushing him. In the whole inheritance ground, he felt the most pressure. Unless in the inheritance ground of certain Black tier monsters with abilities that could counter the skillset of Deep Delvers, there was hardly any inheritance ground that had succeeded in restricting the Atlantian Deep Delver special unit. Though when he was given the mission, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid already expected to meet a lot of suppression and problems, he still didn''t expect them to escalate so much and so fast. He had to improvise his plans every second since the changes were so fast that keeping up with them was too stressful, he was almost going crazy. Of course, he could delegate a lot of authority to his second in commands and other powerful subordinates to decrease the stress but for such an important mission, this Atlantian Lieutenant Colonel felt too uncomfortable with it. What if these subordinates that he called powerful suddenly slipped? Just thinking of the consequences gave him a heart attack. From the onset when the special unit of Deep Delvers entered the inheritance ground, they suffered a suppression that restricted almost all their most powerful cheat abilities, leaving only the basic ones. Though the Atlantian soldiers were not attacked by the Sea King''s will like the wills of other monster inheritances, the almost absolute suppression by the will was their most frightening encounter. For an Atlantian army that was already used to the Deep Delvers performing miracles in inheritance grounds to grant them absolute control, suddenly having to regress to the opposite end was hard to cope with. This was why Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was in a huge dilemma. The Sea King''s will has not proactively attacked them so far, but who knew if this was a ploy by the will to annihilate them all at once after they gullibly entered the teleportation portal. Despite all the means that they employed with their advanced technological devices, they could not pinpoint the end location of the teleportation portal. This uncertainty felt like torture to them. Amid his torment, this was when Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid came up with a plan that he was extremely reluctant to execute. Once he thought of it, his more powerful subordinates also thought of it. "I will do it!" Captain Omega suddenly declared. After going round like a headless chicken while hunting fruitlessly for the Megalodon, this Atlantian Captain finally regrouped with the 1st strike force. Though Captain Omega wasn''t a big fan of brain-related matters, perhaps it was due to his frustration but he got the gist this time. The plan that the Lieutenant Colonel arrived at was to send a suicide vanguard through the portal to determine what was at its other end. The most suitable vanguard soldier for this mission was not the regulars, a powerful veteran was needed so that even if there was enormous danger at the other end, he/she could at least send a warning message across. Lieutenant Colonel thought and thought, and in the end, decided that he was the best candidate to become the suicide vanguard. Before he could speak though, Captain Omega beat him to it. This Captain didn''t just beat him to it, he surprisingly provided a plausible explanation for why he was the best candidate to be this suicide vanguard. Captain Omega was ready to restore his dignity by all means! According to him, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was the backbone of this army of division fleets and the army could not afford to lose him. As for him, his justification was that not only was he powerful which no one could disclaim, he was also a war veteran and was confident of surviving long enough to send a message if things on the other side were nasty. Also, he was unlike the Lieutenant Colonel. If his Black Mamba Division Fleet was still the leading force, he would be in the same situation as the Lieutenant Colonel, but now that a superior soldier was here, he was expendable. Captain Omega willingly offered his life for this endeavor. Of course, nobody stopped him, Lieutenant Colonel simply gave the Captain some advice, promised him that his name would be remembered in the war hero''s temple, before solemnly handing his armor over to the Captain. Lieutenant Colonel did this to increase the captain''s success chances. Captain Omega took the armor reverently without saying thank you, all his focus was on the mission. "I promise not to disappoint!" With that, Captain Omega of the Black Mamba Division Fleet jumped into the swirling teleportation portal. Warp! As an Atlantian soldier who survived the perils, grinding his way to the exalted rank of a Division Fleet Captain, Captain Omega was not new to teleportation portals, even those made by predators. He smoothly rode the space storm till he arrived at the other end. When this Captain opened his eyes, he was no longer in the dark and gloomy catacomb, he was now inside a vastly different world. This Captain''s eyes widened to the limit. Though he knew that this was probably another virtual-reality domain, Captain Omega could not help but feel that he was in a realistic world that he was familiar with, a world that he only saw in historical picture frames of his race. If his memory did not fail him¡­, this is Earth! Captain Omega could no longer maintain the extremely serious and battle-ready stance that he came it, he succumbed to his astonishment and shock as he could not help his eyes wandering around in curiosity. "So¡­, this is earth?!" The lush trees with fresh leaves that danced to the rhythm of the wind, the sound of the chipping birds, the strange long hollow trees with thin leaves, and the even more impactful solid ground that he stood on. Captain Omega could not help it, he was swept away by fascination and admiration, what a beautiful world! He was inside a beautiful forest in a world of land and fresh air. "Fresh air?!" Captain Omega was alarmed! As a non-royalty Atlantian soldier, how was he able to breathe dry air? The thought of this alone made goosebumps appear all over his body. This was when the spooked Captain looked down at his body. He almost fainted. "I am a dog?!" Chapter 262 - Back To Where It All Began; Earth! As soon as Captain Omega entered the teleportation portal, the team of 20 Deep Delvers lost connection with him. The interference in the spatial tunnel was too much. Having predicted this though, the cyborgs went into overdrive as they used all their processor power and battery capacity to try restoring a stable connection to the captain at the fastest possible speed. In just a little more than a minute, the cyborg soldiers were able to create a stable connection again to Captain Omega. This was when the wait for the word of reassurance started. Every soldier of the Black Mamba Division Fleet felt mournful, but none of them doubted the ability of their Captain, they had full confidence in him. And though the soldiers of the Annihilation Division Fleet were mostly just meeting this Captain for the first time, they already had a strong impression of him, any soldier that could climb the ladder to the captain rank was no slouch. Putting aside his head-strong personality that made him unsuitable for extremely complicated plans and battle strategies in battle, his personal combat power was enough to account for this shortcoming. The man was indeed a Samurai! Despite all these qualifications that were attached and were already stamped to Captain Omega''s name, it was already 10 minutes of waiting and not a single word was heard from the captain yet. The Atlantian soldiers finally started worrying. For the first time, their thoughts started straying towards the worst-case scenario which was Captain Omega being overwhelmed and dying without putting up a struggle. Though this felt ridiculous, it was not farfetched since the opponent this time was a notorious Sea King whose infamy spread across Oceania as a whole. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid sighed after another 5 minutes; he was ready to go with the second plan that he had in mind but a change finally happened. "In here is safe, but there is another test". "I became a¡­" Bzzz! This was all that was transmitted, perhaps having detected the communication channel, the Sea King''s will took action as the interference was amplified exponentially, ruthlessly cutting off the communication channel. Though the communication channel was cut off prematurely, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid and his soldiers were satisfied since they got the keyword that they were anxiously waiting for. Behind the teleportation portal was not a death zone. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid no longer wasted time; he yelled an order at his soldiers before jumping into the teleportation portal. Everyone else followed their leader and jumped in. Bzzz! A few seconds later, this hall was silent again. ¡­ [Congratulations! Your Rejuvenation skill has leveled up to the limit of level 5, purchase to get access to the advanced version of the skill.] After another fierce battle that saw Sebastian and his companions decimating the opponents completely, Sebastian finally saw the breakthrough that he had been craving. His rejuvenation skill finally leveled to the limit! Of course, Sebastian was ecstatic. After suffering numerous casualties within the first few hours to a day, the shark group was now a force to behold. The high-tier power lineup of this shark group was so powerful that any opponent that sees them now simply escapes by taking a short course. Since the Atlantians were strangely not being seen again, there was no one around that could hinder their tyrannical domination. Old Mak diligently led his clan to conquer, loot, and harvest benefits. They gained so much that they became bloated, every single shark benefited. Amid this period of unshakable domination, this was when the group of sharks finally hit the barrier that the Atlantians hit about an hour ago. Old Mak and his Great White Sharks were the second groups to fulfill the requirements for the appearance of the Doppelganger test. "Congratulations! You have proved the tenacity of your soul; you have passed the 3rd tenacity test of my inheritance". "¡­" The Sea King''s will sent the same writings that it wrote to the Atlantians previous to this group of sharks. "Swim inside the portal when you are ready". "Bad luck to you all!" This time, the wishing of bad luck was so loud, deep, and penetrating that some of the Great White Sharks in the scene, including the only Megalodon, Sebastian shuddered on hearing the voice. For the sharks, they didn''t have too many considerations like the Atlantians. There was no reason for the Sea King''s will to discriminate against them which made the decision a lot easier for Old Mak. After he informed his subordinates, Old Mak moved, plunging his enormous body through the teleportation portal as he was absorbed the next moment. Warp! The clan head was gone. Queen Heareth followed next, then followed 2 of the shark elders, then the young shark prodigies, then the regular Great White Sharks of the clan, before Elder Marble finally moved his enormous body inside. Warp! The contingent of sharks was gone too. ¡­ Blink! Sebastian simulated the blinking of his eyes in his head as his still groggy eyes from the space interference of the space jump subsided, allowing his eyes to regain focus again as they shone. After Sebastian regained focus, the first thing that greeted him was his system notification to indicate that he was inside another virtual-reality domain. Sebastian was about to commend how realistic this domain was compared to the first one that he appeared on before he froze the next moment. He frowned, then he crazily activated all his senses. [You have activated skill: Advanced Electroreceptors!] "¡­" Sebastian''s round eyes widened so much that they glowed like old lanterns. If he had hands, he would have started crazily rubbing his eyes without a care for the effects that followed just to confirm that he was not dreaming. He even felt tempted to pummel his head with his war hammer magic manifestation at this moment, perhaps that could wake him up. Despite everything that he did, this sight remained the same. Left with no choice, Sebastian finally acknowledged the astonishing sight that was before him. "Is this¡­, earth?" The lush trees with fresh leaves that danced to the rhythm of the wind, the sound of the chipping birds, the long bamboo shoots that poked high into the golden sky, and the even more impactful solid ground that he stood on. Also, the fact that he was seeing a real sun for the first time in months made Sebastian feel nostalgic. This was all that he needed to confirm. "Holy Shit man! This is earth?! How on earth?!" Sebastian finally exploded; his emotions came pouring out like a flood as he could no longer control himself after being brought back to his previous world even though this was just a product of advanced light magic. The world background and the forest layout felt too realistic, Sebastian found no holes that could reveal that it was the fake thing. "Hmm, I never remembered getting a skill to breathe in dry air". This was when Sebastian''s memory finally recalled this, his already lantern-sized eyes literally expanded again to the size of led lights. "Holyyyyy F*ck!" Sebastian was spooked, amid shaking, he bent his head down to look. He was already shocked by this; he could actually bend his head down! As soon as Sebastian looked down, what he saw made his heart leave on a trip for a few seconds. "Holy Mackerel! Is this a high-level scam?!" Sebastian was so astonished that he screamed. The sight before his eyes was too unbelievable to be true. When he already started abandoning that identity, when he already grew extremely familiar with the shark physique, he regressed to become a human. "¡­" "Umm, system, is this real?" [¡­] That was the answer that Sebastian sought, this was f*cking real! What is happening? Where am I? How is this happening? And how in the name of all anatomists did the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King succeed in creating such a perfect replica of earth? As the questions came like shooting bombs, the Sea King''s will, having probably watched to its satisfaction finally materialized its writing. "Welcome to my world, Earth Utopia!" "The last Doppelganger inheritance will be conducted here". "Like you may have already deduced, my ultimate inheritor must be intelligent. If you don''t know information about the old world where variant humans originated from, you are bound to fail". "My title is the Doppelganger and Invisibility King". "I could have opted for other tyrannical titles to fit my identity as a Sea King, but I decided on a title that resonates with me and my unique skill". "I create doppelgangers, I breath doppelgangers, I live doppelgangers!" "As my prospective inheritor, I expect you to replicate the same thing". "To be the inheritor of my ultimate inheritance, prove that you can do wonders and survive perils beyond the confines of your original body". "For over a century, I created doppelgangers of numerous races just to understand how to be them. By being them to the extent where they can''t even distinguish themselves from me, it is the reason for my astonishing success". "My inheritor must be the same!" "The rules of this last test are extremely simple". "This forest is an island; its other identity is the vacation home of the President of the rumored United States that I created a replica of". "To become my inheritor, you have to overcome all the challenges of the test in the form of the U.S President''s tight defense forces. Those are minor contributions though; your ultimate goal is to assassinate the U.S President". "Hehe". "The Doppelganger test starts now!" Chapter 263 - Agent S! "The Doppelganger test starts now!" Once the Sea King''s will wrote this, in all the domains where the predators and Atlantians were transported to, a change took place as what seemed like a giant golden clock appeared above their heads. Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! {06days: 23hrs: 59mins: 35secs.} "¡­" These Atlantians and beasts felt their hearts freezing, they were actually in a time limit when the requirements of this test were such an unconventional one. Unconventional in the sense that every one of them turned into a perfect replica of the species that they either disdained, hated, or discriminated against. No one expected this. It was a nightmare! ¡­ "F*ck! How is this possible in one week?!" "Is this Sea King''s will sick in the head?!" Sebastian was already finding it hard to accept the circumstances that he found himself, with the Sea King''s will adding this unexpected variable, it succeeded in flipping him out as he lashed. Though he tried to act unaffected, Sebastian could not deny the fact that he was affected terribly by the current circumstances. For some reason that he did not know, he suddenly felt scared due to the current circumstances. For months, Sebastian already spent a lot of effort to acclimatize to living comfortably as a Megalodon. Suddenly being thrown back to life as his previous species, he felt hellishly uncomfortable. Though he was comfortable with the growth prospects for dissection that Oceania placed on the table, not one day went by since his transmigration that he did not think of the mystery of his reincarnation. Some days, he even fantasized about what it felt like to be human again. Now, in the most inexplicable manner possible, he was a human again. It was only now that he knew how unprepared he was to become a human again. Before, having experienced the advantage that came with a huge beastly body with a terrifying defense that was formed by his dense muscles, his magic domain, and the prospect of getting stronger through evolution, suddenly entering a lesser body left him feeling insecure. Of course, the Doppelganger and Invisibility King had never seen a human in his life, or so Sebastian thought so his current form was not that of a base human, he was now a magic-wielding Atlantian. On his hand was the trademark weapon of most Atlantian soldiers, a blue-tipped Magic Trident with numerous magic circuits all over its surface to enable easier transfer and use of magic power. In just a few seconds, he was no longer a Megalodon but was now one of the enemies that he''s been planning on destroying to get the ultimate inheritance. Though Sebastian did not expect anything of the sort that just happened, his current specie and the magic weapon on his hand revealed unique advantages that alleviated the tension in his heart a bit. Perhaps, he was not as defenseless as he thought. "System, give me my status". [Affirmative!] ------------------------------------ Name: Sebastian Level: 20 Stats: Power: 87 Speed: 42 Mind: 86 Constitution: 21 Luck: 10 HP: 521/521 Mana Stamina {MS}: 630/630 [Body Skills: Triple Reverse Swim Level- 5; Advanced Dash Level- 5; Spike Attack- Level 5; Battering Ram- Level 5.] [Material Magic skills: Rejuvenation- Level 5; Magic Shield- Level 5; Supersonic Speed- Level 3.] [Magic- Sound Domain skills: Sound Control- Level 5; Sonic Drill- Level 5; Sonic Reflection- Level 4; Sonic Dissonance- Level 3; Water Cyclone- Level 4.] [Unique Skills: Water Transmutation.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Vampire Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain; Fire Skin.] [Species: Atlantian!] [System Remark: Keep grinding hard, you''re slowly on your way to becoming the Ocean Master.] ------------------------------- On seeing this, Sebastian fell silent. On one hand, he felt relieved that he was able to maintain the connection to his system and on the other hand, though he already expected it, his status changed in a lot of ways that felt piercing to his eyes. Against all odds, even though his enormous 15-meter body was now gone and his current size was merely that of an average Atlantian soldier, his body was still able to contain 3 of his most basic stats. His power and speed stat were both intact. His constitution stat reduced a lot which was plausible considering his current small and fragile body. Atlantian soldiers, even their Gold Realm powerhouses seldom relied on their bodies for defense, it was their powerful well-designed magic armors that took care of this problem due to their magic control over the origin magic. The consolation for the decrease in his constitution stat was the increase in his mind stat. This increase was not just in a figurative term, Sebastian could feel it. As soon as he arrived in this virtual-reality domain, he could already feel it, that predatory instinct that already sprouted and developed a lot in his mind was suppressed. A more rational and natural human mind that he was familiar with returned. He didn''t know how the Sea King''s light magic virtual-reality domain could do this, but all Sebastian could comment on it was awesome! He felt like a pilgrim who had been stuck crossing the Sahara Desert for over 2 decades, where he had to adapt to a barbarian lifestyle to survive. Now, after so long he finally returned. And after returning, for the first time in decades, he stood in a bathroom as the freshwater from a refreshing shower bath washed his body clean of all dirt. The feeling at that point could only be described as heavenly! That was exactly what Sebastian felt. It was okay for him to keep his ambitions to dissect every beast in this world, but Sebastian never knew how degraded his consciousness was already till now. It was okay to live in a world of killing other predators each day for food, but rest was a miracle tonic. At this moment when Sebastian was alleviated from all the stress of cannibalism, he felt his mind becoming super relaxed. The peace in his mind at this moment was so relaxing that, if possible, he never wanted to leave this state. Instinctively, he raised his hand to welcome the warm embrace of the sun. He had missed this natural phenomenon too much already. After minutes of adjusting his mind, Sebastian finally calmed down. This was when he focused on the other changes that were displayed in his current system status. Before looking, Sebastian already expected that he would lose some of his skills since he no longer had the corresponding body to make use of them. Of course, there was no way for him to use his shredding bite skill when the relevant rows of teeth were no longer there nor were, he able to use his electroreceptors since the relevant organs and body mechanisms were not there. What made him most grateful was that he retained his Water Transmutation unique skill, this was a trump card that he felt super reluctant to dismiss. The sight of it alone was a psychological comfort to him. On the thought of his unique skill, this was when he remembered and quickly narrowed down on his changed mana stat. After the transformation, his mana stat changed from the original mana points that it was and was now mana stamina. He was not too shocked on seeing this though, this was because Tonado already gave him the relevant knowledge and he also already made some inferences after his interaction with Atlantians. Unlike mutated beasts who had a magic organ to store mana, variant humans were not blessed in this aspect and could not. To harness the power of the origin magic, variant humans adapted and learned to use specific techniques to directly harness the origin magic without relying on an internal magic organ. Of course, this method had fewer prospects than having a magic organ, but through repeated practice, variant humans managed to increase their proficiency in harnessing the origin magic to terrifying levels. Sebastian never practiced this proficiency, but at this moment, he felt that all the relevant knowledge to harness the origin magic was in his head. He understood the reason for this. Learning the relevant knowledge was not something that could be done in a week, so the Sea King''s will of course had to improvise to make sure that all the candidates had a shot at winning. As for his species reflecting as Atlantian in the system, Sebastian could only associate it with the dead Sea King''s terrifying achievements with the light domain. After making all these inferences, Sebastian finally calmed down, all his fear and apprehension were already gone to be replaced by tranquility and confidence. He took a deep greedy suck of breath at the air that was everywhere before directing a look at the towering mansion peak that was barely visible from this distance, then he revealed a grin. For this test, he gave himself a codename. "I am¡­, Agent S". Chapter 264 - Taking Action [1]. 3 days later¡­ After taking his time to plan extensively while scouting the whole forest island, highlighting any noteworthy fact in the process, Sebastian finally arrived with concrete results. The past 3 days were one of his most stressful and most carefree days since he transmigrated into this world a few months ago. During the time when he scouted, he had to always remain tense and at high alert which led to situations where he could not rest even for a second. But after those scouting rounds, he slept for as long as he could. This doppelganger test was a test with a time limit and should have given every one of the competitors a lot of pressure, but Sebastian could hardly feel it. In conventional cases, the last doppelganger test that was conceived by the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King was an annoyingly complicated one, but it was not that complicated to Sebastian. This was because he was not a conventional case. Anytime that he remembered the confident quotes that were written by the Sea King''s will, he simply felt like chuckling. "If you don''t know information about the old world where variant humans originated from, you are bound to fail". "To be the inheritor of my ultimate inheritance, prove that you can do wonders and survive perils beyond the confines of your original body". "For over a century, I created doppelgangers of numerous races just to understand how to be them. By being them to the extent where they can''t even distinguish themselves from me, it is the reason for my astonishing success". Anytime that Sebastian recalled these, he felt like a fraudster. For this last test, he was simply a cheat code. Perhaps, if the Sea King''s will had decided to transform him to become like the monster-like men of the snowmen race, he would have found it hard since he literally had to learn to adapt to an entirely new body. Fortunately, the Sea King miscalculated. In its opinion, as a monster Megalodon, anything monster-like would be easier for him to adapt to, so it decided to transform him into the conceivably more complicated physique in beast terms to him, an Atlantian body. Unfortunately for this Sea King, Atlantians were the only variant humans who were closest to the normal physique and buildup of original humans. And, Sebastian lived over 2 decades as a human in his previous world compared to the few months that he had lived as a Megalodon. And as an anatomist, he was too familiar with the human physique. This was not the only reason why he was a cheat code for this test, the second reason was related to the first quote of the Sea King''s will. According to the Sea King, he had to know information about the old world where variant humans originated from to even have a chance. This was the emphasis on intelligence. As the overlord race of Oceania, practically every beast with some form of intelligence already heard of the origin of the Atlantians and other variant humans. To know more though, these mutated beasts needed another push of intelligence which most beasts simply didn''t have. This was where Sebastian was another cheat code. Why did he need to ask others about the origin planet of the Atlantians, Earth, when this world was his own home? It was like capturing a shark to a research factory, giving the shark intelligence, and later instructing the now intelligent shark to read about the sea when this fellow already lived and breathe the sea. Sebastian didn''t know how the Sea King was able to get so much information about earth to simulate such a realistic one, but all he knew was that he knew thousand times more about earth than the Sea king knew. This situation was like going into an exam hall but seeing all the answers to the questions before then already, it was just too damn easy. The requirements of this last test revealed a lot of useful information to him. Though he already heard it from Tonado before, getting to confirm that Atlantians originated from earth made waves erupt in his heart. What happened? Is Oceania the future of the earth where he came from? Or is Oceania the past? Did a calamity hit earth just after he transmigrated? The questions just came into his mind, hitting him like ballistic missiles but he couldn''t come up with a plausible explanation. After 3 days of thinking and not arriving at an explanation, he already forgot about it and was now focused on finishing the last test. When he got his 2nd unique skill, and if he succeeded in escaping from all the consequences that followed alive, that was when he would go look for answers. At this moment, he was still too incapable to look for answers. As a purple tier predator, he believed that he could do more then. After 3 days of observation, he already understood the island completely. The Sea King tried in replicating earth from his knowledge. The humans were realistic, they were a little ahead of earth where Sebastian came from in technology which was a cheat, but they had no magic abilities which were real. The unrealistic part of this earth was that origin magic was present. Sebastian didn''t complain though, this was his only advantage over the humans. Though for the past 3 days, he had not been able to get a good glimpse of the proposed U.S President that he was tasked to assassinate, Sebastian already observed enough to get a good plan. The island had 5 military outposts. One was close to the President''s vacation mansion in the middle of the island, while the other 4 were at the 4 extreme cardinal points of the island. The military outposts were all heavily fortified, soldiers were armored with powerful weapons, and the outposts had basic defense machines also. The vacation mansion was not too heavily guarded. Clearly, the President didn''t want a rigid environment for his vacation which was now an advantage that Sebastian was eager to take advantage of. Despite the loose nature of this vacation island, Sebastian dared not underestimate a U.S President even if it was envisioned from the unrealistic fantasies and knowledge of a Sea King. This was why it took him 3 days to finish drafting his plan. Unlike other competitors, not only did he not have to familiarize himself with the body that he was given, but he also didn''t have to puzzle over his environment since the land was his home where he lived for 2 decades and more. Sebastian''s plan was very straightforward, it involved little complicacies. The plan basically entailed sneaking in, evading any detection method, locating the President''s room with familiarity and all that, then assassinating the President. Boom! The test was completed and his 2nd unique skill was secure. The plan felt stupid and too basic, but Sebastian was confident that it would work. He only had to finetune it and improvise in accordance with the changing situation, and he could even create a new plan on the spot if the need called for it. With this, Sebastian was ready. Gong! A loud gonging sound suddenly reverberated in the eastern cardinal point of the island, this was where one of the military outposts was located and this gong sound was a signal for changing of shifts. This was when Sebastian acted. Having studied the soldiers already, he knew that a small window of opportunity to sneak through would appear during this time. He waited patiently for precisely 1 minute and 12 seconds, then he moved. Plop! He noiselessly dived into the raging waves of the seawater. Chapter 265 - Taking Action [2]. Plop! "What was that?" The leader of the eastern military outpost was sensitive enough to detect the sound despite the ongoing change in shift as he asked his subordinate. On seeing the clueless look on his subordinate''s faces, this punk-haired soldier frowned. "Scan the water!" "Yes, Mr. Black". The soldiers immediately went to work as they started scanning the seawater with their devices while others directly dived inside the water to check. They scourged everywhere, but they found nothing. 10 minutes later, they finally relaxed, perhaps Mr. Black finally had a lapse in his judgment since nothing was found. This was what the soldiers thought, but Mr. Black frowned in contemplation. ¡­ The vacation mansion was directly at the heart of the island, but Sebastian went to the edge of the island and jumped into the sea which seemed to be an incredibly stupid move. This was not all that was to his move though, Sebastian patiently waited 3 days for a reason and he did not emerge without results. After a lot of calculations, Sebastian deduced that this was the best way to assassinate the simulated U.S President. His reason for this was his human instincts and meticulous intelligence that came back to him after he took on the form of an Atlantian soldier and the new sound innovations that he made with them. For a long time after Sebastian participated in Elder Dangle''s lecture, he had been wondering how to put the theories that she explained to use. Despite his efforts though, he always fell short by a margin. After repeatedly trying and failing, he decided to give it a rest. But to his surprise, it seemed that what he needed to overcome this bottleneck was to regain his humanity. Once he was brought to this virtual-reality domain, his perception experienced astonishing changes. He could finally create those things that seemed impossible to him before. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound construct: Sound Detector.] In the law of conservation of energy that was first proposed and tested by Emilie du Chatelet, it stated that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it could only change from one form to the other. As soon as Sebastian remembered this law, he implemented it. Since there was his Advanced Electroreceptor whose main purpose was detection through electromagnetic waves, why couldn''t he replicate this effect? Why couldn''t he tinkle with the energy source in the form of the origin magic and change it with his sound control skill to form his version of electroreceptors, but a sound type? Immediately as he thought of it, Sebastian acted on it. He finally knew the basis of some of the implications that Elder Dangle quoted during her lecture which made it so iconic to him. "¡­Sound is everywhere, sound is omnipresent!" "¡­To be the ideal sound domain magician, you need to be imaginative and swift in harnessing the sound around us¡­" "¡­" "¡­To be the ideal sound domain magician, you need to be proficient in sensing vibrations. They are the key to fulfilling your potentials with sound magic¡­" "¡­" "¡­Always remember this, sound is everywhere, all you need to do is to be imaginative and harness it. Only the swift sound harnessers are the real sound domain magicians¡­" Sebastian agreed completely now, the sound domain is one of the few omnipresent magic domains! Fire could be suppressed in an ice glacier, ice could be suppressed in an extremely hot and dehydrated region, but tough luck on trying to suppress sound without wasting too much time and energy. The technological requirements, the energy requirement, and the stupendous amount of effort needed to suppress sound directly made it not viable. With these discoveries, Sebastian succeeded in making full use of his current imagination as he created a bunch of other sound constructs. He effectively found an alternative and complement for his electroreceptors, and this was how he was able to complete his plan draft. Though most parts of the island were heavily guarded, these human soldiers were clearly not equipped to face opponents with magic domains which allowed Sebastian to sneak through strategic points occasionally. Perhaps, other predators may not dare to take such bold steps since they knew virtually nothing about their opponents, but Sebastian was different. Not only was he a human, but before he became an anatomist, he once served for a year in his country''s military as a soldier. This was another great advantage that he had. Sebastian even guessed that this dual nature of his was one of the reasons why he became a target for transmigration. He may not be an elite anymore, but the basic military tactics and theories were still firmly in his head. He didn''t dwell much on this though, this was a discussion for later. With his sound detector magic construct, he was able to bypass most of the defenses of the military outposts, penetrating deep enough for him to access classified information, including the map of the island. That was where he found what he was looking for, a loophole. Underneath the island was an escape path for the President in the case of an emergency attack that his forces were unable to take care of. Its main purpose eclipsed just escaping. If the President could not escape, it served as a qualified bulwark to help the President and his close confidants to ride the storm till their reinforcement arrived. Sebastian didn''t know how much information that the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King knew about the U.S.A, but from how their technology was even more developed by the Sea King''s imagination, he did not dare to mess with the possibly furious retaliation from the U.S military. This was why his plan was drafted with maximum speed in mind! He planned to enter through the underground passage, rapidly infiltrate the mansion, fight with overwhelming power and assassinate the President before retreating as rapidly as possible. This was his plan that he tagged the Sea King hunting plan! With this success, he would be able to secure his 2nd unique skill, he felt so hyped for it! The underground passage was built to be the President''s escape path, but it already diverged from its original purpose and was now Sebastian''s entry path. It felt so good and so nefarious at the same time. As soon as Sebastian dived into the water, after activating his sound control skill and creating the sound detector sound construct, he swept the seawater with his cheat eyes for a human. Underwater, his sight was even clearer, this was one of the few things that the Sea King was not able to change since he was essentially a Megalodon. Sebastian quickly understood the sea layout after one glance at it, the map that he got did not disappoint. [You have activated skill: Triple Reverse Swim.] [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash.] Sebastian knew through his sound detector that the eastern outpost leader heard something when he dived, this was why he activated these 2 skills at once. Whoosh! Sebastian literally turned into an underwater speed boat but with semi-silent noise. He zoomed out of the area in just an interval of seconds. In a dozen seconds, he was nowhere to be seen. Sebastian didn''t just move so swiftly because of the soldiers, he did so because unlike his time as a Megalodon, he could not breathe underwater. Underwater, he was within a time limit. ¡­ Whoosh! Sebastian took 2 minutes before he swam from the edge of the island to its middle. There, he didn''t see anything that looked like an underground passage. He already expected this though. There was no way that a Presidents'' personal guard force would be so stupid as to allow their strategic escape path to be open and visible at first glance. To others, this may be a problem especially to humans without magic power, but Sebastian was different. Sebastian was a sound domain magician! He already lost his magic organ since entering this virtual-reality domain, but it didn''t mean much since he already learned how to harness the origin magic in the air and bend it to his use in these past 3 days. This was another advantage that he got having lived decades as a human. With his sound detector, it took him 5 minutes to locate the secret exit which was already an extremely impressive feat considering the amount of effort that the creators probably put in to hide it. With Sebastian''s strength, it only took him a slight tug before the heavy metallic protecting covering was pulled off. "What?" As soon as the metallic protector was pulled off, 2 alarmed exclamations reverberated in the water as 2 human soldiers lunged at the intruder. Squash! Sebastian squashed the 2 humans to meat paste with one wave of his hand, swinging his heavy magic Trident. The strength disparity was simply too much. He finally took a step inside the exit, but as soon as he entered, something went wrong that made his heart tighten. Wom! Wom! Wom! An alert was triggered! [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] Sebastian reacted immediately, this was one of the complications that he thought of and already had a contingency plan for. Chapter 266 - Sebastian And The Human Soldiers! Whoosh! Sebastian went racing like the wind through the secret exit. His plan didn''t change because of the alarm. His contingency plan in the case of a scenario like triggering an alarm, he simply decided to penetrate the mansion''s defenses instead of infiltrating which was his original plan. He was pretty sure that the soldiers manning the mansion were already working on pinpointing his current position down, and if they already did, a large group of soldiers was probably already surging his way. All these warranted that he moved as fast as possible, he was simply not stopping. Stopping now would make subsequent attempts 10 times if not a hundred times more dangerous. The secret escape passage was built like a huge tunnel. For already aging men like the U.S President, they would probably have a hard time sprinting inside it as they had to bend just to move safely inside it. This didn''t apply to Sebastian though, who already tested the effects of his advanced dash skill in a land scenario. Sebastian literally turned into a different version of the Ghost Rider! With his body bent, he moved like the wind, like a small rat scurrying through a lair full of large cats who were all ready to devour him at the slightest opportunity. As soon as the alarm rang and Sebastian started sprinting, the emergency defense measures of this escape passage against intruders activated. Clang! Clang! Clang! From the walls, from the ground, and even from the upper ceiling came deadly metal spikes as they all flew towards Sebastian. While this was still happening, the ground opened at opposite sides of his position as heavy boulders emerged before they started rolling towards him with the intent to crush the sh*t out of him. "The intruder is here!" "Shoot on sight!" Sebastian''s ears twitched as he also heard these orders. His body became tense, his muscles felt freer and more flexible, he could feel adrenaline already coursing through his body as his blood pressure increased. Then, he exploded! [You have activated skill: Spike Attack!] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram!] Bone spikes crazily jutted out from Sebastian''s body, turning him into what seemed like a spikeman. Adding his battering ram skill to this and his already activated advanced dash skill, Sebastian turned into a mobile fortress. Before the metal spikes could touch his body, he yelled to gather power, then he raised his magic Trident and jumped. The harnessed origin magic formed a green corona around the Trident, making it seem like an energy weapon. Then, while still mid-air, Sebastian started furiously rotating his body. Bam! Bam! Clang! Clang! Metal spikes collided against bone spikes. In normal physics, it was simply too illogical for a military-grade metal to be outmatched by mere bones. But this was earth physics, Sebastian came and he was operating with Oceania physics. His bone was far stronger than the metals. On collision, a cracking sound first reverberated before quickly being followed by a shattering sound. All the metallic spikes shattered on contact with Sebastian''s bone spike. With this taken care of, Sebastian continued rotating in mid-air as his already gathered momentum propelled him forward with speed. While this happened, the 2 enormous boulders finally came close enough to put him in harm''s way but Sebastian was prepared for their arrival. He grabbed his Trident tighter and swung with full force for a full-dive stab! Boom! The reinforced metal boulder shattered into pieces. The one from behind him arrived also, but Sebastian easily shattered it to pieces. When the fog of destruction cleared, Sebastian saw his real enemies. The humans were of course shocked by the feats that he just achieved, but as elite soldiers, they had enough willpower to ignore everything and to only focus on their mission which was to exterminate this intruder. With faces as grim as an old monkey''s, the soldiers at the front kneeled and aimed, those at the middle stood and aimed, while those at the very back lifted their heavy weapons and maintained steady aim. Ballistic rifles, high-pressure rifles, electromagnetic guns, and a bunch of other exotic gun types that were definitely beyond Sebastian''s earth era were aimed at him. The soldiers unleashed hell after maintaining their aim for a second! Boom! Boom! Boom! Sebastian was engulfed by the firepower rain as his rapidly advancing figure quickly got obscured by the debris, dust, and metallic fragments that were flying about, induced by the fierce firepower. 2 minutes later after a long period of bombardment, the soldiers finally stopped as silence descended into the long escape passage. They cautiously looked through the fog to try if they could see the intruder. He was definitely dead, right? Bam! Before the soldiers could react, a heavy weapon with 3 deadly sharp tips appeared as a soldier was slammed on the face by the weapon''s blunt edge. The soldier''s head got smashed to bits of blood and flesh immediately. Sebastian had no qualms with massacring these soldiers because he was once human. He knew that these were mere projections of pinnacle light magic no matter how realistic they looked. Ptui! Ptui! Before the soldiers could react, the heavy 3-tipped weapon struck again, wiping the life of 4 soldiers consecutively with only 2 impeccable stabs. Horror gripped the soldiers'' hearts! This was when they saw the real form of the intruder. Sebastian was like a typical enemy soldier to them, but at this moment, they saw a huge blue shield that protected him without any shield generator in sight. "How is this possible?" "Kill him!" The soldiers were shocked, including their team leader but team leader John was able to keep his cool enough to order his soldiers to attack. Even if they had no choice but to die, they would make sure to inflict as much damage as possible on this intruder to weaken him for their comrades. None of the soldiers echoed their leader''s order, they were not pirates, they were well-trained elite soldiers. Silently, all the soldiers overcame their fear for the unknown and overloaded their weapons before shooting recklessly. Bam! Bam! Bam! All the bullets hit the shield and were deflected but they never gave up hope, they kept on shooting as their life depended on it. [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection!] The loud sound that engulfed the passage was suddenly reflected. The tunnel''s narrow form alone already acted as a loudspeaker, so Sebastian needed no further augments to show this skill''s lethality. BOOM! All the soldiers were annihilated. ¡­ Bzzz! "What just happened?" Captain Devon was shocked as he removed his earpiece to let the ringing sound in both his ears alleviate a bit. None of the technical soldiers in this hall answered him, they were busy typing furiously at their computers as they tried to access the situation. "Report, team leader John!" "Team leader John!" "Is anyone still alive?!" "¡­" The Captain tried a few times before he placed the comm down, his face was now grim as he clenched his fist subconsciously. "We are facing a formidable opponent, converge all the military outposts and mobilize all our soldiers, we''ll be confronting this enemy head-on!" "Yes, Captain!" ¡­ Clang! Sebastian slipped into the next corridor as he closed the door gently. After annihilating the first group of soldiers that appeared in the escape passage, his journey from there was a lot smoother as he advanced at a remarkable speed, evading most of the detection methods of the humans. With his map adaptation, he was able to mark out the areas that he already passed, and comparing it with the mansion''s map that he had a glimpse at, he was able to rapidly navigate through the mansion. More groups of soldiers kept on surging his way at virtually every minute as more units of soldiers from the various military outposts arrived. He was able to evade these soldiers through his superior detection skills. By noticing them first with his sound detector, he was able to react faster to evade them while making sure to destroy every CCTV camera that he saw. This destruction vaguely revealed his position to the soldiers, but he was always faster than their fastest speed by a margin. Of course, as more soldiers came, his area of maneuverability decreased but he was able to give himself more of an advantage by using his sound control skill to create distractive sound constructs. With his sound domain abilities, he was able to buy himself enough time until he arrived at the door that led into the President''s room. By this time, he knew that some measures to protect the President would have been made already but he never detected the President being transported. Also, his speed was too fast to enable any meaningful rescue measures, it was only 2 minutes from his first step inside the escape passage. [You have activated skill: Sonic Drill {¡Á3}.] Bam! Bam! Bam! The heavily reinforced door revealed cracks after 3 consecutive hits from the deadly sound drill skill. Sebastian added the finishing touch. [You have activated skill: Battering Ram!] Boom! The heavily reinforced door finally collapsed. As soon as Sebastian stepped inside the big mini-apartment that was exclusive to the U.S President, he swept the area with his sound detector, then he froze as no signs of the President were in sight. The room was clean and intact, signs that this was an apartment that had not been stayed in for months or probably years. Sebastian was deceived! The U.S President was not here! Chapter 267 - Assassinating The President! The President was not here! Sebastian was stunned in place as his brain directly geared into overdrive, now rapidly working at the speed of light as theories were cooked up in his head at the pace of a machine gun. In just milliseconds, he arrived at his answer. The map that he accessed was probably the real map but the apartment of the President was one of the exceptions that were tampered with. This was a common military strategy to guard against enemies, and Sebastian could not agree more with its usefulness since he was also deceived by it. This was not the only answer that he arrived at though. Unless the U.S military built this vacation mansion with the intent to engage in reverse psychology, then the President''s apartment would be built in the area of the mansion that was more heavily defended. Sebastian was already at the heart of the heavily defended area, which meant that even if this was not the President''s apartment, the apartment had a 70% chance of being close to this one. Sebastian didn''t act immediately though; this was because he arrived at another deduction that could heavily tip every one of his next actions. Though he acted very fast with his infiltration and his efficiency was off the roof, it did not take anything from the fact that 2 minutes already passed, and since he only focused his sound detector on this room originally, there was a high chance that the U.S President was already being sneaked out by his soldiers. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] Sebastian rushed like the wind towards the nearest window, and when he looked down, what he saw made his face turn cloudy. What he saw could only be described as a colony of soldiers. U.S soldiers that were heavily armed already filled the premises of the mansion like locusts sweeping through a cornfield, their formation was the most dangerous fact about them. These soldiers were able to arrange themselves in such tight clusters in a way that they completely surrounded their President, leaving no space behind just like a colony of ants defending their ant Queen! The rescue formation was a perfect replica of an ant colony formation, and since the U.S President was not a huge ant queen, he was completely concealed. This was a well-trained army! At one glance, Sebastian easily counted over a thousand soldiers which were shocking to him since he never knew that so many soldiers resided on this island. This was another scenario where he was deceived. Though these countermeasures against an assassin were practically seamless, these soldiers'' only problem that could prove extremely fatal was that they failed to account for magic assassins. [You have activated skill: Sound Control!] [You have created a sound construct: Sound Detector!] Sebastian zoomed in on the sound waves and sound signatures in the air. Everything seemed to slow down before him, his thought process and brain power exploded with so much data as sound waves bombarded his senses, then he quickly pinpointed the signature soundwaves of the oldest man in this group. Sebastian was not too familiar with this simulated U.S President, but he knew that the President was undoubtedly the oldest man in this mansion which served as his advantage. This was another theory that he conceptualized after digging deep into the wisdom that was imparted through Elder Dangle''s lecture. Young vibrant soldiers definitely had different soundwaves signatures from an old civilian President. These soldiers'' heartbeats were not only different under pressure due to the rigorous military training that they went through, but their breathing was also different from an old man''s. Breathing, heartbeats, these, and a lot of others all induced sound. By tracing the sound waves, differentiating the sound signatures and a lot of other minor details was Sebastian able to pinpoint the U.S President. This old man was now being pressed by his soldiers from every side. He was not in the middle of the cluster of soldiers, he was rather in an unassuming location of the formation which enabled him to draw the least attention. At this moment, this President shook due to the influence of the heavy atmosphere, he was clearly not accustomed to an assassination attempt on his life. Sebastian confirmed what he wanted through this. But before he could attack¡­ Bam! Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! It was already over 30 seconds since Sebastian entered the President''s supposed apartment, and the soldiers inside the mansion were after him. 30 seconds was more than enough time to pin his location down. As soon as these soldiers appeared, they opened fire without hesitation as a cacophony of explosions and bullet sounds quickly engulfed the apartment. [You have activated skill: Magic Shield.] As soon as the soldiers inside the mansion opened fire, those on the mansion''s floor moved. Like the perfect cods of a machine, they moved without bumping at each other as they started escorting the President away. With stern faces, their eyes as sharp as eagles were always on their surroundings and their high-caliber guns were ready to unleash hell on any other intruder that appeared. In their opinion, the intruder who was already surrounded was dead and from a certain perspective, they were not wrong. Sebastian let his magic shield do the defending while his brain rapidly thought of the most expedient way to assassinate the U.S President. He was already in too deep, deciding to cower now would be detrimental, he decided that this was his best opportunity to finish this mission. But before he could think for 2 seconds, the inexplicable happened. BOOM! [You have been attacked by an overloaded Positron Rifle!] [You have been inflicted with staggering damage!] This weapon attack was so powerful that it directly tore through Sebastian''s energy shield, injuring him in the process as he flew back from the momentum. The massive amount of energy packed in this particle beam was too powerful that even a magic-empowered being like Sebastian succumbed. While coughing out blood, Sebastian rapidly swept the area with his sound detector, this was when he outlined the 5 enemies. In the army of soldiers that were attacking him, these 5 were too eye-catching. He knew them, these 5 were the leaders of the 5 military outposts. Captain Devon, Captain Max, Captain Jax, and Captain Briggs! It was ridiculous for a country''s military to assign 4 commissioned Captains to protect their President''s vacation mansion, but here, it happened. These 5 were not only the most skilled of all the soldiers that formed the President''s personal guards, but they also had access to the best weapons which at this moment were the positron rifles. These were weapons that were created using the most recent cutting-edge technology that the Sea king forcefully imagined of the U.S.A. With these weapons, the Captains posed a threat to Sebastian! They posed a threat to him, but Sebastian did not despair, his eyes glimmered instead as he quickly recognized that these weapons also served as the best help to him at this moment. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! 4 consecutive shots were released by 4 of the captains, while the last, Captain Devon held his shot, waiting for the intruder''s reaction. This was when the Atlantian soldiers saw a miracle! [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Dissonance!] [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] For the first time in his life, Sebastian felt himself struggling to activate his water cyclone skill. The skill took more time but water succeeded in materializing in the air at the end as a raging tsunami formed in the apartment. The tsunami was only starting to affect the soldiers since the positron beams were still moving, this was when a spooky sound assaulted their ears. Every single soldier heard a different sound, they heard screams of their greatest nightmares, they saw their greatest nightmares coming to life. They suddenly felt like scared 3-year-olds who were being forced by their older siblings to watch a horror movie, the feeling was tormenting. As they felt this, before they could react, their target suddenly disappeared. Boom! The 4 positron beams finally hit as they recklessly spread their energy, destroying the area that they touched with tyrannical might but the already injured intruder was nowhere to be seen. Whoosh! Captain Briggs felt a light breeze blowing beside her ears. Instantly, the only female Captain of the group of 4 became tense as all her hair stood on end. She instinctively swung her positron rifle to intercept the enemy. Pa! Squash! The first sound was of Sebastian stopping the lady''s positron rifle with one hand, then the next was of his legs hitting her most treasured possessions, the 2 twin peaks that adorned her hefty chest. The female Captain fainted immediately! Captain Jax who was closest to her felt it, this Captain with superhuman reflexes which was abnormal for humans turned and tried to shoot. Sebastian reacted before him though. Bam! The Trident hit the captain''s face as he was thrown far away. By this time, the remaining 2 Captain already could react. Both soldiers blocked the knives that were thrown at them, but when they recovered from the impact, they were shocked that their enemy already abandoned them again. They looked to the right where they saw Sebastian already beside the window again. Only the Captains were able to react, the normal soldiers were still trying to process what happened. All that happened transpired in milliseconds. This was superhuman speed! Both Captains were still conscious were shocked, but they turned angry and panicky the next moment when they noticed the actions of the intruder. "STOP HIM!!!" Captain Devon roared but it was a little too late. Sebastian already aimed, then he released the shot. The particle beam was unleashed from the rifle''s muzzle, no obstacle could stop it, its super speed propelled it to the U.S President''s side in seconds. Ptui! There was no explosive sound, just the sound of tearing and burning flesh. The President died! Chapter 268 - Escape[1]. "The President died!" "The President died?!" The soldiers that manned this vacation mansion and were tasked to defend the President with their life were in stunned disbelief. They first made the declaration, before questioning the declaration. "The President died?!" They were all stunned, speechless, shocked, and confused. Everything that happened was too fast for them to comprehend, it felt too unbelievable. Getting the honor to be a part of the President''s honor guard was the highlighting point of their careers as soldiers. When they were appointed, they all felt ecstatic as their joy practically went through the roof. They originally thought that the assignment was an easy one, but now, perhaps due to a moment of negligence, the President was dead! Death was a phenomenon that could not be reversed no matter how ridiculously developed the earth of the Sea King''s imagination was. None of the soldiers dared to think of the consequences of these occurrences, they were too terrifying to think of. [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] After blasting the target''s head into pieces of mangled flesh and blood, Sebastian waited to confirm the kill for a second before he moved. This time, he was going for the direct entrance into the mansion. His mission was complete, now was the time to force his escape. Of course, as he dreaded, the crazy Sea King''s will did not end the test immediately after he killed the President, escaping was part of the test. Through his sound detector, he already did a large-scale scanning. Apart from the escape passage that he infiltrated the mansion through and the main entrance, there was the 3rd entrance. This was the entrance where the clusters of soldiers were originally leading their president towards, an underground bunker was built nearby. Due to the rescue endeavors of the soldiers, practically over 80% of all the President''s guards were already gathered at the mansion and almost all of them were concentrated inside the mansion or were escorting the President. This made the defense at the main entrance into the mansion turn lax. This was the perfect opportunity to escape that he had, so Sebastian did not hesitate to use his all to rapidly sprint towards the exit. He dared not underestimate a bunch of furious soldiers. With his supersonic speed skill, he could escape even before the soldiers could properly understand what was happening but he had a problem. His mana stamina was already showing red. [Warning!] [Mana Stamina {MS}: 81/630.] Sebastian finally started missing his Megalodon body. As a Megalodon, his mana recovery speed could offset his basic mana expenditures, but as an Atlantian, this was vastly different. Also, he was still a newbie in this mana harnessing phenomenon, which made each of his mana expenditures more than normal. At this moment of truth, Sebastian was bitten hard. Sebastian was only able to maintain his supersonic speed skill for less than a second before he was forced to stop, this was able to carry him extremely close to the exit. On getting there, he simply decided to tide the rest parts of the journey with his advanced dash skill but he only took 3 steps before Captain Devon moved. It finally dawned on the surviving Captains and soldiers! A dangerous enemy with inexplicable abilities infiltrated their ranks, killed their soldiers, and also killed their President. Now, this same enemy was about to escape while they watched like a bunch of morons. This was unacceptable! The fact that the President died under their watch already destroyed their career and everything that it represented, but this did not mean that they would let the assassin sully their dignity also. No matter what strange measures that this assassin had, even if he possessed strange voodoo magic, they would destroy it all with technology today! The soldiers erupted, the U.S military erupted, Captain Devon erupted! "Materialize the doom shields!" "Activate the heroic death mechanism!" The soldiers were ready to die with this assassin! "TODAY, WE EITHER WIN OR WE DINE IN HELL WITH THIS BASTARD!" "Unleash the Destroyers!" Captain Devon was furious, and it easily reflected in his emotions as he grabbed his Positron rifle before sprinting forward and aiming at the escaping assassin as he suppressed the raging anger that was in his heart. Once his aim was secure, he vented his anger! Btzz! Btzz! The particle beams moved at the speed of light, and Sebastian no longer had enough mana stamina to draw on the power of the origin magic to create a shield. Sebastian was forced, he had no choice but to turn and face the attack head-on. He jumped and swung his powerful magic Trident backward. Boom! Sebastian managed to withstand the tyrannical energy that powered the first particle beam, but he was helpless against the 2nd, he was blasted away like a chick who separated from his mother hen. The pain was agonizing, but he felt happy since the momentum of this attack was enough to take him outside the mansion. Unfortunately, at the last moment, before he escaped through the main entrance, a huge metallic wall with rich defense suddenly manifested. The Doom Shield was finally activated! This was an enormous metal shield that was surrounded with a small film of shield energy, and it completely engulfed the mansion, effectively isolating it from the outside world. [You have activated skill: Spike Attack!] [You have activated skill: Battering Ram!] Sebastian hit the energy barrier with his buff and muscle-packed body but all that he experienced was a thick unbreakable force of elastic energy. Wong! His body was thrown back like a rag, straight into the ranks of the simulated U.S soldiers who were now like wild wolves who caught the scent of blood. While still mid-air, Sebastian adjusted himself in preparation for the possible collision. He may have lost his advantage of magic power, but he still had more than enough means to inflict damage. At this moment of truth, his magic Trident was his most trustworthy companion which he relied on completely. Boom! Sebastian finally landed, then he instantly started attacking the humans aggressively who reciprocated by furiously retaliating with force. In less than a minute, Sebastian killed dozens of soldiers before he heard a sound that made his heart sink into the deepest abyss. Whoosh! "Striker 101 in position, permission to drop the glowing missiles!" "Striker 102 in position, permission to drop the AGM-84 Harpoons!" "Striker 103 in position, permission to drop the Paveway laser-guided bombs!" "Destroyer 201 in position, permission to drop the mega-rocket!" "Permission granted!" Captain Devon growled the order, then the 3 fighter jets and the sky Destroyer who were circling the skies released their loads. Almost at the same time, all the soldiers that surrounded Sebastian, preventing him from escaping let go of emotional setbacks as they all laid their life down for this terrorist to be hunted and destroyed. They did not escape the destructive area of effect of the attacks of these fighter jets, they instead pitted their life to drag Sebastian''s life down. These soldiers overloaded their weapons to the most dangerous of levels before pulling the trigger at this enemy without restraint. They unleashed hell on Sebastian! Bam! Bam! Sebastian tried to escape from this area of influence, but with Captain Devon and Captain Max keeping him occupied with their Positron rifles, he was like a frog stuck in a well, he could not escape. Even if he was an Atlantian with a fierce physique, a magic weapon, and with access to magic, against these unrealistic humans that were from the Sea King''s imagination, Sebastian''s dominating strength was reduced by a lot. Not only these, at some point, due to Captain Devon''s orders, hidden artillery machines already emerged and were not shooting at him furiously. These machines had no safety limits, they shot through the human soldiers if that was what was required to get a bullet to him. Apart from the hovering fighter jets, what actually concerned Sebastian the most was the heroic death mechanism! He didn''t understand it, but from his few deductions and with his sound detector, he got some clues. The already berserk energy in the air already indicated a lot of things. This mechanism was probably made to harness all the berserk natural energy in the air to create a mega explosion that could almost match the power of a nuclear bomb in destructive potential. Sebastian was not confident in surviving such a blast, this was why he improvised as he got prepared to receive the fighter jets'' loads without activating a single magic skill that was in his repertoire. The hovering fighter jets'' loads finally touched the ground. BOOM! A huge pillar of mushroom ground formed in the middle of the mansion the next moment as soldiers suffered, with mutilated limbs and arms flying randomly. Boom! Boom! The laser-guided bombs and the mega-rocket were the most destructive of them all, the harpoons dealt deadly penetrative power, and the glowing missiles made the raging fire as explosive as possible. The heart of the vacation mansion turned into a death zone! The effects of the bombardment of the mansion continued for 2 minutes until it finally calmed down. By this time, the terrain of the mansion was already altered by the destruction that took place. This was when the red-eyed surviving soldiers finally looked through the dust to see if their enemy was finally dead. It seemed so; no sound came out for the next 3 minutes. They did not let down their guard though as they decided to go closer and confirm. This was when it happened! [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone!] [You have activated skill: Sound Control!] [You have created a sound construct: Loud Speaker!] [You have activated magic gadget''s active skill: Vacuum Space!] [You have activated magic gadget''s active skill: Sound Blast!] [You have activated skill: Sound Reflection!] "F*CK YOU!!!" [You have activated killer move: Ancient God''s Blast!] BOOMMMMMMMMMMM! Destructive potential was displayed at its peak! The terrifying attack swept through the mansion and beyond like a plague, tyrannically destroying the doom shield that was erected and wiping out almost all life that inhabited this region. By the time the attack subsided, Sebastian already escaped. He suffered terrible injuries from the fighter jets'' attacks, but he endured them all just to let his mana stamina recover as much as possible. This was to enable enough stamina to activate his killer move. At this moment, his mana stamina was down to 0 for the first time but he succeeded in his objective of escaping the mansion. The only problem was that the test never ended. Sebastian already escaped far from the mansion but the virtual-reality domain never faded off, the fighter jets were still following him like a fly. This continued until he escaped to the end of the island, at the northern end. Here, Sebastian saw a scene that made his heart turn cold. WOM! The U.S military navy fleet was here! "F*ck you Sea King!" "End the test already!" Chapter 269 - Escape [2]. It felt ironic for a magic-wielding mutated Atlantian, but Sebastian was now at his wits'' end. He could feel his strength waning rapidly. This was all parts of the consequence as soon as his mana stamina hit 0. Though due to the speed of his supersonic speed skill, he was able to rapidly escape the fortified mansion after unleashing his deadly killer move, this could not counter the effects of his critical M.S state. He learned of the effects of hitting 0 with his mana stamina at the most terrible time of all, a time when he needed his full strength the most. As soon as his M.S hit 0, he first felt a sense of dizziness hit him. Then, he felt his strength and endurance rapidly waning the next moment, this was quickly followed by a system notification. [Warning! You have entered a weakened state!] [All your attributes have been reduced by 30%!] Being weakened by 30% meant a lot, it meant so much that if he had such weakness before, his killer move activation would have not been enough to force his escape from the mansion suicide trap. Sebastian wouldn''t have felt the effects of this weakness so much if the situation was normal, but his situation was in no way normal. Not only did the Sea King refuse to acknowledge his victory and to end the test, but he was now before a military fleet that left him at the point of despair. This was the U.S Northern fleet! Sebastian caught the sound waves when Captain Devon called for reinforcement, but not even once did he expect this mighty fleet to appear at such a fast speed. This was a mighty fleet that could pose a threat to him! Comprising of about 8 normal warships, 25 speed boats loaded with heavily armed soldiers, 12 torpedo boats, 2 submarines, 5 frigate warships, and 2 Destroyers, this was a mighty force that could unleash gigantic destruction! Now, Sebastian was before this mighty fleet, with only a Trident. As soon as he appeared, all the radars of the warships narrowed on the assassin who succeeded in killing the President. "Admiral Jack, awaiting orders". "Destroy him!" The 2 Destroyers that led this formation of warships led the charge, their A. I controlled rapid-laser guns rotated before narrowing down on the soldier. Then, these deadly weapons unleashed destruction. Tututututututututu! Sebastian heard nothing else, only a rapid sound that bombarded his ears like mosquitoes were hovering beside them. Before he could think, a force that shattered his bones slammed into him from the front. [Warning! You have been inflicted with staggering damage!] [Health Points: 428/521.] [HP: 323/521.] [HP: 124/521.] Sebastian could only remember himself coughing out blood, he could not remember the rest as the pain sensation directly overwhelmed his brain. "Ugh!" This was the only sound that Sebastian could let out as the overpowering might of the rapid lasers pushed him backward with speed after wreaking havoc across his entire front body. Sebastian landed with a thud, he tried to focus but his eyes were dizzy. The only thing that he could focus on was his system notification. In just 3 seconds, the 2 Destroyers were able to deplete his health to below 100. The tyrannical damage dealt to him showed the power of the Destroyers, and how exaggerated the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King imagined them. Sebastian could feel his body organs failing. When he looked down, he saw that a huge hole was already inside his stomach where his intestines squirmed, making him shudder at the sight amid the pain. He gasped for breath in pain, his lungs were destroyed. Amid his organs and his body slowly failing, Sebastian could already feel that his eyes were also failing, he was about to faint which at this moment meant direct death since his injuries were too severe. This was when his rejuvenation skill would have played the greatest effect, but unfortunately, this skill could not be used. Pushed by the pressure of death, Sebastian''s panicking and restless brain seemed to remember that he also had another skill that would have been useful at this moment but he couldn''t remember accurately. Whoosh! He was helpless, all that he could hear was the U.S fleet drawing nearer. For A. Is, though he was currently being blocked from the sight of the warships by a boulder, they could easily pinpoint his location through other means. "No, I cannot die here!" Sebastian roared in his mind as he tried to gather strength into his failing bones. He felt strength momentarily entering his body, but this waned the next moment as all the fueling momentum was exhausted. This time, he was really at his wits'' end. Sebastian could even feel his grip on his magic Trident loosening. Once he lost his weapon, he lost his last means to turn this situation around. Sebastian felt lost all of a sudden, is this where he was going to end his race? When he got the clue of the Sea King''s Inheritance, he was ecstatic and he immediately made getting it his ultimate goal. Accomplishing this would bring him closer to becoming the Ocean Master. Since coming to this world, having understood its wonders and most especially the unrestricted access to test subjects, he already secretly accepted his system''s mission completely. He knew that, as the Ocean Master, he would probably be the strongest creature in this world which would make a lot of things easier for him. Then, he would no longer fret about getting stronger since he was already the strongest. Then, he could finally engage in full-scale dissection without worries. He still hadn''t forgotten that his only official dissection of a predator was on a Blue Tang Fish. He was not satisfied with that, he wanted more! As he thought of all these, he tried to channel them into a source of power and motivation to help him get out of his predicament but none of it worked. His mana recovery mechanism was not even working again. Perhaps, the tyrannical attack from the 2 Destroyers probably already wreaked his body so much that it could no longer delegate energy to do this. On his lying position, Sebastian looked up and admitted defeat. Even if this was an unrealistic U.S.A that was envisioned by the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King, he admitted that he stood no chance against them. This Northern U.S Fleet was inevitable! Whoosh! After taking their time without shooting, and seeing that the assassin could no longer stand up, the fleet finally surrounded Sebastian''s position. Admiral Jack didn''t give any complicated commands, he simply ordered for the assassin to be captured alive. Seeing that he was already weakened, the Admiral easily decided that death was too easy a punishment for this sinner. Thud! Thud! Thud! Sebastian could hear the sound of the soldiers'' boots hitting the floor as they ran towards him while their weapons remained fixed on him. The next moment, he felt a soldier''s rifle poking his head. On seeing the injury that was on his stomach and chest, the soldiers were marveled at how he was still alive but they could easily see that he was spent. This gave them confidence. While still pointing their weapons at him, one of the soldiers stepped on Sebastian''s head, applying crushing force with his boots that made Sebastian''s already weakened head begin aching. At this moment, Sebastian felt that the pain was trivial, it was the humiliation of his head being stepped on that really made a sense of anger rise in him. He ignored the consequences, he ignored the pain, he ignored the weakness, then he went against them all as his hand grabbed his Trident again. Bam! Bam! 2 quick strikes from him, and 2 soldiers lost their heads. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! The remaining soldiers did not hesitate to pull the trigger while hastily retreating. All these bullets hit Sebastian''s unprotected body, digging numerous holes across his body as blood flowed out of him like running taps. "Ha!" Sebastian gasped. With bloodshot eyes, he took a step forward, trying to push against the weakness that was invading every inch of his body as he tried to kill one more soldier to wash away his humiliation. Bam! One of the soldiers finally shot him in the head. Sebastian stopped, then he jerked unsteadily. As blood flowed from the hole in his brain, his thoughts already turned messy and his vision finally went dark. Thud! Sebastian fell lifelessly! Sebastian died! Chapter 270 - Meeting The Doppelganger And Invisibility Sea King! At the last moment, before he died, Sebastian had only one regret. "I couldn''t even dissect a dragon¡­" ¡­ What comes after death? This was an age-old question that has been asked and answered by a lot of races, dignitaries, and authority figures over the years. Everyone had his/her own answer, but there was no definite proof to verify any of them. Even as an anatomist who dabbled in the physical aspect of sea creatures in his previous life, Sebastian was never able to graduate to the more ethereal aspects of any life that he ever dissected. This was one of the numerous mysteries of life. Like was unsearchable to the end, this was why it was called life. He may shamelessly call himself an anatomy genius, but even if he had a million times more guts, he could never call himself a master of life. To people like Sebastian who belonged to a certain religion, they believed that after death there was this phenomenon called heaven and hell. This was a phenomenon where the evil goes to hell, and the good goes to heaven. Though no definite scientific proof for this had ever been produced, life itself was also not scientifically proven to its fullest. What is life? Why do we even live? Where did we originate from? These were unanswered questions that Sebastian frequently asked due to his inherent curiosity as a scientist. Despite how much he pondered, he never got a definite answer. Due to this frustration, Sebastian decided to give up and simply accept the explanation that was given by his religion, heaven, and hell. So where would he go? Heaven? Hell? As a Megalodon now who lived in a fantastical world like Oceania, did the phenomenon of heaven and hell still even applied to him? Before his last regret, these were things that Sebastian pondered on. Unfortunately, his thought process was prematurely cut off since the dead could not think. He was dead! ¡­ It took an unimaginably long time that Sebastian could not process before he regained what he could call mild consciousness. Blink! This time, Sebastian didn''t wake up as an Atlantian, nor as a Megalodon, he instead woke up as a soul. He was a floating ethereal bob of yellow light in a dark void. On regaining consciousness, Sebastian''s memories were still fuzzy, but he remembered his last encounters and knew that he was dead. He instinctively started directing a curious exploratory look outwards. "Is this heaven?" "I don''t think so. It''s a dark void, it''s probably hell, right?" Amid his thought, Sebastian could feel his soul strengthening and becoming more corporeal. This was when he tried to access his system, he got no answer which was spooky but surprisingly, a different answer appeared. Zap! To Sebastian''s shock, what seemed like a space rift appeared in this spooky dark void as an enormous claw appeared before his tiny floating soul. Without any modesty being exhibited by it, this giant claw grabbed Sebastian''s soul and pulled back. Bzzz! Sebastian felt like a million drums were playing in his head. The pull was so strong that he could not offer resistance. He could only flail helplessly as he was rudely pulled out of this dark void by the powerful giant claw. In an instant, both Sebastian and the giant claw were gone. ¡­ Blink! Sebastian opened his eyes again, then he heaved a sigh of relief, he was back! For some strange reason that he did not know, he was back and was still in the form of an Atlantian. The reason for the giant claw pulling him back also eluded him, but he was glad that he survived. On looking down, he saw his still squirming flesh that was now rapidly recovering though the pain was already more or less gone. "Did Queen Heareth rescue me?" Sebastian soon scraped this guess since his injuries from that previous battle were so severe that he doubted the shark queen''s healing magic domain could take care of it so effectively. He was supposed to be dead, so what happened? This was when he arrived at a radical but more acceptable guess. "Did I¡­, pass the test?!" This was his only explanation since he believed that only the Sea King had the measures to heal such fatal injuries. Sebastian was astonished and excited as he quickly activated his sound control skill and created the sound detector construct. With this construct, he was able to survey his surroundings. He was back in the catacomb; Sebastian was instantly certain of this. The only difference was that this was a different part of the catacomb. Unlike the previous parts that were submerged in water, this was like a cave in a medieval assassin''s creed game. The cave was fairly narrow but could fit Sebastian''s current form. He saw no instruction guide, but Sebastian easily understood. In the end, the Sea King intervened, he won the contest and was now the main inheritor. He needed to pass through this cave to get his inheritance. Sebastian was hyped to the limit as he made all these deductions. Since his system set hunting for the other unique skills as his ultimate goal, he had always been striving for this, now he was so close to getting one, his excitement at the situation knew no end. Without any hesitation, Sebastian took his first step inside the cave. As he walked deeper, he observed his surroundings. The cave was not too deep, but Sebastian spent 30 minutes going through it till he reached the end. During the journey, he was able to see the arrangements of the Sea King along the cave passage that deepened his guess. At each interval that he walked deeper into the cave; he saw 2 rows of a specific monster that were stored inside the walls of the cave. Those parts of the cave were made transparent, which enabled Sebastian to see them. These monsters ranged from Great White Sharks to enormous Pythons, to giant dinosaurs that looked extremely similar to Godzilla, and even a Dragon! The common fact about these monsters was that they were all dead! And on top of each of these beast storage walls was a word and a number. - Doppelganger 0129 - Doppelganger 0130 - Doppelganger 0131 - Doppelganger 0132 Sebastian kept on seeing monsters, powerful monsters that left him shuddering from their presence alone but they were all dead which made all this all the more frightening. He kept seeing until he got to the end of the cave. At the end of the cave, Sebastian finally saw the will of the Doppelganger and Invisibility King for the first time. The arrogant smirk that was on its predatory face, the feeling of absolute superiority and disdain for everything other than itself resonated so much with the annoying writings that he kept on seeing. Sebastian had no doubt, this was the crazy Sea King''s will. "I pay my respects to the Sea King!" Sebastian didn''t know the right way to greet a Sea King, but he simply used the one that he remembered being used prevalently in movies. On seeing the young Megalodon''s reaction, the will nodded in satisfaction. "Congratulations!" It finally spoke. "You are my main inheritor!" "Thank you". Sebastian finally dared to observe the Sea King properly. The will was not in a normal form, it was in an ethereal form, just like his soul was a few minutes ago. Sebastian easily recognized that this was the entity that pulled him out of his predicament. The Sea King was actually a Chameleon! A Chameleon with a Draconic bloodline! Despite it being a chameleon, and despite it just being in an ethereal form, Sebastian did not dare to underestimate this deadly predator. This was not only a monster that evolved to the absolute peak of the Black tier realm but a monster with the ability to kill other peak Black tier predators. This was the might of a real Sea King, not a half-baked one like the current Sebastian. Just looking at the will revealed much about the dead Sea King''s previous dominance to Sebastian. Sebastian remained reverent as the Sea King''s will explained. The will first elaborated on how great of an opportunity Sebastian got by qualifying, then he elaborated on how Sebastian''s potential directly increased exponentially due to this encounter. Finally, it revealed how Sebastian could inherit the unique skill. Throughout, it never spoke about Sebastian''s performance, it was like the performance of an orange tier predator was far beneath its notice. An excited Sebastian did not complain as he eagerly approached the machine. The final inheritance mechanism was installed in a machine, this machine''s manifestation was in the form of a chair. All that was required of Sebastian was for him to sit down on the chair, relax his mind, and let the machine do everything else. Sebastian walked towards the machine with anticipation in his heart, then he finally sat down as excitement rippled through his heart. [System Notification!] Sebastian looked at the system notification before quickly ignoring it, he focused all his attention on the possible changes that would soon go on inside his body. This was when the machine moved. Clang! The mechanical arms moved as what seemed like injections were pushed closer to Sebastian''s brain, Sebastian remained still as all this happened. Just a few inches away from his head, before the metal could pin his head, Sebastian raised his hand and grabbed it! He turned his head and looked straight into the Sea King''s eyes, then he spoke extremely slowly. "This inheritance¡­" "This inheritance was a fake from the onset right, Sea King? Or should I say¡­ Carcarot Gorgoneon?" "¡­" Chapter 271 - The Grand Conspiracy! Falling Out With The Sea King! "This inheritance was a fake from the onset right, Sea King? Or should I say¡­ Carcarot Gorgoneon?" "¡­" Absolute silence suddenly descended into the cave, making it''s already weird setting to turn all the more spooky. For 5 minutes, neither Sebastian nor the supposed Sea King''s will spoke as they kept on staring at each other. Feeling the steely gaze of this deadly predator, Sebastian had to admit that he was intimidated. Despite this, he continued staring back at it since he knew that he was right and this whole inheritance was a farce from the beginning. It suddenly felt like they were both engaged in a staring contest, but the implications involved were much more. Sebastian finally stood up from the chair that looked too identical to the special storage in the cave wall where those lines of dead predators were kept. Thud! Thud! In this silent environment, his steps echoed, reverberating loudly through the cave. "You know, I discovered your grand conspiracy immediately after I entered the inheritance ground and all I can say is that I was sorely disappointed". The Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King''s will did not utter a word, he kept his predatory gaze on the Megalodon, Sebastian didn''t mind though since he continued. "You''re not a will, you''re the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King itself, right?" Sebastian asked as an interesting expression came on his face. "I have proof, just wait and let me explain". "To be sincere, I have this special advantage that is hard to detect". "Through this special advantage, I was immediately notified of the malevolent but powerful creature that was behind the inheritance". "This powerful might can not be exhibited by a will; this alone gave me a lot of clues and misgivings after entering the inheritance ground". "I didn''t leave though, the catch at stake is just too important, I decided to follow my special advantage''s plans". "I set out with a mission to get clues to confirm this conjecture". "The first clue that I got was your first test, it didn''t look like a test that was prepared for a large group of predators and possible inheritors". "For some reason, it felt that the test was specifically prepared for me". "The balanced test was the only normal one of the first test. To me, you used this test as a measure to gauge my strength and my potential". "Then from the next phase of the first test, everything changed". "At first, I couldn''t believe it but combining it with what my special advantage revealed to me, it became explainable". "It was like, the subsequent tests from here were hand-scripted to fit me best and to draw out my full potential". "I know monster inheritances are supposed to be beneficial, but this, this was just too finetuned towards helping me break my limit". "Coincidentally, in the strength test, the test I faced was on a time limit. I had to destroy a metallic structure that was far above my normal ability to destroy, while you kept writing bad luck and that you wanted me to die which stacked the pressure on me". "The pressure got to me". "It was either I use my unique skill, or die, or break my limits". "In the end, I broke my limits and succeeded in creating my first killer move". "On the defense test, though I already discovered means to qualify, you deliberately made things a lot harder for me just to push me to the wall". "Why so much attention to such a puny orange tier Megalodon?" "Perhaps, it was your craziness acting up again, but I doubt it". "I don''t hate you for pushing me so much though since it pushed me to realize my future battle style, but what is in me that merits so much attention?" "As they say, this is food for thought". "Then, on the endurance test, it was a free for all survival setting". "Like the previous tests, you gave me special attention though it was not obvious. I almost always got benefits, and though I met powerful opponents that pushed me to the brink, I never met an opponent that could crush me completely though there were numerous of such competitors inside the inheritance ground". "Not even the determined Atlantians were able to corner me with their powerful might despite the advantages that they enjoyed". "What are the odds of this happening?" "This was when I knew that you knew of my possession of a unique inheritance from the onset". "All that followed seemed like you were molding me for a specific use, it was like I was your test subject who was subjected to a period of prototype testing". "I am too familiar with this test subject of a thing". "This was when I was fairly certain that something was wrong". "Without my special advantage and its early warning, I would have never known of all these but with its warning, everything clicks". "You knew I had a unique skill and started going after me from the onset, am I right, the Great Carcarot Gorgoeon?" "Don''t worry, all these are minor evidence, the conclusive evidence that verified all my suspicions was your final test to get the ultimate inheritance". "All the proceedings throughout this test were more than enough evidence". "As an illusion magic expert, I believe you are an expert at mind reading and I also believe that you already succeeded in spying slightly into my mind". "This is why you changed your last test''s setting to take place on your envisioned earth, this is because you had suspicions about me from the few memories that you were able to peek into". "Of course, you rationalized the last test by spouting a load of crap about your inheritor needing to adapt to different bodies but I was no longer convinced". "From then, I knew that you were a scam! A big scam!" "Not only that, my performance in adapting so fast to a human body was deliberate on my part. This convinced you that I am somehow related to earth". "To satisfy your curiosity, you started more actively affecting my circumstances. This was when I started directing you". "I would have easily qualified also on this last test, but you deliberately made things harder, it was like you were not actually after an inheritor". "Even after I qualified, you still brought a fleet to test my limits. With all due respect, this move of yours was utter crap!" "Then, I died". "But guess what, I survived". "You went against your writings which was a huge contradiction to the personality that you already made me associate with you". "Of course, this may be due to a moment of compassion but I highly doubt it when it comes from an old crazy monster like you". "This confirmed my guess that you are a professional liar". "Lastly, when I was going through your cave, revealing those bodies to me was another stupid mistake. They were the final confirmation that I needed". "After seeing those, and with the knowledge and suspicion that I already have, do you really think me so foolish as to obediently follow your arrangements?" "Your plan was really seamless, you got me completely, but it is my special advantage that defeated you". "Now, I am really curious how you were able to cling to your life when the mighty Atlantis thinks that you are dead". "Also, I already guess your plans". "Like those corpses, your end goal is to make me the doppelganger carrier of your soul, right? That is why you had to test my limits to gauge my potential, right?" Sebastian finally stopped to catch his breath, then he wearily looked back at the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King. "To be sincere, facing a mighty existence like you till now still keeps me shaking on my boots, but I have no choice but to face you". "I''ve said all that I have to say". The Sea King kept quiet for 2 minutes before it spoke, it said only 2 words. "You''re right!" At this moment, the floating soul''s demeanor suddenly changed. A mighty pressure like that of rolling seas and raging tsunamis battered Sebastian''s mind. Sebastian felt a prestige that suppressed his very soul. The Sea King no longer bothered to suppress its absolutely dominating strength. Though it was currently severely injured, its body was annihilated, and it could only exist as a soul now which restricted it in numerous ways, its effective strength could not be underestimated. This was a predator who once ruled one of the seas of Oceania! This was a predator at the absolute peak of Oceania! The Sea King directed his mighty gaze at Sebastian, but the Megalodon did not flinch which made this overlord ask a question. "I may have underestimated you; you may be extremely intelligent, you may be right and all, but you are just an orange tier Megalodon". "What gives you the confidence to confront me?" "¡­" Sebastian smiled. "I told you that I have a special advantage". "I have a Sage!" The next moment, a powerful will arose directly from inside Sebastian like a slumbering Dragon just woke up from its millennium slumber. The Sea King''s gaze turned steely! Chapter 272 - The Death Of Carcarot Gorgoneon, The Doppelganger And Invisibility Sea King! As soon as the first batch of competitors entered his inheritance ground, Carcarot Gorgoneon amid his struggles felt that he hit the jackpot. Pushed by desperation, he had no choice but to bring his inheritance ground to a region that he barely understood. His territory was the Black Veil! Though during his days as a young adventurous Chameleon, he had explored through the 7 Great Seas without abandon, engaging in a lot of mischiefs, the Black Veil was still undoubtedly his territory. The Green Mist Sea was the territory of one of his greatest rivals, the Clown King but pushed by the circumstances, he had no choice but to plunge into this hostile territory. When he was attacked by the combined offensive formed by the terrifying armies of the Atlantians, Snowmen, and the Dark Elves, he knew that his time was ripe but he never once gave up. At the last moment, he had no choice but to abandon his mortal coil. Before abandoning his mortal coil though, he activated a forbidden skill that managed to preserve his life unbeknownst to his hunters. Of the 7 Sea Kings, the Necromancy King of the Dungeon of Souls was the undisputed master when it came to soul-related matters. Against this powerful opponent, Carcarot has fought numerous times. Though each time, none of them ever got the opportunity to emerge as the absolute winner, they always emerged out of each battle with gains. As some of the most terrifying beasts with the most physical and magic qi accumulation across all of Oceania, they were old monsters who knew their stuff. Their skill and adaptation set was absolutely terrifying! Their effective power and destructive potential were horrifying! During one of these battles was when Carcarot Gorgoneon was able to steal this vital skill from his opponent that was called the Soul Mystery. With the soul mystery skill, he was able to consolidate his soul power into a corporeal existence that enabled him to preserve his life. This was when the thought of creating his inheritance ground sprouted. In normal circumstances, this would have sounded like blasphemy to him but he knew that he was no longer that all-powerful sea king. At this moment, he was nothing more than an injured overlord. The activation of the soul mystery skill meant that he now existed with just a fraction of the power that he wielded at his peak, this was why he sought a suitable vessel, a suitable vessel where he could start all over. The Necromancy King originally created this skill to escape his mortal limitations and gain the much sought-after immortality. The Soul Mystery''s technical details entail leaving your original body, preserving your soul, and transplanting your soul into the body of a promising target thereby successfully creating a new starting point for yourself. When he got the skill, Carcarot never thought of these but he started thinking of them when he was finally forced to exist as a mere soul. After he created his inheritance ground, he used another skill to induce a terrifying burst of desire in the hearts of any beast that came within the vicinity of his inheritance ground. This was to get higher prospects for a suitable target. He already predicted the intervention of Atlantians, and he was prepared for it. His plan was ready, and all that followed was to wait. It did not take long before his plan started bearing fruits. The predators that appeared impressed him, but none impressed him as much as the young Space Beast. On seeing this predator, he became certain that he already found his most suitable target. Like a predator stalking prey, his attention was pinned on this beast. As a normal mutated Chameleon during his early years, like all other predators with low-grade bloodline, he always envied those with superior bloodlines and yearned to get it someday. This seemed like an impossible dream before, but it may now be viable. With his target pinpointed, every other benefactor that entered his inheritance ground became trivial to him. They may be robbers who were rampaging through his grave, but he didn''t give a damn, he benefited the most. This continued until a group of Great White Sharks also entered his inheritance ground. Following alongside this group of Great White Sharks was a Megalodon that attracted his attention immediately. Morales didn''t attract this overlord''s attention due to his strength, not due to his genius, and not due to his intelligence either, he attracted this terrifying predator''s attention because he wielded a unique skill! This was a treasure that was at the absolute pinnacle in Oceania! Instantly, Carcarot changed his attention and put it on this Megalodon because it was abnormal for a normal Megalodon to bear the pressure of housing a unique skill in his body. Unique skills were called unique for a reason. Carcarot Gorgoneon roamed Oceania for centuries before he developed his concept of the Doppelganger and Invisibility ability, which with time slowly mutated to become his unique skill. Unique skills were exclusive to their creators, there was no precedence in history where another beast succeeded in wielding them. The death of the Clown King verified this. Carcarot was among the numerous powerhouses that vied to inherit the Clown unique skill, but though he got close enough to it, he knew that no other predator could wield it. This was when his belief that unique skills were unique to their creators was born, and this had not changed for centuries till now. Immediately, Carcarot deduced that this Megalodon was special. This was the reason why he gave all his attention to monitoring this wild goose and making sure to push it to its very limits. He wanted to know what made the Megalodon so special. In the end, despite his many countermeasures, the Megalodon revealed a lot of promise but he still couldn''t find the abnormality that enabled this puny being to wield another unique skill when he could not. Fed up, Carcarot decided to take things a step further. At the last test, after Sebastian died, he intervened and saved him before subsequently tweaking the rules and declaring him the winner. Not once did he think that all these actions would have led to suspicion. All his attention was focused on personally getting his fangs on the Megalodon, and slowly dissecting his secrets to satisfy his curiosity and also to get the perfect vessel that he yearned for. This was what culminated in all that happened, and now here they were. "I have a Sage!" When he heard this term from the young Megalodon, Carcarot at first gave it no second thoughts but on feeling the emergence of the powerful will that absolutely dwarfed his, Carcarot calmed down and thought. "Sage¡­, sage¡­" His eyes widened the next moment. "Sage!!!" Carcarot Gorgoneon finally understood, the look that he directed at Sebastian changed. He no longer expressed that egoistical superior look, instead a look of resignation and stubbornness was what was left. "I understand now". This old monster sighed. If he couldn''t understand by now, then Carcarot''s centuries as an overlord would have been in vain. The dominating, crushing power that seemed capable of squashing him like a bug was unmistakable. "So, you''re from the Myth Realm?" "¡­" There was no reply. Carcarot sighed. "Before I die, can you give me the pleasure of knowing your esteemed title, Sage?" "Sage 54!" That was all that was said before the powerful will flared the next moment. Carcarot Gorgoneon did not resist, not that it would matter, this Sea King already knew his fate and he accepted it with opened hands. This Sea King''s dying expression was not that of regret, but that of pride. "It was an honor to have met you!" BOOM! A terrifying soul blast was released the next moment. Carcarot Gorgoneon stood no chance! After centuries of reigning over the Black Veil and dominating as one of the overlords of Oceania, another of the revered Sea Kings was dead! The Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King was dead! Chapter 273 - Threading A Thin Thorny Line To Reap All The Benefits! Evolution! Phew! Sebastian heaved a deep sigh of relief. Even at this moment, he could feel his hands and feet shaking as the pressure of the previous situation that he found himself in and the fact that he was able to survive unscathed finally settled in. The past few minutes were really of him walking at the edge of a sharp blade, any risky venture and he could be easily split into two by the sharp edge. The risks were huge, and so were the benefits if he succeeded. His body felt so tense at this moment that though he already heaved a sigh of relief, he could still feel his shaking body. This was Sebastian''s most thrilling and dangerous encounter in both his lives! All he could describe it with was dangerous and weirdly satisfying. The scene between him and the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King that just ended seemed like a perfect scenario of dominance, but Sebastian knew that this was not the case. This time, his life was really placed on the line. The perfect explanation for all this started from the moment that he took his first swim inside this inheritance ground that was rigged from the beginning. As soon as Sebastian stepped inside the inheritance ground, he received an ominous system notification that spooked the sh*t out of him. The fact that the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King may still be alive, and he may have come under the radar of this extremely dangerous predator meant so much to Sebastian that he almost fainted in fear. He was spooked! It took a lot from him to exert the appropriate amount of effort to engage in such a meticulous award-winning acting sprint so as not to alarm the watching Sea King. He referenced all of his idol actors and actresses to make this so smooth. The pressure of entering an inheritance ground and the dangers that it presented alone was already terrifyingly strong, adding the fact that he had to stay on guard against the watching predator strained Sebastian to the limit. This was when he started executing the daring counter-observation plan that the Sage residing in his head proposed. The living Sea King not only succeeded in alarming his system, but it also succeeded in waking up the slumbering Sage that was in his mind. As the Sage already explained some time ago, only a fraction of its power resided in the Ocean Domination System and Sebastian had to ration its use. According to the Sage, for Sebastian to survive this ordeal, he had to listen to and do according to all his orders with no margin for error. The fragment of the Sage that lived in his mind did not have full confidence of dealing the killer blow to the Sea King even in its weakened state, but he still had the confidence of winning if Sebastian obeyed his commands to the letter. The Great Carcarot Gorgoneon was deserving of his status as an old monster, his power and his expansive skill set reflected this. What really did the Sea King in was its desperation to find the perfect vessel. This was the only reason why Sebastian was able to maintain his acting while not alerting the Sea King, benefiting massively due to the Sea King''s arrangement, and at the end cornering it while the Sea King followed like a marionette. Sage 54 banked the success of his plan on intimidation! This was an absolutely ridiculous notion that Sebastian was unwilling to follow with originally, but left with no choice, he went on with it. In the end, the results widely exceeded his expectations. The base of the plan was to play to the Sea King''s arrangements, behave like the perfect fool to be exploited, and corner the Sea King in its own game. When the soul of the Sea King was finally located, its fate was sealed. Sebastian first revealed everything, all the knowledge, the fact that he knew that the inheritance was a farce, and the fact that he even manipulated the Sea King to show Carcarot Gorgoneon that he was far more abnormal than it expected. Though the Sea King never acted it, Sebastian guessed that the Sea King was heavily affected by the fact that such a weaker predator outwitted it. This was when Sebastian''s blending in of his special advantage became relevant. All the talk of a special advantage and the tangible evidence before the Sea King succeeded in painting the most mysterious effect for his system. Not only his system, most especially the entity that resided in his head. This was why, when the Sage finally emerged, the effect was so substantial. In normal circumstances, the effects would have never been so substantial, but the mere mention of the term ''sage'' sang a different tune to the Sea King. Sebastian didn''t know, but Carcarot seemed to have heard of a Sage once. The Sea King associating the Sage with the now repetitive mention of the Myth Realm again left Sebastian thinking. Pairing all these advantages with the dominating and oppressive will that the Sage exuded, the Sea King gave up resisting. This was why when the Sage finally attacked, the Sea King died so smoothly. Sebastian didn''t survive due to the Sage''s present absolute strength, he survived due to the Sage''s meticulous and wise arrangements, perfect guidance on how to execute them, and the Sage''s final performance. The Sea King stood no chance! Now, the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King was dead and its most important treasures were left for Sebastian to take. He was the only one in this cave, Sebastian felt surreal and shocked. The fact that a predator at the absolute peak of this world died so easily and helplessly left him questioning life. From the beginning to the end, he was simply a bystander, he never put in a hand of help, the Sage 54 that resided in his head took care of it all. For the first time since his transmigration, Sebastian finally knew how powerful the existence that was residing in his head was. He finally knew how much of an advantage he had over other predators with his system, it was the most terrifying cheat ever! Also, his outlook on the random term ''Myth Realm'' changed. Sebastian vowed to actively look for clues, and if he could not, he vowed to at least look for knowledge about this strange realm that the Sage''s main body probably resided in after the affairs of this inheritance were over. Perhaps, this would answer a lot of his unanswered questions. All these were for another time though, at this moment, the priority to Sebastian was to benefit as much as possible. Like a dream, he fulfilled his goal, emerging as the ultimate inheritor, now he got to enjoy all the major benefits that this brought. In this cave, Sebastian only needed a major sweep of his sound detector to get what he wanted, all the benefits stored in this hall. 22 Mana Cores, 5 Endurance Cores, 5 Strength Cores, 2 Longevity Cores, and 2 Luck Cores. This was a massive gain that Sebastian never anticipated, expecting it before now almost seemed like blasphemy to him! Rationalizing this, he easily deduced that these were the resources that the Sea King originally prepared to make his new mortal vessel as powerful as possible and to grant it the best potential. Now, all these were Sebastian''s with no additional clause of losing his soul so that the Sea King could take over his body. Of course, after the powerful attack, the Sage indicated that its fragment was further weakened which meant less help to Sebastian in the future but Sebastian was completely satisfied with this bargain. After settling down, he did not waste time, he directly started consuming the cores that he managed to grab. This was when Sebastian met a roadblock. [Warning! An orange tier predator''s limit is absorbing 10 cores of a specific type, absorbing more cores is filled with risks.] Sebastian didn''t ask why this was so, he already lived here long enough to know the eccentricities of this magic world. He absorbed all the strength, endurance, luck, and longevity cores, while also absorbing the mana cores that he could before he reached his limit. By this time, Sebastian felt the difference. He felt full! He felt full of energy, power, and vitality! Sebastian could even tangibly fill his filled-up physical and magic qi! He felt at his strongest! He knew it, this was the right time to start his evolution. Sebastian grinned. "System, give it to me!" [Proceed with breakthrough attempt: Yes/No?] "Yes!" [Breakthrough mechanisms have been put in place. Stabilizing host¡­, host has been stabilized.] [Mental check: Pass.] [Physical check: Pass.] [All parameters for evolution are complete, host''s consciousness will now be drawn into the illusion realm.] Sebastian could already be considered a veteran in the evolution phenomenon though this was an evolution to a different realm entirely. He reacted mildly as the bright light flared before dying down shortly after. He was gone, his evolution had already begun! Chapter 274 - Captain Omegas Exploits! The Atlantian soldiers were having an awful time. The last test of the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King will was so weird and unheard of that it caught all the Atlantian soldiers, including the knowledgeable Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid off-guard. If they were asked to swim a thousand laps, they could do it, if they were asked to survive alone in the darkest regions of Oceania, they could do it, but for this test, they could not do it. This was a test that completely fit the personality of this notorious Sea King. As soon as all the Atlantian soldiers entered the domain for the last test with optimism radiating vibrantly, they faced the nightmares of their lives when they discovered that they were no longer Atlantians. Dogs, cats, rats, eagles, fowls, snakes, and even worms, were just a minority of the myriad transformations that the Atlantians experienced. The set-up was so messed-up that they themselves were messed up. Throughout their whole lives in service under the Atlantian army, they were trained to always fight as Atlantians and nothing else. None of their commanders ever presented a scenario where they had to fight in the form of a beast, this was because it was too unrealistic and was almost impossible for them to find themselves in such circumstances. Right now, though, they could only marvel at how na?ve their commanders had been. They actually faced a situation where they had to battle as beasts! Though the Atlantian soldiers disdained the notion, they had no choice but to try their possible best to improvise and give their best, this was because this mission was not just tied to their dignity and destiny. They put in their best because this was a mission that was vital to their race. This served as the perfect motivation that they needed to give their all to try acclimatizing to their new state and to learn how to move and fight with it. Of course, they still had their basic skill sets except for the fact that they could no longer wield weapons which restricted their strength a lot. Their only saving grace was the prevalence of the origin magic. Despite this single advantage though, acclimatizing to living as beasts proved to be a herculean task that the majority of them were unable to fulfill. Putting this aside, they were simply too disadvantaged in other areas. In terms of intelligence, apart from storybooks that they''ve read about their progenitor world, they had never seen or read anything that could accurately describe earth and its culture which limited their intelligence by a lot. This was why over 50% of them were eliminated on the first day as they were discovered by the soldiers of the military outposts that were on patrol. The rest continued striving amidst their unfavorable circumstances, all they wished for was to fulfill this mission and to bring glory to their race. Despite all their efforts, as time went on, more of them were eliminated. This was a similar scenario that was reflected of the mutated beasts that managed to make it to the extent where they could access the last test. About 80% of the mutated beasts were unable to get to this point, but the few that were able to make it all had horrible records. The blood of all these eliminated candidates flowed like a river that washed the inheritance ground, dying it red while the souls of the dead enhanced its other ethereal effects. All these showed how troublesomely hard this last test was. None of the candidates managed to get close to the U.S President, except 2 candidates who were Sebastian and Captain Omega. Captain Omega transformed into a dog on entering the inheritance ground, a huge aggressive magic bulldog that fit this man''s personality. Like a bulldog, though he also suffered a lot of restrictions, Captain Omega lost his weakness as his strength was amplified to the maximum. Every one of them was transformed into beasts which succeeded in degrading their intelligence by a lot. Captain Omega never paid much attention to this originally, which made him the greatest benefactor of this setup. With no need of paying attention to this defect again, he simply forgot everything and settled for a straightforward approach for strength. Bulldozing through every obstacle with brainless strength was the approach that he settled for, and it worked wonders for him. The major challenge in his plan was still acclimatizing to the feeling of living like a dog. This posed a significant problem to him, but he had some motivating factors that gave him a lot of help. After suffering the defeat of being unable to capture the young Megalodon, and stacking this with the effects of his previous defeats, Captain Omega finally felt that he was getting old and turning useless. It may feel petty, but these defeats decreased his self-confidence a lot. His saving grace was that he was never a man to settle for defeats. To regain his pride and self-confidence was why he volunteered to be the first one to enter this unknown domain to scout the dangers. On getting here and seeing the challenges, it was this same motivation to recover his pride that pushed him to put more effort than all the others. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was transformed into a worm which made his acclimatization tasks one of the hardest. With this powerful Atlantian relegated to the side, Captain Omega became the Atlantian main man. This man that sought to protect his pride repeatedly broke his limits. "If some spoiled brat Megalodon thinks he can trample over my pride, then I''ll have to take the responsibility that his parents failed to discipline him!" With this mindset, Captain Omega achieved wonders! On the 4th day, he grew accustomed to all the basics of living and moving as a dog. On the 5th day, he mastered moving with his new body. Then on the 6th day, he attacked without any meticulous planning. Of course, as soon as he moved in, the U.S soldiers were alerted as they all rallied to kill this assassin before he could deal any real damage. Captain Omega proved a point though, he was not so easily killable. "Killer Move: Brainless Blood Asura!" In this domain, he was one of the few whose killer moves were still activatable. With this killer move, Captain Omega turned into an unstoppable train. He crashed through a lot of soldiers, starting a massacre that carried him to inside the heart of the President''s vacation mansion. This was where he was surrounded from all sides. Captain Omega put up a heroic fight against all odds against the enemies that overwhelmed him in numbers and almost every other parameter. When the 4 Captains arrived with their Positron rifles, his situation finally turned for the worse. These deadly weapons severely injured him, leaving him in a vulnerable state for the other soldiers to exploit. Despite his pathetic state, Captain Omega never backed down as he bit back at the U.S soldiers like a rabid dog who was pushed to the wall. Captain Omega took down hundreds of soldiers before he became spent. At the last moment, before he could sustain the death injury though, the test followed the proper pattern and ended. Captain Omega fulfilled one of the basic requirements of this test to survive. He didn''t just survive; he received a special reward for his performance. Captain Omega received a familiar pair of Boxing chains that he fell in love with at first sight. He failed his ultimate mission, but he was the only Atlantian soldier who achieved a basic result. He succeeded in regaining his pride and self-confidence! He felt like Captain Omega again! Chapter 275 - Flipping The Board, Restarting The Game, And Changing The Rules! Apart from Sebastian who benefited the most from the last Doppelganger test, Captain Omega was undoubtedly the next best benefactor. Colonel Tada was an Atlantian military legend! This was a man who despite his death was still famous in the Atlantian military, his achievements were once-in-a-lifetime achievements and were all recorded in the Atlantian hall of glory. As a soldier who trained to the legendary Gold Realm, the Colonel was due to a promotion in rank but this promotion never happened because he died before he could take hold of his next official bestowed military rank. Of the numerous iconic things that Colonel Tad was known for, he was known more for 2 iconic things. His iconic bald head that created the terrifying killer move, Whirlwind Vibranium Head, and his iconic weapon, the Martial Textbook! The martial textbook seemed like a diminishing name to be given to an extremely powerful iconic weapon, but it reflected the Colonels'' battle style. Just like Captain Omega, Colonel Tada was a straightforward man. He hated solving problems with his brain, he would rather break every obstacle with his fists and his boxing chains than start thinking calculatedly like a nerd. This martial style was what enabled him to create his iconic killer move alongside his bald head, and was what gave the name to his iconic weapon. Unlike with his brain, Colonel Tada was a genius fighter. For the first 30 years of his life, this Colonel never suffered a defeat, both in friendly duels that were organized in safe settings and unbridled war battles. He knew so many martial skills in his head that allies and enemies gave him the nickname of the martial textbook maniac! This was what spilled over to his iconic weapon. Now, Captain Omega succeeded in inheriting this iconic weapon of a legendary soldier of his race as his gain for his basic success in the last test. The reason for his double-joy was the fact that he gained more than just the iconic weapon of this legendary soldier of his race. Colonel Tada put a clause in his inheritance for whoever was to inherit his boxing chains. If that person''s personality was Intune with his martial style, then this lucky inheritor could also inherit all his martial knowledge and killer moves. Coincidentally, Captain Omega was the best fit for his personality. He was just like a reincarnated version of the dead Colonel. With this, Captain Omega succeeded in buying one and getting five. The benefits of this inheritance could not be quantified, he hit the jackpot! The only thing that diminished his joy was the fact that his race''s ultimate mission was still up for grabs. His inability to finish the test with an acceptable grade meant that he already lost the race for the ultimate inheritance. Now, the question was, who would get the ultimate inheritance? ¡­ Sebastian and Captain Omega were not the only success stories of those that took the last Doppelganger test, the rest were just not as exceptional. Apart from extreme situations like in the case of Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid, most of those with a measure of ability before entering the inheritance ground succeeded in getting some slight results from the test. The average time of acclimatization to their new selves was 5 days. Examples of slight success stories like this were the deadly predator Racoon, the Speed Demon, the Space Beast, Old Mak, all the elders of the shark clan, Lieutenant Lookman, and some other exceptional competitors. In the case of Old Mak, after spending 5 days to acclimatize to his new self, he drafted a rough plan in his mind for 2 hours before attacking the U.S President''s vacation mansion with all his strength. Even if he was not too good at such meticulous thinking stuff, Old Mak was still a bonafide clan head of a powerful shark clan of Great White Sharks where a little intelligence was needed to keep the clan afloat. This powerful Great White Shark was not a pushover. During his first attack run, he only got to the gate of the vacation mansion before the resistance got too fierce for him to breakthrough. Unlike Sebastian, he didn''t insist on going all-out on his first try, this veteran predator believed that there was power in being prudent. He ruthlessly abandoned all his progress till now and escaped. With his 5 healing skills, he was able to lick his wounds and recover to his peak state before the next day which was the last day could dawn completely. This time, he planned his attack more meticulously before engaging. Prudence paid its weight in gold to him. After an unrelenting attack barrage on his part paired with his wise battle decisions, he managed to overcome the soldiers'' defenses for a second, barely entering the mansion before he was ganged up. Before he died, he was pulled out of the virtual-reality domain. His reward for his above-average performance was a special and powerful magic gadget that complemented his thunder and lightning magic domain, granting him another powerful trump card as a reward for his efforts. Old Mak did not get the ultimate inheritance, but he retreated satisfied. Lieutenant Lookman''s scenario was almost the same, with the only changes being that his reward was a powerful magic Trident that was far more powerful than the current magic weapon that was in his possession. All the other competitors with an above-average performance all received benefits, only those with average and below performances suffered. None of them were spared, they were ruthlessly left to die. ¡­ Apart from the successful group of competitors like Sebastian and Captain Omega, the mildly successful group like Old Mak, Lieutenant Lookman, the Space Beast, and others, the failure group, there was another group, the survivors'' group. The survivors'' group consisted of predators or Atlantians who were powerful and talented enough to have fallen into the successful or mildly successful group but were betrayed by their luck. A perfect example for this group was Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid of the Atlantian Annihilation Division Fleet. This Atlantian military leaders'' luck was so bad that he suffered the fate of being transformed into a worm. This was one of the hardest transformations to acclimatize to be a wide margin, only second to the snake transformation. Being someone who lived his full Atlantian military career and life with a healthy body, healthy arms, and legs, suddenly being subjected to the task of adapting to a worm body was torture of extremist levels. He wasn''t even given the leisure of having legs, he had to crawl on his body. The body structure and mechanism were too different for any significant breakthroughs, and this was where this Atlantian soldier was stuck. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid gave his very best as he was one of the soldiers who knew exactly what was at stake, but in the end, he failed to get any substantial results that could improve his chances. Despite not even being able to put up a fight against the U.S soldiers that manned the military outposts, this soldier was still able to preserve his life. No matter how much incompatibility that he had with a worm body, he was still an Atlantian Lieutenant Colonel with a firm foundation and deep reserves. His skillset and mastery over origin magic reflected his rank. With the advantages that he had over other competitors, he was able to make sure that he remained alive even though he could not attack. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid hoped to persevere and to keep on trying until he achieved success. This was so that, even if he could not get success, he would be relieved knowing that he did his best. Unfortunately, life and his luck played petty tricks on him, it was now the 7th day but his progress in adapting to his body was still minuscule. He was still stuck. Despite this, this soldier never gave up hope. His eyes were on the prize. His relentless effort paused though when he received an overriding communication request from one of the deep delvers that reported to him. Only one word was communicated, but it had a lot of implications. "Target has been taken!" On hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid''s eyes that were hiding a bit of weariness in them became as sharp as daggers again. The deep delver said the target has been taken, not the target has been acquired, which meant a lot of things to his acute military senses. He already understood what the deep delver meant, but he was deep in thought. If the unique skill was already taken, then who took it? He didn''t pay too much attention to this though; this was because he knew that he needed to act extremely fast if he wanted to intercept this ultimate inheritor of the unique skill. The plan of the Atlantian army did not just end here, they had other contingencies in place, especially for a scenario like this. In the plan, if something like this happened, they simply needed to flip the table, scatter the game, and restart the game with their own rules this time. Originally, they were stuck in a chess game as pawns where they had to move according to the rules set by the Sea King''s will who was the game master. They had to do this to have a chance at getting the ultimate inheritance. But now that the ultimate inheritance was already taken, from the experience of other monster inheritances, the will would have already dissipated which meant that all the defenses of the inheritance ground would decrease in efficacy. This was the perfect game board for the deep delvers to exercise their advantage. These cyborgs could show their full value here. In this scenario where they already lost the game, and the game master was dead, the Atlantian soldiers had to resort to extreme means to win the game by force. This was when flipping the board comes. By flipping the board with their tyrannical strength, they scatter the game, setting it up for a new game to start freshly. In this new game with no game master and an undecided winner, they forcibly make themselves the game masters who set the rules, this was Atlantis'' strategy for this setback. Perhaps, this was a fantasy ambition to others, but the overlord Atlantis was perfectly capable of fulfilling this ambitious move. The predator who got the unique skill must be intercepted! This could not be compromised. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid already had some guesses but he could not be sure, all he knew was that he needed to act fast. He dialed a communication detail into his comm. "All deep delvers, listen to my command!" "Override the rules of the inheritance ground!" "We are going out!" Before moving, the Lieutenant Colonel dialed another communication detail. "Commander, you can now enter the game!" Chapter 276 - Overriding The Inheritance Ground! "All deep delvers, listen to my command!" "Override the rules of the inheritance ground!" These 2 commands were all that the special unit of cyborg soldiers needed to get on a high! This was because their genetic and biological make-up was made up for this, they were made to override the rules of inheritance grounds. As soon as this order was given, they gave a lot of clues to all the Atlantian soldiers who were patched onto this communication channel. To the ordinary soldiers, they knew that they finally entered the most critical period. Despite all the effort that they put in, despite all the time spent on planning, they were unable to get their hands on their ultimate goal. Now, they could only resort to flipping the board to change the game. The normal soldiers, including the exceptional higher-ups like Captain Omega who were still digesting their gains from this inheritance ground, started adjusting their mindset to the mighty clash that was about to unfold. After the order was given, verified, and it settled in, instantly, no matter where they were in the inheritance ground, even if they were still stuck in a virtual-reality domain, the deep delvers reacted. These cyborg soldiers all kneeled, granting themselves a firmer center of gravity as their stomachs opened up, revealing numerous mechanical circuits as optimized wires extended out of their stomachs into the atmosphere. At this moment, these cyborgs looked more like aliens than like variant humans. Their meticulously wired bodies made them look just too alien to be real. These long wires seemed to connect to an unknown energy reactor that was hidden deep in the atmosphere, then the energy inside these cyborg soldiers was overloaded the next moment. In just a few seconds, this berserk energy peaked! The bodies of all the cyborg soldiers started glowing an ominous bright blue color! Their eyes sparkled red, their hair turned as sharp as needles, their faces turned purple as all this overloaded energy converged in their stomach before being released. The release was not normal, the force of release and other parameters were so high that this purely technological energy took on a different element. This energy took on a magical form! In physics, the threshold frequency is defined as the minimum frequency of incident radiation before which the photoelectric emission is not possible completely, irrespective of the intensity of incident radiation. In simpler terms, the threshold frequency must be exceeded before photoelectricity takes place. The transformation here was similar. The inheritance ground had a threshold energy limit that needed to be exceeded before radical changes could be made to the make-up of the inheritance. Originally, the Sea King''s will was in charge of this job of regulating the threshold energy limit and making it as unbreakable as possible. But the dissipation of the will reduced the requirements for this by a large margin, this was why Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid gave his orders. At this moment, by turning their mechanical energy magical, these cyborgs were able to pool their strength together, exceeding the normal sum of their parts as they were finally able to exceed the inheritance''s threshold energy limit. Instantly, a loud rupturing sound reverberated. The threshold energy limit of the inheritance ground was exceeded as a lot of changes took place in milliseconds. The world seemed to shake as it seemed like the world was coming to an end. A hole was ruthlessly torn through the sturdy defenses of the inheritance ground, this hole was like the appearance of a bug in a programmed code, and it was the fatal opening in the defense of the inheritance ground. Boom! Still, inside the virtual-reality domain where he was stuck as a worm, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid suddenly released strength as his aura of dominance swept through the domain like a raging storm. It took a few seconds, but when everything settled down, this Atlantian Lieutenant Colonel regained his form as an Atlantian soldier. After enduring this torture for 7 days, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was back! By taking advantage of the forceful act of the deep delvers, he managed to get back control over his strength due to the lessened restrictions of the inheritance ground which enabled him to complete this feat. His forceful act tore a deeper rift through the threshold defenses of the inheritance ground. Captain Omega and all the other powerful Atlantians did the same thing, then the inheritance ground''s defense finally crumbled completely. But before the inheritance ground could implode from within due to the extremely fractured foundation energy, a countermeasure automatically activated. Every non-obligated competitor was yanked out of the inheritance ground! Obligated competitors were those benefactors like Tungsten and Sebastian, who through their benefits got the right opportunity to breakthrough. Breaking through takes time, energy, and a measure of luck. One of the core rules of the inheritance ground was to provide the perfect environment for a breakthrough for these special cases. Sebastian and all the obligated competitors were taken to the still relatively intact core of the inheritance ground, while the non-obligated competitors who survived all the ordeals were expelled! Bzzz! ¡­ The great battle at the border was still raging fiercely! Even though the Atlantians and their allies may have already gotten the treasure, the other bitter variant human races were highly unwilling to let them enjoy the treasure, they sought to make life more bitter for them. The battle was still fierce, extremely fast-paced, and full of destructive potential as the soldiers of all these races sought to prove the superiority of their race through this decisive battle. "Commander, you can now enter the game!" Somewhere deep in the formation of warships, where destructive beams flew randomly, with warships occasionally falling apart and soldiers dying constantly, an inconspicuous warship hovered. Against the run of play in this fast-paced battlefield, this warship was able to maneuver with the rest and not participate while remaining pristine. Inside this warship, Commander T.Y received the communicated message. "Hmm, I still need to intervene Afterall". This Commander sighed. Commander T.Y was different from other Atlantian Commanders who commanded warships, he was special. Unlike the majority of the others, he was a commissioned navy Commander of the Atlantian military who had the privilege of commanding an Annihilator! In terms of individual strength, Commander T.Y was only as strong as Staff Sergeant Barnes but his military authority was higher than that of Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid who just communicated with him. Unlike his counterparts, he was part of a special group of soldiers who were trained with the main goal of piloting one of the Atlantis exclusive Annihilators! As one of the variant human races which still held some of the most intact histories of their old heritage and origin, Atlantis knew of earth and its strongest nation navy fleets with their powerful frigates and destroyers. Though in Oceania, they developed more, Atlantis still decided to replicate the feats of their ancestors by creating the Annihilators. These powerful beasts of technology and magic were created with the navy Destroyers of old earth as the base blueprint. With this, this advanced race was able to create a marginally stronger warship. The Annihilator warship lines were the strongest feat of Atlantian technology, and they were the hopes to matching the tyrannical power of beasts. Commander T.Y was one of the few who graduated from the numerous chosen to become a grand Commander of a real Annihilator! With special implants dedicated to facilitating command, his genius, and meticulous brain, including his years of training and experience, Commander T.Y earned his keep as the commander of an Annihilator. With the call for him to enter the game already given, Commander T.Y no longer tarry. Under his commands, the Annihilator woke up from its slumber. Whoosh! This metal beast finally took action and rapidly accelerated from the border. Another warship followed shortly after, this was the reinforcement warship of the Dark Elf Race, and this specific warship was also one of the Dark Elves'' trump cards, they no longer held back. The battle for the unique skill already took a rapid turn. ¡­ Rip! A huge space rift suddenly tore open above the seamount where the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King''s inheritance ground was located. After a wait of days that seemed like weeks to a specific predator, its eyes finally glowed like fire was burning in them as the inheritance ground''s doors were finally opened wide again though forcefully this time. These orange, glowing predatory eyes burned with passion, greed, and desire. Whoosh! The first group of survivors finally came out. Chapter 277 - A Tripartite Hegemonic Balance! The first group of survivors that came out of the inheritance ground was not Atlantian soldiers, they were mutated beasts. As a veteran race that already had a mountain of book compilations on inheritance grounds, the Atlantian army already scripted the best reactions that soldiers were to exhibit in different situations. The reason for their not coming out first was not complicated, it was simply because coming out first would draw the ire of the enemies. Not all the mutated beasts that came for the inheritance ground after being attracted by their unrelenting desire were able to access inside it. Some came after the entrance to the inheritance ground was already closed, others simply couldn''t put up a good enough fight when the battle to enter the inheritance ground started, the scenarios were too numerous to count. What this meant was that while the lucky ones were able to enjoy the privilege of accessing the riches of the inheritance ground, the others could only stay outside, resentfully watching as the opportunity was devoured before them. For 2 weeks, they suffered this torture. This torture successfully bred extremist beasts with warped personalities. Their only logic and motivation for living now was since we could not get it, let''s share it or die together and gain nothing! They had nothing to lose, so they went with it. As soon as the first group of survivors was expelled out of the inheritance ground, they were shocked as they came under the attack of their furious counterparts who were unable to enjoy the privileges that they enjoyed. The numerous resentful mutated beasts were like the sand in a desert, they filled every part of the seamount as they rushed towards their archenemies with hate and greed radiating from their eyes. The surviving mutated beasts were not annihilated immediately though, every single one of these beasts that managed to survive till now was powerful in their own right and were tempered even more by the challenges of the inheritance. Though they could not enter the domain for the last test at the end which was the main reason for their survival, the other gains that they enjoyed from the first and second test alone were substantial enough to satisfy them. This meant that every single one of them came out of the inheritance ground stronger after taking the augments that they benefited from the inheritance. This meant that their situation was not completely hopeless yet. Originally, if the situation continued like this, they had a certain chance of keeping their lives long enough to escape, but this was not all. Not only the good for nothing mutated beasts were unable to access the inheritance ground, but it was also far more complicated than that. There was an even more terrifying group of beasts that could not access inside it, these predators were simply here for their due course and nothing else. They were like tyrants taking protection fees from travelers going through their territory, and their astonishing strength meant that none of the travelers dared to question their motives. After patiently waiting for 2 weeks, prudently curbing the desire and the predatory instinct in him that burned like a torch in his heart, the Rogue Snake Overlord''s patience finally paid its weight in gold. In all inheritances set up by Black tier predators, there was a restriction to the tier of predators that could access the inheritance ground. Inheritance grounds were created to get young and promising inheritors who could further the ambitions of the dead predator, not old fossils. This was why one of the core rules of most Black tier inheritance grounds was restricting the intrusion of red and other black tier predators, this was the reason why this powerful overlord beast had to wait. Its wait was not in vain though, once these predators came out, his patience paid and he could finally harvest the benefits that followed. "Special Skill: Black Hole of Extraction!" The Rogue Snake Overlord could singlehandedly annihilate all the beasts that came out of the inheritance and were before it, but he did not do so as he had other plans in mind for these survivors. Once he moved, he moved with a motive in mind. His enormous body was so huge that it towered intimidatingly above the other predators. Suppressing them with size already, this predator''s skill worked wonders as the shocked survivors suddenly started feeling their strength draining. These survivors spent about 2 weeks in the inheritance ground, which meant that it was probably later on that they started benefiting from the riches of the inheritance ground. Some time may have passed already, but there was a slight chance that these beasts had still not completely digested the wonderful goods that they devoured. The Rogue snake''s skill was to extract these tiny undigested goodies, converging them to form his own goody. This was a means for him to escape the limitations of the inheritance ground and to also benefit. Just the appearance of a Red tier predator changed the paradigms of this struggle, it already exceeded the level that most of the beasts here could cope with. The best decision at this moment was to escape and safeguard their lives, but before they could finalize their decisions, the second group of survivors was finally expelled out of the inheritance ground. This second group comprised of the strongest that took the test of the inheritance ground, most notably the Atlantians, the predators of the Toad Alliance, the Turtle Confraternity, and small predator groups like Old Maks''. Unlike the predators of the first group that were expelled, these beasts of nature were not only stronger, but they also came out with much more loot and therefore were significantly more appealing to the Rogue Snake Overlord. Before the terrifying Red tier serpent could move though, the Atlantian soldiers rapidly converged together before forming a large defensive perimeter that they reinforced with numerous shield generators. The Atlantian soldiers entered the inheritance ground, but they left their fleet behind. As soon as they appeared, the warships that were still in use were piloted by their crew as they went to defend their patrons. The Atlantians were not the only group that moved, the others were already divided as they separated into distinct factions. The surviving predators of the Toad Alliance and the Turtle Confraternity formed a group, rogue clans like Old Mak''s shark clan formed theirs, while the lone predators in the group simply fended for themselves which they were good at. This formation of factions took only a few seconds, and this was when the Rogue Snake Overlord finally moved. This predator''s ultimate goal was also the unique skill, the only perplexity was that his senses could not detect the lucky one who got this ultimate treasure. He simply decided that the best way to find out was to attack them all. Whoosh! As soon as the Rogue Snake Overlord moved, every mutated beast and Atlantian in this vicinity felt like they were facing their nemesis, death faced them directly in the face but before the collision, another intruder emerged. Ancestor Horamon of the Turtle Confraternity finally arrived! As soon as this gigantic catastrophe of nature appeared, the enormous Turtle swept his sharp gaze across the battlefield as they stabbed daggers at whoever stood at its path. This deadly cultist''s eyes were filled with desire, a desire that burned deep and made him look identical to the equally frenzied Rogue Snake Overlord. Both dangerous predators'' similar goals aligned. In tacit understanding, both predators refrained from restricting themselves, benefiting first was the priority. Fighting and exhausting themselves when many fries that could take advantage of their weakness were here was plain stupidity. Boom! Boom! The Rogue Snake Overlord''s attack was not stopped, it only got complimented by the terrifying attack of the cultist Turtle as 2 loud booms of destruction reverberated across the seamount. Hundreds of mutated beasts and Atlantians died from the attack. While the beasts roared in fear at the tyrannical strength that was being exhibited by these 2 predators, only 2 factions in this battlefield were calm, the Atlantians and the allied force of the Toad Alliance and the Turtle Confraternity. The beasts of the beast organizations were calm because the mighty Ancestor Horamon was on their side, while the Atlantians were calm because of another reason, they simply focused on protecting themselves. These 2 powerful beasts could only rampage for a limited time though, this was because a powerful third-party finally arrived. After taking its time, the Annihilator warship that was being commanded by Commander T.Y of the Atlantian military finally arrived. With the bombastic arrival of the Annihilator, a Tripartite Hegemonic balance seemed to have been formed as all other factions in this battlefield were relegated to the side, becoming canon fodders in this mighty battle. Blood and glory beckoned in the struggle for benefits! Chapter 278 - Battle Of The Big Guns! "Prepare the rapid-laser turrets for fire, time in 00:00:08!" "Erect the shield generator, install the T-937-B19 chemical formula!" "Bring the physical armor damage reflectors online! Permission to activate special defense- Plasma Tech approved!" "Pin the 2 Red tiers down with our ultra-grade sensors, bombard them with ballistic missiles! Tear their skin open with the G-grade Torpedoes! Pinpoint their heat signals and unleash the heat seekers!" "Special unit V, warm up the Positron Rifles!" "Special unit A, warm up the Kinetic Rifles!" "Hold steady, keep your ears peeled open, and operate with your hands and your heart!" "Attack!" Tututututututututututututu! Rapid-laser fire erupted, submerging the environment with a noise like those of a thousand buzzing mosquitoes while the temperature rapidly heated up as deadly laser beams cut through the water resistance with astonishing speed towards their targets. Once the tripartite hegemonic balance was formed, every other force in this battlefield was relegated to the background though they were all in it. None of the other predator forces could escape, the 3 hegemons of this struggle would make sure of that even as they battled it out. The Rogue Snake Overlord was the strongest monster of this ocean volcano region, he had been the strongest for centuries, at least until the Atlantians came and started engaging in their dangerous experiments. Though this mutated serpent lived in this volcano all his life, as a Red tier predator, he already had the qualifications and had already explored the outside world extensively. The iconic Annihilators warship that belonged to the Atlantian army was not a foreign term to this old monster serpent, he knew too well about their might. Ancestor Horamon of the Turtle Confraternity also knew of this, this was why both Red tier predators calmed down and decided to strategize, but Commander T.Y blew all their calculation chances away with a courageous display. This Atlantian navy Commander didn''t have so many misgivings to engaging in a battle with the Red tier predators. The notion of playing it safe already disappeared once it got to this extent. The unique skill''s possession was already at risk, in the plan, this was the time where everything could be done just to get possession of the ultimate inheritance. They already restarted the game, playing it safe would not work, it was only when they actively took risks that they would get revolutionary results. This was why this Commander led his Annihilator to attack immediately. The rapid-laser turrets were always the go-to reliable attack mode for an Annihilator warship to initiate a battle. This time was no different as the terrifying heat and searing power of the lasers bore holes through the predators'' bodies. Red tier predators were one of the most powerful influences in all of Oceania, there was no way for such deadly predators to get injured so easily but the laser beams succeeded in irritating and temporarily keeping them in place. These beasts were not push-overs though, the Rogue Snake Overlord and Ancestor Horamon both had a dignity that their pride pushed them to preserve. The rapid lasers beams kept them in place, but not their magic domain. The Rogue Snake Overlord was a pure fire domain extremist, while Ancestor Horamon was a turtle cultist who was well-versed in the origin laws of water. The Ancestor was an authority figure in the boundless water domain. These 2 predators were not brothers, and definitely not friends also, they were just victims of circumstances and the current circumstance prompted the both of them to retaliate against this common opponent together. "Special Skill: Flames of the Fire Dragon!" "Skill: Water is Life; Water dictates Death!" The enormous serpent''s body suddenly vibrated as it shed its outer skin, the floating dead outer skin suddenly ignited, turning into a great fuel source to found the creation of a terrible fire disaster. The water evaporated rapidly, other parts boiled fiercely, the temperature of the seamount as a whole rose as the skill came into life in the form of a huge ball of fire that was almost as enormous as the serpent. This fireball compressed further before being hauled at the Annihilator. As for Ancestor Horamon, this cultist''s methods were more gentle but more deadly in an assassin stalking in the dark manner. The water vibrated slowly at first under this master''s control, in milliseconds, the steady vibrations turned into a full-fledged shake of gigantic proportions. Suddenly, a part of the water in this seamount seemed to be cut and isolated away from the rest, forming a cube-shaped unique water body. Under this master''s meticulous control over this magic domain, the water formed a terrifying wall of water that soon transformed into a tsunami with terrible cutting power and crushing force. As the water moved towards the Annihilator warship, even the origin laws seemed to scream in awe at the terrifying display as the green glow of the Green Mist Sea intensified several folds. This was a move that could crush Sebastian 10 times over without resistance. Despite the powerful display, the Annihilator remained focused on its goals as the crew manning this warship obeyed the orders of their esteemed commander to the letter, accomplishing his goals like they were his arms and legs. A huge blue energy shield was erected around the warship, and before the collision, a chemical was injected which turned the shield purple. Boom! Both skills finally collided against the shield. As expected, the terrible force of the skills popped the shield but it succeeded in fulfilling its job of protecting the Annihilator from the attack. Vroom! Without warning, the forward boosters of this warship were activated as it picked up speed like a bull on steroids. The Annihilator rushed into the midst of the predators who were still battling among themselves. Commander T.Y had the same ideas as the Rogue Snake Overlord, the easiest way to find the inheritor of the unique skill was to simply kill them all. Bam! Bam! The desperate beasts attacked the warship who easily shrugged off the damage while occasionally reflecting physical damage through the warship armor''s damage reflectors. These were minor though, in this bloody melee between metal and beast, the plasma tech weapons that surrounded the Annihilator were the real game-changers that terrorized the beasts. These extremely hot weapons that could be morphed into any form gave the warship absolute protection as every melee battle became a practice session. Every mutated beast that dared to come close never found an opportunity to regret it. They all died under the might of these technological applications. While the Annihilator did this, it did not forget its 2 primary opponents. After pinning the 2 Red tier predators down with its sensors, it kept on bombarding the terrifying beasts with ballistic missiles, torpedoes, heat seekers, and a bunch of other high-impact weapons that could deal terrifying damage. The 2 Red tier predators also continued wreaking havoc everywhere while dealing slight damage to the warship, but this stalemate persisted. The resources and exotic metals that were sourced to create the Annihilator were just so ridiculous. Oceania was a magic world filled with magic possibilities, and this also extended to possibilities of even more powerful mineral resources. With such sturdy metals, the Annihilator could not be bullied by the predators in close range and they had zero changes at a farther distance. The Annihilator was a beast of a machine! For powerful and elusive predators like the speed demon, the champion digger, Old Mak, and other powerful purple tier predators, the Annihilator relegated the role of targeting these enemies to the soldiers aboard it. With their highly optimized positron rifles, kinetic rifles, and laser guns, these elite soldiers dealt traumatizing damage to their targets. With an indomitable vessel like the Annihilator backing them up, they were free to wreak havoc and deal as much damage as possible to the beasts. With Commander T.Y in charge, the Annihilator revealed no weak points, not even for a second. This Commander was the main pivot that kept the powerful warship operating at slightly above maximum capacity. Commander T.Y flaunted his acumen as an extremely capable commander again through this battle, the 2 Red tier predators never once had a chance against the Annihilator that he commanded. The Commander''s astonishing success was also attributed to the unrelenting support from the Dark Sage warship of the Dark Elves. Unlike the Atlantians'', the Dark Elves Dark Sage was a pure magic warship. Filled all over with shadow magic and dark magic attack methods, this was an elusive warship that could deal terrible one-hit damage when needed and could also engage in constant harassment against enemies. The Dark Sage served as the perfect support vessel to the tyrannical Annihilator. Elusiveness and Aggressiveness formed the perfect combination. One thing was for sure, this battle was not about to end soon. ¡­ While the number of Great White Shark deaths that were recorded in the inheritance ground was painful, Old Mak and his group of survivors did not have the luxury to pay attention to that as they were preoccupied with surviving. Old Mak was once again at the helm, this Great White Shark took full throttle of his clan as he led his companions on this charge to safety. Old Mak gave his all to save more of his clansmen, he was not about to allow more of them to die, he was now ready to give his life for his clansmen. The more clansmen died today, the more he valued their lives and vowed to protect the survivors more. Despite his resolute willpower, what really troubled Old Mak the most was the absence of his 2 students and the most talented shark that he had ever seen. Just thinking of the terrible things that may have befallen these 3 clansmen that he had special feelings for pushed him to the edge. He almost broke due to these setbacks but only his conviction to protect more of his clansmen kept him going. "I will not stop!" "I will not rest until everyone is safe!" Old Mak kept on reassuring his motives amid the raging battle. Chapter 279 - Illusion Realm! The Battle Of The Mind! Blink! Sebastian once again simulated the sound of his eyes snapping open just to feel at home as his consciousness was roused. He already experienced this 2 times, but the feeling never got old. After what seemed like a long time, he was back in the Illusion Realm. This time, Sebastian did not appear in an isolated region that looked like the outside expanse of water, he appeared in what seemed like a walled building. Without even having to think, he knew that this was part of the effects of undergoing evolution inside an enclosed environment like this. Sebastian starting his evolution now was a risk. He didn''t know the situation of the outside world; he didn''t know if any malicious enemy would take advantage of his temporary weakness after seeing his evolving body. The risks were huge, but he still unflinchingly jumped at the opportunity to evolve when it presented itself to him. He already received evidence from multiple sources that the purple tier evolution was a big deal, he did not want to miss this opportunity to evolve just because of a moment of cowardice. If he died because of his decision, then it meant death was his fate. He had no second thoughts about it, he had no regrets, he just did it. Even with all these considerations, Sebastian still calmly waited for subsequent developments which he knew would come. Bzzz! The illusion realm seemed to buzz a bit which was strange but Sebastian paid no heed to it as the green color of the Green Mist Sea familiarly dominated the gloomy color of the catacombs, then it spiked and everything changed. Sebastian once again appeared inside the familiar bustling city of Great White Sharks where his father was proposedly the alpha. For the first time since Sebastian started entering the illusion realm, he faced no obstructions as his vision was as sharp as normal. This time, he didn''t even need to concentrate before the full layout of this enormous city of Great White Sharks presented itself to him in its entirety. Sebastian was pleasantly surprised, this verified one of his assumptions in his previous visit here, his vision indeed got better through subsequent visits. Now, his vision was at its possible best, enabling him to see much more. Sebastian''s opinion of the Illusion Realm had turned into a system-exclusive benefit after making some inquiries. During his stay in Old Mak''s shark clan, he didn''t just remain idle when he had so much identical predators to ask for guidance. At one of those opportunities after his return to the clan, Sebastian personally asked the clan head if he knew of the illusion realm. The clan head''s answer surprised him. According to Old Mak, he had no idea if there was something called an illusion realm but after listening to Sebastian''s modified explanations, this clan head was able to recall something. According to Old Mak, if what he described was the illusion realm, then he may have experienced it before but only once. Old Mak had the privilege of being taken to the illusion realm only during his purple tier breakthrough, and he was the only one of the other purple tier sharks of the clan that had seen this marvelous phenomenon. From Old Mak''s description, Sebastian easily deduced that the clan head suffered from the same sight deficiency problems that he suffered during his first trip through the illusion realm. Despite this handicap, Old Mak still benefited a lot from the encounter. So, for him being able to enter the illusion realm directly during his first white tier evolution, Sebastian could only attribute it to his system. Those were for later, at this moment, Sebastian focused on taking full advantage of his best vision so far since his trip to this realm. This time, it was like they were no longer any time restraints. Sebastian was allowed to observe for as long as he wanted until he imprinted the layout of the city in his head, this was when the expected change came. As usual, the scene was fast-forwarded. Warp! It finally stopped at a scene. At this moment, Sebastian saw the familiar shark alpha which his body resonated with again as his father together with a group of other Great White Sharks which he identified as female. If he had them, his mouth would have been twitching furiously at this sight. If he was not wrong, this was his father''s harem. While Sebastian looked closer, thinking of the clues for his evolution that he was supposed to get out of this, he suddenly got the scare of his life. The enormous Great White Shark who originally looked like a mere projection suddenly felt more lifelike. The alpha shark turned around, then he directed a proud look towards Sebastians, spooking the shit out of him. "Another worthy descendant!" "Sebastian, right?" "¡­" Sebastian was spooked, so shocked that this illusion realm to him now suddenly felt like a meticulous work of high-grade voodoo magic. "What in the name of all anatomists is happening to me?!" If he had hands, Sebastian would have started rubbing his eyes already. "Is that your anxiety catchphrase or something? I can see you like exclaiming this way a lot when you''re under a lot of pressure or you''re scared". "¡­" It took a lot of getting used to, but in the end, Sebastian finally reconciled with the fact that he was speaking with his real father after a lot of confirmations. The powerful shark alpha finally started making declarations. "Congratulations Sebastian! You have finally been recognized by the will of the ancestors; you can finally call yourself a Carcharodon!" "With this achievement, the gates of our Carcharodon clan are now open to you!" "The purple tier evolution is a big deal on every facet imaginable. Overcoming this hurdle will place you at the high rungs of Oceania society". "It is dangerous, but remember that Great White Sharks are called great for a reason. Even if you die, die with pride knowing that you reached a point that majority of predators never get to in their lives". "Nobody tests how sharp a Great White Shark''s teeth are to verify its species. You are my son, and I am proud of that". "No matter the outcome, I am proud of you, my son!" "I wish you success in surviving this ordeal!" Warp! The alpha shark finally disappeared, including the enormous city of sharks also as Sebastian was left to his own devices once again. Unlike what he expected, the world did not crack before shattering like a mirror like in his previous visits here, it seems that his third entry into the illusion realm bent a lot of rules other than time in his favor. In this silent environment, Sebastian had the perfect opportunity to think extensively about the encounter that he just had. Sebastian never expected to speak to his dad so early, he thought he had to meet the alpha shark before what just happened would have been able to happen. He suddenly felt some regret. If he prepared for this beforehand, he was positive that he had some questions that he wanted to ask his alpha dad but clearly the shock of the situation no longer made this possible for him. In the end, Sebastian could only curb his regret and cherish the encounter. There were a lot of things about his shark dad that he disapproved of, but as a shark, he had to give the fellow some slack. By this time, Sebastian''s mood was already getting better by the second. While all this happened, a yellow blob of light sneaked towards him. By the time Sebastian noticed it, it was already too late. [You have been attacked by a skill: Mind Entanglement!] [You have been attacked by a pinnacle Black tier predator: Carcarot Gorgoneon- The Doppelganger and Invisibility King!] "!!!" Sebastian was alarmed but he could not even make a sound, it was like his mind was locked and was now in the opponent''s control. This was when the yellow blob of light grew in size. Sebastian''s eyes widened; this was the Sea King''s soul which was supposed to have been smashed to smithereens by the overpowering attack of the Sage in his head. Sebastian despaired, after the draining attack, the Sage was too weak and was not available to him again for the short term. "You know, I was almost fooled by you". The Sea King finally spoke. Compared to before, the size of its soul decreased by a lot and its overpowering might was more bearable now, the glow being released by it was much less intense also but this subtracted nothing from its dignity. At this moment, this Sea King had a proud look on its face, that look of confidence that made Sebastian fall deeper into the abyss of despair. He tried all that he could, but he could only squirm around and not escape. "Your meticulous ploy with the Sage was highly convincing, but the thing that you failed to add in was how extensive of a knowledge about mysteries that I had". "Sages simply aren''t capable of descending normally into our world". "You and your supporting Sage underestimated me, that brought your downfall in the most embarrassing manner possible". "I don''t know much about Sages, but I have heard of their strength. The fact that a Sage of the myth realm secretly supports you affirms my suspicion all the more that you are the perfect vessel that I need". "I know that you are just roughly 4 months old. This is too much of an anomaly, I have lived centuries and I am pretty sure that there is no way for a predator as young as you would know so much". "I watched your performance, and all I can say is that you definitely know a lot more about old earth than me which makes me all the more curious about you". The Sea King''s soul vibrated as a show of its excitement. "I can''t wait to see what lies at the depths of that secretive mind of yours". "Wait¡­, please¡­" Sebastian could only plead that before the Sea King struck. [You have been attacked by a skill: Mind Possession!] The battle of the mind began! Chapter 280 - The Battle Of The Mind [1]! Sebastian was first attacked by the Mind Entanglement skill before the Mind Possession skill at the end and he was immediately relegated to a position where he could only suffer this oppression passively. Though the Sea King was at its weakest state in centuries, it was still stronger than Sebastian by a despairing margin. It could bully Sebastian with just its soul power alone. When the attack plan was made by Sage 54 to deal with the Sea King, Sebastian had a lot of misgivings about the plan but he had no choice but to comply. A beggar was not a chooser. Since the Sea King already had its eyes set on him, not deciding to comply with the Sage''s arrangements was plain stupid. It was not like he had a better idea to annihilate an injured Sea King. It was not every day that he would encounter circumstances to enter a mana-saturated state to battle higher-tiered predators, and this time, even entering a mana-saturated state could not save him. During the plan execution, Sebastian was extremely tense as the Sage took the central stage, taking full responsibility for most of the attack. At that moment, he was prepared for death since anything could happen. Having little hope was better than having ambitious hopes and having all of it ruthlessly crushed in the end. Fortunately, nothing untoward happened. The outcome even exceeded his expectations by a large margin. Not only did the Sea King not retaliate furiously like he expected which would have proved fatal, but this notorious Sea King also became as docile as a cat on hearing the name Sage, calmly accepting its death. Though it sounded ridiculous at first, having witnessed the Sea King''s act, Sebastian believed it from the depths of his heart. He believed the Sea King''s words, they sounded too believable to be true. Even the Sage in his mind was deceived which showed the terrifying and well-refined means of this notorious Sea King. He thought he was free, he thought he was the greatest benefactor, he thought he was the lucky protagonist of this play while everyone else was side characters but he could not have been more wrong. It was at this moment that he knew how na?ve he had been, it was at this moment that he knew that he f*cked up. He f*cked up for ever believing the words of a century-old monster chameleon. For a Chameleon who was a master of disguise to grow so strong, becoming one of the strongest predators in Oceania, it easily showed its wits. It grew so strong by outsmarting predators that were more talented and had pinnacle bloodline inheritances compared to its puny chameleon bloodline. Sebastian severely regretted underestimating his opponent, a Sea King. In his laws of how to be a Great White Shark, Sebastian already outlined the importance of not underestimating any opponent. Since he drafted those laws, he always followed them but the Sea King''s case was a shocking exception. The Sea King''s act was so meticulous that from the depths of Sebastian''s heart, he started underestimating his opponent which now proved fatal. Sebastian concluded resentfully; the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King is an old, cunning, evil, lecherous, and every evil adjective associated predator. He loathed this ugly old monster. Despite all these, Sebastian was suffering. As soon as the Sea King attacked, he was pushed to the brink as the powerful invasive mind started tyrannically tearing his mental defenses to access his memories. [You have received staggering damage!] [You have received staggering damage!] The mind is the most sacred part of any creature''s body. Having this private space violated is such a traumatizing encounter that no one ever wants to experience, and this was exactly what Sebastian was experiencing. For the first time in his life, Sebastian really understood and felt what rape victims felt. This act of the Sea King was equivalent to rape. This was a rape of the mind! Even as his mental defenses were tyrannically torn apart, and more of his memories were explored by the terrifying Sea King, Sebastian could only yelp in pain as more damage stacked up in his mind. His health points drained like water, his mind was now too fuzzy, the interference was so much that he didn''t even know which of his memories the Sea King was currently exploring. The ruthless Sea King dived deeper into his mind, ravaging everything that he saw in the process as he absorbed more and more information. In the Sea King''s perspective, Sebastian''s mind was like a bee tree that was surrounded by honeycombs. The individual honeycombs were the numerous memories in Sebastian''s mind. To get them all, the Sea King explored each honeycomb hole while going deep enough to see the deepest memories and most hidden memories. To Sebastian, it felt like centuries, but the Sea King only took 2 seconds before he explored all the memories that Sebastian accumulated since transmigrating into this world. This was when the Sea King encountered an anomaly. If Sebastian''s mind consisted of a free-flowing sea of memories, then after his Oceania memories, everything else that followed was compressed into a round glowing ball of memories. Whereas everything else was randomly flowing and loose, all his subsequent memories were compressed into a ball with a sturdy outer surface. "What is this?" The Sea King was shocked but nonetheless attacked. Bam! Bam! Bam! The compressed ball of memory proved its mettle by withstanding the first few mental blows, but the third was what breached its defense. As soon as the Sea King shattered the defense, his soul power eagerly rushed in to explore this peculiar set of memories then he experienced the shock of his life. "¡­earth, a balanced world that is divided into water and land, nations, Africa, Asia, Europe, America, Antarctica, anatomist¡­" "¡­what in the name of names is this?!" It was the Sea King''s turn to be flabbergasted. The Sea King surprisingly could not explore this particular set of memories in detail, but just a casual sweep with his soul power shocked this powerful predator. The Sea King was so shocked that his soul form vibrated intensely. "W-what the hell are you?!" This was Carcarot Gorgoneon, the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea, the ruler of the Black Mist, an overlord of a Sea in Oceania, stammering! For centuries, not even when he was still an insignificant chameleon was this Sea King so rattled out. At this moment, Carcarot Gorgoneon was so shocked that he was convinced that he was facing a monster. "¡­sage 54, transmigration¡­" It was when his mental sweep started touching sensitive topics like this that the backlash came, and it came with full force. This was classified information that was exclusive to the Council of Sages, no other creature in both realms was qualified to access it. BOOM! A backlash force of gigantic proportions lashed out at the Sea King''s soul, dealing astronomical damage that left the soul form flickering weakly. This directly dissipated the remaining invasive power momentum that the Sea King already gathered for the past few seconds, then it got stuck. The mechanisms of the mind entanglement skill meant intertwining a soul with another and letting the stronger soul become the dominant soul. This way, both souls become intertwined. The only outcome of this was one of the souls dying and being assimilated, while the other emerges victorious with all the benefits. As for the mind possession skill, its mechanisms could only work with those of the entanglement skill. Its only function was to aggressively infiltrate and explore the memories of the target. Like the first mind skill, it had a shortcoming. If for some reason, the aggressor is unable to maintain its dominance, the situation changes and the infiltrator becomes the infiltrated. The damage dealt by the backlash force was so powerful that the Sea King''s will now only clung to life by the thread of a needle. Suddenly, Sebastian''s soul power was the vastly more powerful one. Instantly, Sebastian''s soul became the dominant force and the 2 shortcomings of the mental skills automatically came into effect. Sebastian bit back tooth for a tooth. He entangled the Sea King''s soul with his vastly more powerful soul, then he started aggressively infiltrating the memories of this once powerful overlord. The Sea King''s soul groaned and resisted but was firmly suppressed. Like a movie, Sebastian started watching the story of this Sea King''s life. Chapter 281 - The Battle Of The Mind [2]! "Tom Brady, we have compiled a comprehensive report after your days with us. Your commanding aptitude and instincts are not refined enough". "I am sorry, but I advise you to take another profession". "We cannot take you". "You''re still in your budding years, you can be as impressive if not even more impressive if you take any other profession. No profession is the best, your success depends on how much effort you put in to become the best and your mentality". "NO! I WANT TO BE A COMMANDER!" "I WANT TO COMMAND AN ARMY OF WARSHIPS! I WANT TO COMMAND AN ANNIHILATOR ONE DAY! I WANT TO BE LIKE COMMANDER LEON!" The young blonde-haired boy looked at his parents, especially his mom with teary eyes as the ever-present water conveniently watched the tears away. "Mom, please tell him, tell him I can do it!" The beautiful equally blonde-haired lady suppressed the sound that was about to escape her throat, she conveniently let the water watch her overflowing tears away as she leaned in to hug her son. "Tom, you have to understand something. Life is filled with uncertainties, as the recruiter said, no profession is the best¡­" "No!" "NO! I WANT TO BECOME A COMMANDER!" "Madam, we have other candidates, please take your child out or we would have to do it ourselves". "I HATE YOU!" "I HATE ALL OF YOU!" ¡­ "Congratulations, cadet! You passed the strength test with flying colors". "Thank you, sir!" The little kid shouted enthusiastically. The middle-aged man with the report file revealed a slight smile before glancing at the book again, it took some time before he raised his head back to look at the kid. "Tom, what do you think of the Atlantian reserve army?" "Huh?" "Ok, let me ask you, what is the motto of the Atlantian army?" The little kid immediately perked up as his voice rose into a crescendo. "Brave as an Eagle! Unrelenting as a Phoenix! Excellent as Atlantis!" "Ok, what is our core motive of the 3?" "Excellent as Atlantis!". "Good, now do you know what it means?" "Yes". The little kid raised his head proudly. "Excellence is the creed of Atlantis, it is the reason for our rise, it is the reason for our domination so every soldier of the Atlantian army must embody excellence". "Good kid!" The cadet trainer smiled. "Now, this is what I''m trying to say Tom. You passed your strength test with flying colors, coming out among the top 3 of your cadet team but you bottled every single one of the other tests". "This contradicts with our motive; this is not a sign of excellence". "If it was left to me, I would have given you the go-ahead to join the army, I believe in your enthusiasm and your conviction to keep on improving but I have an obligation to our race". "Tom, I''m sorry, you can''t become a soldier prospect yet". "¡­" Tom wanted to scream at the trainer like he was used to, but he paused on seeing the sincere look on the trainer''s face. He was close to the cadet trainer; he simply couldn''t bring himself to yell so he simply stood up and numbly left. That night, young Tom cried himself to sleep. ¡­ A year later. "Congratulations Tom! You are now a soldier prospect!" ¡­ 6 years later. "Sorry Tom, your overall scores are too mediocre, you cannot become a full-fledged Atlantian soldier yet". "You cannot be accepted into the Atlantian military". ¡­ A year later. "I''m sorry Tom, it still can''t work out with us!" "I advise you to start another profession now while you''re still young enough to take it, it will help your future prospects a lot more". ¡­ Another year later. "I''m sorry Tom¡­" ¡­ Another year later. "I''m sorry Tom¡­" ¡­ 3 years later. "Congratulations Tom, you graduated!" "You are now a certified Doctor!". "¡­" The now grown-up Tom had a listless expression on his face. After a series of hard to forget and traumatizing encounters with the military, Tom submitted to the cruel reality of fate and was now a doctor. Despite this, he never lost his drive to perform. Amid the numerous failures, he found a reason to keep on living. His new motivation to live was to prove his previous leaders wrong. He would show them that even as a doctor, he could still become the most excellent soldier and commander that the Atlantian army had ever produced. ¡­ "Um, Doctor Tom¡­" "What? Spill it out!" "I''m sorry sir, but this is forbidden research. This experiment is too impulsive and against the rules of our race, there has never been any successful merge between a mechanical machine and the brain tissues of a living predator". "Sir, with all due respect, I don''t believe that your dreams to create a sentient mechanical shark is possible". "Our predecessors already proved that it is impossible". "Shut up and watch!" "Who are those predecessors compared to me? Compared to the great Doctor Tom, those so-called predecessor Doctors are as good as shit". "Implant the brain tissue!" "Affirmative, Doctor Tom!" 30 minutes later¡­ Bzzz! {Product Quality: Half-Defective/ Half-Sentient Shark.} The middle-aged Doctor Tom grinned. "With science, nothing is impossible!" ¡­ "Doctor Tom, this is prohibited research trajectory!" ¡­ "Doctor Tom, this is a forbidden experiment!" ¡­ "Doctor Tom, you''re becoming too unbridled!" "MONSTER-ATLANTIAN EXPERIMENTS ARE FORBIDDEN! YOU WILL BE COURT MARSHALLED!" ¡­ "Your Excellency, you can''t experiment on yourself, Monsters are incompatible with Atlantians. You''ll only make yourself a monster, sir". "Hahahahahaha!" "If becoming a monster is what it takes for me to prove that I can become the most excellent warrior of our race, I will do it". "Do it!" Bzzz! "All parameters are spiking in activity!" "We''re losing his Excellency". "Your Excellency! Doctor Tom! Doctor, please hold on, please stay with me, stay with us, please!" Bzzz! Boom! "¡­" "ROAR!" ¡­ "Doctor Tom Brady, you''re already surrounded!" "I don''t know if you''re still in there Doctor, but if you are, surrender and prove your excellence by presenting your body for further experiments". "Doing that is the best way to show your excellence to the race, its significance will instantly wipe away every sin that you''ve committed before now". "ROAR!" "Hahahahahahaha!" "Fools! I no longer prove my excellence to anyone; I believe in my excellence now! If you want to kill me, do it and quit the lecture!" "Be assured though, I''m not going down without a good fight!" BOOM! ¡­ After about an hour of going through the Sea King''s memories like he was watching a movie, Sebastian was left flabbergasted. The implications of what he just saw were so numerous that he was completely shocked to his very bone marrows. The Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King was once an Atlantian! He learned everything about the Sea King''s life from its memories. This Sea King was once the young driven Tom Brady. As a fan of the legendary Atlantian, Commander Leon, Tom as a kid hoped to become a commander one day and replicate the success of this commander. Unfortunately, his hopes were ruthlessly crushed. From there, he got interested in other professions, most notably being a soldier of the Atlantian army as he spent years on this pursuit but his hopes were crushed every single time. At this point, Tom''s life was practically defined by failure. This series of failures turned the once enthusiastic young Atlantian into a shadow of his former self. After dabbling into medicine and succeeding as a doctor, the traumas of the failures were still there which pushed him to the edge. His obsesses to prove his doubters wrong pushed him to engage in dangerous experiments. Doctor Tom Brady was the one who developed the sentient mechanical shark species that Sebastian encountered some time ago. Just thinking about the difficulties involved and the implications of this feat left Sebastian in complete awe of the capabilities of this Doctor. Despite his success in the medicine sector, his past failures still plagued him. He kept on engaging in dangerous experiments, even engaging in experiments that transplanted monster tissues in his body to make him the excellent soldier. One of these experiments went wrong, then Doctor Tom Brady successfully became a huge Chameleon beast. The Doctor escaped from his lab with his new body and slowly blended into the wild. The Atlantian army tried to hunt him down for centuries, but they could not until this predator turned into the notorious Sea King. Also, he was actually the lead researcher of the experiment that took place inside this seamount despite being a predatory Chameleon. This man may have lost his humanity, but his intelligence was preserved. His life experiences were what culminated into the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King that Sebastian grew to know. For some reason, Sebastian felt sad. Life was just too cruel. Having watched the circumstances and life experiences of the Sea King from his days as an Atlantian, he pitied him. "Sigh!" Sebastian could only sigh as he ravaged through the final memories of the Sea King. Once this was done, the soul of the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King was finally crushed into pure and unaffiliated soul power. This power was partly assimilated by Sebastian while the other dissipated into the atmosphere where it was absorbed by the influences of nature. This time, the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King died for real. [Congratulations! You have killed a pinnacle Black tier predator- Level ???: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 823 Skill points and 5000 Adaptation points.] Chapter 282 - Evolution Route! [Congratulations! You have killed a pinnacle Black tier predator- Level ???: You have gained Experience!] [You have gained 823 Skill points and 5000 Adaptation points!] [You have killed your first Black tier predator: You have gained an additional 10,000 Adaptation points!] [You have killed a Black tier predator while still at the orange tier: You have gained an additional 500 Skill points and 5000 Adaptation points!] [You have accomplished an impossible mission achievement by killing a Black tier predator while still at the orange tier!] [Open or inquire for reward details.] As soon as the sudden burst of system notifications came to an end, Sebastian entered a state where he felt full of energy, both mentally and physically. Attributing what just happened as him killing a Black tier predator seemed like a cheat since he hardly played a major role and his special advantages were the ones responsible for all the impressive feats. Also, he was pitted against a Black tier predator who was at its weakest. Despite this, Sebastian gave himself some credit as his will to struggle despite the despairing situation played a major role in everything that just happened. Sebastian for the umpteenth time felt that he was dreaming, he actually overpowered the deadly Sea King, a predator that even the Sage 54 residing in his head was unable to outsmart! The Sage was definitely the more powerful and wiser one, but due to its circumstances, the Sage could do very little as this Atlantian cast-out turned Sea King toyed with the both of them. This feat felt unbelievable! This was a feat that Sebastian would have never dreamt of achieving even if he was subjected to the effects of the legendary Tramadol and other stimulants. Sebastian was pretty sure this time that he was the only predator to have achieved a feat like this. What pained him was the losses. When he killed the Devouring Octopus, the experience that he gained was able to push him to level up a few times consecutively. The experience gotten from killing a Sea King was assured to be more, but all these were squandered. They were squandered since Sebastian was still at the orange tier. If he was already a purple tier predator, then he would have been able to maximize his gains. Despite this squandering, the outcome of this feat really felt too good to be true, so were the benefits also. Sebastian already had a sizeable stockpile of skill and adaptation points specially reserved for his ultimate evolution but the sudden exponential increase made his choices rise so much that he now felt like a spoiled child. He felt like a skill and adaptation pointnnaire all of a sudden. Apart from the valuable and astonishing knowledge that he got from this encounter, the battle insights that he got, the points, and a lot of other material rewards, what really thrilled Sebastian was the more ethereal benefits. Sebastian was not an expert when it came to soul-related matters, he was still more or less a newbie but someone like him still felt the strengthening. As soon as the Sea King''s soul officially died, its now pure and unaffiliated soul power had no better candidates to cling to than him. Most of the soul power dissipated into the atmosphere in the process, but the few that Sebastian was able to assimilate made him mentally feel so full of power and satisfaction that he felt indomitable out of the blue. Sebastian had too little knowledge, he didn''t know what happened but he knew that he gained a lot from this encounter. Amid these considerations, Sebastian''s familiar system interface lit up. [Host has experienced the illusion realm: An official encounter with the shark clan head has been finalized, now you can make your decisions and create your legend in the way that you want.] [Evolution will start in 10 seconds.] [You will be given a lot of options; choose wisely.] Sebastian considered the information that was written in the system notification as he voluntarily let the portal that appeared to suck him in. In an instant, Sebastian was gone. ¡­ When Sebastian opened his eyes, he easily recognized the rainbow-colored world filled with clouds. He was back in this familiar world where he saw last a few months back, he felt nostalgic. It took less than a second after he regained vision that the evolution started. [Host''s evolution process has started. You have only 30 minutes to contemplate and make the choices that you want for your evolution route.] [Your remaining evolution time- 29: 57.] [Make your choices.] As a veteran when it came to evolution-related matters, Sebastian remained calm as he demanded, feeling all hyped up already. "System, give me my options". [Affirmative! Evolution system store has been actively accessed.] [Host evolution options are as follows:] - Teenage Megalodon- Shark. - Mystery Pryer Megalodon- Shark. - Vampire Megalodon- Shark. - Shapeshifter Megalodon- Shark. - Soul Affinity Megalodon- Shark. - [Special!] Adult Megalodon. - [Special!] Dark Magic Megalodon- Shark. - [Special!] Megalodon- Mana Lord. - [Special!] Megalodon- Pugilist King. - [Special!] Mutated Winged Dragon. [Warning! Taking the Pugilist King evolution route will destroy your magic organ. In reciprocation, you will gain extremely fierce close combat prowess.] [Warning! The Mutated Winged Dragon evolution route is an alternative for host to escape the boundaries of his bloodline. With this evolution route, you can escape the shackles of a shark and become a mutated dragon.] [Host should choose any of the above options to decide on a personalized evolution route.] [Host skill options for current evolution route: ¡­] [Host Adaptation options for current evolution route: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Vampire Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain; Fire Skin.] Compared to the previous times when he saw the catalogs of evolution options, Sebastian reacted much milder which was a sign of self-control. The purple tier evolution was extremely important, but not everything about it was unique. Compared to his previous evolution options when trying to become an orange tier predator, the options were still more or less the same. This was because the advantage of his system managed to bring some of the benefits that he was supposed to enjoy now during his orange tier evolution. The new evolution options that were added were too little to make any significant change, the proven and grounded evolution options were still the most predominant everywhere. Sebastian calmed his racing heart, and just like in previous evolutions, he quickly called up his system to check his attributes first. This was a vital process to check how much he progressed after evolution. ----------------------------------------- Name: Sebastian Level: 20 Stats: Power: 87 Speed: 42 Mind: 56 Constitution: 65 Luck: 10 HP: 821/821 MP: 1070/1070 [Body Skills: Shredding Bite Level- 5; Triple Reverse Swim Level- 5; Advanced Dash Level- 5; Empowered Dorsal Fin- Level 5; Empowered Tail Fin- Level 5; Advanced Electroreceptors- Level 5; Spike Attack- Level 5; Battering Ram- Level 5; Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor- Level 4; Crushing Bite- Level 5.] [Material Magic skills: Magic Teeth- Level 5; Rejuvenation- Level 5; Magic Shield- Level 5; Supersonic Speed- Level 3.] [Magic- Sound Domain skills: Sound Control- Level 5; Sonic Drill- Level 5; Sonic Reflection- Level 4; Sonic Dissonance- Level 3; Water Cyclone- Level 4.] [Unique Skills: Water Transmutation.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Vampire Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain; Fire Skin.] [Species: Young Megalodon!] [System Remark: Keep grinding hard, you''re slowly on your way to becoming the Ocean Master.] ----------------------------------- Seeing his system status in such an organized manner again, Sebastian was able to relax as he was able to observe his growth since the first day that he stepped foot into this world dominated by water. Well, he agreed with his system, he was slowly on his way to becoming the Ocean Master which was his ultimate goal from the onset. Sebastian kind of felt the vain need to admire his progress more, but he knew that he was on a time limit which prompted him to work fast. Finally, after not purchasing for a long time, Sebastian calmed down like the pointnnaire that he was to spend his points lavishly. He felt hyped, he was about to get stronger which was a phenomenon that always left him excited and in anticipation. "System, give me my skill evolution options". Instantly, the system responded as the familiar system screen lit up in his vision as numerous skills appeared in a form like virtual cards. Sebastian was about to have a huge skill overhaul because most of his skills were already at the limit of level 5, they were long overdue for an overhaul which he failed to fulfill before now. Sebastian spent 10 solid minutes completing his purchases, both skill purchases, and adaptation purchases. [You have purchased body skills: Dissecting Bite, Mega Dash, Mega Electroreceptors, Mega Pressure Sensing, Morphable Spike Attack, Acrobatic Maneuverability, Mega Crushing Bite.] [You have purchased magic skills: Reanimation, Mega Healing, Mega Magic Shield, Supersonic Speed.] [You have purchased sound domain skills: Mega Sound Control, Drilling Sonic Sword, Vibration Sensing, Melody Sensing, Mega Sound Blast.] [You have purchased combined skills: Rupturing Sonic Ram, Sonic Magic Teeth, Sonic Torpedo Drill, Combined Super Sensing.] [You have purchased adaptations: Mega Megalodon Jaws, Dense Muscle Fiber Defense, Lancer Snout.] Compared to his first evolution where he just had to spend a few dozen adaptations and skill points to get a skill or adaptation, each of the purchases this time ranged from several hundreds of points to a thousand. This was the disparity between the purple tier and lesser tiers. Sebastian was not lacking points though, which enabled him to engage in this lavish spending. In the end, he stopped spending with some points still at hand. The other available options were either not compatible with his fighting style, or they were useless or just too cumbersome for his liking. Sebastian checked the time and discovered that he still had some time, but despite this, he quickly jumped to choosing his main evolution route. Sebastian had been thinking of this for a long time, and since no revolutionary new evolution route was revealed by the system that could change his choice, he settled for his original choice. He did not waste any time in making his choice known to the system. [You have chosen your evolution route: Megalodon- Mana Lord!] [Would you like to confirm your choices?] "Yes!" Unlike the previous evolution experiences that he already had, his vision did not darken immediately nor did his evolution start, his system rather lit up again as he received a new system notification. [Gene Limiter has been ruptured!] [Origin Law sensitivity has been increased!] [Congratulations! You have unlocked the origin of passive laws!] Chapter 283 - Forming The Mana Core Foundation! [Gene Limiter has been ruptured!] [Origin Law sensitivity has been increased!] [Congratulations! You have unlocked the origin of passive laws!] Sebastian was astonished by this sudden change that did not follow the script that was already written in his head. According to his experience, evolution was to start immediately after he made his evolution choice but this time it was different. "Gene limiter has been ruptured¡­, what is a gene limiter?" Even while this question nagged at his mind, Sebastian could already feel the changes that were going through his soul at this moment. In the illusion realm, he was detached from his body and could only feel soul fluctuations but Sebastian guessed that his body was undergoing even more changes at this moment. His energy level rose rapidly, his mana quality increased exponentially. As all these changes happened, Sebastian no longer felt like he was at the bottom rung of the ladder. For some reason, he felt powerful as a burst of confidence suddenly erupted in his heart. All these changes increased so much in such a marginal manner that he suddenly felt like he was a caterpillar that was breaking from its shackles to become an unrestrained butterfly. He felt full of energy, he felt refreshed, he felt reborn. This was when it clicked in his head. As soon as he thought of being reborn, he remembered a sentence that was always embedded at the back of his mind. "¡­Breaking through to the purple tier is not just an evolution, it is like a crystallization of your being". This was the current sentence structure that he was looking for! At this moment, Sebastian felt so good that he seemed to be evolving from a normal Megalodon and being crystallized to form a different unique Megalodon entirely. The experience was a novelty. From that lecture given by Old Mak, the clan head didn''t just speak about the purple tier breakthrough being a crystallization of your being. If his memory was not wrong, he also remembered that after the pivotal crystallization in the new tier of purple swimming, all these other basic skills evolve to such a passive state that it feels no different from eating. Sebastian finally found the answer for why some of his skills were not shown as options during his evolution selection process. Due to his time limit, he did not have the time to pay attention to this anomaly but now he seemed to have understood the reason. Amid his wildly raging thoughts, this strange feeling finally ended. As soon as it came to an end, Sebastian''s system lit up a new notification. [Congratulations! You have unlocked the origin of passive laws!] [Your limit receptibility to origin law has increased!] [You have unlocked the following passive skills!] [Passive Skills: Instinctive Swimming, Empowered Body Fins, Healing, Mega Smell, Bane of Mammoth Crocodiles, Undying Zombie.] Sebastian finally understood everything. For a long time, most especially in his recent challenge in the Sea King''s inheritance ground, he had always felt that he had been missing something, now he finally understood where this feeling came from. According to the system, he just unlocked the origin of passive laws which meant that as an orange tier predator, he was not qualified for these. Perhaps, it was because of this instinctive limit that he forgot about the 2 passive skills that he got after his encounter with the Red tier Devouring Octopus. Now, Sebastian could finally make use of them, and not only that, some of his skills that were originally active were now passive. He finally understood why Old Mak categorized this as enabling purple-tier predators to become more powerful. As these were already passive skills, he could spend less energy on them and better focus on damaging skills which could easily prove to become the game-changer in a battlefield situation. Before Sebastian could satisfy his curiosity and excitement completely due to this unexpected change, another unexpected change happened. [Evolution process has started!] This time, Sebastian saw what could be described as a miracle. Since transmigrating into this world, Sebastian kept on seeing manifestations of the origin magic essence and he also made use of it daily, but for the first time in his life, he saw real origin magic. The water seemed to have turned berserk, the green glow of the green mist Sea kept on fluctuating as a magic convergence that looked like a mountain flood rushed down towards Sebastian''s unprotected soul. The origin magic in this region was stirred, forming a berserk whirlpool of wildly raging origin magic. The real origin magic had a purplish-black color, the thickness, and quality of the mana before Sebastian at this moment were unprecedented. Sebastian did not doubt that if he let this mountain flood of origin magic collide against him, the effects would be dangerous. This was when he started remembering Tonado''s meticulous guidance. He already understood what was happening unlike other predators that would have been in his place, Tonado already revealed all the mysteries to him. From Tonado''s guidance, the amount of primordial origin magic that poured in depended on his foundation. And from the same guidance, he knew that such a fountain of origin magic was abnormal. Sebastian already expected something like this though, he would have felt surprised if his evolution was not an anomaly. Putting aside the advantages that were stacked on him by his system, his origin magic, and physical qi accumulation was already astonishing enough, hardly any predator of his tier could lift a finger towards him. All these already guaranteed that he would receive a flood of primordial origin magic during his evolution, but the real push that made it this ridiculous was the gains that he got from the Sea King''s inheritance ground. Ingesting so many cores was not a small matter, they succeeded in taking his foundation for the breakthrough to the highest point possible to him. This was why his primordial origin magic descent was so exaggerated. Though Sebastian felt proud that this was the case, he was already serious as he knew that this was a critical moment. This was the moment that would define whether he would succeed or fail. At this moment, Sebastian''s ethereal senses already increased to the maximum. Apart from the primordial origin magic, he could now sense his magic and physical qi that were red and blue respectively. Without any hesitation, he mobilized his physical and magic qi. Vroom! From the depths of his soul, Sebastian felt like an ancient dragon was awakening as the astonishing accumulation of red and blue rose aggressively. Sebastian fumbled with the control of these 2 energies at first, but it only took him a few seconds before he became proficient at it. The next moment before the origin magic collided against his fragile soul, Sebastian manipulated the 2 energies to form a sturdy shield. BOOM! Primordial origin magic collided with the energy accumulation, then a shockwave of the ethereal realm tyrannically spread everywhere as soul fluctuations increased in this realm. Sebastian''s soul endured the strain, despite the fluctuations, he was able to grit his ethereal teeth and maintain the ethereal shield. "As soon as the magic essence pours in, to control it, you need to mobilize your physical and magic qi. Due to the significance of this breakthrough, you will receive heightened senses where you can feel qi directly". "With this, you mobilize your physical and magic qi. You carefully mix them together until it forms a firm mix of white and black, then the origin magic enters". "This mix of white and black is the home of the origin magic, and after evolution, this is what crystallizes to form your magic core". At this moment, Sebastian could hear Tonado''s voice beside his ears. Vroom! Before the origin magic could accumulate momentum for another impact, Sebastian pushed away his strain and fatigue and started manipulating his physical and magic qi, trying to mix them to form the intended goal. The firm mix of white and black convergence was his goal though he was not sure about how it would happen. Sebastian stumbled frequently in his control, the pressure of the origin magic''s rising momentum got to him, but he gritted his teeth, wiped away his imaginary sweat, and remained focused on his goal. Sebastian focused so much that he lost his perception of his surroundings. All his attention was on creating the foundation for his mana core. Whoosh! After accumulating enough momentum, the primordial origin magic came slamming down again like a flood of water from a broken dam. The fierce pressure and the rushing force that it exhibited presented an intimidating outlook that could induce fear in anyone, but Sebastian whose sole attention was now on maintaining his control could not see this. The origin magic''s descent got so close till it was merely a few inches from Sebastian''s body, then this was when the change took place. After maintaining the firm mix of red and blue for a few seconds, a qualitative change suddenly came about as it turned into a black and white mix of energy. At this moment, this mixture seemed like the iconic depiction of yin and yang energy, this energy convergence solidified to an astonishing degree the next moment as the origin magic finally collided against it. Whoosh! This time, no explosive sound was induced as the origin magic started seeping into the firm mix of black and white like it was a dimensional storage box. Sebastian could not pay attention to the details; the amount of origin magic was so much that he had to maintain the firm mix of black and white for 2 seconds which was absolutely draining. By the time the infusion ended, he was drained completely. In the end, he succeeded. Sebastian couldn''t admire the end product of his efforts though because he was completely exhausted, but he smiled as he saw his system notification. [Congratulations! Mana core foundation has been formed!] [Commencing evolution¡­] Sebastian''s world went dark, the real evolution began. Chapter 284 - Sebastian And Tungstens Fortune, Vernis Luck! To the more perceptive predators like the few Mystery Pryer predators who joined the struggle for the Sea King inheritance, through their various senses, they could see the invisible convergence of origin magic. Mystery Pryer predators were too connected to the origin magic essence of the region they were tied in to fail in detecting such a huge shift. The battle between the giant tripartite powers was still raging fiercely. The massive army of the overlord Atlantis that was led by the Annihilator warship under Commander T.Y, the forces of the beast organizations under the cultist Ancestor Horamon, and the Rogue Snake Overlord himself. This tripartite balance of giants was still fighting without restraint among themselves as they struggled to gain the ultimate supremacy. Despite this struggle, the more intelligent mutated beasts of the other minor forces already discovered that these 3 giants were faintly holding back. Neither of the 3 giants could be taken down easily, not the Rogue Snake Overlord, not Ancestor Horamon and his lackeys, and definitely not the Atlantian army who already received the reinforcement of an Annihilator. These 3 rivals already recognized that going head-to-head would hardly provide any immediate results, so instead of doing that which would be foolish, they simply decided to battle in a laid-back manner. They had one goal, and before their goal or any clue to their goal was found, they were satisfied with maintaining this status quo. Until the ultimate inheritor of the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King arrived, they would not break this status quo. Now, this was where the minor forces suffered. The 3 giant forces could afford to battle in a laid-back manner, but the minor forces could not. This was because the laid-back fighting of the 3 giants was still enough to inflict them with severe damages. Minor forces like the one formed by Old Mak and his clan survivors struggled to preserve their lives in this chaotic battlefield as they took emotional support from their proximity. Due to their proximity, their hearts didn''t feel as lonely and in despair as they took special comfort from their similar root. Not everyone could enjoy privileges like this though, most especially one of the few Mystery Pryer predators that were part of this chaotic battlefield. This purple-tier Mystery Pryer Mutated Giant Cobra was having the most awful time of his life. This was not only because of this battle but also because of the envy that he felt towards the fortune of other predators. Through his close connection to the region''s origin magic essence, this predator knew that while he struggled, some predators were still benefiting. This Cobra knew that not one, but two predators were currently fulfilling the dream of their lives which was to climb into the exalted tier that he was. This Cobra knew that 2 predators were currently undergoing this pivotal breakthrough. Their chances of survival were still left hanging in the air, but the fact that they got this opportunity alone already showed their luck. This Cobra felt jealous, if only he had a fraction of their luck. "Lucky bastards!" He cursed. Boom! Another kinetic shell that was shot from an Atlantian warship hit his side as this Cobra was flung far away amid painful hisses and resentful curses. Yes, his situation was awful compared to Sebastian and Tungsten''s. Sebastian and Tungsten were the undisputed candidates that benefited most from the Sea King Inheritance. This statistic directly placed Old Mak''s clan group as the group that benefited the most. Though Sebastian''s evolution process was bumpy and thrilling, Tungsten''s was more conventional but was still plenty dangerous. The number one reason for Tungsten''s dangerous encounter was the fact that despite attending his teacher''s lectures, he never experienced an expert like Tonado who thought him so many details about the purple tier evolution. Despite this shortcoming though, he was able to fumble his way through. Through a series of factors, most especially the fact that his evolution origin magic that descended was nowhere as massive as Sebastian which directly reduced its lethality, his evolution process had more room to accommodate errors. After a series of trials and failures, he finally understood the process. After putting in a lot of effort, he also succeeded in creating his mana core foundation. Though his foundation was nowhere as consolidated as the abnormal foundation core that was formed by Sebastian, it was still impressive. With this done, his evolution successfully started like Sebastian''s. Against all the odds of death that were stacked against them, these 2 predators were able to rise from the ashes and were about to be reforged and reborn from the fire as a phoenix. Their benefits from entering this inheritance ground were unquantifiable since it addressed the most pressing need of every predator, evolution, but both of them were not the only special benefactors of this inheritance. Throughout its long drift through the Ocean, Carcarot Gorgoneon just like he did with Colonel Tada was able to assimilate a lot of other inheritances to serve as platforms to make his own inheritance more impressive. Apart from the 2 evolving predators, the other 12 predators and Atlantian soldiers that were not ejected out of the inheritance ground each encountered an inheritance opportunity like the one encountered by Captain Omega. Of these lucky ones, Verni was among them. Surprisingly, Verni was lucky enough to encounter the inheritance left by a Red tier Megalodon against all odds. This was an inheritance with prospects that if he could inherit it, this Great White Shark had an abnormally high chance of unlocking the Megalodon bloodline in his next evolution. The benefits of evolving to become a Megalodon could not be easily quantified. To know the approximate benefits, studying his Seba bro was enough. From the almost cheat-like recovery speed, Megalodons were so much better than normal Great White Sharks that both were incomparable. Now, at this moment while his Seba bro and his big bro Tungsten underwent their crucial evolution, he took the test of the inheritance. The test of the inheritance was pretty straightforward, unlike the zig-zag patterned inheritance style that was arranged by Carcarot Gorgoneon. It had only one test, which was a battle test. To get the inheritance, Verni was sucked into an illusion where the notion that he was a purple-tier predator became real. His challenge was to defeat another purple-tier predator who was the dead owner of the inheritance. Against all odds, the owner of the inheritance was a female Megalodon. Since Verni''s basic strength was already elevated to the realm of purple tier predators in this illusion, it seemed that he could overpower his enemy but he was woefully wrong. Apart from their higher base strength, purple tier predators were terrifying predators due to their high level of intelligence, battle intuition, experience, and a lot of other parameters. With these advantages, they were beasts to face in battle! Verni had no choice though, it was either he faced this enormous Megalodon and give his all to preserve his life and to get massive power or die. Verni only needed one moment to make his choice, this young shark suddenly exploded with power that originally exceeded his normal. A yellow fire with a lot of heat was suddenly unveiled around him, the only difference was that this time his fire had purple tier strength. Verni did not hold back at all. Having witnessed the strength of purple tier predators extensively, and having been bullied by his master occasionally in training, he knew the depths of this tier of predators. He knew how low his chances of emerging victorious were, but he did not let this realization weigh his will down as he exploded forth like a meteorite. "Personal Skill: Era of the Floating Fireflies!" Verni imitated a trend that was recently prevalent among the sharks of the Ultimate Dissectors hunting team, he yelled the name of his move as he attacked. The calm Megalodon directed a look of disdain at him before retaliating. This female Megalodon''s eyes simply blinked which changed the intensity of light in the water, the light intensity suddenly grew so high that they turned blinding. Boom! By the time Verni was able to react, the female Megalodon already gotten to his side as he was hit by a powerful battering ram attack. All his body felt like squashed meat already, but he did not give up. Verni persevered like a horse, fighting with his all as he sustained more and more injuries. Pushed to the wall by the pressure of death, he broke his limits repeatedly, exceeding his highest strength bar but he still couldn''t win. In the end, the female Megalodon was the one who stood on top. The terrifying Megalodon hovered silently and looked at the battered-up body of this driven and highly motivated young Great White Shark. "I like your temperament". "I like your bearing and mentality too". "You please me". "You passed!" Verni was too injured to hear this correctly, but this was the sentence that changed his life for good. Chapter 285 - I AM TUNGSTEN! At different corners in different chambers inside the catacomb structure where the Sea King inheritance was erected, a Great White Shark and a Megalodon both underwent an evolution that would change their lives forever. The purple tier evolution was no joke, it was a life-changing barrier, it was a crystallization encounter that defined the potential of the lucky predator for decades if not centuries to come. In most cases, this was the tier that distinguished elites from normal talented predators. Only real genius elites or incredibly lucky predators could evolve to become full-fledged purple tier predators. Also, it was during the purple tier evolution that a predator experiences the most changes both physically and in terms of his magic domain. This was where predators create their mana core! In some rare cases, some lucky predators get epiphanies from the successful merge of their physical qi foundation, their magic qi foundation, and the mysterious primordial magic essence that powered Oceania as a whole. The merge of these 3 vital properties was a mystery that no predator has successfully cracked and deduced to date. By glimpsing details during the merging of these 3 properties, some predators manage to get epiphanies that enable them to create epoch-changing skills or even better killer moves. Legend even says that the 7 Sea Kings managed to create their unique skills only after studying extensively the clues that they got about the mysteries of origin magic after their epiphanies. Though a lot of this information was clearly exaggerated, the fact that it was so widespread meant that there was an element of truth in it. And this element of truth was about to be verified in one of the evolving sharks. Tungsten started his evolution first and his overall accumulation was no match against Sebastian''s, all this meant that his evolution would also end first. In the different corners of the chambers where they were transported to enable them to complete their evolution successfully, Tungsten and Sebastian already sported a series of changes that were faintly already reflecting their new status. The change in size and body structure development was the more visible and tangible changes that reflected their new status. Sebastian''s growth was much more compact, while Tungsten''s was more exaggerated. Instead of going for the package of strength in size, Sebastian''s evolution options made him settle for strength in a compact size. He didn''t grow in size much, only minute size changes could be detected, the main changes that Sebastian already experienced were more focused on his muscles and overall body structure. Sebastian''s Megalodon body felt more muscular, his skin felt thicker, the changes were like transforming from a normal human to a heavy muscular human. There was no glaring difference in size, but the buff muscles, prominent chest, and muscular legs all meant that the muscular human was the stronger of the 2. This was Sebastian''s case here. Compared to before, his body was now countless times stronger though he didn''t grow in size. He was still a 15-meter long Megalodon. Tungsten was the one who really ballooned in size. Due to the evolutionary route that he took, Tungsten''s size erupted so much that he now towered at an astonishing 20 meters. The young and ambitious Tungsten was slowly turning into a legend! In his body, apart from the changes that were expressed in his body, his magic domain experienced the most changes as his raw magic quality increased. The origin magic energy that was contained in his mana core foundation moved throughout his body, combining more with his magic and physical qi as a lot of profound and mysterious changes went on in his body. It took a long time, hours before his mana core was finally formed. The hardest part of the hurdle was finally passed, the danger period was finally passed. As soon as his mana core was formed, though still unconscious, Tungsten''s now enormous body squirmed slightly in pleasure as the raw power coursing through his veins gave this enormous Great White Shark the time of his life. While the fierce battle that was dominated by the tripartite forces continued raging on outside, Tungsten continued his evolution until his eyes finally snapped open, bringing the new him back to consciousness. Tungsten slept as a relatively powerful orange tier Great White Shark but he awoke as a legend, a purple tier Great White Shark. Without even looking, just his vastly more powerful electroreceptors enabled him to track every single change that was currently in his body. He could feel the raw power that was flowing through his body. He had never felt so powerful in his life, he felt invincible! Tungsten grinned. "I made it!" He felt hyped, he could not wait to see his master and see the exhilaration that would plaster his face. Seeing him succeed would definitely make Old Mak ecstatic, and surprisingly, he was now as huge as his master. Tungsten felt justifiably excited, but this did not last for long as his orange predatory eyes were now narrowed in deep thought. During his evolution, against all odds, he got an epiphany! Tungsten could not call himself an extremely intelligent shark, but his little intelligence was enough to enable him to comprehend the details of this epiphany. Tungsten felt hyped, he was about to create his own unique killer move. His current hyperactive sensitivity to the pervasive aura of the origin laws were residual benefits from his breakthrough, this presented the perfect atmosphere for him to create a killer move. He was in a unique state, the details of the killer move were already outlined in his head, all he needed to do was to follow the details in his head. Tungsten moved, and for the first time mobilized the power of his mana core. The mana that was stored in his core was aroused for the first time by its master, the mana moved like an extension of his body as he effortlessly manipulated it to form basic structures for activation in his head. He kept these structures and prepared for 2 minutes before he went loose as he started activating the new magic skills that he got from his evolution. The magic presence in this isolated room grew more energetic as the protons and electrons in the air were stirred by this divergent power of nature. Magic took precedent, mysteries were formed, and Tungsten activated his first killer move smoothly without problems! [Killer Move: Light of Family- Protection!] Tungsten grinned. "I AM TUNGSTEN!" Chapter 286 - The New Sebastian! Tungsten''s successful evolution seemed to have become the catalyst that sped up the magical reactions that were going on through the other beasts. Of the mutated beasts and Atlantians that had the privilege to get advantages like Verni, there were only 2 Atlantian soldiers, and all the other spots were firmly dominated by the mutated beasts. With Tungsten''s successful breakthrough, the flood gates of heaven''s blessings seemed to have opened as all the other benefactors were roused. 6 of the mutated beasts completed the requirements to get the inheritance that they encountered through their luck, which enabled them to successfully get the inheritances, including 1 Atlantian soldier. As the minutes passed, others completed the requirements while the remaining few died having failed to complete the requirements. Among these failures was the 2nd Atlantian soldier. Verni already completed his requirements for a long time, even faster than Tungsten did. He was the first one to get the benefits of the inheritance that he had the luck of encountering. Once he fulfilled the requirements of the inheritance, the dead Megalodon''s will commended his efforts and mentality before bestowing him with the inheritance. The ultimate prize of this inheritance was a drop of blood. The dead Megalodon''s will called it the blood of the Ancients. Once this drop of blood came into contact with Verni and sank into his body, for the first few minutes, Verni suddenly felt like he was carrying a heavy burden. The drop of blood was surprisingly extremely heavy, so heavy that Verni almost broke down amid trying to resist the heaviness. While he resisted, a few minutes later, the blood finally bathed his body enough and entered his bloodstream. Instantly, Verni felt like an electrical wire was connected to his body through which electricity passed. Verni convulsed like a madman as the electricity completely ravaged through his veins. His blood became hot, his brain grew muddled, he could feel himself losing blood rapidly, he thought he would die but he did not. Once Verni felt that the sensations were becoming unbearable, it finally stopped. His body succeeded in accepting the foreign blood of the Ancients. Verni tried to feel it but he could not, the so-called blood of the Ancients seemed to have disappeared and he also couldn''t feel any change in his body. This was when he finally received the last benefit of this inheritance. On seeing that his body accepted the blood of the Ancients, the dead Megalodon''s will heaved a sigh of relief before rapidly fading into wisps of light. These lights converged to form a trail of white light as they all drilled into Verni''s head without him being able to resist their entry. By the time this intruding entrance ended, Verni''s brain seemed to explode. The astonishing amount of information that was suddenly infused into his brain was so much that Verni was at the risk of breakdown. It took a lot for him to calm down, then he finally understood what he gained. Shockingly, the white light that entered his brain was the battle style, battle techniques, battle skills, killer moves, and the battle experiences of the dead Megalodon who could now be called his patron. This time, Verni hit the jackpot, this was a complete inheritance! Though the information was stored at certain corners of his brain, he still needed to learn them and understand them before he could make use of them. Despite this little shortcoming, this was still better than learning everything from the scratch. The difference was too enormous to be quantified. When Verni opened his eyes, they shone brightly like lanterns in a dark night. ¡­ Among all the mutated beast predators and the Atlantian soldiers that were not exiled from the inheritance ground, all of them already either got their inheritance or died, Sebastian was the only exception. Sebastian was the only one of them that was still yet to regain consciousness. Sebastian was completely unconscious; he could not see nor understand what was happening to him at this moment but he was changing every minute. Sebastian''s body already exhibited so many changes from the first change that it exhibited that his body right now and the way it was when he just started the evolution was almost indistinguishable from each other. Sebastian was growing more powerful by the minute. Both physically and magically, his body was changing and evolving in mysterious ways that slowly crystallized his existence as a Megalodon of a higher lifeform than the one he was as an orange tier predator. Every minute that passed, he was getting closer to the perfect universally accepted form of a purple tier Megalodon. After months of stagnation, Sebastian was becoming OP once again. Sebastian''s evolution continued for an hour after the last predator that was left in the Sea King''s inheritance ground completed the requirements to get his inheritance, this was when his consciousness finally snapped awake. Vroom! As soon as consciousness returned to the originally muddy eyes of this enormous predatory body, a powerful will followed as its emergence was manifested in the form of the magic wave that tyrannically swept across. Sebastian''s eyes looked ahead for a few seconds before realization finally shone inside them. Sebastian quickly recalled where he was and what happened. [You have activated skill: Mega Electroreceptors!] Vroom! Once again, a magic wave that was filled with electromagnetic fluctuations seemed to tyrannically sweep across as Sebastian made use of his upgraded skill for the first time. With just this usage, Sebastian easily identified the massive difference between this current version of his electroreceptors and the previous one. The outcome of his electromagnetic field energized his spirit more. He grinned. "I''m back, baby!" Sebastian could feel his palpable excitement, his evolution process was a massive success! Sebastian was about to demand his system status but his system beat him to it as a series of system notifications appeared before him. [Congratulations! Host has completed evolution. You are now a level 21 Megalodon Mana Lord!] [Congratulations! You have fulfilled the conditions to access the Ocean King''s Hidden Inheritance reward- Telekinesis!] [Congratulations! You have unlocked the Ancient Megalodon bloodline!] [You have unlocked 3 bloodline active skills and 1 passive skill:] [Bloodline Skill: Megalodon Aura!] [Bloodline Skill: Megalodon Might!] [Bloodline Skill: Breath of the Sound Megalodon!] [Bloodline Passive Skill: The Ruler of the Seas!] [Congratulations! You have received a dose of purified soul energy!] Seeing this series of notifications, Sebastian was rightfully shocked. He knew that evolving to the purple tier came with a lot of benefits and implications, but he did not expect this. The first notification of course made him happy as it confirmed his new status as a legendary purple tier Megalodon. The second notification surprised him, but on seeing the last notification, he could guess what happened though it seemed pretty unbelievable. As for the third notification, all Sebastian could say about it was that this was free manna dropping from heaven. This was a completely unexpected reward. Seeing all this, Sebastian was more than hyped to see his updated system status and he did not hesitate to ask his system for it. "System, give it to me!" [Affirmative!] ----------------------------------------- Name: Sebastian Level: 21 Stats: Power: 555 Speed: 218 Mind: 432 Constitution: 315 Luck: 62 HP: 5321/5321 MP: 8270/8270 [Body Skills: Dissecting Bite- Level 1; Mega Dash- Level 1; Mega Electroreceptors- Level 1; Mega Pressure Sensing- Level 1; Morphable Spike Attack- Level 1; Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor- Level 4; Acrobatic Maneuverability- Level 1; Mega Crushing Bite- Level 1.] [Material Magic skills: Reanimation; Mega Healing- Level 1; Mega Magic Shield- Level 1; Supersonic Speed- Level 3.] [Sound Domain skills: Mega Sound Control- Level 1; Drilling Sonic Sword- Level 1; Sonic Reflection- Level 4; Sonic Dissonance- Level 3; Water Cyclone- Level 4; Vibration Sensing- Level 1; Melody Sensing- Level 1; Mega Sound Blast- Level 1.] [Combined skills: Rupturing Sonic Ram- Level 1; Sonic Magic Teeth- Level 1; Sonic Torpedo Drill- Level 1; Combined Super Sensing- Level 1.] [Mana Lord skills: Mana Control- Level 1; Mana Empowerment- Level 1; Rasengan- Level 1.] [Bloodline skills: Megalodon Aura; Megalodon Might; Breath of the Sound Megalodon.] [Bloodline passive skill: The Ruler of the Seas.] [Passive Skills: Instinctive Swimming; Empowered Body Fins; Healing; Mega Smell; Bane of Mammoth Crocodiles; Undying Zombie.] [Unique Skills: Water Transmutation; Doppelganger and Invisibility.] [Overall Origin Law Comprehension: Initial Level.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Vampire Teeth; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain; Fire Skin; Mega Megalodon Jaws; Dense Muscle Fiber Defense; Lancer Snout.] [Vampire Teeth Adaptation Active Ability: Blood Vampire!] [Inherited Magic Ability- Telekinesis: ???] [Species: Megalodon- Mana Lord!] [System Remark: Well¡­, you deserve it, give yourself some credit, you''re a powerhouse now!] --------------------------------- After going through his new system status, Sebastian was silent for a minute as he let the astonishing information properly settle into his head. While this happened, his sharky facial expressions alternated between disbelief, joy, and euphoria before finally settling for a wide grin. "Hahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahahaha!" "I''m a f*cking powerhouse!" Chapter 287 - The Power Of A Purple Tier Megalodon! Sebastian''s new system status dropped like a bombshell to him. Once he saw his new status, his excitement knew no end as he celebrated like a mad Megalodon. No intruder was there to serve as a spectator, so he was free to express his joy in any manner that he deemed fit. Of course, Sebastian didn''t celebrate forever, he didn''t have the luxury for that, he was still in a region that was infested with bloodthirsty predators that were ready to rip his face off. After celebrating to his fill, he finally calmed down. This was when Sebastian started analyzing his new system status. Everything that transpired after he regained consciousness was so unbelievable that he found them hard to believe, but they were true. Sebastian first navigated back to his 2nd system notification after he regained consciousness, which was about how he fulfilled the requirements to access the Ocean King''s hidden inheritance reward. Sebastian found this confusing at first, but it only needed a little bit of thinking from him and after combining this information with that of his system''s 4th notification, he finally understood what happened. Apparently, the dose of purified soul energy that he received was the soul energy that was released by the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King after he died pitifully to him. Then, Sebastian remembered that a sizeable portion of the Sea King''s dispersing soul energy escaped, while he succeeded in assimilating the others. He never knew the consequences that this action would have until now, and all that he could say about it was that he absolutely loved it. The effects of this action were not him just meeting the requirement to make use of the telekinesis magic ability, but the purified soul energy managed to make his mind his 2nd best basic stat at a staggering figure of 432. This was a massive benefit that Sebastian never anticipated. This massive boost did not directly mean that he grew countless times more intelligent, it simply meant that his soul resistance to soul skills and any ability that was soul-related increased. As for him unlocking the Ancient Megalodon Bloodline and getting his first bloodline skills, Sebastian could only associate this to the advantages of his system and the massive foundation that he created on breaking through to the purple tier. Sebastian was not sure, but if what Tonado told him was correct, then the amount of primordial origin magic that he attracted during his breakthrough was abnormal. This was dangerous, but if successful, according to Tonado, it meant that his future potential would be terrifying compared to other predators. He guessed that these factors helped him in unlocking the ancient bloodline. Of his bloodline skills, after activation, the Megalodon Aura projects a fierce predator aura around him that inconvenience same-tiered opponents in battle, while suppressing lower-tiered opponents in battle. With this skill, Sebastian was terrifying against a bunch of lower-tiered predators and was also useful against same-tiered opponents. This was a powerful AOE ability. As for his Megalodon Might, after activation, his basic power stat experiences a 50% percent increase which was a terrifying increase. With this skill, Sebastian''s berserker-like offense in place of defense battle style''s effects would be maximized to the limit. As for the Breath of the Sound Megalodon, it was a sound domain skill where Sebastian would breathe out a terrifying wave of sonic death. The total damage of this skill was terrifying, but Sebastian would be only sure after using it in battle. As for his bloodline passive skill, his system provided a detailed description. [Bloodline Passive Skill- The Ruler of the Seas!] [When locked in battle, if host receives damage that is described as staggering from an opponent, host has a 100% chance of retaliating and dealing staggering damage back to the same opponent no matter what skill or attack method is utilized.] [Remark: An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth!] These were the summary of Sebastian''s current prowess with his new bloodline skills, and this was just the tip of the iceberg of his current ability. Sebastian''s basic stats, including his health and mana points, experienced a ridiculous increase compared to when he was still an orange tier predator. Sebastian was pretty sure that other purple tier predators didn''t have such astonishing stat points, he was convinced that all these were due to the numerous stacking factors that affected his breakthrough. All these factors ranged from the priceless cores that he managed to gain and was privileged to chew like candy from the Sea King''s inheritance, to the amount of primordial magic essence that he stored in his mana core. All these stacked together formed a staggering multiplier force. Another reason for him to be happy was his luck points. After a relative period of stagnation, his luck points increased again and by a sizeable amount this time which left him ecstatic. It always feels good to be lucky. Sebastian finally deviated to his new catalog of skills. Most of his body skills that were retained were upgraded versions of his previous body skills, the only new additions were the Mega Pressure Sensing and the Acrobatic Maneuverability. The mega pressure sensing was an alternative for his electroreceptors. Instead of sensing electromagnetic waves, this highly sensitive skill instead detects pressure waves like a super lateral line. Acrobatic maneuverability is a more practical move. With this skill active, Sebastian would no longer be as restrained by his current enormous body. This skill would make his body extremely flexible. With it active, he could literally bend his body till his head reached his tail position to chomp on a loitering prey who sought to take advantage of his blind spot. His material magic skills were more or less the same. The Mega Healing is an upgraded version of his Rejuvenation skill, and the Reanimation was a god-tier skill. Sebastian was shocked to see it after accessing its description. With this skill, he could literally revive once in an interval of a few seconds after dying at the expense of using all his mana points and not being able to make use of his mana organ for 1 month. This skill, Sebastian did not doubt that its emergence alone at this stage was because of the massive favoritism that was displayed by his system. This was a skill that could forever change his approach to battles. For the reason why the Reanimation skill did not have a level progression ladder, after seeing other skills like his bloodline skills that had the same limitation, he guessed what happened. According to Tonado''s knowledge impartation, every skill can exhibit power of different degrees due to the different origin law comprehension of predators. For every skill, for it to increase in power, the said predator needed to deepen his origin law comprehension of the said skill. Sebastian didn''t have to do this though; this was because his system already took care of the job by making it possible for him to level them up. By leveling them up through usage, it had the same effects as increasing his origin law comprehension of these skills. This was another cheat ability of his system that Sebastian learned about with time, but clearly, this ability had limitations like in the case of his new Reanimation skill. The system couldn''t do everything for him. For the effects of these skills to increase in efficacy, he needed to work like the others to increase the origin law comprehension of the said skills. This was a bother, but Sebastian believed that he could do it. Considering that other predators didn''t have his advantages, he was having it easy. As for his sound domain skills, they were the same as the others. Most of them were upgraded versions of his previous skills, with only a few new skills. The Drilling Sonic Sword skill was an upgrade of the Sonic Drill skill. The difference was that its basic form changed. Instead of being just a drill formed out of magic power, it now took on the shape of a drilling sword in action. Vibration sensing was another skill to complement his electroreceptors and his sound detector. The more experience he got as a predator, the more he attributed importance to scouting skills. He stole the melody sensing from his encounter with the Basking Shark, and the Mega Sound Blast was simply an overpowered sound blast attack. As a sound domain magician, not having a sound blast skill was a shortcoming that Sebastian already recognized long ago and sought to rectify. For his new skill port of combined skills, the skills here involved both his body and his mana to activate. The Rupturing sonic ram was an upgraded version of the Battering Ram skill. The difference was that instead of just a basic ram attack this time, an aggressive rupturing sonic attack would accompany it. The sonic magic teeth skill was an upgrade from his previous magic teeth skill. Like its name suggested, the teeth attack could now deal both physical and sonic damage to enemies. The sonic torpedo drill skill was a skill that Sebastian decided to purchase due to the non-penetrative power of his previous battering ram skill. With this skill, his 15-meter-long body would turn into a rotating drill like a torpedo. Accompanying his body was a sharp sonic attack that when paired together could turn him into a penetrating lancer spear. His combined super sensing skill showcased his recent obsession with maintaining the scouting and information advantage in any situation. This was a skill that involved and combined all his scouting and sensing skills to form a more tyrannical scouting skill. Its effects and mechanism were like a miniaturized version of a deadly killer move. Of his mana lord skills, he got them all due to his new evolution route as a Mana Lord. He guessed that this was also one of the reasons for his abnormally high mana point stat. Mana control was a skill that allowed him to maintain basic control over the origin magic essence like Atlantians and bid them to do his will. With this skill, he could quickly replenish the mana in his mana core and a lot of other things, its effects were multidimensional. His mana empowerment skill like the name suggested empowered his skills. By actively manipulating mana after activation, he could activate another magic skill after it and make the effects of the activated skill stronger than normal. The percentage of empowerment varied due to a lot of different factors. The Rasengan, Sebastian grinned on seeing this skill. He was 100% certain that this skill was named this way after his system took a peep into his brain. Its effects simply entailed gathering and compressing mana to form a terrifying ball of energy that releases a deadly mana blast on activation. His passive skills were self-explanatory. Most of the skills that he had to activate to use before simply became automated and instinctive. The tab for origin law comprehension was new. Sebastian was not surprised on seeing that his overall comprehension was still at the initial level. Apart from his killer move, he was pretty sure that the comprehension of his other skills that needed it were still stuck at the initial level which warranted this. As for his new adaptations, Mega Megalodon Jaws was for a more terrifying bite power and speed, Dense Muscle Fiber was for better muscle defense, and his Lancer Snout literally gave him a new mode of attack like his spikes. As for his inherited magic ability, Sebastian didn''t have Verni''s luck and he only got the ability without getting the relevant skills. For now, he would have to do with the normal manipulation of this power until he created telekinesis skills himself or purchased from his system. With all these, Sebastian had no further doubts, he finally stepped into the realm of powerhouses in Oceania. His system remark was the icing on the cake. Despite all these gains, new passive skills, bloodline skills, and active skills, Sebastian''s upgrade would not be complete without bringing in his new unique skill, the Doppelganger, and Invisibility unique skill! Chapter 288 - The Doppelganger And Invisibility Unique Skill! Entering the Sea King Inheritance ground was a life-changing encounter to Sebastian, it was an encounter that changed his story for good. Inside the inheritance ground, Sebastian chewed on mana cores and even the natural cores like candy, he fulfilled a pivotal goal by evolving to the purple tier, he learned a lot of priceless information, but still, all these gains could not compare to one of them. Getting his 2nd unique skill trumped all these gains by a sizeable margin. For a long time after he transmigrated into this world and after the unique skill hunter mission was revealed to him, Sebastian made hunting for these special priceless skills his main goal alongside his ultimate dissection ambition. To achieve this goal though, Sebastian could guess the threats involved and easily decided to stay prudent and to accumulate strength first. Accumulating strength to face a Sea King who was at his peak in normal circumstances may take decades if not centuries to complete, but Sebastian never gave up hope, always believing that he was special. His lean on being special was not too pitiful though, it was not every day that a nigga could boast of transmigrating into a magic world, right? Sebastian held tight to this perception of special, and it helped him in subtle ways that he sometimes could not detect. Through little coincidences that could easily be overlooked, he slowly rose in strength within just 3 months. When he was captured by the Atlantian soldiers, it seemed like he was doomed but it was actually a blessing in disguise. That was when he met Tonado, it was during that period that he got the system clue concerning the unique clue, and it was also during that period that Tonado became his pseudo-teacher. Through a series of even more extreme coincidences, here he was, against all odds, he was the one who got the ultimate inheritance. Even when he was pitted against a Sea King though a weakened one, against all odds, he still survived and snatched the Sea King''s unique skill. If Sebastian didn''t believe in luck before, now he believed in it. Luck was such an ethereal but mighty existence; it was also the main reason why he was able to make it and get to this position. After getting to flex for 3 months with his Water transmutation unique skill, Sebastian now had a second unique skill. He could not wait to explore its abilities, but before he could go further, he was interrupted by a system notification that appeared. [Congratulations! You have completed 2/7 of the Unique Skill Hunter mission!] [Mission Reward: 10,000 Skill points and 10,000 Adaptation points.] [Additional Mission Reward: Special system clue.] Out of the blue, Sebastian suddenly grew 20,000 points richer. He of course felt ecstatic, and he felt even more ecstatic about the special system clue since the system already clarified that it would be clues on how he could get stronger. He felt tempted to see the special system clue now, but he felt even more tempted to check out the abilities of his new unique skill first. The argument was not sound, he easily went for his unique skill first. [Unique skill: Doppelganger and Invisibility!] This time, perhaps writing it down was too cumbersome but Sebastian''s system directly transmitted the relevant knowledge that he craved inside his head. Sebastian spent a few seconds in silence before he understood the full gist of this new unique skill that he got after going through a lot of challenges. After his encounter with the Water Transmutation unique skill, Sebastian''s overall rating for unique skills instinctively increased exponentially but it seemed that he was still underestimating this unique skill a bit. The first ability that this unique skill gave was invisibility. Unlike with the Water Transmutation unique skill, activating invisibility did not drain too many mana points. The skill activation was very smooth, making it seem like an instinctive ability after Sebastian tried it. The only factor that affected the invisibility ability was the origin law comprehension of the mutated beast who made use of it. With Carcarot Gorgoneon''s comprehension ability, this Sea King could silently enter the invisible state and no degree of detection ability could sniff him out, at least those in the power range below the myth realm. This was how he was able to fool both Sebastian and the Sage living in his head, Carcarot Gorgoneon was a master of this ability. As for Sebastian currently, with his measly origin law comprehension, he could still enter a state of invisibility but he was not immune to all detection methods and his state of invisibility was temporary. With his current comprehension, he guessed that his limit was 30 minutes. After this, he had to spend 30 hours before he could make use of this ability again. As for the 2nd ability of this unique skill, it was an ability that was powerful enough to be called an epoch-changing ability. After going through the limits of the Doppelganger ability, Sebastian was floored completely as he finally knew why Carcarot Gorgoneon was such a notorious Sea King. The main ability of the Doppelganger ability was to create living Doppelgangers. In essence, this meant that Sebastian could create another Sebastian and live with 2 bodies. These 2 bodies could evolve separately, they could experience different opportunities and develop in different trajectories, it was like living in Oceania but with 2 lives since Sebastian could survive even if his other Doppelganger died. The only shortcoming was that Sebastian''s base attributes would experience a temporary decrease after the creation of a living Doppelganger and the death of any living Doppelganger would affect the other. Sebastian didn''t care though; the practical uses of this ability were so good that the shortcomings were as gentle as a baby''s smooth touch. Sebastian didn''t know the limit of how many living doppelgangers that Carcarot Gorgoneon could create at his peak, but since this ability also involved origin law comprehension, the notorious Sea King must have gotten to the level where he was able to create dozens if not hundreds of living Doppelgangers. Just thinking about the implications left Sebastian shuddering. "How on earth was he assassinated?" Sebastian could not help but think about the amount of effort that the allied army of variant humans put in to deal such staggering damage to this notorious predator. Just thinking about it left him feeling dizzy. Sebastian could continue admiring the absolute might of Carcarot Gorgoneon for ages, but doing this would not make the Sea King''s might his, his origin law comprehension decided his limits. With his current origin law comprehension, Sebastian easily deduced that he could create 2 Living Doppelgangers. This was a terrifying ability since it meant that Sebastian could then exist as 3 different Sebastians, which directly meant that he would have 3 lives. "F*ck! How can this unique skill be so messed up?!" Sebastian got a whole new appreciation for the might of unique skills. Apart from this main ability, the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill also could create normal Doppelgangers. By making use of his mana, Sebastian''s current limit was being able to create 10 normal Doppelgangers that could fight alongside him for 24 hours. Of course, the Doppelgangers could die beforehand if they sustained enough damage but this still didn''t remove anything from the practicality of this ability. Sebastian could not help but envy the previous Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King, how many normal Doppelgangers could this beast create? Sebastian did not dare to think too much about this. One of the more exciting perks of this unique skill''s abilities was that the creatable Doppelgangers were not just restricted to being mutated beasts, Sebastian could create any type of Doppelganger that he wanted. This perk alone made the unique skill extremely versatile and practical. Another slight shortcoming was that Sebastian could only create 1 living Doppelganger by expending all his mana points now. To create another one, he had to wait for one month. This time could decrease once his origin law comprehension increased. The excitement that Sebastian got on exploring the capabilities and limits of this unique skill was so much that his body vibrated as a reflection of his amazement. In the end, after studying the pros and cons of this unique skill for dozens of minutes, Sebastian finally calmed down. It was time for him to create his first doppelgangers. [You have activated unique skill: Doppelganger and Invisibility!] Chapter 289 - Breaking The Silence! [Congratulations! You have created a Living Doppelganger!] Sebastian felt drenched in sweat, his 15-meter huge body felt heavier than normal and his brain felt sluggish. These were all aftereffects of him draining his huge amount of mana points to zero. Sebastian''s mana limit increased just a few minutes ago, now he had to sap it dry for the first time. As expected, it was not a good feeling. Despite all these shortcomings of making use of his 2nd unique skill, Sebastian did not regret it because he knew that this was all worth it. This was when he started thinking of the bigger picture. Since his evolution started, he didn''t have the luxury to think of other matters since the pending problem of evolving successfully to safeguard his life and grow in strength was the priority. Now, Sebastian could finally think about other things, and the next priority in his scale of preference was escaping from this ocean volcano alive. He already got his ultimate goal, now was the time to escape. Staying behind in this region was suicide. No matter how powerful he felt currently, Sebastian did not develop the illusion that he was stronger than Atlantis. This was why his next priority shifted to escaping. And once his priority shifted to this, he remembered his companions who also followed him into this Sea King inheritance ground. Sebastian was not too sure about the details, but he knew that after Carcarot Gorgoneon''s soul finally died, a lot of the mechanisms in the inheritance ground lost their main control power and went out of control. While a lot of things went out of control, a lot of priority mechanisms also took place. Priority mechanisms like the evacuation of every competing candidate in the inheritance ground, and safeguarding those who were evolving. Due to his evolution opportunity, he was safeguarded but Sebastian had no idea if other predators like him were also kept safe. Putting this aside, his main concern was actually about the situation of the current outside world and his chances of wriggling his way through. What were the other competitor''s reactions to losing the opportunity of getting the ultimate inheritance? Was the lucky inheritor being relentlessly searched for? Was he in danger? These were a minority of the numerous questions that currently plagued Sebastian. The only problem that irritated him to no end was that he knew none of the answers to these nagging questions. The uncertainty tugged at his nerves; he didn''t even know if the whole Atlantian army was mobilized just to stop him from escaping. The numerous possibilities of the current state outside the inheritance ground were so much that Sebastian soon gave up. He could think till eternity, but without any concrete proof, it would all result in nothing. This was why Sebastian easily decided to go with the flow. He decided to break the deadlock or silence, whichever was deemed fit for the occasion. The mana core that was currently pulsing like a heart and was providing his body with mana was not the only crystallization that he got from his breakthrough, he also crystallized his battle style. Offense is the greatest defense; this was Sebastian''s battle style! And at this moment, Sebastian decided to remain true to his battle style. To know his current situation, he needed to act, he needed to move and see for himself so that he could react accordingly. Idleness never yielded any results; it was working that yielded results. [Passive Skill has been triggered: Instinctive Swimming!] This time, Sebastian didn''t have to activate it, he just had to think of it and his body moved in such a natural instinctive manner that it felt like magic. After months of staying as a Megalodon, Sebastian already got used to it after swimming extensively with his swimming active skill, but for the first time, he felt that he was not putting in effort to swim. At this moment, swimming felt effortless to him. Compared to when he just transmigrated into this world when he thrashed like a clueless SpongeBob, he was now a pro, he was now a natural at the job. [You have activated skill: Mega Electroreceptors!] With this skill active, Sebastian went on the move. He finished his breakthrough locked inside one of the numerous halls that were built inside this massive underground catacomb research base. Due to his relative experience of having seen the entrance of the inheritance ground twice, and perhaps also because of his beast intuition, Sebastian was not led astray as he instinctively knew the direction to take to the entrance. Sebastian only needed an intensive use of it once to know the new depths of his upgraded electroreceptor skill. The mega electroreceptors compared to his previous advanced version of the electroreceptors didn''t just have a wider range, they answered completely to Sebastian''s will as he could actively manipulate it in different ways to achieve better results. For example, at this moment after using the normal wide-area sweep, he manipulated the electromagnetic signals to form narrow search pathways. By making the search range extremely narrow, the range of his electroreceptors extended so much that from his position, Sebastian was able to detect all the way to the entrance of the inheritance ground. He only needed a few seconds to confirm that others were like him and were with him in this inheritance ground. They were all already gathered at the entrance. "8 mutated beasts and 1 Atlantian soldier". Unlike before, even at such an extremely long-range, Sebastian was able to easily identify the varying magnetic signals of his targets to distinguish that 8 were mutated beasts and that 1 was an Atlantian soldier. Also, he was able to detect that 2 of these beasts were friendlies. [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] Whoosh! Sebastian wasted no more time, he accelerated away like the wind. His current mega dash was far more impressive than his previous advanced dash and combined with his new speed base stats, Sebastian was more than a mile faster than before. If he was a Toyota Camry before, now he was a Bhugatti Veyron! ¡­ The entrance inside the inheritance ground which was also now the exit back into the outside entrance consisted of a glowing teleportation portal. At this moment, 9 different figures hovered before this teleportation portal from different angles and distances. Though there was only a single Atlantian soldier amid a group of deadly predators at the moment, none of the predators attacked the soldier because they were also on guard against each other, and the might of this Atlantian survivor was not a matter to be trifled with. Sergeant Lopez was a female soldier of the Black Mamba Division fleet. As one of the champions of the division fleet under the direct leadership of Captain Omega, she also had a straightforward personality like the Captain. She was originally focused on the task that was given to them by Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid who was now the leading superior of their mission, but on encountering a special inheritance, how priority order was overridden. Though they were tasked to follow their mission and strive to accomplish it with undivided attention, they were also allowed to progress. This was why this devout female soldier accepted the inheritance with no qualms. Now, she survived and came out stronger but she could not establish a connection with her fellow Atlantians yet. She was surrounded by a group of bloodthirsty beasts, she didn''t even know the current situation of the Atlantian army, her situation was not looking good. Of the 8 predators that hovered on different sides around her, 2 were the most eye-catching because, unlike the others, they hovered close to each other. Tungsten and Verni were surprised when they saw each other. But this surprise did not last, they knew their current situation and priority, without hesitation they banded together to figure a way out of their current predicament. They wanted to regroup with their other family members, they wanted to meet their master and proudly announce their achievements but they could not because, for some reason, the portal simply refused to let them through. They already tried every means available to them to pass through it but they all proved futile. In the end, they could only wait, thinking and hoping that a certain special requirement was to be met before they were let through. Their wait took a lot of time but it was worth it. After over 30 minutes of waiting, a newcomer emerged from the depths of the catacomb. Time seemed to freeze as every beast and the female Atlantian soldier were all attracted to this newcomer. A huge but compact body that seemed capable of smashing every barrier apart, terrifying rows of teeth that seemed capable of crushing the world to pieces, this newcomer looked powerful no matter what facet it was looked at from. Tungsten and Verni were shocked before turning ecstatic the next moment. "SEBASTIAN!" Chapter 290 - Busted! "Tungsten, Verni". Sebastian called back at the 2 Great White Sharks. Sebastian was pretty excited about knowing that 2 of his companions were still here with him, but he felt even more excited on noticing the difference that was currently being displayed in the 2 sharks. Perhaps, this was another boon to breaking through to the purple tier, perhaps it was another benefit of his Mana Lord evolution route, but Sebastian already discovered that his sensitivity to mana and other phenomenon increased a lot after his evolution. This was how he was able to easily discover the changes in the 2 sharks. For the younger shark, Sebastian discovered a strange rainbow-colored light that was moving through Verni''s bloodstream. For some strange reason, he resonated with this rainbow-colored light. As for Tungsten, Sebastian could not mistake it, with the massive amount of mana activity that was going on inside the complicated body of this Great White Shark, Tungsten was now a purple tier predator. Sebastian was surprised and excited. It seems that he was not the only one who benefited from this Sea King inheritance and it made him happy. This was one of the reasons why he solicited Old Mak''s help. Apart from trying to get external help to increase his chances of fulfilling his goal, he also sincerely wanted to help the shark clan. These 2 were evidence that his plan did not fail. As the 3 enormous sharks exchanged pleasantries, the other predators and the Atlantian soldier were on their toes as they carefully observed this newcomer. Tungsten may be bigger than Sebastian currently, but there was something about this new shark that rang alarm bells in the other predators'' heads. Sebastian''s absurd muscular physique for a Megalodon that made him now look a bit like Strong, his powerful inevitable jaws that seemed capable of crushing anything, and a lot more revealed that this newcomer was a powerhouse. Apart from Tungsten and Verni, among the other survivors, only Sergeant Lopez knew the identity of this enormous shark. This female Sergeant''s heart chilled. "It survived?" Sebastian merely surviving would not have elicited such a dreadful reaction from her, this Sergeant''s sensitivity and control over origin magic ensured that she could detect the powerful fluctuations currently emanating from the Megalodon. The Megalodon was now a purple tier predator, and not only that, a Mana Lord! The implications of these 2 stacked together were terrifyingly mighty! This Sergeant''s brain whirled with superhuman speed. "The ultimate inheritance has already been gotten, don''t tell me this Megalodon got it?!" The implications of all these thoughts were so much that this Sergeant almost exploded, but her military training showed at this moment as she cleverly directed as little observation and animosity to the Megalodon as possible. Sebastian played along; he also didn''t want to spook this Atlantian soldier. Until he knew the situation of the outside seamount, he refrained from acting. Silently, he swam beside his 2 buddies. He didn''t exchange any communication with them apart from the reunion greeting, this could be done later, now was the time to escape. Tungsten also felt the change in Sebastian, he was happy for him but he also kept his emotions in check as the teleportation portal finally showed a change. There was indeed a specific requirement to fulfill to open it, all the survivors needed to gather before the entrance for it to open up. Wom! The spatial disturbance around the portal suddenly increased in intensity. Sebastian and the others didn''t even need to move, the portal gathered energy for a few seconds before expanding outwards to engulf them. In a few seconds, the light of the teleportation portal covered them all. They all braced themselves for what was to come, then they disappeared. Warp! ¡­ Boom! Boom! Boom! The flames of a raging war continued burning fiercely! The Tripartite Hegemonic balance that was formed by the 3 hegemonic powers in this battlefield was only able to maintain their status quo for about an hour before they became impatient. This was a war Afterall, it was not a game. No matter how hard they tried to contain it, it could never be fully controlled. Sebastian and the other predators were evolving which were only known by a few Mystery Pryer predators, none of the 3 hegemons knew the truth and they lost their patience after waiting just an hour. There was no way that a predator could succeed in evolving to the purple tier in just an hour, this was where the problem started from. Since the ultimate inheritor of the inheritance did not come out, it could only mean that the ultimate inheritor already escaped. Once they came to this realization, the Atlantian army went berserk! The mission to hunt down the Megalodon and get both the Water Transmutation unique skill and the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique king was a priority, no other thing took precedence over it to the Atlantian soldiers. Suddenly learning that despite all the efforts that they put into it, their opponent was still able to escape soured the moods of the soldiers to no end as they all became extremely angry berserkers. They were the ones who started the real war on this battlefield. Pushed to the wall, Commander T.Y concluded that the chessboard was not cleanly flipped over enough, so he decided to flip it over once more. "All-out Attack!" As soon as this order was given, the berserk Atlantian soldiers jumped at the mutated beasts that were before them like a pack of hungry wolves. A battle of terrifying magnitudes started. The Rogue Snake Overlord did not cower from the challenge, neither did the turtle cultist Ancestor Horamon and his subordinates nor did the other minor forces who had no choice but to fight. All pretenses were thrown to the side as an all-out attack began. Lives started being reaped away from the battlefield at a much higher frequency than before. As for the one who started this mad war, Commander T.Y did not impulsively give the order. While the battle started raging like wildfire spreading in harmattan, this Atlantian Commander gave other targeted commands. Under his command, a large portion of the still workable warships of the present Atlantian Division fleets was mobilized towards different directions as they were all tasked to search for the escaped inheritor. All these warships had technological gadgets installed in them that could pin down the signal released by unique skills temporarily. These were the trump cards to track the inheritor down. Apart from doing this, Commander T.Y also sent the new status to the higher-ups. General Jax Tim and General Saber, leader of Mega Fleets got the news in no time as an immediate change was implemented. At the border of the ocean volcano region, the large Atlantian Mega Fleets got new orders as they all mobilized while still withstanding the attack of their aggressors as they formed an impenetrable blockade surrounding the cliff. This eventually locked every escape path of this thief down; nobody was allowed to steal their priority target right before their eyes. This movement by the Atlantian Mega Fleets did not leave the sight of their enemies, they were as attentive as a hawk. This mobilization alone gave a lot of hints that enabled the other variant human races to understand the situation, they did not hesitate to take advantage of it. Boom! Boom! The already raging war intensified in pace and lethality again. The stress on the circular cliff walls that were surrounding the ocean volcano increased, it became increasingly certain that the ocean volcano would not survive the aftermath of this war. This was at the border, the battle in the seamount already reached a climax. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid and his helpers fought an admirable battle, but achieving a decisive victory against their bestial counterparts was impossible. They could disdain the 2 red tier predators all they liked, but this did not remove anything from the terrifying strength of these moving disasters. The Rogue Snake Overlord and the cultist Ancestor Horamon suffered a lot of injuries, but they inflicted even more on their opponents and their gains from this endeavor were so much already that they felt bloated. Not only did the hegemons suffer, but the minor forces also suffered even more. Forces like Old Mak and his clan members were like a speed boat, against a terrible storm, they had no choice but to follow the direction of the storm. They were engulfed completely without any meaningful struggle. The blood in this enormous battlefield thickened, the mutilated flesh also increased by a margin, the smell of disaster never left the battlefield. In this chaotic moment, this was when a change happened. Warp! Suddenly, from the entrance of the inheritance ground that most of the battling opponents already discarded, a bright light shone as 10 figures were pushed out of the teleportation portal. The battle did not stop, but attention moved towards this direction like radar lights pinpointing an enemy assassin down. As soon as Sebastian and the others appeared, they saw the chaotic battle. The thick smell of blood, the red background, the constant cries of death, and a lot of other things quickly summarized the situation outside here to them. Perhaps, they would have had a chance to quietly blend into the battlefield but this chance was botched due to the presence of a certain predator. {Target Found!} All of a sudden, all the warships of the Atlantian army, the army of the Toad alliance, and the army of the Turtle Confraternity turned their searchlights as they all concentrated on a single predator. This single predator was¡­, Sebastian! Chapter 291 - The Escape [1]! The ultimate inheritor, the inheritor of the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill, the inheritor that was being sought after was finally found! The effects of this discovery were immediate. Magic ripples seemed to sweep through every predator and Atlantian soldier on the battlefield at this moment as their gaze that was being directed at this predator became heated. For centuries, Sea Kings have always been feared and adored, and this was mostly because of the mythical and iconic unique skills that they wielded. The prospect of getting to wield a unique skill was just too exciting for any predator to resist. Not even Black tier predators could resist it, the desire was even more prominent to predators of this exalted tier. After a series of events where their hopes were continually ignited only for it to fall again, a real chance at hitting a jackpot finally presented itself before these bloodthirsty predators. The stares that were directed at Sebastian were no longer normal, they became stares of extreme greed and desire. In the perspective of these predators, they could no longer see an enormous shark, all they could see was power, well-packaged power that was prepared in a palatable dish plate just for them to devour whole. The Atlantian soldiers felt the same desire but were channeled for a different cause. After so long, the Atlantian army finally pinpointed their target. Unlike their beast counterparts, the Atlantian soldiers'' desire for the unique skill was sorely based on the priority mission that was issued by their race. Of course, the fantasy of wielding a unique skill also induced greed in them, but the mission of their race took precedence. These soldiers were all shocked on discovering that the same young Megalodon with the Water Transmutation unique skill was the same predator who inherited the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill. The odds of this happening were too little, but at this moment, all the Atlantian soldiers already threw their complacency away as they no longer dared to underestimate this Megalodon. This impossible feat that was achieved made their apprehension against the Megalodon increase exponentially. From the magic sensors of their warships and the Annihilator, the young Megalodon already grew a step further and was now a purple tier predator. The Atlantian army cared very little though, they dared not underestimate Sebastian but they also did not overestimate him. "Kill the Megalodon!" They didn''t need Commander T.Y''s order, the Atlantian soldiers digested the information that was before them for less than a minute before they exploded forward with terrifying speed and shocking momentum. Even before they moved, the mutated beasts already moved. Every single beast on this battlefield craved power, and they all went for it. Like the numerous stars in the starry sky, the army of mutated beasts erupted with the energy of a cock in heat as they all exploded with terrifying speed while rushing towards Sebastian''s position. Their intimidating approach directly bloated the glow of the Green Mist Sea. The rushed and mostly chaotic swarm of beasts moving in such a pattern was sure to induce more chaos, but this chaos gave room for the real beasts to dominate as they led the race to the source of power. Old Mak and his group of Great White Sharks were overrun by the other predators. When they saw 3 of their most important youngsters, they were ecstatic but they quickly despaired when they noticed that they were now the target of every other mutated beast. While they tried to stabilize themselves, they got a communication request. ¡­ After arriving outside the inheritance ground, Sebastian already expected disaster but he was still stunned by the sight. What he did not expect was for measures to pinpoint him to already be in place. Of course, he was caught off-guard by this but he already developed a habit of planning ahead with contingencies before starting the execution of any plan. Experience thought him that planning for the worst-case scenario always despite the stress involved often saved his life. As soon as the searchlights of the warships narrowed on him, Sebastian''s brain geared into overdrive as he rapidly started finalizing his plans. The pressure of what was at stake pushed him so much that he broke his speed limits, his mental activity peaked! Before the mutated beasts could process what happened, he acted. [You have activated skill: Mega Sound Control!] [You have created a sound construct: 2-way Communication Channel!] Bzzz! "This is Sebastian, peel your ears open and listen to me carefully". "I am in danger, and since you are all tied to me in one way or the other, it means we are all in danger which warrants why we need to work together to escape this predicament". "All I want is for you all to create chaos in any way possible". "I will be throwing both Tungsten and Verni your way. Once you get the both of them, please, clan head, take everyone, and swim for your lives!" "Escape and not look back!" "I can take care of myself, if I need help, I will indicate". "Elder Dangle, please help!" "In the thick of the situation, if I am embroiled in a battle, I am not confident in maintaining the 2-way Communication Channel, please help me maintain it". Bzzz! The communication channel finally ended and its effects were remarkable. In just milliseconds, the transmitted knowledge succeeded in getting to the hearing of every single Great White Shark of Old Mak''s shark clan still surviving. This was when Sebastian''s electroreceptors detected activity. Whoosh! Of the 10 survivors who came last out of the inheritance ground, apart from Sebastian, the rest were shocked and awed by the chaotic battle as they all froze due to the visually impacting scene. While Sebastian transmitted to his companions, Sergeant Lopez recovered first. The mental resilience of this well-trained female Atlantian soldier was strong. Once she saw the lights converging on Sebastian, she confirmed her guess that this Megalodon against all odds actually got the 2nd unique skill. The impact of this on her mind was enormous as she froze for about a second. She quickly recovered though; this was because she took it as a duty upon herself to fight to give her race an advantage when she could do it. This was why she attacked once Sebastian acted like he was distracted. Her attack was extremely lethal, but she went for the new Sebastian instead of the old. [You have activated skill: Megalodon Aura!] Sergeant Lopez froze instantly as her eyes turned muddy. The fearsome aura of an ancient Megalodon was too much, it instantly overwhelmed her mental defenses as she was forced into a semi-comatose state. [You have activated skill: Mega Crushing Bite!] Crunch! Sebastian showed no mercy because she was a beautiful female Atlantian soldier, he ruthlessly chomped on her head and crushed it to pieces. The powerful Atlantian Sergeant could not offer any resistance towards his new strength. Compared to before, Sebastian was now countless times more powerful and it easily reflected. [You have killed a Variant Human- Atlantian Elite Soldier!] [Level 23: ???] [You have gained 30 Skill points and 50 Adaptation points.] By the time that Sebastian turned, the uncountable fierce tide of mutated beasts and Atlantian soldiers that were surging towards him already closed the distance more. He was within a time limit but he did not panic. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Fishing Net!] Whoosh! Sebastian turned his enormous body once to face his incoming enemies as he also used the change in momentum to throw the fishing net which already caught Tungsten and Verni as hard as he could. As the 2 Great White Sharks soared away, about to be taken custody of by Old Mak and the others, Sebastian''s greedy enemies finally got into the striking distance as both mutated beasts and Atlantian warships went loose. Bam! Bam! Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Sebastian had no hopes of escaping the bombardment. He braced himself for the attack by hiding himself under stacked layers of defenses. All this defense proved as fragile as paper though once the attack hit. The combined attack power of an Atlantian Annihilator, 2 Red tier predators and numerous lower-tiered predators was absolutely terrifying. Sebastian stood no chance before the lethal attack. BOOM! Sebastian exploded from the force, but unlike conventional common sense suggested, the explosion did not result in flesh and blood flying everywhere, instead these were replaced by sparkling lights like fireworks. Fireworks? Fireworks??? A dreadful silence of confusion descended like a plague. "¡­" "¡­" "¡­.." [Warning! You have lost a Doppelganger!] Chapter 292 - The Escape [2]! "¡­" [Warning! You have lost a Doppelganger!] Amid the silence that suddenly descended on the originally chaotic battlefield, Sebastian winced on receiving this notification. Though he already expected this when he made his decision, seeing the result of his hard work evaporate before his eyes left him in pain. Sebastian improvised on his plan immediately after seeing the large army of mutated beasts, Atlantian soldiers, and their warships that were about to confront him. He was deterred more by the presence of one particular warship. As a human who was always fascinated by the massive weapons of war that were used in his previous world, he easily recognized that this massive warship was modeled after a modern Destroyer warship but a more sophisticated version. As soon as he was battered by the pressure exuded by such a large versatile army of death, Sebastian did not dare fall into a daze least he died. Instantly after the enemies appeared, he activated his new unique skill. He first created a normal doppelganger while turning his body invisible, this enabled him to effectively swap his main body''s position without ringing alarm bells. This way, a doppelganger was what attracted the ire of his enemies. While the enemies tried to kill his doppelganger with all their might, the invisible Sebastian tried to escape in the fastest and stealthiest way possible. In the end, his doppelganger was not durable enough to withstand such a powerful stacked blow but it succeeded in doing its job. It enabled the main body to distance itself from the center of the fire. Now, this was the impossible fact! How on earth could a few months old Megalodon inherit a legendary unique skill and master all the basics on how to use it in just a few hours? This was a controversial question that neither the most scholarly of Atlantians nor the most Mystery prying of predators could fantom. This was more like a bunch of crap extracted out of a fiction book. As soon as the Atlantians knew that the Megalodon got the unique skill, they were surprised and no longer dared to underestimate the cunning beast, but despite this, they refused to overestimate it either. Sebastian mastering the basics of the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill in just a few hours was such a strange notion that it sounded ridiculous. Now, they discovered that perhaps, they were the ones who were being ridiculous. Sebastian was a freak of nature; it became continually evident that common sense should not be used to judge this Megalodon. This was why Commander T.Y resolved to take the most extreme of measures. "Bombard the whole area!" "Make sure that nowhere is left untouched, we must find his real body!" The Atlantian army reacted immediately after the order was given. Bam! Bam! Bam! Weapons of war raked through the water at a rapid speed as kinetic beams, laser beams, and positron beams dealt devastating damage to the surroundings. Roar!!! The effects of such a wide area of bombardment became evident. All the mutated beasts suffered it as they all came under the fire of the Atlantians, but they could do nothing since they were part of the minor forces. In this situation, only the remaining 2 of the 3 Hegemonic forces could effect a change but they were content with the current path of the Atlantians. They resonated with this method, bombarding everywhere was the easiest and most efficient way to find their target so long as he was still in this vicinity. This was why instead of helping the other suffering beasts, the 2 remaining Hegemonic powers took to arms and joined the mindless slaughter of beasts. The Rogue Snake Overlord had no reservations as he attacked maniacally. As for the turtle cultist, Ancestor Horamon had more than enough reasons to attack since this was the main mission that brought him in the first place. Boom! Once any of these 2 deadly Red tier predators attacked, every beast had to dance to their tune which immediately became evident as thousands of mutated beasts started dying every single second on this battlefield. This presented the perfect scenario for Old Mak to escape with his Great White Sharks. The logic seemed conflicting, but it was true. Once Sebastian revealed his ability to already make use of the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King, his threat level rose to the maximum to the Atlantians. After so many years, the Atlantians already developed a lot of methods to counter the invisibility ability of Carcarot Gorgoneon, but as this beast evolved more, he found more ways to evade their methods. This was why Commander T.Y did not bank on these methods. As soon as Sebastian showed his competence, this Commander''s evaluation of the Megalodon rose all the way to the previous competency level shown by Carcarot. Also, this smart Commander already deduced a terrible conspiracy theory. Commander T.Y was not a fool; the coincidences were proving too much to be believable. It was too much of a stretch for just one predator to have so much luck, which was why he theorized this conspiracy in the first place. After thinking long and hard, Commander T.Y concluded that this was no longer the Megalodon that he''s heard of, but this was Carcarot Gorgoneon. The logic that this old monster has been plotting this takeover for decades if not centuries sounded more sound to his logic-oriented mind. Perhaps, Carcarot was the one who even let the combined army hunt him down. Perhaps, all this was to further his ambitions to get a 2nd unique skill. If this was right, it could explain how this Megalodon suddenly got such terrifying mastery over this unique skill after just one day. As for why the same Megalodon was still able to proficiently use the Water Transmutation unique skill, the title of an old monster just needed to be added to the equation to balance it up. This was why Commander T.Y directed as little attention to the escaping Great White Sharks as possible. Clearly, this was a plan of the Sea King to distract them and divide their attention, he would not fall for it. If this was really Carcarot Gorgoneon, then the Megalodon no longer had any relation to these Great White Sharks and didn''t give a damn if all of them were annihilated, so why should Commander T.Y give a damn about them. Of course, out of prudence, this Commander still delegated some forces to attack the Great White Sharks but his main attention was on finding the elusive Sea King even as he already sent the war status to his higher-ups. Boom! Boom! Boom! The firepower bombardment continued; more mutated beasts died without a reasonable meaning as the terrible massacre of beasts continued. During this time, 3 other Doppelgangers were already destroyed but not even a speck of dust from the Sea King''s main body was seen. This made it seem like the Sea King already escaped, but Commander T.Y believed otherwise which made him stick to his bombardment decision. Not only did the war here rage, the war at the border finally expanded. On seeing the situation inside the ocean volcano, the other variant human races stirred, the catch was still up for grabs! This was the reason why the war at the border suddenly grew with 3 times more intensity. Inside the seamount, the world seemed to be coming to an end. Crack! Cracks spread through the circular cliff walls due to the stress as the walls finally caved in, causing a large part of it to fall apart. Once the structural foundation of just one part of the cliff fell apart, the others were quickly on a path of doom towards the same direction. Like an overstressed tool, the cliff came falling apart as it induced a terrifying avalanche. BOOM! Chapter 293 - Escape [3]! Once the circular cliff that has stood for centuries fell apart, it did so with all the force and foundation that it has consolidated for the past centuries. At this moment, it was like a dam that has been holding back water from a sea for over a century. Once this overburdened dam came apart, the bloodthirsty seawater would come flooding in like an assassin from hell! This was exactly what was happening, and it was more dangerous. Whoosh! The circular cliff fell apart and induced a terrifying avalanche! The world inside this ocean volcano seemed to have come to an end as the originally open sky water suddenly turned dark and gloomy. When the escaping mutated beasts looked up, all that they saw was falling debris and rocks. The law of gravitational force also applied in Oceania though to a milder extent, but still, gravity was universal. With the law of gravity acting upon the falling rocks, paired with the extreme heat of this region, the friction got the better of the reaction as these rocks ignited with fire while increasing their speed relative to their downward motion. If these flaming rocks that already filled the sky of this ocean volcano hit any beast that was below the Red tier, it meant instant death. Even for Red tier predators, the damage dealt would be absolutely terrifying. The deadly falling debris and rocks were not the only danger at this moment, once the circular cliff fell apart, the border defense of the allied army of the defenders also crumbled. For the first time since this campaign started, all the other variant human races finally got access inside the ocean volcano where all the good things were happening and their enthusiasm knew no bounds. For the first time, they became players in the game. With all these forces, both artificial and of nature acting, it was not wrong to say that the Ocean Volcano suddenly turned into a giant meat grinder. Instantly, the stance of the battle that was originally raging inside the ocean volcano changed. The 2 Red tier predators changed their stance, deciding to fight head-on against such overwhelming odds was suicide. For the first time, these 2 extremely dangerous predators lowered their pride and relegated themselves from the main attack role to become spectators. Commander T.Y showed no such restraints though, he became even more unrestrained since he knew that his backers were here. With 2 Atlantian Generals now having his back, this Annihilator Commander felt like an eaglet that could finally soar high with its wings proudly spread wide. "Bombard the whole area!" The Atlantian soldiers didn''t need his reminder. Seeing not 1, but 2 of their famous Mega Fleets descending before them, the soldiers of the Division Fleets at this moment felt like kids that needed to prove their strength before their parents. "For the Empire!" "For Atlantis!" While yelling slogans that served as a huge morale booster, these soldiers turned into real weapons of war as they showed their competence. The bombardment increased in range and intensity as it spread to a wider region, 2 of Sebastian''s other Doppelgangers were destroyed in a few seconds but his real body could still not be seen. Any predator with the right intuition could already deduce that the moment of truth was slowly approaching, time seemed to be accelerating and freezing at the same time. Old Mak got more frenzied on seeing the situation. More than 50 Great White Sharks already died in this endeavor of escaping the ocean volcano. The ocean volcano as a whole was just so exaggeratedly large. The seamount where the battle started was just a fraction of this region''s overall size, now that the whole region was engulfed too, the scale of this battle quickly surpassed anything that Old Mak had engaged in before. And with some enemy units especially targeting them to confirm that the Megalodon was not among them, the situation was extremely dangerous. Despite all these, despite all the deaths, despite all the heartbreaks as more clansmen died, Old Mak remained steadfast in his goal to protect all his clansmen though the more time that passed, the more his dream felt hollow. This was when the inevitable happened! Bam! [You have been hit by a kinetic particle beam!] Sebastian despaired. Despite all the effort that he put in, despite the amount of energy that he expended to do it, despite everything, he still fell short. Sebastian''s main body was finally hit when he still had 4 intact Doppelgangers. This was a despairing situation, but one that he already recognized reality and accounted for. Once Sebastian was hit, before a follow-up attack could be induced, he activated a skill as he literally turned into an artificial version of a meteorite. [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] [You have activated skill: Rupturing Sonic Ram!] Whoosh! With the speed of a rapidly falling meteorite from space, Sebastian accelerated to such top speed levels that all that was seen and left of him was a blur. Where he accelerated to, he accelerated to Old Mak''s position. He engaged in a game of reverse psychology with the Atlantian Commander. Sebastian gambled with the fact that the Atlantian Commander was a smart fellow, this could have ended badly but what mattered was that it did not. Due to this game of those with the big brains, the Atlantian Commander easily uncovered the conspiracy of Carcarot Gorgoneon. With this, Sebastian got his first and only advantage. He stayed close to the Great White Sharks, but not too close since he also guessed that others would focus on the Great White Sharks to sniff out any anomaly that was within their ranks. His plan largely succeeded, but luck and coincidence were always outside factors. It seemed that good luck was not omniscient After all, he was shot and exposed but he was prepared. Though their clansman was exposed, neither Old Mak nor his cadre of elders and leaders in the clan were flustered or showed panic. Throughout from the first minute where Sebastian disappeared, with the unrelenting help from Elder Dangle, Sebastian''s 2-way connection was maintained where both sides strategized on how to escape their predicament. The only problem was that they could not arrive at an acceptable plan. Their enemies were simply too powerful this time, most of their measures could not work again in this scenario since they could be easily cracked by their enemies. This was why Old Mak and the others kept thinking, but they never arrived at the perfect escape plan before Sebastian''s main body was shot. Instantly though, they stopped planning and went for the next best plan. Old Mak''s mana flared as the familiar teleportation device that they salvaged from Atlantians came to life, this was the only escape opportunity that they arrived at. This was incredibly stupid using your enemy''s weapon against him when the enemy probably knew much more about the weapon but they had no choice. They could only gamble and hope that a miracle happens. While this happened, Elder Marble and Elder Shine took the stage. The former''s heavy magic power was aroused as a heavy aura followed which quickly manifested in the form of a huge earthen shield that covered all the sharks. Elder Shine added his input as a huge shield made from light energy, making it look like an energy shield was created and also surrounded all the sharks in a huge protective covering. This was when the 4 other purple tier predators went to work. As for the Champion Digger predator ant and the Lizard Lord, these powerful predators were relegated to roles of guards to the others who were working. With their quality of magic power and their control over it, it took less than a second before the teleportation device activated. As expected, the teleportation device wobbled a bit as the terrifying processing powers of the Annihilator tried to hack and take back control over the teleportation portal but the gravitic effects of the 2-fold defense slashed this effort. Whoosh! In less than a second, all these happened as Sebastian finally appeared before the 2-fold defense layer. Once he got there, the 2-fold defense shields opened up, allowing him smooth entry. "Take us away!" Old Mak ordered in this tense atmosphere as the last input to overload the teleportation portal and make it teleport them all away at the expense of its destruction was inputted by Queen Heareth. But before the space could fold and change their coordinates, from inside the 2-fold shield, grey light flashed as a sharp sword cut through the portal. Bzzz! The teleportation portal fizzled out and died. "¡­!" Shocked, every Great White Shark including Sebastian turned to the source of this attack, at the betrayer. Torpedum showed no remorse on his face as this enormous shark rushed towards Sebastian. While he moved, space shifted in random patterns around him like he was the lord of this Space. "Killer Move: Oblivion!" BOOM! Chapter 294 - Betrayal! "Killer Move: Oblivion!" If Torpedum''s attack on the teleportation portal at the last moment could be excused off as a mistake with terrible consequences, this Great White Shark''s unprovoked attack on Sebastian revealed its animosity. The fact that Torpedum directly used his only killer move showed that this situation already degraded to the ugliest of levels. None of the sharks expected a betrayal at this point, not Old Mak, not the clan elders, and definitely not Sebastian. They were all shocked. For all the time that he had spent in this world, Sebastian already got used to the notion that this was a world of cannibalism. It was either you toughen up and kill your opponent to evolve or your opponent will kill you to evolve. When Sebastian first learned of this, he didn''t pay much attention to it but with time, he was convinced that if this was all there is to Oceania, there was no way that he would be able to cope for an extended period. He was a Megalodon, but his soul was still human. This may not seem like a lot, but inwardly, he knew that it meant a lot more than was portrayed. This was why he felt so hyped and excited about meeting a group like Old Mak''s shark clan. In the shark clan, he could finally let go for the first time of his life in Oceania, he discovered here that he could trust other predators. These Great White Sharks were his kin; these were his clan members. The more time that he spent in the shark clan, the more Sebastian confirmed that this was the case and the more trust he had in the sharks. His biological shark father who was a powerful shark alpha may not have provided him with the best child care, but his encounter with Old Mak and every Great White Shark in the shark already made up for it. All these reasons ensured that Sebastian''s trust in his fellow Great Whites already grew to a ridiculous level, and this was the problem. This notion already settled deep in his heart that it perhaps turned him na?ve. Even in a diplomatic world like earth, people betrayed, siblings betray siblings for interests, siblings make use of their siblings for rituals, parents made use of their siblings for rituals all for money, so what made Oceania different? When faced with benefits, who said a Great White Shark cannot betray his kin? And perhaps, if jealousy was added to the equation, then this was pretty much explained. The only problem was that Sebastian got this explanation too late. No one knew the benefit that Torpedum was after that prompted him to go for this course of action, but the deed was already done. The most unforgivable part of this betrayal was the awful timing, this betrayal cut away the only hope of escape of the clan. With the teleportation portal destroyed, they were all stranded here. Old Mak was incensed, the shark elders exploded in rage but they could not react fast enough as Torpedum already arrived beside Sebastian. Torpedum''s killer move was powerful, but that was only relative to fellow orange tier predators. Against Sebastian, its damage could only serve no more than a prick on the skin with some blood accompanying. This was not the young Great White Shark''s limits though. After its not too impacting attack, Torpedum grinned and kept his mouth open. Sebastian was confused at first, but he was shocked as his danger senses spiked the next moment. He instantly recoiled but he was not fast enough as a familiar opponent swam out of Torpedum''s mouth. 1st Lieutenant Lookman of the Atlantian army came out of the beast''s mouth. Holding a Trident that seemed capable of changing the laws of Oceania itself, Sebastian felt like a rat who was facing a Dragon. With his increased intuition as a purple tier predator, Sebastian easily deduced that his danger spike did not come as a result of the Atlantian Lieutenant but because of the Trident that he wielded. The situation changed too fast, only his passive swimming skill enabled him to retreat so fast but he was unable to activate a single defensive skill before the terrifying Trident slammed into him. The Trident directly stabbed his snout. Boom! [You have been attacked by a high-grade magic Trident: The Oars of Steel!] [You have received staggering damage!] [You have received additional shock damage!] Blood bloomed like a river from Sebastian''s position as he flew back with speed only to hit the 2-fold shields formed by Elder Marble and Elder Shine. Crack! The huge earthen shield revealed a huge crack from the middle. From the Trident and the terrifying damage that it dealt to Sebastian and the fact that despite his new sensing skills he could not detect the Atlantian Lieutenant ahead of time, it became certain that this was not a chance attack. This was a planned attack where most of the variables were already accounted for in the most meticulous of ways. This was what angered Sebastian the most. While everything seemed normal and he maintained his trust in the sharks, unknowing to him, one of them already decided to screw him over. This situation left a bad taste in Sebastian''s mouth, a taste that he would probably never forget as the anger in his heart was aroused from its slumber. Since transmigrating into this world, Sebastian had experienced lots of emotions but he hardly remembered a scenario where he was angered. At this moment, Sebastian was angered to the extreme and it showed. [Bloodline Passive Skill has been triggered: The Ruler of the Seas!] [You have activated skill: Rupturing Sonic Ram!] At such close range, there was no way that the 1st Lieutenant could resist. The Lieutenant was shocked why his attack inflicted so little damage; the damage effects were originally estimated to be miles better than shown. His shock dulled his reactions a bit, which gave Sebastian the perfect opportunity to try his new combined skill on this enemy. Sebastian''s anger was channeled through the attack. Boom! Once his body came into contact with the Atlantian soldier, the difference in body mass first came into play then the denseness followed as Sebastian''s physical body seemed to crush that of the Lieutenant''s. Lieutenant Lookman''s face contorted from the pain, but before he could get used to the pain, another force invaded his body. The ripples that were currently spreading through this Lieutenant''s body seemed to have turned into weapons of mass destruction. Rupture! Like they suddenly turned into deadly supersized razor blades, these ripples under the weight of the overbearing sound domain magic turned deadly as they started cutting and rupturing this Lieutenant''s internals. An anatomical dissection seemed to be taking place, but this one was an extremely rough, unprofessional, and unethical one. 1st Lieutenant Lookman convulsed rapidly like a convulsion patient as blood started seeping from his mouth. His eyes looked shocked, confused, and horrified and he could not stop the inevitable from happening. BOOM! 1st Lieutenant Lookman exploded from the rupturing force! Just one attack from Sebastian and this Atlantian Lieutenant who had a strength that was equivalent to purple tier predators died despite the cheat weapon that he brought to this battlefield. With the Lieutenant dying, Sebastian had uninterrupted access to Torpedum. Once this Space domain Great White Shark looked into the eyes of the Megalodon and saw the anger burning within, he shuddered. Sebastian moved to finish the job but he was finally interrupted. From the moment when the Lieutenant finally attacked, it already took more than a second and this was more than enough time for the Atlantian army to react. With a loud but smooth sound that reminded one of an assassin killing from the dark, an eerie red-colored plasma beam from the Annihilator warship cleverly cut through the 2-fold defense that was erected by the elders. Boom! The remaining force of the plasma beam hit Sebastian''s body as he was roughly thrown away to the side. Sebastian didn''t feel dizzy this time though, he quickly stabilized himself and directed a deviant glare back. His escape path was already blocked, and this unleashed the beast in him. At this moment, Sebastian''s primal Megalodon instincts acted up as the anger in him intensified to the extent where it partially clouded his judgement. "If you bring 1,000 warships, I will destroy them all! If you bring 10,000 soldiers, I will annihilate them all to the last soldier!" "Today, no one can stop me!" Sebastian''s cause changed from one of escape to one of survival! Chapter 295 - Battle For Revenge And Survival! The die was cast! As soon as Torpedum attacked, the stamp that destroyed Sebastian''s hopes of escaping was unleashed. And as soon as Lieutenant Lookman attacked, the 2-fold defense erected by Elder Marble and Elder Shine was also destroyed. This meant that Sebastian and his cadre of Great White Sharks were exposed to outside aggression which was not too far away at this moment. With the Atlantians intervening, Torpedum was able to safeguard his life as this enormous Great White Shark made use of the advantages of his space domain magic to escape Sebastian''s area of influence. The army of variant human races that was now descending in the direction of the seamount after expanding their battle zone was still a distance away, but Atlantis still had the qualifications to fight this battle. The Atlantian military force that was currently on hand had 2 war champions. The Annihilation Division Fleet had a champion in the form of Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid, a Silver Realm soldier whose enormous battle accumulation could temporarily propel his strength to the legendary Gold Realm. The 2nd Atlantian champion on this battlefield was Lieutenant Colonel James. This soldier was the main war champion of the Annihilator warship that was deployed for this mission, his authority was only below that of Commander T.Y. Together, these 2 war champions formed the tip of the arrow force that was now all out for the head of this Megalodon turned Sea King. Commander T.Y already narrated his deductions to these 2 soldiers, so they knew what they were up against which made them all the more serious. With his high-grade magic Trident, Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid was a frightening melee powerhouse. As for Lieutenant Colonel James, this Atlantian soldier was a ranged beast with his custom multipurpose Rifle. Lieutenant Colonel James was the one who shot the plasma beam that saved Torpedum''s life. This soldier''s Rifle laid justice to the term multipurpose, it could shoot laser beams, positron beams, plasma beams, and a lot of other armaments. This was not its most frightening element though; its most frightening element was when this Rifle supercharged its different beam phases with magic power that this powerful Atlantian soldier harnessed. In that state, each of the Rifle''s beams was terrifying! With these 2 champions working together, they formed the perfect alliance that was more than capable of suppressing this Megalodon even if it was a Sea King considering that its strength was restricted to the purple tier. These 2 were not the only ones that went after Sebastian. Alongside them were the numerous warships including the advanced Elven warship, and also the 2 Red tier predators. The logic of the Rogue Snake Overlord and the cultist turtle, Ancestor Horamon was to crack this tough nut first before worrying about the distribution of the ultimate prize later. All the other mutated beasts were relegated to support roles. Some tried to escape, while some greedy fools among them also tried to join this hegemonic struggle. Perhaps, one of them may get lucky and get the prize. All of a sudden, everywhere buzzed with activity as the whole army of Atlantians and variant humans seemed to have turned against them. Old Mak, his elders, his favorite Queen, his allies, and all his clan members all despaired. Old Mak could feel anger and fear tangibly emanating from his 20-meter-long body as he saw a young shark that he watched growing from a tender age escaping after dooming his family members. For some reason, he could see his younger self overlapping with Torpedum. This current situation looked too similar to when he abandoned his benefactor. He felt regret, he felt a lot of emotions, he was short of words but he curbed all these since he knew that he needed to motivate his clan members to face the greatest challenge that had ever befallen his clan. Before he could speak though, someone beat him to it. "Today, no one can stop me!" Seeing the traitor getting to escape from his grasp, Sebastian could see smokes of anger emanating from his head. His anger knew no bounds and this fueled his desire for revenge! Even against the overwhelming army of different species that was currently coming against him, Sebastian was not deterred. He was determined to exact his revenge even if this meant that he was dying today! Sebastian was intelligent, he already deduced that if no miracle happened, his chances of emerging alive today were less than 1%. This situation where his survival was no longer in his hands roused the most primal instincts in him. It also roused his desire for revenge more, he was determined to deal the killing blow to the traitor since he would eventually die too. "Today, all shall die before I die!" Boom! Boom! [You have activated skill: Mega Magic Shield!] Lieutenant Colonel James attacked and Sebastian defended, then he retaliated in the most furious manner possible. [You have activated skill: Drilling Sonic Sword {¡Á3}!] [You have activated skill: Mega Sound Blast!] [You have activated skill: Rupturing Sonic Ram!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Torpedo Drill!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Magic Teeth!] Sebastian simultaneously activated 5 skills, then he was unleashed! Boom! The vibrations and sound waves in the water were first harnessed before being compressed in the shape of a giant sword made of sound magic as this gigantic weapon cut towards the nearest Rogue Snake Overlord. Not just 1, but 3 of these magic swords were sent flying towards the snake. They ruthlessly cut through every beast or obstacle in their path just to get to their target which was the menacing snake overlord. Followed by this attack was a loud sound blast that ruthlessly tore eardrums, turning hundreds of mutated beasts deaf. This AOE skill was so powerful that it materialized tangibly, dealing physical damage to the beasts. Just a few seconds after these 2 attacks emerged, Sebastian''s enormous body jerked a bit before turning into a Megalodon version of a speed boat. With his sound domain magic blasting out in full power, forming a domain field of terrifying rupturing power, Sebastian swam forward with speed and momentum that seemed capable of blasting mountains apart. Mid-swim, his body started rotating. His body rotated so fast that it turned into a blur, it took only a few minutes before the 15-meter-long body turned into a 15-meter-long terrifying torpedo. Sebastian didn''t just target the big hitters, he also focused on the na?ve orange tier and below predators who thought they could take advantage of this situation and become a powerhouse due to a stroke of luck. For these opportunistic beasts, he simply greeted them with his sonic magic teeth which at this moment demonstrated terrifying power. Hell descended in Oceania! Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! [You have killed a Mutated Zombie Shark- Level 17: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 12 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Mutated¡­] [You have killed a Mutated¡­] [You have killed a purple tier Basking Shark¡­] It was when Sebastian''s unstoppable momentum finally squashed a purple tier Basking Shark to death that the mindless beasts knew that they were facing a monster, then they evaded his path like he was the reincarnation of death itself. With such a mighty display of power, Sebastian was finally on a direct course towards the mighty Atlantian Lieutenant Colonel who was currently protecting the traitor, Torpedum. Sebastian''s torpedo form already gathered enough momentum at this point, he simply added more fuel and left everything to fate. Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid solemnly harnessed all the magic power that he could on his Trident, he supercharged the Trident before attacking. BOOM! 2 powers of gigantic proportions collided and engaged in a tug of war! The collision spread cracks through space as the Atlantian champion was thrown backward like a kite whose strings got cut. Sebastian was also affected but he reacted much faster than his opponent, he did not allow the Atlantian soldier to drift away so easily though. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Vibranium Rope!] The drifting Atlantian champion could not stabilize himself before he was caught by the rope. He was roughly yanked backward towards his enemy, and before he could react another skill already hit him. [You have activated skill: Breath of the Sound Megalodon!] Roar! Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid felt like he was hit by a million-year-old meteorite. The impact cracked his bones, the sound that accompanied this skill ravaged through his body in such an invasive manner that he felt dead. This Lt. Colonel felt pain erupt in his body, he also felt horrified, despite already overestimating his enemy, he never expected a purple tier predator to exhibit such terrifying strength. Despite the weakness that suddenly invaded his bones, on feeling that his life was in danger, this Lt. Colonel grit his teeth hard and defended with his high-grade magic Trident as this Megalodon oppressed him. The original splendor of a Lt. Colonel could no longer be seen in him, the tempo of the Megalodon was so unique that he was suppressed to the end. He could only defend so much before Sebastian hit him hard again. [You have triggered adaptation: Lancer Snout!] [You have activated skill: Rupturing Sonic Ram!] This time, Lt. Colonel Arachnid''s mid-section caved in as the Megalodon''s sudden sharp snout tore through his stomach, his mouth opened involuntarily while a fountain of blood poured from his mouth. This Lt. Colonel suffered a critical hit! His vitality started draining fast, but before Sebastian could deal the finishing blow, the large recoiling sound of a Rifle reverberated first before the sound of the accompanying beam quickly followed. BOOM! Sebastian activated his mega magic shield at the last moment but it only held for a few seconds before the superhot plasma beam raked through his sides. In this battle, his enemy was not just Lt. Colonel Arachnid, his enemies were much more than that. The plasma beam didn''t pack with it the required kinetic energy to push Sebastian away, but the damage was so much that Sebastian''s body instinctively recoiled on his own like he was just struck by a hammer. Lieutenant Colonel James aimed some more and intensified his effort. Bam! Bam! Bam! Chapter 296 - Arrival Of The Pinnacles! Lieutenant Colonel Arachnid is a pinnacle Silver Realm powerhouse. But he once engaged in a controlled battle against a captive Red tier predator where he lasted for 5 minutes which was a significant feat. This was the reason why this Lt. Colonel''s name was associated with the fact that his strength almost rivaled Red tier predators. Of course, this association failed to add in the fact that the Lt. Colonel fought in controlled circumstances and under a set and practiced order. What this meant was that Lt. Colonel Arachnid never had the strength of a Red tier predator, he only lasted 5 minutes against one because he was in his home ground where he was familiar with the terrain and the order of the battle. Sebastian just underwent an evolution. He already fought a sizeable number of battles against purple tier predators, he had a good idea about how strong they were but he had never fought against a fully fit Red tier predator. Though Sebastian was not sure, his highly impressive status that was highlighted by his system gave him confidence that his strength was at the upper-tier even among the strongest of purple tier predators. This was what gave him the confidence to pursue his vendetta. From his first clash with the Atlantian Lt. Colonel, Sebastian knew that his absolute strength was superior. Popping so many strength cores like candy was not leisure that every beast got to enjoy. On noting his superiority in strength and most of the basic stats, Sebastian''s strategy quickly changed from pushing the Lt. Colonel aside to get access to Torpedum to killing the Lt. Colonel and getting to his target. This was why he spammed so many skills on the Lt. Colonel. His plan proved feasible; he completely thrashed the Atlantian soldier. Originally, Lt. Colonel James was supposed to work in tandem with his comrade. He still had the same motive, but he put trust in his comrade to hold the fort long enough for him to find the perfect angle to pull the trigger. It was this patient stance that backfired. Before he could even narrow down on the first weak point that was revealed by the Megalodon, his comrade was already at the point of being eliminated. Alarmed, this Lt. Colonel threw finesse away and attacked. The deadly magic-empowered plasma beam did its job. As soon as Sebastian was pushed away, Lt. Colonel James followed the first with a rapid beam discharge. Bam! Bam! Bam! Both Red tier predators were shocked by the level of power that was revealed by the Megalodon, Lt. Colonel Arachnid was intimidated, but this did not make them dial down their offensive. With Lt. Colonel James temporarily holding the Megalodon, Lt. Colonel Arachnid decisively swallowed a pill that made his injuries start healing rapidly. The next moment, this humiliated war champion released a war cry before he threw himself back at the Megalodon. His harnessed magic power seemed to have gone berserk, his high-grade magic Trident resonated with him so much that they seemed to have become 1. After suffering numerous humiliations when pitted against this Megalodon, Lt. Colonel Arachnid was finally stimulated by the numerous failures as he entered his best battle state ever. Lt. Colonel Arachnid was on the verge of a breakthrough! The accumulated power that was being released at once gave him so much strength that he now seemed to have turned into a god! "You shall be my first stepping stone to glory!" Boom! The Trident stabbed into Sebastian''s mega magic shield as ripples spread through the shield. The shield held for only a few seconds before it popped as the Trident dug into his body which quickly induced another fountain of blood. Bam! Bam! Bam! Lt. Colonel Arachnid did not stop at that. The power of his ongoing breakthrough that was currently being released was so much that just venting a part of them on the Megalodon yielded a lot of benefits. His Trident stabbed, slashed, and hacked; Sebastian retaliated with offense since this was his greatest defense as blood flowed like a fountain. In these dire circumstances, the Red tier predators finally arrived. Compared to the 2 Lt. Colonels who were only exalted to have touched the realm of the Red tier where 1 of them was breaking through at the moment, these 2 predators were bonafide Red tier predators. The higher the progression of tiers among predators in Oceania, the higher the gap as it gradually turned into an insurmountable gap. There were records of genius orange tier predators who could overcome the weakest purple tier predators in a battle, but there was no record of a purple tier predator ever overcoming a Red tier predator in battle. As for a Red tier predator against a Black tier predator, the former standing in the presence of the latter was already a blasphemy of the highest order. Black tier predators were the absolute peak! The absolute pinnacles! These overlords could thrash dozens of Red tier predators without breaking a sweat. They were the best of their trade; they were the best of beasts that Oceania had to offer. All these meant that though Sebastian was an anomaly that had not come around in perhaps the full history of this world, faced against the established rules, he still had to bow his head. He was extremely powerful for a purple-tier predator, but he could only look at the tier above him in awe. To barely cross this boundary, his only hope was to rely heavily on his unique skills which he did not hesitate to do. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Hammer!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Positron Rifle!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Magic Bazooka!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Magic Shield Generator!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Plasma Sword!] [You have created a magic manifestation: War Artillery Turret!] [You have activated unique skill: Doppelganger and Invisibility!] [You have actively manipulated doppelgangers!] This time, Sebastian did not hold back at all. He recognized the danger that he was in and he retaliated in the most violent way possible. The 2 Red tier predators already attacked him violently and he was supposed to be on a course towards disaster, but the powerful magic emergence and the magic manifestations that materialized made his enemies pause. Whoosh! As soon as it materialized, the War Hammer smashed towards the cultist turtle who thought his shell was impenetrable. On collision, the shell revealed no crack but the revered Ancestor Horamon contorted his turtle face as he groaned. The Positron Rifle aimed and set its sight on Lt. Colonel James as soon as it materialized as both parties engaged in a fierce firefight. The Magic Bazooka collided against Lt. Colonel Arachnid who was undergoing a breakthrough as the berserk power of the explosion pushed him away. The magic generator came to life to protect Sebastian at this moment. The Rogue Snake Overlord sprayed a deadly blast of poisonous purple mist towards him but the shield erected by the generator conveniently blocked it. This snake Overlord had to retreat though as the superhot Plasma sword swiftly went after it in pursuit. The superhot edge of this sword made alarm bells ring in its head and it did not hesitate to retreat. As for the war artillery turret magic manifestation, as soon as it materialized, it turned towards the group of opportunistic beasts and unleashed fire. The beasts were massacred like a flock of sheep against a pack of wolves. The effects of Sebastian''s magic manifestations were not permanent though. They suppressed his opponents for some time until his remaining 4 doppelgangers came to his side, this was when they dissipated. Despite the power of his magic manifestations, he was not able to kill any of the 4 hegemons, they all had too many ways to safeguard their lives. This was when the counterattack of his enemies began. The Rogue Snake Overlord led the charge. The 4 hegemons rushed forth and thrashed Sebastian with absolute power, the effects of his tricky means were reduced to the barest minimum by pure power. Each of Sebastian''s doppelgangers had 80% of the power of his main body. This was powerful reinforcement, but his combined enemies were stronger. Sebastian gave his all, his mana points kept draining like a tap but the overwhelming might of his enemies prevailed as they suppressed him. With support from the Annihilator warship and all the other warships of his enemies, he was completely suppressed. The only reason why he still lived despite the terrible odds that were against him was because of his 2 unique skills. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Bow and Arrow!] Boom! Sebastian''s last chance to kill the traitor was squandered. Torpedum was struck, he bled heavily from the injury but he survived. Sebastian had no choice but to resign to fate, the situation finally changed. After taking their time to rush here for the past few minutes, the first group of warships that belonged to the variant human races that were originally stationed at the border finally arrived at the location of the raging battle. If Sebastian could still struggle against the overwhelming odds before, this time the odds had no meaning again, he was suffocated by the odds. Warships that were far more powerful than anything that he had ever met before arrived, and these machines of war unleashed hell on him. The sound was deafening like exploding dominoes, the damage was terrifying, the odds were further stretched as more warships descended! [You have been dealt with staggering damage!] [Warning! Your health points are currently below 10%!] Sebastian only needed to be bombarded for seconds before his health points were almost wiped out. Behind him, a bloody trail of dead Great White Sharks was left behind as Old Mak''s shark clan was already at the point of annihilation. Old Mak was heavily injured, all the elders were heavily injured, dozens of clansmen already became memories, the situation looked dire. Once Sebastian''s health points crossed below the critical point, he gave all hopes for a miracle. Sebastian wholeheartedly embraced his impending death; he had already given his all so he had no regrets no matter what happened. The real superiors of the variant human races did not even have to come down from their warships before the job was easily taken care of. The extremely excited General Tito, the Dragon of the Western Volcano was the one who pulled the trigger for the finishing blow as the firemen warship released a gigantic particle beam that seemed capable of annihilating life itself. Sebastian''s eyes were blinded by the light as he embraced death. Time slowed down, death lurked, tension rose high. At the last moment before collision though, a gentle rift opened up in space as a gigantic finger seemed to emerge out of the void beyond. This finger gently tapped the gigantic particle beam, then this deadly force of technology was nullified. The particle beam disintegrated! Every eye that was enlightened enough to know the power of this particle beam widened to the limits like lanterns as horror took over their hearts. Bzzz! The finger stretched then the space hole widened, this was when a bit of the aura of the owner of this finger finally seeped into this region. As soon as they felt the power of this aura, every mutated beast froze, every variant human froze, they all froze in shock, fear, and awe. "A Black tier predator¡­!!!" Chapter 297 - The Rabbit Monarch! When the unending army of the variant human races appeared, Old Mak and his companions sank deeper into despair. It was only when he was faced with such overwhelmingly powerful opponents that this clan head discovered how insignificant he was. Old Mak felt increasingly guilty, it was like the same scenario that he always wanted to discard out of his brain was replaying again. Once again, close kin of his was suffering and he was too powerless to help. Seeing Great White Sharks that he watched grow from their pup state to their current state dying while he survived, Old Mak felt like giving up immediately. Sebastian''s heroic display was able to wipe away the sadness of the betrayal, but he felt even sadder when he knew that he would not be able to protect a beautiful future for this promising Megalodon. Just thinking of the future of his students if they had one broke him. Old Mak felt that he failed, he failed as a leader, he failed as a father, and he failed as their spiritual or psychological protector. For the first time since he created his clan, he saw its annihilation. It was extremely painful to him but he was powerless to change it, at least that was what he thought until the unimaginable happened. Every beast and variant human had a different reaction to the powerful aura that swept through them like the verdict of nature. Sebastian who could already see his death was surprisingly dragged back out of the abyss that he found himself. It felt like a dream but it was real, this was the aura of a real Black tier predator! As soon as the power of the deadly particle beam was nullified, the finger stretched as the space rift slowly widened to form a huge space opening mid-water. This giant finger was like the finger of a god, it depicted majesty and might! With its stretch, the space opening finally became big enough for this terrifying predator to step into the battlefield. The predator did not hesitate, it stepped through like an Emperor coming to meet his subjects. Vroom! As soon as this predator stepped through, a terrifying aura swept through the water across kilometers like an EMP bomb was just unleashed. Sebastian felt like all functions of his body suddenly started malfunctioning, he felt sick as the oppressive aura of this beast pressed him down. [You have been affected by the Domain Kingdom of a Black tier predator!] [Your Speed has been reduced by 30%!] [Your Endurance has been reduced by 30%!] [Your Strength has been reduced by 50%!] Sebastian was horrified! This was not an active skill being used by this pinnacle predator, this was all just the passive effects of its emergence. From the uncomfortable expressions that graced the other predators and the Atlantian soldiers, Sebastian knew that he was not the only one who was experiencing this suppression. The arrival of this pinnacle predator directly seemed to have pressed the pause button that kept the originally raging battle at a standstill. Every attention turned towards this sudden intruder. When Sebastian saw through the fog of mystery to see this Black tier predator''s appearance, he was shocked till his body seemed to freeze. "How is this possible?!" He exclaimed. Almost at the same time that he saw the real form of the Black tier predator, the others did the same as a grave-like silence fell across the army of the variant humans who were privileged to encounter this moment. General Saber''s face turned grim as he spat through gritted teeth. "The Rabbit Monarch!'' This Black tier predator was a powerful mutated Rabbit popularly known as the Rabbit Monarch. This predator''s size was more exaggerated than its title. When Sebastian confirmed that the Rabbit predator before him was towering at an astonishing size of 50 meters, he involuntarily poked himself with his teeth to confirm that he was not daydreaming. "A 30-meter-tall Rabbit!" "A 30-meter-tall Rabbit!!!" "Jesus Christ!" Sebastian freaked out! Sebastian was so gobsmacked and freaked out that he could only watch listlessly from his position as he started experiencing an existential crisis. The extremely powerful Rabbit Monarch was not just a frightening predator, but he was the ruler of the Rabbit Empire. Apart from variant human races, only mutated beast species that had a Black tier predator guardian had the qualifications to set up an Empire. Sebastian was shellshocked. The fact that one of the most domestic of animals in his previous world was a pinnacle predator in this world made him feel that perhaps he was indeed going crazy. It was at this moment that he knew, nothing was harmless in Oceania! "Attack!" A loud voice suddenly commanded. The fact that the Rabbit Monarch stopped the particle beam that was aimed at finishing the Megalodon already revealed whose side it was on. Originally, this would have sounded ridiculous since what relationship could a powerful Black tier predator have with a mere purple tier Megalodon who recently broke through but when Commander T.Y recalled his deduction, he quickly pieced the puzzles and understood. If this Megalodon was Carcarot Gorgoneon, then he had all the means to contact a Black tier predator to act as his last bus stop to escaping. This was why Commander T.Y immediately requested priority communication to the 2 Generals. Once he explained his rationale to the 2 Generals, they easily agreed with his plan and gave him absolute command authority. With all the power of autonomy that he needed already provided, Commander T.Y first sent an emergency signal for reinforcement to the Atlantian military headquarters before ordering the whole Atlantian army to attack. Black tier predators were horrifying existences, but they were not gods. Mega Fleets were the best that Atlantis as a race could offer. Even against a Black tier predator, these massive war fleets would not succumb so easily. With their powerful and resilient warships, and their powerful Gold Realm leaders, the current force of Atlantis had what it took to resist. This was why they decided to attack first before the Rabbit Monarch could recover from the aftereffects of its Sea border ultra-range teleportation. Black tier predators could not be underestimated. When left to charge their attacks, none of the 2 Generals doubted that all their forces could be annihilated from just one move which prompted them to act first. If the Atlantians could think of this, the other variant human races could also think of it even as they mostly already started regretting their circumstances. Though most of them already started regretting, they knew that they were already in and had no choice but to go through with it. General Saber of Atlantis, General Tito of the Firemen, and other notable Generals answered this call to duty as they all came out to lead their armies against this terrifying opponent despite the prospects of death. The Rabbit Monarch was here for the Megalodon. In the same way that he teleported here, he could simply grab Sebastian and leave but the variant humans would definitely not let him leave so easily. Since they were already alerted, the variant humans would do everything in their power to keep him here and they had the means to do it which was why this terrifying Rabbit never attacked till now. In the end, after thinking for just 2 seconds, the Rabbit was too bored to think more and simply decided to settle his dilemma with violence. "If I can''t settle it peacefully, I think 1 or 2 blows will solve the problem!" "Battlefield Skill: The Eye of Ikaros- Death!" Chapter 298 - The Might Of The Rabbit Monarch! Once the Generals of the different variant human races that were opportune to witness the appearance of this pinnacle predator took arms, the atmosphere in this part of the water experienced a huge shift. Against an enemy that was far stronger than them, the least that these veteran soldiers could do was to project a strong front against this challenge. Through this, they ensured that morale remained high in their various armies since this was an extremely pivotal parameter to winning any battle. The arrival of the Rabbit Monarch brought along a pressure that constantly made them all feel like a sword of Damocles was hovering right beside their neck and was ready to behead them at the slightest mistake. The suppression that was induced by the predator''s aura that went deep into their souls was just one of the terrifying facts of this pinnacle predator! All of them were suppressed both psychologically and physically. Despite all these disadvantages, the Generals of the different variant human races did not hesitate to lead the charge. They were not the only ones, the Rogue Snake Overlord and Ancestor Horamon also followed. The fate of these 2 predators was already decided once the Rabbit Monarch died. If the situation proceeded normally, they would definitely die. They no longer had any hope of escaping, their only hope was to join in this reckless gamble to fight an esteemed pinnacle predator and hope for the best. With General Saber at the very front, this quick alliance of powerhouses seemed intimidating but not to the Rabbit Monarch. Not to the Rabbit Monarch, a 30-meter-tall powerhouse who absolutely dwarfed his opponents. This pinnacle predator was too lazy to engage in mind games, he just attacked. "Battlefield Skill: The Eye of Ikaros- Death!" As soon as the Rabbit Monarch said this, his full might was unleashed! Bzzz! The water space shook violently as chaotic space rifts appeared in the water through which an abundant amount of shadow magic invaded this world. This action revealed a lot of things, the Rabbit Monarch was a shadow domain magician, a terrifying one. Despite knowing this, the Generals and Red tier predators could only helplessly watch as the shadow invaded fully. Once it completed a full invasion, the shadows under the Rabbit''s control spread out towards a wide region that encompassed more than 30% of the beasts that were currently before the giant Rabbit. General Saber felt the danger already, but he did not stop since he was relentless in his plan to stop the attack. Before he could defend though, the shadow finally detonated. BOOM! This powerful detonation revealed the power of a Black tier predator! The force of the shockwave and the might of the explosion was not material, these forces of nature moved like shadows as they invaded the bodies of their opponents and attacked from inside. All the mutated beasts and variant human soldiers seemed to have suffered a mental attack. Some seemed to have been attacked by a seizure, others experienced even more extreme cases as the power of the Rabbit Monarch was displayed in its full splendor. Bam! Bam! Bam! Mutated beast heads suddenly started exploding, Atlantian soldiers briefly held their heads in pain before also exploding in a brilliant moment of glory. Death itself seemed to sweep through this battlefield! Thousands of mutated beasts and Atlantian soldiers died to this single attack, excluding only those that were out of its range like Sebastian and his group and the variant human Generals who were powerful enough to resist it. All the Generals suffered some form of damage as blood seeped out of various orifices in their bodies, but they survived. This attack intimidated him, but General Saber''s stubbornness did not allow him to succumb, he refused to lower his head in defeat. "Kill this beast!" "Roaring Blood, answer to me!" Stimulated by the pressure, General Saber resonated with his magic sword to a degree that he had never felt before. For the first time, he could feel his sword''s sword spirit actively resonating with him. In this battle, General Saber underwent a minor breakthrough! Boom! This Atlantian General swung his massive sword towards the Rabbit Monarch. The water space distorted as time and space seemed to have been squeezed, all these were partial depictions of the power of this attack. The Rabbit Monarch was stunned and was unable to react on time as the sword was about to strike his majestic skin, but what happened next was shocking. Bam! General Saber flew backward like a homeless and hopeless vagabond. At the last moment, before his sword could cut deep into the hide of the Rabbit Monarch, this Black tier predator kicked. Rabbits were renowned for their terrifying kicking strength and speed, and the Rabbit Monarch was no exception to this rule. Unlike mainstream predators, his legs were his trump cards, they were his most powerful weapons. Just one kick left General Saber in a state as good as being dead. "Battlefield Skill: The Rabbit Kick Fighter!" Perhaps, this terrifying black tier predator was incensed by the Atlantian General''s daring attack or he finally decided to drop his laid-back attitude but once he moved, the Rabbit Monarch moved with death! Bam! Bam! Bam! 3 variant human race Generals suffered each of the first 3 kicks and without doubt, were all annihilated from the surface of Oceania. 3 Generals that had the effective strength of Red tier predators died so easily and effortlessly, it was terrifying and the Rabbit Monarch was not done. Bam! Bam! Perhaps his rabbit kick fighter skill never had an end, but the Rabbit Monarch moved like an inexhaustible machine as his terrifying kicks led to the end of one powerful opponent after the other. While this happened, this pinnacle predator did not forget the foolish and greedy opportunistic predators as he specially prepared attacks for them that completely vanquished them on sight. Of the over a dozen Generals that led the charge to attack the Rabbit Monarch, only 3 survived the Rabbit''s terrifying kicks. Of the 2 Red tier predators, the cunning turtle cultist, Ancestor Horamon detected the danger on time and retreated, thereby safeguarding his life but the once tyrannical Rogue Snake Overlord died from just one kick. The overlord of this ocean volcano region, a predator whose tyranny and reign have lasted for decades if not centuries was finally put to rest. The Rabbit Monarch was on a rampage! Anything that obstructed his path, ranging from Atlantians to mutated beasts, to different warships, this pinnacle predator simply vanquished. The death rate rose so high that the flow of the water in this region could no longer keep up with the rate at which blood kept on pouring as the area was quickly saturated by the thick presence and smell of blood. Just one predator was the cause of so much destruction. In just 2 minutes after the Rabbit Monarch attacked, it seemed that he was already about to annihilate all his opponents but something suddenly changed. Bzzz! Another enormous space rift appeared in the water; this was smaller than the one that was formed when the Rabbit Monarch arrived but the divine aura that was already being unleashed from the other side froze every battling predator. Every other beast and variant human except the Rabbit Monarch and the Atlantians suffered another layer of suppression, and only the Atlantians cheered. After a nerve-racking 2 minutes, reinforcement was finally here. Commander T.Y heaved a sigh of relief as an expression of respect overcame his face. As for the severely injured General Saber, his face literally depicted worship! "The Chosen of the gods!" Chapter 299 - Chosen Athena! Since antiquity, after the rise of Atlantis which later culminated into the overlord Atlantis Empire, Mega Fleets with dozens of Annihilators were widely known as the trump cards of this leading variant human race. The Generals and other warlords that were produced by this overlord race were usually the ones who took the helm of these massive war fleets. Generals who cultivated so hard until they got to the esteemed Gold Realm were the pinnacle warlords that took the helm over Mega Fleets. This combination of powerful warlords and Mega Fleets was a mighty one, but it was not the main pivotal trump card that the Atlantian Empire had. The Atlantian Empire could mass-produce warships to arm a Mega Fleet with thousands of them, they could even speed up the production of Annihilators, but wars of this scale could not be won with just quantity. In a world that was filled with powerful predators, powerful Black tier predators with terrifying abilities that could literally defy science and reality, quantity alone could not make the cut. If they only had quantity to rely on, there was no way that Atlantis would have become the overlord Empire who dominated current Oceania. The Atlantis Empire stood clear above the other Empires due to their gods! After the Great Fall, when variant humans were at their lowest and were facing the risk of extinction, this was when the notion of the gods came about. Humans had always been religious, even in old earth, but pushed by the circumstances, the now variant humans took their religiousness to the next level since it was their only form of comfort in their new terrifying world of cannibalism. Times were hard, tension ran high, but it was at this point of despair that a legendary Atlantian stepped up with an inspiring notion. This was when the legendary Ouroboros of Atlantis rose. The one who later became known as the Great Traveller had an impact on the rise of the Atlantis Empire not any less than its greatest sovereign, King Orchestra! As a best friend to the legendary King, Ouroboros was in no way inferior as his genius in some inexplicable manner heralded the power of the gods. These gods were not the conventional gods that the humans were used to before, Ouroboros'' method succeeded in harnessing the power of myth which all of Atlantis soon embraced as their gods. The notion of the 7 Great gods soon became predominant. Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Athena, and Ares! The Great Traveller succeeded in communicating with these mysterious gods and harnessing their power by becoming their first vessel in Oceania. Throughout history, the Great Traveller was the only Atlantian to have become a vessel for the mysterious power of all 7 Great gods. From the next generation, the power of the gods brought a pivotal change in the Atlantis Empire. Chosen seeds started being selected from the very best of Atlantian soldiers who were trained to become vessels for the gods'' powers. Every generation, the chosen were the most powerful Atlantians, and at their peak could even exceed the power of the ruling Atlantian sovereign. Mega Fleets were powerful, Generals were powerful warlords, but all these were not the main trump card of the Atlantis Empire that made them rise above everyone else, their main trump card was the power of the gods! Their main trump card was the 7 chosen! Bzzz! As soon as the divine aura invaded from the still expanding space rift, every Atlantian soldier adopted a stance of worship with General Saber starting it. Against the powerful Rabbit Monarch, the Atlantians and other variant humans were left with no choice but to gamble for success by throwing their lives away at the powerful Rabbit. Finally, an equally powerful opponent arrived! The chosen at their peak were as strong as the strongest Black tier predators! The best-recorded battle was when the 4th generation Ares, the chosen of war fought to a standstill against one of the Sea Kings! Bzzz! The space rift expanded again as ripples filled with the divine aura of the gods swept through the whole ocean volcano like the aftereffects of the tyrannical decree of a tyrant emperor. The space rift expanded enough, then the chosen finally stepped through. BZZZ! The interference in the space reached its peak as the water became suffocatingly muddled. Bright golden light flared as the perception of every predator and variant human except the Rabbit Monarch was blocked! It took a few seconds before the interference finally died down, but the chosen already descended. All eyes pointed to the center of the disturbance. A head full of fluttering golden hair was what first greeted the eyes. A golden battle crown adorning her head followed, then an impeccable, well-toned, and powerful body that was covered and well-protected in white and golden combat armor. Pure white eyes that glowed like a led torch in darkness illuminated her face as they seemed capable of piercing through any lie and distinguishing the truth. On her powerful and muscly right arm was an intimidating golden battle spear. And on her left was a huge battle shield, a shield that depicted the head of a special creature with snakes as hair. Around her, the primordial origin magic seemed to have gone berserk as a tyrannical magic presence was exuded by this mysteriously powerful lady. Normal variant humans had no access to magic domains, but 2 magic domains were apparent in her magic presence. The heavy domain of earth and the aggressive domain of thunder and lightning pressed around her powerful body. Like a goddess, she presented herself before all the onlookers in the most visually impactive way possible. She stole the show from the onset. Space seemed to freeze on this sight. "Chosen Athena!" General Saber exaltedly worshiped! The chosen that descended as reinforcement was the chosen of the goddess Athena! As the chosen of the goddess of war, handicraft, and wisdom, chosen Athena was among the forefront of chosen''s with the most battle power. Paired with the heirloom iconic Aegis shield and the Ouroboros battle magic spear that was crafted by the Great Traveler himself, chosen Athena embodied the full dignity and majesty of a powerhouse. Sebastian did not understand what happened from the moment that the Rabbit Monarch appeared, everything felt too random but he recognized a powerhouse when he saw one. After successfully arriving, Chosen Athena ignored every other person and first swept a gaze at the Megalodon which made Sebastian shudder from the depths of his soul like an Ancient Dragon just glared at him. The Chosen''s attention didn''t linger on him for long though to his relief, Chosen Athena knew her opponent and gave him the right acknowledgment. When she swept her gaze towards the Rabbit Monarch, their eyes clashed as sparks of an incoming battle of the ages seemed to have been ignited. Fire burned in the eyes of the Rabbit Monarch, this was a powerful opponent and he already recognized it when her divine aura was first released. No predator of his tier did not know of the infamous Chosen''s of Atlantis. At this moment, the Rabbit Monarch had no one else in his sight other than the Chosen Athena. To show his acknowledgment of her might, his own battle gear was already dropping from the void like airdrops. Clang! Clang! In just a few seconds, the previously casual Rabbit Monarch already took on the personality of an elite soldier going to war as his war-gear already adorned his 30 meters tall body! The Rabbit Monarch''s battle gear transformed him so much that he suddenly looked like a samurai Rabbit! The major difference was that instead of wielding a samurai sword, the Rabbit Monarch''s main weapon was the boots that covered his enormously powerful kicking legs like boxing gloves. The Rabbit Monarch was set for battle! Compared to him, Chosen Athena looked as tiny as a bug but the powerful magic presence around her warned that she should not be looked down on! When this Chosen saw the transformations that took on in her opponent, her own battle will flared as she was also set for battle! The will of these 2 powerful powerhouses already grew to such an extent that every other variant human and predator was suppressed. As their conflicting wills ground at each other, they finally moved! Both started with killer moves immediately. "Killer Move: The Thunderbolt Spear of the gods!" "Killer Move: The Million B.C Superkick!" BOOM! The battle of the pinnacles began! Chapter 300 - The Battle Of The Pinnacles! Battle spear and superkick collided, then all hell broke loose! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The power of Black tier predators who stood at the pinnacle of Oceania was just too tyrannically strong if they decided to go all out, so also was the might of the Atlantian chosen''s who embodied the essence of their gods. The impact of killer moves was already astonishing, but when this came from 2 opponents with Black tier strength, the implications changed tone immediately. The water rolled, squeezed, and tumbled over as a terrifying tsunami was induced. The shockwave from the explosion of power was so strong as black holes opened up in random places around the ocean volcano. The Rabbit Monarch sturdily protected in his war-gear easily withstood the impact, the same to the Chosen Athena in her war gear, it was the onlookers that really suffered the impact of this collision. Ripple!!! When the shockwave spread across, lives were reaped in the tens of thousands as predators, and Atlantian soldiers could not even scream before they were annihilated by the massive power in display. Of the 3 remaining survivors of the variant human races, they were too close to the point of collision, the shockwave ended the life of one of them, leaving only General Tito and General Saber as the only survivors of those who first attacked. Without hesitation, these 2 heavily injured Generals retreated rapidly. The warships of the variant human races did not escape the special treatment. When faced with the shockwave, their different energy shields and sturdy armor could only last for a time before they were cracked open. Boom! The shockwave continued across as the casualties increased tyrannically. The onlookers were horrified, both the Atlantian soldiers and the predators were equally horrified. They had heard stories of battle in the range of the Black tier realm but encountering it was a different nightmare entirely. Just the effects of the first clash between these 2 predators already revealed that all the onlookers had nothing to gain by staying to watch other than death. To safeguard their lives, they needed to escape now while they still could. To your tents oh Israel! Every surviving predator and variant human took to their heels, they swam with all their might to escape from this danger zone as fast as possible. This ocean volcano already turned into a hazardous region. The dormant volcano that had remained that way for years had finally been stimulated after just the first clash between these 2 pinnacle powerhouses. It was just a matter of time; it was already certain that this originally dormant volcano was already active and was on the verge of erupting. Ocean volcanoes erupting on earth were already terrifying. In a world of magic filled with warped magical laws of nature, Sebastian could not fantom how fierce the might of this volcanic eruption would be. Even if he was a fool, the greatest fools knew that this was not the time to linger and he was no exception as he swam for his life. All these were just the effects of the first clash between the Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena, they were not idle, this was a real battle! The effects of the first mighty clash died down fast to these 2 powerhouses as a series of further blows were quickly released by the both of them. Bam! Bam! Bam! Chosen Athena revealed her might before this veteran predator! The both of them were engrossed in their own world as they gave their all and exchanged dozens of moves. While the world around them burned, they were completely taken in by the prospect of killing the other first. With her Aegis shield, Chosen Athena was able to manipulate earth domain magic and with her special inherited battle spear, she was able to harness and manipulate the powers of thunder domain magic. She didn''t necessarily have a magic domain like a predator, but these 2 master magic weapons gave her all she needed to manipulate them. After hitting her opponent with another earth domain petrify skill that made him freeze for a moment through her Aegis shield, Chosen Athena found her opportunity as she struck like a viper with her battle spear. Boom! The Rabbit Monarch suffered his second injury since the battle started. The Rabbit Monarch was not content with just suffering his second injury though, he deliberately gave his opponent the opportunity for the 2nd opportunity, and this time, he retaliated in the most furious manner possible. "Killer Move: Shadows of Death!" Wahhhhhhh¡­.!!! The cries and wails of souls that seemed to be locked in an eternal torment suddenly reverberated soon after the Rabbit Monarch used another killer move. From the void, shadowy hands and legs that seemed to belong to the suffering souls extended out with such a mind-blowing speed that Chosen Athena was unable to react before they bound her completely. Chosen Athena struggled but she was bound tightly, she was temporarily immobilized which was fatal in a battle of this scale. "Killer Move: Superkick of Death!" The Chosen could do nothing as the Rabbit Monarch unleashed a 2nd killer move on her. The Rabbit Monarch dealt with her with his 2-fold killer move. One with his shadow magic domain, and the other with his main weapons which were his exaggeratedly powerful hind legs. Boom! Crack! The Rabbit Monarch''s legs were too big and powerful, they completely covered the Chosen once they hit her. It was like attacking a bug with a sledgehammer, with the difference being that the bug was abnormally powerful. Despite the power wielded by Chosen Athena, the Rabbit Monarch was equally powerful and the difference in size meant a lot. Chosen Athena let out a wordless cry of pain as she felt her whole body cracking up. Like a piece of porcelain that was slammed against the ground, she cracked before shattering into pieces. It seemed like she died, but did she? The Rabbit Monarch did not let his guard down. Yes, he succeeded in dealing a staggering blow to the Atlantian powerhouse but his battle intuition that was trained and honed for centuries told him that the threat still lived. Bzzz! Chosen Athena reappeared in the water like an imperious goddess! She was indeed struck by a deadly blow and she sustained severe damage, but at the last moment, she was able to activate a secret technique that she got from harnessing the power of the goddess Athena. One of goddess Athena''s main domains was the domain of craftsmanship. She miniaturized herself and forged a mechanical version of herself on the spot. The mechanical version of herself was what cracked and shattered, while she took shelter inside it. Though she still took damage, it was just a fraction of what she was supposed to have been subjected to originally. Once she reappeared, she glared straight into the Rabbit Monarch''s eyes. The battle was not over until it was over! She went again for the head, and the Rabbit Monarch reciprocated. Bam! Bam! Bam! These 2 pinnacle powerhouses continued their fierce battle as the foundations of this ocean volcano kept on being destroyed. At this moment, the circular cliff walls that Sebastian attributed this region with were already destroyed. The surroundings of the ocean volcano were already destroyed so much that it was now on the verge of eruption. Another sword of Damocles was now hanging over the heads of every predator that was beneath these 2 powerhouses, but they never stopped. They went at each other one more time after stabilizing themselves. ¡­ Old Mak and his group of Great White Sharks were facing the greatest catastrophe of their lives that had ever befallen their clan. Throughout the decades since he founded his clan, Old Mak and his elders, most especially his old friend Elder Marble had encountered a lot of challenges, even some that seemed impossible to survive but none of them were as intense as this. This time, the lives of every shark were indeed at risk. This was not just because of the ongoing fatal battle that was going on between the Rabbit Monarch and the Atlantian Chosen, it was also because Old Mak and his escaping group were still being targeted. Sebastian moved with them, and Sebastian was a trouble magnet. None of the escaping predators ever forgot that Sebastian was a prime target. The Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena all came because of Sebastian, there was no way that he could escape attention even in this chaotic situation. Though most of the Atlantian warships were trying to navigate the hazardous region safely, the Annihilators still had enough juice to survive and still target them, and the 2 surviving variant human Generals were already coming after them. The more time went by, the more the distance between both sides became closer. Old Mak was conflicted, he was faced with the hardest decision of his life. Elder Marble who swam beside him seemed to have felt it, the Elder immediately spoke before his clan head could act. "Mak, please do not do it, we can escape together". Elder Marble''s decision to speak had the opposite effect, Old Mak suddenly stopped swimming to escape as he looked at his escaping clan members with a conflicted but surprisingly resolute expression on his face. The Elders and his favorite Queen already knew his decision, they felt sad but they did not allow the younger sharks to stop for a moment. As the distance between them increased, Old Mak finally spoke. "Old Marble, take care of them for me". "Why?" Elder Marble asked, feeling sadder all of a sudden. "Why?" Old Mak reflected on this question for a second before he answered. "When you love something, you protect it!" Old Mak turned around to face the pursuing enemies. Chapter 301 - Old Maks Sacrifice! Old Mak decided to sacrifice his life. After thinking hard, after suffering the constant mental blows of guilt, after watching the numerous deaths, Old Mak decided that the best way to atone for his sins was to sacrifice his life for the other sharks to escape. Someone had to stand to the challenge one way or the other. If no one stood, there was a high chance that none of them would escape alive. The pressure that was induced by the enemies'' pursuit was what stimulated Old Mak to make this decision that had far-reaching consequences. When he was younger, he already cowered once which led to his lifetime guilt that kept on haunting him for decades. At this moment, Old Mak refused to make the same mistake that was capable of haunting him forever. He was already an old Great White Shark; he was content with dying if doing so could allow the young Great White Sharks to blossom and prosper. "When you love something, you protect it!" At this moment, this was what kept Old Mak going despite the odds that were heavily against him. His mission felt like an impossible one. Amid the ocean volcano which was slowly crumbling apart due to the massive battle between the Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena, his enemies lined up like an unstoppable force towards him. His enemies comprised of the over a dozen Annihilator warships that the 2 Atlantian Mega Fleets fielded, the trump card warships of the other variant human races, the 2 surviving Generals, and the turtle cultist, Ancestor Horamon. Through a series combination of wisdom, cunningness, and impeccable execution of skill, this enormous turtle was able to safeguard his life where the Rogue Snake Overlord could not. All his companions were already dead, but this enormous turtle did not give a damn as he focused on the goal of getting back the ultimate inheritance. The Atlantians were still the superior force here, but nothing was set in stone, a miracle could happen and this was why he did not leave immediately. He may become the biggest benefactor after all the chaos died down. Pitting Old Mak against all these enemies was like throwing an egg against a rock, he stood no chance but the enormous Great White Shark did not cower. Throughout the decades that his shark clan dominated a small corner of this Ocean Volcano region, Old Mak and his elders were not idle as they all engaged in different small activities to accumulate power and resources. Though it did not seem like it, the shark clan that was created by Old Mak was one of the strongest in the whole Ocean Volcano region considering that the region had only one Red tier overlord. Among the magic weapons and gadgets that he and his elders got throughout the years after their victorious encounters, there were some exceptional ones among them. The Detonation Pill! This was what Old Mak banked his hopes on. The detonation pill was not a magic gadget, but this pill was naturally formed the same way that the mana core of mutated creatures was formed. Old Mak did not know how it came about, he encountered it due to a series of coincidences. By studying it throughout the years, he knew the effects of the pill already. Once a predator took the pill, it would go to work immediately and temporarily allow the said predator to increase his limit tolerance. Whereas he could only use 30% of his body''s full potential and overall power before, with the detonation pill, he could break his limit and increase his load to 100% of his body''s full potential. When under the full effects of the Detonation pill, every strike of his no matter what part of his body that it came from contained 100% of his power. The only problem was that once a mutated beast took the detonation pill, death was guaranteed. By forcing yourself to use your full body potential, the magic energy of the body becomes unstable and berserk. Once this increases to an extent, the body detonates and the predator dies. Its principle was to shine brightest for a short time before dying. To buy that tiny chance of survival for his clan members, Old Mak did not hesitate to swallow the detonation pill as his eyes turned red the next moment. Old Mak suddenly felt both pain and power coursing through his body as he convulsed like electricity was tyrannically sweeping through his body. While this happened, his magic presence increased. It took only a few seconds before his magic presence stabilized at the upper ranks of the Red tier. By the time that all these happened, General Saber already arrived at his position but he was ready to face the Atlantian General. "I must protect those that I love!" "Killer Move: Rumbling Thunder, Rippling Lightning!" Old Mak went all out from the onset as his body turned into an embodiment of the god of thunder. The aggressive energy that was already dominant in the air became more dominant as the enormous Great White Shark was unleashed. Bzzz! Boom! Once the attack struck the unsuspecting Atlantian General, his special magic sword vibrated as its sword spirit cried out in pain. General Saber flew back from the pain as the thunder invaded his body. He coughed blood as his face turned pale from the massive loss of blood. Old Mak''s first attack achieved remarkable effects, but his enemy was not just one. His attack on the Atlantian General exposed him to the counterattack of his other enemies, they felt his threat and resolutely surrounded him. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Only the Annihilator warships of Atlantis and the trump card warships of the other variant human races attacked him, but Old Mak seemed to have been dissected in and out as his originally sturdy skin was ruthlessly torn open. The bullets and energy beams battered against his body like the rain in an apocalypse, injuries filled his body as his vitality quickly entered the critical state. Even if Old Mak now had the strength of an upper Red tier predator, he still stood no chance against his enemies. Ancestor Horamon and General Tito decided to bypass him and go after their original target, but Old Mak refused. "I must protect those that I love!" With a bloody mouth, a bloody nose, a bloody body, and bloodshot eyes that seemed likely to pop into a bloody mess at any moment, Old Mak''s instinctive swim skill took precedence as he rapidly intercepted his other enemies. Until he won or he was dead, no one was allowed to touch his loved ones! He would make sure to protect every surviving clansman of his till death! Boom! Boom! Old Mak attacked in an even more frenzied manner, but this exposed more vulnerabilities which his enemies eagerly took advantage of. Against so many powerful enemies, he was no more than a punching bag. A minute later, Old Mak was bitten till his last breath. BAM! Ancestor Horamon finished the job as his powerful jaws clamped down hard against the enormous Great White Shark. Old Mak could no longer resist, he only gasped as blood flowed out of his body like a river, clouding both his vision and his pain. "I must protect those that I love!" Old Mak muttered unconsciously as he already lost consciousness. He saw himself in a world filled with green light, and in this world, a familiar figure was hovering before him, a familiar Megalodon. "Nathan!" Old Mak muttered as sadness welled in his heart. "I never had a grudge against you". The predatory Megalodon gently said. "You made your decision then, and I respect it. My only regret was not seeing you one last time before I died". "You''re doing a good job, go finish what you started". The Megalodon suddenly opened his mouth and released a deep breath as a white ball was pushed out of his mouth. This white ball hit Old Mak and he was jolted to consciousness. Once Old Mak opened his eyes, he finally felt the pain that was like a thousand knives were cutting all over his body. He didn''t even have to look, he was at his last point, he only had a few seconds longer to live. "Hahaha!" Old Mak laughed crazily even as he was still stuck under the powerful jaws of the turtle cultist. "I have no regrets!" "I MUST PROTECT THOSE THAT I LOVE!" Ancestor Horamon suddenly felt his danger sense spike, the alarmed turtle tried to retreat but he could not escape fast enough before it happened. Old Mak saw himself as already dead, so he did the little that he could to provide the last help to his clan members by detonating his mana core through a secret technique that he learned in an inheritance ground. All the magic power that he had slowly trained for decades exploded at once in a mighty show of lightning and thunder. BOOM! Old Mak died. Chapter 302 - Stepping Up To The Challenge; Taking The Mantle Of Leadership! Old Mak died in the most explosive manner possible, something that he always feared. But at the last moments of his life, this enormous Great White Shark was proud of what he did with his old age. Old Mak died with a conscience clear of guilt. He died knowing that he gave his all for his clansmen, and to him, that was the greatest achievement of his life. His explosive show at the end revealed his explosive mindset at his end, he died with no regrets. Boom! Old Mak detonating his mana core was not a small matter considering that him taking the Detonation pill temporarily upgraded his mana core to a whole other level, containing Red tier magic power. The power that was released was extremely destructive, the fusion of lightning and thunder formed the most tyrannical combination ever and Ancestor Horamon was the one who suffered it more. This turtle cultist was at the very heart of the explosion of magic power, there was no way that he was fast enough to escape its terrifying effects. Whoosh! The turtle cultist tried to resist but all his defensive measures, including his shell armor, were cracked open as the terrifying explosion rushed through him, submerging him completely in its horrifying might. Ancestor Horamon was not a normal Red tier predator it seems, this predator went all out as he revealed his plethora of defensive skills. Defensive skills were activated so much that his body was literally covered with them, every single inch but this still could not protect him completely. His measures only delayed the inevitable, the force was only delayed for a moment before it exploded with even more terrifying power the next. The aggressive magic power ruthlessly ravaged his body. Boom! The turtle''s tolerance was exceeded as it exploded the next moment. Ancestor Horamon, one of the legendary ancestors of the Turtle Confraternity died in this struggle for the unique skill. Once the turtle died, the others who were behind him were exposed to the potent but slightly weakened explosive effects of Old Mak''s detonation. "Protect the Generals!" The trump card warships of the various variant human races did not hesitate as they went all out to preserve the lives of their Generals against this explosive plague that was induced by a purple tier predator. General Tito and General Saber suffered amid the raging tsunami of the detonated mana, but with the protection of their warships, including the sacrifice of dozens of them including 2 Annihilators, they finally escaped. This was a huge loss on the part of the variant human races, and it was a testament to the terrifying power of the explosion. "I must protect those that I love!" At this moment, this solemn declaration seemed to be ringing in the air in memory of the dead Great White Shark. He may be just a purple-tier predator pitted against vastly more powerful opponents, but pushed by the power of love, he abandoned his instinct to cling to his life and voluntarily gave his life away to love. By taking a suicide pill, he sold his life for power. The feat of killing 1 Red tier predator and pushing back such a powerful force of variant humans was the greatest battle feat that cemented Old Mak''s illustrious battle career. Due to all these delays, the distance between the pursuing force and the escaping group of Great White Sharks already increased more. Despite this, they were still in the sights of their enemies. Those with electroreceptor skills that were powerful enough saw all that just happened to their clan head. Elder Marble, the other elders, Queen Heareth, Sebastian, and Tungsten saw Old Mak''s last moments. A heavy mood weighed down on these predators'' minds. As for the other Great White Sharks, from the depths of their souls, they felt that something was wrong but they could not pinpoint what went wrong. They didn''t dare to turn and look back also since the elders kept urging them to move faster. At this moment, their minds were too focused on surviving that they could not spare attention for any other thing. To this group of Great White Sharks, their lives became more important to them when it was really threatened now but a certain group among these escapees could no longer think this way. Seeing his old friend and clan head die in such a brave and explosive manner, Elder Marble felt his perception of life experiencing a huge change. For a long time, he had always bent to his more primordial instincts which were life preservation and it was the essence of who he was as a predator. He was a powerful predator, he could bite, he could punch really hard with his earth magic domain, but his survival instincts were his trump cards. His survival instincts were the main trump card that enabled him to survive decades in this treacherous world, power alone could not make the cut to survive. His survival instinct at this moment was also screaming to him to escape for his life, that staying was suicide but for the first time in his life, Elder Marble resisted his primordial instincts. What use was there if he survived but all his juniors died? Witnessing Old Mak''s sacrifice, this controversial question sprouted in the elders'' hearts. He tried to ignore it but he could not, and it got to the extent where Elder Marble also stopped escaping. Old Mak sacrificed himself to kill one of the stronger enemies and weaken the others, but the others were still hot behind their heels. Another predator needed to step up and continue from where their clan head stopped. He decided that the best candidate for this predator was himself. To Elder Marble''s shock though, once he stopped, all his other elders, including the Queen, Tungsten, and Sebastian stopped. "I''m staying with you". Elder Dangle resolutely declared. "Me too". Elder Shine chimed in. "Me too¡­" "No". Queen Heareth did not finish before Elder Marble interjected. "The juniors need your guidance and protection the most at this moment". "Unlike you, we can''t heal, fighting and cannibalism are what we are best at. Heareth, please allow us to indulge and do what we''re really good at for one last time, it is the best way for us to write a legacy for ourselves". "Elder¡­" Queen Heareth''s sadness became more tangible with time. "Elder¡­" Elder Marble turned to the younger shark. "Tungsten, we have no time to talk, all I want from you is to take the mantle from your master". "Old Mak is dead, the clan needs a new leader. It doesn''t matter if we return or not. Now, with the power vested on me as the 2nd in command after Old Mak, I declare you the new alpha of this clan!" Tungsten felt the weight of leadership that almost seemed to crush him immediately. "I will not disappoint your expectations, elder". With that, a satisfied Elder Marble finally turned to face Sebastian. "I don''t know what you are, I don''t know your secrets, but you''re by far the most genius predator that I''ve encountered in my mildly long life". "Your life is more than this clan, live it the way that you want". "I feel no regret if I get to meet my old friend in the afterlife today". With that, Elder Marble turned his enormous body around. "GO!" Tungsten, Sebastian, and Queen Heareth all felt sad but they did not dare to linger. They recognized the sacrifice of their elders, and the best way to ensure that it was not in vain was for them to successfully escape. "Go!" "Go!" Tungsten took the mantle as he roared at his fellow clansmen while swimming away with all his might. Only the 3 elders were left waiting for the pursuing enemies. Their methods may not be as extravagant as Old Mak''s, but since today may spell the doom of the whole shark clan, Old Mak pulled out all stops and distributed all the best magic gadgets and weapons of the clan among them. With all these goodies, there was no guarantee that they could breach the divide of the Red tier realm but at least, together, the 3 of them could touch the tip which was all that they needed. "Bring it on, Atlantians!" Whoosh! The 3 Great White Sharks carried the battlefield to their enemies'' position. Boom! Boom! Boom! Another fierce battle started all just for survival. Chapter 303 - Volcanic Eruption! With his master dead, and all the elders that he grew up to respect and look up to now on a suicide mission, Tungsten was left all alone with a heap of new responsibilities that weighed on him like a mountain. Despite the magnitude of his new responsibilities, Tungsten was a good shark, he vowed not to let the expectations of his elders down. Apart from the main force that was organized by the variant human races and the Red tier predators, other minor greedy mutated beasts who were after Sebastian still came after them and this posed a huge hindrance. At this moment, after Sebastian''s powerful display minutes ago, he was now the undisputed strongest among the escapees but he was no longer at his peak. After the bombardment from so many enemies, despite Sebastian''s tyrannical Megalodon recovery speed, some injuries lingered and all these made sure that he couldn''t return to his peak in the long term. The previous battle also expended all his doppelgangers, this effectively reduced his battle strength by another significant margin. Sebastian could not afford the mana consumption needed to create new doppelgangers; this was because he was tied down with defensive work. Though he was not at his peak, Sebastian was still stronger than Tungsten and Queen Heareth since she was not a battle-oriented shark, to begin with. This meant that with the departure of the elders, the responsibility of defending and protecting the young escaping Great White Sharks fell on his shoulders and he could not shirk this responsibility. Apart from Torpedum''s betrayal, this shark clan already did so much for him that Sebastian felt extremely reluctant to abandon them. The Lizard Lord and his clan members, including the Champion Digger, already abandoned them long ago and they were blameless. It did not require any genius to know that Sebastian was the one that all these powerful enemies were after. So instead of staying with them and risking dying, these predators simply apologized and resolutely decided to safeguard their lives. This left the Great White Sharks more vulnerable than ever. With Sebastian tied down with the responsibility of aggressively attacking to protect the Great White Sharks, and Queen Heareth constantly healing injuries, the responsibility of paving the way forward now fell on Tungsten. Tungsten felt the pressure but did not give up. Though Tungsten did not encounter any special inheritance like Verni, his breakthrough inside the Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King''s inheritance ground was already the greatest inheritance that he could hope for. When Sebastian killed the Sea King, he absorbed only a portion of his soul power while the rest dissipated into the surrounding water body. This fragmented soul power contained fragmented parts of the knowledge that this Sea King had in his long life, including his life experiences, and insights on his magic domain. Carcarot Gorgoneon apart from his Sea King status was the strongest light domain magician predator that ever lived in Oceania. His fragmented insights on the light domain was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter to Tungsten who was just evolving then. Some of these memory fragments were attracted to Tungsten when he broke through. He always felt that he gained something, but he could not pinpoint exactly what until this moment. Pushed by the pressure of the situation, Tungsten discovered a whole new world that was hidden deep in his mind after his breakthrough. To his shock, hidden at a corner of his mind were a plethora of magic skills all related and dedicated to his magic domain. Tungsten had no time to think, he acted on them. "Battlefield Skill: Light of Illumination!" "Battlefield Skill: Light of Refraction!" "Battlefield Skill: Mirage!" As soon as Tungsten randomly activated 3 skills from the full catalog that was stored in his head, the first one took effect. A bright purifying light first appeared at his front as it swept through all the predators that were before him. Extremely penetrative power was unleashed as light beams extended from the purifying light to attack the predators. While this happened, the second skill took effect as the light started distorting like shadows and coming out from obscure positions to attack the predators at their weak points. The last skill''s effects depended on Tungsten''s active input. Once he understood the mechanics, he actively controlled it. Roar! To the shock of the predators, all of a sudden, an extremely-lifelike mirage flickered to life that depicted the still ongoing titanic battle between the Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena. These predators were shaken to their bone marrows. Unable to distinguish the truth, they were doomed by their fear as they escaped for their lives. This series of skills allowed the escaping group of Great White Sharks to pick up their speed and escape faster. The only problem was that they were on a time limit. The titanic battle between the Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena already dealt too much damage, the ocean volcano was on the verge of an eruption. Every predator could see this, and this made them more frenzied as some thought to escape for their lives first while the others succumbed to their greed and intensified their efforts to get to Sebastian. Seeing this, Sebastian made a decision. The situation was as clear as day, he was the one they were after, not the other Great White Sharks. If he left their cohesive formation, alone, he may not survive the onslaught but Sebastian hated the thought of dragging everyone down more. Old Mak, the elders, and even the normal Great White Sharks already sacrificed enough for him, he felt too selfish to take advantage of them and not at least give anything in return. All these thoughts were because of the pending volcanic eruption, but Sebastian had no choice, he took the plunge. "Verni, Tosh, Strong¡­, I''ll miss you all". "Tungsten, take care of them on my behalf". [You have activated skill: Advanced Dash!] Sebastian did not wait for any feedback from the sharks, he resolutely detached himself from their formation and swam in an opposite direction. He could hear his name being called but he did not look back, his mind was already set on his goal and there was no turning back for him. Sebastian wore his familiar mask back. For one last time, he wanted to bloom even if it was for a short time like Old Mak and the shark elders. "Come at me!" Once he changed direction, all the enemies changed direction after him and this was what Sebastian wanted as he exploded with speed. Skill after skill was activated by him as he spammed his enemies with them. He inflicted injuries, and he killed even more as he continued his heroic lone charge through the army of predators. Like he wanted and expected, his charge was just for a time because the volcano¡­, finally erupted. Cracka! Cracka! BOOMMMMMMM! [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Tower Shield {¡Á4}!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Heavy Armor!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Energy Shield Generator!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Vibranium Armor!] Like every other predator who was in the vicinity of the explosion, a glowing Sebastian was engulfed in the titanic power displayed by this volcanic eruption. Chapter 304 - The Might Of The Erupting Fire! The ocean volcano erupted, and it did in the most violent manner possible! This ocean volcano was like a ticking time bomb that had been hibernating for millenniums. The display of Black tier power was what triggered it, and it finally released all the explosive load that it had accumulated for millenniums. The water boiled in a bubbling manner before evaporating rapidly as the extremely hot fire awoke from its slumber. From the very core of the volcano where the Rogue Snake Overlord took as his lair and trained his origin law comprehension of the fire magic domain for centuries, the fire sprouted out like a berserk fire Dragon! Boom! Boom! Boom! Like a mighty rushing tsunami, the gigantic body of fire arose and devoured everything that dared to obstruct its part. The battle between the various warships of the variant human races already weakened the foundation of the volcano, the battle between the Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena worsened the situation, now the volcanic eruption took from where they stopped and finished the job. Every single remnant in the vicinity of the ocean volcano was swallowed by the eruption of fire before being burnt to crisps. From the enormous seamounts to the tenacious predators who survived the aftermaths of all the subsequent battles in the seamount, to the microscopic organisms, they were all annihilated by the extremely hot fire. The temperature rapidly rose with the eruption of fire as it quickly got to the most extreme temperatures that could even affect Black tier predators. Because of the battle between the Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena, every other predator and variant human had no choice but to escape from their domains to escape the power suppression. This was what saved them from the very first impact wave, only the Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena suffered from the first impact wave. At the last moment, both powerhouses activated their strongest shields to withstand the terrifying heat and annihilation force of the erupting fire. Whoosh! They were quickly submerged in the fire, only 2 extremely bright lights shone inside the raging fire but this could not stop the overly ambitious fire from spreading its tentacles far and wide. Due to their distance from the volcano''s core, the other predators and variant humans were fortunate not to take the full blow of the eruption''s first wave but the residual explosive force was still enough to keep them at their toes. Whoosh! The raging fire continued sweeping forth like an unstoppable plague, its spread easily eclipsing the peak of the dreadful covid 19. The first predators and variant humans finally came within its range. Ahh¡­...!!! They stood no chance against the heat and force of the erupting fire; predators could only let out pitiful whimpers of pain before they were burnt to crisps that were quickly evaporated by the further heat. As for the variant humans, even before the fire touched them, their clothes ignited before burning to ashes. This already horrified the originally well-trained soldiers, and when the fire finally came, they were right to be horrified. The raging fire first scrapped their armor, burnt it to a crisp, before burning their flesh, evaporating their blood, and draining the life out of them. Prominent war fleets were engulfed, including the Crimson Fleet and its leading Staff Sergeant Barnes. This Atlantian Sergeant could only pledge his loyalty to his race for one last time before he was burnt to a crisp. As prominent variant human war fleets were engulfed, so also were prominent predators engulfed in this fire of destruction. Elder Marble and his 2 companions were already beaten to a point of no return by their enemies, so when the fire came, they didn''t resist since they had already did their job of protecting their young ones. "Our legacies shall live forever!" "For Old Mak!" Whoosh! Elder Marble and his 2 companions were engulfed by the fire. They stood no chance and like the others; their very essence and life were burnt out of them. Horrified screams and roaring sounds filled the water, but the mighty rushing sound that accompanied the volcanic eruption suppressed them all as the fire ruthlessly swept through them. Everywhere the fire passed, life ceased to exist! General Tito and General Saber like usual enjoyed the protection of their various races, their importance, and utility to their race was too much for them to die in such a senseless manner. Even if it would not work, all the nearby Annihilators and trump card warships of the variant human races drifted closer and formed a cluster of a defensive formation around the 2 Generals. When the fire plague came, it overloaded the shield generators of the warships, melted the metal armors and hulls of the trump card warships at a rate that induced despair on the operators. "For Atlantis!" "For the Firemen Empire!" The soldiers bravely made their last declarations before death. After going through a long-distance, annihilating hundreds of thousands of lives in the process, millions if microscopic organisms were included, the erupting fire finally got to the edges of the original volcano where the last group of escaping predators was still swimming for their lives. Those that made up this group of predators were those that recognized reality and escaped earlier, and groups like Tungsten''s who through a lot of sacrifices, were able to keep up with the others. By this time, the power of the erupting fire was no longer comparable to how it was when it first started but it was still extremely dangerous and mighty. "For the future of our clan!" All the Great White Sharks following Tungsten roared amid their fear as they all activated their magic shields and merged them together to form a giant magic shield that encompassed all of them. Before the fire engulfed them, another interfering force arrived as heavy and enormous pitch-black tower shields added to their defense. Even while he cared for himself, Sebastian still found time to help his companions. As for himself, he already covered himself in a defensive cocoon. After his breakthrough to the purple tier realm, with the creation of his mana core, his magic power experienced a qualitative increase. Most magic manifestations that he needed to enter a mana-saturated state to access were now accessible to him. Though he could not still rampantly decide to create nuclear bomb magic manifestations to nuke all his enemies to oblivion, his imagination could now play a greater role as he had a wider choice range to choose from. This was everything that he could do before the fire engulfed them all. "After all this, I hope I really will not die". Whoosh! The fire finally swept through him, through every other group, and engulfed the whole region that was occupied by the original volcano. The ambition of the erupting fire was not curbed yet. It already engulfed its full territory, but it was not satisfied with this, it wanted to go beyond its territory and spread even more death and destruction. With a loud sound like those of clapping thunder, the fire surged out of the confines of its territory and rapidly expanded into the surrounding water body. The fire spread far for kilometers as a bright light exploded. BOOM! The world itself seemed to be coming to an end, a terrifying earthquake swept across, a mighty tsunami raged, the green glow of the Green Mist Sea darkened in this region as the volcanic eruption reached its fullest potential. Then it finally died down. Chapter 305 - A New Journey! 15 minutes after the volcanic eruption, activity was finally detected in the previous location of the ocean volcano. Crack! Crack! Boom! A glowing redhead with tall ears that flapped like the wings of an adult Dragon was what first appeared, then red glowing eyes followed as the mighty Rabbit Monarch dug himself out of the debris. Humph! This powerful Rabbit stretched his enormous body as his muscles and bones made crackling sounds, then he exhaled as what seemed like radioactive smoke surged out of his nostrils with speed. The Rabbit Monarch swept his gaze across as he viewed the destruction that was a result of the mighty volcanic eruption that ended minutes ago. Across a region of hundreds of kilometers, there were little signs of life. Only a barren wasteland was what lay at the bottom of the ocean in this region. A barren wasteland that was filled with the curse of the magic essence of the millions of organisms that died here today. The water was muddled, most parts of it already contaminated by the encompassing presence of blood, and was now orangish-red in color. The glow of the Green Mist Sea remained darkened in this region, showing the amount of damage that the foundation of this region itself suffered. The results of this volcanic eruption already left a scar that may take centuries to heal or may not even heal till eternity. The Rabbit Monarch exhaled again as he lifted his enormous body and got prepared to take off back to his empire, his body felt some aches and a burning sensation from the damage that he sustained but he ignored them. As he was close to the very core of the volcanic eruption, despite his status, despite his horrifying might, he still sustained damage. The eruption of a dormant volcano that stayed like that for over a millennium was no joke. The fact that he survived despite being so close to the core was already a miracle, it showed more about the strength of Black tier predators. "At least, I fulfilled my mission". The Rabbit Monarch muttered as he planned to take the jump that would take him out of this region, but he suddenly frowned and looked down having detected a sudden eruption of magic power. Ha! Boom! Accompanying a loud feminine shout were the rocks being tyrannically torn open as a female figure dug her way out of the barren wasteland. Once the Rabbit Monarch saw who it was, his face darkened. "You fulfilled your mission, which mission? Who are you working for?" The Chosen Athena glowed in a pure white light as she suppressed the severe injuries that filled every corner of her body while she asked. Her white eyes pinned the Rabbit Monarch down, but the Monarch did not give in as he looked back straight into her eyes confidently. "Haha, you want to know who I work for?" The Chosen''s narrowed eyes revealed her answer, but seeing that the Monarch stubbornly refused to acknowledge her, she snorted and answered. "Yes, you didn''t come for the unique skill, so what is your goal?" "I simply obeyed the will of the myth and came to help the future Ocean Master, it''s as simple as that". "Whether you like it or not, we need a unifying leader and it cannot be an Atlantian. Remember that you are foreigners, we are the truly blessed of the origin, our leader must and is fated to be a predator". "Even if you kill Sebastian, you''ll just be delaying the inevitable which you and I know is dangerous to our cause, our leader will come one way or the other". "Remember, the war is not an illusion, it is real!" "I am not your enemy, the ancient Cthulu is!" "Other planetary dimensions are already grooming their leaders; we need to do the same to survive. If you don''t want a repeat of your previous world, cooperate and let the Ocean Master arise". Bzzz! While he spoke to the Atlantian Chosen, the Rabbit Monarch was already charging his magic power. Once he was done, he also ended his speech as he tore a rift in the water space where he jumped through to leave. After the Rabbit Monarch left, only the Chosen Athena was left as she digested the parting words of the powerful rabbit. 15 minutes later, she snorted. "No one is the true blessed of the origin, our leader must be an Atlantian!" Warp! Unlike the Rabbit Monarch who tore a rift in the water space, the Chosen was more tyrannical as she turned her hands to a claw which she used to grab and squeeze the water space open to create a space passage. She stepped in and disappeared. All the commotion that was induced by the volcanic eruption died down. The barren wasteland was silent as it became the grave of the numerous predators and variant humans that died here today. ¡­ An hour after the volcanic eruption, and 30 minutes after the departure of the Chosen Athena, further activity was finally detected in the barren wasteland. The explosive power of the volcanic eruption was exceedingly mighty, but those who got swept up by it at the periphery of the ocean volcano region suffered only a fraction of its original power. The more competent ones among these groups of predators were able to preserve their life though they were all left in a terrible state. One of these few competent and lucky predators was the Space Beast. With Sebastian attracting all the attention, this young Space Beast was able to remain obscure and it wisely decided to escape for its life first. This decision that went against the original arrogance that was well known of predators with pinnacle bloodlines was what safeguarded his life. As soon as it dug itself out of the rocks and dirt, this severely injured and bleeding Space Beast did not look back as he swam for his life. At various intervals and various corners of the barren wasteland, scenarios like this happened as the lucky predators dug themselves out and escaped. Among these survivors was Tungsten, and the few Great White Sharks that survived. Their cooperative defense shield at the end, combined with Sebastian''s help, few of them were able to survive the fire onslaught. Once Tungsten dug himself out of the rocks and the debris, a sad expression came on his face as his electroreceptors swept across his fellow survivors. From the originally boisterous shark clan of hundreds of Great White Sharks, apart from him and Queen Heareth, only 12 Great White Sharks survived. Tungsten felt sad. Of the many family members that he knew and grew up with, over 90% of them died today while he could do very little. Thinking of his master and the elders who heroically sacrificed their lives to facilitate their survival made him feel like drowning in depression. All the survivors had severe injuries that flooded their brains with pain constantly, but they didn''t think of that, they were rather preoccupied with the family members that they lost today. "We''ll forever remember all of you!" Tungsten solemnly declared. The sudden weight that was on his shoulders was heavy, but Tungsten vowed to live up to the expectations that Elder Marble invested in him. "I shall not fail your expectations!" "Let''s leave!" Tungsten finally ordered his fellow survivors to leave. Their distance to Sebastian before the erupting fire got to their position was so far apart that they could no longer pinpoint the position of this comrade of theirs. The shockwave of the explosion drifted them apart more. Rather than staying behind and searching the extremely expansive barren wasteland while endangering their lives which may be a fruitless endeavor, Tungsten decided to preserve the legacy left by his master first. Under his leadership, the last group of Great White Sharks that were left of Old Mak''s shark clan embarked on a new journey. They didn''t have a destination, but they had one common goal which was to survive. This goal was what gave them a destination. After Tungsten and the shark survivors left, few other survivors dug themselves out before General Saber finally dug himself out. General Jax Tim did not physically engage in the siege against the Megalodon, but he was always engaged in the battle inside his special Annihilator warship. He emerged out of the rocks with General Saber. The explosion already scrapped all their warships, including the Annihilators. Their special self-preservation gadgets and means were what enabled them to survive the ruthless onslaught of the volcano. Both Generals looked at each other and sighed before they sent a distress signal to their headquarters. They gave their all, but they still couldn''t accomplish their goals. It was a given that they were distressed. While they left the barren wasteland, to their surprise, they encountered another Atlantian survivor. Against all odds, Captain Omega survived the onslaught of the volcanic eruption alongside the 2 Generals. Together, they left. ¡­ Sebastian was a special case among the survivors. Due to all the subsequent battles that he already went through even before the volcanic eruption, he was at his weakest state when the volcano finally erupted, tyrannically spreading its fire. After lending the little help that he could to his friends, he formed the best possible defense cocoon that he could to protect himself. The difference was that, unlike Tungsten''s group, due to his decision to lure the danger away from them, he was not exactly at the periphery of the volcano and this meant a lot in terms of the eruption''s lethality. All his defenses held amid the bombardment, at least protecting his body from being burnt to a crisp but the suffocating pressure made him lose consciousness as soon as his old injuries acted up. Originally, losing consciousness would have spelled his end but the Rabbit Monarch intervened. Through a magic gadget, this powerful Rabbit formed what seemed like a shuttle formed from space magic that shuttled Sebastian away. Through the space shuttle, he left this region entirely to an unknown destination. The best thing was that he escaped with all his benefits intact. After an exciting journey, though in unconsciousness, Sebastian finally bade goodbye to this ocean volcano that gave him a lot of memories. Once he woke up, a new journey would have already started for him. Chapter 306 - The Atlantian Domain! The Atlantian Domain! Of the 7 great Seas in Oceania, each of them was associated and was widely recognized as the territory of each of the Sea Kings since the antiquity age after the rise of the 7 Great predators. This lasted until the era of the rise of the variant human races came, after the great transformation that led to the appearance of the strange creatures. Once the era of the variant human races came, the Sea Kings could no longer lord from their high thrones, one of them who was also coincidentally the strongest of them all was dethroned by the rising Atlantis Empire. Once Atlantis claimed the Origin Peak Sea which was by far the most developed, highly resourceful, and origin magic abundant of the 7 Seas, their rise as the next overlord of this world began. The Ocean King who suffered the humiliation of losing his throne was livid as he launched counterattack after counterattack at the rising variant human Empire. The Ocean King was powerful, by far the strongest predator that Oceania as a world has ever produced, but his only mistake was underestimating his enemies even though they already succeeded in dethroning him once. Through a combination of wits, cunningness, astonishing growth speed, and their 2 champions, Ouroboros who was then called the War-Monger, and King Orchestra, the Ocean King lost his life. This was by far the greatest feat of the Atlantis Empire that cemented them as the new superpower and the overlord of Oceania. Despite their success, and even at death, the proud Ocean King did not bow to their ways as he resisted all their coercions fiercely. Unable to let the Atlantians benefit anything from his death, this Sea King self-detonated by using a secret technique which made the essence of his unique skill escape from the grasp of the Atlantians. Since then, they never found the essence of the unique skill until traces left by it were discovered by Atlantian magic prophets after it got a new heir. All that was a different story entirely and didn''t matter, what mattered was that Atlantis was now the overlord of Oceania and the Origin Peak Sea''s name changed, following the will of its new lords. This great sea was now widely known as the Atlantian Domain. This was the home of Oceania''s overlord, the backyard and main territory of the great Atlantis Empire. The forces of the Atlantis Empire were too spread thin to dominate the other 6 great seas evenly, but their tyrannical hold over their domain made up for it. By holding a firm grip of this most important and highly resourceful Sea, the Atlantis Empire maintained its head start over the others. The Empire''s strongest fleets and troops were stationed here, this was the Empire''s main territory and also where the Atlantian throne where the powerful Queen Auralis ruled was. The Atlantian Domain was a huge sea, just like the others. At a certain part of this huge sea, which was clearly more heavily guarded and armed than all the other parts of this sea was planted at the sea bed a heavy but luxurious-looking dome-shaped structure. This was the Dome of Supremacy, Queen Auralis''s palace. At an area of kilometers around the dome were hidden different defense military stations. Only a few were visible, the others were hidden, but one thing was for sure, these stations housed the best that the Atlantis Empire had to offer. Not even Sea Kings dared to infiltrate this Dome. This was the most heavily protected structure in all of Oceania! At this moment, a ripple appeared in space a fair distance away from the huge dome-shaped structure and the hidden stations quickly picked the signal. "Defense Station 221, spatial disturbance code 3FO has been triggered". "Sending relevant data to the central processing station". "Data received¡­, processing data". "Hold your fire!" "I repeat, hold your fire!" "Spatial coordinates have matched with those in our database. It is the esteemed Chosen Athena, lower the Spatial defenses". "Yes, sir!" "Lower the Spatial defenses!" "I repeat, lower the Spatial defenses!" As this order was silently transmitted through all the defense stations, the spatial defenses were lowered as the tight space nodes in the air finally loosened up like the spacing of the intermolecular forces of a gas. This allowed Chosen Athena''s efforts from the other side to have an effect here. A space rift was finally squeezed open through which the Chosen appeared. Once the Chosen Athena appeared, her majestic aura swept through the hidden defense stations as all the soldiers showed respect and worship. While the soldiers worshiped her, the Chosen swept one last glance at the dome-shaped structure that stood before her, then she swam closer. The Chosen Athena being one of the very pinnacle individuals in the Atlantian Empire only below the Queen, encountered no obstructions as she enjoyed smooth passage into the dome structure. She referenced her memories and expertly navigated through the luxurious corridors of this dome-shaped structure until she arrived at the Queen''s throne. "Come in!" Once she got to the door, a familiar voice invited her in. "Thank you, your majesty!" Athena expressed her thanks respectfully before solemnly pushing the heavy doors open as she drifted into the majestic throne room of the Atlantis Empire. The throne room was fairly large and extremely luxurious. It was not too colorful, neither was it too bland, everything blended perfectly to form the ideal balance that correctly depicted the might of this overlord race and her queen. Once she entered the throne room, Athena levitated in the water as she smoothly swam closer to the throne where the queen was currently seated. On getting there, this Chosen bowed respectfully. "My Queen!" A bright smile lit up Queen Auralis''s face as she spoke in a gentle voice. "Sit, my child". The Queen''s well-groomed iconic golden hair at this moment accentuated the bright smile that was on her face. The Queen''s throne chair was also made in her characteristic golden color. Below her throne chair was another luxuriously made chair, and sitting on this chair was a young male Atlantian who had similar features as her. Once Chosen Athena sat, she turned to exchange greetings with this male Atlantian who had the authority to sit alongside the Queen of Atlantis. "Prince Poseidon". "Chosen Athena". The young Prince calmly reciprocated the greeting. Yes, these 2 were the only chosen of the 7 chosen seeds who succeeded in grasping the essence of the gods as of this moment. Chosen Athena succeeded in grasping the essence of the goddess Athena, while Prince Poseidon grasped the essence of the powerful sky god, Poseidon. They were both only below the Queen and above everyone else in authority. Prince Poseidon had another identity which was already evident in his title, he was the only son of Queen Auralis. He was the last child and only male-born child of the Queen among 3 sisters. From a young age, the talent of the prince became known to the whole Empire. A lot of expectations were placed on his shoulders, and he did not disappoint, even exceeding expectations. Prince Poseidon was the strongest warrior of Atlantis! At this moment, after the 2 chosen''s exchanged greetings and the attention finally returned to her, Queen Auralis turned to face Athena. Athena immediately bowed her head. "I failed, your majesty". "Tell me what happened". "Yes, your majesty¡­" It took a few minutes, but Athena was able to narrate everything that transpired after she joined the battle till it came to an end after the eruption of the ocean volcano which dealt severe injuries to her. After the narration, silence reigned in the throne room as Queen Auralis calmly meditated on the information that she just released. She suddenly perked up after meditating for some time. "You''re right Athena, no one is the true blessed of the origin". "The origin is impartial, to get her attention, we need to work hard towards it which is exactly what we intend to do". "Good work Athena, I''m proud of your efforts". "Thank you, your majesty". As a strange silence reigned after the last comment, the originally silent prince finally spoke. "Mother, what are your orders?" The Queen turned to look at her son before her eyes became resolute. "This is my order¡­, I decree the Black bounty on Sebastian!" Chapter 307 - The Rabbit Empire. The Green Mist Sea! The Green Mist Sea''s territory was characterized by the iconic green glow that the primordial origin magic always cast on the territory. Like the other 6 great seas, the Green Mist Sea''s territory was unimaginably large, almost the size of earth itself. In this vast expanse of water was where powerful monster races and variant human races erected their Empires. The Green Mist Sea was divided and characterized by the territories of the various Empires that were in it. The Empires were the peak powers, any other thing below them were called rural settlements. The strongest Empire that ruled over the Green Mist Sea was the Clown Empire. This was the Empire that was personally created by the Clown King. After the meteoric rise of Atlantis, the arrogant Sea Kings who originally loved acting and moving alone except a few special cases finally recognized the strength in numbers that were derived from founding an Empire. The tragic death of the Ocean King revealed the numerous shortcomings of deciding to stay solo. At this current day, every one of the Sea Kings had an Empire of their own and they occupied the best territory of their respective great seas. The Clown Empire occupied the very center of the Green Mist Sea, where magical and mineral resources were the most abundant. With this, they held a firm grip over the overall trend of the Green Mist Sea. Due to this advantage, despite the death of the original Clown King, the Clown Empire never fell, it only regressed a bit. Despite their regression, they were still the strongest Empire of the Green Mist Sea. And according to unconfirmed rumors, the Clown King''s unique ability already found the perfect heir who was now slowly training his powers under the tight protection of the Clown Empire. This and a lot of other reasons ensured the Empire''s firm grasp over their mother great Sea. The Green Mist Sea was always characterized by the Clown. The 7 Great Seas had boundaries that separated them from each other. Each of the 7 Seas had iconic colors that were shone on them by the primordial origin magic in the said sea. These colors were not random, they were a manifestation of the specific origin laws of the said great Sea. This was why it was hard for Mystery Pryer predators to live a life where they had to move from one Great Sea to the other. The task of getting to comprehend the specific laws of another great Sea before recovering to their full strength there was too daunting and unreasonable. Due to this, Mystery Pryer predators mostly stuck to their mother great Sea. The boundaries that separated the 7 Great Seas were mostly referred to as borders. These borders had magic empowered space walls that separated the great seas from each other. The space walls ensured that not just any predator could travel between 2 great seas. Only space domain magicians could easily travel between Great Seas, for other predators, they needed to exert a disproportionate amount of effort before they could crack the forces holding the space walls. This presented a scenario where the 7 Great Seas were cut off from each other. Different cultures existed in the 7 Seas, different species of predators could exist there, the natural environment was also vastly different. This was why the 7 Seas were associated with each of the 7 Sea Kings. Due to the difficulty of crossing over, invasion between seas was reduced to the barest minimum and Sea Kings hardly intervened in the matters of another sea. At least, this remained relevant until the rise of Atlantis. The rise of this empire disrupted more than just the power structure of Oceania. At a certain corner of the Green Mist Sea stood a beast Empire. Inside this green-glow-filled body of water, at the seabed, surrounded by seamounts that towered into the skies was the Rabbit Empire. Like most established empires of the Green Mist Sea, the effective control territory of this empire spanned dozens of kilometers across the sea. Unlike the ocean volcano region where a great battle just ended and whose seamounts were mostly disordered and undeveloped, all the seamounts that made up this Empire were highly developed. Since most of the adult rabbits here were mutated rabbits, which meant that they no longer suffered the constraints of size, this Empire could afford to bring their development to the extreme. Each of the seamounts represented cities, and on these cities, ten of thousands of rabbit houses were built to accommodate the rabbits of the empire. The layout and organized planning of the cities showed that these rabbits were not brutes, they knew what they were doing. These rabbit cities had most if not everything that a typical city needed. From magic hospitals to army barracks, to entertainment grounds, to trade centers, to martial schools, to even foreign delegation grounds. As an empire, it meant that a Black tier predator was protecting it. This alone meant that only a fool would attack this empire in its home ground. The confident rabbits had foreign delegation grounds in their cities where predators of different species could come in to engage in trade with them, and they had foreign ambassadors who took care of these delegation grounds. Not just other predators, the rabbits were confident in their ability to maintain order that they even had foreign delegation grounds for variant humans. Oceania was indeed a cannibalistic world, but when the real pinnacle players were involved, even the most violent of predators could be suppressed and order could be forcibly maintained. The headquarters of the Rabbit Empire where the throne of the Rabbit Monarch was erected was Gongman city, the city of magic Rabbits! At this moment, as activities went on in the empire, a space rift was torn open directly above the headquarter city as the enormous Rabbit Monarch stepped through the next moment and arrived back home. None of the rabbits showed any fear. Though they detected the space rift, they didn''t panic since it was extremely unlikely for an enemy, even if it was a black tier predator to so arrogantly attack their headquarters. They may not look like it, but at their home ground, even without their monarch, the Rabbit Empire could unleash really heavy punches at arrogant enemies who deemed it right to provoke them. Since Gongman city was blocked off from the other cities by a huge interference barrier, the rabbits in the other cities did not see him when their monarch returned after the brief interlude in his schedule. The Rabbit Monarch dragged his giant injured body straight to his palace after he arrived back at his city without drawing too much attention. When he entered his throne and sat down, a group of huge and powerful mutated rabbits was already seated below him. "Welcome back, lord father!" One of the bigger rabbits greeted respectfully as the others quickly followed and greeted, the Rabbit Monarch nodded nonchalantly. After this greeting, the rabbit who started the greeting made a gesture as a huge predatory ant quickly scurried inside the throne room. The huge ant bowed reverently before scurrying closer to the Monarch''s side. With a gentle sound like that of water flowing down a pool, white light erupted from the huge ant''s antennas as magic power flowed into the Monarch''s body gently. The Rabbit Monarch moaned in pleasure as the healing magic power flowed into his body, cleaning impurities and healing his injuries rapidly. While this happened, he finally turned to face his chief advisor. The enormous rabbit took the hint as he immediately floated up. "Lord Father, Atlantis already made their response, a Black bounty has been issued on the head of the aspiring Ocean Master". Humph! The Rabbit Monarch snorted. "Lord father, what is your plan? What are our orders?" "Wait and see, that is my order". "My intervention minutes ago was already bending the unwritten rules, I will render no more help to him. The Atlantians may continue to be blind, but it does not mean that I will pamper the aspiring Ocean Master". "Only the bravest, strongest, and luckiest can be the Ocean Master". "Enemies in the form of variant humans like Atlantians, and the form of predators like Carcarot Gorgoneon will keep going after him, but these are all part of the challenges to realizing the ambition that he carries". "The Ocean Master needs to be forged through blood and fire". "My intervention this time already gave him the best opportunity to bloom. I will watch him for this period, if he cannot bloom and gain prominence, then he is not worthy of the title Ocean Master". "I hope you do not disappoint me¡­, Sebastian". Chapter 308 - The Firelight Shark Clan. 1 month after the volcanic eruption¡­ In an obscure part of the Green Mist Sea, 14 Great White Sharks were gathered as they all engaged in a solemn but sad ritual. The 2 Great White Sharks who were at the front of the others were bigger than the others, and they were the ones who also led the solemn ritual as the other sharks followed their example. Tungsten and Queen Heareth were silent in this solemn atmosphere as they engaged in the solemn burial ritual with the other Great White Sharks. After 1 month of hectic struggle for survival after surviving the disaster of the ocean volcano, the new shark clan under Tungsten finally found a foothold, now they were ready to pay respects to their dead clan members. During their hasty struggle to escape, they could not account for the specific number of their brothers that died but after they settled down, through her soul pin, Queen Heareth was able to provide accurate information. Old Mak died, everybody already knew that, but the fact that none of the 3 elders survived was what really hit the Great White Sharks hard. It was like they all suddenly became orphans and they were left confused on how to move forward with their lives. In their clan, Old Mak was the father while the elders embodied their title, they were elders to them. Suddenly losing these 2 layers of security, these young Great White Sharks felt that they''ve lost everything. Queen Heareth''s survival meant that they still had a mother, but a child who lost his father and could only live with his mom was still an orphan. This was what made this burial ritual all the more sad. Apart from their clan head and the 3 elders, none of their brothers survived except the traitor, Torpedum who perhaps never saw them as brothers. Thinking of Torpedum left them all furious, but experience already thought them to stop thinking about such negative things too much since it could cost them their lives. After going through so many setbacks, the bond between these small groups of survivors became stronger. After losing brothers once, they no longer wanted to lose another of their brothers. It was only after something is lost that you value it. This also applied to them, but their saving grace was that they all didn''t die before they realized it. Through his vastly improved proficiency over his light domain magic, after letting the silence stretch on for some time, Tungsten finally acted. "Light Domain Skill: Basic Illusion!" Once Tungsten acted, the reality before the Great White Sharks changed. Even if some of them could break free from the effects of this basic illusion, none of them did as they let Tungsten take center stage at this moment. Through meticulous manipulation, Tungsten controlled the green glow of this region to form semi-realistic images of their dead brothers that floated. By compressing the images together, Tungsten managed to form a semi-realistic compilation of the hundreds of brothers that they lost in the struggle to escape the confines of their previous home and the disaster. Seeing his master one last time, even if it was a semi-realistic version of it, Tungsten felt his heart muscles clenching as sadness engulfed his heart. Seeing the elders'' familiar faces made all the weariness leave his body in a sad but refreshing way. He could still hear Elder Mangle''s voice beside his ears. "¡­Old Mak is dead, the clan needs a new leader". "¡­With the power vested on me as the 2nd in command after Old Mak, I declare you the new alpha of this clan!" As these scenarios played in his head, Tungsten experienced rapid emotional swings as a yearning to reverse time engulfed his heart. Even while he felt emotional, he also made some important realizations. The power was already vested in him, the elders and his master would not be happy seeing him lamenting over their death, the best way to make them proud was to prove them right and lead the clan to greater heights. While Tungsten made all these realizations, the other sharks expressed their emotional state in various ways until Tungsten finally spoke up. "Today, I lead the practice of the ancients". "Today, I send the souls of our clan members to their place of eternal rest". "Today, I send the souls of our brothers to eternal rest". "Today¡­, I send the souls of our fathers to eternal rest". "We lived together for a long time, we laughed together, we hunted together, we grew up together, but now most of them are no longer with us". "In my opinion, this is not a sad moment. This is a moment where we should feel proud of our ancestors and brothers because they did not die in vain, they sacrificed themselves and died to secure the future of our clan". "They are not martyrs, they are heroes!" "We should not mourn them; we should be proud of them!" "Their legacies shall forever live with us". "Their sacrifice gave us a goal, a goal to survive. We must not die; we cannot die because we carry the weight of all their expectations in death". "This is why I say that we pay our last respects to our heroes by surrounding their images with a commemorative magic sphere to send them home". Tungsten made the first move. By forming a simple rope outline with his magic power, he extended it forward to surround the images. Once he made his move, the other Great White Sharks also made their moves as they formed simple outlines with their magic powers to surround the images. In a few seconds, all the outlines formed by magic power surrounded the images completely, burying them underneath. They all maintained this solemnly for a minute before, under Tungsten''s signal, they all detonated their magic power in a brilliant display of fireworks. Spark! The sparkling fireworks gave the Great White Sharks hope. To them, this was the remnant will and expectations of their heroes, they were hyped up more than ever to survive and to make this expectation a reality. It was at this moment that Tungsten spoke again. "With the authority granted to me as the new clan head, I hereby declare the name of our new clan". "From today, we are the Firelight Shark Clan!" ¡­ After the burial ritual, the group of Great White Sharks finally left the obscure part of the region where they finally settled after 1 month of escaping. It did not matter if they were unwilling to believe it, but the new Firelight shark clan was a mere mirror reflection of the previous glorious majesty of Old Mak''s shark clan at its peak. They were no longer as strong as they were which directly brought their starting point in this new region to a very low point. The new region that they settled in was an open seamount that was exposed to outside influence. Though no established predator clan was in the region, each of the small clans here had remarkable strength and foundation. This was a relatively new rural settlement for predators like them. To strive in this region, Tungsten and his clan members needed to work harder than ever to overcome the odds that were against them. At this moment, Tungsten finally understood some of the stories that his master told him. He now understood what his master went through during the days of beginning of the previous clan. Despite the challenges, he was determined to make the most of it and grow. As the sharks swam back to their new home, 2 sharks clung together more than the others, they were still finding it hard to acclimatize to the sudden new environment. "I miss my master". Verni sighed. "I miss Seba bro".. Tosh sniffed. Chapter 309 - Starting Anew. Back in the barren wasteland, 1 month after the volcanic eruption. This originally extreme but prosperous region was now a mere shadow of its former self. Ravaged by the aftereffects of the volcanic eruption, this region was devoid of its usual boisterousness and life. Silence and stillness were the predominant states now. Even the water hardly rippled as there were no external forces to act on it. The few waves and ripples were caused by disturbances that traveled from extremely far distances through the waves in the water. The ocean volcano that once served as a huge ecosystem for different organisms, and a decent battleground for predators was no more. Crack! Crack! In this silent wasteland, a cluster of rocks suddenly started shaking and vibrating like an external force was acting on them from underneath the seabed as cracks rapidly spread through their frames. Boom! One last violent shake did it as the rocks were sent flying disorderly. This violent push created a hole among the cluster of rocks as a figure drenched in gray soil dug himself out of the soil and rock. This figure''s breath was rapid though his gills already took care of the basic requirements to survive underwater as he coughed violently at intervals. It took a few minutes before the figure''s internal body regulation finally stabilized. From the shape of the figure, this was a variant human. As soon as this variant human regained his sense of self, he pushed his long black hair to the side before heaving a huge sigh of relief. "Phew! I survived intact, what an achievement!" This figure stretched his hands wide in an embracing gesture at the world as he let out a silent cry of victory. After doing this, he finally bent to clean the dirt that was attached to his body. About 5 minutes later, the naked variant human stood upright again. "I feel a little nauseous and irritable, itchy too but I''m still good". "Woah, it''s been long man, it feels good standing on 2 legs again". "Also, it feels comfortable but weird to stand naked, or should I say swim?" After confirming that there was no danger at the moment, Sebastian took his time to admire his new body thoroughly before he went to his system. "System, show me my status". [Affirmative!] ----------------------------------------- Name: Sebastian Level: 21 Stats: Power: 555 Speed: 218 Mind: 432 Constitution: 315 Luck: 62 HP: 5321/5321 MP: 8270/8270 [Body Skills: Mega Dash- Level 1; Morphable Spike Attack- Level 1; Acrobatic Maneuverability- Level 1.] [Material Magic skills: Reanimation; Mega Healing- Level 1; Mega Magic Shield- Level 1; Supersonic Speed- Level 3.] [Sound Domain skills: Mega Sound Control- Level 1; Drilling Sonic Sword- Level 1; Sonic Reflection- Level 4; Sonic Dissonance- Level 3; Water Cyclone- Level 4; Vibration Sensing- Level 1; Melody Sensing- Level 1; Mega Sound Blast- Level 1.] [Combined skills: Rupturing Sonic Ram- Level 1; Sonic Torpedo Drill- Level 1; Combined Super Sensing- Level 1.] [Mana Lord skills: Mana Control- Level 1; Mana Empowerment- Level 1; Rasengan- Level 1.] [Bloodline skills: Megalodon Aura; Megalodon Might; Breath of the Sound Megalodon.] [Bloodline passive skill: The Ruler of the Seas.] [Passive Skills: Instinctive Swimming; Empowered Body Fins; Healing; Mega Smell; Bane of Mammoth Crocodiles; Undying Zombie.] [Unique Skills: Water Transmutation; Doppelganger and Invisibility.] [Overall Origin Law Comprehension: Initial Level.] [Adaptations: Map; Spikes; Hard Dense Skin; Mana Conductor Coating; Magic Organ; Damage Reflection Skin Coating; Camouflage Organ; Sound Magic Domain; Fire Skin; Dense Muscle Fiber Defense.] [Vampire Teeth Adaptation Active Ability: Blood Vampire!] [Inherited Magic Ability- Telekinesis: ???] [Species: Variant Human!] [Bloodline: Ancient Megalodon!] [System Remark: Well¡­, you deserve it, give yourself some credit, you''re a powerhouse now!] --------------------------------- After looking through his system status, a wide grin spread across Sebastian''s face. He felt a strong urge to degrade into cackling like the antagonist of a horror movie but he forced himself to stop. Yes, this body of his was a variant human, specifically an Atlantian. Compared to his normal system status that was shown when he checked in his Megalodon body, there were a lot of changes here as the system''s meticulousness cleared off every skill that was incompatible with his current body. Against all his fears, what excited him the most was that his basic stat points remained the same, he was still the powerful purple tier predator. Even as an Atlantian now, he still saw himself as a dangerous predator. As for the reason why he dug himself from here of all places, it was a long but exciting story that just recalling it gave him goosebumps. It all started after he created his first living doppelganger. To Sebastian''s shock, creating a living doppelganger was more complicated than he thought. Instead of like the normal doppelgangers where he just needed to give any vague input and his system would complete the rest, creating living doppelgangers entailed much more. In theory, he was creating another body for himself so he needed to be extremely meticulous. From the size of his eyes, skin color, body muscles, height, and a lot of other parameters, Sebastian had to manually decide. Due to the tense state then, he was unable to spend as much time that he would have liked to customize the perfect variant human body but he still got an acceptable result. This body was the result of his efforts. With long black hair, sharp nose and eyes, fairly tall height, smooth facial features, and a fairly muscular body, he embodied the perfect male Atlantian. He blushed every single time that he looked at his new body from a detached perspective which was weird as hell. Putting that aside, his appearance here was not a coincidence. Once he succeeded in creating his first living doppelganger, he left the variant human body behind and came out with his shark body. He planned to give his all with his shark body, but if his all was not enough and he died, he would only lose a living doppelganger, suffer for some months and continue his adventure as an Atlantian. Surprisingly, he received outside help and things went smoother than he expected. His 2 living doppelgangers survived intact and this was all because of the intervention of the Rabbit Monarch. Till now, he still didn''t know why the Rabbit Monarch came to help him but his intuition told him that this was also related to the myth realm which he already vowed to get information about if he survived. Even though his main body survived, he remained still inside his makeshift grave as he was pretty sure of follow-up investigations. He was not wrong, in his grave, he heard sounds of warships arriving in the barren wasteland and sweeping it with scanners for any clues. This continued for the past 1 month until they finally left, this was what gave him the confidence to come out. Another reason for him coming out was because his main Megalodon body finally recovered and woke up from its coma. After this past 1 month, he already understood more about the mysteries of his new unique skill and all he could attribute it with was fascinating! The living doppelganger ability of his new unique skill established a form of parasitism or mutualism between his 2 different bodies where his main Megalodon body gained the most advantage over time as the 2 bodies grew. The ability created a phenomenon where his soul seemed to have been torn into 2 parts before being dumped into the 2 different bodies. Sebastian had only explored the tip of the wonders of this living doppelganger ability, but what he was sure of was that this ability was meant to increase his strength and not to harm him. Now that his 2 bodies were fine and ready to continue his exploration of this world, he could no longer curb his excitement since the advantage of having 2 bodies increased his choice by a lot. He had no intentions of bringing his 2 bodies together. Oceania was too big for him to explore with one body, his 2nd body was a godsent opportunity and he would make use of it to its fullest potential. Sebastian felt mixed emotions when he looked back at everything. After the slow grind, after the plethora of emotions, after all the sufferings in this region, he was about to leave to start anew. He could not curb his excitement at all. "Oceania here I come!" He was ready to conquer and spread his mark in this world! Chapter 310 - Bounty! The news came like an exploding bombshell! Its ripples spread far and wide, spanning the 7 great Seas at a speed that perfectly depicted the bombshell-like nature of the news. The news stirred the originally silent Oceania, hitting the hidden powers and waking them up. Every single mercenary organization, both those created by variant humans and mutated beasts were alerted by the tyrannical spread of the news. Once it got to the numerous empires that spanned across the world, the bounty hunters through their connections also got wind of the news which was one of the main reasons why it spread so quickly. After over a decade of silence, the Atlantis Empire finally issued another Black bounty! Needless to say, it shook the whole world! The Black bounty was the highest grade of bounty that had ever been issued by the overlord Atlantis Empire and considering the targets that the previous bounties were issued on, there was no doubt that this was the peak bounty. Black bounties were issued by the Atlantis Empire to any enemy that they evaluated to be directly below Sea Kings when it came to effective combat strength, notoriety, and threat level. Sea Kings were the absolute pinnacle in all of Oceania when it came to individual combat prowess. With their iconic unique skills, their threat level was clear for all to see, they were the most terrifying opponents to face. For any predator or variant human to be described as directly below these apex predators, it was an honor and it displayed either their tyrannical strength or their completely unreasonable genius talent. This grading alone meant that the number of targets who were worthy and had received black bounties in the history of the Atlantis Empire could be counted on one hand. Atlantian black bounties were no longer simply bounty missions, they meant a lot more, they not only showed the overlord empire''s resolve but also revealed the amount of importance that it gave to this enemy. In this age and time, when the Atlantis Empire was effectively at its peak, apart from the Sea Kings, which enemy was gutsy enough to rile up this Empire? This was why the implications of this bounty were quickly blown out of proportion. Instantly, knowledge about the mysterious Megalodon that was a winged angel from another world became known widely. In just a few weeks, the originally obscure Megalodon was now a world-known figure and this happened through a series of mysterious coincidences. A week after the news was revealed through all the darknets that a black bounty was issued by Atlantis, strange storage footage appeared that not only showed the Megalodon''s image but also left hints of information about it. This storage footage took the Oceania net by storm! To the common predators and variant humans, this was just a perfect mix of coincidences but to those that were in the know, this was a perfectly crafted ploy by the Atlantis Empire that was targeted at the Megalodon. Despite how powerful and overbearing it was, the Atlantis Empire only had a firm grip over one of the great Seas in Oceania. Once Sebastian escaped from their grasp, the search area experienced a drastic increase from the original ocean volcano region where they had to search to encompass all of Oceania. No matter how powerful they were, it was unrealistic for Atlantis''s forces to be numerous enough to conduct a thorough sweep search through the world. This was why Atlantis cleverly leaned towards utilizing others'' help. They were the overlord of this era; their dignity and strength were unmatched. Instead of wasting unnecessary time which was an irreplaceable and non-recyclable phenomenon, why not employ the service of others? This overlord race was already used to power and leveraging on the help of others, this clever manipulation was part of the numerous reasons why, unlike the Sea Kings, they were able to solidify their overlord status. This was also their greatest weakness since it was the main reason why they were unable to snatch the Megalodon and the 2 unique skills that it left with. Apart from the Atlantian Domain which was completely theirs, in each of the other 6 great Seas, the Atlantis Empire had outposts where their military set up to engage in competition for the resources of the other seas. Of the numerous variant human empires and beast empires, they were the only ones who had the capability of doing this, but it also stretched them thin. They were only able to dispatch 2 Mega Fleets for the unique skill cause, this was because mobilizing more would have led to a lot of disruptions. If too many fleets were pulled out from the regions that they were originally supposed to protect, enemies could then easily overrun these outposts, which could lead to an enormous loss of money and resources. Atlantis had to make a calculated loss-gain plan before they moved. By making use of other variant humans, and even predators who were greedy for the prize of fulfilling the requirements of the Black bounty, they could get the job solved but with more employees. Overnight, Sebastian became a mutated beast household name. Overnight, he became famous as the recipient of an Atlantian Black bounty. For the first time since he transmigrated into this world, he entered the sights of the real players of this world of magic. ¡­ "What is your progress?" "I am 87% clear of finishing the process¡­" Somewhere in the Green Mist Sea, in a dimly lit room inside a secret underground compartment, a group of predators from different species, even those species that were known to be hostile were now docile before each other. At this moment, in the dimly lit room sat a group of variant humans who were browsing the Oceania net through a well-sophisticated virtual system. A virtual projection was before them and under their manipulation, the huge shark body that was being projected was slowly dissected down into billions of tiny information packets. Standing behind them was a variant human who had his hands behind his back. It was clear that this blue-skinned variant human was their leader. This secret underground compartment was the intelligence room of the Green Mist headquarters of the Demon Inter-racial bounty organization. This was an inter-border organization that spanned 5 of the 7 Sea Kings, they worked from the shadows and their main job was to take on bounties. In other words, they were the perfect lackeys that Atlantis needed. No one knew them well enough to describe them since different species, both variant humans and mutated beasts all made up the organization. According to unconfirmed rumors, the leader of the organization was a powerful Black tier predator called Demon. This was the Green Mist headquarters of the organization, and at this moment, they were studying the life history of their new priority target. "97%..., 99%..., 100% Done!" "Good, tell me everything". "Yes, Master Red Mask". "Our target is indeed a Megalodon, but the fellow has a pretty messed up history. For some reason, in my data, he seemed to have appeared out of the blue 5 months ago, subsequent data of this fellow are inaccessible". "He started as a Great White Shark and slowly evolved to a Megalodon". "Current location?" "Not precise, but it says the Anemone Domain". "Good, effective combat strength?" "I''m not sure, but it''s best to exaggerate his strength considering his previous battle exploits. I''m not sure, the data is fuzzy but for a purple tier predator to garner so much attention, I swear that there is more to this Megalodon". "It''s the unique skill". "Umm, what?" "He has a unique skill in his possession". The leader of this headquarters called the Red Mask answered calmly before he turned around. "Get the men prepared, we have a bounty to claim". Chapter 311 - Special System Clue. [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] [You have activated skill: Rupturing Sonic Ram!] [You have activated skill: Mega Crushing Bite!] Crunch! "Humphhhmmfff¡­.!!" The angry beast thrashed back and forth, attacking from different angles with the spikes that filled his body while his powerful legs threw out deadly kicks here and there but Sebastian never let go of it. After so long of being starved of it, finally getting his hands on a purple tier predator was a dream come true to Sebastian and he was not letting it go. Compared to their orange tier counterparts, purple tier predators were not just powerful, but their self-defense, self-recovery, and life-preservation skills and mechanisms were so refined that they were as stubborn as a cockroach to kill. At least, this was when they were going toe to toe against normal predators of the same tier. Unfortunately for this spiked beast though, he met the wrong opponent in the form of an anomaly like Sebastian. [You have activated skill: Dissecting Bite!] Sebastian''s teeth never left the beast despite all its thrashing about, its survival instincts were already kicking in which made its resistance stronger but not to Sebastian. The difference was too wide. Sebastian ground his deadly rows of teeth across the spiked sturdy skin of this predator as each grind penetrated meters in. One of those grinds went wrong for the spiked beast as it finally got a weak point, the mutated beast thrashed more violently like it was electrocuted as soon as Sebastian''s deadly teeth hit the mark. Crunch! Its struggles soon died down not long after that. [You have killed a mutated Spiked Arachnid- Level 24: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 84 Skill points and 50 Adaptation points.] [You have gained a mana core.] Sebastian conveniently ignored the weird name of this beast. Clearly, its species already mutated so much that the system was too lazy to give it a unique name and instead settled for calling it the general Arachnid. Though this felt slightly funny, Sebastian paid no attention to it at this moment as he felt even stronger emotions about something else. He felt like crying each time he completed a kill and his system projected a notification to him excluding the crucial information that he wanted. Heck, he''s been killing for days without any level up! Though every one of his kills for the past 3 days was mostly orange tier predators, due to his current strength, his killing speed meant that the sheer amount of them that he had killed was stupendous. He recalled that before his evolution, killing so much would have enabled him to level up at least twice. And before, each of his purple tier kills always enabled him to level up more than twice but clearly, this was no longer the case. Even with all these added together, he was unable to level up even once. Just thinking of it left him tear-eyed, most especially when the current region that he found himself in was mostly devoid of powerful predators. After 1 month of rest in a coma, Sebastian woke up to find himself in this barren region of water that looked like a scaled-down version of the Sahara. For hundreds of kilometers, all that he could see was the all-encompassing sand that seemed to have no end. The water in this region was also affected by the sand, now having a tint of gold in it. With his intelligence, after waking up, Sebastian didn''t need much brainpower to deduce that he was dumped in an obscure and remote part of this region. He understood the rationale behind it though since dumping him here would reduce his chances of bumping into powerful predators while he was still in a coma to the barest minimum. Till now, Sebastian only still had guesses about the reason why the so-called Rabbit Monarch helped him which made him all the more grateful to the rabbit. Though he would have appreciated it more if the Monarch took him to his kingdom, he still appreciated the little help that he received. When Sebastian woke up, the first thing that he noticed was his much thinner body and the biting hunger that seemed like a knife ready to cut him apart starting from his very stomach. To his shock, going without feasting for one month had so much impact on him that he now seemed like a bag of bones rather than a fearsome predator that just survived a fierce skirmish against the Atlantis Empire. Every single glucose in his body was absorbed to keep his body alive, and it was why he felt like a starved pilgrim who crossed the Sahara. The biting hunger was so fierce that he rose immediately. This barren region encountered a new normal as the hungry Megalodon wreaked havoc, gorging in food like his stomach was a dimensional storage box. It was during these hunts that Sebastian found out and understood where he currently was. He also consolidated his knowledge about this world. Just a few secret observations proved to Sebastian that he was no longer in a backward region like the ocean volcano region nor the small cave where he started his journey in this world alongside Leroy the turtle. This may be a barren backwater region, but the knowledge displayed by the predators here showed to Sebastian that he was no longer dealing with barbarians. After 3 days, he already had a small group of 5 shameless bootlicking sharks who recognized his power and sought to take shelter under him. He got most of his information from this intelligent group of 5, and from them, he also got his first Oceania net device. This device was like a small pin. All he needed to activate it was to pin it to his skin, then a neural connection would be established where he could access the boundless world of Oceania''s version of the internet. "Holy shit!" This was Sebastian''s reaction when he accessed it. He already reconciled with the fact that he transmigrated into a fantastical world long ago, but this, this was still a little beyond his imaginations. Sebastian was so fascinated by the discovery that he played with his new toy for one full day, immersed in exploring its limits and capabilities. As expected though, he could only scratch the periphery of its capabilities. His impossible job was like boasting of exploring the whole internet, it was shameless boasting that was impossible to achieve. Through his new 5 shark lackeys, Sebastian learned more than just the Oceania net. The predators found in this region, for those that had intelligence already were much more docile than the barbaric predators of his previous region which was a refreshingly new experience to Sebastian. Considering the fact that most of the big and resource-rich regions had Empires governing them, the beasts had no choice but to tone down on their crazy tendencies least they were cracked on by the Empire guards. This was why there was more law and order around though in a crazy beastly manner. This did not mean that the predators couldn''t feed anymore, it was just more controlled and there were more limits. Apart from this, Sebastian also learned more about this region. The closest beast Empire to this barren region was the 10-Head Empire, but it was still a few hundred kilometers away from his current location. Though below the Sea Empires, every other thing is called rural settlements, there were still grades between the rural settlements. Rural settlements were divided into the low grade, the middle grade, and the high grade. There were numerous low-grade rural settlements close to his current region, a few middle grades, and only 2 high-grade rural settlements. These 2 high-grade rural settlements according to the 5 sharks were the Anemone Domain and the Snake Kingdom. Of course, once Sebastian heard the term snake, he automatically canceled the 2nd high-grade rural settlements from his choices, leaving him with the anemone domain which he quickly decided on. The 1 fact that he loved about this less cannibalistic setup was the fact that every Empire and most rural settlements allowed visitors. This was not only to engage in trade, but it was to also socialize and to forge allies. It was already clear that alone, it was hard to survive in this world. Sebastian had another compelling reason that prompted him to visit this high-grade rural settlement. According to the 5 sharks, this was a large body of water that was covered by sea anemones, and it was the home to a large gathering of clownfishes. ''Clown fish'', this was the term that captured Sebastian''s attention. Though he was occupied after the clue about the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique kill came, he never forgot his quest to look for the so-called motherf*cker Lord. For some reason, his intuition told him that he was related to this shameless clownfish in some way and he wanted to confirm it. This was why he decided to go visit it and his 5 shark lackeys were more than happy to receive his protection along the way. They stayed here because they didn''t dare to travel the treacherous pathway to this rural settlement. Sebastian was ready to leave today, but before he did, he had something else to take care of which was related to his system. After he completed 2/7 of his Unique Skill Hunter mission, he received a special system clue that he had not checked till now. He decided to check it before embarking on his journey to the rural settlement. "System, give me the special clue". [Affirmative!] Chapter 312 - Sebastian, The Boss Shark. [Affirmative!] [Special System Clue: The Temple of Enlightenment.] [Details: The Temple of Enlightenment is the peak of enlightenment into the Great origin Dao. Basking in its aura after it opens is a once-in-lifetime opportunity.] [Further Details: The Temple of Enlightenment resolves around a cycle of opening every millennium. A thousand years already passed; the Temple of Enlightenment will open 4 months from now.] "¡­" "You don''t really mean this now, right? Those eastern fantasy Dao shit also applies here? What the heck bro?" Sebastian was left dumbfounded after going through the latest special system clue that was revealed by his system as the 2nd reward for his mission completion. Though he exclaimed so exaggeratedly due to the mention of the term ''Dao'', due to his growing knowledge about Oceania, he was still able to infer that this temple was in one way or the other related to origin laws. Origin laws were the closest thing that he could associate with the term ''Dao'', and it made sense once the tiny misplaced puzzles are corrected. According to his system when he just received the Unique Skill Hunter mission, apart from the normal rewards that would be given according to his level, the 2nd reward would always be to make him stronger. Apart from evolving, getting even more OP skills, and creating more killer moves, comprehending more of origin laws was the next best way that he could think of to make himself stronger. And coincidentally, this was also the only way that he had the least clue about to get strong. Now that this problem was probably addressed already, he felt satisfied to have endured the wait, it was all worth it. While he thought more about the Temple of Enlightenment, Sebastian acknowledged once again that Tonado really did a lot for him. He guessed that this special system clue would have been about how he could get stronger by absorbing the natural cores apart from the mana core. But this changed since Tonado already exposed him to the truth of the natural cores. This revelation at this moment proved extremely helpful as the slot for that was now replaced with information about the Temple of Enlightenment. Sebastian felt extremely grateful to the powerful toad though they only knew each other for less than a month. For the first time, he could tangibly feel the external effects of his system. He may look normal but as a transmigrator and a holder of a system, he was unique. After the volcanic eruption, he lost contact with Tonado but for some reason, deep in his heart, he knew that Tonado was still alive. "We''ll meet again someday¡­, master". It felt super cringey, but Sebastian was fine with calling Tonado his master. The powerful toad did so much for him that without him, he was not sure if his ambitions to get his 2nd unique skill would have ended well. Without Tonado, a lot of the privileges he was enjoying now would not have been possible. For a predator who did all these for him, if he shouldn''t call him master then who should he call master? "Umm¡­, master, are you all right?" "¡­" Sebastian suddenly felt his face burning bright red. He was so engrossed by the moment that he forgot that his body was moving on its own, he almost collided headfirst against a rock if not for the sharks'' timely intervention. He would not show weakness though. [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound construct: Sonic Slap.] Smack! "Next time, when you see me like this, intervene faster". "Yes, master!" "Yes, master!" It took the aggrieved sharks a lot of effort to hold themselves, they did not dare to show any displeasure before this predator who could snuff the life out of them with a mere sneeze. Seeing this interaction through his electroreceptors, Sebastian felt a little guilty but he quickly pushed it aside, these sharks were in no way innocent. They were bootlickers who could act like obedient pets before a superior predator but were devious crazies against weaker predators. He already saw their true nature first hand before he took them in due to their intelligence and the knowledge that they had of the region. Sebastian ignored them as he thought of the special system clue. The system clue highlighted the importance of the Temple of Enlightenment, gave when it would open, but it also excluded a lot of information. Information like where the temple was, the requirements to enter it, and if it was dangerous to enter it were all left out by the system. This was frustrating but Sebastian already got used to his system''s antics with time. Now, he was immune to them all. At least, this was not as frustrating as when his system gave clues about the myth realm. Sebastian had no clue about this temple before, and his 5 shark lackeys were even more ignorant than himself. Thinking would not yield any immediate results, so he added it to a list of growing necessities. The most important necessities in his list now were getting information about the myth realm, getting information about the motherf*cker Lord, and now getting information about the Temple of Enlightenment. This was one of the strongest reasons that pushed him into deciding to visit the Sea Empires and rural settlements. He was not sure, but he hoped that even if he could not get everything that he wanted, he should at least get clues about them. During this time, he was ready to play in line with the rules. He would not deviate unless his life was in danger, or a juicy benefit was up for grabs. He was no longer the Sebastian of yesterday who had to hide from a white tier Tiger Shark, now he was a purple tier Megalodon with an ancient bloodline, not only that but also a powerful Sound domain magician. He was not as tyrannically powerful as Atlantis yet, but in rural settlements, if things did not go his way, he was confident of flipping the board, restarting the game, changing the rules, and getting away with it. This was the lifestyle of boss men, and he was a boss shark now. He turned to face his 5 lackey sharks. "Let''s move!'' ***** (Lol, I almost forgot.. Happy Valentine to you all! Spread the love to your loved ones and remain happy.) Chapter 313 - Meeting The Savage Hunting Group. The 5 Mako sharks swam after Sebastian enthusiastically. It was already 3 hours since they started their journey towards the Anemone Domain. By this time, the route of the group of 6 sharks was already clear for all to see but still, no hostile group dared to attack them. It was already well-known by virtually every traveling predator that the route to any of the established rural settlements was rife with danger. Apart from lone enemy predators who could attack at any moment, the hunt squads that were akin to pirate groups presented the greatest threat to travelers as these bloodthirsty hounds were ready to kill and devour anything. Unlike the normal regions where Sebastian had been to where mutated beasts could engage in cannibalism without worries, in this region, predators engaged in cannibalism along with a set of rules. The intelligence of the beasts here meant that they were more cautious in choosing their enemies, and it also increased their lethality in battle. These predators recognized trouble when they saw one. The fact that 5 mature Mako Sharks strayed behind this Great White Shark, and the huge but powerful muscle display of this shark rang alarm bells in their heads. To most predators who had not seen a Megalodon before, and because Sebastian also took a development route that left his body size more compact, it became increasingly harder to recognize him as a Megalodon. Despite this, even as a Great White Shark, these predators still saw him as a fearsome opponent which served as one of the main deterrent forces. Just a powerful body display did not make the cut though, Sebastian could not survive with a big body alone, his purple tier aura was what made the real difference among the weaker predators. Just feeling his aura from afar killed the appetite of these mutated beasts. This was the main reason why the mad tendencies of these beasts were curbed. This deterrence force was extremely powerful, but it also had limitations. Sebastian was not the only purple tier predator in this water body. An hour after they started the journey, Sebastian and his group already crossed paths with a beast group that had a purple tier predator as their leader but this group opted to leave peacefully instead of attacking. This proved the deterrence power of Sebastian''s current rank. He was not wrong; he was indeed now a boss shark. Purple tier predators were already terrifying on their own, adding the fact that Sebastian was also a predator with a bloodline to write home about, his lethality level rose a lot more especially to other purple tier predators. Meeting a purple tier Great White Shark and a purple tier Toad always sang a different tone to predators, unless the said predator meets Tonado. The journey to the Anemone Domain was anything but straightforward. Sebastian and his group were still in the vicinity of the sand seabed region, but they already saw a lot of peculiar changes. The first and major change was the slowly changing texture and color of the water. Instead of the orange color that blended with the Sea''s glow, the effects of the golden sand were finally subsiding a little. The next major change was a minor tsunami that suddenly erupted out of nowhere. The terrible tsunami claimed a sizeable number of beasts'' lives, but Sebastian easily safeguarded the life of his lackeys. This act of kindness from him increased the sense of respect that the group of mature Mako sharks had for him, making it all the more cringe but convenient. As more time passed, the more signs that they were slowly leaving the sand seabed region appeared much to Sebastian''s relief. Approximately 4 hours after they started the journey, Sebastian and his group finally entered an entirely different terrain of the water. Since they swam relatively close to the seabed, they observed the change pretty fast. Sebastian first detected the change in the flow of water through his new mega pressure sensing skill before he finally confirmed it with his electroreceptors. After his recent evolution, Sebastian emerged with so many new skills and upgrades that he inevitably had to start another battle of familiarizing himself with them. Some of these new skills like his mega pressure sensing, his upgraded electroreceptors, his vibration sensing, melody sensing, and his new passive mega smell skill were so useful outside battle situations that he finally felt all rounded. He was already a powerful aggressive Megalodon, no one could dispute that but he already long ago recognized his scouting deficiency. For every soldier or predator, the ability to scout ahead and discover your enemy first was such a crucial ability that alone it could win battles decisively if the said predator had a measure of intelligence. Sebastian knew the importance of this, and it was why he pushed for it during his evolution. Besides, he had more than enough points to make a wide range of choices during his evolution and he certainly didn''t hold back. Now that his aggressive power became even more tyrannical, his scouting ability increased to meet the mark, he finally felt like a real monster. Before he was a beast, but now he was a monster! After his breakthrough, Sebastian already had his fair share of battles with the most notable being his escape battle to survive the volcanic eruption and the pursuit of his enemies. This battle provided everything that he needed to be stimulated and give his best, but in the end, it didn''t remove the fact that he was under a lot of pressure and was forced to make use of only some specific skills. Fighting in such a pressure-filled and stimulating battlefield had its benefits, but it did not allow Sebastian to grasp the depth of his current power. Even a month after his evolution, Sebastian still didn''t know how powerful he was. He knew that he was now stronger than before, but without exploring his limits, he would never know by how much he had grown. His system already simplified everything by tabulating his basic stats, but these were just numbers, they could not show the real thing. This was why Sebastian had been secretly craving a nice battle. Not just any battle, but one that was tough enough for him to go all out but also convenient enough for him to be in control and choose which skills to use. So far, his luck has not shone too brilliantly but this was about to change. [You have activated skill: Mega Crushing Bite!] Crunch! [You have killed a mutated Eel- Level 13: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 7 Skill points and 5 Adaptation points.] Once Sebastian detected the change in the terrain, he dove straight in having gotten tired of the bland golden color of the sand already. The sand slowly gave way to a rocky terrain that was filled with corals lying about. The rocks were few at first, but as he swam in deeper, they slowly grew in number with the corals until they became the only sight. From the original golden color background that was caused by the sand, the colors became more varied under the influence of the glowing corals. Sebastian was originally supposed to relax and enjoy the change in scenery, but he did not have the luxury for that as his nose detected a strong scent of blood. He already had this innate ability, but after his evolution when he awakened the law of passive laws, his sense of smell finally mutated to become a powerful passive skill that stood up to the task at this moment. As soon as his nose detected the smell, his Vibration Sensing skill easily detected the vibrations of the group of predators who had this smell. Having grown proficient with his new sensing skill with time, Sebastian easily deduced that his enemies were not few and from their vibrations, they were coming straight in their direction with a purpose. It didn''t take much time before they entered the range of his electroreceptors. Once he saw them, another predator there also saw him. There was a purple-tier Great White Shark among this group. A sound domain magician was also among them because once they saw each other, the predator who was probably the leader of the group spoke. "Surrender all your treasures, and perhaps we may let you live". "No games, this is the Savage Predator Group!". Chapter 314 - Thrashing The Savage Predator Group. "Surrender all your treasures, and perhaps we may let you live". "No games, this is the Savage Predator Group!". Once this declaration was made, the group of predators finally arrived before their opponents and they didn''t even deem it right to conceal their objective as the predators quickly spread out and surrounded the 6 sharks. One quick sweep with his electroreceptors told Sebastian that the number of predators in this hunt squad was more than 30. None of them were white tier predators, over 30 of them were orange tier predators which already presented an impressive lineup. The most terrifying fact about this hunt squad was that it had 3 equal leaders and they were all-powerful purple tier predators, it explained the sheer arrogance that was exhibited by the predators. The sound domain magician who was the one who spoke seemed to be the leader with the most authority as he swam at the center while the remaining 2 leaders flanked from his sides like loyal bodyguards. This powerful predator was an extremely huge Python with a golden organic crystal that sparkled adorning its huge head like a crown. To the left of the huge Python was the 2nd leader of the hunting squad, a huge purple tier Crab with pincers that looked capable of snapping Oceania itself in half. Then, to the right of the huge Python hovered the enormous Great White Shark. Towering at a size slightly above 20 meters, this was an absolute monster of gigantism that was even bigger than Old Mak at his peak. Unlike the usual sense of kinship that he felt on meeting other Great White Sharks in Old Mak''s clan, Sebastian felt nothing of the sort from this predator, all he felt was coldness, blood, destruction, and violence. No feeling of kinship emanated from the powerful predator. It was like, it shed away its need to feel emotions to obtain more power. This felt cold and out of place in such a manner that it would have affected Sebastian in his normal state, but he was far from normal at this moment. Having been praying for it, his eyes sparkled like stars once these predators arrived. He was like a reckless gambler who finally won the jackpot after years. Not only was his prayer answered, but it was answered in the most perfect way possible. 3 purple tier predators presented enough of a challenge for him to exert effort but not enough for him to become desperate. The emotionless act of the powerful Great White Shark succeeded in erasing any trace of guilt or sympathy from his heart concerning the act that he was about to do. He already crossed his heart to go with his decision. After the huge Python spoke, only a few seconds passed as all those went through Sebastian''s head before it finally spoke again. "The Savage Predator Group is the most powerful hunt squad in this whole region. No one meets us and survives, we''re the last boss of the game". "To prevent unnecessary pain, silently surrender and¡­" "Thank you, bro". "Huh?" Sebastian grinned. "For the gift of your lives, I really appreciate it". [You have activated skill: Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor.] [You have activated skill: Sonic Dissonance.] [You have activated Bloodline skill: Megalodon Aura.] Once Sebastian activated these 3 skills consecutively, his size first suddenly ballooned which drew the attention of the predators, his sonic dissonance set the atmosphere, and the unleashing of his Megalodon Aura was the icing to the cake. For some strange reason, these predators that came in such a confident and bombastic manner suddenly lost all their confidence. They were spooked! This was exactly what Sebastian aimed for as being spooked caused all of them to watch in shock like they were frozen in time. Sebastian calmly took this time to address his 5 followers. "Peel your eyes open, watch and see the unveiling of true power!" [You have activated skill: Mana Empowerment!] [You have activated skill: Rasengan!] Woo!!! As soon as Sebastian activated these 2 skills, he first felt the mana around him turning berserk before the mana tangibly materialized the next moment as a spinning ball of energy with unlimited potential. Such a wondrous display of power only made the already spooked predators continue watching in awe. By the time they recognized the danger, it was already too late. "F*ck you, Savage Group Head!" Sebastian released the ball of rapidly spinning mana. What happened next could only be described with a rocket that was launching into space, what happened seemed like pure fantasy! The mighty force that was exerted matched if it did not exceed the mighty tons of force needed to enable a rocket to reach the escape velocity to escape the range of the earth''s gravitational field. That was how tyrannical this skill was. BOOM! The huge Python stood no chance, the rolling ball of mana hit him, ground him, dissected him, before tearing him to pieces completely. The purple tier Megalodon was tyrannically blown into oblivion. His unique imprint in Oceania was ruthlessly and decisively wiped out. There were no 2 ways or any voodoo magic that influenced it, the Python died. This was when the other predators were finally shocked out of their daze. "Oh boy!" This was when they knew that they messed with the wrong opponent, but it was already too late to say sorry. After trying out his first experiment, though Sebastian felt a little drained of mana points, his eyes glittered like stars as he absolutely loved what he saw. He was more than hyped to try out more. [You have activated skill: Drilling Sonic Sword {¡Á2}!] [You have activated skill: Mega Sound Blast!] [You have activated Bloodline skill: Breath of the Sound Megalodon!] Bam! The remaining 2 purple tier predators instantly transited into a state of high alert and panic after seeing how easily their stronger comrade died, they gave their all to block the 2 skills from Sebastian that flew at them. The Drilling Sonic Sword was directed at the Great White Shark as the sword made wholly from sound domain magic forced the shark to give his all to defend. The 2nd Drilling Sonic Sword was directed at the enormous Crab. This was already a defense-oriented predator so it required less effort from it to defend itself but the mega sound blast was also directed at it. Blast! The impact that disoriented this predator, making him look like a fool from the blue prepared it as a juicy target ready for the slaughter before the last skill. This gave Sebastian all the time in the world to ravage the Crab. Once Sebastian opened his mouth and breathed out, the world itself seemed to be suddenly coming to an end. A black hole seemed to gather before his mouth as it condensed into the most terrifying 1-target sound blast ever. The breath that was composed entirely of sound domain magic came out like the fiercest fire breath attack of a Fire Breathing Dragon; it was terrifying! Woo!!! The sound breath ripped everything that obstructed its path to oblivion as it moved before it finally arrived before its intended target. By this time, the huge Crab was just recovering from the effects of the previous mega sound blast. Time restraints prevented him from erecting the most optimal defense, he was like a girl that was taken advantage of. BLAST! The sound breath literally tore through the huge Crab until only pieces of its sturdy shell, pieces of mangled flesh and blood was all that was left of it. Like the Python, the Crab died without any chance to resist. If they were still putting up a strong front after the first, after this, all the predators of the Savage Predator Group were horrified. "Attack!" "Kill him! He is no god!" The purple tier Great White Shark regained emotions by force, he felt fear after decades of tyranny. He knew that he was the next target and was unresigned to die so unceremoniously, so he prepared to resist as much as possible. The best way that he thought to resist as much as possible was to rally his comrades and retaliate in the most violent manner possible. Sebastian grinned wider. This was exactly what he wanted, it felt so nice working with test subjects that understood him well. "Resist, resist as best as you can, hahaha!" The power rush was already all over his head, he felt invisible! At this moment, he started preparing for the ultimate attack that he would use to determine how strong his current self really was. [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Magic Teeth!] [You have activated skill: Acrobatic Maneuverability!] With the first skill activation, Sebastian created a raging cyclone of water that destabilized the group of predators that were trying hard to rally as a single unit. The second unleashed a volley of sonic magic teeth. Apart from their basic physical damage, each one of the flying teeth like bullets inflicted sonic damage that was similar to stun damage which temporarily immobilized the predators. Boom! Sebastian no longer attacked with one-hit sure kill moves, and this presented the best opportunity for the Great White Shark to charge a powerful move. Sebastian didn''t even activate his magic shield. Once he activated his acrobatic maneuverability skill, he was like a fish in water, he suddenly felt like a professional acrobat, he entered his domain as he felt as free as air. Whoosh! At the last moment before collision, an impossible maneuver that twisted Sebastian''s enormous body to an impossible angle enabled him to dodge and escape the range of this attack as smoothly as possible. Horror! The predators felt this feeling more as the powerful Megalodon continued displaying before them. It was like they were in a horror movie show, the only difference was that they were the pitiful side characters. [You have activated Inherited Magic Ability: Telekinesis!] [You have created a new skill: Telekinesis Push!] [You have activated skill: Telekinesis Push!] Vroom! This was the last puzzle piece that completed the puzzle. With this sudden new skill, Sebastian succeeded in pushing all the predators together so they could form a compact formation ripe for attacking. The purple tier Great White Shark''s intuition spiked. He knew that he was in danger, but he was not fast enough to react on time. After taking time to patiently set himself up, Sebastian finally went loose. [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] [You have activated skill: Rupturing Sonic Ram!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Torpedo Drill!] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone!] [You have activated skill: Mega Sound Control!] [You have created a sound construct: Loud Speaker!] [You have activated skill: Mega Sound Blast!] [You have activated magic gadget''s active skill: Vacuum Space!] [You have activated magic gadget''s active skill: Sound Blast!] [You have activated skill: Mana Empowerment!] [You have activated skill: Sound Reflection!] "YOUR COLLECTIVE FATHERS!!!" [You have activated killer move: Ancient God''s Blast!] BOOMMMMMM!!! Chapter 315 - Sebastians Depth. BOOMMMMM!!!!! The sound rang loud like the blasting noise of a siren next to one''s ears. This time, even Sebastian was affected by the loud noise of the blast as his senses momentarily went deaf. Through his skills, he could detect the vibrations rapidly going through his body as the speed of movement of molecules in his body increased exponentially. He could feel his body temperature heating up, he could feel his stress levels rising, he could feel his adrenaline level springing up, his body felt alive in a spooky way as it seemed to awaken from a deep slumber. The increase in molecular action was not an illusion, it was real as Sebastian also felt his brain activity rising to a peak that he had never experienced before. It was like, he suddenly became an enthusiastic student again who was going through the rudimentary textbooks to building a foundation in anatomy. His body felt active in a way that Sebastian has not experienced before. The speed of molecular activity grew so much that Sebastian suddenly felt like an overloaded rail gun that was heading towards destruction. It was like, the intensity of the sound was breaking his body down from its very foundation. If he who was like a bystander to the skill felt this way, Sebastian was horrified to think of what the real recipients felt. For the first time in his life since transmigrating into this world, Sebastian was horrified of an ability that he had. This killer move was just too formidable to be real! It was too horrifying! The terrifying aftereffects of the blast that seemed like the signal for the end of the world lingered for some time as Sebastian''s bodily movement also calmed down with time, then normalcy slowly returned to the water environment. "¡­" "¡­" "¡­.." No one spoke for minutes. Sebastian was silent, his followers were even more silent, and with no one else to talk, the waterbody suddenly grew so silent that it felt no different from a graveyard. This silence was all because Sebastian and his 5 lackeys were all waiting for the gathered fog to die down so they could see the effects of the attack though they could already guess what happened. It took 10 full minutes before the fog finally died down and revealed what happened, and Sebastian alongside his 5 lackeys waited patiently throughout, not making a sound in between. What was revealed in the previous location of the predators, was emptiness. On seeing this, Sebastian was even more horrified. He already had a guess for what happened but he found it too ridiculous to be believable. "Holy Moly! Am I in my right senses right now?!" Sebastian exclaimed. His ridiculous guess was that the authoritative might displayed by his killer move was so much that the enemies could put no form of resistance to it. If for him who was a mere bystander, he felt the effects so much, then he boldly guessed that the activity that went on in his enemies'' bodies was so much that their cells literally broke down from the very molecular structure down. This phenomenon meant that they died painlessly by simply evaporating and merging into the water since the breakdown came directly from their cells. This was not an impossible phenomenon. In his last great battle, when the Chosen Athena and the Rabbit Monarch battled, any predator that dared to stay in a direct collision part of their skill effects suffered the same fate. This did not mean that the power of his killer move got to that realm, it simply meant that the effective power of his killer move was so much that it broke conventions and achieved an effect similar to that of the pinnacle predators. This was a complete groundbreaking achievement! Sebastian was thrilled. "¡­Peel your eyes open, watch and see the unveiling of true power!" "¡­Peel your eyes open, watch and see the unveiling of true power!" At this moment, the 5 Mako Sharks were engrossed in their own world of awe. They finally understood the meaning behind these words. "So, this is true power?!" This battle where Sebastian completely thrashed the Savage Predator Group served as a perfect platform to highlight his current combat prowess, it showed how deep of a depth he had as a predator. ¡­ For the next hour, Sebastian engrossed himself in analyzing the previous battle. The battle was short due to his dominating power, but there were so many highlighting points that he could never run short of content to analyze. This battle served as his opened door to new opportunities. After the battle, the most glaring fact about himself that he noticed was the absolute power of domination that he still showed in the purple tier. Purple tier predators all had astounding lifesaving skills, but his 2 powerful moves at the beginning of the battle ruthlessly cut off the chances for the huge Python and the enormous Crab to showcase. This battle opened his eyes to new fighting styles that he hadn''t verified initially and was no more than hypotheses previously. From this battle, Sebastian confirmed that combining his cardiac sphincter constrictor, sonic dissonance, and Megalodon Aura skill formed a terrifying psychological attack that could only be resisted by a few elite predators. This combination was what opened the doors to access the flood gates through which heralded his absolute domination. Of all the skills that he used; Sebastian noticed the new refreshed power in them but his Rasengan skill revolutionized his opinion on power. F*ck, the skill literally one-shotted the huge Python, tearing it apart! This skill left an unforgettably deep impression on him. The 2nd skill that left a deep impression on him was his breath of the sound Megalodon bloodline skill. In overall effective power, this skill lost to the Rasengan but its range easily made up for this shortcoming. Its power could not be trifled with either as it equally one-shotted the 2nd purple tier predator who was even a defense-oriented predator. The acrobatic maneuverability skill also left an impression on him. This skill already revolutionized his approach to future battles, it already opened a door to new battle techniques to him. Though his new and first telekinesis skill did not show much power, this was another opened door that revealed endless possibilities to him. The telekinesis magic ability had a lot of potentials and he was not ready to squander it, he was ready to make use of this ability to the fullest after knowing how useful it could be in battle situations. Well, what could he say? Of everything that he did in the just-concluded battle, nothing left a deeper impression on him than his killer move. ''Holy Freaky Munchy Hell!'' This was Sebastian''s inward reaction after he fully comprehended the amount of power that he just outputted. His killer move was the peak of his powers at the moment, and referencing from what was shown, his killer move was a real killer move! A beast when it came to harvesting lives and unleashing the strongest possible punch! After going through and analyzing the details of the previous battle over and over again, Sebastian came to one crucial conclusion. "I am ready to face this world!" "I am a freaking OP monster!" Chapter 316 - The Holy Master. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Loud crushing sounds depicting the powerful bite of strong jaws against fragile flesh continually reverberated across the water as a group of 5 Mako sharks did their very best to annihilate the opponent before them at the fastest speed. Alone, none of the 5-orange tier Mako sharks that followed Sebastian was especially exceptional, but together, they were a powerful combination. The fact that they''ve survived in this treacherous region long enough for a powerful predator like Sebastian to come along showed their competence. What they lacked in strength, they easily made up for with their intelligence, familiarity with each other, synergy in battle, and their mind games in battle. "Shut up and die already you piece of sh*t!" "Roar!" "Close your dirty mouth, you filthy sh*t of a predator!" "Coward, don''t run, stay and fight us square 1 on 5 if you dare!" "Roar!" "You dare to blaspheme the holy master, get prepared to soak for ten thousand years in the dungeon of pain!" "F*ck you!" "F*ck you too!" Crunch! One last bite in the rear end did it as the huge orange tier predator that looked like the merge of a Crocodile and a Shark thrashed around in pain for a few seconds with blood spilling everywhere as its life was slowly drained away. While the predator was still clinging tightly to life, another of the clever Mako sharks silently swam to its side and landed the killer blow. This shark''s deadly rows of teeth crushed the predator''s head, exposing its brain as the teeth penetrated the skull. This effectively ended the predator''s life. Once they finally managed to kill this predator that was the last of the group that they just faced, instead of thrashing wildly in triumph, these sharks were well-behaved as the one who landed the killer move spoke solemnly. "13th blasphemer against the holy master has been annihilated". "Holy Master, you may now continue your glorious journey". "¡­" If Sebastian could blink, his eyes would have been blinking furiously as he tried to wrap his head around the ridiculousness of this situation. This nonsense all started after his dream battle to test his current combat strength finally came to pass. By using the Savage Predator Group as his stepping stone, he not only succeeded in validating his strength to himself but he also did to this small group of followers that he now had. Originally, the relationship between Sebastian and this group of 5 Mako sharks was simply that of mutualism as they provided him with the route to his destination while he protected them. Recently though, this relationship changed in a completely one-sided manner. Sebastian''s part of the relationship remained the same, but the same could not be said for the 5 Mako sharks. After getting to witness Sebastian at his peak, these 5 Mako sharks were spooked and also rightfully mesmerized. In Oceania, every predator respected strength and more powerful predators. The fact that literally, every predator was out for the head of the other did not reduce the amount of respect, it was the reason for Sea Kings'' status. They dreaded it if this powerful predator was their enemy, but they were mesmerized when this enemy was their ally if only in a literal sense. After the battle, the 5 shark''s opinion of Sebastian went from fear and underwent a rapid change, turning to pure worship! Holy Master! This was what they now referred to Sebastian as. Some powerful predators could thrash same-tiered opponents, but this was so rare that it felt almost impossible to most predators. To these 5 Mako sharks who mostly originated from the barren backwater region, Sebastian''s feat of absolutely thrashing 3 same-tiered opponents of the purple tier struck these predators where it mattered the most. In all their lives, they''ve learned to look at and put purple-tier predators on a high pedestal that was unreachable to side character goons like them. Suddenly seeing these unreachable characters being thrashed by Sebastian was so impactful that it directly changed their views about life. This was why they pledged with their life on the spot to do anything possible to please the Holy Master. While they were alive, they would never allow the holy master to participate in any battles to eliminate small fry again, the holy master only needed to battle when there were purple tier predators. Any other opponent below this was a blasphemy to the holy master, this was why they put their life on the line to fight every battle with all that they''ve got. Seriously, when Sebastian tried to rationalize this through pure logic, his brain short-circuited. These 5 Mako sharks didn''t follow common sense at all, he literally needed to shut down his brain just to keep up with their thought processes. Though this encounter probably ranked at the very top when it came to the most cringe experiences of his Oceania life, Sebastian did not mind this time as he already completed the test that he wanted. If the Mako sharks wanted to fight so much on his behalf, he was not against it. In fact, he was completely in tune with it. This was how they continued the journey. After the elimination of the Savage Predator Group, the journey became smoother which verified the huge Python''s bold claims that they were the last checkpoint of this region. Sebastian''s powerful purple tier aura deterred most of the predators that were intelligent enough to understand its terror, only the brainless fools came regularly and served as exercise buddies to the 5 Mako sharks. This way, the group slowly swam through the new terrain filled with rocks and glowing corals. It was like they were swimming into the center of a global light underwater plant as the lights grew more colorful the farther they swam. Once they entered this rocky terrain, Sebastian already deduced that they were probably close to their destination already but it still took them about 2 hours before they finally saw a huge magic projection in the water from afar. {The Anemone Domain.} Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief; they were finally here. Chapter 317 - The Anemone Domain. {The Anemone Domain.} On seeing the colorful rainbow-like magic projection that adorned the water from afar, a lot about the anemone domain was revealed to Sebastian. This high-grade rural settlement was definitely not a dark and gloomy one, the colorful display that greeted every visitor easily revealed that this was a bright world where energetic and happy clown fishes took as their home. From afar, he could already see the bright and impressive display. The bright display of their rural settlement domain name was not exactly what attracted Sebastian''s attention the most, on swimming closer, the sight that presented itself before him was what actually drew his most attention. When he learned that these high-grade rural settlements were the safest which therefore translated to being the regions with the most traffic, Sebastian only took it with a pinch of salt until now. What he saw here at this moment was mind-blowing. When he was still a kilometer away from the border of the massive anemone kingdom, Sebastian and his group of 5 Mako sharks were forced to stop and join the still growing crew of predators. Just one carefully timed sweep with his electroreceptors shocked Sebastian, there were almost six thousand predators who were visiting this domain like him. Because this was not even inside the high-grade rural settlement yet, this number could be referred to as shocking. 10 massive mechanical structures that looked like floating walkways extended far away from the border of the massive kingdom outwards, and these were the platforms for lawful entry into the domain. These mechanical structures that were painted in a colorful light were divided into 2 categories, 6 were demarcated for predators while the remaining 4 were designated to the visiting variant humans. Having met a lot of the variant humans that made up this world, Sebastian was not surprised when he saw them here again. The amazing part of this all was that despite this unusual convergence of beasts and variant humans, not a single show of violence could be detected. This was due to some special circumstances though. Surrounding the 10 mechanical structures that served as the entrances inside the domain settlement was a powerful army of clownfishes. This sounded contradictory but it was true. Though Sebastian already confirmed that no creature was harmless in this world, clownfishes were a more special species. These small predators, unlike others, relied more on their brains than their brute strength. Even the legendary Clown King who was a clownfish was the same, this Sea King was known for his trickery and intelligence more than he was known for his strength. This was the perfect summary for clownfish. At this moment also, the situation was not different. Instead of fielding massive powerful mutated clownfishes, the army of clownfishes that guarded the 10 structures were all normal small clownfishes. The only difference was that these fishes were not alone. Most of them were inside powerful war machines that looked like mechs. Sebastian did not know the mechanisms of the machines, but from what was before him, his only guess was that these clownfishes were literally interfacing with these giant clown-fish-modeled versions of war machines. Seeing giant mechanical versions of clownfishes, who, unlike their organic counterparts, had a plethora of lethal weapons sang a different tone to the visitors. Sebastian did not know the effective power that could be unleashed by each of these war machines, and he didn''t want to know either. With these clownfish versions of a sword of Damocles hovering above the heads of all the variant humans and mutated beasts, everyone, including the most brainless put on their best behavior at this moment. There was a different version of brainless fools though. It was when the suicide syndrome of one of these fools triggered that Sebastian was schooled. Sebastian was waiting in the cue of visitors to enter the city for 30 minutes already without complaining, but some mofo predator thought it right to voice his frustration by lashing out at the closest predator. This predator asked for death and that was exactly what it got. The giant mechs quickly proved that their massive sizes did not weigh them down to not move fast. The gigantic war machines reacted as fast as a shark, and they unleashed their destruction at the efficiency of warships. Boom! Boom! The Thresher Shark did not even get to voice his regret or cry of indignance, nor was it able to display the speed that they were famed for before he was blown to oblivion in a completely nonchalant manner. If it was silence previously, after this public display of power, the water suddenly turned so calm that it got to the realm of pin-drop silence. Inwardly, Sebastian was like. "Holy Shit!" Of course, his current self could easily withstand the bombardment but he was not sure if this would continue being the case if dozens of those or even hundreds were dispatched against him. He was also getting tired of the wait already, but after this scapegoat encounter, his ego died down and he silently waited for his turn the old-fashioned way. He was not the only powerful predator that had visited this high-grade rural settlement. With the little display that he''s seen, he could already guess that even Red tier predators could visit a developed place like this. This message sang a lot to his listening mind, if these powerful predators probably also had to wait, who was he to default? Sebastian was OP after his recent evolution, he knew that but there was still a limit to power in every world. His OPness was only restricted to the purple tier realm, there was always someone stronger out there. Elsewhere, he could throw his weight around but not here. He waited patiently until it came to his turn to enter. This was where he was separated from the Mako sharks, there was a different mechanical pathway for purple tier predators and orange tier predators. The 5 Mako sharks didn''t seem to care about the inconvenience though. "Holy Master, getting the opportunity to meet you is the crystallization of our life''s luck. If fate wills it, we will meet again". "Farewell, Holy Master". "¡­" Well, that was cringe but Sebastian was happy that he finally got rid of the sharks who constantly yelled holy this holy that at him. What actually surprised him was that a currency known as clown credits was needed to be paid before he could access the city. The Mako sharks didn''t tell him this, and he was caught off guard. Surprisingly though, the 5 Mako sharks generously paid the 15 clown credits that were needed for a purple tier predator like him to enter the city. "Umm, thank you". Even though he disdained them, his human soul limitations came at this moment as Sebastian felt obliged to at least thank the sharks and he did. After this, he finally swam inside the enormous mechanical structure. Once Sebastian swam inside the mechanical structure, a strong gravitic power suddenly descended on him as he was locked in one spot in the structure. The tall structure didn''t move, but he moved under the effects of this strong application of gravitic technology. Sebastian slowly floated forward as the power of gravity kept on acting on him and pushing him forward. Inside the huge mechanical structure, he finally got high enough to see the anemone city that was originally hidden from his sight while he waited. Just one glance at the city and Sebastian''s eyes were opened. He was witnessing a marvel of nature and technology that was not supposed to be real. The anemone city was extremely large, Sebastian could not see far enough to its end but the little that he saw revealed a lot about this bright and vibrant city. Whenever they talk of clownfish, they talk of sea anemones and this was no exception considering that these 2 organisms exhibit one of the most well-known marine symbiotic relationships. By tolerating the existence of each other, and providing unconditional benefits to each other, clownfish and sea anemones have always been associated with each other from the antiquity age. The difference was that here in the anemone domain, this relationship was taken to the next level and it gave birth to this prosperous rural settlement. Giant colorful Sea Anemones that seemed like monster plants in children''s storybooks filled this city, lying randomly on colorful glowing corals and crystals. The Giant Sea anemones formed the building blocks of the anemone domain, while the clownfishes were the brain that controlled everything. The Giant Sea anemones were unmoving, and with some having ridiculous sizes of over 100 meters, they could house a wide variety of clownfishes and the visiting predators and variant humans. For those like Sebastian who would not be comfortable with staying in such a cramped-up place, they had alternative settlements for predators like him. The 2 colorful sea anemones and the corals already formed a beautiful background depiction, the brightly colored clown fishes made this all the more colorful as activities went on nonstop inside the city of clownfishes. This was a massive ecosystem of thriving nature. Also, the fact that the visitors could get close and also enter these sea anemones without coming to harm suggested that these giant sea anemones already mutated enough to be able to curb their baser instincts. Sebastian once again reinforced a notion of his that he had always clung to, nothing was impossible in Oceania. They could decide on who to attack and who to let into their home. With the clownfishes present, no intruder dared to wreak havoc to these sacred treasures that every clownfish treasured. To the clownfishes, the Sea Anemones were their totems. While he enjoyed his ride across, Sebastian was hosted to an eye feast where he observed a lot of cheeky interactions and all the activities going on in the city. He had to admit, he was impressed. It took 3 minutes of travel time but Sebastian finally got to the gate of the city in the anemone domain. Chapter 318 - Change In Priority. Whoosh! At the end of the extremely long mechanical structure, the hatch opened up as a great amount of gravitic energy escaped with a loud whooshing sound. Gravity was always present, but originally this was a force of nature that needed special circumstances before it could be observed with the naked eye. This time though, Sebastian saw the gravitic forces escaping in the form of thick smoke. It was a strange but eye-opening encounter. The phenomenon behind how clown fishes of all organisms were able to advance so much technologically remained a mystery to Sebastian. As soon as Sebastian swam out of the long mechanic structure alongside the other pilgrim predators, a sweet but sharp voice interrupted his thought process. "Welcome to Anemone Domain!" "A kind reminder to all our esteemed purple tier visitors. A low tier visiting ticket which costs 15 clown credits can only enable you to stay for 3 days". "A middle-tier visiting ticket which costs 50 clown credits extends your staying time to 10 days, while a high-tier visiting ticket which costs 500 clown credits extends it to 20 days". "Note that each predator must leave after the days stipulated in his visiting ticket expires before he can contemplate buying another ticket". "To skip this inconvenience, you can simply pay 30 clown credits as a renewal fee for your low tier ticket which easily does the job. The same applies for the middle tier and high tier visiting tickets respectively". "Also, remember to read the rules and regulations and strictly adhere to them. I wish you all success in your endeavors". "Do have a nice stay in our anemone utopia!" With that, the sweet but sharp voice ended its transmission. Only a few of the visiting predators stopped like Sebastian to listen to the voice transmission, the others were veteran predators who already understood everything so they did not need to hear it all again. Of the new visiting predators like Sebastian, most of them stopped, perhaps confused about what to do next while the others went on with their goals. They had a limited number of days to fulfill their goals and they had to take complete advantage of it. The voice transmission only made things stop temporarily, the buzz of activity quickly reignited in this busy city. It took a few minutes before only Sebastian was left in the area around the drop point of the long shuttling mechanic structure. He felt confused and uncertain. Looking at the massive city that was before him, the boisterous ecosystem, the bustling industry, the massive network of foreign relations, and the unique take of life by the clownfishes, Sebastian felt overwhelmed. This city was an extravagant one. With the beautiful mutated sea anemones that towered above everyone else and the lavish display of revolutionary technology, the take on the layout of the city was unique. When he started his journey to the anemone domain, Sebastian thought that he already knew what to do once he got to the clownfish city and how to do it but clearly, he was wrong which reflected through his confusion. Perhaps, he was rattled up by all the bright colors and luxurious displays that he was unaccustomed to since transmigrating into this world. Sebastian was confident that this was the most harmonious, bright, and happy city or region that he had even been to since his transmigration. This may just be a fa?ade, but his senses already appealed to the city and this was what kind of affected him. It was at this moment that he knew how inadequately prepared he was. He made his plans without knowing what the anemone domain would look like, now he was paying for it. His 3 priorities were getting information about the myth realm, the motherf*cker lord, and the temple of enlightenment but the problem was that he didn''t know where to start from. He couldn''t just swagger into the streets and start asking any clownfish or visitor that he saw if they knew about his queries, right? This was a completely different city from what he envisioned. The activity here was so systemized and organized that he was caught off guard. The perfect example of this was the clown credits. Though Old Mak introduced a system of shark points in his clan, and he already heard of currencies from Tonado, he simply failed to attribute it to this clownfish city. Fish, perhaps this was the term that he underestimated. In his previous world, though he was a marine enthusiast, he unknowingly grew accustomed to instinctively looking down on fishes. The more exciting things were the sharks, so why should he focus on fish? It was this mentality that he brought here, and the outcome was no good. Without the 5 Mako sharks, perhaps, his dream of entering this city would have remained a dream unless he resorted to robbing others for their clown credits. After thinking of all this, Sebastian finally relaxed as he started conditioning his mind to adapt to the unexpected scenario that he met here. His expectations and plans changed as he quickly improvised on the spot. From the little that he already saw, without clown credits, he was a poor bloke who could do virtually nothing in this city. To get talking and purchasing power, he needed clown credits. This was why his priority here changed from his 3 mains to finding how to get clown credits. If possible, he wanted to earn enough clown credits to extend his stay here. For some reason, he felt that 3 days would be nowhere enough for him to fulfill all the objectives that led him to seek out a high-grade rural settlement. Thinking of this at this moment, Sebastian felt weird. Nothing about this city felt rural to him, the Empires at the top really held themselves at a high pedestal to refer to everything below them as rural settlements. He wondered when he could reach that height of a pedestal. Sebastian quickly snapped out of his daze least he became too drawn into it. He easily decided that his priority was now to find out how to get clown credits, and also to swim around the whole city, if possible, to know it more which could help in his future planning. He had 3 days to do this or he would be booted out. Chapter 319 - I Am John Cena. "Who are you exactly?" "Sigh! How many times do I have to say it? I''m just an anatomist who loves dissecting marine creatures". "¡­" "Don''t give me that look, I''m serious. Anatomy is my number 1 hobby, anything else is side hobbies, it is pure coincidence that I''m here with you". "Really?" "Yes, and don''t forget that you''re my captive here. Stop asking so many questions and do your job. I''m keeping you alive only because you may be of great service to me, got it?" "Yes, boss". "Good!" Sebastian ignored the pouting female Atlantian as he turned to face the bright lights that were shining in the sea from kilometers away, while his hands were clasped behind his back in a sagely manner. He felt peace in his heart now that he finally arrived here. Seeing his posture and nonchalance to her shenanigans, Doctor Josephine also controlled her emotions before focusing on the light up ahead. The time she spent with Sebastian already enabled her to understand his personality a bit. While she did this, she could not help her eyes from straying towards the handsome and masculine man that was before her. Though the evidence was before her, till today, this Atlantian Doctor found it hard to believe that this was the Megalodon that her enthusiastic colleague took as a prized possession and was experimenting on. It already took a lot from her to prevent herself from freaking out whenever she associated this handsome face with that of the terrifying Megalodon. How did this happen? How is this possible? Who is Sebastian? How can he be so handsome as an Atlantian? These were questions that she kept on asking herself every day, and till now, she still couldn''t find the perfect answer to them. If she didn''t know more, she would have been convinced that the Megalodon once lived as an Atlantian which was clearly impossible. As someone who became familiar with the Megalodon from the onset just after he became exposed physically to Atlantians, she was one of the few privileged people still alive that knew Sebastian''s astonishing growth speed. Also, she was the few that knew of this Megalodon''s heaven-defying luck. Yes, luck, this was what this female Atlantian associated to glorify all Sebastian''s subsequent successes. Without luck, this lady found it impossible to wrap her head around the successes of this predator. Most of the time, they were too illogical and impossible for common sense to rationalize. Analyzing it could kill brain cells. From situations where it seemed that he was outnumbered and outmatched, stupid coincidences come around that help him to benefit instead of dying. Having witnessed this, not once, not twice, this lady was no longer as stupefied, she was convinced that Sebastian had such abnormal luck. The fact that Sebastian managed to now wield 2 unique skills after all the risks and challenges, and also the appearance of the Rabbit Monarch in the end revealed a lot to her about this Mysterious Megalodon. In her opinion, even if the world came to an end now and everyone was dying, Sebastian would still survive. That was not the end to Sebastian''s mysterious background, the fact that this Megalodon was able to create a living doppelganger shortly after he got a unique skill left this lady absolutely bamboozled. She could not wrap her head around it; this was just too impossible. Even for the real Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King, it took him decades after he consolidated his unique skill before he was able to create his first living doppelganger and it was still full of numerous flaws. Sebastian''s feat was borderline out of this world. Sebastian''s creation, his 2nd living body, his Atlantian body told this lady all that she needed to know. She dropped all her feelings of superiority immediately, even if she was a fool, she recognized a bug when she saw one. It was like Oceania was a game, and a bug character just entered the game, spoiling and breaking all the game mechanics. This was how she saw Sebastian. After he created his first living doppelganger, Sebastian did not have the luxury to think too far ahead so he simply made some simple calculations. When he left his body in the catacomb that formed the Sea King inheritance ground, he left the Atlantian Doctor with his body. Of the people and predators that he knew in this world, this Doctor knew most about him and his secrets. He planned that if he died, he would make sure the Doctor died with him. And if he survived, there was a high tendency for him to kill her also, she simply knew too much and he was not comfortable letting her live. Fortunately for him, the worst-case scenario did not come about and he had the luxury to think through his decisions for 1 month. Doctor Josephine was an Oceanian local. She was a variant human who was mostly famed for their intelligence, also she came from the overlord race of this world which granted her a lot of privileges. Even if she didn''t exactly occupy any upper echelon seat, she still had enough authority to access a sizeable amount of the Atlantian archives. All this meant that she knew a lot about this world, far more than Sebastian. With his new Atlantian body, Sebastian intended to travel the world and seek opportunities to grow stronger. To do this effectively, he needed a guide that was familiar with the surrounding. This was when the Doctor came into play. Instead of killing her, why not strip her of every access to her race and make use of her as his guide? This plan had a lot of risks, Sebastian didn''t know the depth of the means available to Atlantians but his intuition told him that it was manageable. This was why Doctor Josephine became his companion and guide. Having witnessed the miracles that, he was capable of time and time again, and perhaps because of his current handsomeness, the lady succumbed easily and wholeheartedly put in the effort to guide his movements. As they traveled together, through little experiments, Sebastian already got a lot of discoveries about the connection between this body and his main body. He discovered the mutualism aspect of the relationship. If this body got stronger, the main body also did the same and vice versa. Also, if he comprehended more about a specific origin law, it was the same for the main body and vice versa. This meant that the growth of the 2 bodies complemented each other, which effectively increased his growth efficiency to 2 times its normal speed. If the main body created the 3rd doppelganger, the growth efficiency speed would become 3 times and more with subsequent living doppelgangers. This was another powerful utility of the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill; it was a skill that was worthy of its rank as unique. Another thing was that, after drifting alongside the female Atlantian for days, Sebastian finally found a concrete goal to work towards. Despite his pursuit for power, he had never forgotten one of his core goals to increase his dissection activities. In his opinion, he was an anatomist first and a predator second, he needed to draw a scale of preference to emphasize that. After thinking long and hard, Sebastian decided that it was time to start thinking of starting his own anatomical dissection group. But before he did this, he needed to engage in the act extensively with this new body of his first, get fame among colleagues and a lot of others to show his competence before the stage would be finally set and ripe for him. This was why he sought Doctor Josephine''s help. With the Doctor''s help, it did not take much from them before they found what they looked for. {The Magic Healers.} This was a special middle-grade rural settlement whose leaders were all renowned doctors in their various fields. With a mixture of variant human doctors and predators who were healing magicians, it formed the perfect conditions for medicine to thrive among the trove of other occupations. The perfect environment bred an ecosystem that gave birth to numerous competent doctors who could work in a perfect environment like this. And in an environment with numerous competent doctors, there were bound to be enthusiastic anatomists. At this moment, Sebastian looked at the glaring lights that were shining from this rural settlement for a few minutes with glittering eyes before he started floating forward. Doctor Josephine followed silently without complaining. By following the regular protocols, it did not take much time before both of them got access into the city. "Why did you come here?" The female Doctor could not help but ask a few hours later after they finally entered inside. "I came to enjoy my life and live my hobby". Sebastian replied seriously as he turned to face the attendant that hovered before them. "Welcome to the paradise of healing!" "Please, Mr. and Mrs., can you go through the registration?" "Umm¡­, my name is Layla Frost". "What of you, gentleman?" "My name is John Cena".. The young handsome Atlantian smiled. Chapter 320 - The Clown City. Once Sebastian decided that his priority was to go round and scout the whole city, his first course of action was easily finalized in his head. Sebastian decided to get a map of the clown city first. His priority was to know the city first before he could improvise on how to go forward with his other plans and to know the city, he needed a map. As for how to get a map, all he needed to do was to ask around. Though Sebastian didn''t know the overall layout of this city yet, from how few clownfishes he saw here, he was able to easily guess that this part of the city was the outskirts that were reserved for visitors like himself. Though this part of the city was probably reserved for visiting predators like himself, it still had the basic developments of a city, including what Sebastian could only describe as a monster bar. This bar was unlike anything that Sebastian had seen in his life before. With a gigantic size that made it seem like the legendary magic bean, this was a bar that was filled with the most carefree of visiting predators. For the first time since transmigrating into this world, Sebastian heard music. "¡­the way you rollin rollin". "¡­kickin, freakin me out". "¡­the way you pushing pushing". "¡­prudding, moving me out". "¡­oh ya ya ya". After a long time of living a life of cannibalism, though Sebastian already saw a lot of signs that pointed towards it from observing the city, entering inside was a different case, and finally hearing music sang a different tune to him. Sebastian felt a strange sense of tranquility engulfing his heart as the rhythmic music kept on blasting from the speakers, giving him exciting vibes. Unconsciously, his enormous shark body started shaking and moving to the vibes as he swam closer to the counter that was in the middle of the bar. This bar was a fairly mundane one. With what seemed like a wine cabinet hanging behind the bar counter, and a huge hall for predators to hang out, fooling around, it presented the most basic winding up environment to predators. By the time Sebastian swam up to the bar counter, all his worries already faded away with the music and his brain felt fresh like a baby''s. "Pretty shark, how can I help you?" Sebastian turned his head to see who just called him pretty. This was a giant female sea horse with an apron adorning her huge giant body, and at this moment this sea horse revealed a spooky smile at him. "Umm, ah, I need to get a map". "A map? Ok, I got you, 2 clown credits for a map". "¡­" Sebastian was shocked, he had already gotten used to the carefree life of this world and he once again forgot that he needed money to get a map. "Uhh, sorry, I have no money". "Easy peasy, welcome to the exclusive Anemone domain money lenders club. We lend money to you, you pay us with interest when you''re ready, easy business, both of us are satisfied, finished". "¡­" "What is the interest rate?" Sebastian cautiously asked. The Sea horse''s smile became wider and slightly nefarious. "You''ll have to pay 10% of the full money as interest for every day that passes, easy business". "¡­" "Holy shit! You''re not serious right now, right?" Sebastian was spooked by the outrageous interest rate as he could not help but ask. Getting a positive answer, he calmly picked his huge butt and swam away. Unfortunately for him, after asking around extensively, to his dismay, Sebastian discovered that this money lending club was the only one around. Left with no choice, Sebastian returned to borrow 10 clown credits from which he used 2 credits to get the much-coveted map. While he left with the map, the other predators who saw him borrowing money looked on at him like he was a hero, the protagonist of a movie, or who else would so nonchalantly borrow money with such an interest rate? Sebastian knew he was scammed, he felt like crying but at least he got what he wanted. With the map, he finally got the most basic understanding of this city. To Sebastian''s shock though, after referencing the map, he discovered that the model used in planning this city was familiar to him. "Holy Shit! The concentric zone model?!" Sebastian was shocked. Just one glance at the city layout revealed to him that its planning made use of the concentric zone model. Sebastian''s main hobby was anatomy in his previous world, but at times he got tired of doing it all the time. During these rare moments, he got to wind down by randomly surfing the internet for stuff and facts. That was when he knew of the concentric zone model. If his memory was not bad, this was one of the earliest theoretical models to explain urban social structures and it was created by one sociologist called Ernest something. Just this discovery alone left Sebastian more shocked. His system from the beginning drew a clear line to him that this was not earth, so how on earth did discoveries from earth filter into this world? Was all this because of his transmigration? A lot of thoughts went through his mind as he tried to rationalize this, but in the end, after trying fruitlessly, he went back to studying the city layout. Just like with the concentric zone model of planning, the clown city was divided into the commuter zone, the residential zone, the working-class zone, the zone of transition, the factory zone, the central business district, and one additional zone referred to as the zone of glory. The outermost zone of the city was the commuter zone which includes the suburbs and outskirts. People who live here were furthest from the central business district and therefore had to commute great distances to work. The bar where Sebastian bought the map was in the commuter zone. The residential zone was where most of the sea anemones hibernated, serving as homes to the numerous clown fishes who lived in them. The residential zone was one of the biggest in the city, and it was also the lowest level that normal visitors like Sebastian were restricted to visiting. To get access to the more inner zones, Sebastian had some special requirements to fulfill which could either take a lot of time or effort to fulfill. The working-class zone presented the real city. Filled with the more gigantic sea anemones, this was the first entrance to the more developed parts of the city where work takes place and development originates from. The zone of transition is the area between the factory zone and the working-class zone. If the working-class zone was where most industrial services in the city take place, the factory zone was where core research takes place. The factory zone is where most of the magic in this high-grade rural settlement takes place. The zone of transition was in between and served as an expanse of land which defended this core region. An army of clownfish is always stationed at the zone of transition, and no visitor could enter this core region of the anemone domain. If the factory zone was where the magic takes place, the central business district was where the magic was utilized. As the most developed region of the whole city, this was the heart of the anemone domain. The most gigantic sea anemones resided here, and the most important clownfish dignitaries got to work here. This was the district of the higher-ups. It was like the Whitehouse of the anemone domain, and it was tightly protected from any form of harm. The zone of glory was the most important zone of the anemone domain. Rumors call it the zone where the clown god once passed through, and rumors also said that the very first sea anemone that decided to settle in this region and was literally the founder of this thriving city resided here. No other information about the zone of glory was revealed. Every other thing about it was shrouded by a thick layer of fog, making it seem more mysterious. After going through the full map, Sebastian''s curiosity about this special monster city peaked, he was now hyped more than ever to explore the city. He thought he was getting silver when he decided to visit a monster city, what he didn''t expect was to receive gold. This monster city was developed and well-planned in a way that defied common sense. Sebastian was sure that this was a feat unachievable to normal predators, there was a mystery behind it and he felt hyped to crack it. Who did this? Who is the clown god? Is the clown god the Clown king? The questions that he had were numerous, but above all, Sebastian was hyped that he finally got what he needed to explore the city in its full glory. Chapter 321 - The Sound Of Music. Once Sebastian started his exploration, this was when he knew how huge the anemone domain was. For a monster city, this developed and tagged as a high-grade rural settlement, there was no way for it to be small. Sebastian knew this already, but looking at the simplified data on the map that he bought warped his perception a bit on the specific distance. It was when he started exploring the city for real that he was shocked. This city of clownfish was so freaking big! The first zone of the city that Sebastian explored was of course the commuter zone. He explored to store information about the city in his head, but he also remained alert to see if he would get any information about his 3 priorities. The commuter zone was the biggest in terms of territory in the city. As the outskirts of the city, it covered a wide region that spanned a huge circular formation around the inner city. This zone was mostly devoid of clownfishes, only visiting predators mostly resided here and the atmosphere here was very relaxed. The commuter zone was the result of a perfect merge of different qualities. In here were the smallest sea anemones which served as basic apartments and protection to smaller predators, and the mechanical structures that served as alternative apartments to the others. The commuter zone had everything that was needed to form the suburbs of a city. There were monster bars, small-scale trading centers, small-scale sports centers, and a lot of other minor additions that made up a nice relaxed ecosystem. The setup of the commuter zone was focused on giving the less privileged visiting predators the best version of comfort that they could afford. If he didn''t live a life of luxury and diplomacy far more cuddler than this on earth, Sebastian would have easily fallen in love with the region. For predators who stayed in the wild all year round, hunting each other down and trying to get stronger just to hunt more efficiently, suddenly getting to stay in a utopia that was governed by rules and regulations felt like heaven to them. This was why traffic always remained dominant. Every predator that visited the city always craved visiting again since the experience was unforgettable. This was the main reason why the anemone domain remained standing and strong despite the powerful predators that they had as rivals. Sebastian entered any public place that looked remarkable enough for him, he entered places like the sports centers, bars, and a lot of other places, gathering information until he got tired of it. Even if he was given a month, Sebastian doubted if he would be able to explore the whole commuter zone so he decided that it was enough for one stretch, he wanted to progress to the next zone. From the little that he already saw, the commuter zone was the real outskirts of the city, he doubted if he could get information about what he wanted here. This was why after spending the whole of the first day exploring a part of the commuter zone, the next day, Sebastian ascended to the residential zone and once he did, he felt the change. It was when Sebastian entered the residential zone that he really felt that he entered a city. The difference between this and his previous region was as clear as 7 up, there was no comparison. The residential zone had everything that the commuter zone had, just a lot more advanced and with newer additions. Also, clownfishes resided in the residential area. Apart from the giant sea anemones that seemed capable of wrapping him up and squeezing him to oblivion, Sebastian was fascinated by virtually everything and the wonderful ecosystem that was formed here in the residential area. In here, there was more activity. In here, the atmosphere felt more real, seeing clown fishes rushing to work and engaging in different activities unleashed a wave of nostalgia in Sebastian. Here, Sebastian was exposed to the culture of the clownfishes. One common fact about them was that they revered the so-called clown god. Every potential in the city was developed here. From the technological aspects to the scientific, historical, economic, cultural, educational, social, civic, tourism, aesthetic, the bright and cheerful clown fishes embodied them all so much to the point of perfection. Sebastian was spoiled for choice on where to start his exploration from. In the end, he simply went along with his emotions, going to any one of them that appealed to his senses. Sebastian visited the scientific grounds where clownfishes and other visiting predators worked for the clown army, doing different menial jobs to help the scientists who were responsible for the real scientific processes. By visiting the few historical grounds, Sebastian learned more about the history of the clownfishes and the anemone domain. Most of what he heard was the majesty of the clown god and the amount of influence that she had in the current state of the city. How their clown god was a female and she was called the clown god instead of the clown goddess still eluded Sebastian. The main parts that the clownfishes were deficient a bit were their overall economic development and education but they were still a shocker for predators, Sebastian had the time of his life throughout. The main and best parts of the clownfish city were their iconic culture and their aesthetics. They were infatuated with bright things, anything bright and cheerful cutely appeased to their senses. Their culture was mostly centered around their clown god and their love for beautiful aesthetics. At various parts of the residential zone, there are different works of art to showcase their culture to visitors. Of all these sights and experiences, what left the most impression on Sebastian about this monster city was the tourism aspect of the city. In the residential zone, there is an entire district that was taken by enthusiastic clownfishes and was turned into a music district. Statistics said that most visitors loved visiting the music district more than other areas during their visits, and the stats were not wrong since this district also left the most impression on Sebastian. On entering this district, Sebastian suddenly felt like he entered a concert ground with the only difference being that this one was as big as a town. Sebastian never knew that clownfish loved music so much. Music literally played in every corner of this district, there were music competitions, music concerts, and clownfishes just randomly expressing their love for music as they leisurely swam away. Sebastian was easily absorbed by the harmonious atmosphere. He was a freak anatomist, but he also loved music, music was always one of the best ways whenever he wanted to temporarily curb his crazy tendencies. Submerging himself in the aura of music from all sides, Sebastian felt himself relaxing, he felt his body metabolism becoming more precise, he could feel that he was happy, he felt like he was floating far away without a care of the world. This was when Sebastian was jolted out of his daze in a shock. He listened more carefully, then his eyes widened as wide as saucers. "¡­Du du du¡­" "¡­Du du du, du du du du du, du du¡­" "¡­Du du du, du du du du du¡­" "¡­I like to move it, move it". "¡­He likes to move it, move it". "¡­She likes to move it, move it". "¡­We like to¡­" "¡­MOVE IT!" "Holy Shit!!!" Chapter 322 - The Music District; Clues About The Motherf*cker Lord. "1¡­, 2¡­, 3, Go!" "¡­I like to move it, move it". "¡­He likes to move it, move it". "¡­She likes to move it, move it". "¡­We like to¡­" "¡­MOVE IT!" "Holy man!" Sebastian exclaimed again, but this time with a lower and more astonished tone as all his ears and his entire being listened to this familiar music. When Sebastian first heard that there was a music district in the residential zone, he was attracted to the prospect of seeing it immediately as he was curious to see a whole district of clownfish that was dedicated to music. Though things like this were not a rarity in the part of his previous world that he came from, he never expected to see something like this in a monster city. He was thrilled to see singing clownfish! Just the thought of it left imaginary bolts of electricity going through his body that stimulated his excitement so much that he was stoked to see it. Apart from his main hobby and profession which was anatomy, his more frequent minor hobbies were mainly spectating professional football first and listening to music second. These 2 never failed to disappoint his expectations, they were part of the defining factors that made the current Sebastian who he was. Watching a prime Lionel Messi play was the best thing that happened to his life apart from anatomy, and with the numerous superstar musicians out there, he was never starved of cool music. All these meant that the thought of seeing intelligent clownfish who were also fans of music presented the greatest hyping factor in his life. Once he got there, the sight did not disappoint his excitement, he was thrilled by the display. Sebastian was not exposed straight away to familiar music; he was first exposed to a variety of foreign music that was probably composed by the fish. Being exposed to lyrics, rhythms, beats, and music styles that were completely adapted to clownfish culture was such an eye-opening encounter that Sebastian suddenly felt like a tourist exploring a fantasy world of music. He felt like he was finally living his dream. Anatomy was his main dream, but drowning in a cacophony of sweet and rhythmic music was a minor dream that refreshingly appeased his senses. As the music battered at his hearing organs from every side, he slowly felt like his soul was floating and was exploring the boundless void. With every change in beat, lyrics, and style, his mood and imagination changed with it. At times, he was floating in space, at other times, he saw himself in a forest admiring the wonders of nature, while at other times, he saw himself with the girl of his dreams as they watched the raging waves of the sea together. As Sebastian experienced all these rushes of emotions, his brain activity increased as he suddenly remembered his first and only crush. Debora, that was her name. She was also an anatomist but an unusually jovial one in his team, he crushed on this lady for years without ever finding the courage to profess his love to her. Now, at this moment, Sebastian regretted not ever finding the courage to do it. Sebastian was like he was sucked into his own world of imagination, euphoria, and different emotions. This persisted until the change, it persisted until he heard his first familiar song. As a kid, Sebastian was a huge fan of cartoon movies like Alvin and the Chipmunks and Madagascar amidst a bunch of others. So when he heard this iconic song, it was like he was hit by a hammer to the head as he was ruthlessly yanked out of his world of euphoria. Sebastian didn''t complain though, hearing this song impacted him so much that his eyes remained opened wide like saucers for a long time. He hastily searched with his eyes for some time before he pinpointed their location. On the third floor of a huge sea anemone, this group of colorful clownfish played music as they unleashed the full vibe of this iconic song. With their cutely beautiful body colors, their delicate handling of their magic instruments, and their voices that seemed angelic, Sebastian was drawn in immediately as he lost himself to the music. "How¡­, is¡­, this¡­, possible?!" He asked, astonished. Sebastian thought that ''move it'' was the end, but he was blown away when his high sensitivity to sound due to his sound domain enabled him to detect even more familiar songs that completely blew him away. "¡­Forever young¡­" "¡­I wanna live, forever young". "¡­Do you really wanna live forever, forever?" "¡­Forever young¡­" ***** "¡­My time is here". "¡­And I''m making it clear". "¡­Oh, I love you, my dear". "¡­But I''m going¡­, I''m gone". ***** "¡­What can I say except, you''re welcome" "¡­All the islands I pulled from the sea". "¡­Hey it''s ok to say, you''re welcome". ***** Hearing all this familiar music, Sebastian could no longer concentrate, it was like his brain short-circuited. His brain started filtering every other music while allowing only the familiar ones to flow through. Once he heard familiar music, it was like a bolt of electricity once again ravaged through his body as all his attention became focused on it. Of all these familiar music, none of them struck Sebastian with such intensity as the one that played next. His emotions were further stoked. "¡­Deboree-deb n'' deboree-de-bree-deb" "¡­Deboree-deb n'' deboree-de-bree-deb" "¡­Deboree-deb n'' deboree-de-bree-deb" "¡­Deboree-deb n'' deboree-de-bree-deb" "¡­Oh Debora, always look like a zebra". "¡­Your sunken face is like a galleon". "¡­Clawed with mysteries of the Spanish Main, oh Debora". "Oh, Sh*t! Oh, motherf*cking shit!" Sebastian was so hyped that his giant body started bobbing up and down to the music vibes. His actions were already drawing public attention but he did not give a damn. He allowed himself to be swept by the emotions in the song, allowing his soul to drift further with the music and get lost in it. The version of this song as sung in the iconic Baby Driver movie sang in his imaginary mind as he saw the reason why life was so sweet in his previous life again. This continued for a few minutes until the music finally came to an end. By this time, a small crowd already gathered to watch the enormous Megalodon who was not barbaric enough to hate music but actually loved it. Sebastian didn''t give a damn about the audience. Once the music came to an end, he opened his mouth and roared his heartfelt emotions out loud. "I f*cking love the music district!" Sebastian finally came to an end of his tour in the music district, and the residential district as a whole. This was because he already got clues about one of the major objectives that brought him here. Listening to all these familiar songs, apart from being thrilled by the music encounter, he felt even more thrilled because he was more or less 100% sure already that the person who introduced these songs was an earthling like him. There were too many coincidences. There was no way for the same songs to appear and for there to be such an uncanny depiction of it, the only explanation for this was that the one who introduced them came from his world and at the same era as him. For the first time since arriving at the anemone domain, Sebastian got tangible clues about one of his objectives, the motherf*cker lord. Chapter 323 - They Will Listen To Music! "Please, do you know who sang these songs? I''m interested in the music; I''ll really love to know the artist who sang them". "Oh, that''s cute. Unfortunately, I don''t know the original artist, sorry". "That''s ok, I''ll keep on asking". ¡­ "Please, do you know who sang these songs? I''m a huge fan already". "I''ve got no idea, big fella". "Ok, small fella". ¡­ "Please, do you know who sang these songs?" "Yes, of course. The original artists are the Rainbow Sky Music Club". A native clownfish proudly replied as he flexed his extensive knowledge to the shark. "Umm, I mean the original songwriter". The clownfish momentarily revealed a confused expression on its face after listening to Sebastian''s strange inquiry. In its long life living in the music district of the residential zone, this was the first time that a music enthusiast has asked of the original songwriter of a song, this shark was indeed a weird one. "Umm, about the original songwriter, I don''t know much but I heard she has a mysterious identity in the Rainbow Sky Music Club. That''s cool, right?" "As I said, I really don''t know much but if you''re adamant to find her, I can help by giving you a recommendation clown coin". "I''ve seen your love for music and it is refreshing, especially for a savage predator species like yours, it shows that there can be brightness and freedom in any predator''s heart". "For this encounter, I''ll give you a recommendation clown coin free of charge". The proud clownfish was true to his words as he provided a recommendation clown coin to Sebastian the next moment before leaving. The previous conversation didn''t reveal much from the clownfish but Sebastian got what he wanted, the Rainbow Sky Music Club. As soon as Sebastian combined all the clues and confirmed that this familiar music indeed originated from a fellow earthling, he immediately went to work on how to know more about the original songwriter. The easiest way that he could think of to do this was asking around, and he did not hesitate to start asking around. His mesmerizing display when subjected to the range of the previous music session appealed to several mutated beasts that also visited the music district. Sharks, especially Great White Sharks were renowned for their ferocity and aggressiveness, suddenly meeting an exception of a shark like this who loved music was such an eyeopener that the spectators were highly impressed. This display increased their positive impression of the shark. In their opinion, unlike the other barbaric sharks, this was a shark worth helping. Most of the mutated beasts that Sebastian went to visit even if they didn''t know the answer to his inquiries since his question showed to them that he was a real music enthusiast, all softened up. They helped in any way that they could, providing information which was how Sebastian first knew about the Rainbow Sky Music Club. This music club was the undisputed biggest music club in the music district. They''ve created more songs, they had more artists, they had a bigger fanbase, and their history was the richest in the whole district. All these already revealed to Sebastian that they were the best candidate to get his information from, and the native clownfish confirmed it. The little problem was that not every predator could enter the biggest music clubs'' sea anemones. To enter, one needed a recommendation clown coin, and the coin needed to be approved before he could gain access inside. Surprisingly, the native clownfish was generous enough to give Sebastian a recommendation clown coin that was worth 30 clown credits. This money was enough for him to extend his stay here in the clown city. The generosity of every beast that he met was due to his genuine love for music, but not just that, it was because of his deliberate act. Sebastian was of course mesmerized by the music, but not to that extent where he could lose control of himself so much. He deliberately played along with his emotions to present the best impression of a shark music enthusiast as possible. The first reason for this was to gain the generosity of the beasts that spectated him, and the second reason was for his unique skill. Recently, after trying hard to figure it out, Sebastian finally discovered a viable method to increase his origin law comprehension. For over a month now, he''s been thinking of why the dead Doppelganger and Invisibility Sea King was so fixated on obtaining only an ultimate inheritor who had a good affinity to acclimatizing to doppelgangers. The last test of the inheritance turned every competitor into the opposite shadow of their real self, and they had to get used to it as fast as possible. Sebastian didn''t know the reason for this before, but now he knew. What if actively creating a doppelganger and trying to act exactly like the doppelganger species you created was the best way to increase the origin law comprehension of the doppelganger and invisibility unique skill? Once Sebastian thought of this, he acted on it, and to his surprise, it worked. Though his origin law comprehension didn''t just skyrocket to the next level, in his heart, he knew that he improved though slightly. This also explained why the origin law comprehension of his new unique skill skyrocketed all the way to the initial stage just after he acquired it. His first living doppelganger was an Atlantian since he already lived as a human before enabled him to embody the perfect Atlantian body, this was seen by the system as comprehending more origin laws of the doppelganger domain. This was just one of the numerous cheats that he''s been enjoying due to his secret status as a transmigrator of worlds. Once he discovered this, he used the same rationale for the Water Transmutation unique skill. Due to his low mana quality before, his magic manifestation choices were highly restrained but now he could do more. Since he started creating more myriad magic manifestations, he experienced a tangible increase in his origin law comprehension and he could feel it. This was why even if he was not as fanatical about music as required, Sebastian still strived to act the part just to increase his origin law comprehension of the doppelganger domain of his unique skill. Once Sebastian confirmed that the Rainbow Sky Music Club was his destination, he wasted no time before embarking on the journey. The music district was fairly big, but not big enough for Sebastian to spend too much time and effort moving from one end of it to the other. Sebastian needed only 2 minutes before he arrived at the headquarters of the popular Rainbow Sky Music Club. Housed inside the giant colorful sea anemone was the iconic music club. This was where the real music of the music district happened. Once Sebastian arrived, he was asked to join a row of waiting visitors. He had to wait for over 2 hours before it came to his turn and once, he did, Sebastian was devastated as his offer was rejected. According to the clownfish music officials, it was impossible for sharks to love music and this was probably part of an elaborate scheme to sabotage the music club, they looked at him vigilantly like he was a terrorist. Seeing the behavior of the 2 clownfish, Sebastian was frustrated. He understood their concerns, him of 6 months ago also wouldn''t believe that a shark would love music but this frustrated him to no end. He felt like biting the head of the 2 daring bright fish off but he restrained himself, he was currently inside enemy territory, he never forgot that. He tried more ways to persuade the 2 clownfish but he was resolutely denied access, Sebastian felt like crying but no tears came. All his dreams and expectations were about to be so nonchalantly washed away by some 2 mofo clownfish, he couldn''t tolerate it. As Sebastian was escorted out of the line by military clownfish, his brain geared into overdrive as he thought of a solution to his problem. He could not leave so nonchalantly, he had to remedy it one way or the other. He was already this close to the ultimate prize, Sebastian felt indignant to leave like a failure, he had to do something. As he thought, his eyes suddenly lit up as he remembered a famous quote from one of his favorite childhood cartoons. "If they will not listen to persuasion, they will listen to music!" [You have activated skill: Mega Sound Control.] [You have created a sound construct: Guitar.] [You have created a sound construct: Piano.] [You have created a sound construct: Drum Set.] [You have created a sound construct: Loud Speakers.] "Senoras y senores". "Buenas tardes, buenas noches". "Buenas tardes, buenas noches". "Senoritas ye senores". "To be here with you tonight brings me joy, que alegria". "For this music is my language, and the world es mi familia". "For this music is my language, and the world es mi familia". "For this music is my language" "And the world es mi familia!!!" "All music enthusiasts, sing with me!" Sebastian roared. Chapter 324 - Sebastian, The Music Shark. "Senoras y senores". "Buenas tardes, buenas noches". "Buenas tardes, buenas noches". "Senoritas ye senores". "To be here with you tonight brings me joy, que alegria". "For this music is my language, and the world es mi familia". "For this music is my language, and the world es mi familia". "For this music is my language" "And the world¡­, es mi familia!!!" This was the music district; it was a district of the residential zone where virtually every clownfish and visiting mutated beast were music fanatics. Their brains tick at the sound of music, most especially good music, and the one that Sebastian sang was great. These music fanatics only needed to hear Sebastian sing it 3 times before they familiarized themselves with it. Without further ado, every single mutated beast except the holier-than-thou group of mutated beasts that were too fixated on maintaining decorum or too scared to break the order joined the singing shark. "Senoras y senores". "Buenas tardes, buenas noches". "Buenas tardes, buenas noches". "Senoritas ye senores". Sebastian''s strategy was simple. You dare not allow me in, fine, you''ll definitely allow music in so I''ll spam you with that. With Sebastian bravely leading the music, all the other enthusiastic music fans joined as they sang at the highest that their voice could go. The music vibes resonated with them so much that they couldn''t stop now, they were already drawn in so they just went with it. The music officials of the Rainbow Sky Music Club were left stupefied. Their music syndrome also worked against them at this moment as they were extremely attracted to the great music, but their sense of duty prevented them from joining in on the fun. "Somebody, restrain that big fat shark!" "Got it, music envoy!" The dazed clownfish soldiers finally snapped out of their daze. They did not use force on the singing beasts since that was against their motive, all they wanted was the shark and they were confident in doing it peacefully. They all went on the move, confident to restrain the shark but to their horror, the song-loving Great White Shark was more than they bargained for. This was when the realization that Sebastian was a purple-tier predator settled in for the first time. How on earth does a purple-tier predator like music? They all had no idea. Though he was a purple-tier predator, the clownfish guards did not lose hope as they employed even more sophisticated measures to restrain him. Unfortunately for them, Sebastian was more than a normal purple-tier predator. And also, he was no Great White Shark, he was a Megalodon. Sebastian never attacked, but his astonishing power and myriad means meant that he was always a step ahead of his pursuers. He evaded them, slipping through their defenses like a rat exploring a new home. While he did all these, Sebastian continued singing. His sound control skill already became second nature to him at this moment that replicating the masterpiece level instrument playing of the original musicians of this song was child''s play to him. In the end, magic music was easier to make than normal music. With the clownfish guards'' inability to capture and restrain Sebastian, it directly meant that his music got more means to proliferate. And with more mutated beasts and clownfish joining in his singing, the more the song became infectious, even to the extent where some of the clownfish guards dropped arms and joined the singing. The entrance to the Rainbow Sky Music Club turned into a stage for this Megalodon to showcase his singing skill in its full glory. Whoever heard the huge shark singing was mesmerized, and without fail, they all joined in on the singing. Slowly but surely, Sebastian''s music concert was turning into a district-wide occurrence. More and more song enthusiasts joined in on the singing, more and more predators gathered at the entrance to this massive music club, and more and more attention was drawn to Sebastian, the music shark. The song was already going for 15 straight minutes, and though it had drawn a lot of attention, the effects were still not what Sebastian wanted. Sebastian didn''t want to become a music star though he would love it, he wanted to get inside this music club and inquiry about the motherf*cker lord. This was why, since this was not working, Sebastian decided to change gears. Singing just one song for minutes could easily get boring, he decided to change gears and test new waters to see their texture. This time, Sebastian decided to thread on more familiar ground. He already detected that when the clownfish sang ''I like to move it'', it was good, but it was nowhere great the way it was supposed to be. Also, he already noticed that this music was widely loved here, so why not ride on the benefits that were already formed by the bridge of fame? [You have activated skill: Sound Control.] [You have created a sound construct: DJ beats!] Bom! Bom! Bom! "¡­I like to move it, move it". "¡­I like to move it, move it". "¡­I like to move it, move it". "¡­Ya like to¡­" "¡­MOVE IT!" "¡­Du du du¡­" "¡­Du du du, du du du du du, du du¡­" "¡­Du du du, du du du du du¡­" "¡­All girls all over the world". "¡­Original mad stuntman pony a case man!" "¡­I love how all girls a move them body," "¡­and when ya move ya body, and move it," "¡­nice and sweet and sexy, alright!" "¡­Woman ya cute, and you don''t need no make up," "¡­original cute body you a mek man mud up". By this time, every music enthusiast was stoked already. Their eyes glittered like stars as they all looked at the talented music shark artist. "Go Shark!" "Go Shark!" "Go Shark!" ¡­ Sebastian continued grinding the vibes and stoking up the atmosphere amid fanatical yells and roars from the spectating and equally singing mutated beasts. "Woman! Physically fit, physically fit, physically, physically, physically fit!" "Woman! Physically fit, phy¡­" "SILENCE!!!" "¡­" All of a sudden, all the commotion and noise died down as soon as the old but authoritative voice made a declaration to stop all the singing. No mutated beast dared to violate the order no matter how drawn into the music they were. The voice was so piercing and authoritative that it seemed to penetrate all the way to the very depths of their souls. Even Sebastian felt his soul-shaking under this soul-shaking power. Silently and mischievously like children who were just caught red-handed by their parents misbehaving, every single one of the mutated beasts turned to face the direction where the sound came from. There, they saw the source. This was a terrifyingly huge old shark with body colors that were no longer as bright as the youngsters, but with a peculiar air around him, that demanded authority. The most shocking part of this old clownfish to Sebastian was the nature-defying long white beards that adorned its weary facial features. "You!" "Holy Mackerel! I''m doomed!" Sebastian felt his heart skipping a beat once this was said. Instinctively, he activated his electroreceptors and scanned everywhere but to his dismay, the you pointed at him. "Yes you, follow me!" That was all, the old clownfish turned and swam away. Sebastian swallowed his sudden nervousness that was a direct consequence of basking in the old clownfish''s authority, then he swam inside the music club. Chapter 325 - Music Master Galosh. The appearance of the old clownfish ended all the excitement. The originally excited clownfish music enthusiasts were dismayed, and with expressions like individuals who just suffered from the most vicious cuckolding, they swam away. Most of the originally excited music enthusiasts didn''t know the identity of the old clownfish, but the authoritative air around him revealed a lot. The more perceptive ones among them noticed the look of respect on the music envoys'' faces as soon as the old clownfish appeared, this was why none of them kicked up a ruckus, they silently disappeared. In just a few minutes, silence and order were restored to the entrance to the Rainbow Sky Music Club, the same way the commotion started. The cue of predators waiting to get access inside the music club finally resumed as the predators presented their recommendation coins for evaluation. It was like what just happened never happened. Though all the music enthusiasts eventually left, they did not forget what happened. None of them forgot the iconic encounter. From today, the music shark would be a unique character in the music district. Sebastian''s seemingly half-hearted random music concert meant more to the locals, they respected and adored music, they also adored what Sebastian did. ¡­ With the old clownfish taking the lead and swimming ahead of him, Sebastian finally fulfilled his goal of entering the music club. Though this was now how he envisioned that he would get access inside the music club, something was better than nothing. At least, he finally got a real chance to know more about the so-called motherf*cker lord. For the first time since he entered the anemone domain, Sebastian finally got the chance to enter inside one of the famed giant sea anemones. To Sebastian''s shock, the sea anemone had security measures like a computer to verify the identity of any mutated beast that entered. After going through the initial gate made of flower-like flesh by the sea anemone, unlike the music envoys'', the old clownfish led Sebastian in a different direction that was opposite the normal route to inside the music club. Inside the sea anemone was extremely colorful, swimming inside it reminded Sebastian of a music lullaby movie that he watched as a kid. The background color was similar, showcasing the 7 colors of the rainbow and more, and soft music played in the background from hidden speakers. Sebastian swam alongside the clownfish through a winding colorful pathway, they took this route for 2 minutes before they arrived at a giant wall of flesh that belonged to the giant sea anemone. Once they swam close, a short-range electromagnetic pulse expanded with the giant wall of flesh as the originating nexus. "Josh Galosh!" The old clownfish swam closer, spoke a word before looking straight at the giant wall of flesh as a pulsing scanner briefly swept past his eyes. "Identity verified¡­, welcome back, music master Galosh!" While the old clownfish already started swimming in after the giant wall of flesh opened like a gate, Sebastian followed while thinking. "Hmmm, a music master?" Through his interactions with other music enthusiasts, Sebastian already knew a bit about the official music ranking in the music district. In the official ranking of the music district, mutated beasts according to their overall music talent, public performance, and attainments were divided into 3 major ranks that were widely accepted. The 3 music ranks were the music envoys, the music proliferators, and the official musicians which was the highest attainable rank of normal mutated beasts. There was a greater number of music envoys than the remaining 2 ranks. Music proliferators were widely acknowledged music naturals, and they mostly came to fame through performances like the one that Sebastian just did. Musicians were the peak of music enthusiasts. Most musicians were highly respected music enthusiasts who already made a name for themselves in the music domain, and some of them were the owner of music clubs. According to the locals that Sebastian interacted with though, there was a 4th mythical rank that music enthusiasts rarely ever obtained and was more likely to be stuff of legends. This rank was the rank of music master or music lords. Then, Sebastian didn''t pay too much attention to the music ranks, but now, he felt that this may mean something useful as he perked up immediately. A lot of things went through his mind, but he maintained his docile attitude as he followed the old clownfish deeper inside the sea anemone. Throughout the journey, Sebastian was exposed to a myriad of colorful things. The clownfish were really obsessed with bright colors. Masterpiece instruments, famous music concert pictures, and a lot of other music-related things were placed at different parts of the places that the old clownfish took him through. The masterpiece instruments were displayed like treasured goods. For some reason, as all these happened, Sebastian felt that the old clownfish was deliberately taking him around to perhaps prove a point to him or awe him with the lavish display of musical instruments. Either of the 2 that happened, Sebastian didn''t give a damn as his attention was focused on what would happen after the journey came to an end. He still hadn''t forgotten how he was invited in. There was a high chance that he was already in the bad books of this music club despite his thrilling music display, so he didn''t know what to expect. While preparing for the worst, Sebastian hoped for the best. The journey inside took 15 full minutes before it finally came to an end. Now, they were inside a colorful room inside the sea anemone. The old clownfish didn''t utter a word throughout the 15 minutes journey. And at this moment, he kept his silence as he silently swam inside the room. He floated around for a few seconds before he turned to face Sebastian. "What is your name?" "Umm, Dave". "What is your motive for coming here?" "¡­nothing". "Do you love music?" "¡­I guess so, yes". Sebastian was already feeling awkward as the session continued like an interrogation session but he continued answering smoothly to avoid triggering any craziness from the old clownfish that looked stable. Looks could be extremely deceiving at times, he didn''t want to provoke a devil who may be disguised as the current amiable old clownfish. Once Sebastian replied yes that he loved music, the old clownfish visibly relaxed which made Sebastian feel all the more weirded out. What the hell was actually going on? He didn''t have to wait long though, the old clown fish''s tone changed. "My name is Music Master Galosh, and I am one of the few originals who lived long enough to witness when the clown god stepped on our domain". "Oh, ok, that''s nice, really impressive stuff". The old clownfish didn''t pay attention to what Sebastian said, his eyes narrowed as the original brightness disappeared from him only to be replaced by a dangerous gloomy dimness. "How are you related to the esteemed clown god?" "¡­" "How?" "Hey, I''m not, I''m not related". Sebastian was spooked by the sudden tense atmosphere, he rushed to answer. "I know no clown god; this is actually the first group of clownfish that I''m ever meeting". "Good". "Huh?" "Then, how do you know the original lyrics of ''I like to move it'' god song?" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­..." Chapter 326 - Unexpected Favor. "Then, how do you know the original lyrics of ''I like to move it'' god song?" "¡­" Once Sebastian heard this question that was highly contradictory to what he expected in his mind, it was like his brain just short-circuited as he found it extremely hard to rationalize the question. Of all the questions that were askable in the world, why in Oceania did the old clownfish ask this? Under the authoritative aura of the old clownfish, while he was questioned, Sebastian behaved like he was overwhelmed, rushing to give answers but it was all part of his elaborate act. He was still in full control of himself. This was why he found it hard to rationalize the old clown fish''s sudden unexpected question. He was not puzzled for long though, his brain geared into overdrive which was a phenomenon that he was already getting used to. Practice makes perfect, Sebastian agreed with this and it also applied at this moment as he grew more proficient in being productive in this state. Under this state of increased hyperactive brain activity, Sebastian soon accessed the deepest parts of his memory and connected this music master with another predator who he once met. Sebastian connected music master Galosh with the Lizard Lord. The 2 beasts were different in every facet imaginable, but Sebastian found a similarity between them. The similarity was the misunderstanding, these 2 predators seemed to have the same misunderstanding about him. For some reason, after interacting with him or seeing him in action for just a few minutes, these 2 mutated beasts had a misunderstanding that he was related to their god or their battle partner. This was the proof that Sebastian needed to confirm that the so-called clown god this time was or was definitely related to the motherf*cker lord. When he sang the other songs, the music master didn''t find any reason to intervene. But once he started going into the deeper lyrics of the famous song, the music master appeared, he guessed that this was not a coincidence. Also, at this moment, Sebastian made another connection. He just remembered that despite how popular the song that he sang was in the music district, he never heard any music enthusiast singing the full lyrics. It was like, none of the clownfish and other music enthusiasts knew the full lyrics. It was like, the full lyrics were deliberately withdrawn from the public eye. After making this discovery, like a grandmaster artist, Sebastian rapidly calmed down and drew all the connections together to form a full collective. Even though none of the other music enthusiasts knew the full lyrics, this music master who called himself an original knew it and this meant a lot. Making all these connections made Sebastian''s perception of his current situation clearer. He already understood who music master Galosh was, this old clownfish was like a different part of the same coin alongside the Lizard Lord. If the music master was right, then probably, like the Lizard Lord, he already met the motherf*cker lord once which explained why he singled Sebastian out. In this world of cannibalism, mutated beasts, and variant humans, any beast that met an earthling long enough would get a good impression on him/her. These likable features could easily be detected in another earthling. The music master detected some features that he found in his clown god on this shark which was why he acted immediately. Perhaps, Sebastian was wrong and this was just his imagination going way off the point, but he didn''t care at this moment. He trusted his deduction power, and this time, he was ready to trust it again. "Well, here goes nothing". Sebastian calmed himself down and adopted the sincerest expression that he could afford at this moment as he spoke from the very depths of his heart. He finally gave his answer while looking into the eyes of the old clownfish. This was dangerous, but he felt excited since he pulled the trick off perfectly. He even believed that he was sincere once the words left his mouth. "I know the full song because I''ve heard the full lyrics before". "You have heard the full lyrics of ''I like to move it'' before?" "Yes". Sebastian replied with more confidence and sincerity this time. The old clownfish didn''t respond immediately. Silently, he looked at the enormous shark as their eyes seemed to check into the very souls of each other. This continued for a minute before he finally spoke. "You lie". "¡­" Sebastian was shocked, this reply was way beyond what he expected and he was caught off guard. He didn''t speak immediately; the old clownfish didn''t seem to pay him any attention though as he continued. "The truth is that the god left the full lyrics of this song in our anemone domain alone. She said this was part of one of her core elaborate motives". "I have a full guarantee that the full lyrics of this song were only ever revealed here. This means you are lying since the clown god created the song herself". "Pfft!" Sebastian almost choked on hearing that. "So f*cking shameless! How dare you claim to sing such a blockbuster song! I doubt you''re even as good as me at singing!" Sebastian raged in his mind. The old clownfish didn''t pay attention to him though, he continued. "I don''t know the relationship that you have with the clown god, but I received instructions to help you as best as possible if I ever encounter you. It is like, she anticipated your arrival". "The god personally created the music district after she helped in propping the anemone domain from our most dangerous point in all of our history". "She created most of our best songs herself. She ordered that during major festivals and occasions were the only time where we are allowed to sing the full lyrics of the repertoire of songs that she left for us". "We are allowed to sing them all in major occasions, except the one you sang. This was the song that she left to be exclusive to our anemone domain, most especially to the Rainbow Sky Music Club which means me". "I am the only one who knows the full lyrics of this song". "She said that one day, I may meet another beast who can sing the full lyrics of this song. Once I met you, she ordered that I help you to further your goals". "This is why I called you in here, music god". "Umm, what?" "Music god, that is what I''ve dreamt of calling the beast that would meet the expectations of the clown god. I hope this is not inappropriate, music god". "No, not at all". At this moment in time, Sebastian was completely blown away already. The situation spiraled in such a way that he completely lost control of it, he didn''t expect everything to end in such a manner. Holy Shit! Were his actions being watched by his fellow earthling? Just the thought of it left Sebastian shuddering, but since his system had never given a notification on this, he guessed that he was not being watched. This brought Sebastian back to the present. Since entering the anemone domain, he had always been plagued with this need to get clown credits to avoid being booted out of the city. He was already getting out of ideas, what he didn''t expect was for a helper to suddenly drop out of the moon like the legendary daily manna. Also, Sebastian got information about one of his core objectives. With this, it was already a done fact that the clown god was an earthling like him, which made her related to the motherf*cker lord or was even the motherf*cker lord. Sebastian took his time to calm himself down, the gravity and amount of information that he just received were so much that he couldn''t take everything immediately. He had to savor and devour them slowly. After calming himself down, Sebastian asked. "Please, how can I meet the clown god?" At this moment, he no longer had any reason to lie. Though the old clownfish didn''t know him too well at the moment, the ambiguous relationship that he had with their god was enough clearance for him to go on a free rampage. The clownfish did not hesitate to answer his question. "The clown god is no longer with us; she left a long time ago after completing her divine mandate in our domain". "What I can tell you is that she has a temple built for her in the zone of glory. Unfortunately, you cannot access it. I am just one person; it is a pity that my fellow colleagues are not as fervent in preserving the ways of the clown god". "I can only help you to an extent. If you want to enter the temple of the clown god to find more about her, you need to do it yourself". With that, the conversation between the 2 finally came to an end. The old clownfish was a higher-up of the anemone domain, but alone, there were only so many rules that he could break. Before the clownfish left, he turned back to face Sebastian. "I learned that you borrowed money, don''t worry, it has already been settled. Also, I already created a VIP anemone bank account for you". "This is my contact details¡­" "If you have any trouble, you can ping me. If I''m available, I''ll respond". "Do you have any special favor to ask of me?" "Yes". Sebastian perked up. "I already formed a basic plan to further my goals after my exploration since the past 2 days. I want a place to stably work and get clown credits, I want to work at a high-grade anemone hospital". "Done". "Thanks, I think that''s all". "Ok". The old clownfish finally turned around to leave. "Good luck, John Cena". Chapter 327 - Im Rich, Baby! "Damn, that escalated quickly, and it got better than I expected too". After the encounter with the music master Galosh, Sebastian was constantly left in a state like he was dreaming as he found it hard to reconcile with the fact that his luck literally just shone for him again. He hummed a song as he swam his way out of the enormous sea anemone that housed the Rainbow Sky Music Club. Though he already suspected it after the meeting with the music master, after asking around, Sebastian was still shocked by the identity of this old clownfish. Putting aside the fact that he was a legendary music master which put him at the top of the music district, he was the creator of the best music club, Music Master Galosh was the master of the Rainbow Sky Music Club. Once Sebastian confirmed this, he was not shocked, he just felt that it was expected and a lot of things became explainable. The amount of power at the disposal of this old clownfish was pretty ridiculous. In this crazy music spin that he randomly decided to do just to get access inside the music club, the gains that he eventually got were numerous. Most of it all was because of his luck that shone once again. Not only did he get clues about the motherf*cker lord that he sought after, he now had someone like a school father in high places who he could run to for help and who could smoothen his path forward in this clown city. Individually, he was probably over a hundred times stronger than the old clownfish, but the effective power that was at the disposal of the clownfish was countless times higher than his. This was even more prominent now that he was in the home ground of the old clownfish fellow. A clownfish with white beards was no simple fella. Apart from the other benefits that he got; the material benefits alone were massive. His dept was cleared, he now had a VIP anemone bank account, and through the old clown fish''s connection, he now had the privilege to enter the next zone of the clown city which was the working-class zone. Also, his visiting ticket was upgraded to a peak that left Sebastian astonished. He could now stay in this city as a visitor for a whole year! All this was a result of the influence of the music master in this city. Once again, Sebastian was enjoying the benefits of hugging a thick thigh. While interacting with the music master, Sebastian felt an urge to also inquire about his remaining 2 major objectives but he curbed his desire. He could already see that his stay in this city was no longer a one-off thing. With the problem of staying time taken care of, he would probably spend a sizeable amount of time here. In this period, he could improvise his plans, get closer to the music master, and best further his goals. And for some reason, Sebastian suspected that he would benefit far more than he bargained for by staying here. All these meant that his decision was final, staying here was not a pivotal part of his plan to realize the 3 major objectives that he set for himself. In all these that happened, Sebastian could never downgrade the importance of his luck. His luck was the main contributor to this unexpected gain. It was due to sheer luck that he saw an interesting location like the music district, and it was also due to luck that he decided to visit it. This was what led to him encountering familiar music. If he was not someone who also loved music, this would have been obsolete, but his luck shone again, he was someone who also loved music. It was also due to luck that he got his recommendation coin to visit the Rainbow Sky Music Club, no one forced the local clownfish to give him a recommendation coin. After asking for clues and when he finally went to visit the Rainbow Sky Music Club, facing rejection, in other circumstances, perhaps he would have been frustrated and decided to leave but he didn''t. Due to a mixture of luck and pure desire, he stayed and took a drastic method to further his goal even though it may pose some real threat to his stable life. Due to sheer luck, this also worked in his favor and he fulfilled the conditions set by the clown god to trigger the music master. Also, it was due to sheer luck that the music master was at the backwater residential zone at that exact moment. All these coincidences were possible only due to luck, and Sebastian was extremely grateful for it all. "Luck is really f*cking OP!" With all these encounters, Sebastian''s curiosity about the real identity of the motherf*cker lord already reached a new peak. He couldn''t wait to crack open the veil of mystery that was shrouding this unique personality from view. While he swaggered his way out of the music district, having camouflaged himself to not draw too much attention since he was already a famous music proliferator, Sebastian finally accessed his VIP anemone bank account. {Bank Name: Central Anemone Bank.] {Acc. Name: John Cena.} {Acc. Number: *******} {Bank Acc. Type: VIP Account.} {Bank Income Details: 500 Clown Credits.} {VIP Account Benefits: 20% Discount for all in-domain purchases, and a mild honorary status among major in-domain organizations.} This was the full summary of Sebastian''s VIP bank account. Once Sebastian saw the shiny 500 that shone in the tab for his bank income details, his swimming stance changed into one that oozed with more swag as he arrogantly swam his way out of the music district. "I''m rich, baby!" ¡­ As soon as he left the music district, Sebastian no longer lingered since he didn''t have any meaningful business in the residential zone of this city anymore. Like a gladiator who just won 10 consecutive arena battles and was upgraded to a new tier of gladiator rank, Sebastian continued his swagger-filled movement and finally left the residential zone for good. "Working-class zone, here I come!" Chapter 328 - The Working-Class Zone. Entering the working-class zone presented a very different facet of this clown city to Sebastian than what he was originally accustomed to. Though he already saw signs of it in the residential zone of the city, entering the working-class zone took it to a whole different level. This was the real city, this was where the real development took place, this was where the industry thrived. Unlike in the residential zone, giant sea anemones filled every corner of the working-class zone. These giant sea anemones were in different shapes and they all served a specific purpose to keep the industry driving. Alongside the giant sea, anemones were huge works of machinery. Of these machinery buildings were the central mechanic workshop where most of all machinery-related activities in the lesser zones took place. There were other huge machinery buildings whose use Sebastian could not understand at the moment. The smoke rising from some of these buildings painted the working-class zone as a really industrial zone. At the top of this city was a huge transparent energy shield that demarcated and protected it from the outside world. Below the transparent energy shield and above the giant sea anemones was a different world entirely. Like other major cities, in the working-class domain, there was a refined transportation system. Below the transparent energy shield was the domain where transport mechanical structures like birds hovered. This was one of the different modes of transportation of the working-class zone. On the water surface, there were shuttles that ferried visitors and clownfish from one place to the other, forming a perfect system of transportation. The working-class zone was all that Sebastian asked for and imagined. This was where most of all workable clownfish and visitors worked. The working-class zone was the heartbeat of the anemone domain, daily activity was most active in this zone of the clown city. In the working-class zone, there was a giant sea anemone bank, a giant sea anemone multipurpose market, a giant sea anemone production firm, a giant sea anemone hospital, and a lot of other unique industry-related giant sea anemones. There were few to no residential sea anemones in this zone, most of the giant sea anemones were specialized to hold a different facet of the industry and this was what allowed it to strive amid any unexpected circumstances. Most of the visitors that came to the anemone domain for trade engaged in a lot of their business here in the working-class zone. This was the nexus of trade and growth of the entire city. In here, there was no discrimination as there was a mixture of every race, ranging from mutated beasts to variant humans. The bright colorful bodies of the giant sea anemones that filled it painted the working-class zone on a very bright but serious note. Sebastian was convinced that entering any of these giant sea anemones would provide him with a first-person perspective view of the possible paradise that was inside them, and he could not wait for it. This was the overall impression of the working-class zone that Sebastian got once he crossed the boundary that separated normal visitors from the others. Just like when he just visited the city, he was mesmerized by the display but his mental resilience was stronger now. He admired to his satisfaction for a few minutes before Sebastian went on with his motive. From the map, Sebastian already knew that the working-class zone was smaller than the residential zone but far more developed. This effectively meant that the area that he needed to transverse to get to his destination was smaller and that it was easier for him to locate his destination. "Main Market, 20 clown cods!" "Tower Industry, 30 clown cods!" "Clown King Bank, 40 clown cods!" "Aurora Hospital, 30 clown cods!" "Machinery Village, 1 clown credit!" "Banana Island, 2 clown credit, 20 clown cods!" Transportation vendors of different species advertised their services as they yelled specific destinations and the amount needed to get there. The dominant clown currency was the clown credits. But just like the way the dollars could be divided into cents; the clown credits could be divided into clown cods which could be used for every purchasing activity. 1 clown credit equaled 100 clown cods. To go to the Aurora Hospital which was Sebastian''s destination, he needed to pay 30 clown cods. Doing this was pretty simple. Sebastian simply spoke to the jellyfish who was the driver of the shuttle, then he connected to his online account through the shuttle where he paid for the ride. With that, Sebastian waited for a few seconds until the box-like shuttle was filled up before he finally embarked on his journey. The distance that spanned kilometers was reduced to mere 2 minutes due to the outrageous speed of the transport shuttle. When Sebastian came out of the transport shuttle, a different district of the working-class zone was presented before him. Unlike other parts, there were no machinery buildings emitting smoke around here, the surrounding looked serene. The district was mainly composed of medium-sized sea anemones where different industrial activities and medical activities took place and 3 giant sea anemones which were all hospitals. This district was called the medical district. Without even needing to go in first, just looking at this district made Sebastian feel at home. There were a lot of differences to his previous world, but coming here made him feel like he was returning to work. After basking in the love of music for the past few hours, Sebastian was hyped again since he was now basking in the love of his familiar domain. "Anatomy to the world!" He yelled excitedly inwardly. As he swam to his destination, Sebastian attracted a lot of attention along the way until he got to the entrance of the Aurora monster hospital. On getting there, Sebastian didn''t do anything complicated. He ignored the colorful display inside the hospital and simply went inside like a normal patient and swam to the non-emergency ward. After waiting for 10 minutes there, it finally came to his turn where he got to order a room inside the giant sea anemone exclusively for himself. Sebastian was already feeling all excited about being inside a real hospital again. He wanted to drop his application letter immediately, but he suppressed his excitement since he had an even more pressing want. After waiting for over a month and beyond, it was time for him to use his last slot and create his 2nd living doppelganger to increase his lifelines to 3 bodies. [You have activated unique skill: Doppelganger and Invisibility!] Chapter 329 - Aurora Hospital. 2 hours after the creation procedure started, Sebastian woke up. On waking up, he felt biting pain all over his body. His eyes were bloodshot and his body shook repeatedly at intervals like a patient who just lost every single drop of blood in his/her body which was extremely fatal. Sebastian didn''t lose blood, but he lost something even more important, he lost mana. Not only that, he received some form of backlash that left him weak. This was when his system lit up a new notification. [Your quest in creating a new living doppelganger failed!] [Reason: Space Beast Internal Structure flawed!] On seeing this, Sebastian felt his mood plunging from the clown 9 where it was originally after he entered the hospital to the depths of the abyss. This was not the first time that he was suffering a failure with so much significance. When he was pushed to the wall by Tonado and the other predators who were after the essence of the longevity fish that he assimilated, he decided to try breaking through and he faced a similar situation. Failing to complete his evolution dealt a similar blow to him like right now. And despite already experiencing it once, it still felt unimaginably painful. After getting all hyped up for the thought of creating another living doppelganger, after draining himself dry of his mana points just to enable it, getting to know that it was all for naught, in the end, gutted him. And yes, his 2nd choice for a living doppelganger was a space beast. After witnessing the power and might of these wonders of nature that were blessed by the origin essence, Sebastian was mesmerized. Though he was not as fanatical about it as other Oceania native beasts, once he knew of the legend of pinnacle bloodlines, he had always craved them most especially after his encounter with the young space beast. Though the young space beast was defeated by the Atlantians in the end, the power revealed by it was more than enough to earn his awe and respect. His first choice for a living doppelganger was an Atlantian not only because he was familiar with their body structure, but also because these variant humans made up the royalty of Oceania due to their overlord status. He had a lot of benefits to turning himself into one of them, so why should he give them all up and instead take a rough body of another species? As for his second choice for a living doppelganger, the reason was self-explanatory, it was solely because of their pinnacle bloodlines and the terrifying amount of potential that every space beast had. One of his greatest dreams since knowing of Space Beasts and after getting his new unique skill was if he succeeded in creating a real space beast body, would he also access the numerous benefits encompassed in their bloodlines? Benefits like not having to train for skills, but simply extracting them from the recorded memories of his bloodline seemed too OP to be true. All these were part of the reasons why he decided on creating a Space Beast. The only problem was, if he succeeded in doing it, what would be his explanation for the new body that suddenly appeared in the hospital, but thankfully, his new unique skill took care of this. After getting his new unique skill, he got another ability that he didn''t fully comprehend initially. This ability enabled each one of his bodies to have a place in their consciousness where they could hold the other bodies. This effectively meant that he could turn into a one-man-army, going around, fighting enemies with the numbers advantage which was a terrifying one. He deliberately didn''t put his Atlantian body in his head. After a lot of thinking, he deduced that his first living doppelganger was better off alone. Now, although Sebastian felt disappointed that he failed in creating his second doppelganger, the reason for the failure by his system was clear and it was one of the only consolations that he had from this attempt. When he started the creation, he already faintly suspected a scenario like this, but he still went ahead with it to experiment and confirm his hypothesis. He succeeded in creating his first living doppelganger so impeccably because of his incredible familiarity with the anatomy of a living human being. As an anatomist in his previous life, before he deviated into dissecting sharks, Sebastian was so familiar with the human anatomy that it was second nature to him. This provided the best conditions for a successful doppelganger creation. Combining this with the deductions that he already made about increasing the origin law comprehension of his unique skills was one of the more dominant reasons why he decided to work in a hospital. He guessed that trying to act exactly like the doppelganger species he created was not the only way to increase his origin law comprehension, perhaps learning more about the doppelgangers could also do the job. After seeing the reason for failure given by his system, he was pretty sure that his low origin law comprehension was what caused his 2nd living doppelganger creation to fail so woefully. To remedy this, he decided that going to a hospital, looking up archives on real Space Beasts if there was one, and learning as much as possible about them was his best shot at fulfilling his dream for his 2nd living doppelganger. Sebastian felt excited all of a sudden. This creation process was a failure, but the discoveries that he got due to it completely offset the damage done. With these discoveries, his future direction from here was clear as he made his plans more focused. Coming to a hospital was the best way forward for him. While working hard and trying to create his dream second doppelganger, he would earn clown credits while trying to get clues about his 2 other priorities, while also focusing on how to infiltrate inside the zone of glory. Once he heard about the importance of this zone to his plans from the music master, Sebastian was determined to go inside it. For some reason, his intuition told him that going in would clarify a lot of things that he didn''t understand previously about the mysteries of this world, and he would probably meet a fellow earthling too which was the greatest hype factor. [You have triggered passive skill: Instinctive Swimming.] Once he finalized his plans in the private room that he ordered in the hospital, Sebastian finally swam out to face the full hospital. On entry, he received a basic water-resistant pamphlet that gave a basic outline of the hospital. Through this pamphlet, Sebastian''s eyes narrowed down on the area of the Aurora Hospital that he intended to visit. {Anatomy Department.} Sebastian''s eyes sparkled on seeing these 2 golden words. Unlike the other departments of this elaborate mutated beast hospital, the anatomy department was one of the least-crowded departments. They literally never had patients; their only job was dissection and few people wanted to go close to such cutting freaks. This was why once the sound of the door alarm reverberated in the anatomy room, every single anatomist ranging from clownfish to crabs, to beasts of other species to even variant humans all turned to look at the door in puzzlement. On seeing that it was a shark, they were even more puzzled. "Can we help you?" "Oh, yes you do". Chapter 330 - Employed. "So, you''re the shark who says you want to be an anatomist?" "Not that ma''am, I want to work here as an anatomist". Sebastian answered the huge crab''s question with a wide predatory smile on his face that spooked every other anatomist in the lab. The reason for being spooked was not anything complicated. Of all the anatomists in the anatomist department of the Aurora Hospital, none of them were sharks or were related to sharks. The reason for this was even more self-explanatory. Throughout history, sharks were known for savagery and predatism, nothing else. The prospect of a huge Great White Shark suddenly becoming their colleague was so frightening to these anatomists that they all freaked out. "This is not a contest to see who has the sharper teeth, damn!" Though none of these anatomists spoke, their restrained nature revealed a lot, they kept cursing in their minds, not that Sebastian gave a damn though. Seeing all these was already grating at the nerves of the lead anatomist of this department. The giant crab felt troubled, if she had free reins, she would have dismissed the shark already but the situation was out of her control. Orders from above came and she had no choice but to follow them. Though she didn''t know much about the shark yet, just this suppression that went against her will already made her resent the shark. "Umm, ok". The crab finally said as she directed a look at her colleagues before turning back to focus on the huge shark. "So, what can you do? I mean, anything, anything that you can do". "I can do a lot". "¡­Ok, I can see that". "What is your name?" "My name is John Cena, but if calling that feels burdensome to you, you can simply call me J.C". Sebastian smiled, revealing his spooky rows of teeth. Perhaps, she got annoyed by the shark''s confident answers or she simply got fed up with working around restraints, but this giant crab suddenly decided to be mean and no longer play nice. "Good, I can see you''re a very confident shark. But in my rules, before anyone can enter my department, you have to know what anatomy entails". "Oh! Really? Very simple then". "An anatomist is a biological scientist who studies the structures of living organisms. They mainly focus on the anatomical form and functions of humans¡­" "No, variant human and mutated beast bodies". "A career as an anatomist comes with specialization in several fields of biology such as biological imaging, genetics, molecular development, cell biology, histology, and other relevant specializations". "Please, ma, should I continue?" "¡­" "I take that as a yes". "An anatomist''s daily job routine involves examining organ systems of various bodies by dissecting and comparing structures of various species". "An anatomist is responsible for determining the ability of the bodies of various living organisms to regenerate damaged parts". "Also, another important fact is that anatomists study and experiment to ensure the possibility of transplanting organs in living organisms from one living body to another, simple". "I guess that''s all the basics to know about an anatomist". "Ma''am, did I pass your evaluation?" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­.." "Holy freaking Jesus!" A clownfish exclaimed. On hearing that, Sebastian was shocked as he turned to look only to see a clownfish who looked like he just swallowed a living crocodile. Sebastian only had to think a bit before he removed it from his mind. The motherf*cker lord visited the seamount where he once stayed, and the Lizard Lord knew how to speak the motherf*cker language, who said the same couldn''t be replicated here? With that, he turned his gaze back and focused on the giant crab who at this moment looked like a monkey that was just struck by lightning. On noticing his gaze, the giant crab flinched as she tried to reconcile with the facts in her head only to feel that she was really f*cking dreaming. Bang! This giant crab had to deliver a vicious hit to her head before she confirmed that she was not dreaming. This was when it finally dawned on her, this was all real. "I¡­, I''m overwhelmed!" "I know". Sebastian smiled which only spooked them more. "I guess, you''re hired". ¡­ Sebastian got hired into his job in the most convincing manner possible. With the higher-up music master behind him smoothening the path ahead for him, he gained smooth entry to meet the lead anatomist of the anatomy department. From there, he took over. Even if he didn''t understand much, having lived as a shark for months now, he knew what went on in the mind of these predators the most. For others, it was impossible for a shark to suddenly decide to be an anatomist unless the shark was crazy. This was the reason why he decided not to hold back but to go all out and awe them from the beginning. This was not some xianxia world where he had to hold back and keep a low profile to keep himself alive, this was the real world. If he wanted to get the best possible start for himself, he needed to go all out from the onset which was exactly what he did. The knowledge that he showed awed the resident anatomists so much that their brains were left smoking bamboozled after the reveal. These cutting freak nerd beasts loved knowledge and anatomy, but seeing it in such a raw and direct fashion from a shark, they were spooked. They didn''t see Sebastian at work yet, but he literally oozed anatomy. Adding all these together, there was no way that Sebastian missed his job. The giant crab would be sick in the head to try bringing him down. Despite her doubts and confusion, she did the needful and employed the shark. Right now, Sebastian was already with the professionals as he went through the basic evaluation to go through his history and professional career. From today, Sebastian who was now John Cena was officially a worker of the Aurora Hospital. Precisely an anatomist of the anatomist department. In here, his identity as a purple tier Megalodon didn''t matter much, it was his extensive knowledge as an anatomist that really mattered. After so long, Sebastian could finally live the dream. ¡­ 2 hours after Sebastian was employed. At the last room at the furthermost end inside the anatomy, department stood the office of Doctor Craban. It felt weird, but yes, the giant crab, the lead anatomist of the anatomy department was referred to as a doctor. At this moment, 2 knocks were heard before her door was opened. A group of 5 clownfish entered, greeted her respectfully before dropping a file at her desk. Once the clownfish left, this giant crab took hold of the file with her pincers and opened to the first page. {File Name: John Cena.} {Species: Megalodon.} {Power Tier: Purple tier.} {Age: 6 months old.} {History: ???} {Career History: Nil.} Seeing this, the giant crab''s mood turned even more confused. "6 months old? Unsearchable life history? No career history?" The giant crab didn''t believe the data. In her opinion, the higher-up backing this shark pulled strings again and the data was altered. There was no way for such a powerful Megalodon to be only 6 months old. Also, there was no way for a Megalodon with such extensive knowledge about anatomy to not have a career history. Every data inside the file reeked with lies which frustrated her. "J.C, what exactly are you, and what is your motive?" Chapter 331 - The Anatomy Department. "Hi, J.C, welcome to work". "Thanks, miniman". It seems that the dread of getting to work with an enormous Megalodon lingered for only the first day Afterall. When Sebastian reported to work for the first time, he saw an unexpected reception from his colleagues. The anatomists of different species no longer saw him as an alien. Once they confirmed that he was legit, they dropped all their previous opinions on him. Sebastian was still the largest in the whole department, and by a significant margin at that but this was not enough to deter his colleagues. Birds of a feather flock together, this quote was accurate at this moment. Apart from the few clownfish, the others were all from different species, but they were all tied together by their love for anatomy. Researching and examining the body of different species was their daily job, dissecting was their life, and this was their common ground. Once Sebastian knew this also, he let go completely. For his first day at work, he didn''t have to do anything complicated. Perhaps, it was because Doctor Craban didn''t have enough trust in him yet or it was normal, but his job for the first day was familiarizing himself with the department. Miniman was the tour guard that was assigned to him by the Doctor. This fellow was a mutated beast that seemed to have evolved from an abominable combination of a Tiger shark and a Manta ray. With a head that looked especially big for his streamlined body, it served as the perfect answer to the question of this mutated beast''s genius. He was one of the best anatomists in the department. His greatest achievement was getting to work on a huge Red tier Python, dissecting the beast to get its vigorous heart, and implanting it on himself. This combination granted him a lot of benefits against all odds. Miniman was the anatomist with the most endurance in the whole department when it came to high-intensity work. By taking this mutated beast as a measure, Sebastian smiled because the way ahead of him looked especially bright. After years of working as an anatomist in his previous world, experience told him that practicing his occupation alongside like-minded crazies was the best way for him to achieve results and to improve. Miniman took his tour of the newcomer seriously. "J.C, the Aurora Hospital is the best hospital in all of the working-class zone. I have to admit that our rivals, the Campbell Hospital are good, but they are nowhere near us". "We are the best, don''t let anybody tell you otherwise, got it?" "Yeah, got it". Miniman smiled once he got the response that he wanted. "My job and your job for today are very simple. I get to introduce you to everything you need to know about our department, and you get to memorize them". "The first thing that you need to know is that our anatomy department has 1 lead anatomist, 8 senior anatomists, 26 junior anatomists, and numerous other apprentice anatomists". "Originally, upstarts like you are expected to start as an apprentice. But the little expertise and familiarity with the job that you''ve shown have exceeded our expectations, that is why you will start as a junior anatomist straight away". "From tomorrow, as a junior anatomist, your main job is to assist us the senior anatomists in major dissection and experimental activities". "Though as anatomists, we don''t have much use for personal strength, every beast still needs to feed which means the clown army is always active". "In their battles, they encounter a different type of predator species every day. This means that we never fall short of experimental test subjects, there is always a test subject for us to dissect and experiment on". "These test subjects are also available to exceptional junior anatomists. If one day, you identify yourself to us as one of the exceptional ones, then you''ll also have the privilege to work on test subjects at your leisure time". "Before you get to that point, right now, apart from your main job, your minor job is to consolidate and improve your knowledge on anatomy". "Junior anatomists have access to the basic library. Senior anatomists can access the advanced library, while only the leader can access the pinnacle library". "There is one last library, the forbidden library. No one has free access to it; the leader is only allowed to borrow one book from there every 2 months". "This is the overall summary of your work as a junior anatomist. Once you meet with your colleagues, you will know more about your responsibilities". "Now, let me take you through the basic layout of our department". "Our Aurora Hospital occupies sea anemone 0254, and our anatomy department occupies the northern end of the Research domain". "Our department is divided into the main anatomy lab with 25 mecha-worktables, the senior anatomists'' office, the lead anatomist''s office, the central processing supercomputer room, the general storage room, the AV storage room, and the residential quarters". "The main anatomy lab is where every one of our major research projects takes place. All the senior anatomists and the junior anatomists can be gathered here at the same time which provides the optimal environment for work". "The Aurora Hospital provided state of the art equipment for our work. We have the best to work with, our works are super accurate and neat". Miniman smirked a bit, radiating pride when he mentioned the last part, he was clearly proud of the hospital that he worked for. "The senior anatomists'' office is self-explanatory. It is a combined office where you can find us when there are no major projects to work on". "The lead anatomist''s office is also self-explanatory". "The central processing supercomputer room". Miniman smirked once again on mentioning this. "As I said, we have access to state-of-the-art equipment". "This is the room which houses our supercomputer. In our line of work, we need a lot of processing power since a lot of things related to how the body interacts with life and magic are too complicated to calculate with the brain alone". "When we work on purple tier and red tier test subjects is when we mostly make use of the supercomputer". "Analyzing the mysteries of the wonders of a mana core is especially complicated and fascinating, I believe you''ll cherish your first opportunity to see the super machine at work". "The general storage room is where we store our exceptional test subjects, work samples, and a lot of our high-grade equipment". "The AV storage room is where we store electronic components and equipment that inherently produces a lot of power and heat". "In the AV storage room, we also have the special mana storage installation that preserves the integrity of mana cores. According to the engineers, the technology used in it can also preserve the natural cores". On saying this, Miniman could not help but reveal a look of longing. "One of my life goals has always been to see and research on a natural core". "J.C, work hard and perhaps you''ll also have a dream like this. Natural cores are part of the pinnacle of what our world has to offer to us". While he went through the lengthy talk, Miniman constantly took Sebastian around and in a few hours, they already toured the whole department. They engaged in minor conversations next where Sebastian got to ask questions about whatever he still had doubts about and Miniman answered. This session continued for a few more hours before it finally came to an end. "Our working time is between 9:00 am- 4:00 pm, clown time". "See you at work, tomorrow". "You, too". Chapter 332 - Life As An Anatomist. Sebastian woke up after a long refreshing night''s sleep. Of the different divisions of the anatomy department, the residential quarter was the only place that Miniman didn''t take Sebastian to. This was because this was where all the anatomists slept. Taking him here was akin to violating the privacy of the other anatomists. Miniman didn''t even need to explain what it stood for, the residential quarter was also self-explanatory, it was simply the sleeping quarters of the anatomists. After the tour, Sebastian had to find his way here himself. On getting here, it did not take much time for him to blend in with his colleagues. Of course, his colleagues meant the other junior anatomists. According to their ranks in the department, the residential quarters were segmented to accommodate them all. Once Sebastian went in with his colleagues, a lot of other common knowledge about the department was explained to him. He heaved a sigh of relief since he didn''t see any weird personality that tried to make things hard for him or even oppose him from the onset. All the junior anatomists were friendly. Of course, they had different personalities and habits but their love for dissection made them all friendly. In such a harmonious environment, Sebastian blended in easily. Just before the green glow of the Green Mist Sea set to declare an end to the day, a group of clownfish tailors arrived before him. They took his measurement to Sebastian''s shock, and this was for his work lab coat. Now, this morning, on waking up, Sebastian was thrilled to find a huge blue lab coat hanging in a corner of his room. Every junior anatomist had a room exclusive for them. Sebastian without hesitation swam closer to examine the lab coat. He looked carefully at it, examined its design, and saw that it was specially made to accommodate a shark physique. The only problem was that it was far smaller than his body. "Did these guys mess up my measurement?" While he already thought of grumbling, this was when he noticed a small box hidden inside the lab coat. Of course, this was after he activated his mega electroreceptors to scan his surroundings. He already knew that activating his electroreceptors rampantly subtly affected his targets unless he actively manipulated it to lower the electromagnetic waves that were emitted. To not affect his colleagues, he refrained from activating this vital skill too much but at this moment there was no one around which was why he used it. "A box, inside my lab coat? What is its use?" [You have activated Inherited Magic Ability: Telekinesis.] [You have activated skill: Telekinesis Pull.] While he soliloquized, he already took hold of the box, and this time he took hold of it with his mental energy. After practicing with it for days, he succeeded in creating another skill for this inherited ability. Sebastian already tried creating more sophisticated and deadly skills with this ability but it simply didn''t work. After a lot of experiments, he already discovered what was wrong. Through the encounter with Carcarot Gorgoneon, his mental energy increased exponentially, and was now able to power this ability extensively. But telekinesis was more than just brutish mental power. To really master this ability and turn it into another trump card of his, he needed to patiently train and master his control over his mental energy. This was just like how to be a good footballer; a football player needed to patiently train for years and master his control over the ball. This was what Sebastian also needed to master. Once he mastered control of his mental energy, telekinesis would come to him like a fish to water. Once the telekinesis pull brought the box close enough, Sebastian opened it, exposing the contents that were inside it. Inside the box was a black pill and a white note like a manual. {Miniaturization Pill!} {Effects: Once taken, this pill reduces your size by roughly 1/3rd. Duration of effect ranges from 1 month to 3 months.} Seeing this, Sebastian quickly understood. Compared to the other anatomists in this department, he was like a giant. Though his colleagues never complained about it, they probably felt uncomfortable around him. This pill was the easiest way for him to bypass this trouble of size. Once Sebastian understood it, he took and swallowed the pill without hesitation. Instantly, his body shuddered as changes started. What he didn''t expect was the excruciating pain that followed. "Ummmm, shhhhh, sh*tttt, fckkkk!!!" A few minutes later, the pain finally subsided, leaving an exhausted Sebastian with a look of resentment on his face. He attacked, obliterating the box out of existence immediately with a look of vengeance. Before Sebastian could familiarize himself with his new body, his system lit up a notification that drew his attention. [Warning! All base attributes have been reduced by 80%!] "¡­" "F*ck, give me my youth back!" Sebastian threw a tantrum for a few seconds before calming down. Well, this was why they said to scrutinize a product well before using it. Sebastian felt awful after losing 80% of his overall strength for over a month to perhaps 3 months. This didn''t put him down too much though, he already resolved to work in this anatomy department for the long term. Anatomists weren''t expected to be at the war front if war broke out, so at least, that was a layer of protection that he had. With this, Sebastian finally donned his blue lab coat. [Smart Meta-Coat Detected!] [Smart Meta-Coat Equipped!] "Smart meta-coat?" Sebastian didn''t finish his question before the lab coat revealed its specialty. The coat squirmed like it suddenly turned into the legendary Doctor Strange''s coat, spooking Sebastian as it wrapped him up in the best possible fit for his body. If Sebastian wanted during the process, he could have forcefully torn the coat away from his body but he didn''t since his intuition didn''t'' warn him of danger. After it finally calmed down, Sebastian cautiously moved. [You have activated skill: Mega Electroreceptors.] With just one sweep with this skill, Sebastian was left awed. Not only did he get to see his body which was now almost 3 times smaller than before, but he also got to see it in a luxurious smart meta lab coat. "Damn, this looks badass!" After donning his new lab coat and admiring it for a few minutes, Sebastian was now almost set for work. All that remained was to fill his stomach with food. Through the common knowledge that he got after engaging in conversations with his fellow junior colleagues, he already knew how to get his food. At a corner of his room, at the wall of the sturdy wall formed by the flesh of the giant sea anemone was a red button that depicted a helpless swimming Blue Tang fish. These fellows were food in every ecosystem. Sebastian swam closer and hit the red button with his snout. Ding! {Food is ready¡­, serving in 3¡­, 2¡­, 1.} Whoosh! A giant tray opened up through which the live prey was thrown into Sebastian''s room for him. The fish and mutated beast prey were already injected with an immobilization tonic that suppressed them both physically and magically. Their body was weak, their access to magic was cut off, they were the ideal prey to any predator who felt too lazy to hunt by himself. Sebastian loved hunting himself, but he didn''t hate free food either. This spectacle revealed that despite the diplomat nature that this anemone domain embodied and showed to visitors, it was still a city of predators who feast on prey to grow and evolve. [You have activated skill: Mega Crushing Bite!] Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! [You have killed a Blue Tang Fish- Level 15: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 1 Skill point and 5 Adaptation points.] [You have killed a Basking Manta-Ray- Level 12: You have gained nothing.] [You have killed a mutated Oil Fish- Level 18: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 3 Skill points and 10 Adaptation points.] [You have killed¡­] [You have killed¡­] [You have killed¡­] Sebastian''s hearty meal showcased the prosperity of this high-grade rural settlement. "Hehe, this is next level power leveling". "I love clown city!" After filling his stomach with the meat of the helpless prey, providing the energy for a day of non-stop work, Sebastian completed the finishing touches in his room before he got ready to leave. This was when he remembered something, there was a clock in his room. On thinking of this, Sebastian''s heart froze as he turned to look at it dreadfully. Ding! Dong! {9:05 am!} "Holy Sh*t, I''m late!" [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] Chapter 333 - Sebastians First Day At Work. "Our topic of discussion today is the Centaur". Lead Anatomist Craban''s voice was loud as she addressed the dozens of anatomists that were floating before her in the main anatomy lab. This time, hidden mechanical mechanisms in the main lab were activated as huge metallic chains extended down from the ceiling, bringing down and holding the gigantic body of a deadly predator in place for examination. This extremely huge mutated beast had the upper body of a regular variant human and the lower body and legs of a magic horse. "This is the Centaur". Doctor Craban continued. "This is a huge predator whose specific genus, phylum, and species have been debated a lot of times in heated arguments between anatomists". "Most variant humans believe that the powerful Centaur is a variant human, just a highly divergent one like the snowmen. While of course, mutated beasts believe that the powerful Centaur is one of them". "Both sides have arguments¡­" Clang! "I''m sorry madam, I''m sorry for coming in late". A miniaturized Sebastian opened the door with a yank as he rapidly swam inside the main lab while repeatedly apologizing in the direction of the giant crab. Once he discovered through his electroreceptors that the lead anatomist didn''t have too much of an adverse reaction, not that crabs could really reveal any facial expression, he finally relaxed and went to the back of the group. He came late, so it was only right that he stayed at the very back of the group though he was a junior anatomist. After settling down in his position, he flipped the manual that was before him open with his fin. ->Journals on the mighty Centaur<- While Sebastian focused on this journal, all the stares finally subsided. "Ahem, as I was saying, both sides have arguments that justify their claims that Centaurs belong to this species or the other". "The only problem is that neither of them has concrete proof to silence the discoveries of the other. Centaurs have qualities that associate them with both variant humans and beasts, so none of the arguments are wrong". "Well, today, we won''t be engaging in this argument". "As you can see, our exploration army encountered a rare Centaur during one of their patrols. The intelligent beast tried to evade their control range, but the army succeeded in killing it after sacrificing a lot". "This is a purple tier Centaur which makes it an even more valuable research material. Unfortunately, we have to work with a diminished version of it". "The mana core and other exciting organs in it have already been harvested and taken away by the higherups. We are only left to experiment with this, but I promise that this would be a highly fulfilling experiment". "Centaurs are the perfect predator. They have outstanding speed, powerful offensive power with their mighty horse legs, and frightening endurance". "They are not at the top of the food chain but they are close". "So, anatomists, cherish this opportunity and treat it as a passion project". "Kronon, take control of the control systems and merge 5 mecha-worktables. Make sure they are big enough to accommodate the Centaur". "Miniman, take remote control of the processing supercomputer". "Fig, Berthen, Goose, you 3 shall be my immediate dissection assistants". "All junior anatomists, including J.C, will be our assistants. As I said, take this serious as a passion project and you''ll get a lot of experience". "Get me my cutting gear". Doctor Craban didn''t need cutting knives, her sharp claws already took care of that, she just needed her specialized cutting gear to complement them. Sebastian already knew long ago that this lead anatomist was an orange tier predator. It may not seem much to the current him, but it was still impressive. Once everyone was ready, and the apprentice anatomists were watching attentively like hawks, the dissection commenced with Doctor Craban personally taking the lead. For a beast as rare and exceptional as a Centaur, this doctor was not ready to give the pleasure of cutting its flesh open to another. Once the cutting started, every single anatomist in the lab soon became engrossed in the activity as the originally powerful Centaur body was cut till it became bare, exposing all its internals to the anatomists. The beast was already dead, so they didn''t need to be as careful as before when cutting. Once the beast was open, Doctor Craban took the lead, examining all its organs while explaining her discoveries to the anatomists. After cutting another fleshy portion of the Centaur''s internals open, Doctor Craban stopped to briefly explain a discovery to her anatomists. "These are mana veins in its muscle fibers". "These are a special type of beast adaptation that most beasts who focus on a battle style revolving around endurance mutate as they grow". "They act as parasites. By living inside the muscle fibers of the beast, they get to take physical nutrients as the beast devours the prey, acting as an energy converter that changes physical nutrients to usable mana and stores them". "This stored mana can come in handy in a tough battle, enabling the beast to remain fighting for a long time even after the opponent may have already exhausted all his mana reserves". "More advanced versions of this adaptation can enable endurance-oriented beasts to achieve even more spectacular feats, but I''ve never worked on them". Slash! The Doctor cut the fleshy leg of the Centaur open next. "This is the magic spring balance adaptation. It acts as a shock absolver, enabling the Centaur to deliver devastating kicks at enemies while absolving all the shock and preventing it from suffering counter damage". "In essence, it is like the lancer mech configuration of the clown army". "Most powerful predators who have this adaptation across their body are mostly immune to the effects of damage-reflection skills". While they observed, developed hypotheses, and experimented on them on the spot, the listening anatomists jotted into their brains with serious expressions. Through the massive processing supercomputer, massive calculations, theoretical doubts, and probability calculations were completed in seconds. This made sure that time was used as efficiently as possible. In the afternoon, Doctor Craban ordered an hour''s rest for all the anatomists after going hours straight, dissecting and studying the Centaur. By this time, Sebastian and every other anatomist already had an extensive understanding of this mutated beast. Their knowledge about its body structure was even more than what a typical Centaur knew about itself already. Sebastian was confident now that if he ever had to face a Centaur in battle, it would be like playing a game while already knowing the cheat code. He did not doubt that any Centaur of the purple tier and below would only face a humiliating thrashing against him in battle. This knowledge could also prove extremely useful if he ever had to face a Red tier Centaur. He was not ready to face Red tier predators in battle yet, but with an advantage like this, who knew if he could succeed in pulling off a miracle. He didn''t make this a goal though. Having experienced them more than once, he was one of the few purple tier predators who knew the real horror of getting to face a Red tier predator in battle. Unless they were up against Black tier predators or powerful trump card warships of the variant humans, Red tier predators were unstoppable. Despite this, the knowledge that he gained was extremely important. This highlighted just one of the numerous benefits that Sebastian stood to gain working as an anatomist. He never regretted his choice, in his opinion, his time in this period was being well-spent. An hour later, the dissection and experimental session resumed but just 45 minutes later, an emergency came that needed Doctor Craban''s input. A high-ranking military clownfish suffered terrible injuries in battle, the clownfish was already being operated on and the giant crab''s input was needed. Instantly, the session came to an end and Doctor Craban left. For the rest of the day, till 4:00 pm came, Sebastian engaged in his own tiny experiments and observations with prior knowledge of the Centaur that he learned through Doctor Craban. After the first day at work well-spent, he finally returned to his residential quarters. This would be his schedule for the foreseeable future until he was confident that the time was right to act. Patience was a virtue that often-yielded massive benefits.. He already experienced this personally, so he was content with being patient. Chapter 334 - Vengeance Hunt. Inside a massive military base hidden at the very depths of an area inside the Green Mist Sea where the water pressure was very high and visibility was very low. Wom! Wom! Across a perimeter spanning kilometers, different sound navigation and ranging techniques {sonar} were employed through the hidden defense measures that were established across this military base. This military base was located inside a crack along the massive rocks that lay at the bottom of the ocean. Inside one of these massive cracks was the base. The crack already existed for a long time, but once the military base was relocated here, renovations took place as the soldiers occupying this treacherous region wiped off every natural inhabitant here and started developing it. The crack was cleverly expanded without affecting its overall integrity, slowly curving it until it formed a perfect shape that looked like a giant apocalyptic submarine that came straight out of a horror movie. The military base was located inside the sturdy rocks, at the very end of the submarine-shaped crack but defense measures were installed across every meter and inch throughout the crack. Not even an amoeba could infiltrate this defense structure. Only 5 compact black-clad warships were on patrol, but this was a d¨¦cor, the real defense measures of this military base were much more. Equipped with sonar detection measures, electromagnetic detection measures, radioactive detection measures, radar {radio detection and ranging} measures, and a host of other measures, this was an impenetrable fortress. This heavily-fortified military base was one of the few S-grade military bases of the Atlantis Empire that were spread across the whole of Oceania. In here, even Queen Auralis herself needed a special permit before she could visit because this was one of the strategic outposts of this overlord Empire. At this depth of the ocean, only Black tier predators and full defense-oriented Red tier predators could survive here. OP military bases like this were created by the Atlantis Empire to fight for benefits in the highest scavenging battlefield and they also served as the strategic defense measures of Atlantis against the powerful Black tier predators. It was an age-old fact that the best benefits were always found in the most treacherous of regions, the same rule applied in Oceania. In treacherous regions like this was where powerful Empires like Atlantis got to vie against the powerful Black tier predators for benefits, both organic and in the form of mineral resources that could strengthen any side that got them massively. It was through metal alloys that were mined here that Atlantis and other variant human Empires succeeded in creating warships that could go toe to toe with Red tier predators. It was also through these same metal alloys that they were able to create warships that could survive going to such depths of the ocean. This was a 2-sided investment to Atlantis and any other variant human Empire that came here to vie for benefits, including the powerful predators. They had a high chance of getting huge benefits by staying here, but it also tied them down since going back to normal waters was not an easy feat. This was the main reason why Sebastian could rampage so freely in the ocean volcano. Atlantis could not mobilize an army from these overpowered military bases, this was because doing so would make them lose on too many fronts. The same also applied to the other variant human Empires, including the powerful predators. The Rabbit Monarch was back in his empire in the normal waters, this was why he was able to intervene in the battle. As for other Black tier predators and even other Sea Kings, they were all attracted by the prospect of getting another unique skill also, but they were all occupied with the benefits of this deep depth. These deep depths were the real battlefield of the pinnacles. At this moment, a modified lone Annihilator warship suddenly descended towards this depth of the ocean. The lone Annihilator warship drifted closer until it entered the defense perimeter of the S-grade military base inside the submarine-shaped crack. Wom! Wom! {Ultra-power scanners Utilized!} {Scan Result: Black Mamba Division Fleet.} Inside the 5 black-clad warships, a picture of a middle-aged bald man with a stone-cold and plain face was reflected. {Data Matched: Captain Omega.} "Let him through!" "Yes, sir!" Whoosh! Once the gravitic defense measures and other natural force measures were removed, the Annihilator warship received a signal and finally moved forward. Captain Omega and his crew navigated the submarine-shaped crack forward till the end, where an entrance opened through which they entered the legendary S-grade military base. ¡­ "Commander Donovan!" "Commander Timberland!" Captain Omega floated at attention as he saluted the 2 legendary Atlantians respectfully. These 2 Commander in Chiefs were the leaders of this S-ranked military base, and of course, their combat power was frightening. The 2 Commanders nodded expressionlessly to acknowledge the captain, then they opened the letter before them and briefly went through it. "You want to become a lone soldier with this Annihilator warship?" Commander Donovan asked as he looked at the captain square in the face. "Yes, Commander". "Reason". Captain Omega took a deep breath. "Vengeance". "Throughout my career, I have never suffered a defeat as humiliating and convincing as my last mission and I have never gained so much benefit from a single encounter like this either". "In the last mission, I lost my division fleet. All my subordinates died, all my warships were wrecked, none of them survived, I was the only one who survived". "I watched subordinates that I raise to become excellent soldiers of our race die unjustly without being able to do anything, rather I benefited". "Now, I carry the will of Colonel Tada, I believe that this is not a coincidence. I got this benefit so that I could avenge my subordinates and my army". "I request permission to become a lone soldier with this warship. I know that you are tied down by greater responsibilities, but I''m not, I believe that with time, I can take down this Megalodon before he becomes stronger". Captain Omega sincerely laid bare his heart and feelings before the 2 Commanders. Despite feeling his sincere feelings, there were no fluctuations in the 2 Commanders'' expressions. Commander Donovan eventually spoke. "Section 13, Sub-section 119 of the military codem- Do not let emotions cloud your judgment as a military leader. Think and make the rational choice that would benefit the race always". Captain Omega retorted with a calm face. "Section 15, Sub-section 25 of the military codem- Follow your heart and love, since it is the best weapon that sentient beings have in a crazy world like this". Commander Donovan was silent as Commander Timberland briefly smiled. "The impulse of youth and the courage to booth, admirable". "You have a strong heart, I like it". "Your proposal is approved!" "Thank you, Commanders". With that, Captain Omega finally left the military base feeling fulfilled. After over a month of holding it back, after over a month of living with the guilt of losing all his subordinates in one mission, he could not endure it anymore. Fortunately, his proposal was approved. Now, he was on a vengeance hunt. Chapter 335 - The Beast King Empire! The Beast King Empire! As one of the individual predators who stood at the very peak when it came to direct combat power, the Beast King was renowned throughout Oceania. As the overlord of the Blue Sea, one of the 7 great seas of Oceania, his beast empire was the absolute overlord of the region. Of the 7 great seas, the Blue Sea was widely acknowledged as the most beautiful of them all. Mutated beasts claimed that it was a paradise, while variant humans claimed that it was a perfect merge of the best of their old world where they originated from and the best that Oceania could offer. Unlike the other seas, the Blue Sea was a lot more stable all due to the presence of the Beast King. His empire was the biggest, strongest, and had the most influence, the Beast King had no rival in his home ground. Putting aside his sturdy foundation as a predator that took him all the way to the Black tier realm, like every other Sea King, the Beast King was feared mostly because of the tyrannical effects of his unique skill. Like his title embodied, the Beast King''s title was related to beasts. The unique skill was famously called the subordinating unique skill. Like his title, the Beast King was widely recognized as the rightful Emperor of all mutated beasts. His unique ability gave him the terrifying ability to make any beast that he came into contact with extremely loyal to him. There were many facets of his unique skill. On a bad day, the Beast King could use his unique skill to directly enslave beasts and make them his subordinates. On a more casual day, the Beast King could use his unique skill to influence beasts and make them willingly decide to become loyal to his cause. On a happy day, the Beast King was rumored to be able to mesmerize beasts with his charisma alone. He had the highest charisma among all the Sea Kings. His most famous usage of his unique skill was when the Beast King succeeded in mesmerizing an equally famous Black tier predator and making the powerful monster become one of his subordinates. All these meant that the Beast King was really a Beast King. Of all the Sea Kings, and every Black tier predator alive, his Empire was the most massive. Rumors said that traces of the Beast King Empire could be seen in literally 6 of the 7 great seas, leaving only the Atlantian Domain. The Beast King was mostly the diplomatic type among the Sea Kings. But when incensed, this Beast King enters battle in a different way to other predators, the Beast King enters battle with a beast army of millions following behind him. He was never known to fight alone, pursuing individual glory. In his perspective, victory as a collective had more glory and significance than personal victory. All this meant that the Beast King was the most unkillable of the Sea Kings. Assassination attempts have been tried on each of the Sea Kings throughout the centuries except the Beast King. Even the overlord Atlantis recognized a roadblock when they saw one. This monster''s empire and effective power were too powerful to contend against. The saving grace that kept Oceania still relatively stable despite the massive reach and influence of this pinnacle predator was the Beast King''s personality. Unlike warmongering and battle maniacal Sea Kings like the Necromancy King, the Pugilist King, and the Blood King, the Beast King loved a life of harmony which meant that his Empire didn''t engage in unprovoked invasion attempts. This made the Blue Sea the most stable of the 7 Sea Kings, just behind the Atlantian Domain that was the home ground of the Atlantians. All these presented the Blue Sea in the best possible light for any mutated beast who was not after blood and glory to settle in. At this moment, at the very center of the Blue Sea which was the heart of the Beast King Empire, a report was being made to the Beast King. A few months ago, the Beast King suddenly returned from his deep-depth exploration and locked himself in isolation in his cultivation holy ground. Originally, sudden cultivation isolations like this were mostly when the Beast King gained an epiphany on improving his origin law comprehension. In situations like this, his subordinates were already used to waiting years at least and over a century at most for the Sea King to come out of isolation. But this time was different, the Beast King only spent a few months in his isolation before he came out. Surprisingly, despite the short duration, the closest confidants of the Beast King felt a tangible increase in strength. The close confidants of this Sea King were already close to him and basked in his powerful aura for so long that they knew it to the very details. When the Beast King came out of his months'' long isolation, the fact that he battered all of them with suffocating aura like he could not control it well enough reflected a tyrannical increase in power. His confidants were shocked and excited. They quickly understood what happened, their Emperor encountered another fortuitous encounter. At the realm of Sea Kings, it was hard for them to increase in power since they were already extremely close to the peak. Any increase in this realm led to a significant increase in overall effective power. This was exactly what happened with the Beast King. After coming out of his isolation, the Beast King swam straight to his Emperor''s throne as he was welcomed by his close confidants and subordinates. The Beast King was a Mammoth Crocodile with the primordial Mammoth bloodline. Even without his unique skill, he was a horrifying opponent to face in battle and he was at the peak of his powers. After resting on top of his throne, the Beast King looked at his subordinates with red burning eyes that betrayed his current excited emotions. His subordinates understood this look. This was the look that their Emperor had after every major upgrade and he was enthusiastic to test his current limits against the other pinnacles that were at his realm, the other Sea Kings. They shuddered in excitement and dread. When the Beast King was like this, there was no stopping him, they were all going to battle. Even for a relatively calm and harmonious Sea King like the Beast King, there were times when the impulse simply comes and it is impossible to resist. It took a lot from his subordinates to calm down. "ANY MAJOR NEWS DURING THE TIME OF MY ISOLATION?" Unlike fragile, cunning, and tricky Sea Kings like Carcarot Gorgoneon, the Beast King was the real deal. His voice reflected the power that was packed in his body as it boomed like rippling thunder and crackling lightning. "Yes, Lord Emperor!" The biggest Mammoth Crocodile in the throne room after the Beast King replied. "A major event transpired in the Green Mist Sea just a month ago". "The recipient of this major event is a Megalodon who is now rumored to have 2 unique skills in his possession. The prophecy by the oracle predators revealed that he killed Carcarot Gorgoneon". The Beast King perked up at that. "TELL ME MORE!" A few minutes later, the Beast King knew all that he needed to know. "INTERESTING, WHAT AN INTERESTING LITTLE FELLA". "I''LL LOVE TO PLAY WITH YOU, BUT SADLY, YOU''RE STILL TOO WEAK. I''LL TRY PLAYING WITH YOUR FRIGHTENING LUCK AT LEAST AND SEE WHO HAS MORE LUCK". "AS FOR THE MEANTIME¡­" His sharp eyes sparkled. "NECROMANCY, HERE I COME!" Bzzz! The Beast King moved, the Beast King disappeared, the Beast King was gone. Chapter 336 - The Sacred Temple Of The Pinnacles. Torpedum survived after the horrifying encounter of the volcanic eruption. Although even Red tier predators died, despite the fact that Atlantian Annihilator warships were roasted by the extremely lethal fire, Torpedum survived due to his luck once again. He didn''t feel that it was special, he only felt that it was natural. He had always been lucky since his days as a small shark, that day was no different. Of course, alone and with his power as an orange tier Great White Shark, Torpedum stood no chance against the horrifying might of the erupting volcano but he received outside help. The Rogue Snake Overlord and Ancestor Horamon of the Turtle Confraternity were not the only Red tier predators that were attracted to the prospects of getting a unique skill for themselves where countless others failed. The only difference between the others and these 2 Red tier predators who later forfeit their lives was that they recognized and acknowledged the danger tangibly involved in this struggle. The struggle for a unique skill was not going to be something trivial, and they were right. The arrival of an Atlantian Division Fleet already stretched their chances, the subsequent arrival of 2 Mega Fleets sealed the deal. Unlike the Rogue Snake Overlord and the other, they recognized the hidden lines of fate that were before them, their chances of being the winner were too low so most of these hidden Red tier predators escaped while they still could. In a battle of a scale that they could not predict, experience told them to curb their desire and to safeguard their lives first. Only the living could vie for benefits. Unlike the purple tier and lower predators, their long life meant that they had the mental resilience to withstand the enticement of the inheritance ground. The desire that affected the other predators only felt like a tickle to them. Most of these Red tier predators escaped immediately lest their baser instincts succumb to the temptation of the inheritance ground, while the gutsier predators were content with watching from the background. These ones remained in the dark, watching while being optimistic. At the first perfect opening, they would dive in like sharks who just smelled blood. One of those that watched from the dark was a Space Beast, a Red-tier Space Beast. This pinnacle predator decided to stay behind once a younger member of his rare category of species became drawn into the equation. He didn''t prevent the young Space Beast from participating in the exciting battle, all he did was watch from the dark, ready to go in once the situation suddenly became critical to rescue the youngster. What actually pushed and consolidated his decision to stay was the presence of another predator, another predator that attracted his attention on the chaotic battlefield. This Space Beast knew that a myriad of mutated beasts would gather when the catch was a Sea King inheritance, but he was still shocked on discovering the presence of yet another space domain magician on the battlefield. Interested more than ever now, this Space Beast''s decision to stay became final. He watched from the dark as the battle changed from intense to harrowing. Against all the dangers of the battlefield, his prospects did not disappoint him, both Torpedum and the young Space Beast survived to the last moments of the battle before the volcanic eruption. The young Space Beast was far more powerful than the orange tier predator, but other qualities in the space domain Great White Shark attracted him. The ruthlessness to betray his clan, dooming them just for benefits to get stronger, the intelligence displayed to stay alive in such a chaotic battlefield where Red tier predators even died, and the skillful manipulation of the space domain magic all appealed to this Space Beast. Torpedum embodied everything that a member of his organization needed. Genius, intelligence, cunning, power, self-confidence, Torpedum had them all. The young Space Beast survived till the end with his power, but Torpedum achieved the same by cleverly relying on the Atlantians. After the help that he rendered since the battle was still ongoing, the Atlantians were unwilling to discard him immediately since he could play a crucial role in cornering Sebastian. This way, he survived till the volcanic eruption. But once the volcano erupted, his security became as fragile as paper as not even the Atlantians could save their own ass before the terrifying might of the volcano. Torpedum thought and thought but to no avail. Before absolute power, intelligence and cunning at times became nothing more than a decoration. This was exactly what happened to him but at his most desperate moment, someone intervened. By this point, every other enemy was too preoccupied with protecting their asses to pay attention, so the Space Beast acted. Of course, he was still attracted to the prospect of getting a unique skill but common sense told him that going after Sebastian would draw the ire of literally every powerful and desperate enemy on this battlefield. If he was unlucky enough to draw the attention of either the Rabbit Monarch or the Chosen Athena, he was as good as dead. Because of this, he decided to be prudent and went after his real targets. Warp! The Space Beast was a space domain magician also. With his impeccable manipulation of the space domain origin laws, he cut a space rift through the heat-filled and heavily distorted water space. Like a dimensional thief, this huge Space Beast got to his destination while the volcano fire was still spreading tyrannically, and out of the maws of death, he rescued both Torpedum and the young Space Beast. The Space Beast did not dare to tarry after getting his objectives, he overloaded his magic power and tore a huge rift in space that took him and the 2 predators straight out of this region. Bzzz! In a few seconds, they were gone. ¡­ Torpedum woke up to find himself in a dark environment. "I did not die?" "Yes, you did not, I saved the both of you". Torpedum instinctively blasted out to his surroundings with his electroreceptors. This was when he discovered the familiar Space Beast that he already seen before in the ocean volcano and a 2nd Space Beast. Space Beasts were not necessarily predators of the same species. They were part of a rare category of beast species in Oceania with pinnacle bloodlines. Whereas the first Space Beast with 3 enormous and menacing horns looked like a Leviathan, the other was a massively scaled version of an Orca. The massive Orca Space Beast spoke to clarify his doubts. "Yes, I saved you". "Yes, I am an Orca who succeeded against all odds and broke the shackles of my bloodline to unlocking my ancient pinnacle Orca bloodline". "And yes, I saved you for a reason". "In the battle at the ocean volcano, you exhibited qualities that were extremely attractive to me and my organization". "The name of my organization is the Sacred Temple of the Pinnacles". "Only predators with pinnacle bloodlines or pinnacle advanced magic domains or both are eligible to join my organization". "We are one of the strongest beast organizations in all of Oceania, with the greatest catalog of pinnacle predators, and an extremely powerful Black tier Space Beast as our leader". "Now, on behalf of my organization, I extend an invitation to you". "Join in the great cause of the Sacred Temple of the Pinnacles where you will get to meet the best and strongest experts who will train you on the mysteries of advanced pinnacle magic domains". Torpedum kept quiet for a long time after the Space Beast Orca finished his speech, then he finally asked. "Do I have a choice?" "Yes". "What is it?" "You can choose death". "Good, I''m in". That settled it, Torpedum was the newest member of the Sacred Temple of the Pinnacles. As the Space Beast Orca explained more to him about his new organization, the flames of ambition in his eyes burned. "This is the paradise for a genius like me, not for losers like Tungsten or Sebastian". He grinned, revealing his sharp rows of teeth. "I wonder if there was any survivor from the old clan. I wish Tungsten survived, let him grow strong and seek me for revenge". He revealed a bloodthirsty grin. "As for Sebastian, you own too many things that are bigger than you". "I will hunt you down myself". Chapter 337 - The Basic Library. Inside the basic library, Sebastian rummaged through the large catalog of books that were before him, spoiling him for choice. >The Theory of Mutated Beasts< >Albert''s Theory of Evolution< >The Lifecycle of a Clown Fish< >The Mysteries of the Mana Core< >The Mysteries of Beast Adaptations< >The Monster Dictionary< "I¡­, choose¡­, you, and you, and you". After spending one day in the Aurora Hospital, precisely the anatomy department doing his job, Sebastian already upgraded his daily schedule. Like senior anatomist Miniman said to him, the anatomy department closed from work for the day at exactly 4:00 pm every day. This left a lot of time for Sebastian to do a lot of other things. Since transmigrating into this world, Sebastian had never gone on vacation nor did he intend to do so anytime soon. It felt subtle, but since his transmigration, this sense of a formless pressure always kept on pushing him to work harder. Perhaps, it was because of the cannibalistic nature of Oceania that enabled predators to kill, feed, evolve, and keep the cycle of life and evolution moving but the pressure was always there at the back of his mind. It was like, if he stopped working hard for one minute, he would die. After the betrayal by Torpedum, the death of Old Mak, and the separation from his clan members who he currently didn''t know their status, Sebastian was left justifiably depressed but he did not dare to wallow in it. Perhaps, if it was him of a few months ago on earth, suffering so many depressing encounters would have demotivated him so much that he would have been unproductive for months at least. But in here, the pressure did not give him the luxury for that. After waking up from his coma, Sebastian didn''t even find the time to worry about his clan members who he separated from, the necessities to keep himself alive were what took priority in his mind instead. Despite being a purple-tier predator now, the pressure was still there. His appetite increased after his evolution, this only meant that he needed to hunt more and eat more before his stomach could be filled. In the barren wasteland where he woke up from his coma, how to safeguard his life and kill for food was what preoccupied his mind, not clan members. It was only after he arrived at the anemone domain, completed his preliminary objectives, and settled down in his new department, doing what he liked best that he finally had the luxury to think back. "I hope you''re alive somewhere, Tungsten". "We''ll meet again someday, I believe so". "Tosh, Verni, I miss you guys, I really miss your non-stop talk". This was all that Sebastian could do to relive arguably the best moments of his life since transmigrating into this world. He got most of his memories in this world from his time in Old Mak''s shark clan. Despite feeling regret, despite hoping that he could rewind time, Sebastian knew that there was only little that he could do at the moment which was why he was content with staying here. The best way that he could think of to help Tungsten and the others was to consolidate his current strength and start improving it again. If one day, he grew to become as strong as the Rabbit Monarch, he was pretty confident that a lot of the inconveniences that he suffered today would become nonexistent. In the end, strength was the real deal. That was why he decided to read 3 of the books that caught his attention, ''the mysteries of the mana core'', ''the mysteries of beast adaptations'', and ''the monster dictionary''. Yesterday, after work, he already read the ''theory of mutated beasts'', today he decided to try tackling these 3 fellows. >The Mysteries of the Mana Core< - The mana core as described by the great variant human scientist; Albert Stone is the driving force of every magic predator. In every predator''s body with a magic domain, every magic attack starts from the mana core. - After extensive scanning, research, and experimentation throughout the years, we succeeded in getting a basic overview of the complicated internal structure of a mana core. - The mana core is not just a box that contains mana, the mana core comprises a perfect mixture of mana, a direct essence of specific magic domains relative to different predators, and phasing lines of organic matter. - For decades, we''ve been trying ways to alter mana cores. Though none of them have been successful, it has been proven through our supercomputer that a mana core can be altered to have more specific usage. - The greatest dream of every anatomist relative to mana cores is to get to that golden age where predators cannot only have more than one mana core but also have those that are dedicated for specific usage. - The mana core¡­ - Mana cores¡­ Sebastian spent over an hour before he finished the first book. By the time he finished it, his eyes were already glittering as lots of insights, inspirations, and overview of a mana core became open to him. He enthusiastically picked the next book and started reading. >The Mysteries of Beast Adaptations< - Beast Adaptations are inherently tied to predators. They are only possible due to the unique nature of our world, and they are part of the reason why we are called mutated beasts. - The premise to which the first predator to get a beast adaptation mutated was strengthening ourselves the same way that variant humans did. - Variant humans despite their weak physique are known to be powerful because of their ability to create weapons that resonate with their physique, enabling them to output strength at a far higher level than normal. - Beast Adaptations were inspired by the weapons and gadgets of variant humans. What if we could achieve the remarkable effects of humans by trying to adapt and mutate our bodies to wield weapons and do the same? Once the idea came, there was no stopping it, and in came beast adaptations. - Today, beast adaptations range from basic spikes for attacking, to shell adaptations in crabs for storage, utility, attacking, and a lot of other usages to even mana conductor coatings to enable faster mana conduction. - Beast Adaptations are the perfect representation of a thriving beast ecosystem. Through battle, mutated beasts get to know their weaknesses, and through evolution, they mutate adaptations to try to make up for these weaknesses. - Today, beast adaptations are inseparable from all powerful predators. - ¡­ >The Monster Dictionary< - In our world, there are different types of monsters and mutated beasts, this dictionary comprises most of the well-known beasts and some rare monsters. {Well-known Category}. - Alligator. - Ariode. - Catfish {Snapping Catfish}. - Colossal Squids. - Dolphin. - Fish {Numerous Types}. - Giant Squids. - Jellyfish {Numerous Types}. - Killer Whale {Orca}. - Octopus {Numerous Types}. - Pelicans. - Penguins. - Porpoises. - Sharks {Numerous types like the Great White Shark, the Hammerhead Shark, the Basking Shark, the Blue Shark, the Thresher Shark, etc.} - Snakes {Numerous types like the Devouring Cobra, the Moon Devourer, the Snapping Python, the Swallowing Anaconda, etc.} - Turtle {Snapping Turtle}. - Walruses. - Whales {Numerous Types}. - ¡­ {Rare Category}. - Death Dragons. - Deep-Sea Nightmares. - Ocean Shakers. - The Devouring Joker. - Tsunami Shark. - Space Beasts. - ¡­ "Phew! I''m tired". Chapter 338 - Discoveries And A New Ambition. After the hours-long reading session and combined with the previous hours that he pumped into his work, Sebastian was tired but this did not diminish his fascination and enthusiasm about the knowledge that he just learned. Sebastian didn''t leave immediately; the first impression was very important in situations like this as they were what stuck to the mind the most. His wild and adventurous spirit was already stimulated, he wanted to properly comprehend and consolidate the ideas that were currently flowing in his mind before leaving. The book on the mysteries of the mana core was not what fascinated him most about everything that he just learned, but its different take and detailed explanation on the mana core provided him with a different perspective about it. According to the scientist, Albert Stone, the mana core was the driving force of every magic predator and he did not doubt it having experienced it himself. Without the mana core, mutating a magic domain was useless. Since he created his mana core after combining his magic qi, physical qi, and the primordial magic essence during his evolution, he never paid attention to it again though it was always there with him. Like most powerful predators who also mutated and made use of it, he ignored it, instinctively feeling that it was a natural phenomenon that was far beyond his understanding. In his opinion, his mana core was magic itself and it didn''t work under the restrictions of science laws but perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps, having this perspective alone was a mistake in itself, at least for an anatomist predator like him. According to the book, after deep scanning, it was discovered that the mana core comprises a perfect mixture of mana, a direct essence of specific magic domains, and phasing lines of organic matter. The mana core indeed mostly worked with magic principles and effects, but the fact that it contained a negligible amount of organic matter meant something. Perhaps, this organic matter was the living imprint that every predator left on his mana core and it was probably why mana cores could only be assimilated by other predators and not directly taken. Taking this train of thought, Sebastian connected it to what the book referred to as the greatest dream of every anatomist relative to mana cores which were to get to that golden age where predators can have more than one mana core. And it was already proven by the results predicted by the processing supercomputer that this was feasible. The only roadblock was now how to make this hypothesis and theoretical data reality. Sebastian could imagine the possibilities that would open for him if this ambitious dream was ever realized and predators could have more than one mana core and with each one tailored for specific usage. If he had 3 mana cores, with one focused on his offensive magic skills, another on his defensive skills, and another on his movement skills, all tailored to enhance the effects of the specific skills as much as possible, Sebastian could only imagine how efficient and lethal he would be in battle. While his enemies were still sending out one attack, he would have already attacked, defended, and rushed into the enemy''s blind spot already. The potential of such a battle style was so high that Sebastian''s eyes glittered like stars. Adding the predictions of the supercomputer with his own hypothesis now. What if the secret to allowing a predator to wield more than one mana core was to replace the organic imprints of the dead owner with his organic imprint? It may not be as simple as he thought, but Sebastian was confident that his speculations were not entirely rubbish that jumped out of nowhere. The more Sebastian thought of this, the more his eyes became heated, burning like bright torches in a dark environment. Despite how excited he was at his train of thought, he quickly calmed himself down. His hypothesis was promising, but the fact that no anatomist has ever accomplished this despite the extensive knowledge that they had said a lot. He may believe his competence in his occupation, but he was not arrogant enough to believe that he was better than every Atlantian anatomist out there. The machines and computers alone that were available to them dwarfed everything that he was currently able to work with. Their machines were better than his, they could access even more powerful predator test subjects, and their computers could scan faster than his by a margin. Also, it was not without reason why scientists tended to use experiments, take notes, and try to verify from fellow experts before a hypothesis could be believed and labeled as real. Before this train of thought was experimented on and verified, Sebastian would not try his head. He did not want a situation where his enthusiasm would lead to his brain exploding due to forcing another mana core in his body. Despite all this, he still felt excited about what he learned. As for the book on the mysteries of beast adaptations, it was a lot clearer and more straightforward to Sebastian since he was more familiar with it. Unlike with his mana core, every one of his adaptations was something that he studied extensively through his system before choosing to purchase them and he understood all their effects. He completely agreed with what the beast said. Beast adaptations were really like the weapons of mutated beasts since some clever ones could single-handedly change battle situations if used correctly. Beast adaptations like the shell war arsenal that he once saw in a crab and the cutting spiked chain that he saw in the living metal shark that he once fought all revealed the potential of a battle style revolving around adaptations. The potential of this battle style was boundless. Perhaps, by researching deeper into beast adaptations, adding his knowledge on superheroes and things from his previous life, he may be able to mutate the most overpowered beast adaptation ever. Once again, Sebastian validated that his occupation was the best. Back on earth, people thought anatomists'' only job was dissecting, but here, he was perhaps about to prove that anatomists were more than that. He was no longer just an anatomist, he was a magic predator anatomist, both meant entirely different things. His grin widened, becoming spooky. After washing his brain with the knowledge of the 2 textbooks that he just assimilated, Sebastian finally deviated to the last book. Unlike the previous 2, the Monster Dictionary was not about any major research theory, it was like its name said, a dictionary on monsters. By dividing the dictionary into 2 categories that represented well-known monsters and rare monsters, Sebastian was given a faint glimpse into the monsters of this world that he had not had the opportunity of meeting yet. Just looking at them set his eyes on fire. Despite the setbacks and side objectives that kept on coming to him every day, he never once gave up on his goal of dissecting all the powerful monsters of this world. Now, with his increasing knowledge about Oceania''s take on anatomy especially the part related to magic, he could do a lot more. He couldn''t wait to take all these beasts down. He could not look at all the monsters that were on the dictionary, they were simply too numerous for him to finish looking at on a single sitting. Despite this, he marked out those that he was familiar with and those that caught his attention. The numerous snake types were especially eye-catching, but the rare category of monsters was what really attracted his fascination. Apart from Death Dragons that he was already familiar with, and the single species of a Space Beast that he had seen in his last battle, every other powerful beast in this category eluded his understanding. The worst part of it all was that the monster dictionary of the basic library only gave detailed information about the well-known monsters. As for the rare monsters, the monster dictionary refrained from explaining here, rationalizing that the junior anatomists of the department were not ready to know so much which annoyed Sebastian to no end. To get the real monster dictionary that detailed the life cycle, anatomical structure, and basic information about these beasts, Sebastian needed to become a senior anatomist and access the advanced library. Sebastian already resolved to become a senior anatomist before now, but with this sudden incentive, he was like a bull on steroids. "Senior anatomist here I come!" Chapter 339 - Experiment! One month later. "Put pressure on the mechanical chains!" "Raise the test subject 5 inches higher!" "That''s it¡­, that''s it¡­, perfecto!" "Pry its eyes open let''s see its current state". Clang! Whoosh! "J.C, the test subject''s physical state is critical. The computer readings are indicating an abnormal spike in brain activity, it seems likely to explode". "Do it!" "Ok, add more pressure to the mechanical chains, make sure it remains stable, the optical tranquilizers are being administered". "The test subject''s posture is stable". "Good, prying its eyes open". Bam! Under the control of the supercomputer, junior anatomist Jakren controlled the smart mechanical limbs as they collided against the heavy closed lids of the heavy Sea Elephant before injecting sharp spikes into it. "Avoiding the eyeballs, touching the magic protective membrane now". Whoosh! Under Jakren''s control, the sharp spikes worked like the limbs of a spider as they balanced themselves on the heavy eyelids before pulling them apart. Pruuuuuuuu! As the heavy eyes of the enormous beast opened up, revealing its blood-red eyes, the mighty Elephant seemed to regain a bit of strength as it trumpeted loudly before struggling against the mechanical chains that bound it. "Stabilize the test subject!" They didn''t need Sebastian''s roar before they went to work. The group of junior anatomists under Jakren''s cue worked fast and efficiently as they made use of a series of pulls and pushes with the mechanical chains to rapidly drain the strength of the elephant. Pruuuu! Though the struggling elephant still trumpeted angrily, it was clear that its strength was also waning rapidly. Another alarming fact was that as its strength waned, its vital signs also started reducing in activity. Sebastian responded immediately. "Inject 5 clown-box of adrenaline on the test subject!" "Inject another dose of optical tranquilizers!" "Then get ready, lower the test subject to the working table on my count!" "3¡­, 2¡­, 1. Now!" Shing! Shing! As the mechanical chains moved with speed, dropping from the main lab''s ceiling, the elephant fell delicately with the well-timed movement. Directly below it was a giant working table that was formed from a massive merge of over 10 normal working tables. Through the delicate control of the junior anatomists who were listening to the commands of Sebastian and Jakren, the mighty Elephant that seemed to dwarf every one of them combined finally dropped on the merged working table. Bam! As soon as the mighty beast dropped, Sebastian swam out of his position. "Transfer control of the main mechanical cutting knives to me". "Inject the beast with heavy sedatives, make sure it stays docile". "Jakren, I need your support". "You got it, J.C". As Sebastian swam towards the massive table where the Elephant was laid on with Jakren following behind him, a pair of giant cutting knives with chains descended from the fleshy ceiling of the anatomy lab. Due to his diminished size due to taking the miniaturization pill, a lot of things became inconvenient to him. And of course, he couldn''t use his unique skill here which reduced his choice to use his telekinesis powers. After over a month of relentless practice, a new skill of his, telekinesis control was finally mastered and he could use the giant cutting knives skillfully. Jakren was a crab, with his sharp claws, he didn''t need cutting knives to dissect a test subject. Among all the junior anatomists, he and Sebastian already set themselves apart from the others as the best. Now, they got to dissect this massive test subject together. Once the giant cutting knives fell under the control of his telekinesis field, Sebastian entered his domain as the knives revolved rapidly, producing whooshing slicing sounds like the controlled swinging of a legendary mystic swordsman. "It''s now or never!" Ptui! The knives ruthlessly sliced the abdomen of the massive Elephant open, revealing all its internals but before the blood and internal body organs could pour out, a gravitic module was activated by Sebastian. Bzzz! The water space suddenly felt static around the Elephant. It couldn''t move, its blood couldn''t pour out, it was like it froze in time. Only Sebastian and Jakren were allowed to move around it. Ptui! Ptui! Jakren did not fall behind Sebastian. He knew that this was a critical moment, he didn''t want to be the one to botch all of their efforts after the month-long research as his claws precisely cut the opposite part of the elephant''s abdomen open. Crazy dissection officially started. Before Sebastian could continue cutting and navigating the body of this massive beast, he briefly paused as all his knowledge on sharks from earth coincided with everything that he already learned about them here. This 2-knowledge collided and merged, affecting his concentration at first but once Sebastian got used to it, his concentration reached a peak! He entered his zone! For the first time in this world, and for the first time in his Oceania anatomy career, he felt that peculiar feeling of absolute concentration and precision that gave him the deadly nickname of the crazy dissector. Oh boy! He was unleashed! Sebastian went on an educated rampage through the beast''s body. Slice! Slice! Under the guidance of the telekinesis control, the giant cutting knives cut rapidly like a hot knife slicing through tofu, taking advantage of their extremely sharp edge to rapidly navigate deeper inside the beast. Despite the cutting speed, Sebastian maintained horrifying precision. He avoided cutting any critical bone or organ, only cutting the easily regeneratable flesh as he navigated through the structure of the elephant to where its heart was located. Sebastian''s efficiency, precision, and focus at this moment were so much that Jakren felt his raging will for dissection. This crab was shocked, but it made the perfect decision immediately. Continuing would only hinder his comrade, he made the wise decision of giving Sebastian space to unleash his passion. Through this, Sebastian was unhindered as he navigated the massive body of the Elephant with the cutting knives through his telekinesis control skill. Even though the cutting knives already disappeared from his sight, going deep into the massive Elephant, through his Combined Super Sensing combined skill, he saw inside the Elephant as clear as day. Whereas all the blood and gore would confuse his comrades, it didn''t confuse Sebastian, this was familiar territory to him. For the first time, he felt truly at home. After cutting relentlessly deep inside the beast for 50 straight seconds, Sebastian slowed down as he finally arrived at where the heart of the beast was located, and alongside it was the legendary mana core. Sebastian''s telekinesis field bathed in the warmth of the mana core as its magical powers enveloped his telekinesis field. The mana core''s warmth was not too friendly though, it was like it embodied the will of its creator as the furious will of the dying Elephant blasted out with the intent to push Sebastian''s will away from the most sacred part of its body. On feeling this, Sebastian was not annoyed, he grinned. This proved and verified all his speculations and experiment results for the past month. The mana core really carried organic imprints of its creator, and these formed what seemed like a mini-life in it that had a sub-will of its creator. "Drop the artificial mana core box beast adaptation!" Whoosh! From the top of the main lab, the package that had been hanging since was released as it floated down with speed, straight at the opening inside the elephant. This mechanical invention looked like a normal box, but the magic power emanating from it said a different thing. The organic flesh that was attached to it, making it look like a spooky cyborg alien also revealed that it was not simple. This was the mana core carrier that Sebastian created alongside the anatomy genius, Jakren to form another home for a 2nd mana core inside a mutated beast. They already experimented on a beast once, but the experiment failed with the test subject dying. This was their second trial. Vroom! As soon as the box fell within the area of his telekinesis field, Sebastian''s will flared as his mental energy took control of the object through telekinesis. Then, like an expert surfer surfing the dangerous waves of the sea, he navigated inside the Elephant through the opening that he already cut inside it as he quickly got to where the heart and mana core of the elephant was. Once there, he held the box in place with his telekinesis control skill. "Release the mana core!" Whoosh! At the same suspension where the box dropped from, a frozen cube was cracked open as a living mana core that was still stained with blood was unveiled. Badum! Badum! The mana core still beat like a heart as soon as it was unveiled. Sebastian did the same thing with the mana core as soon as it fell enough to his area of influence which was his telekinesis field. After taking the mana core inside, he dropped it inside the box which he already opened through a programmed code, into a fixed spot inside it. Click! Once he was done, the mechanical box was sealed again. Immediately, he started retreating his telekinesis field, taking the cutting knives back with him. This time, his retreat was rougher, he cut some vital bones and organs but speed mattered at this moment. The reason for his flustered retreat was quickly revealed. The Elephant''s body took some time to register the presence of a foreign magic object inside it. And once it did, it reacted violently! A tug of war suddenly seemed to be going on inside the massive Elephant''s body as it convulsed like a mad monkey who just inhaled a hard drug. The Elephant started bleeding from various orifices in its body but Sebastian was ready for it as he ordered aloud. "Inject the prepared life stabilizers into the test subject!" Whoosh! Dozens of life stabilizers were injected into the massive beast, helping it with regeneration, increasing its tolerance to pain and stress but its effects seemed marginal as the Elephant''s convulsion only increased with time. Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba! Every equipment in the lab shook as Sebastian and the other junior anatomist sought shelter away from the beast that seemed about to detonate at any second from now. Sebastian didn''t just take shelter though; he swam towards where the visual coverage of the processing supercomputer was as he watched through the scans exactly what was going on inside the beast. Inside the Elephant was a battlefield! Both mana cores were now glowing an ominous red! They both outputted a horrifying amount of energy as they tried to expel the other from the body. The beast''s heart showed fractures like it would explode at any moment. Other major organs and adaptations that the Elephant had seemed eager to join the battle, but they didn''t know who to help, both mana cores carried the same biological imprint that they were familiar with. This brought chaos. The only redeeming factor in all the chaos was the mechanical box that housed the second mana core. The box released waves after waves that acted as tranquilizers, trying to calm all the chaos. Despite the box''s efforts, Sebastian saw no signs of the chaos stopping. Sebastian watched optimistically for a minute before his face fell. "Did I fail again?" The moment he asked, the red light being emitted by the 2 mana cores spiked and everything went blank in his vision. Bzzz! Chapter 340 - Promotion. Bzzz! Smoke filled everywhere; the main lab fell into darkness as the light channels that were installed in this part of the giant sea anemone malfunctioned. "Holy Sh*t! What happened?" "Ouch! It hurts!" "My head feels dizzy, am I drunk?" "What the hell happened?" "Is everyone ok? Stay put, the backup lights will come up soon". On hearing Jakren''s voice, the junior anatomists felt relieved. But this was when their thoughts immediately went to someone else, where was Sebastian? Blink! With sounds like the blinking of dozens of eyeballs at the same time, the backup lights suddenly lit up while the junior anatomists were still trying to make sense of the situation. With the light coming up, the main anatomy lab was finally illuminated again as this enabled them to observe the repercussions of their actions. All of them were left wide-eyed by the consequences of their actions. The main lab was just a step away from being utterly destroyed. Electric sparks lit up occasionally from the direction where the processing computer connected into the main lab which completely horrified the junior anatomists. The lab was extremely disorganized. The working tables were scattered into various corners of the lab, while the merged working table where the massive Elephant test subject was placed was in shambles. The other parts of the main lab were in relatively pristine shape since they were all well-protected to survive incidents like this in the first place. Despite this, the damage done was considerable. All the junior anatomists were left dismayed. Their emotions fell from the previous high that it was straight to the abyss. In a demotivational manner, they finally turned to look at their test subject who was likely already dead. They were right, the massive Elephant was completely still, no heaving signs could be detected in its body which indicated body metabolism and activity. "So, we failed Afterall". As he muttered this, Jakren turned to look towards the processing supercomputer''s coverage wall where Sebastian was, still focused on watching the scan results that were sent towards the screen. After the red energy light of the 2 mana cores spiked, Sebastian was knocked dizzy for a few seconds but he quickly recovered and focused again. On looking, he was happy since the life signals of the Elephant still showed activity but under his watch, the life signals reduced before turning static. The Elephant died. On seeing this, Sebastian felt crushed. He felt deflated all of a sudden as he rested his body against the computer, lamenting his failure. After everything that he put in, after entering the zone, working at his best, getting this result was a huge bumper to him. He could only try distracting himself to wipe away the sorrow, he felt extremely sad. "F*ck! I failed again¡­" Ding! "Huh?" Ding! Ding! "Huh?" Sebastian instinctively activated his electroreceptors and melody sensing skill to detect the place where the sound generated from only to discover that it was right beside him. "Huh?" He focused on the computer screen only to end up shocked. "¡­" "Holy Sh*t! He survived! He f*cking survived!" "What?" All the junior anatomists asked, confused. "He survived! Look, he survived! Oh f*ck, I''m so excited!" The junior anatomists were slow to comprehend it, but when they did, they were shocked. Instinctively, they turned their eyes towards where the test subject lay on the floor only to see a pair of ominous red eyes that shone like lanterns. Pruuuuuuuu!!! It was now that the fragile anatomists recognized the danger that they were in. The commotion and destruction also meant that the mechanical chains snapped and retracted, the massive Elephant was now free to go on a rampage. Oh boy! On waking up and seeing the vile beings that were torturing it for the past few hours, the massive Elephant felt like a switch was turned on in its head. Pruuuu! Against the laws of gravity, this heavy predator ignored Oceania''s gravitational pull as it turned itself upright at a speed that defied nature. Unlike before, its body now blasted out with magic power of 2 colors. It was the same earth magic domain, but one was brown, the usual color of its heavy earth magic domain, while the other one was a light golden color, forming a sharp contrast. If the brown side was heavy earth, the light golden side was light loose sand. Whoosh! The massive Elephant erupted with speed towards the nearest junior anatomist. The anatomists were horrified, it was so long since they fought a life-or-death battle that they were unsure of how to react. In his normal state, Sebastian was strong enough to intervene on time but at this moment, he was suffering an 80% reduction in his attributes. Sebastian could only watch anxiously while rushing closer to intercept. At the last moment, before the Elephant smashed the poor anatomist to smithereens, a loud gunshot sound reverberated. Precisely, a canon. BOOM! Once the canon hit the Elephant, its momentum stopped as it was thrown backward with speed. It tried to stand up but a hail of bullets drowned it as a higher authority took back control over the processing supercomputer. Shing! Shing! Even more powerful mechanical chains descended from the ceiling. Under the firepower suppression, the Elephant could do very little as it was tied tightly by the chains before being suspended. It was after everything was over that the stunned and horrified anatomists finally looked up to see the newcomers. Hovering before them was a team of clownfish soldiers and Doctor Craban. The Doctor swept a glance through all of them before she settled on Sebastian. "Sebastian, Jakren, meet me in my office". "As for the rest of you, go wait for instructions in your residential quarters!" On hearing the authoritative tone, all the anatomists shuddered before leaving. They looked at their 2 comrades with a mixture of envy and pity. Jakren and Sebastian left with the lead anatomist. ¡­ "I have gone through your research; your experiment was a success". "Yes, ma''am". Sebastian and Jakren responded at the same time. Doctor Craban''s eyes narrowed as she looked at the 2 of them. "Who came up with the idea to start up this experiment". "Sebastian". Jakren answered immediately before directing an innocent look at his comrade. "Where did you get the inspiration for this?" "I got it from studying the textbooks in the basic library". The giant crab''s eyes narrowed further. "Are you lying to me?" "I swear, I''m not lying!" Sebastian reacted immediately. Doctor Craban kept her silence for over a minute, building the tension to such an extent that Jakren shook before she snorted. "Humph, I believe you". "You do?" Sebastian was surprised. "Yes". The Doctor''s tone finally softened. "Though I''ve been acting oblivious to your research, I actually started following the 2 of you up a week ago when Miniman drew my attention to your research". "I have to say that I''m impressed". "Though your method is still pretty crude and unrefined, it is still a massive accomplishment considering how many masters never thought of this". "Sebastian, Jakren, you are both unique, I give you that". "Your talent, work rate, anatomical knowledge, and experience have impressed me more than enough. You have proven yourself in our field, so I deem the 2 of you worthy to take on greater responsibility". "Congratulations! The 2 of you have been promoted". "You are now a senior anatomist". Chapter 341 - Anatomy Book- Sebastian And Jakrens Research On Mana Cores. Sebastian reported to work the next day with a different swagger in his swim steps. It was no trivial matter to being a senior anatomist so he deserved it. Back on earth, he could not also boast of himself being the best in his field though he voted his passion for anatomy as number 1. Now in this world, getting his main occupation validated again left him feeling excited. "I wish Dave was here to see this, I''m now a magic anatomist". Sebastian swam to the main lab feeling super excited. "Welcome to work, Senior anatomist John Cena!" All the junior anatomists yelled excitedly as the main protagonist of yesterday''s drama finally arrived. On seeing the surprising welcome that he was not used to, Sebastian looked suspiciously at Jakren who at this moment looked like a celebrity anatomist. In the end, he shrugged his comrades'' shenanigans off. He would not be able to persuade them to not call him in the first place, so he simply gave up. On entering the laboratory, Sebastian grinned as everything was already put in place for him to work. Due to there being no major anatomical experiment today, everyone had the luxury to do anything they liked and here they were. Originally, the junior anatomists either go to the internet to enjoy quality time during moments like this or go downtown to enjoy arena beast battles but this all changed after Sebastian arrived. Seeing this as an opportunity to improve rapidly, during all their free time like this, Sebastian managed to entice his comrades into joining him in research. It was this habit and their determination to achieve it that led to all the activities of the previous day and 2 of them receiving the coveted promotion. As for the others, though they didn''t receive a promotion, having participated in the research, they all received monetary and other benefits. Today, Sebastian dedicated it to finalizing their research, performing tests, and culminating all the data that they derived to form a research book. Yes, they succeeded in dissecting a predator, implanting a 2nd mana core inside it and it succeeded but the method was still pretty primitive. The intense reaction between the 2 mana cores while they just met revealed that the method was not refined yet. This success could be attributed to luck because any mistake could have caused the Elephant to explode. Well, before they could talk of improving the crude method that they developed to do the job, they had to write down and understand the crude method properly first. At this moment, the massive test subject which suddenly felt a lot more intimidating than yesterday was already firmly held in place and suspended by the heavy mechanical metal chains of the main lab. After swimming to a high enough vantage point to take note of every change that transpired, Sebastian finally gave the order for the tests to commence. "Octaman, do the thing!" "Yes, senior". Whoosh! Once the octopus anatomist activated dozens of mechanical modules at once, the hidden machines in the main lab came to life. 8 large mechanical arms came out of the walls of the lab as they went closer and touched the massive Elephant, injecting special sedatives inside its bloodstream that caused the Elephant to fall asleep after 2 minutes. With this done, they finally went to work. With Sebastian and Jakren taking the lead, a lot of machines in the lab were utilized as they performed numerous surface tests on the massive Elephant to confirm its current physical state. After spending hours on the beast''s massive exterior, the current state of the Elephant was confirmed. Though it still suffered from some injuries that had not healed yet, overall, it was fine. The life stabilizers that Sebastian tested and prepared for the experiment proved their worth in gold, they were pivotal to the Elephant''s survival. The Elephant''s body was fine, the only problem was its eyes. Its eyes never became normal again, they remained bloodshot like someone who got punched in the eye and received a scar. From the tests, it was also discovered that the Elephant''s visual ability became impaired. It could still see, but its vision became a lot less effective. This was the first side effect of the experiment that Sebastian discovered, and it was the only real physical defect. After writing down all that, Sebastian commenced the magic tests. This was done completely by the processing supercomputer as it was the only one capable of penetrating the mysteries of the mana cores to discern their current state. As expected, the mana cores did not emerge out of the tug of war unscathed. Both mana cores had cracks across their surfaces, it was not anything fatal but it was still a defect that proved that the experiment was not perfect. Apart from that and the increased stress when channeling mana, the mana cores suffered no major damage which was an acceptable tradeoff for now. Sebastian and Jakren performed a few more tests on the massive Elephant to confirm their discoveries before they finally wrote everything down. After writing the results of the experiment, Sebastian also calmed down as they wrote down the process of the experiment. He knew the process best since he was the one who came up with the idea so he wrote it alone. After the sessions that he spent in the basic library, Sebastian got inspiration from what he read and sought to replicate it in a wilder form. After guessing that the organic matter in a beast could probably affect the ability of a beast to take more mana cores, he started researching on it but for a whole week, all his simulations failed. Frustrated, he was about to give up until he came up with another radical suggestion. This suggestion originated from the inspiration that he got the same day after reading on beast adaptations. What if another mana core could not simply stay in a body alone, what if the rejection was because they were not supposed to remain bare in the same condition and body environment? What if the solution to this problem was creating an artificial carrier for the 2nd mana core? He rationalized that as beast adaptations could be seen as the weapons of mutated beasts, why not see a 2nd mana core as an adaptation of a sort too? What if creating an artificial beast adaptation for it and mixing it with the organic flesh of the said beast while treating the mana core as an adaptation was the solution to prevent the rejection? Once he thought of this, it was like flood gates of ideas opened up in his head. Sebastian went to work, this was when he sought Jakren for help, and together, they created the artificial mana core box beast adaptation. Together, they researched the topic more, refined the design of the artificial beast adaptation more until they decided on the date for their experiment. Unfortunately, their first experiment failed. They didn''t give up, they refined their techniques some more, corrected their previous mistakes, and tried again. This time, they did it. For the first time since his transmigration, Sebastian''s hyperactive imagination enabled him to deduce and produce something tangible. The fact that this was related to anatomy was the cherry on top. After writing everything down, Sebastian smiled and turned to face Jakren. The past month was indeed spent fruitfully. Solemnly, he wrote down the name of this book. -->Sebastian and Jakren''s Research on Mana Cores<-- Chapter 342 - First Field Anatomy Mission. The junior anatomists threw a send-off party. In the anatomy department, senior anatomists were the absolute higher-ups, just below the lead anatomist. And even in the whole hospital, they still had a high enough status, so J.C and Jakren''s promotion was worth celebrating. Like usual, Sebastian played the card of a miser who had no money so Jakren and the junior anatomists were the ones who sponsored everything. For the first time since arriving in the anemone domain, Sebastian had the opportunity to wind down from all the pressure and truly enjoy himself. The first place that they went to was the Blue Tang Republic. It was the equivalent of the Kitchen Republic in the clown city, with the only difference being that instead of chickens, Blue Tang fish were the victims. Here, Sebastian tasted the best meat of his life. The Blue Tang Republic chefs were professionals. Though the food was still nutritious life prey like usual, the master chefs were able to add seasonings and package the live Blue Tangs in such a way that formed an extremely palatable dish. Sebastian was glad that he didn''t eat in his residential quarters today, today''s food was an eye-opener to him. For the first time since transmigrating into this world, he confirmed that predators could actually enjoy delicious food. After enjoying themselves here, they went sightseeing. Of the places that the junior anatomists took him to, the most memorable one to Sebastian was the arena beast tournament which took place downtown of the working-class zone. This was a widely watched public spectacle where powerful beasts ranging up to even the purple tier realm got to battle in exciting arena tournaments. This was the first time that Sebastian was watching it which made it all the more memorable to him. The exciting brawls, the ruthless take-downs, and the dominating beast champions all stimulated Sebastian so much that he shook excitedly while watching. As a powerful predator himself, the spectacle was especially attractive to him. Having noticed his clear interest here, the junior anatomists did not complain as they all spent the most time here. Sebastian felt that it was a pity as he watched. The tournament seemed real and lethal but through his senses, he already confirmed that none of the participating beast gladiators really died after being defeated. The arena instead used projection technology to depict the loser dying, invoking the crazy passion of the spectators while the real gladiator was rescued. Sebastian would have loved to send his doppelgangers here at intervals to participate in the tournament, but since death was not allowed, it meant that apart from further battle experience, he would gain nothing. This instantly killed his passion; the gains were not worth the trouble. By using his normal means, he could gain all the benefits with a little bit more effort. The past month, anatomy was not the only thing that he engaged in. Over the past month, he already learned to multitask to be more productive. While his real body never left the Aurora Hospital, he sent his doppelgangers out every day to engage in hunting activities. Though his strength that was suppressed by the miniaturization pill, and the fact that his doppelgangers had less strength than his real body meant that the hunting would be less efficient, it was still better than remaining idle. With his doppelganger''s relentless hunting activities every single day of the past 1 month, and combining it with his previous accumulations, Sebastian managed to level up 3 times and was now level 24. In his opinion, this was a massive achievement because at the purple tier, level up became countless times harder. Leveling up 3 times was only possible because of the advantage that his Atlantian living doppelganger gave him. Apart from leveling up, and his exploits with his anatomical experiments, Sebastian also worked on remedying the problem that prevented him from creating his 3rd living doppelganger. Over the past month, he already built his basic knowledge about Space Beasts to an extremely high level through the basic library. To know more advanced information like its body structure and others, he needed the advanced library. This was another reason that motivated him to work so hard to increase his chances of securing a promotion, and in the end, he got what he wanted. Having benefited extensively from the knowledge in the basic library, Sebastian could not wait to access the wonders stored inside the advanced library. Apart from these activities that were all related to increasing his strength and knowledge base, he never forgot the core objectives that led to him settling in the anemone domain, he still wanted to complete his objectives. During the past month, he maintained a connection with the music master who was his benefactor in this clown city. Through this connection, he was exposed to the deeper parts of the clownfish economy. By this time, by piecing in clues here and there that he found, he already made enough connections to be sure that the so-called clown god was an earthling. Though the music encounters were enough evidence already, who knew if there would be such a coincidence and entirely different artists got the inspiration to produce exactly the same songs here? This was why he engaged in more research, and now, he was sure. All that remained now was how to evade the security and pass through the zone of transition. He was already determined to enter the zone of glory, and he was ready to do it by any means. The best idea that he could think of was gradually building his connection of friendlies and allies in this city. As a senior anatomist now, he already had the right status to penetrate the upper circles of the clownfish economy. For this one, he believed that slow and steady would win him the race. As for inquiries about the myth realm and the temple of enlightenment, these were the only places where he met real roadblocks among all his objectives. Through the music master, he already got access to a lot of underground information channels, including those that were even outside the anemone domain but none had any clues about his inquires. Sebastian had no choice but to temporarily give up on achieving any success on these objectives anytime soon. The fact that none of the channels he asked had ever heard of these terms revealed to him how high-level the clues of his system were. Perhaps, his only channels to getting the answers that he sought, for now, were either contacting a Red tier predator or by taking it the slow way and building connections with the leaders of this clown city. For a beast city this big that they could even provide purple tier predators to their anatomists to play with, Sebastian doubted if the leaders of this beast city didn''t have any idea about the information that he sought. If for some reason, they didn''t know, then it meant that the information that he was looking for was so high-end that he would probably not get it for a long time which could be years. Sebastian settled for tackling his pending objectives the old-fashioned way. After the send-off party, Sebastian finally returned to his residence. As soon as he entered the room, he saw a box hovering in the middle of the room. On the box''s surface was written some words with blue color in bold font. {Issued Field Anatomy Army Mission.} {Details: ¡­} Chapter 343 - Going To The Factory Zone. Sebastian officially received his first field mission as an anatomist. On seeing what was written on top of the box that was sent to him, Sebastian was pretty surprised. He did not expect that his first field anatomy mission would commence just a day after he received his promotion. After he was promoted, just like before, Miniman came to him to explain the rules and privileges that a senior anatomist worked by. After the numerous rules and privileges were explained to him, Miniman added another which he called senior anatomists'' duties to the anemone domain. Becoming a senior anatomist, his pay grade, status, and a lot of other things didn''t just improve, his importance to the city also increased exponentially. Just like the experts of other occupations, an anatomy expert had far more importance to a city than what the juniors could. Sebastian''s daring experiment that shocked even Doctor Craban herself was proof of the importance that they could bring to the table. If Sebastian''s method of integrating a 2nd mana core into a predator became refined enough to be employed on a widescale, simply imagining an army of purple tier clownfish with 2 mana cores was a terrifying spectacle. Sebastian still had full control over his research direction. As the one who started the research, he understood its nuances and how to progress it best, so the clown higherups were already supporting him from the dark for success. This support meant that they now held him in higher esteem which translated to expecting more from him. Anatomy field missions could be referred to as one of the higher expectations that they had for them. In most situations, 99% if not 100% of predators who make up the army were not intelligent. All these brawny predators knew was to bite, attack with magic power, and wreak havoc with their beast adaptations, nothing else. The beast soldiers thought that this was enough for them to dominate any region but the higher-ups who ordered them knew otherwise. The higher-ups knew that any operation was rife with the prospect of losing every single soldier in it due to a simple mistake in judgment. To prevent mistakes in judgment, thereby increasing survivability was why anatomists were introduced. In small-scale battles, perhaps the effect would not be felt as much but in large-scale battles, well-trained anatomists who studied and knew the internal body structure of countless predators could prove priceless. If the commander of a beast army who was a purple tier predator was battling against another purple tier predator and were in a stalemate, one deduction from an anatomist could easily break the deadlock. For example, the anemone domain''s clownfish soldiers mostly made use of powerful mechs that could wreak a lot of destruction in battle. In large-scale battles, the field anatomists could participate by analyzing their opponents, identifying the weakest parts of their bodies, and revealing them to the soldiers who could then capitalize on the reveal to wreak havoc. When the idea of field anatomists was first introduced, a lot of people hated it but the validation from those who used it proved that the decision was right. Another reason that Sebastian later discovered why he was enlisted as a field anatomist just a day after he was promoted was because of the Elephant which served as his test subject. The clown army already took custody of the beast and was ready to deplore it in battle. They wanted to determine its overall combat power and prove through battle if 2 mana cores in a single beast were really feasible. While doing this, the army felt that taking Sebastian along could give him new inspirations once he saw his successful test subject at work. Once Sebastian heard of this, he made his choice immediately. He was going for this so-called field anatomy mission. Besides, unlike other anatomists, he was not afraid of danger. He was an anatomist, but he was also a predator whose eyes already saw blood and took lives. With his choice made, he tore the box open. Inside it was an enormous green vest that seemed stretchable and could stretch to every part of the body. Without hesitation, Sebastian equipped the green vest. [Ding! Mechanical Camouflage protective vest has been discovered!] [Mechanical Camouflage protective vest has been equipped!] After donning the protective deep-strike vest, Sebastian finally opened and went through the details of the mission that was issued. Apparently, a normal patrol clownfish army went out to hunt food for the city but they encountered an unusual opposition force. The patrol army sent a distress signal back to the city, now a reinforcement force was being organized to go rescue the clownfish that were in danger. Field anatomists were requested to make the rescue smoother. 3 senior anatomists were chosen for this job. Senior Anatomist Miniman who was the default leader, accompanied by supporting senior anatomist Jodeheim, and senior anatomist J.C. On seeing the time that was written on the details sheet, Sebastian''s face fell. After working throughout the day, he thought that he could get home and get some much-needed rest, he didn''t expect that he would be leaving soon. According to the details sheet, the crack reinforcement army would be completely organized in 2 hours. By then, the field anatomists should already report to the launch site inside the factory zone. Unconventional missions like this were one of the only ways where predators who were not native clownfish could access beyond the working-class zone. Sebastian was tired, but he still got ready to leave not just because of the thrilling encounter that the rescue would probably be, but also because he wanted to scout the route taken to go inside the factory zone. According to the description that he read;, the factory zone was where the real magic in this clown city took place. Core research went on here, and all the gigantic technological marvels that were being paraded by the clownfish army were manufactured here. Just a glimpse at this zone and Sebastian believed that he would get enough information that could help in his cause to enter the zone of glory. Sebastian got everything that he needed set, then an hour and 20 minutes later, he left, following a patrol of clownfish soldiers to the factory zone. Chapter 344 - The Zone Of Transition. "Open the border gate!" Whoosh! "Maintain a single file entry formation!'' The patrol of clownfish soldiers listened to the orders of the patrol commander as they piloted their military-grade shuttles through the huge gate that separated the zone of transition from the working-class zone. For the first time since transmigrating into this world, Sebastian got the privilege of traveling through a real marvel of clownfish technology. Unlike the transport shuttle that Sebastian entered when he traveled to the Aurora Hospital, the military-grade shuttles were far more formidable. A common fact about them was that they were all shaped like giant clownfish. Their huge exhausts blasted out blue flames as these gigantic machines of technology took the step forward into the next zone. Not all the soldiers of the clownfish army were made up of clownfish, the army would be too one-dimensional and limited in capacity then. Powerful predators of other species were also able to join the army after passing a lot of tests, but the military doctrines of the army still revolved around the primordial culture of clownfish. As the 3 huge military-grade shuttles that carried the patrol team drove through the huge gate, Sebastian was able to admire its gigantic size, architecture, and the magic runes running through its metallic frame. This huge gate that demarcated the working-class zone from the zone of transition was called the Gate of Transition. Though Sebastian learned of his mission assignment a little too late, he was able to react fast and improvise to get as much information as he needed. Of course, for information, the first person that he contacted was music master Galosh. This was the only clownfish that Sebastian was acquainted with who had the qualifications to provide the information that he needed. He was not disappointed, the music master helped once he asked and this was why he was not entirely surprised on seeing the huge gate. Also, the music master explained more about the zone of transition to him. From what the music master explained, the zone of transition was the heart of this clownfish city that kept everything running smoothly. He could not wait to see it and confirm for himself. Throughout the last month, he was already in a dilemma on how to start his preparations for the great infiltration into the zone of glory. Now, he saw this mission as a great opportunity to engage in a scouting operation. The clownfish here were intelligent, they were wary of him too because of his strength, but he believed that he could still do something. Time waited for no man. He wanted to enter that zone, get the information that he wanted, meet the motherf*cker lord if possible, and get on with his life. Over the past month, for some reason, he felt that he needed to accumulate power faster. He absolutely couldn''t afford to settle for such mediocre speed. Whoosh! As soon as the 3 military-grade shuttles crossed the boundary of the huge gate, a mechanism was activated as steam was emitted from its corners while it made loud grinding sounds as it slowly closed back up. Immediately after the huge gate was closed shut, the 3 shuttles were engulfed in darkness while they still moved forward. This way, Sebastian could not track exactly what happened until they saw light again 10 seconds later. Through the large see-through glass of the shuttle that he rode on, Sebastian let his eyes adapt to the light again before he fully took in the sight before him. After the 10 seconds of darkness, the 3 military-grade shuttles appeared in what seemed like a busy underwater port. Sebastian''s eyes briefly widened as he took in the sight that was before him. This was a massive underwater port filled with a lot of activity. Numerous shuttles, both military and nonmilitary-grade moved back and forth, underwater speed trains ferried across, and even captured beast transport was being used, forming a hub of activity here. The zone of transition was not explained much in the map that Sebastian bought when he just arrived here, music master Galosh was the one who explained this zone to him and it was exactly as the master described. The zone of transition was like its name said, it was the zone and heart of transportation that divided the truly elite zones from the others and also enabled easy transportation between both tiers of zones. It looked similar to a giant airport, but an underwater one. The zone of transition was the smallest of the zones but experienced the most daily activity. There were 4 huge airways or better still shuttle-ways that were built in 4 different directions in this zone. These were the most prominent structures that made up the zone of transition. At the end of these 4 shuttle-ways were huge gates that were similar to the one that Sebastian was taken through before entering here. According to the music master, the shuttle-way on the left led to the factory zone, the one on the middle led to the central business district which was the district of the higher-ups, while the one on the right led to the sacred zone of glory. Of course, the shuttle-way at the back that the military-grade shuttles that Sebastian took came from led back to the working-class zone. This was the main reason why the zone of transition was called the heart of the clownfish city. It was the pivot that divided the 2 tiers of zones. Apart from the most prominent shuttle-ways, the zone of transition was also comprised of giant sea anemones that served as giant mechanic workshops to repair faulty shuttles and a lot of other essential structures. No sea anemone was dedicated for entertainment in the zone of transition. It was simply a fast transition zone, no shuttle stayed here long enough for its passengers to have the luxury of entertainment. As the 3 military-grade shuttles completed their security checks and started driving towards the shuttle-way on the far left, Sebastian''s brain was constantly active as his attentive eyes took in the full sight before him. His eyes were like cameras and his brain a storage device, he refrained from using any of his magic senses that he could activate like a skill to avoid trouble but his eyes were already enough to do the job. He scanned the massive number of soldiers that were mobilized here, guarding 24/7, he scanned their positions, point of focus, and he also thoroughly scanned the 3 shuttle-ways that led to the 3 most important zones. Of these 3, he scanned the one at the far right more thoroughly. Compared to the other shuttle-ways, the shuttle-way at the right received no traffic but still, it was the most heavily guarded. Sebastian guessed that the visible security measures were just a fraction of the actual security scrutinizing every corner of this shuttle-way. His eyes grew sharp. A lot of obstacles were already standing on his way to his goal, but he was not ready to give up, he would definitely get there. Whoosh! Amid his thoughts, the 3 military-grade shuttles completed another transition and officially entered the factory zone. To Sebastian''s frustration though, they did not get to enter deep inside the factory zone so he could observe it, the organized army was already set and was waiting for their arrival. With their arrival, the rescue army force was ready to move. Chapter 345 - The Cornered Army Patrol. "Everyone is here, good!" "I, Lieutenant Clown D.D, am your commander for this mission". A giant clownfish that seemed more muscular and intimidating than the others took center stage and addressed the army once everyone was gathered. The giant clownfish was indeed muscular and intimidating, but this was only from the perspective of other clownfish and smaller predators. For predators like Sebastian in his original size, this giant clownfish was a little brother. The clownfish didn''t seem to mind as he continued his speech. "As the commander of this mission, I expect absolute cooperation from you all. Listen to my orders, execute them well, and our mission will be a success". "For this mission, I believe that you all have already been briefed". "Our brothers out there like usual have gone to work for the city''s prosperity but they are trapped. They met an unusual opponent, now they need our help". "Unlike other professionals in other fields, we are professional predators!" "We are soldiers, we live and feed in the battlefield all our life, our life belongs in the battlefield, we kill, it is what we do!" "Now, I implore you brothers, give me your best, make this mission a success and let''s rescue our brothers from the tentacles of death". "For the army!" "FOR THE ARMY!" The beast soldiers roared. With that, the reinforcement army comprising of one warship and 12 military-grade shuttles ferrying clownfish and clownfish mechs set out for the battlefield to save their comrades. Sebastian, Miniman, and Jodeheim were ferried on the warship. ¡­ Boom! Boom! Boom! Loud booming sounds echoed in the battlefield as the army of both sides comprising of brutal clownfish and their mechs and a terrifying army formed by the unrelenting and notorious fire ants clashed in a mega battle royale. In this region of the Green Mist Sea, it was widely known that the real Emperors were the clownfish and the snakes. This dominance was all because of the 2 high-grade rival rural settlements, the Anemone Domain and the Snake Kingdom. Though these 2 were undoubtedly the best and most dangerous, they were not the only rural settlements in this region. There were dozens of middle-grades and low-grade rural settlements. Putting that aside also, there were the terrifying rare beast species. In the A-Z Monster Dictionary that Sebastian had the privilege to read, some of the more known rare beasts were listed. As for the really rare ones, those were exclusive to the A-Z Monster Dictionary of the advanced library. Sebastian already decided to read the advanced version of the dictionary at the first opportunity that he got; he just didn''t expect a field mission so soon. In the advanced dictionary, the rare beasts there were not only more, their common traits and characteristics were also explained. Of these rare beasts, the fire ants were among the few that took this region of the sea as home. After years of observation, it was already discovered that fire ants were like nomads, peaceful and with a habit of living under rocks, far away from other beast environments where they could live a life of seclusion. Fire ants were called peaceful due to their reclusive lifestyle, but they were not always this way, most especially when their peaceful life was disturbed. When they were disturbed, they turn into furious rabid fire ants. Capable of breathing fire, secreting and spitting venomous gums, teeth as sharp as a razor blade, and with a rocky hard carapace that could absolve a lot of damage, fire ants were at the top of the food chain when it came to damage potential and survivability. A certain patrol of clownfish went on their usual food hunting patrols which were the main food production methods that kept the anemone domain going. The live prey that was fed to anatomists like Sebastian and his colleagues didn''t just come out of nowhere, those were the hard works of these clownfish. This patrol of clownfish already filled up their coffers with food which mostly comprising of live prey, and they were ready to return to the city. On their way back, they encountered a small group of fire-shell crabs. These crabs'' shell was part of the main materials used in creating clownfish mechs, so once the patrol team saw them, they attacked to kill them. With the explosive firepower of dozens of clownfish mechs battering at their position, they stood no chance despite their hardy shell, they all died. The rock below their location cracked from the firepower bombardment. The clownfish didn''t pay attention to this originally as they went closer to secure their booty, but it was on getting closer that they saw hell. The sensors of the military-grade shuttles first picked up the familiar signals as a red glow slowly started engulfing the cracked rock. It took a few seconds before the commander of the patrol team understood what was going on, but by this time, the die was already cast. Boom! An army of furious fire ants came after them with vengeance-filled eyes. The fire ants were too fast, there was no retreat for the clownfish army so they made the best decision to engage the fire ants. While engaging them, the commander of the patrol army wisely sent a distress signal to the city. The reason for his decision was quickly proved. It took only 15 minutes before the furious fire-breathing and venom-spitting ants dismantled the formations of the clownfish, wreaking untold havoc like eternal destroyers. "Hold the lines!" "Reinforcement is coming!" "Let''s not let these motherf*cking ants make fun of us!" "Bombard the life out of them!" Bam! Bam! Bam! Even as more mech armors were melted by the raging fire and lethal venoms of the fire ants, more mechs overloaded their weapon systems and unleashed hell back on the fire ants. Despite their hard carapace, more and more fire ants fell to the oppressive fire of the mechs. Despite this though, they remained as ferocious as a bull. The fire ants'' logic was simple. You may hide in your mechs, bombarding us, but even if more of us die, there are more of us still coming behind the rock. That was a simple truth, the fire ant numbers were straight ridiculous. Even as more of them died, more surged out of the rock underneath, bloating the water space everywhere like a group of undying ants. The spectacle was extremely thrilling to spectators but horrifying to the participants. Boom! After one last explosion, only 1 military-grade shuttle was left on the battlefield. The fire ants also already reduced in number, but those left were more than enough to overrun the last shuttle. The soldiers surviving in this clownfish army patrol despaired. Was this the end? Immediately after they asked this question, it was like God himself answered them as a formidable army of 12 military-grade shuttles appeared. The surviving clownfish experienced a morale surge immediately. "Reinforcement is here!" "Oh yes! We''re saved! Blast these motherf*cking ants!" While the survivors of the last shuttle rejoiced, the 12 military-grade shuttles that were originally coming at them at full speed slowed gradually until it became clear that something was wrong. Lieutenant Clown D.D was referencing the information that was sent to him by the patrol team that was in danger for the past few minutes. After intensive review, he discovered a strange pattern. Fire-shell crabs were highly coveted beasts by literally every established beast settlement, and they were famed for living in only specific regions. It was literally impossible to see them in such open water bodies. What were the odds of them appearing here? Also, what were the odds that fire ants would also be in the same location where they appeared? The more this Lieutenant thought of the situation, the more he felt that something fishy was going on but he decided to continue with the rescue operation until he saw the location for himself. Immediately after his army arrived at the battlefield, on referencing a vantage-point projection of the battlefield, he discovered the anomaly. Too many things were wrong, or it was more like, there were too many coincidences that would never have occurred at the same time before. His eyes widened. "This is an ambush!" Immediately after he discovered this and ordered his military-grade shuttles to slow down, activity was detected from underneath the rocks. Lieutenant D.D looked and his clownfish face darkened. "The Snake Kingdom!" Chapter 346 - Ambush! The Anemone Domain and the Snake Kingdom were eternal rivals. For a long time ago, the Snake Kingdom was widely recognized as the only overlord of this expanse of water, but this changed following the rapid rise of the Anemone Domain which was helmed by clownfish. Considering the different physique and combat ability of both species, at a glance, the clownfish seemed to have no chance against their snake opponents, but they turned the tide of the war with technology. A war of attrition between both races started and lasted for decades with the clownfish constantly on the losing side, this was until the clown god appeared who singlehandedly turned the situation around. This exceptional clown god was a genius in a lot of ways. Not only did she have fierce combat strength herself, but her outstanding knowledge was also what really turned the situation in favor of the clownfish. The tenacious snakes did not succumb though. Supported by their century-old elders who were awoken from their hibernation when the survival of the rural settlement was threatened, the Snake Kingdom held on. In the end, the leadership of this expanse of water could only settle for the dual leadership setting with the 2 high-grade settlements as the overlords. By the time this status quo became normal, numerous clownfish and snakes were already lost to the massive struggle that lasted decades. To reduce their losses, both sides tacitly decided to stop the mindless killing. Silently, throughout the years that followed, though the rivalry between the Snake Kingdom and the Anemone Domain remained, it was more subtle as both sides were content with licking their wounds in the dark and recovering. The clashes between these 2 dominant rural settlements during this time were reduced to nothing more than small skirmishes between patrol teams. And this only happened mostly if both patrol teams met abruptly and had to fight each other for benefits. Then, none of them would like to give in first which was proof of weakness before the other. They were content with slowly recovering and accumulating power in the dark, and to do this, laying low was the best strategy. This status quo already continued like this for such a long time that perhaps, the clownfish army grew complacent. Things that they never overlooked during the thick of war years ago were now easily overlooked. An example of this fact was Lieutenant Clown D.D. Years ago, this veteran clownfish soldier would have never fallen so deep before discovering the ambush. This complacency never proved to be a problem though, this was because the status quo was already ingrained in them. Every soldier thought that this status quo would not change soon, or were they wrong? This was a question that no one had an answer to at the moment. Unfortunately, this time though, despite the clownfish lieutenant''s countermeasures, he was caught deep inside the heart of the ambush. By the time he discovered the conspiracy, the danger already erupted in the most violent manner possible. "The Snake Kingdom!" This was the last thing that the Lieutenant was able to say with an angry hiss before his warship and his military-grade shuttles came under enemy fire. The warships'' sensors detected activity from below the ground, but this lasted only an instant as the energetic discharge coming from underground scrambled all their sensory fields, rendering them useless. Boom! Boom! Boom! Gunshot sounds erupted following the sounds of the exploding bombs. As the sensors of the warship were rendered useless, Lieutenant Clown D.D could see nothing but white and blank as the warship rocked under the terrifying kinetic impacts of the enemy bombardment. All he could hear around him was static and shaking as the powerful warship tried to re-orient itself and engage in this battle to no avail. It took a few seconds before the warship forcefully shrugged off the effects of the massive kinetic shells impacting its frame. When the sensor screen came back online, the clownfish lieutenant''s heart chilled. An army of snakes of different species came from directly below the rock where the fire ants originated from and now faced the clownfish army. During these few seconds of blindness from the warship, every single fire ant remaining was annihilated, including the last military-grade shuttle of the clownfish patrol team, and 2 military-grade shuttles of the reinforcement force were already in a critical state from the massive bombardment. Fire ants were terrifying rare beasts, but they had one major weakness, cold and ice. The fact that the snakes came prepared, using the right methods to rapidly wipe out the ants revealed that they had this planned extensively. Lieutenant Clown D.D felt his small heart pounding rapidly. After annihilating the first 2 obstacles, all these snakes were now upon them. Unlike the Anemone Domain that took in visitors, even incorporating them in their military, the Snake Kingdom took no visitors, everything about them, their culture, and their modus operandi screamed snake. Their advantage was that snakes in Oceania were of so many species that writing them in a Dictionary could virtually fill it up. From Pythons as huge as shuttles to Constrictor Boas with hand adaptations to wield different weapons such as the ice generators through which the fire ants were just annihilated to Cobras that had the deadliest venom in the whole region, the Snake Kingdom had them all. At this moment, of course, it was unrealistic for this high-grade rural settlement to deploy their whole army, but the number of snakes that were allocated for this mission was more than enough to steamroll the clownfish. The clownfish reinforcement army was blasted, they were absolutely dead from the number disparity alone. The snakes planned this, staged it, and executed it in such an impeccable manner that the clownfish were left like clowns. Despite all the stakes that were stacked against them, seeing the movement of the snakes that were filled with extreme bravado and pride, Lieutenant Clown D.D felt like a stake was being driven through his heart. "Hahahahahaha!" The clownfish Lieutenant suddenly laughed aloud. "We may all die today, but let''s die with pride!" "Let''s show these cursed species what it means to go up against a clownfish!" "ATTACK!" The only warship of the clownfish army personally led the charge. They were fed up with the shameless ambush of their opponents and the bravado that they showed for it. The fact that the snakes did not decide to end the status quo openly but did it this shamelessly in such a hideous manner revealed the low standards and morals of the snakes, the clownfish would not stoop so low. The snakes ambushed them, but they would retaliate with all their might openly and show these hideous fellows who were the real kings of this region. All the shuttles were under a lot of fire, and the melee battle-oriented snakes were already rapidly closing the distance but the clownfish did not cower. Whoosh! All the escape ports of the shuttles opened up as a wave of clownfish mechs poured out of them like hundreds of versions of the iconic marvel iron man. "Blast the snakes to oblivion!" Boom! Boom! Boom! Chapter 347 - Battle Of The Eternal Rivals! Once the battle between these eternal rivals started, there was no stopping it anymore as it became heated immediately. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Ranged mechs unleashed their kinetic-empowered loads from a distance as powerful booming sounds of explosive force devoured the battlefield. Those with energy weapons kept an even greater distance before unleashing their loads. While the clownfish mechs wreaked havoc, the snakes were not left out as those with unconventional adaptations like arms aimed their ranged weapons and also unleashed hell back at the enemies. The water separating the 2 opposing armies became muddled, turning red from all the interference, kinetic force, and energy interacting within it. The snakes did not come with any shuttle or warship. It was clear that they already settled under the rocks long ago, everything that they needed to unleash their full battle potential was in place so they needed no support. This meant that their situation was more stable compared to the clownfish, but it also left them susceptible to the rampage of the clownfish warship. Though this warship was like a baby chick compared to the Dragon-grade warships of the Atlantians that Sebastian encountered over 2 months ago, against the snakes, it was still a formidable opponent. Boom! Every strike from the warship''s main cannon sent rippling shockwaves through the water, obliterating anything and everything that obstructed its path as it set the first line of blood through the ranks of the deadly snakes. Countermeasures that were already prepared were hastily executed by the snakes in a bid to lower the destructive potential of the warship. While the snakes did this, the ranged mechs of the clownfish did the opposite as they unleashed all their power to suppress the enemies and to allow their champion warship to continue its dominating run. This exchange of fire, the explosions that followed, and the lives that were taken presented the ranged battle in the fiercest of lights but everyone who had encountered a battle of this scale knew that the melee battle was the real deal. All the ranged firepower, shelling, and suppression were all preparations for the massive melee showdown that was about to take place between both sides. The snakes could feel it drawing closer and they prepared for it, the clownfish felt no different as they also prepared for it. 13 seconds of continued ranged shelling later, the melee force of both sides collided in the most epic battle visual impact ever as the light of the collision itself seemed to be refracted through all mediums. BOOM! The battlefield shook, the rocks underneath cracked before breaking down from the pressure, soldiers from both sides died from the initial collision force but those who withstood the impact started the real melee battle. Crunch! A massive Python attacked first as its terrifying rows of teeth dug into the metallic components of the opposing melee mech, allowing the deadly venom in them to invade as the mech literally started melting from within. A Boa Constrictor took the mantle of leadership as its enormous body stretched, seeming to turn to a spring as it threw itself at the clownfish mechs, tying them all up before squeezing with the force of thousands of Newtons. A massive Cobra, unlike its 2 predecessors did not mindlessly charge towards the clownfish mechs. While maintaining a brief distance between them, this Cobra opened its enormous mouth, revealing its deadly teeth, and sprayed. Sizzle! A cloud of purple venom sprayed out from the Cobra''s teeth as they swept forward through the water like a curse cloud. Any mech that came into contact with this purple venom cloud instantly started showing surface melts. Not only this, the purple cloud managed to invade small openings inside the mechs to kill their clownfish pilots directly. The lethal snakes dealt the first bite, but the rabid clownfish dealt a fierce retaliatory punch to send their battle message to their opponents. Bam! Bam! One of the clownfish mech''s arms grew 2 times bigger and 10 times heavier suddenly under the assault of an enemy snake as the mech unleashed 2 killer punches that seemed to come from the incredible hulk himself. The snake stood no chance, the powerful force pulverized it instantly. Whoosh! Another clownfish mech unsheathed a heavy broad sword from its huge metallic body as with fine swordsmanship finesse, this melee mech went on a rampage through the ranks of the snakes. Spears, halberds, lancers, the melee mechs of the clownfish revealed different weapon armaments as they all went on the offensive aggressively. Once both sides started the melee battle in full, the battle intensity was taken to the next level as damage potential increased exponentially. The casualties also experienced an exponential increase. Clownfish and snakes alike died like floating fireflies in a night sky as their souls died knowing that they helped the cause of their comrades. The soldiers from both sides showed no hesitation, they attacked with their all in the ruthless manner possible with the intent to draw blood and it reflected as blood already dyed the surrounding waterbody red. The battle only progressed for 15 minutes before the clear winning side was revealed despite the equally tyrannical unflinching offense showed by both sides. The clownfish attacked like a group of rabid dogs, their pride granting them strength to punch way beyond their normal limits but the effects of this were limited as the snakes were also putting up a fierce offensive might. Also, the snakes ruthlessly held on to their advantage of numbers to grind at their opponents, wearing them down and thinning their resistance with time. At this moment, the resistance of the clownfish army already reached its lowest. The warship still stood though heavily damaged, and of the 12 reinforcement shuttles that came, only 5 were left functioning. All this served as a platform to highlight the intensity of this battle. Even though they were the losing side, the clownfish soldiers never hesitated. They were like a mindless robot army that was sent on a suicide mission but still gave their all to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemies. They fought with only one motivation in mind, to kill as many snakes as possible and prove to these vile beasts that despite being outnumbered, they could still inflict terrifying damage to them. Inside the battling warship who was at the very heart of the battle, Sebastian watched the battle proceedings with a petrified Miniman and Jodeheim. It became increasingly clear that they were all dying here today, so these 2 anatomists who hardly knew a thing about war and predatism were spooked. Unlike them though, Sebastian acted the part of being petrified also, but in his mind, a lot of things went on as he analyzed the overall battle situation. At a battle of this scale when every soldier was already engulfed by their emotions, their role as anatomists here was reduced to the lowest, no soldier would listen to them even if they indeed identified a weakness in their enemies. At this moment, Sebastian didn''t care about that though, all his attention was on his survival chances. Through his experience, he already knew that if no miracle happened, every clownfish soldier here was dying. The dilemma was on how he could safeguard his life. "F*ck, this miniaturization pill is a huge bummer". If he was at full strength, Sebastian believed that he could work something out but with only 20% of his strength left, his chances of surviving were too low. Though he hoped for a miracle, he already knew that banking his hopes on them would only disappoint him, trying to find a way out himself was always the best way to safeguard his life. While he thought of ways to save his life, he could not also help but think about this current battle. He was not an army Commander or anything of the sort, but his intuition told him that something was wrong. For some reason, he didn''t feel as much danger as he would have expected in real life or death scenarios. It was like, the enemies had another motive in mind, this was the interpretation that he got from his intuition. "What are the snakes planning?" Immediately after he asked this, he felt a change. [You have activated skill: Melody Sensing.] With this skill active, Sebastian first felt a subtle melody wave rippling through the battlefield, and this originated from the snakes'' direction. "What is this about?" Before he could understand what this melody manipulation was all about, Sebastian was horrified as he felt a massive predator entering the range of his electroreceptors and other sensory skills. "Is that, a whale?!" Instantly after he discovered this, the snakes reacted like they also detected it as every single snake turned and swam for their lives. The surviving clownfish were shocked at first, but once the warship made use of its long-range sensors, it also detected the danger. "Escape!" Lieutenant Clown D. D''s weary voice yelled in a horrified tone. The surviving shuttles did not dare to linger, they overloaded their propeller systems and drove away at the maximum theorized speed of the vessels. While they escaped, some looked back, this was when they saw throw the 2-way glass the massive predator that casually swam from a distance. Even at a distance of kilometers, this predator was prominent. From afar, they could not determine its exact species, but this was a massive predator whale that towered at approximately 100 meters long. 100 freaking meters! "HOLY FREAK!" [You have been attacked by a skill: Sonic Tsunami!] Wooooooooo¡­!!! Bzzz! Chapter 348 - Councilors Gathering. "They dared?!" "They dared to attack?!" "Order please!" "They actually dared to attack?!" "Order!" "I say we go to a full-blown war against the filthy snakes!" "Let''s show them what we''re capable of!" "We need to pummel some sense into these war mongers'' brains!" "SILENCE!!!" The blasting voice of the authoritative clownfish who sat on the seat that was at the very center of the arrangement succeeded in bringing order this time. This was a high-grade gathering that was taking place at the very center of the anemone domain, the central business district. This was the Councilors'' Gathering. At this moment, 13 floating chairs in the water were arranged around a huge circular equally floating table. Sitting on these floating chairs were the most powerful clownfish in the whole domain, the 13 councilors. When the anemone domain was created, they were not like their rivals who already had a stable background with the leaders being the hibernating elders. For the anemone domain, they arrived at a time filled with travesty and danger where numerous clownfish had to group up to fight for their survival. From a fight for survival, it graduated into a fight for domination. During all these conquests, there was no unifying leader among the clownfish, 13 individual clownfish were the ones who directed the show. After the establishment of the anemone domain as a high-grade rural settlement, these 13 clownfish became councilors of the powerful settlement. There were 12 councilors actually and 1 chief councilor. To date, these 13 were the main clownfish who directed everything that happened in the massive city from their high towers. Around the huge floating circular table, 6 councilors sat on floating chairs at the right of the table while 6 others sat on floating chairs on the left, leaving the chief councilor to sit on the only chair in the middle. A few hours ago, a piece of news arrived that pulled all these old clownfish from whatever they were doing to attend this gathering. Any major information that involved the Snake Kingdom was priority information, and it succeeded in drawing all their attention again. Once the chief councilor managed to restore order to the gathering, she directed an irritated glare at all the councilors before finally speaking. "A.I Teoni, present the situational analysis". "Yes, chief councilor". A pure robotic voice responded to the chief councilor''s order as the large gathering hall turned pitch-black with a massive virtual projection appearing in the skies just a few seconds after that. "This is footage of the battle situation". "¡­" "After a lot of analysis, the clownfish Generals were able to deduce that somehow, the route of our patrol team was intercepted by the snakes which should have been impossible considering our technological advantage". "The even more impossible analysis is that this information was intercepted by the snakes long enough before the patrol team went on their mission". "Only our main computer server has the randomized pattern of team deployments, the pattern is revealed to the patrol teams just before they leave and this server is only accessible by clownfish higher-ups". "The implication of this is that our higher ranks are compromised". "Also, the deployment of a snake fleet with such destructive potential so close to our territory would have never evaded our detection measures". "The implications of this are a lot with the most direct being that our military information sector is also compromised". "The fact that the snakes did not rise to overwhelm and devour the patrol team immediately, but rather waited till our reinforcement force arrived reveals their intention to never keep this action a secret". "This is a show of force and it sends a message". "Even with the reinforcement force, the snakes were more than capable of steamrolling through our deployments. The coincidence that resulted in a Mega Whale entering the scene feels too staged to be believed". "We have to assume the worst that the Mega Whale was attracted by the snakes, the reason for it is what we don''t know". "With the Mega Whale''s attack, we lost all our military-grade shuttles including all their inhabitants and mechs. Only the warship survived the assault with extremely severe damage". "The Mega Whale''s attack also affected the snakes, killing a lot of them though they reacted early on seeing it". "This scene suggests that the snakes had no idea of the Mega Whale before it arrived but the snakes have built a reputation of being extremely cunning and notorious over the years, so nothing is set in stone". "This is the military analysis by all the Clownfish Generals". "By making use of the probability judge mechanism of the Hivemind Mega Processor to process the analysis, a result of 11G-2F29-FE1;GA was obtained". "There is a 60% chance that this is a declaration of war by the snakes!" "¡­" A long silence reigned in the gathering hall after the last declaration from the A.I. The other councilors didn''t jump in this time, so with the chief councilor not speaking, the silence reigned until she finally opened her mouth. "You heard the A.I, the red flag of war has been drawn". "For decades, we have developed in peace, accumulating strength but the snakes were also doing the same, mostly refining their methods from decades ago". "I don''t know what is going through the elder snakes'' head but if they want to go to war against us so badly, I''m not against it, we''ll have to show them the hard way what clownfish are capable of doing". "This is my order; the military will go on a semi-red alert state!" "Let the Generals prepare for war!" "Also, let the traitors be rooted out!" "Yes, Chief Councilor!" All the councilors swam from their chairs to leave but to their surprise, the chief councilor did not swim up yet. This authoritative female clownfish looked at all the councilors one last time. "The snakes are our eternal enemies, but we''re our own greatest enemies". "Before you make any of your decisions, remember that the survival of the anemone comes first above all, nothing eclipses that". "You can pursue benefits, but not at the expense of the anemone''s safety". "A word is enough for the wise clownfish". Chapter 349 - The Advanced Library. After the attack on the patrol team which spilled over to the reinforcement force and almost resulted in the annihilation of the whole force, a period of tension came over the clown city. Of course, measures were employed to suppress the news but anywhere sentient life was, rumors and news always spread. Though they already experienced their fair share of battle encounters and field missions, Miniman and Jodeheim was traumatized after being subjected to the mighty power of the Mega Whale. With 3 of their comrades directly suffering from the encounter, the tension in the anatomy department was at a high as even Doctor Craban was concerned. Most of the anatomists here were originally visitors. The fact that they worked here did not mean that they were loyal to the clownfish. If things became contrary to what they expected and a war between the anemone domain and the Snake Kingdom erupted, they had no qualms with abandoning all their progress and escaping to safeguard their lives. Only the living could work, only the living could dissect, and only the living could engage in research, life was paramount in any situation. The only thing that prevented them from breaking already was the fact that there was no definite proof that the snakes were about to start a war. At least, this was what they thought but Sebastian knew otherwise. Having the privilege to encounter where all the tension started from, Sebastian had an understanding of the situation even better than every other survivor like him due to his advantages. Most of the deductions that the clownfish Generals made were also made by Sebastian, but with more precision and understanding. Whereas the Generals could only guess if the Mega Whale was attracted by the snakes, Sebastian was 100% sure that it was attracted by the snakes. On the battlefield, through his melody sensing, he was able to discover the subtle sonic waves that were being transmitted from the side of the snakes while the battle raged fiercely. These sonic waves were transmitted just before the Whale disaster happened. Despite being a sound domain magician also, Sebastian suffered a lot from the sonic tsunami skill of the extremely gigantic whale. Sigh! Nothing was harmless in Oceania, he confirmed again. The only problem was that Sebastian also didn''t know if this was a declaration of war by the snakes. Despite not knowing, his more conscious personality told him to act fast with his plans. Perhaps, a war would spoil all his plans, or it may even be the breakthrough point that he was after to access inside the zone of glory. Either way, no matter what happened, he was sure that it was right to prepare himself for whatever outcome. This was why once Sebastian was attended to by the Aurora Hospital doctors, he left for the anatomist department, precisely the advanced library. Once Sebastian entered the advanced library of the anatomist department, he felt like he just swam into a miniaturized but far more extremely developed version of the basic library. With just one casual glance through the water-proof cover books that were arranged on the shelves, he knew that every single one of these books was more advanced than the ones found in the basic library. Of course, in an advanced library like this, Sebastian was like a kid who just entered a grocery shop. Everything was attractive to him; all the books were so enchanting that he felt like stealing them all away. Leaving them to be destroyed by war would be the greatest injustice ever. Despite how he felt about the books, Sebastian did not act rashly. He was patient and determined, carefully avoiding all the temptations till he arrived before the book that brought him here. If he could finish this book on time, he would contemplate reading others but at this moment, going through this book was the priority. The encounter with the Mega Whale revealed to Sebastian how knowledge-deficient he was about the rare beasts of this world. If he was embroiled in a battle with any of them, without knowledge, things would be much harder for him. This increased the importance of going through the advanced version of the A-Z Monster Dictionary that recorded most of all the rare beasts. Once Sebastian placed his teeth on the book, he flipped it open. >The Monster Dictionary< - This is the advanced version of the basic monster dictionary, with more emphasis being placed on the rare beasts. {Well-Known Category}. - Alligator. {The Alligator is a ¡­} - Ariode. {The Ariode is a mutated beast that evolved from the fusion of genes from a Sea Lion and a Barracuda. They have 4 major fins, 3 support fins, and a terrifying row of teeth}. - Catfish- Snapping Catfish. {The Snapping Catfish is a ¡­} - Colossal Squids. {Colossal Squids are ¡­} - Dolphin. {Dolphins are ¡­} - Fish- Numerous Types. {Fish type such as Blue Tang, ¡­} - Giant Squids. {Giant Squids are ¡­} - Jellyfish- Numerous Types. {Jellyfish types such as Box Jellyfish, ¡­} - Killer Whale- Orca. {These terrifying killer monsters have a well-balanced predatory system ¡­} - Octopus- Numerous Types. {Octopus types such as blue-ringed Octopus, ¡­} - Pelicans. {Pelicans are a genus of large water birds that make up the Pelecanidae who mutated to adapt to living underwater. They are characterized by a long beak used for catching prey}. - Penguins. {Penguins are ¡­} - Porpoises. {Porpoises are small mutated toothed whales that are similar to dolphins with a low triangular dorsal fin and a blunt rounded snout. - Sharks- Numerous Types. {Shark types such as ¡­} - Snakes- Numerous Types. {Snake types such as ¡­} - Turtle- Snapping Turtle. {The Snapping Turtle is a ¡­} - Walruses. {Walruses are large flippered predators that are famous for their prominent tusks and whiskers and their considerable bulk}. - Whales- Numerous Types. {Whale types such as ¡­} - ¡­ {Rare Category}. - Death Dragons. {Death Dragons are direct descendants of the powerful and extremely dangerous Necromancy King with an innate ability to breathe and manipulate Death Fire}. - Deep-Sea Nightmares. {Deep-Sea Nightmares are wraith-like mutated beasts with the ability to assimilate cold to grow stronger. They attack through the soul and live mostly in extremely cold regions}. - Ocean Shakers. {Ocean Shakers are rumored to be the descendants of the Ocean King. With sizes ranging from at least 30 meters upward, they are some of the biggest predators in Oceania and their attack method is similar to whales, by swallowing. They are shaped like Leviathans and they all wield the devour magic domain}. - The Devouring Joker. {The jokers are massive clown-like predators who attack by spreading a plague of emotions. By amplifying specific emotions of their opponents, they can kill through anger, sadness, or even happiness and were good at manipulating emotions}. - Tsunami Shark. {A special breed of sharks who all wield the water magic domain. Every tsunami shark instinctively knows has to control the water magic domain. Their name came from the fact that they were fond of and were known for forming regular tsunamis with their power}. - Space Beasts. {Space Beasts are of various types. With pinnacle bloodlines, they are some of the best that Oceania has to offer. - Mega Whales. {These are mutated beasts of mass destruction. With an unlimited growth potential, Mega Whales are some of the biggest predators and are masters of destruction}. - Mystery Snakes. {These are mutated snakes with an eye for mystery. Mystery snakes have the most potential to being mystery pryer predators, they are special blessed creatures of the origin essence}. - World Devourers. {No information.} - ¡­ Chapter 350 - Preparation. "Phew!" Sebastian exclaimed exaggeratedly after finishing the Dictionary. Just a few pages into the dictionary validated his reason for deciding to go through it first. The knowledge of this world that was just updated in his mind meant a lot, most especially the knowledge about the rare beasts. Transmigrating into a pure water world, Sebastian already expected to meet some pretty messed up species but this still blew his mind. Perhaps, due to his constant encounters with Blue Tang fishes and snakes, he already rationalized every beast in Oceania to be mutated versions of beasts from earth but this rare list corrected his perception of beasts. Of course, he appreciated the information that was revealed about the well-known beasts but the information on the rare beasts hit more. He already knew about Death Dragons from his system''s description, but the fact that the anatomists here knew and were able to document that Death Dragons were descendants of the Necromancy Sea King really impressed him. Without the special clue from his system, Sebastian was pretty sure that he would have never known of this secret till now. This information alone revealed the standards of the advanced library of the anatomy department. Sebastian''s eyes were already heating up when he thought of all the other knowledge of this level that was probably in the library. Apart from Death Dragons which he already knew of and even had epic showdowns with, all the other rare beasts were rare to Sebastian since he had never encountered nor heard of them. This was not too strange considering that his few months spent in this world were only spent in 2 regions that had faults of their own. Sebastian would have never thought that Oceania had creatures like Wraiths. Reading about this beast sent goosebumps through his body. Of course, when his system revealed the information about the 7 Great Seas to him, on seeing the Dungeon of Souls and consequently knowing of the Necromancy Sea King, he already expected spooky undead stuff but he always thought this was distant from him. He was still in the Green Mist Sea, while the Necromancy Sea King lived all the way in the Dungeon of Souls, never in his dream did he expect a mutated beast like the Deep-Sea Nightmares to be here. This made Sebastian appreciate the advanced library, even more, this was really a lifesaver to his cause. According to the Dictionary, Deep-Sea Nightmares attack through the soul and live mostly in extremely cold regions. With the fact that they were described as Wraith-like, there was a high chance that they were also impervious to physical attacks which was a horrifying phenomenon. If Sebastian ever met this rare beast without prior knowledge about it, he was pretty sure that he would have been battered and thrashed for a long time before he could figure out its strengths and weaknesses. The Deep-Sea Nightmares was not the only rare mutated beast that left a deep impression on him all of them succeeded in leaving him in dread. Though it was mere rumors according to the Dictionary, the mere fact that the Ocean Shakers were rumored to be descendants of the Ocean King revealed to Sebastian that these were probably a more terrifying version of Death Dragons. Their sizes were not only described as humongous, the fact that they all wielded a devour magic domain that Sebastian had never heard of spooked him the more. This was some really messed-up beast. The next rare beast was the Devouring Jokers. The name of these beasts alone already presented a joke that Sebastian could not laugh at. According to the Dictionary, they were clown-like beasts, clown-like beasts! Their appearance alone was ridiculous on its own already, but their ability was even more ridiculous. With the ability to attack by manipulating emotions, Sebastian easily decided to run at the sight of any clown-like beasts. While he felt this way, his curiosity also grew about their anatomy. What in Oceania was in these beasts that gave them the ability to manipulate emotions? He felt the challenge of even thinking to subdue one of these beasts, but when challenged was when his passion really grew. "I will dissect a Devouring Joker someday!" Sebastian vowed. After the Devouring Joker was the Tsunami Shark. The fact that these terrifying fellows came from the same species as he gave Sebastian all the reason he needed to give them attention. Compared to the Devouring Jokers and the others, the Tsunami shark was fairly boring, but their strength was the real deal. With the ability to induce literal tsunamis with their magic domain, Sebastian envied them. "Why didn''t I get an evolution route that led to this?" Once Sebastian asked this question, he got his answer. Perhaps, it was because his magic domain did not align with the Tsunami sharks. As he thought of this, he also made a discovery. Did the magic domain that predators mutate decide the future evolution routes that become available to them? If this was so, did that mean that he could access even more OP evolution routes if he managed to give his next living doppelganger a different magic domain, especially one of the advanced pinnacle magic domains? Sebastian had no concrete proof about his thought, it just came out of the blue, he was not even sure if it was feasible but once he thought of it, he decided to research it and see if it was possible. The example of his first living doppelganger showed that they all wielded the same magic domain as the real body. But he could perhaps flip the board and restart the game, the same way the Atlantians did, and maybe, he could create a miracle. As Sebastian thought of this, the hype for his 2nd living doppelganger grew in his mind. He wanted this new living doppelganger to be as OP as possible, it would be his iconic symbol for fame aside from his main body. Whereas he created his Atlantian living doppelganger to create a connection of benefits for him to engage in his anatomy experiments more openly, he wanted to create his 2nd living doppelganger as a pure vessel of destruction! His 2nd living doppelganger would be his Sword of Damocles! His 2nd living doppelganger would be his vessel of war! Apart from the Tsunami Sharks, the extremely powerful Space Beasts, the ridiculously gigantic Mega Whales who he just met who were recorded to never stop growing, and the Mystery Snakes who were special blessed creatures of the origin essence all left deep impressions on him. Of all these rare beasts though, despite all their elaborate descriptions to amplify their terror, none left a deeper impression on Sebastian than the last main rare beast that was recorded on the Dictionary. The World Devourers! Though no information was given about this beast, it only left Sebastian feeling more dread about it. Just the name alone sent shivers down his spine, this was clearly some badass predator! His intuition screamed danger when he tried to envision this beast. He was pretty sure that even the clownfish had never met it, they probably only heard about it from others and decided to record it. Despite not seeing it, not knowing its characteristics, and knowing literally nothing about it, Sebastian did not doubt that this was a monster killer. "I hope I never meet a World Devourer soon". The rare beasts that were listed in the Dictionary were not necessarily all that Oceania had to offer. There were probably more, but these were those found in the Green Mist Sea and those that the clownfish knew about. There were probably even more terrifying rare beasts out there. Sebastian was a lethal predator now, but this list curbed his arrogance a bit, there was always something stronger out there. By the time that Sebastian finished the Dictionary, time had already gone far and he had no choice but to retreat to his residential quarters for the night. Sebastian didn''t just retreat, he retreated to give himself quiet time for preparation. The clown city was at a delicate time now, and his intuition told him that the situation could change at any moment, so he started his preparation now. Preparations to safeguard his life, get as many benefits that he could, and also enter the zone of glory were all in his plans. Also, Sebastian communicated with his living doppelganger. Chapter 351 - A Business Transaction [1]. Somewhere in a remote region of the Green Mist Sea. Wom! Wom! Focus lights shone in different directions around a huge structure that looked like a secret military base. With a territory spanning about a kilometer, the huge fence surrounding the base was prominent from a distance. Outside the fence, spanning a region of kilometers was the effective detect zone of this massive secret base. The secret base itself was a gigantic dome-shaped structure with 3 smaller same-shaped structures closely surrounding it from 3 different sides in a triangular formation, it was clear that the structures were used for the same purpose. Every other part of the base inside the fence consisted of defense measures that were manned by variant human and predator guards of different species. The thick fence that surrounded this underwater secret base had the integrity to accommodate a lot of defense weapons systems, and that was exactly what it was utilized for. Though it could not compare to the military base of powerful Beast Empires or even high-grade rural settlements, this secret base was still heavily defended. At this moment, the secret base was in a state of high alert like they were expecting a visitor. The focus lights shone into the distance, tearing through the veil of darkness in this region of the water to see the faraway truth. Their focus lights were not their only active detection systems that were at work. Radar means were also employed, including a lot of other sophisticated means, even magic-empowered means of detection. Unlike what the secret base higher-ups feared, their visitors did not try anything funny, they came through the normal route like was negotiated. At this moment, a convoy of 3 small warships entered the detective perimeter of the secret base through the normal recognized route. The 3 small warships were all clad with black with no visible organization emblem on their surfaces, the operation of these 3 warships was clearly one where they needed to act incognito. Wom! Wom! Once the 3 warships entered the detective perimeter, they were detected by the defenders of the secret base as a secret signal was transmitted between them. Deep-scanners were activated as powerful pulses were detected from the gigantic fence that went straight to the 3 small warships, hitting them and invading their inner virtual defense circle. The 3 warships stopped, then a few seconds later, a virtual projection of a short variant human with a muscly physique and long beard appeared. This was a dwarf, one of the more developed of variant humans. "My name is Badlock, welcome to the Den of Sin". "It is an honor to be here". A voice was transmitted from one of the warships the next moment, seeming not annoyed at the invasive actions of their client which was a power play to get more ground in the upcoming negotiation. "Good! Our leader is waiting for you, client John Cena". "I can''t wait to meet him". With that, all the gravitic measures that were employed by the owners of the secret base were deactivated, allowing the 3 small warships entry. They drove inside the secret base under the constant scrutiny of their counterparts. Once they were inside, the 3 warships were left floating in the water while 2 individuals came out of the warship in the middle. These 2 were Atlantians, Doctor John Cena, and Doctor Mrs. Layla Frost. Once they were out, they met the dwarf who exchanged pleasantries with them a few minutes ago. Then together, the trio of variant humans floated closer before entering the main dome-shaped structure that was in the middle. ¡­ "Good day Doctors, it is nice to meet you". "It is nice to meet you too, Mr. Dwarf Merchant". The handsome Atlantian revealed a bright smile as he took the dwarf''s handshake. With this gesture, the stocky dwarf added pressure to his opponent''s grip in a bid to suppress him. John Cena already expected this as it was the most common and non-lethal form of a power-play used in underground business like this. He did not flinch, easily shrugging off the effects of the dwarf''s strong grip. Yes, Sebastian''s Atlantian living doppelganger was here for an underground business transaction that was off the books. Over a month ago, when Doctor John Cena and his capable assistant, Doctor Mrs. Layla Frost finally entered the scene, they took the nearby region by storm as they wowed everyone with one brilliant feat after the other. Through the genius, learning speed, and talent that was shown by the Atlantian Doctor, he was able to expand connections with a lot of similar geniuses in the medical domain, most especially anatomy. All this happened in the middle-grade rural settlement, the Magic Healers and it all happened within one month. Through his brilliant feats, the Atlantian Doctor and his assistant were able to start a basic anatomy organization where they raked in some money. Their exploits in just 1 month drew the attention of a lot of powerful sharks. In the end, John Cena found patrons who invested in him and his talent, giving him the perfect opportunity to kick-start his career. The Dome of Anatomy organization that was created in the Magic Healers rural settlement already drew a bit of fame there. This was why once the Dwarf Merchant discovered that someone like this was trying to buy one of his dubious venting grounds, he was ecstatic and immediately set a date to meet up. He didn''t know where the start-up anatomist got the money to buy a secret base as huge as this, but he didn''t care, all he cared about at this moment was the fact that a lump of huge meat finally landed on his trap. The Dwarf Merchant was surprised that the Doctor managed to shrug off his strong grip so easily, but he quickly forgot it and went to the main point. "Where is the package?" He demanded with a smile on his face. "You first". John Cena reciprocated the smile. "Haha, ok, if that''s what you want". The dwarf laughed aloud before making a gesture to the side as his assistant placed what seemed like a suitcase before him. Click! Click! Once the dwarf opened the bag, John Cena also dropped his as the 2 bags were opened, revealing their content to both sides. On the dwarf''s bag was a written paper, this was the written deed to serve as proof for the secret base''s handover once the money was paid. While on John Cena''s bag was a bundle of neatly packed money. The currency being used was Atlantian credits. It was not only the most widely used currency but also the most stable currency and was therefore convenient for business transactions like this. John Cena looked at the written paper, going through the details to confirm that nothing was wrong while the dwarf confirmed that the money was not fake. In just a minute, they were both done. They shook hands again. "It was nice doing business with you". This was underground business in Oceania. It was extremely swift, convenient, and simple to avoid leaving as many traces as possible. But before the Dwarf Merchant could leave, the Atlantian Doctor grabbed his hand. "What is my guarantee that this place being my secret base is not going to be known to the whole world once you leave here?" The dwarf was startled for a few seconds before he scoffed. "Beats me, that is your business, deal with it". "I don''t think so". John Cena applied pressure that kept the dwarf in place. Click! Click! Weapons were cocked immediately as the numerous dwarf guards who were hidden in the dark pointed their weapons at the 2 Doctors. "Leave the boss alone!" "¡­" John Cena was quiet for a few seconds before he laughed. "Hahaha". "Next time, research your clients well before engaging in underground business. Sorry, I didn''t want to do this but to keep this place a secret, there have to be sacrifices". "Such big words, do you have what it takes¡­" The Dwarf Merchant''s words got stuck in his throat when he looked at John Cena again. The Atlantian''s demeanor changed all of a sudden, his eyes changed from their normal color and shape to that of a dangerous lurking predator. The spookiest fact of these all was the Atlantian''s row of teeth that suddenly started elongating like he was transforming into a Vampire. The Dwarf Merchant almost pissed his pants as he stumbled backward, horrified. "Wh-who are you?" "I am John Cena!" Whoosh! Chapter 352 - A Business Transaction [2]. "I am John Cena!" Whoosh! Once these words that originally should have felt normal were spoken by the Atlantian Doctor, the dwarfs were horrified as they felt a chill going down their spines, freezing their blood and bones. Doctor Mrs. Layla Frost was the one who reacted first. This Atlantian lady folded up familiarly like an orange ball before rolling backward. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Compact Mechanical Shield {¡Á2}!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Magic Rifle!] Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! The dwarfs were shocked, but not enough to remain frozen while being confronted by such real danger. It was already evident that this Atlantian Doctor was more than just a doctor, and they needed to change their plans. Without hesitation, they pulled the trigger as their machine-gun fire sounds filled the room with a hail of bullets being sprayed everywhere. A compact mechanical shield already surrounded the rolling Doctor Layla Frost''s body. This sturdy metal shield only made ticking sounds as the bullets hit it before harmlessly floating down the water. The same type of shield already covered Sebastian''s body too, granting him perfect protection against the barrage. As for the Dwarf Merchant, the dwarf may not be a powerful warrior, but he was a notorious tycoon who had worked for decades in the underground circle and survived, he was a master at safeguarding his life. Almost instantly after he saw the transformations in Sebastian which made him freeze, once the female Atlantian Doctor moved, he was knocked off his daze as his body reacted instinctively in the best way possible. His finger instinctively hit his rib, which pressed a button that activated an expensive shield generator that projected a powerful energy shield around him. Not only that, he sneezed in a peculiar but familiar pattern as this action made his escape boots to be activated. So even before Sebastian could do a thing, the dwarf was already on the swim. The Dwarf Merchant''s reactions were extremely fast and instinctual, but this alone could not allow him to escape Sebastian''s full wrath. After the compact mechanical shield appeared around him, also protecting him from the barrage of the dwarf guards that were hidden in various corners of this room, Sebastian''s magic rifle also appeared. Once the rifle appeared, he felt at home. "Heavy Beam configuration!" Sebastian whispered to the gun before jumping, using the momentum to float high in the room as the vantage point gave him the perfect shooting angle to aim at all the hidden dwarfs. Once he perfected his aim, he pulled the trigger. Bam! Bam! Bam! 3 precise shots resulted in 3 dwarf heads exploding into a hail of blood as the bodies twitched furiously before becoming motionless the next moment. With Sebastian high up in the room filled with water, though it presented a better angle of a shot at his enemies to him, it also provided the best platform for his enemies to shoot at him. The dwarfs did not waste the chance, triggers were furiously pulled as another hail of bullets rained at Sebastian''s variant human body. He briefly ignored the bullet barrage, allowed the dwarfs to shoot at him while his attention was focused on the escaping Dwarf Merchant. This cowardly but extremely wise dwarf was already close to the door and was about to escape. [You have activated bloodline skill: Megalodon Aura!] As this intimidating aura blasted out, the dwarfs were even more horrified. Sebastian''s transformation already revealed a lot to them, with this sudden aura, they felt like they were facing a real primordial beast. Most of them became frozen from the aura, the remaining that could shoot all had their aims off, and this presented the best opportunity for Sebastian. [You have activated Inherited Magic Ability: Telekinesis!] [You have activated skill: Telekinesis Pull!] Just before the Dwarf Merchant could place his hands on the reinforced metal door and pull it open to escape, his body froze as he felt an outside force of influence acting upon his body. "What..is¡­this?" Vroom! The telekinesis pull skill rudely yanked the cunning dwarf backward. The Dwarf Merchant was not without countermeasures to this though. Even though he was horrified by everything that was happening, his experience told him to calm down and work everything out. His brain soon geared into overdrive. He first activated a device that was like a rocket which immediately started dragging him in the opposite direction of the force that was pulling at him. While this happened, he yelled at his subordinates. "Mob him!" "Anyone who stops him will receive a double promotion, effective instantly!" "Anyone who injures him will receive a sextuple promotion with massive benefits, effective instantly!" "Anyone who kills him will become my confidant, effective immediately". Boom! It was like a bomb exploded in the dwarves'' minds. The Dwarf Merchant''s confidant! What did that mean? It meant that they would suddenly leave their lowly guard status and jump all the way to the top. The dwarf guards were motivated more than ever. "Kill the freak Atlantian!" They no longer hid, they all rushed out of their hiding spots and brought out their weapons in a great show of bravado to confront the Doctor head-on. [You have activated skill: Sonic Torpedo Drill!] Sebastian instantly turned into a variant human-shaped drill as with his magic domain active, he tore a hole through the formations of the dwarves which brought him face to face with the Dwarf Merchant. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Sniper Rifle!] "Aim¡­, shoot!" Boom! When everything died down, an injured Dwarf Merchant scurried himself to the door, opened it, and slipped out of the room before closing it shut. At the last moment, a fanatical dwarf who kept dreaming of how he was about to become a confidant of his boss jumped into the high-caliber bullet''s path and was obliterated instead of the Dwarf Merchant. This allowed the dwarf merchant to escape out of the room. Sebastian was about to go in pursuit, but on remembering his assistant, he decided to slow down and finish this job the slow and steady way. [You have activated Inherited Magic Ability: Telekinesis!] [You have activated skill: Telekinesis Pull!] Once he grabbed his assistant, his eyes flashed ominously. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have activated unique skill: Doppelganger and Invisibility!] Chapter 353 - A Business Transaction [3]. Once Sebastian placed his assistant in a place that was safe enough which at this moment was the middle of the room, and stacked compact mechanical shields around her to protect her, he finally went to work. His unique skill was already activated, so he didn''t need to activate it again to use it, he simply needed to create magic manifestations when needed. At this moment, the incentive threw by the notorious Dwarf Merchant already sank deep inside the dwarves'' heads so much that they lost their rationality, they no longer cared about their lives just for that promotion opportunity. All they cared for at this moment was throwing themselves at Sebastian and hoping that one of them was lucky enough to succeed and to get the ultimate prize. Sebastian pitied their motive but they were enemies at this moment, so he was not about to hold back on them. He was about to finally test out a battle style that he theorized for this body of his after months of accumulation. In an Atlantian body, he guessed that his Water Transmutation unique ability would be even more OP since he didn''t need to use magic power to control the magic manifestations but could directly use them with his hands. [You have activated skill: Mega Electroreceptors!] Once this wave of electromagnetic interference swept through them, every dwarf shuddered as they tangibly felt it. Before they could understand what happened, the Atlantian Doctor already erupted, attacking them in the most violent manner. Before he did this though, Sebastian did not forget the final touch to make this scene more cool. [You have created a magic manifestation: Cool Tinted Glasses!] Bam! Bam! Bam! The Magic Rifle vibrated in Sebastian''s hands as he pulled the trigger while his eyes deep inside the tinted glasses tracked the movement trajectory of the enemies to make sure that a dwarf died with each bullet. [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] Sebastian turned into what was akin to a phantom all of a sudden. He jumped while still pulling the trigger as his body dashed to the nearest dwarf. Holding a Rifle and using it to meet an enemy in a life-or-death battle situation would have proved suicidal, but not to Sebastian. Bam! Bam! The Rifle roared 2 more times, reaping the lives of 2 dwarves in the process before Sebastian nonchalantly threw it away while keeping his right hand raised. At this moment, his dash already enabled him to close the distance to the frenzied dwarves. In between them, he was ready to wreak havoc. [You have created a magic manifestation: Plasma Blade Sword!] Whoosh! Sebastian ruthlessly sliced with the sword that emitted heat that distorted the water space. The 3 dwarves that were in its direct path stood no chance; they were cut into 2 pieces effortlessly by the super-hot sword. Whoosh! Whoosh! The first slash heralded the 2nd, then the 3rd, the 4th and subsequent ones as Sebastian went on a rampage through the ranks of the dwarves. They stood no chance against the super-hot sword. After the 20th sword kill, Sebastian threw it forward in a stabbing motion, reaping 4 lives in the process who stood on its path as he retreated a bit to draw out another weapon. [You have created a magic manifestation: Plasma Spear!] When the dwarves thought that they were already figuring out the battle style of their opponent, this happened. With Sebastian suddenly wielding a spear of the same material, the dwarves despaired. Only whooshing sounds followed by flying heads, limbs, and blood could be heard, accompanied by the painful yells of the dwarves as they were subjected to the most painful treatment of their lives. Sebastian killed 15 dwarves with the spear before he dished it. [You have created a magic manifestation: Dual Magic Pistols!] Bam! Bam! Each bam sound was accompanied by a dwarf suddenly becoming headless. Heads blew apart as the terrifying force of the bullets ripped them from their necks. With each second that passed, Sebastian drew closer to the reinforced metal door that led out of this room despite the astonishing number of dwarves who were still trying their best to kill him and get all the rewards. He killed the most dwarves with his dual magic pistols until he finally dished them. While he did all this, his assistant who was tied to him was dragged along like a bag of bones that was being dragged across a corridor. Once he was only a few meters away from the door, Sebastian changed configurations again to rattle the defensive formations of dwarves that were determined to hinder him from going forward. [You have created a magic manifestation: Magic Laser Machine Gun!] Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! He paid the dwarves back tooth for tooth, for all the suffering that they induced on him, they have been shooting at him with their rapid laser guns since now he paid and settled the vendetta. The only problem was that the dwarves could not put up much of a resistance against the astonishing impact force and burning force of his machine gun magic manifestation. They were practically swept away like dry leaves in autumn. As the laser machine gun kept on rotating, spilling out bullets like a robotic fire dragon, Sebastian finally cleared all the opposition that blocked his way to the door, killing over 30 dwarves at once. With this done, only the reinforced metal door was the obstacle remaining. Sebastian also changed configurations to brute force his way through it. [You have created a magic manifestation: Positron Rifle!] BOOM! One shot was all that it took for the reinforced metal door to fall apart. Of course, Sebastian felt the steep mana drain but the effects were more than worth it and he was thrilled. With the door blasted open, he picked up his assistant and dashed there, easily swimming out of the room. Once Sebastian got outside, he discovered that the whole guards of the secret base were already mobilized against him. He was not flustered though; this was because he already expected it. "Keep yourself alive". Sebastian muttered before throwing his assistant to the side, then he flexed his muscles in an anticipatory manner. "Hehe, let''s test the feasibility of this battle style". [You have created a magic manifestation: Missile Launcher!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Magic Beam Launcher!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Hypersonic Missile Launcher!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Warship-grade Cannon!] BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Everything quickly faded into static as the mighty blasting sounds of so many powerful weapons being unleashed at the same time burst a lot of eardrums, sending a lot of beasts into concussion immediately. As for those that survived the soundwave, they died to the tyrannical explosion as the fire washed through them like an abyssal plague. No single guard survived! Sebastian singlehandedly annihilated all the guards of this secret base! This was not without costs though. At this moment, Sebastian was feeling drained of all his power, his mana points were at a critically low point but looking at what he achieved, he believed that it was all worth it. "This is power!" ¡­ "Move! Move! F*cking move!" A horrified Dwarf Merchant frantically operated the military-grade shuttle, trying to bring it to life but the machine was proving too unresponsive to his liking as this spooked dwarf kept on hitting at the controls. While he did this, he kept on looking back at the destruction that was wrath by the Doctor that he was just about to scam. "What a terrifying Doctor!" While he exclaimed, the shuttle finally responded to life, making him heave a deep and long sigh of relief. "At least, I escaped". "Are you sure?" "¡­" The dwarf felt goosebumps filling his whole skin. On turning around, he saw the Atlantian Doctor directing a funny glance towards his direction from the shuttle where he thought he was the only one in. The smile on the Doctor''s face spooked him to no end. At this moment though, he was confused more than he was horrified. "But¡­" He turned to look only to see the Atlantian Doctor standing proudly in the distance, looking at the destruction that he just wrath. Then on turning back, he saw the same Doctor standing before him. This dwarf''s legs turned to jelly. "Wh-who are you, really?" "I told you, I am John Cena". [You have created a magic manifestation: Basic Sword!] Whoosh! The dwarf was beheaded effortlessly, the Dwarf Merchant died. Chapter 354 - The Successful Business Transaction. With the Dwarf Merchant dead, including all the guards that originally guarded the secret base, Sebastian''s business transaction was a success. The greatest obstacle to this business transaction originally was how to keep the Merchant silent after the transaction was made, now that this was taken care of, the transaction was officially completed. Not only did he get all the documents to prove his ownership of the secret base, but he also got to keep his money which was a double gain. This did not leave behind an empty secret base to him though. The Dwarf Merchant and his guards were not the only persons who stayed here in this secret base, the secret base encompassed a lot more than just guards. Apart from the aforementioned predators and variant humans, there were even more of them in this secret place, the doctors and anatomists who kept the secret base running. This secret base was no mere secret base, it was not a military base either, it was rather a base where the Dwarf Merchant engaged in his weird tendencies and was also another business pool to him. From the investigation that Sebastian made during the past month, he was able to thoroughly understand the secret base and plan his business transaction process with the Dwarf Merchant. Apparently, a few months ago, this secret base was a secret anatomy base where a group of anatomists that were gathered from different backgrounds of life was captured and forced to work for a secret organization. In here, they got to work on extremely secretive anatomical experiments that were exclusive to the secret organization, or even taboo experiments. The whole secret base was the perfect anatomical lab for anatomists. Everything inside it was designed and finetuned to favor anatomists and anatomical works above everything else. A few months ago, the representatives of the secret organization that monitored the anatomists working under them lost contact with the organization. After relentlessly trying different ways to contact their headquarters but to no avail, the spooked representatives decided to go incognito, assuming that the worst had happened to their organization. By going incognito, they successfully cut off all contact with their mother organization, preventing whatever problem there to spill over but this also made them vulnerable to external threats. External threats were numerous, and the representatives were unfortunate enough to meet one in the form of the Dwarf Merchant. This ruthless merchant attacked once he confirmed that his forces were more than the opposition. In his perspective, a secret base of such massive size built in a remote region like this must contain a lot of riches. Unfortunately, though, after annihilating the representatives and taking over, the Dwarf Merchant was disappointed to discover that this base was actually one massive anatomical lab. Frustrated and disappointed, the Dwarf Merchant originally wanted to annihilate all the anatomists and put an end to it all but he discovered a different and more radical use for them. Just like on earth, in Oceania, the business of selling organs thrived. With a spark of inspiration, the Dwarf Merchant easily decided to branch into this business. Throughout the first few months, everything was easygoing and he got a lot of benefits until things started slowing down and even stagnating. Frustrated, the Dwarf Merchant complained outside the base, revealing stupid hints here and there which was how others knew of this secret base. Others were not interested enough in a giant lab and a bunch of anatomists to offend the highly connected Dwarf Merchant, but Sebastian was different. Once he knew of this, all he needed to do was to draft an elaborate plan to win as swiftly as possible without triggering any alarms. In doing this, Sebastian also intended to take over the identity of the Dwarf Merchant. This was a highly connected merchant, taking over his identity could bring so many benefits that Sebastian was reluctant to forfeit. With his doppelganger-creating unique skill, Sebastian was confident in doing this without revealing too much. This was the perfect example of killing 2 birds with one stone. Not only did he get the lab and the anatomists, but he also got the Dwarf Merchant. The main reason why Sebastian decided to take this massive anatomy laboratory was to prepare for his upcoming 2nd living doppelganger creation. All the discoveries that he made during the past month; Sebastian wanted to apply them all in his new living doppelganger creation. Making his vessel of war as powerful as possible was his goal. Also, he wanted to turn this secret base into his first major anatomy secret hideout where he could engage in all his experiments without qualms. With his Atlantian body in charge, he would make sure that a lot of things were in order such as finalizing his research on integrating a 2nd mana core into a mutated beast among others. Another fact that left Sebastian happy was that he leveled up once again after the unique skill rampage that he just went on. [Current Level: Level 25.] "So, we won?" Sebastian turned to face his assistant. "Yes, we won". "Let''s go meet the anatomists then". "Ok". Sebastian and his assistant swam away. ¡­ Throughout, from when the battle started till the end, the anatomists watched everything. Once the battle started, they left all their work behind and rushed to hide inside the underground safety bunkers. Here, they managed to safeguard all their lives despite the tremors that were induced by the battle. Also, they were able to watch everything. They already knew that they had a new master already. They all sighed sorrowfully, another round of torture to a different master was starting. Since they were captured and forced to come and work in this secret anatomy lab, their lives kept on degrading from good to worse. At this moment, they had no choice, the lead anatomist rallied them. "You all know the drill". "Put up your biggest and most sincere smile, let''s welcome our new masters. If you still love your lives, you better cooperate". Clang! Once the massive gate that led to the underground shelter was opened, all the anatomists greeted respectfully. "Welcome, esteemed master, we are at your service!" "¡­" They were stunned at the sudden silence. All their previous masters immediately started talking arrogantly once they welcomed them, what was different in this new master? It only them seconds to see the difference and answer their question. "My name is John Cena, a certified senior anatomist". "Don''t panic, I came to rescue you from the hands of your oppressors. I came so that we can express our passion in the most direct manner possible". "I won''t allow any of you to leave alive, but I will not maltreat you like your previous masters either. I came here to pursue my passion, and I hope all of you are of the same mind since that will allow us to flow together". "I intend to create a huge anatomy organization in the future". Sebastian smiled. "If you impress me enough, you may be freed from your slaved worker status and become a legitimate member of my organization". "In here, I work with results". "I hope we enjoy a good time working together". "Now, let''s set this place up". "Yes, Master John Cena!" The anatomists were fired up. Chapter 355 - The Firelight Shark Clans Mission. After another month of development, the Firelight Shark Clan finally truly settled in their new home. The main reason for this smooth settlement was the fact that the seamount where they settled was more open than their previous home. Though in terms of absolute development, the ocean volcano region was superior since it even bred a Red tier predator, this seamount had an advantage over the ocean volcano since it was not isolated from the outside world. Before the Atlantian army and the armies of the other variant humans breached the border of the ocean volcano, it originally served as the lair of a powerful beast clan that took this zone as their home. The fact that they took the whole border as their home revealed how powerful they were. They were the reason why the ocean volcano seemed cut off from the outside world, no other beast could leave without passing through them. In the new home of the Firelight Shark Clan, they were not as isolated, and this was their advantage as well as their disadvantage. The disadvantage in this new home meant that they were more vulnerable to beast aggression since all kinds of mutated beast species lived here, and even more swam through this area daily. The advantage though was that the fact that this new home was so open meant that there were higher chances of meeting allies also. During the past one month of integration, once the clan passed the stage where they were seen as prey by every single clan here, they were finally able to enter the limelight and secure a place for themselves. They may not be as powerful as they were at their peak, but with 2 purple tier predators, they were not to be trifled with. Once they stabilized themselves and started exploring the various corners of the seamount, this was when they discovered another clan of Great Whites. Once this discovery was made, Tungsten and Queen Heareth immediately left all their tasks and went out to visit these neighbors who were brothers to them. Talk between beasts of the same species was always more harmonious than if they were with beasts of other species. The 2 clans easily got along; they formed an alliance the same day that both sides met. This was what granted the Firelight Shark Clan the incentive to really enter the limelight and spread the light of their might, as depicted by their name. With this sudden big brother that they acquired, a lot of things become more convenient for them. They got more access to important information, and they now had a deterrent effect against other predators in the seamount. This was the reason for their rapid growth during this period of just 1 month. Though their strength didn''t just balloon out of the blue, they got to settle down properly, reinstating the departments like the healing department under Queen Heareth, and the pen and a foundation for the others was built. With all these essential departments put in place, all the survivors of the volcano disaster finally saw real hopes of building a stronger and better clan. None of them dared to be complacent, they could not when considering that they carried the dying wishes of all their previous clansmen. All of them worked hard to hunt and put things in order like their lives depended on it, and it was the main reason for their rapid growth. Among these hardworking survivors was a special one, among the 3 genius new generation sharks of the old clan, Strong, the only shark among the original trio who was the only non-magic wielding shark among them. Since their days as young sharks, Tungsten and Torpedum were always seen as geniuses while he was just your everyday shark. He never felt under pressure despite this clear distinction. When he decided to become a shark who specialized in the Pugilistic route despite no other shark in the clan haven''t taken this route, it was because of his carefree personality and the fact that he never felt under pressure. In the old clan, he could afford to laze around all day, doing what he wanted which was hanging out with his buddies that joined his hunting group. Despite his clear lack of motivation to cling to the limelight like Tungsten or Torpedum, he still clinched a place for himself among his generation of sharks. This should have made him proud but it didn''t. Since a young age, though he never cared much about competition, he acknowledged the might of Tungsten and Torpedum and always saw them as superior. This respect lasted even though the aforementioned sharks always overshadowed him, but a bit of it was lost after the ocean volcano disaster. In that battle that decided the future of the clan, all his peers did something, impacting the battle in one way or the other but like usual, he stayed as the background guy, only supporting from the side. Sebastian, the new shark was the one who stood out the most and earned the most admiration from him. Tungsten stood out also, successfully evolving to the purple tier realm, Torpedum in his opinion also stood out. Not only these talented sharks of his generation stood out, but the fact that even juniors like Verni stood out though in a more marginal fashion was also what really told Strong that he was being too low profile. Though Torpedum''s stand-out performance brought the disaster, Strong could not bring himself to hate him as much as the other sharks, he hated himself more for not being strong enough to kill Torpedum on the spot. This was the reason why for the first time in his life, being among the survivors, after the creation of the new clan, he felt guilty. He felt guilty for not giving enough, he felt guilty for everything. And this was the reason that made him decide to change. In this new clan, in this new home, he decided that he would not just stay in the background anymore. Old Mak''s death and the death of all the elders left a huge vacuum at the highest ranks of the new clan. Tungsten already took on a huge responsibility, Queen Heareth included, the next most exceptional shark in line was him. This was the cue that he needed to know that it was time to step up and take on the mantle of responsibility that was handed down by the elders. Tungsten was already the new clan head of the clan, Queen Heareth was the spiritual protector of the clan, so he easily decided to be the sword of the clan. Once he made the decision and confided with Tungsten, the clan head saw potential in it and the first military department of both the old and new clan was created and he became its first commander. Commander Strong came to life in the new clan. After becoming the military pivot of the clan, Strong not only took on the job of training soldiers for the clan, he also actively engaged in cooperative engagements with the sharks of the Triton Clan, their allies. Once again, Strong led his soldiers on a cooperative engagement with the sharks of the Triton clan after the Tritons got some information. Through the information, they explored far from their territory until they were led inside a cave. Inside here, they not only met a lot of opponents who came for the same motive, but they also discovered that the cave had an inheritance. Precisely, it was an inheritance left by a Red tier Pugilist King predator. Chapter 356 - Commander Strong. "Let''s leave immediately, the gains are not worth the danger!" The leader of the sharks from the Triton clan, Omega, reacted immediately once he properly understood what they threw themselves in. Monster inheritances could be described as fortuitous encounters, but this was only to predators that were either ready to give their life for that opportunity to gain power, or to those predators who had absolute belief in their power. The lineup of the allied Great White Sharks was fairly powerful, but the rational Omega easily calculated that the odds were against them on this one. The tests to pass to gain benefits from the inheritance ground were already a danger on their own. The fact that they had no purple tier predators in their group at the moment, while their competitors had tipped this scale further. The Triton clan was not the only predator clan to get the information, a lot of other powerful clans did, with some even getting more detailed information which meant that they understood more about the inheritance ground. Not only did these predators get to plan more to enter the inheritance ground, but they could also prepare for things to expect inside. As for the allied group of the Triton and Firelight Shark clans, they knew too little and had a less powerful overall force, their chances of getting in and out, surviving, and gaining massive benefits was too low. This was why the powerful orange tier Great White Shark easily decided that it was better if they left, but someone thought otherwise. "You can go, but I am not leaving!" "Huh?" Omega turned to face his counterpart. "Strong?" "Yes". Strong''s especially muscly body and the fact that he was a shark prevented him from revealing emotions through facial expression and body movement appropriately, but his emotions could still be felt in his tone. "You are right". He turned to speak to Omega, his voice booming with power and unquestionable conviction. "The danger here is considerable, the gains are obviously not worth the danger, I recognize that". "To prevent unnecessary losses, the most rational choice is for all of us to leave and safeguard our lives. I''m completely in with it, I''ll order my soldiers to leave also, but for me, I''m not leaving". The Great White Shark, Omega did not speak, his look already revealed the questions that were in his mind. Strong did not keep him waiting for long, he answered his questions. "Omega, I got tired of staying in the background all the time. I got tired of playing to the book and living without purpose all the time". "My clan is at its weakest point since I was given birth to, and though I don''t know if I could have made a difference, I still feel guilty for not giving a 150% effort when my clan needed it the most". "I won''t do the same in the Firelight Shark Clan". "My former clan head, my elders, they all put a lot of hope in me and my potential, that was why they recognized me among the trio of young shark geniuses but unlike the others, I failed to impress when it mattered the most". "I don''t want a repeat if we a plagued with a similar situation". "I want to do more this time; I want to give more than 100% this time". "This inheritance, this inheritance to you may not mean much, the gains to you are obviously not worth the danger but to me, it is completely worth it". "For over the past month, I have been thinking on ways to provide more to the clan and the best way to do it that I could think of was by evolving to become a purple tier predator, just like my clan head". "With an additional purple tier predator, the foundation of the clan would be firmer and the young sharks would have another role model to look up to". "This inheritance ground is like the perfect opportunity for me to fulfill my new dream, it is the perfect stage to prove myself and validate my life goals so nothing can stop me, not even you". "No matter what you say, my decision is set". "The only thing I can ask of you is to help lead my soldiers to safety". Omega gave Strong a long and deep look. "I understand". The massive Great White Shark turned to face the shark soldiers. "You heard your commander, all of you are to follow me out, now!" None of the sharks acted defiantly, they all recognized the danger, even those of the Firelight Shark Clan obeyed since they knew that the best way for them to help their start-up clan was to stay alive. They were not like Strong who was already at the peak of the orange tier realm and only needed a slight nudge to break through the threshold. They could only give their best wishes to Commander Strong and escape. Once the sharks left him alone in the cave, facing the aggression of predator groups from all sides, instead of feeling pressured, Strong felt at home. Unlike Tungsten who was a light domain magician, and Torpedum who was a rare space domain magician, he was no magician, he could not perform miracles with a snap of his fingers, he learned the hard way to do everything with his teeth. He was a shark who took the rare Pugilist evolution route. Pugilists were known for one fact, they were not mages who could solve things with intelligence from a distance, they loved taking things close and personal, they loved frontal confrontation. And in this inheritance ground setting, the perfect stage for a frontal confrontation to test Strong''s limits was provided to him. Unlike the Sea King inheritance ground where he had the privilege to enter a few months ago, this one was less extravagant but it felt closer to him, he felt more at home in this inheritance ground setting. He grinned. "Bring it on!" The inheritance tests officially started! Chapter 357 - Finding Purpose, Emerging As A Dragon! The first test of the Pugilist King Inheritance was as expected, a physical conditioning test where every competitor was faced with dangerous challenges which they had to overcome with their physical strength alone. The inheritance ground did not give a damn if you were a rare space domain magician, in here, magic was banned and it was final. Unless it was a Red tier predator who barged in which could easily lead to the inheritance ground self-destructing, none of the predators who entered had the power to bend the rules so they could only follow it. This inheritance test setting''s bias was obvious for all to see. It suppressed a lot of powerful predators, giving all the advantages to strength practitioners. In this test, Strong found the right platform to bloom like a butterfly who finally got to break free from its cocoon and spread its wings. He bulldozed through all the obstacles like a mystic swordsman cleaving through a battalion of mystic beasts with nothing but his pair of powerful fists. Boom! Boom! Boom! Bite, ram into, bite, ram into, and bite again, this was all Strong did. Faced with the obstacles that kept on appearing that forced him to his very limits, he found to his surprise that he kept on doing better, even exceeding his previous limits as he continued going for a long time that felt like years. For a long time, Strong had always fought without a real reason. He fought because he needed to fight, he hunted because he needed it to survive, he never really had a bigger motive that he was fighting for. Tungsten and Torpedum already took all the limelight, so what was there to fight for again? This was what he always thought, but he felt different now. With all the powerful elders gone, including the almighty Old Mak, leaving only Tungsten and Queen Heareth, he discovered after a long time that his purpose in his life was probably more than just being in the background. He discovered his purpose in life in the darkest days of his clan. He discovered his purpose in protecting his surviving clan members. He discovered his purpose in protecting the Firelight Shark Clan. "I finally understand". "I live for a purpose, I live to protect those that I love, I live to protect my clan members, I live to protect everyone, I live to protect the clan". "I am the sword of the Firelight Shark Clan!" BOOM! Once Strong discovered his purpose, he discovered that he could draw more power from it through a mysterious pattern that he did not understand. Before when he fought without purpose, the stakes involved in losing were trivial. Even if he died, then, it didn''t matter but to him, it mattered now. If he died, if he couldn''t exceed his limits, it would affect his surviving clan members negatively. For his clan members, he could not afford to die, this became the driving force that pushed him forward against all odds. "I cannot fall now!" Strong pushed himself so much in this test that he kept on breaking the new obstacles that formed so much till he lost perception of time. He broke his limits so much that for a moment, he felt like he was invisible. This lasted until he finally met an obstacle that he could not destroy with impunity. Strong finally couldn''t break through this obstacle, but he did not feel depressed, he rather felt proud because he knew that he gave his absolute best, he gave more than a 150% just to keep his purpose alive. Against all odds and the strong opposition that he had, including purple tier predators, Strong emerged as the one who lasted longest in the first test. The 2nd test of the inheritance ground was a free for all endurance battle. The Pugilist King predator who created the inheritance ground stuffed it full with A. I mechanical robot predators. In this 2nd test, all of them were released as they overwhelmed the competitors that qualified for this round. Defend yourself, last as long as possible, or die! Like before, magic was not allowed. Once again, Strong outdid himself. With the weight of his purpose leaning on his back, he could not afford to stop, he could only move forward. For the first time in his life, he really felt that taking the Pugilist route was the best decision of his life. He bulldozed through the test feeling excited and happy. At this moment, he felt that not even predators who wielded advanced pinnacle magic domains like Torpedum could compare to him. Once again, he emerged as the predator who lasted the longest. While the other predators who lasted long enough got the opportunity to scour through the treasures of the inheritance ground, only Strong got to take the last test. Unlike what he expected, the last test of the inheritance ground did not require him to fight against one gym freak, the last test was a personality test. In here, he got to speak with the spirit of the inheritance ground. "I don''t know your name, I never knew you before now, but your performance in the last 2 tests impressed me which is why I changed the rules and isolated you from the others". "You have a lot of potential in the Pugilist evolution route, and I can see that you have discovered your purpose for fighting which is admirable". "Through your performance and your reaction while doing it, I already confirmed a lot of things about your personality but the last test is to ascertain my deductions to confirm that I was not wrong". "Those who take this evolution route are like sword practitioners". "Sword practitioners dedicate their whole life to the sword, they live with the sword, and their personality is as straightforward as the sword". "The same rule applies to every predator who becomes a Pugilist King". "Your personality needs to be as straightforward as your goals, unflinching, direct, and most especially upright, which is what I want to confirm". "Strong, open up your mind to me". Strong was not one to suspect. As the spirit left behind by the dead Pugilist King, it had a personality that resonated with Strong so he easily trusted it. Once he opened up his mind, the spirit seemed to invade his consciousness. Instantly, Strong''s world became a world of black. He could see nothing else; everything was black like he was back in the age where chaos ruled the world, all he could see was a golden light in the distance, this seemed to be his personality. Instinctively, he started seeking this golden light out. Generations seemed to pass before Strong finally found his personality. Once he merged with it, a lot of mysterious changes went through his body. He heard an ethereal voice which he recognized as the spirits. "Strong, you are a good seed for a Pugilist King, you are qualified to receive the ultimate inheritance that I left behind". "Receive my bestowment!" A white glow enveloped the golden light, then the black disappeared. Strong didn''t open his eyes though, this was because his evolution just started. Everything that he needed to take note of was directly transmitted into his head by the spirit so he was like Usain Bolt taking a teenager''s racing competition. A week later, Strong emerged as a purple tier predator. He emerged with a more tangible inheritance left by the dead Pugilist King, the Red tier predator''s sole living weapon, the Berserk Armor! In a pure red armor that symbolized power and might, a Strong that was more enormous than what he was a few minutes ago swam out of the cave. Chapter 358 - The Growing Clan. "You''re now a purple tier predator". "Yes!" Strong''s voice boomed with more authority than ever before. On seeing this extremely confident version of Strong that he was unfamiliar with, Tungsten could only smile bitterly. In this world, everybody really could change with circumstances. A few years ago, in fact, just a few months ago, he would have never thought that he would be a clan head yet here he was. The world kept changing, so also did the inhabitants who lived in it. Predators die and more predators were given birth to. Old Mak who was the previous clan head died, now here he was. The elders who were the figurehead of the clan all died, now sharks like Strong were rising to the challenge. Tungsten finally understood it, this was the cycle of life. Though he changed a lot since a few months ago, Tungsten still had to admit that Strong''s change was the most drastic of all. It was like, he changed entirely and was now a different shark in every detail. Even the way Strong swam now was different from before, he was sure. What a strange thing change was. He turned to face the new shark that carried the official status of being the largest in the whole clan. Strong''s current size at this moment was even bigger than Old Mak at his peak, Strong towered at approximately 22 meters. These were not the defining trait of the new Strong though. Since he took on the Pugilist evolution route, Strong was known for being extra muscular compared to other sharks but at this moment, this was amplified to the limit. Strong was like a real gym freak shark now. Tungsten tried to ignore the prominent body muscles that seemed to be mocking his own body. "So, what is your plan now? I mean like, after breaking through, what do you intend to do now?" "Exactly what the elders did". "Pardon". "I''ll do exactly what the elders did!" Strong replied again with the same booming voice. "In the past, the elders served as role models to us, they served as our protectors and fathers, that''s what I intend to do also". "The only difference is that I will do it my way, the military way". "I am still Commander Strong". "Ok". Tungsten finally revealed a wide smile, revealing his prominent rows of teeth. "That is the best that could ever happen to us". Once they were done with their talk, the 2 purple tier predators swam to the deepest and most well-protected part of the Firelight Shark Clan where they met the other purple tier predator of the clan, Queen Heareth. Despite being the clan head of the new clan, and despite breaking through already, taking the Pugilist King route, Tungsten and Strong still had the same respect for the queen that they had when Old Mak was still alive. This most well-protected part of the clan was the pen. As the new clan was trying to rebuild and grow back to their previous glory, even aiming to exceed it, they had to set up a scale of preference to grade their priorities and determine those that were more important. In the scale of preference that was set up for the development of the clan, building the best pen to breed young sharks was the priority at the very top. For the clan to grow and return to its peak, the new generation was the key. They were very few at this moment, but once the pen was operating at maximum efficiency, sharks could start giving birth again. At this moment, even Tungsten was contemplating following the old ways of having a wife and starting his harem. He was the new clan head; he was the biggest role model of all the surviving sharks and he needed to act as a pioneer to them. With him taking the first move, the other sharks would become more proactive in the act which would benefit the clan in the long run. He proposed in his head to discuss this privately with the Queen. When the Queen was finally done with her work in the pen, she excused herself to meet with the 2 new figureheads of the clan. "Strong". She smiled on seeing the enormous and muscly shark. "Queen Heareth". Strong called back respectfully still with his booming voice. Queen Heareth smiled back at the show of confidence. This was what she wanted to see, with the old gone, the new was finally developing and getting what it took for them to take charge of the clan. "You''ve grown". The shark Queen''s smile widened. "Yes". Strong answered bluntly. In the end, the queen didn''t get to say much. As the only elder left in the clan, she just gave the 2 young generation sharks advice on how to conduct themselves and perform their duties more efficiently before allowing them to leave. Seeing the 2 sharks leave, Queen Heareth could not curb the happiness in her heart even as the hidden sorrow in her heart also grew. "Old Mak, the remnants you left behind are growing". "Your sacrifice was not in vain". ¡­ When the other sharks of the clan finally heard of the news that a new purple tier predator emerged, the whole clan was sent into a celebratory mood. Even the Triton clan was drawn into the celebrations as they all celebrated to mark Strong''s evolution. With one more powerful guardian in the alliance, their hopes of surviving in the case of a crisis were stronger. The sharks of the Firelight Shark Clan became more optimistic than ever about their chances of reemerging back to their peak. Strong''s evolution seemed to have injected in them doses of adrenaline as their work to restore the clan to the peak became a lot more enthusiastic and driven. The clan cleverly rode on the rising momentum created by the evolution. Among these driven sharks were Tosh and Verni. These 2 were now team leaders in the Firelight army under the command of Commander Strong. Seeing and experiencing the growth of the clan every day, these 2 sharks felt like they were witnessing history being made. "If only Seba bro was here with us". Tosh lamented. "I hope he is safe out there". Verni quipped. "He definitely is safe!" Tosh responded immediately, feigning annoyance. "You dare to question the big bro''s might?" "Umm¡­, no". "Good!" "¡­" Chapter 359 - The Orca Revolution! Somewhere hidden inside one of the 7 Great Seas, the Dungeon of Souls. Like every other one of the 7 Great Seas in Oceania, the Dungeon of Souls was unique in a way that separated it from its 6 other siblings. The origin glow of this Great Sea was a spooky dark green mixed with black. But unlike its 6 other siblings, the uniqueness of the Dungeon of Souls reached such an extreme degree that it was uninhabitable to a lot of beast species. Only a select number of mutated beast species could survive and thrive in this extreme water body. Extreme predator species like Death Dragons, underwater Wraiths, and zombie sharks were the ones that could thrive here. The Dungeon of Souls was made specially to favor these types of predators. Though in contradiction to rumors, it was not filled with undead energy all year round, it was a fact that this great sea was modeled for mostly undead beasts. In Oceania, the primordial origin essence made it possible for a lot of beasts to mutate and evolve into different species to survive the test of nature, this meant that Oceania could accommodate all types of beasts. After the Great Fall, humans arrived in Oceania and through the primordial origin essence, they were able to survive and evolve into variant humans. For a lot of other beast species, the same phenomenon like the Great Fall of earth happened in their worlds which led to their transportation into this neutral world of water that favored evolution for all species. As for those beasts who were the original inhabitants of this world before the intruders came, they were seen as the truly blessed of Oceania. Space Beasts were an example of the original inhabitants of Oceania who were blessed by the primordial origin essence. In essence, common sense from other worlds did not apply here. In Oceania, the primordial origin essence made it possible for undead beasts like zombies and wraiths to survive in extreme regions like the Dungeon of Souls. Due to the unique characteristic of this Great Sea, undead beasts normally had an advantage over their living counterparts in a lot of ways. Undead magic was strengthened here, conventional magic was suppressed here, and this Great Sea was filled with hazardous regions where living mutated beasts could suffer a lot and even die if they encountered. This was the why apart from the prosperous Blue Sea that was under the firm grip of the Beast King, the Dungeon of Souls whose unchallenged Emperor was the Necromancy King was the Great Sea that resisted Atlantian domination the most. Though this Great Sea was not like the indomitable Blue Sea, the suppression that living beasts and variant humans received here limited Atlantis''s intrusion. The Necromancy King''s extremely notorious reputation prevented him from owning this Great Sea entirely, which made it the home ground to the worst mutated beast scum in all of Oceania who could resist the suppression. The Dungeon of Souls recorded the most yearly beast battles and slaughters. Compared to the other 6 Great Seas, this was a real slaughter ground. The most notorious beast criminals lived in the Dungeon of Souls, including the most notorious of mass murderer beasts. In essence, it was ok to say that the worst predators in all of Oceania lived here! This was the reason why the headquarters of the notorious Turtle Confraternity was also located here, deep inside one of the hazardous pockets of water space that heavily suppressed living creatures. The Turtle Confraternity took in any turtle beast into their ranks, including zombie turtles, but since their overall leader was a living Black tier turtle, it was inevitable that more living turtles filled its ranks. At this moment, after a long time away from the headquarters, the leader of the Turtle Confraternity whose face must not be seen finally returned. The leader of this inter-border beast cult, the Black Prophet returned injured. This was shocking to the members of the cult who all treated the Black tier predator as their god. It was inevitable that a ripple of panic spread through them and their leader didn''t even deem it right to explain to calm their panic. Once the gigantic turtle that seemed bigger than the world returned to his lair, he ignored every other call and went alone to bath in his recovery pool. Compared to the surrounding water body, this pool water was dark green in color. It was mixed with the concentrated blood of a million zombie beasts, and through some additional mixtures, it became a miracle healing pool. Since the past week that the Black Prophet returned from his deep-sea expedition, he locked himself in his healing chambers throughout. Not daring to interrupt the Prophet''s healing process, his close confidants could only stay outside the gate inside the healing chamber while fidgeting for a whole week, going without food. They already could faintly guess what happened that resulted in their leader being so heavily injured, but they all refrained from thinking too deeply into that blasphemous thought route. They waited, enduring the hunger until a reaction was finally detected. Creak! Creak! Clang! Creaking sounds reverberated before the massive gate was pushed open. Once the gate was pushed open, the Black Prophet came out, completely healed of his extremely severe injuries already. "Meet me in the main cult chambers!" The powerful turtle''s voice blasted out in such decibels that left all his close confidants dizzy. Despite feeling dizzy, none of the turtles, even those who were advanced in age dared to tarry as they all swam towards the main cult chambers at the fastest speed that their webbed feet could enable. Once they were in the main cult chambers, the massive gate behind them shut close, completely isolating them from the outside world. The leader was already lying on top of his throne, his iconic ninja mask that made him seem like a mutant ninja turtle was as iconic as before. "Your Eminence, Black Prophet!" All the turtles greeted, both living and zombie as they expressed their sincere respect to the great prophet. The massive turtle''s red eyes merely gazed at them nonchalantly before his authoritative voice blasted again. "Tell me everything that is happening!" The Great Prophet''s demand sounded vague but all the higher-up cultist turtles here understood what he meant. The cultist turtle with the highest authority among them stood up and spoke. "Your Eminence, your prophecy was right, the brewing Orca Revolution already started and it is taking all of Oceania by storm". "The Killer Whale Empire officially started the war to establish their dominance approximately a month ago". "With their extreme numbers, might, and reach, the Killer Whale Empire was able to launch a 3-pronged attack at 3 different Great Seas". "The Green Mist Sea, the Hot Realm, and the Dungeon of Souls were attacked simultaneously by the extremely ambitious Orcas". "Though all their forces are currently spread between 3 Great Seas, their focus is here. They already made known their main goal which is to kill the Necromancy Sea King and become the new overlord of our sea". "Hehe". The Black Prophet laughed. "No wonder he dared to ambush me in my home ground". It was like the Great Prophet was talking to himself while talking to them at the same time, but experience told all the higher-up cultist turtles to remain silent. "I have to admit, his strength increased exponentially compared to the last time that we fought which is probably decades ago". While he was coming back from his expedition, this powerful turtle Black tier predator was attacked by one of the 3 Orca Kings, King Orcanan. To his shock though, he was unable to hold his ground and was defeated by the now extremely powerful Orca after a fierce battle that lasted a full day. He was only able to survive because, well, he was a turtle. From this unwarranted attack, the Black Prophet knew that something was wrong which was the reason why he rushed back to his lair immediately. He never expected that his prophecy was already coming to reality so soon. "Hehe, things are really getting interesting". "If Orcanan alone is this strong, I wonder what the 3 of them together can accomplish. I shake in excitement just thinking of it, hehe". "Killer Whales, ambitious fellows, now you want to increase your plethora of titles, even adding the more impressive title of Sea King Killers". "But, can you?" "Hehe, I can''t wait". "Crazy Psycho is not called the Necromancy King for nothing. The quest of killing a Sea King at the peak of his powers like this is surely a rarity". The massive cultist turtle shook in excitement. "This intense game, I will surely watch it from the beginning to the end". "La la la la la!" "Crazy Psycho or Killer Whale, who wins?" "Hehe!" Chapter 360 - Goals And Ambitions! The Orca Revolution swept through a significant part of the 3 Great Seas that were attacked like a storm, leaving behind a lot of destruction. Of course, with the presence of the hot-blooded Pugilist King, the Orcas did not dare to be too overbearing in the Hot Realm. Their main motive of attacking 3 Great Seas at the same time was to prove a point to the world. During the rise of the current overlord, the Atlantis Empire, once the variant humans consolidated their power and started their conquest, they were not modest at all as they flexed their might to all of Oceania. By setting their sights on the Origin Peak Sea which was the territory of the strongest Sea King at the time and winning, they indeed proved a point. The opponent that they went up against and won against was the main reason why Atlantis was recognized worldwide as the overlord of Oceania. The Ocean King was already seen as the peak of power in this world for so many centuries that once this terrifying beast finally died, all the fame, dread, and notoriety were transferred to the victors who ended its reign. This was exactly what the Orcas planned to do. In all of Oceania, perhaps, apart from Atlantis itself, and the powerful and cohesive Beast King Empire, there was no other beast Empire out there that could confidently say they were stronger than the Killer Whale Empire. The best that other Beast Empires could claim was that they were on par with the Empire of the Killer Whales, saying anything otherwise was blasphemous. This notoriety was not unfounded. Since antiquity age, Orcas were known as some of the most powerful predators in all of Oceania. Their talent as predators were there at the very top. The fact that apart from Space Beast Empires, they were the ones who produced the most predators who later awoke advanced pinnacle magic domains said a lot. Of the strongest Beast Empires in the world, it was a rarity that they had multiple Black tier leaders since Black tier predators found it hard moving together. 2 Tigers cannot live in a mountain. This was the same scenario, 2 Black tier predators could not live with one willingly submitting to the other, but the Killer Whale Empire was able to work around this shortcoming. In all of Oceania, the Killer Whale Empire was the only Beast Empire that had 3 Black tier predators in their ranks. Even the prosperous Beast King Empire only had 2 Black tier predators which said a lot about their peak might. All 3 Black tier predators of the Killer Whale Empire had advanced pinnacle magic domains; they were genius predators of their generation. King Orcanan was a powerful Space Domain magician, so was Queen Orcarem also, but the real ruler of the Killer Whale Empire was King Orcadom. King Orcadom was a living Orca, but this powerful predator managed to awaken a rare advanced pinnacle soul-related magic domain that was extremely similar to that of the Necromancy King himself. With this soul magic domain, King Orcadom was like a fish in its element in the Dungeon of Souls. He was the main reason why the Killer Whale Empire focused on the Dungeon of Souls as their main conquest. Though they did not dare to be too overbearing in the Hot Realm to avoid angering the hot-blooded Pugilist King which was not worth it, the powerful Orcas had no qualms with angering the even more notorious Necromancy King. Of all the Sea Kings still living and at their peak today, the Beast King was widely recognized as the undisputed strongest, while the Necromancy King was recognized as the undisputed 2nd strongest. If their beast armies were removed from the ridiculous equation, further analysis showed that the Necromancy King would be the strongest Sea King currently which motivated the Orcas'' motive all the more. The ambitious Orcas sought to replicate the success of the Atlantis Empire. With the massive success example that was displayed by the Atlantis Empire, Beast Empires were no longer as scared of Sea Kings. They were no longer held in that untouchable pedestal that they were held in the past. Attacking the Green Mist Sea was just a side attraction to them. They attacked this Great Sea because no powerful Sea King was in charge of it at the moment, it was all power play to hype their actions as much as possible. Though attacking the Green Mist Sea was a side attraction to them, to the creatures who lived in this Great Sea themselves, it was a different case entirely. The beasts living in the Green Mist Sea were experiencing the darkest period of their lives in all their history. With Killer Whale armies invading with impunity, overwhelming them with their powerful beast soldiers, beasts died daily in this Great Sea, clans and beast families were attacked and annihilated in mere hours. The death and suffering reached such a high that most of the predators who lived in the deserted regions suffered it the most since the Orcas were not interested in investing more power to attack more established regions. Among the beast clans that lived in the deserted regions who suffered the ruthless death sweep of the Orcas was Leroy''s clan. After this turtle''s encounter with the Great White Shark, Sebastian, after the annihilation of their fierce archenemies, the gates of growth and development were opened to them as the Leroy clan started a rapid expansion. In just a few months, the originally small clan grew so much that they became the undisputed rulers of the cave, subduing all the other beast clans. After spending a few more months consolidating all their gains, Leroy enjoying the feeling of power, he appreciated the opportunity of meeting Sebastian more than ever, but too much power was detrimental at times. After enjoying the feeling of wielding so much power, Leroy craved more power. Against the wishes of his closest confidants like Big Group and Spankster, he decided to expand his clan outside the cave which was an abomination before. Once the clan head decided, the others could not go against it. The clan expanded, fortunately, all their fears never came and the clan prospered, growing even more powerful with time. When the Leroy clan was at its peak, the Orca Revolution started. If they were still in their cave, perhaps the overbearing Killer Whales would have disdained to take them out, but their growth meant that they became eye-catching targets to the predators who were out on a mission. Against Orcas, the clan of misfits that was created by Leroy could not offer a meaningful resistance, they were swept away like mere dust. Leroy watched as all his clan members died. He entered the fray with his war-gear himself, but he hardly made a difference. He was beaten to the point of death before he was left to rot and die. At the last few minutes before he was to die, Leroy''s only thoughts were regret. Why did he not listen to Big Group and his other close confidants? Before he died though, he experienced a twist of fate, he was saved by members of the Turtle Confraternity. Given another grasp at life, Leroy clung tight to it with a newfound purpose that he was ready to give more than his all for. Leroy through his new organization started a quest for revenge. He wholeheartedly embraced the notion and current main mission of this cult which was to mildly hinder the actions of the Killer Whales. He took it to an even more extreme. With his second life, he believed that he lived only to see Orcas die. He would stop the Orca revolution even if it meant he would forfeit his life. This was his new purpose! This was his life goal! Chapter 361 - Escalating Situation! While the disaster of the Orca uprising took 3 Great Seas by storm, there were parts of these Great Seas that were not affected, at least not as much as other regions and of these areas was Sebastian''s current location. Of the 3 Great Seas that were attacked, the Dungeon of Souls was the main battlefield, the Green Mist Sea was a dispensable battlefield, while the war in the Hot Realm was just a show of force and bravado. The region where the Anemone Domain and the Snake Kingdom reigned as the 2 overlords were only marginally affected by the ongoing uprising. No Orca army suddenly descended on either of these high-grade rural settlements, these were some of the most developed and strongest settlements in any ecosystem and the Orcas were unwilling to find trouble with them. Though an army of Orca didn''t attack them directly, the 2 high-grade rural settlements still felt the effects of the ongoing uprising. With a lot of low-grade and middle-grade rural settlements becoming victims to the powerful tearing jaws of the Killer Whales, a lot of predators became homeless as they all scurried everywhere for safety and survival. Most parts of the Green Mist Sea were experiencing the most chaotic period of their lives. Vagabond predators, feeling lost and broken could only forfeit intelligence and resort to their baser instincts to survive. Faced against overwhelming power, what intelligence could do was now marginal and only tangible power could save these predators'' lives. Vagabond predators that encountered each other saw themselves as no more than food to the other having starved for days while also being injured, so they attacked immediately. Sharks killed young sharks, young Devouring Octopus swallowed their injured parents to survive, this part of the Green Mist Sea entered the most chaotic and cannibalistic period since antiquity. Young and na?ve mutated beasts matured overnight after one encounter with the cruel reality that was war, personalities became warped. Every hour, every day, new beast clans fell to the tyrannical might of the Killer Whales. In the face of absolute might, beast clans of this level were no more than cannon fodder to the might of the army of a Beast Empire. Though only a small number of Orcas were dispatched to the Green Mist Sea relative to the overall Orca army, this force already was enough to overrun a lot of regions with impunity. In earth terms, the current situation was like if a single military division of the United States army was dispatched to go wreak havoc in a 3rd world country. Despite their small number compared to the overall army that a 3rd world country had in its control; the military division would still be able to deal astronomical damage. The current situation was like this, just a little bit more exaggerated. The Orca army that was dispatched by the Killer Whale Empire was completely indomitable in all the regions that they selected to attack. While all the chaos happened in the wide, the few safer and more developed middle-grade rural settlements, including the 2 high-grade rural settlements became safe havens that the surviving predators all scurried to. Traffic in the Anemone Domain saw a new peak as predators of different species all came with the hopes of getting inside to secure their lives. The clownfish army became strained more than ever before as they were all burdened with the sudden increase in security needs that needed to be attended to with such a massive spike in traffic. Tension rose high in this originally harmonious city. No beast knew what would happen the next day, they lived their daily lives dreading the worst-case scenario since it could destroy their peaceful lives for good. The clownfish military clamped down on civilian beast life, establishing a form of martial law where the movement of beasts in the city was monitored. For the first time since the creation of the music district, music stopped playing as every beast was done in by their fear. Due to the current state of their world, no one could ascertain who was an enemy and who was an ally, so the clownfish army had to be alert at all times, anticipating danger from anywhere and everywhere. In this upbeat and tense atmosphere, Sebastian continued living his life in this clown city in the Aurora Hospital. To Sebastian, this sudden Orca uprising was completely out of the blue. While he was preparing for another threat entirely, this one came suddenly, shocking him and once again revealing to him that nothing was in his control. He was not at that point where he could control everything yet, he was still at that stage where he moved and danced to the tone of the changes around him. At this moment again, Sebastian had no choice but to also dance to the tone. Instead of lamenting though, he instead decided to take advantage of the situation. He rapidly improvised his plans, accelerating them to the maximum that he could tolerate and still maintaining some accuracy. The martial law in the Anemone Domain affected all beasts since they were restricted from moving from one place to the other, but this didn''t affect Sebastian because all his plans were focused on the Aurora Hospital for the moment. Once he improvised his plan, his daily schedule became visiting the advanced library, reading and getting as much information as he wanted, researching on his mana core experiment, researching on Space Beasts for his 2nd doppelganger operation, and also secretly inquiring more about the zone of glory. In this tense atmosphere, while a lot of the anatomists were too petrified by fear to work, Sebastian increased his work efficiency to a record-breaking high. Surprisingly, pushed by the pressure of the current situation, Sebastian''s work became a lot more productive as he achieved a lot of his goals simultaneously while he kept a constant lookout for any changes in the city. As the days passed and more refugees rushed to the city for refuge, even starting battles when they were not allowed entry, the tension kept on increasing and Sebastian''s intuition started telling him that the time was getting ripe. Though he gave one-sided focus on achieving his goals, Sebastian never forgot about the outcome of his first and only field anatomy mission since his next plan from here heavily depended on it. 4 days after the Orca uprising started, the Anemone Domain''s tolerance was stretched tight as the frustrated clownfish army started killing any predator that rebelled or even contemplated starting a riot. The killing increased the tension all the more, making this period the most chaotic since the creation of this massive clown city. When will the uprising end? This was every beast''s question, but unfortunately, no one knew the answer to this question. They were not even sure if this uprising would end in the first place. On the 5th day, it finally happened. When the Anemone Domain thought that they already had more than enough in their hands, things escalated when the Snake Kingdom finally launched its first full-scale offensive on their archenemies. This action escalated the tension and conflict to the next level. With the Snake Kingdom mobilizing in full force, a local war between 2 leading high-grade rural settlements abruptly started amid the already chaotic situation from the Orca uprising. Every predator despaired once they got the news, only Sebastian took it calmly like he was already waiting too long for it to come. "Finally!" Chapter 362 - The Flames Of War! The Clash Of Empires! Once the Snake Kingdom started the long-awaited war, they did so with their all, putting in all their efforts to make it as blown out as possible. They came out with their all, mobilizing their strongest armies. Like the Anemone Domain, the Snake Kingdom was also a mighty high-grade rural settlement with an even deeper foundation considering that they were the original overlords of this region. Their depths were as deep as the abyss, their warriors were more powerful individually compared to the clownfish, they had the advantage of top power in the form of their hibernating snake elders, and they were known from antiquity to be the more cunning of the 2 species. Perhaps, the only advantage where the clownfish were stronger than them was their mechs that had a lot of damage potential in large-scale wars. Another fact was perhaps, their mysterious clown god. This time though, all these did not deter the snakes, with the Empires at the top starting it, the hibernating elders once they were informed easily deduced that perhaps this was their only chance of trying to aim for the next level. The next level in this term was upgrading officially to become a Snake Empire. This was the reason why the Anemone Domain was not their only opponent; every other rural settlement was their opponent. The military leaders of the Snake Kingdom made meticulous plans and mobilized their massive snake armies in droves, strictly ordering them to follow the plans to the letter. The plan of this military operation of the Snake Kingdom that was tagged ''World Domination Operation'' was in 3 major folds. The first was dedicated towards all the nearby lesser rural settlements, the 2nd was dedicated to protecting the Snake Kingdom from the aftereffects of the battle between the mighty Empires. As for the last, it was the most important and was dedicated to upending the reign of the Anemone Domain. The details of the 3 major plans were confidential, only known by Commander Snark of the Snake Kingdom army. Every major order came from the Commander himself, and every disobeying soldier faced a death sentence. At this moment, in the whole Snake Kingdom, apart from the 5 hibernating Snake Elders, Commander Snark had the most authority. Once this Commander finally started giving his commands, the whole region became engulfed by the flames of war that were already ravaging everywhere. The Snake Kingdom that was built upon an extremely huge seamount entered its most alert and heavily defended state in centuries. Thousands of military-grade shuttles were mobilized into the surrounding of the seamount, acting as the first defense line. The 2nd and subsequent defense lines were erected in the seamount itself in numerous forms. Artillery turrets, magic canon propellers, torpedo launchers, massive laser guns, magic poison propellers, were just a part of the defensive means that were employed by the snakes to defend their territory. The 3rd line of defense was of course the 5 snake elders. These 5 ancient Red tier predators, the Mobbing Python, the Devouring Anaconda, the King Cobra, the Double-headed Serpent, and the Ancient Basilisk were the backbone of the Snake Kingdom. With centuries of accumulation, forming a formidable collection of battle experience, cunningness, beast adaptation, and skills, these 5 were some of the most terrifying Red tier predators in Oceania to face in battle. With this 5, the Snake Kingdom''s defense stood as firm as Mountain Kilimanjaro of Africa. Unyielding and Strong! With the most important defense taken care of, they could finally start the much-anticipated offense under the orders of Commander Snark. The first strike force consisted of massive snake armies that were sent to invade the nearest low-grade rural settlements. The job of the first strike force was to tyrannically invade and annex all the nearest rural settlements. As for the second-strike force which was the most comprehensive and had the most numbers of military-grade shuttles, this was the strike force that was tasked with the job of attacking the Anemone Domain. To get to the Anemone Domain, they needed to transverse a great distance. This time was not wasted though, Commander Snark made good use of it. Though this snake Commander disdained the filthy clownfish, after clashing with them for a long time, he did not dare to underestimate them and therefore used every means that was available to him in a bid to get the advantage first. The attack on the clownfish strike force and the subsequent ones that followed that seemed like hit and run tactics were just ways that this Commander used in playing psychological games with his enemies. If he won the psychological battle, the effects would be massive and he would be one step closer to overall victory. He was right though. The clownfish were so used to their high pedestal that they completely underestimated the resolve of their archenemies, which was the main reason why they were stunned when the snakes started a full-scale invasion. The main army of the Snake Kingdom had not arrived at the Anemone Domain yet, but they were already clashing with the field armies of the clownfish. Having not expected the sudden attack of such a large scale, though the clownfish armies held well, they were slowly being pushed to a retreat. The Commanders of the Anemone Domain were also trying to preserve as many deaths as possible which was why they ordered a gradual retreat. It would not take much time and the snakes would finally arrive at their enemies'' territory. Once they arrived, the real war would start. All that was happening now was the calm before the storm. Once the calm ended, the real war would erupt! ¡­ "They really started a full-scale invasion!" Despite the old clownfish''s exclamation, silence reigned in the councilor''s gathering as every one of the 13 most authoritative clownfish of the Anemone Domain contemplated the current situation of the settlement. The situation was already serious, against what a lot of the clownfish here expected. Now, they knew that saying anything impulsive actually had consequences which were why all the attention was currently on the chief councilor. The actions of the past few days that swept throughout not only the Green Mist Sea, but 2 other Great Seas left them in a state of shock. It was like sleeping normally in the era of earth''s prosperity and peace, and suddenly waking up the next day to see that World War III just started. The shock alone could prevent one from thinking accurately. All the clownfish here were the most exceptional of the Anemone Domain though, they never buckled under pressure. Now that the situation was like this, they already adjusted their minds to the situation. All they waited for was the chief councilor''s verdict. The massive aging clownfish directed a weary but still sharp eye across all the 12 councilors that were in this gathering. He kept silent for minutes, allowing it to grate at the nerves of the councilors for long before he finally spoke. "We respond". Once he spoke, his body left the originally lifeless posture that it was in, taking on the posture of an authoritative clownfish once again. "We respond, that is what we do!" His voice rose a few decibels higher. "I don''t know what in the world is starting this sudden large-scale war, but since the snakes want to use this opportunity to engage in a tug of war with us, I say we tell them that we still got it!" "This is my order, let the Anemone Domain go to war!" The old clownfish grinned. "Send this message across if it can get to him". "Tell Basik that my prime mech is ready to kick his ass again!" Chapter 363 - The Calm Before The Storm! Once the Snake Kingdom started the long-awaited war, they did so with their all, putting in all their efforts to make it as blown out as possible. They came out with their all, mobilizing their strongest armies. Like the Anemone Domain, the Snake Kingdom was also a mighty high-grade rural settlement with an even deeper foundation considering that they were the original overlords of this region. Their depths were as deep as the abyss, their warriors were more powerful individually compared to the clownfish, they had the advantage of top power in the form of their hibernating snake elders, and they were known from antiquity to be the more cunning of the 2 species. Perhaps, the only advantage where the clownfish were stronger than them was their mechs that had a lot of damage potential in large-scale wars. Another fact was perhaps, their mysterious clown god. This time though, all these did not deter the snakes, with the Empires at the top starting it, the hibernating elders once they were informed easily deduced that perhaps this was their only chance of trying to aim for the next level. The next level in this term was upgrading officially to become a Snake Empire. This was the reason why the Anemone Domain was not their only opponent; every other rural settlement was their opponent. The military leaders of the Snake Kingdom made meticulous plans and mobilized their massive snake armies in droves, strictly ordering them to follow the plans to the letter. The plan of this military operation of the Snake Kingdom that was tagged ''World Domination Operation'' was in 3 major folds. The first was dedicated towards all the nearby lesser rural settlements, the 2nd was dedicated to protecting the Snake Kingdom from the aftereffects of the battle between the mighty Empires. As for the last, it was the most important and was dedicated to upending the reign of the Anemone Domain. The details of the 3 major plans were confidential, only known by Commander Snark of the Snake Kingdom army. Every major order came from the Commander himself, and every disobeying soldier faced a death sentence. At this moment, in the whole Snake Kingdom, apart from the 5 hibernating Snake Elders, Commander Snark had the most authority. Once this Commander finally started giving his commands, the whole region became engulfed by the flames of war that were already ravaging everywhere. The Snake Kingdom that was built upon an extremely huge seamount entered its most alert and heavily defended state in centuries. Thousands of military-grade shuttles were mobilized into the surrounding of the seamount, acting as the first defense line. The 2nd and subsequent defense lines were erected in the seamount itself in numerous forms. Artillery turrets, magic canon propellers, torpedo launchers, massive laser guns, magic poison propellers, were just a part of the defensive means that were employed by the snakes to defend their territory. The 3rd line of defense was of course the 5 snake elders. These 5 ancient Red tier predators, the Mobbing Python, the Devouring Anaconda, the King Cobra, the Double-headed Serpent, and the Ancient Basilisk were the backbone of the Snake Kingdom. With centuries of accumulation, forming a formidable collection of battle experience, cunningness, beast adaptation, and skills, these 5 were some of the most terrifying Red tier predators in Oceania to face in battle. With this 5, the Snake Kingdom''s defense stood as firm as Mountain Kilimanjaro of Africa. Unyielding and Strong! With the most important defense taken care of, they could finally start the much-anticipated offense under the orders of Commander Snark. The first strike force consisted of massive snake armies that were sent to invade the nearest low-grade rural settlements. The job of the first strike force was to tyrannically invade and annex all the nearest rural settlements. As for the second-strike force which was the most comprehensive and had the most numbers of military-grade shuttles, this was the strike force that was tasked with the job of attacking the Anemone Domain. To get to the Anemone Domain, they needed to transverse a great distance. This time was not wasted though, Commander Snark made good use of it. Though this snake Commander disdained the filthy clownfish, after clashing with them for a long time, he did not dare to underestimate them and therefore used every means that was available to him in a bid to get the advantage first. The attack on the clownfish strike force and the subsequent ones that followed that seemed like hit and run tactics were just ways that this Commander used in playing psychological games with his enemies. If he won the psychological battle, the effects would be massive and he would be one step closer to overall victory. He was right though. The clownfish were so used to their high pedestal that they completely underestimated the resolve of their archenemies, which was the main reason why they were stunned when the snakes started a full-scale invasion. The main army of the Snake Kingdom had not arrived at the Anemone Domain yet, but they were already clashing with the field armies of the clownfish. Having not expected the sudden attack of such a large scale, though the clownfish armies held well, they were slowly being pushed to a retreat. The Commanders of the Anemone Domain were also trying to preserve as many deaths as possible which was why they ordered a gradual retreat. It would not take much time and the snakes would finally arrive at their enemies'' territory. Once they arrived, the real war would start. All that was happening now was the calm before the storm. Once the calm ended, the real war would erupt! ¡­ "They really started a full-scale invasion!" Despite the old clownfish''s exclamation, silence reigned in the councilor''s gathering as every one of the 13 most authoritative clownfish of the Anemone Domain contemplated the current situation of the settlement. The situation was already serious, against what a lot of the clownfish here expected. Now, they knew that saying anything impulsive actually had consequences which were why all the attention was currently on the chief councilor. The actions of the past few days that swept throughout not only the Green Mist Sea, but 2 other Great Seas left them in a state of shock. It was like sleeping normally in the era of earth''s prosperity and peace, and suddenly waking up the next day to see that World War III just started. The shock alone could prevent one from thinking accurately. All the clownfish here were the most exceptional of the Anemone Domain though, they never buckled under pressure. Now that the situation was like this, they already adjusted their minds to the situation. All they waited for was the chief councilor''s verdict. The massive aging clownfish directed a weary but still sharp eyes across all the 12 councilors that were in this gathering. He kept silent for minutes, allowing it to grate at the nerves of the councilors for long before he finally spoke. "We respond". Once he spoke, his body left the originally lifeless posture that it was in, taking on the posture of an authoritative clownfish once again. "We respond, that is what we do!" His voice rose a few decibels higher. "I don''t know what in the world is starting this sudden large-scale war, but since the snakes want to use this opportunity to engage in a tug of war with us, I say we tell them that we still got it!" "This is my order, let the Anemone Domain go to war!" The old clownfish grinned. "Send this message across if it can get to him". "Tell Basik that my prime mech is ready to kick his ass again!" Chapter 364 - War!!! Once the chief councilor gave his verdict, it was final! "Let the Anemone Domain go to war!" The Anemone Domain was unlike anything that Sebastian had encountered in this world before. Unlike Leroy''s quack clan where Sebastian spent his first days in Oceania and Old Mak''s clan, this settlement was like a beast nation! Of course, the Anemone Domain did not have the numbers to justify them being a beast nation, but their military might was more than enough. Also, their policies were modeled systematically like a nation''s. Throughout since the commotion of the Orca Revolution took everywhere by storm, and the subsequent full-scale invasion of the Snake Kingdom, the Anemone Domain was only resisting passively. But for the first time since all the chaos started, the Anemone Domain received the go-ahead from their chief councilor to abandon staying passive. For the first time, they actively engaged in this war. Once the councilor gave the order, the whole Anemone Domain felt it in only a few minutes. The whole clown city came under a state of lockdown as the internal clown police mobilized in full force. This war was not normal. To the clownfish, this war against their archenemies was akin to a world war so they responded appropriately. The first response was trimming down on all the visitors in the city. The clownfish police swept across all the major zones of the city like the plague, arresting the visitors and dissecting every single hidden secret about them to arrive at the truth. This was all in a quest to fish out any spies. Unlike the Snake Kingdom which was a high-grade rural settlement exclusive to only snakes, the Anemone Domain was a more open rural settlement. The clownfish were aware of this shortcoming which was they struct hard at it first. All the visitors including Sebastian were taken into custody as a wartime investigation began to determine their real identity and motives. While this happened and was left in the hands of the clownfish police, the clownfish army finally mobilized in its full force for the first time in over a decade. Unlike the Snake Kingdom army, the clownfish army was more heterogeneous and was more focused on technology than individual strength. One advantage of technology was that it never became obsolete. Even back on earth, a version of a technological gadget never lasted too long, Android version 1 quickly became obsolete, giving space to higher versions to version 10 and beyond. This was an advantage that the clownfish army had. In this past decade of peace, the snakes evolved, increased their strength which was expected but the clownfish were confident that they evolved more. Compared to a decade ago, virtually all their military-grade technological weapons and gadgets were completely different. This became apparent once the floodgates of the zone of transition were opened, connecting the factory zone to the working-class zone which was the more direct route for mobilizing the clownfish army. Before the clownfish army was officially mobilized, all the investigations and checks were completed. This included the milder investigation operation that was targeted towards clownfish that may have been corrupted. Any visiting predator with a default was executed on the spot, defaulting clownfish were detained, while the others reunited with the clownfish who were all put under a state of clownfish martial law order. The clownfish martial law order started that in war periods, every beast who was not part of the army all had their movements restricted and were all to be taken to the underground shelter holds. In this period, they had no will of their own, they were like probationary soldiers of the Anemone Domain and were expected to listen to any and every order of the leading clownfish Commanders. With this done, all the zones of the Anemone Domain became vacant for the massive clownfish army to pass through. Clang! The clownfish army finally emerged! The clownfish army consisted of thousands of military-grade shuttles that were far more advanced than the ones allocated to patrol teams. Not only shuttles, but the army''s emergence was also followed by the emergence of massive machines that looked like submarines. This was the new advanced deep-Sea warship that was developed by the clownfish engineers. Underwater tank-like mini-shuttles with long-range missile payloads, ultra-range seamount destroyers, hypersonic positron beam launchers, and even more hidden weapons were part of the entourage of the massive army. All these technological marvels were not the main ones that stole the show though, what stole the show was the iconic machines of the clownfish army, the mechs that they were proud of and had achieved massive success with. Tens of thousands of mechs in different shapes and sizes swarmed after the larger mechanical vessels of mass destruction. This was the clownfish army! The clownfish showed no hesitation. They were the extension of the almighty chief councilor, and they were willing and prepared to deliver his verdict to the arrogant snakes. Once the army passed through all the zones of the Anemone Domain and arrived outside, they boarded the military-grade shuttles and left. Before they left, the defense of the Anemone Domain was already set. The Giant Sea Anemones that originally seemed gentle already rose to the challenge. Their originally bright and colorful tentacles now showed an ominous purple, revealing lethal poison, with giant sharp spikes jutting out of the tentacles as the Sea Anemones formed the first line of defense of the Anemone Domain. With their assurance, the army could finally go to war unbridled. The army only had to travel for 3 hours before they met the first enemy force, and they were sure to unleash destruction. Boom! Boom! Boom! The clash of the snakes and the clownfish was legendary! Snakes clashed with the mechs that were piloted by the clownfish, military-grade shuttles collided with military-grade shuttles, war machines clashed with war machines as they ruthlessly unleashed all their payloads without restraint. Once the war between these 2-hegemon high-grade rural settlements began, it was like the world itself in this region was coming to an end. Even the microscopic organisms in this region were not spared from the danger. Ameoba, Spirogyras, were all affected by the destruction wrought by these 2 powers as lives were lost at dizzying rates. The real entry of the clownfish army into this war was nothing short of bombastic. Of course, the soldiers did not fail to deliver the message of their chief councilor to the leading hibernating elder of the snakes. With this, the stakes in this war became higher again. The bombastic charge of the clownfish enabled them to start erecting bombardment outposts around the periphery of their territory to prepare for the possible invasion-press of the snakes. While they did this, even more, clownfish mechs surged outwards to hunt down more snakes. The war already reached a peak once it started. One thing was for sure, and that was that this peak would last since none of these 2 high-grade rural settlements was going down so easily. This was going to be an exciting and long-drawn-out battle. The only question was, who was going to emerge victorious in the end? ¡­ With his fellow anatomists, Sebastian was in an underground shelter in the clown city that was more luxurious than the one other visitor predators stayed in. In here, Sebastian could do nothing more than to analyze the battle situation through his doppelgangers that he already sent out beforehand. While everyone in here was tense and afraid, Sebastian''s brain was as calculative as a supercomputer as he compared different scenarios in his head, trying to determine the exact time for him to start his operation. It took him a long time, but he decided to lay low for now. "The time is not ripe yet, let it escalate further". Chapter 365 - Taking Action! One week later, the war was still raging fiercely! The destruction wrought by the war between these 2 high-grade rural settlements in just a week showed the resolve of both sides and the extent that they were ready to reach to accomplish their goals. The region where the Anemone Domain and the Snake Kingdom were established as the 2 ruling powers seemed to have been affected by an apocalypse. Legends say that when 2 giants fought, it was the one dwarf in-between them that was perhaps oblivious of the whole conflict would be the one to suffer and this was perfectly reflected here. The Anemone Domain and the Snake Kingdom were the ones at war, and they suffered staggering casualties of course, but the other rural settlements and stray beasts in their region were the ones that really suffered. These confused beasts had no choice but to die under the circumstances. Deciding to escape from this region would probably lead to them entering the battlefield of an even more advanced battle between Empires, so staying here and fighting for their survival was the decision that most predators took. Some of them were lucky enough to survive for a time, but with the gradually escalating war, they died in no time, either by starvation or by the war itself. This region of the Green Mist Sea saw and witnessed its bloodiest conflict. As more beast clans died to the stray attacks of the 2 hegemons, the indignant survivors improvised and tried to form temporary alliances to resist the tyranny of the 2 monster settlements but they were crushed ruthlessly. The Snake Kingdom and the Anemone Domain already lorded over this region for so long, hoarding all the best resources throughout that even if all the other settlements allied, they could at best match their might. Now that a lot of them were already annihilated or annexed, such temporary alliances were like throwing a stone at a river while expecting it to tear the river apart, annihilating it in the process. This was simply fantasy, and they paid for their ignorance with death. Neither the clownfish nor the snakes showed mercy. Only their opponents were in their sights, any other obstruction''s only fate was to be annihilated. While the 2 high-grade rural settlements stepped on the heads of their lesser neighbors to settle their fight for supremacy, the intensity of the war between them grew so much that it officially entered the next level after only a week. Despite the numerous hidden trump cards and methods that both high-grade rural settlements had, they would not release them until the war situation was getting really critical. Hidden trump cards were more useful when used in critical periods where they could have the most impact, that was why they were called trump cards. Of these trump cards were the elders of both sides. The elder snakes were as patient as snakes should, watching cunningly from the dark, while the clownfish councilors supervised the battle situation live. None of these councilors got to their position while being soft. They were war heroes of the previous generation and were war legends of this generation. They were the most powerful and intelligent clownfish in the clan. They were entitled to the best, they had the best mechs, they were the spiritual foundation of the Anemone Domain, they were the greatest trump card of the clown city. With all the trump cards still not being used, the battle situation was balanced between both beast armies. This meant that none of the 2 armies arrived at an overwhelming advantage after the first clash. With no clear superior, they could only settle for deciding the conflict through the generic way of trading blow for blow. This way, the casualties recorded in both armies were absolutely staggering. Soldiers died this way like leaves falling in autumn. The 2 high-grade rural settlements had prepared for this epic showdown for a long time. Their reserves were full, their military-grade shuttle reserves were full, all their military reserves were full except manpower. Manpower was the one thing that neither of these 2 powerful rural settlements could settle like their other needs and stockpile. Beasts were born, beasts die, this was the cycle of life and there was very little that the beasts could do about it. Unless they were Atlantis, these 2 high-grade rural settlements would forever be plagued with this manpower problem. This was what resulted in a huge problem due to the abnormal rate at which the soldiers of both sides died. Originally, they thought they would have to fight for over a month before this nagging problem became prominent but they were wrong, they vastly exceeded the extent that the intensity of this battle would reach. If this continued, in a few weeks, both rural settlements will suffer a shortage of manpower which could prove extremely dangerous since the surviving low-grade and middle-grade rural settlements could then attack them. Neither of these 2 high-grade rural settlements was content to let this happen, and they also didn''t want to stop the war that they started, this was the reason why they made a decision. These 2 high-grade rural settlements were already tyrants in this region, but they decided to take that title more seriously, implementing it. Just a day later, both hegemons started deliberately targeting other rural settlements, annexing their warriors to become theirs to serve as cannon fodder to extend the length of this battle to determine the side with more reserves. Unlike the Snake Kingdom that lived a recluse life throughout their reign, the more carefree Anemone Domain enjoyed an advantage here. They necessarily didn''t have to attack all their targets, they just hard to threaten the beasts with the prospects of living in a rule under the tyrant snakes alone and these beasts willingly decided to help the clownfish. The snakes didn''t give a damn about diplomacy, they were powerful and they flexed their power again, forcibly taking all their volunteers. This way, both sides succeeded in prolonging their battle-ready state while also making sure that they never got weak enough for their weaker neighbors to be able to pose a threat to them. This decision was what gave Sebastian the opportunity that he sought. After being patient for one week, he was finally taken out of the underground shelter to participate in the war. As a purple tier predator, though he was a senior anatomist, his strength would not be wasted. Sebastian didn''t mind though although his colleagues mourned when he was taken away. With this, Sebastian knew that it was time, and he finally took action. In a subtle manner, he created a doppelganger, replacing his real body with it as he finally started the operation that he had been planning for months. While they took his doppelganger away, his real body became loose. Chapter 366 - Going Rogue! "Remember that it is an honor for you to be on the battlefield!" "Other predators don''t have a choice in this war, getting to die hopelessly, but you joining the clownfish army is your opportunity to take the situation by the horn, controlling it with your own hands". "So don''t see it as a death sentence, see it as a redemption sentence!" "See it as a chance to escape from your reality of being helpless to a more optimistic reality of having control!" "See it as a chance to really fight for your life!" "This is a turbulent time, and turbulent times are times of change". "If you have been dissatisfied with the life that you have been living before, this is your chance to save and change it". "Joining the clownfish army, the baton of your life has been handed to you, the effort and determination that you put into running and winning determine your price at the end". "Your generations of children may remember you for your heroics in this battle. So, make it worth it, give them the future that you want!" "Now, soldiers, I want nothing else but the best from you out there on the battlefield. You got me?" "Yes, Sergeant!" "Good!" The diminutive but authoritative clownfish grinned. Before the visitors of the Anemone Domain were mobilized, the clownfish already mobilized numerous other predators from lower graded rural settlements who now joined their side to decide the outcome of this war. At this moment, inside the factory zone of the clown city, military-grade shuttles revved their powerful engines, warming them for take-off as the Sergeant addressed the soldiers. This was just one of the many new military divisions that were formed with clownfish soldiers as leaders and all the foreign predators as the henchmen. The Anemone Domain may lack unlimited soldiers, but they had enough war resources to fight a long-drawn-out battle that made them seem unlimited. They could accommodate and equip foreign predators with their war weapons and resources and still last a long time in the intense war. None of the new soldier inductees lacked a shuttle to ferry them outside into the battlefield, all of them listened to their new superiors from the military-grade shuttles that were lined up in the factory zone. Once their superiors gave them motivational talks, they explained all the dos and don''ts of the army, gave special advice on how to survive longer, and help the war situation more, before they were officially sent out. "To war!" Whoosh! Once the order was given by the residing clownfish Captain, all the newly set up military divisions transferred the order as all the military-grade shuttles floated up at the same time before slowly building speed. With thousands of such shuttles hovering in the water together, it formed a visually impactive spectacle to any onlooker and the soldiers themselves. The clownfish employed subtle psychological techniques in this process, making the new soldier inductees feel heroic like they were really going for a war that would determine the fate of their future generations. Originally, most mutated beasts never thought so far to future generations, but since the clownfish emphasized it so much, they could not help but hold it in far higher esteem than they used to. "For the future generations!" Once the first predators started it, the others joined. They discovered strength in numbers, and this was exactly what their superiors wanted. Only one of these enlisted soldiers exhibited a far calmer mood than all the others. In his corner of the military-grade shuttle that he was assigned, Sebastian''s eyes were as sharp as a hawk''s as he scanned his surroundings. After months of being forced to use his detection skills subtlety to prevent irritating his colleagues at work, Sebastian already got better at manipulating his detection skills without alerting those that he used them on. The thousands of military-grade shuttles floated forward at a steady pace towards the direction of the enormous gate that separated here from the pivotal zone of transition. In a few seconds, they all passed through before being engulfed by the familiar darkness of traversing the gate to the zone of transition. In this darkness, Sebastian made his move. [You have activated unique skill: Doppelganger and Invisibility!] [You have created a Doppelganger!] [You have activated skill: Invisibility!] As soon as the lighting returned to the military-grade shuttles, the new soldier inductees easily discovered that they were back in the massive underwater port that was filled with a lot of activity. Here, they were inducted into even larger clownfish army military units before they were finally mobilized as bundles of different massive units. The War-343 military-grade shuttle that Sebastian was assigned to was among them as they easily transited away out of the zone of transition. Nothing went wrong, everything was perfectly fine. Once all the military-grade shuttles finally emerged out of the massive walls of the Anemone Domain, the new soldier inductees were finally exposed to the disaster that pushed them to make this decision in the first place. The territory of the Anemone Domain was still relatively pristine, but a few kilometers away from here, the same thing could not be said about them. Green alternatives for magic smoke could be seen in the distance, numerous terrifying depressions that felt like a fallen angel walked the Ocean were evident, seamounts that were destroyed from their crust could be seen from afar. This was just a fraction of the destruction that was already wrath by the war between the Anemone Domain and the Snake Kingdom. This was what the new soldier inductees were throwing themselves back in. But this time, they were going to war in a completely different state. Unlike before where they could only swim for their lives like orphans, they now had a huge thigh to lean on in the form of the massive clownfish army. With the army behind them, even if they had to die in the end, they would still be relevant enough to deal significant damage to the glory-hungry snakes. Unlike the clownfish, most of them could not pilot mechs. It didn''t matter though; the clownfish community was more of the exception than the rule. In Oceania, mutated beasts that were called predators were more known for their personal combat strength than the strength of their technological machines. For these new soldier inductees, they may seem barbaric, not being able to pilot the elegant weapons of destruction, but theirs was different. To them, their thick skin was their armor, their eyes and other senses were their sensors, while their teeth, fin, and claws were their weapons. "For the future generations!" "For the future generations!" The new military-grade shuttles wasted no time, they joined the war! Alongside them in one of the shuttles was Sebastian, at least that was what every one of them thought. ¡­ Clack! Clack! In the zone of transition, behind the powerful machines and mega processor computers were clownfish who operated these powerful weapons of technology, trying hard to control and regulate everything that was going on. The battle between the 2 rural settlements may seem like it was going out outside, this was true, but the real control center was here. In here, through these powerful machines and mega processor computers, the highly trained clownfish controlled logistics, decoded encrypted war data, broke down order chains, transmitting them to all the military divisions. In essence, they were the heart of the clownfish army. If the zone of transition was taken out by the snakes, the clownfish would suffer. At this moment, a clownfish like his brothers, floated before a huge supercomputer as he interfaced with the computer''s massive processors like it was a mech, remotely controlling all its actions like a mech. The clownfish species here already passed the level of inputting every command to their machines manually, their highly trained workers could do everything through the interface connection with the supercomputers. As this clownfish worked diligently, completely focused on the computer while being oblivious to anything that happened around him, a spooky thing happened beside his neck. Blink! A pair of blue predatory eyes blinked open just behind this clownfish. The next moment, the clownfish shivered as he felt like a cold wind suddenly blew through his body. He stopped his work and glanced around silently, confused. "What was that?" "Perhaps, I''m tired already, let me get some adrenaline doses". With that, the clownfish left his post. Blink! The pair of eyes blinked again; Sebastian already went rogue. Chapter 367 - Infiltration! After a long time of silently practicing with it, while he engaged in all his other activities, Sebastian was finally a pro in using his new unique skill. Unlike the Water Transmutation unique skill, the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill was more peculiar in the sense that it was not exactly fine-tuned for direct battle like his first unique skill. Of course, creating doppelgangers to fight was a powerful ability, but it was not as direct as the first unique skill. Also, the invisibility ability emphasized the unique skill''s preference for fighting in the shadows like an assassin than the valiant hero stereotype fighting style of the Water Transmutation unique skill. Perhaps, these 2 unique skills were created taking their creators'' personalities into account, and they perhaps explained why the stronger Ocean King was the one who died first, followed by the arrogant Doppelganger and Invisibility King. To date, the more he understood the unique skill, the more Sebastian was sure that it was because of his arrogance that Carcarot Gorgoneon died. If the Sea King was a little prudent and more cunning which was in line with his unique skill and even his species, the Sea King would have never found himself in such dire straits even when against the strongest armies of the variant humans. After realizing his battle style, Sebastian already decided that his battle style was completely offensive which was in line with his first unique skill. Offense was his defense! Despite this, he needed to adapt to accommodate his 2nd unique skill. Even for a glory monger Pugilist, there were at times when it was more prudent and intelligent to take it slow and steady. This was why for the past few months, Sebastian put in a lot of time and effort into mastering the invisibility ability of his unique skill. It did not take much thinking to deduce that this ability would be invaluable in his quest to infiltrate the most sacred part of the Anemone Domain. Now, the fruits of his effort and practice could finally show. Of course, maintaining the invisibility state was still a tyrannical mana drainer but it was tamer compared to before. Sebastian''s outrageous mana recovery speed helped in balancing things out. Perhaps, if he was not a Megalodon and if he didn''t have his Mana Box magic gadget, he would never take such a demanding route to accomplish his goal. After a long time, Sebastian''s intuition told him that he was finally facing a situation where he had to give his best again. The difference from before was that he had a lot more means at his disposal, everything about him was different and stronger than before. Though he did not want trouble, hoping for everything to go smoothly, his inner Megalodon could not help but keep raring to go for the fight. Despite his inner feelings, Sebastian still took it slow and steady. The Anemone Domain was no ordinary opponent, this was a high-grade rural settlement that has developed for years with a deep foundation. Through his contact, Master Galosh, Sebastian had managed to learn more about the rural settlement with time. Through the music master, he made more connections and also learned of the 13 councilors. According to the music master, his greatest obstacle to his goal was the 12 councilors who with their mech could barely get Red tier strength in battle. It was called barely, which probably meant semi-Red tier strength, but Sebastian did not dare to underestimate them. Having dabbled with the powerful predators of this tier numerous times, he had an accurate measure of their strength. He was powerful for a purple tier predator, extremely powerful to be precise but due to the law of the strength gap increasing as predators evolved more, Sebastian could still not stand a battle against a real Red tier predator. Even some abnormal purple tier predators like the Space Beast that he encountered some time ago in the Ocean Volcano region could give him a run for his money. He still needed time to develop. Paired with his experience was why he did not underestimate his opponents. The 12 councilors were like the icing on the cake though, the real cake was the chief councilor himself, Crook Mane, the leading clownfish of the Anemone Domain who was over 3 centuries old. This predator was the only bonafide Red tier predator among all the clownfish in the rural settlement. His normal strength was at the lower end though, but he was complimented perfectly by his monster mech. The mech of the leader, called the Devourer when paired with chief councilor Crook enabled this clownfish to wield the strength of the strongest Red tier predators. In his element, the chief councilor could thrash the strongest hibernating elder of the Snake Kingdom, the Ancient Basilisk. He was the reason why the Snake Kingdom never attacked all these years. The reason why the councilors were Sebastian''s greatest concern was that though the zone of transition led directly to the 3 most important zones of the rural settlement, an additional countermeasure was added to the most important one. To get into the real depths of the zone of glory, there was an additional hurdle to pass and this one was connected directly to the central business district. Through the massive mechanical corridor, every one of the councilors would detect immediately if a thief tried to intrude and could also arrive in no time. According to Master Galosh, this arrangement was made to prevent even intruders like the Ancient Basilisk from entering which decreased Sebastian''s chances further but he never gave up. In Sebastian''s opinion, there was nothing like a perfect plan and a perfect countermeasure. It all depended on if he could find a loophole to exploit, and he was sure that there was one. All he needed to find was patience and proactive probing, this was exactly what Sebastian''s plan entailed to get into the zone of glory. In the worst-case scenario, he would be discovered and would be forced to fight. The thing was, Sebastian was not afraid of a fight. In his plan, Sebastian''s current miniaturized state was a disadvantage but in his previous life, according to the great Dutch football player and coach, Johan Cruyff, every disadvantage had its advantage. The disadvantage of his current state was a massive decrease in strength, but the advantage was a massive decrease in size. In his normal size, it would not only be harder for Sebastian to maintain his state of invisibility, but it would also be harder for him to maneuver around easily. In his current state, he gave up brute strength for speed and flexibility. Once the clownfish left his workspace to take adrenaline doses to force himself to keep on working, Sebastian went to work. The first part of his plan was successfully evading everyone and every obstacle and getting himself to the divide that separated the zone of transition from the zone of glory. If he could get there, then depending on the situation, he could then improvise on how to move forward with his plan. [You have activated skill: Combined Super Sensing!] With this skill active, Sebastian turned into what was akin to an advanced reconnaissance warship that was stuffed with advanced sensor systems. After his recent evolution, his senses were one of his greatest traits. Through his super sensing that eclipsed every sensor that this high-grade rural settlement had to offer, Sebastian drained even more mana as he steeled his mind and started phasing through all the obstacles in his invisible state. Phasing through obstacles in the invisible state drained more mana but instead of taking the more time-consuming route of maneuvering over every obstacle, he deduced that directly phasing through them was the best. Despite this, the zone of transition was one of the biggest zones in this rural settlement. Sebastian spent 4 solid hours before he got to the closest point that he could to the zone of glory without tripping any alarm. By this point, his mana was already almost drained, he used his Mana Box magic gadget to replenish his reserves while resting at a corner to recover. While recovering, he engaged in another scout and see mission. Since he was here already, a lot of things became easier, but he could not just brute force his way into the zone of glory, doing that was suicide. Before he could move, Sebastian had to think of a way to keep the councilors busy so that none of them could spare time for him anymore. He was on a time limit too, he needed to work fast and achieve his goals at the fastest possible speed before he was busted. Considering the amount of importance that all the clownfish held to this most important zone, Sebastian had to think of something radical to make his plan a success and this was what stumped him. "What should I do?" Immediately after he asked, all the lights in the transition zone switched off. BOOM! Chapter 368 - Unexpected Attack! BOOM! Immediately after the lights in the zone of transition switched off, it was followed by a mighty quaking that made it seem like a worldwide earthquake was going on and it was ravaging the foundations of this zone. The cause of the quaking was revealed shortly after from the loud sound that even for a sound domain magician like Sebastian caused his ears to bleed. Heads exploded all around the transition zone like bursting watermelons! The unlucky clownfish could not even resist when the tyrannical sound of the explosion ravaged through their body systems. Their brain could not take the sound, so they simply exploded like smashed tomatoes. The sound of the explosion was mighty, but Sebastian who was among the few sound domain magicians here and was the strongest sound domain here was able to detect that it was not that simple. [You have been attacked by a skill: Sound Amplifier!] [You have been attacked by a skill: Rupturing Arteries Sound!] Sebastian felt uncomfortable like he''s never felt in a long time. His massive body felt like it was being caressed by a thousand zombie ladies intimately, it was a spooky and terrifying experience. The sound attacks tried to attack his inner system, most especially his arteries. Sound travels through water, and the technique of this skill was to attack the enemies with sound through the blood in their arteries. The problem with Sebastian was that as a sound domain predator, he was able to resist slightly, so instead of feeling pain, he felt this. Not everyone was as strong or as fortunate as him, the unlucky clownfish could not even scream before they met their ends. Sebastian was horrified as all around him, heads kept on popping like watermelons. But this was not all, this was just the start to an act that was more elaborate than anything that he expected. After all, the explosive sound did not just come from the air. The sound was the vanguard force, the fire was the real attack force. Before it exploded, Sebastian briefly directed the range of his combined super sensing downward. What he saw made his blood freeze. Beneath the zone of transition, hidden between the massive Sea Anemone was a part of it that was already rotten. Clearly, this massive organic creature was affected by poison of some sort as it was dead already. How this managed to evade the detection of the clownfish eluded Sebastian. What mattered was that hidden inside this dead tissue were bombs, highly energetic bombs of different types that were stuffed together. "Oh boy!" [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Heavy Armor!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Compact Mechanical Shield!] Once Sebastian wrapped himself up, it happened. Bzzz! The very fabric of reality seemed to have been torn off from the zone of transition as the bubbling blue and red fire erupted from underneath. The fire spared nothing, it swept everywhere throughout this massive zone of the Anemone Domain like the plague, distributing destruction everywhere. It took only a few nano-seconds before the clownfish that survived the first sound blast suffered the fire plague. The fire overwhelmed all the clownfish, including their powerful machines and computers as they were set ablaze. The zone of transition quickly turned into a mini version of hell! Screams of the shocked, suffering and burning clownfish filled the zone a few seconds later as they started dying in the hundreds every second. At a corner of this massive zone, Sebastian already left his invisible state as he focused completely on defense. While he did this, his senses were scalded by the bright light that filled his vision from all sides. Despite the scalding sensation, Sebastian gritted his teeth and held on. He knew that his survival would only be possible if he had the information advantage, he was the only unknown variable here, and being that was dangerous. Under his persistence and his unrestrained pumping in of mana, his combined super-sensing skill finally broke the deadlock, tyrannically tearing through all the interference to get the truth. Once the veil of interference was breached, Sebastian saw everything. The Anemone Domain like the Snake Kingdom was erected upon a huge seamount. The high-grade rural settlement was made up of the numerous Giant Sea Anemones that formed all the zones, and they all rested on the seamount. With one of these Giant Sea Anemones dying and being blasted open, Sebastian finally discovered the huge hole that was underneath. "The Snake Kingdom!" He muttered, his tone sounding grave before becoming excited the next moment. He became excited because he recognized that this was probably the opportunity that he needed. "The system increasing my luck never fails to impress, luck is really the strongest force in the galaxy!" From what he saw, he easily deduced that through some weird means, the snakes were able to keep the clownfish in the dark while digging a massive hole underneath the seamount, connecting all the way to the zone of transition. Now, this was what they used to initiate a well-timed ambush attack. With the consecutive sound attack and the fire explosion wreaking havoc inside the zone of transition, they finally emerged. Sebastian discovered a horrifying truth though. The snakes didn''t enter through the iconic shuttles that they were already known for, they entered through new and pristine military-grade shuttles that belonged to the Anemone Domain. On seeing this, his eyes darkened. He discovered a familiar pattern already that he was always reluctant to remember. "Another traitor situation!" Boom! Boom! Boom! The snakes did not resolve to take it slow and steady. With their entry, they already overloaded the weapons that were installed across the military-grade shuttle as they bombarded different corners of the zone of transition, worsening the already bad situation. Over a thousand clownfish already died, with dozens of military-grade shuttles already being scrapped since the attack started. At this trend, it looked like the zone of transition, this extremely important zone to the Anemone Domain already fell but Sebastian knew otherwise which was why as the fire reduced, he entered his invisible state again. Despite the extreme mana expenditure of activating the invisibility ability of his unique skill again, Sebastian activated it because he knew that the situation was about to get tense and hectic. He was not wrong. Bzzz! After being stunned for a few seconds due to the sudden attack which was probably because of a virtual attack, the powerful supercomputers and machines of the clownfish finally roared back to life. With a loud sound that made it seem like they were isolating this zone from the rest of Oceania, powerful shield generators were activated. As massive corners of the zone of transition became cut off from the destruction still ravaging across by the huge blue energy shields, the supercomputers also activated measures to save the dying clownfish. Once isolated, A. I controlled multipurpose bots in the shape of clownfish were mobilized as they rapidly swam closer to the location of the dying clownfish. Apart from administering magic first-aid treatment, these multipurpose bots employed measures to stop the fire, and with the war-time order given to them, they administered adrenaline doses to the clownfish. At this moment, the clownfish were not expected to rest. This was wartime, and in wartime, they were all needed to give their all to the Anemone. This was why with the adrenaline doses given to them, most of the clownfish eyes regained life as they shone brightly like those of drug addicts. Without needing any instruction first, these clownfish already knew what to do as they all rushed back to their outposts to take control of the situation. They didn''t know what happened yet, the central command was still trying to deduce the situation, but they knew what was required of them which was to give their very best to stabilize the situation here. The snakes knew exactly how their opponents were going to respond, and this was why they employed targeted measures to foil their plans. The situation turned even more chaotic as the snakes struck from a distance, while the clownfish retaliated against an enemy that they could not yet see. The situation was hectic, but it was about to get more hectic. ¡­ Blink! In the central business district, inside the biggest and most decorated clownfish settlement of the whole Anemone, a pair of old, wise, sharp, and battle-hardened eyes snapped open. Chief Councilor Crook Mane only said a single phrase. "As expected!" Chapter 369 - Invoking Martial Law! "This is my order, dispatch all the shock response elite teams to the zone of transition!" "Activate the apocalypse level military alert!" "The whole city is to go into a state of absolute martial law!" "Redistribute all the troops that are currently guarding the factory zone to the zone of transition!" "Redistribute 80% of the troops that are currently guarding the central business district to the entrance of the zone of glory!" "Make sure the corridor is stuffed full, I mean absolute defense!" The Chief Councilor slowed down a bit on getting to this point before he became firm in his decision. "Unleash the Doom Destroyers!" "Position all of them to reinforce and become the main defense force of the roundabout corridor leading to the zone of glory!" "Like in all scenarios where we have to activate the apocalypse level military alert, change the defense formation into the concentric defense formation!" "Also, activate the Kraken Sea Anemone superstate!" "As for the field forces, this is my order!" "Enough of passive offense raids, I order a reverse full-scale invasion on the Snake Kingdom!" The Commander in Chief of the clownfish army was shocked. "But Chief¡­" "No buts, listen to my order, Commander!" The old Chief Councilor''s voice rose a margin, booming like rippling thunder and revealing his current emotions that made the younger clownfish Commander immediately become silent, lowering his head. "The scale and motive of this war just became higher than what you expected. This is not just a war anymore; it is much more now". "I also never expected that Ancient bastard to make such a radical decision, but it is as expected of snakes. They are extremely cunning but are headstrong as pigs at times". The Chief Councilor turned to face his Commander in Chief. "Commander, it is what it is". "Yes, Chief Councilor!" Commander Nemo had lived his whole life looking up to the Chief Councilor. His talent became his best helper, it not only allowed him to get closer to his idol, but it also enabled him to develop to become the Commander in Chief of the clown army which was the highest position that he could attain in the army. Throughout his decades-long service for the clown army, he had never seen the Chief Councilor being this serious about anything. As one of the biggest higherups of the Anemone, he still had never entered the zone of glory. This and a lot of other facts already revealed to him that his home had a lot more secrets that he didn''t know yet. The Chief Councilor''s reaction told him that the current situation touched upon a secret topic, which was why he obeyed immediately in the end. He did not slack, once he left the Chief Councilor''s chamber, he swam to the central control tower of the clown army that was in the central business district where he started relaying the Chief''s orders. Once Commander Nemo left his living quarters, Chief Councilor puffed as green toxic smoke came out his nose before he spoke into a device. "Another Councilor''s Gathering commences immediately!" ¡­ In just 2 seconds, all the councilors were gathered before the Chief again. None of them spoke, they dared not. The green vein-like lines that were currently rippling through the Chief''s face, tainting his colorful body and his closed eyes at this moment revealed his emotions to them. They knew the Chief best; Chief Councilor Crook was enraged! "They are after the Orb of Illusion!" The Chief Councilor''s sudden declaration dropped like a bombshell in the gathering, but it didn''t elicit much of a reaction from the other councilors since they already guessed at the answer after the latest maneuver. Trying to act pretentiously would only anger the Chief more, and was the reason why they all decided to stay true to their true emotions and remain quiet. "The Orb of Illusion, YOU KNOW IT''S IMPORTANCE?!" The Chief''s voice boomed like thunder as he suddenly floated up from his councilor chair. None of the Councilors dared to interject, the Chief continued, trying extremely hard to hold back his anger at the moment. If Sebastian was here, he would easily see that this clownfish, though a powerful and authoritative leader had anger issues. "The Orb of Illusion is the greatest treasure of our Anemone. It was given to us by the goddess herself, you all know its importance". Unlike laymen clownfish, the Councilors didn''t mistake their patron for a male as the Chief just referred to her as a goddess. "The Orb of Illusion is only known by 13 clownfish in the whole Anemone". "Me". The Chief pointed at himself before pointing at the other councilors. "AND YOU ALL OLD GEEZERS!" "We are the only ones who know of this ultimate treasure of ours". "This brings me to the question, WHO SOLD US OUT?!" At this moment, Chief Councilor Crook could not hold back his anger anymore as his magic power blasted out like a storm, suppressing and even causing some of the Councilors currently seated to cough blood. Seeing the effects of his actions, the Chief did not feel remorse, it only made him angrier, feeling like he should just strangle the life out of these old geezers. "WHO SOLD US OUT?!" None of the Councilors dared to speak, they were so silent at this moment that they looked like little kids before their angry mom. The current situation was tenser than that between kids and their mom though, the silence only made the Chief angrier. "Screw it!" BOOM! Blue bolts of lightning were unleashed by the angered Chief Councilor as they spread everywhere, affecting everything, including the Councilors. About a minute later, the Chief finally calmed down. Perhaps, it was because he already vented his anger, but at this moment, his face no longer seemed as pissed off as before. He spoke slowly. "I don''t care which one of you did it". "All I know is that you all will help me to remedy it!" "Any one of you that doesn''t cooperate or even reveals the slightest contrary intention, you''re dead!" "The deed is already done, the best that I can do is to remedy it". "Now, go get all your mechs pristine and battle-ready. Meet me in the corridor in 1 minute, I am expecting visitors". "Though they will probably already expect an ambush situation, I say that we still ambush them. I will have to show this Ancient Baskfool what it means to go against my Anemone in the most infuriating manner possible". "Move!" "Yes, Chief!" Once the Councilors all left, Chief Councilor left the hall for the councilor''s gathering and returned to his own chambers. He rested in his chair for a few seconds as a lot of things went through his head. He didn''t stay here for long though as he decisively floated up and swam to an isolated part of his living quarters. Clang! Once he opened a door, he was exposed to an isolated dark room where he felt an eager will blasting against his consciousness emotionally. The emotions revealed by the will were like a dog finally getting to meet its owner after years of separation. It felt estranged at first, but as it continued basking in the familiar presence, its emotions became more excited. Feeling this familiar will after so many years, the Chief smiled. In reciprocation to his smile, 2 familiar red glowing lights shone from the darkness, they reflected boredom at first before turning to excitement. "Devourer¡­, let''s go play!" ¡­ "Contingency Plan C, activated!" Over the past 2 minutes after the bomb detonation, Sebastian remained invisible and through his senses, he was able to observe everything that happened. Originally, after understanding what happened, he felt that this current situation would force the so-called clownfish councilors out but he was wrong. In the end, he decided that he could perhaps take advantage of the current chaos to try brute-forcing his way into the zone of glory. But¡­, immediately after he thought of this, he knew that it was bad as he felt his imaginary back hair all rising and standing on end. "Bad plan!" "Bad plan!" Soaked in sweat, he easily decided on his contingency Plan C. Contingency Plan C was not anything complicated, it was still taking the wait and see approach but in a more proactive manner. The Sea Anemone exploded with a lot more activity, and so did Sebastian. Chapter 370 - Changing The War Paradigm! The song of war could be heard in the atmosphere! With the Chief Councilor''s order, the Anemone Domain became a hive of activity as every single available soldier worked hard to fulfill his orders. Commander Nemo made sure that the Chief''s orders were sent out in a simplified manner to guarantee that every unit understood it. This was a matter of critical importance, botching it was an abomination. In response to different security threats throughout their existence, the Anemone Domain over the years already developed military alert levels to determine the severity of a situation. The highest military alert level was the apocalypse alert! All the lower military alert levels below this were represented by colors, the apocalypse alert was called this way to highlight its severity. Throughout the existence of the Anemone Domain, this alert has only been used once. When the full-scale invasion by the Snake Kingdom just started, the alert level was raised to red which represented critical security. With it being raised to the apocalypse level, this represented unprecedented supercritical security. Every soldier of the clownfish army was alarmed, all sense of complacency finally left them for real as they felt the need to give their all more than ever, their zeal to protect their home burning stronger than ever. From the order, they could feel the resolve of the Chief Councilor who was the clownfish that they adored the most. Every single clownfish soldier became determined to impress. This was their home, they were not going to let anyone take it, and if anyone tried, even if they were snakes or not, they would retaliate in the most furious way possible. This was the reason for the Chief Councilor''s extreme orders. With the whole city going into a state of absolute martial law, diplomatic leadership which the clownfish were renowned for became history. At this moment, any abnormality exhibited by any predator, whether they were clownfish or not would be punished in the most extreme way possible. Throughout the years, the basic clownfish army was not the only military force that the Anemone Domain was able to amass. Just like their counterparts, the snakes had a lot of hidden trump cards; they had hidden trump cards of their own. Of these trump cards were the shock response elite teams and the Doom Destroyers. The shock response elite teams were special elite forces that were trained by the clownfish army which was targeted at only the best clownfish. They had the most specialized mechs in the whole army. Scout mechs, ranged and melee offensive mechs, purely defensive mechs, mechs of different sizes were available to the elite clownfish''s use. Of all the elite teams, the Doom Destroyers were the cream of the crop. Even among talented clownfish, there were exceptional geniuses who were so good that they dominated all the others. Doom Destroyer was the name given to the best mech designed by the Anemone Domain. This elite squad was named after the mighty mech. Being a heavy mech that was specialized and designed as a heavy artillery offensive firepower mech, with sturdy armor that could take a good beating, the Doom Destroyer was a beast on any battlefield. This was one of the foremost hidden trump cards of the clownfish. This was why they were assigned to lead the defense of the zone of glory. Apart from the Doom Destroyers, the other shock response elite teams were all mobilized to reinforce the zone of transition where the main action took place. In response to the rapid orders that were being given, the activity in the Anemone Domain kept on increasing as massive clownfish soldiers armed with their mechs all surged from one part of the city to another. The main battlefield was already identified as the zone of glory. Being the closest zones to the zone of transition, powerful mechs kept on surging from the factory zone and the central business district. The Anemone Domain really pulled all stops this time. Of all the orders that were given, the one with the most importance and significance after the unleashing of the Doom Destroyers was the order to change the defense formation of the clownfish army. Changing formations to the concentric defense formation was a huge matter. Originally, the defense formation of the clownfish army was an adaptable lance formation where they could focus on offense against the invaders. Now, with this order, everything changed. The first thing was that all the clownfish soldiers in the commuter zone and residential zone were dispatched outside the walls of the city. Outside the walls, they spread themselves into a large circular battle formation that enabled them to surround the large city walls. They were the first level of defense. After them came the 2nd defense line in the zone of transition. All the soldiers in the working-class zone and others were dispatched to form another circular inner defense formation that encompassed all the inner zones. The last defense line was the zone of glory itself. Led by the Doom Destroyers, the smallest circle defense line was here, but it was easily the strongest defense line of them all considering that the councilors were also here. From the arrangement, it was clear that the zone of glory was the target of the snakes. This was the real battlefield where everything would take place. All the following orders by the Chief Councilor concerned and affected the territory of the Anemone Domain itself, but the last of the Chief''s orders was the one that had the most impacting and far-reaching effects. After passively retaliating against the full-scale invasion of the snakes like an elastic rod that only knew how to hit only when it was hit, the Chief finally gave the go-ahead for the enthusiastic warriors to start their own full-scale invasion. The Chief was fed up, now was the time to pay the snakes tooth for tooth. Once the field Commanders who were at the heat of the action received the new orders, their joy could not be contained as they immediately broke it down and transmitted it to all their soldiers. The clownfish finally showed their aggressive sides. They erupted at the snakes like a group of rabid snakes even more than the snakes themselves, the time of playing it cool was gone. The war paradigm was already changed. Chapter 371 - Full-Scale Invasion! [1] "Overload the shuttles'' engines!" "To the Snake Kingdom!" "Vanquish the slippery bastards!" While yelling slogans of bravado like Spartan warriors, the field force of the Anemone Domain entered an excited and highly motivated state that could only be called next-level state! The warmonger Commanders that led the field forces seemed to have taken thousands of milligrams of hard drugs, their aggressiveness seemed to have been fueled by the Chief as the clownfish army became more destructive. The snakes were already used to the stationary retaliation of their opponents. When the clownfish suddenly stepped up to the challenge, upping their game and taking the war intensity a notch higher, they were caught off-guard. Boom! Boom! Boom! Massive warships only got the chance to showcase their strength in large-scale battles, and this one was a perfect showground as the warships of the clownfish army could finally unleash destruction unrestrained. With their powerful weapon armaments that had a range that extended across kilometers, able to shoot powerful destruction loads, these warships were perfect vessels of mass destruction. They served as the vanguard force, the opportunity creators, while the numerous mechs of the clownfish army were the actual main force. Mechs swept across the large battlefield like locusts. When locusts sweep through a cornfield, only barrenness would be left in their wake. The scenario here was similar, the mechs swept through every obstacle obstructing them, obliterating every living organism into oblivion. The clownfish-shaped mechs unleashed even more destruction than the warships due to their sheer numbers. Their dangerous and lethal weapon armaments never ran short of targets to pin on. Ranged mechs with Positron rifles, laser rifles, magic beam rifles, phase beam rifles, canons, magic launchers, and melee mechs with plasma blades, laser swords, and a lot of others swarmed the battlefield in extremely large numbers. Some mechs even had weapon armaments that flooded the battlefield with rainbow-colored magic beams, creating a beautiful artful world of destruction. Wherever a mech went, destruction followed. Bam! Bam! The clownfish did well beyond their normal level as the fervor of war quickly took over them. Their rationality gave way to aggressiveness, and this enabled them to deal with the snakes a lot more effectively. Their opponents were not push-overs though, the snakes of the Snake Kingdom were soldiers of another rural settlement of the same level. The destruction wrought by the clownfish was absolutely massive in the overall sense, but when their real opponents were put into the equation, it was still limited as the snakes quickly adjusted to the changed battle situation. Both sides kept on revealing one destructive measure after the other. The trump cards that were available to them were utilized without restraints. With the clownfish suddenly going all out, the snakes had to put in a lot more effort to hold their lines before even thinking of continuing their offensive. At the moment, both armies were stuck in a stalemate but this was not the order that was given by the Chief Councilor to the field forces. The order was for them to start a full-scale invasion. Without getting to the home ground of the enemy, their mission would be unfulfilled. This was why the Commanders made improvisation in their plans. The skirmish now was a stalemate with no clear winner about to be decided anytime soon, the clownfish could not go on directly to accomplish their objectives but they also held a lot of snakes back. This was what enabled a select group of clownfish to bypass the defense of their enemies. The warships leading this deep-strike force remained under the radar until they arrived in enemy territory. Once they arrived, the real invasion started! The clownfish could finally give the snakes a cup of their own medicine and let them feel how it tasted, they did not mess it up. Their arrival was unexpected, catching the snakes off-guard but the fact remained that like their counterparts, the snakes also had defensive measures in place to protect against invasion. In a battle of this scale, no matter how confident either side had of winning, they did not dare underestimate their opponents and therefore stuffed their defense so much that they could face anything thrown by their opponents. The changing paradigm of the war became apparent here. In normal wars, both sides take it easy until the forces of one side were whittled down before the champions join the fight to end the other side. The champions in this term were the 13 Councilors for the Anemone and the 5 powerful Elder-level predators for the Snake Kingdom. That was mostly seen in normal wars where both sides can afford to take things slow and steady, but this time though, it was completely different. While both sides still had a lot of war resources and reserves, they abandoned everything and devoted themselves to a full-scale invasion that resulted in an even greater amount of bloodshed. The Anemone Domain shook as the snakes attacked from everywhere, the Snake Kingdom also shook as the clownfish also attacked without looking back. The war became even more intense with all this. ¡­ About an hour later, the battle in the Anemone Domain already reached a new high as snakes already filled every part of the city walls. It was soon turning into a siege battle. Originally, the snakes were content with attacking from afar but with the brave trick that the clownfish pulled, the snakes decided to also go all out. On arriving though, the snakes met a different Anemone Domain than they were used to. Though they already expected their enemies to improvise their defense to weather the invasion, the change was still astonishing. On arriving, they met a different wall than they were used to. Outside the walls of the massive clown, city were soldiers, numerous soldiers of different species, all raring to bring them down with the mechs of the clownfish being at the forefront as team leaders for this defense force. The defensive formation of the clownfish was an extremely intimidating one that showed their resolve and battle plan, but the snakes did not cower. The snake Captain leading this offensive force gave his order. "Overrun their defensive lines!" "Tear them open!" Chapter 372 - Full-Scale Invasion! [2] Boom! Boom! Boom! As soon as the snake Captain gave his orders to his subordinates, the snakes engaged in aggressive swims towards their opponent. They didn''t just swim towards their opponents, they swam while unleashing destruction on them. The enormous canons of the snake warships roared, unleashing their shells while their magic guns launched numerous magic beams. The clownfish were protected by enormous energy shields that extended all the way to the top of the walls, shrouding them all in but the aggressive attacks of the snake warships started draining a lot of energy once it started. The shield ensured that no soldier of the clownfish army died immediately, but the situation already grew from tense to deadly as the energy shield wobbled. While the powerful warships of the snakes unleashed destruction from a distance, the snakes who were the vanguards themselves simply relied on their thick skin to move forward, facing the danger directly. Most of the snakes were shadow domain magicians. With the purple tier predators leading the charge, they had a myriad means to evade focused fire that would enable them to get to the enemy formations. While the snakes engaged in this bombastic entry, releasing their full offensive power, the clownfish army reacted in a less bombastic manner. During the few minutes to an hour that the clownfish mechs spent with the new soldiers that they inducted from predator refugees, they already explained the core and purpose of the concentric defense battle formation to them. This was why once Commander Nemo''s voice blasted through the communication gadgets that every soldier had, they reacted appropriately. "Stand your ground!" While watching the battlefield from the central control room, Commander Nemo allowed the snakes to get closer while he observed them, looking for the perfect timing for his soldiers to engage. "Hold it, slow and steady!" "¡­Now! Once the Commander gave his orders, the clownfish mechs did not rush out to confront their opponents. They simply switched off the safety mechanism of their mechs, aimed through their interface and unleashed destruction. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Bam! Bam! The mechs shot their lethal loads without restraints as bullets and magic beams of different colors engulfed the battlefield. Kinetic shells simply crushed any weak snake on impact, laser beams raked through the skin of the snakes, dealing damage as the time counted, while the more powerful mechs unleashed positron and annihilation beams that directly evaporated the snakes on impact. Once the mechs finally left their hibernating state, unleashing destruction, the shelling from the snake warships became even more focused and intense. Commander Nemo''s orders was not only directed at the clownfish who piloted the mechs. Though the clownfish army focused more on mechs, they still had a sizeable number of powerful predators. With the purple tier predators leading the charge, all the remaining soldiers of the clownfish army, including the refugees surged out to meet the snakes. With hatred, excitement, and rivalry rippling through them, both armies finally collided like the clash of the King Kong and the Godzilla. Boom! Teeth dug into flesh, ripping it apart. Claws struck, digging into flesh and tearing it apart. Beast adaptation collided against beast adaptation; magic domain grinded against magic domain as the area became chaotic immediately. Once it started, there was no stopping it again. Shadow skills, fire skills, water skills, and unorthodox skills from unorthodox magic domains filled the battlefield as the first blood started being drawn from both sides. Once the first soldier died, a lot followed. The soldiers involved in this battle were so numerous that when looked at from afar, it was like 2 ant colonies at war. Of the 2 armies though, it took only about a minute to see that the snakes were the more aggressive ones. Though the clownfish soldiers without mechs also engaged in rough melee combat, they were less aggressive, defending more than their counterparts and often retreated like they had another strategy in mind. The snakes noticed this but it did not make them to stop their plans. In their opinion, with enough strength, any strategy could be destroyed. With the snakes'' unrelenting aggression, they repeatedly beat the clownfish army back though they also suffered casualties. In the central control room, Commander Nemo watched all that went on silently with rapt attention. His eyes were as sharp as an eagle, calculating rapidly. Once the snakes pushed his soldiers past a point, he gave his next order. "Activate the Kraken Sea Anemone superstate!" Boom! The aggressive snakes were shocked as tentacles suddenly surged out from underneath the seamount where the Anemone Domain was erected. These tentacles were not like those of an octopus, they were too colorful for that, and a strange magic domain powered these waving tentacles that made them heavy and strong in a way like a boulder. Before the snakes could comprehend what, these tentacles were for, they lashed out at them like whips of a demon. Bam! Bam! The tentacles actually had sharp edges, and through this, they simply lashed down, slapping snakes to death left and right. As for snakes that didn''t die to the shock impact after being hit, the sharp edges of the tentacles simply ground like a chain cutting machine, cutting the prey to pieces in mere seconds. The most horrifying part about the tentacles was that they encompassed the defense formation formed by the soldiers of the clownfish army. "What the hell is that?" The snakes were shocked. "Is that, a Mega Sea Anemone?" By the time that they discovered what it was and also recognized its lethality, the single Giant Sea Anemone already killed hundreds of snakes. And it was still active, the snakes had to temporarily retreat to leave its range which gave them relief though briefly. The disadvantage was that the clownfish mechs had more opportunity to bombard them with impunity. The Kraken Giant Sea Anemone was the biggest that the Sea Anemone had managed to breed through a perfect mixture of anatomy, mechanical engineering, and magical technology. It was the perfect vessel of war! The clownfish army finally revealed their first hidden trump card. The destruction wrought by this Giant Sea Anemone was so much that it forcibly took control of the situation, changing the pace to the one that it liked. With this, the snakes were restricted for the first time. ¡­ The zone of transition was now a sea of blood and flesh. After the breach in this important zone of the Anemone Domain, despite the fact that a lot of reinforcement was dispatched here, the battle still raged fiercely as the snakes also dispatched a lot of soldiers here. Every second, more snakes surged through the hole, entering inside the zone of transition directly as the battle and casualties continued escalating. The scale of the other battlefields may be larger, but the battle here was definitely the fiercest. Predatism in its raw form was showed. Despite the intense battle and the staggering casualties, Sebastian managed to hold to his life, maintain his invisibility, and cling to his stealth state. The more time passed, the more he felt that he would die. As the battle intensity kept on increasing, he despaired since he knew that the real game probably hasn''t started yet. He was right, another 10 minutes later, the real game started. The 5 hibernating elders of the Snake Kingdom finally arrived! Chapter 373 - The 5 Hibernating Elders! [You have left the Invisibility state!] [You have activated unique skill: Doppelganger and Invisibility!] [You have created a new Doppelganger!] [You have activated skill: Invisibility!] [You have activated skill: Mana Control!] Amid the chaos that swept through the zone of transition, Sebastian was like an oddball that could only be played from one place to the other without having any impact on the overall game. Sebastian''s heart was on his throat since the battle erupted here, it was like he was walking on a tight rope and with any light, snap could die. On more than one occasion, he came close to being busted. In this tense situation, he could only do his best to economize his mana, improvise, and adapt to the situation with a reaction time of mere milliseconds. If he spent more time reacting, there was a high chance that he was already busted. Throughout the past dozens of minutes after the battle here started, he kept on rotating between his unique skill and one of his evolution species skills. Like now, he was unfortunate to be in the range of a grenade explosion. The impact from the shockwave, and the damage made him lose control of his invisibility state, being ruthlessly yanked back into visibility. This was not the first time that this happened to him and was the reason why he was able to react on time having escaped it before. The first thing that he did after he was exposed was activate his Doppelganger unique skill again, then creating a new doppelganger and activating his invisibility again almost at the same time. By creating a new doppelganger, he was able to replace his real body to prevent suspicions, while going back into an invisible state with his real body. This was a dumb and unsophisticated move that he came with on the spot, but it worked which was all that mattered to him. The battlefield here in the zone of transition was already extremely chaotic. The fact that compared to a vacant battlefield, the zone of transition had walls meant that it was cramped up as more and more soldiers came here. This made it extremely rowdy and chaotic. What every snake and clownfish soldier thought of was attacking their enemies, not some insignificant shark. Also, the clownfish army was known for accepting soldiers from other beast species. This was why the snakes simply assumed that he was part of the clownfish army, and the clownfish also believed that he was part of them. This way, he avoided arousing suspicion, sacrificing his doppelganger each time as the snakes did not hesitate to eliminate him on sight. Sebastian didn''t encounter situations like this only once, as the fight became more chaotic, he encountered it more but with practice, he also got better at escaping from it more smoothly. Of course, the mana expenditure for this was extremely extravagant which was why Sebastian apart from his Mana Box, resorted to his mana control skill. When he became a Mana Lord, he received 3 skills and this was one of them. By activating his mana control, he was able to actively tap into the origin magic essence in the air, converting it and using it to replenish his own energy. This was the only reason why he was still alive on this chaotic battlefield. Despite the strain and stress of being on such a tight rope, worrying about falling off and dying while having to remain focused to respond immediately in case his cover was blown again, he managed to hold on. He managed to hold on because he had hopes that the game was about to get more chaotic. Without enough chaos, he could not accomplish his goal. This was why he persevered and waited, and his efforts were rewarded. Apart from the snakes, Sebastian was the one who felt it first. With his combined super sensing skill always kept active, Sebastian easily detected the 5 massive magic signatures that did not even bother to hide their presence. 3 of these predators that Sebastian already identified as Red tier predators had a magic presence like all the other Red tier predators that he already encountered, the last 2 were what really horrified him. Their magic presence was so horrifyingly powerful that Sebastian had an even more horrifying guess. "Are they¡­, Black tier predators?!" "Oh Shit, I''m dead!" Sebastian didn''t know the magic signature of these pinnacle predators since he couldn''t even sweep his senses through the Rabbit Monarch when he met him, but he could not help but guess at this. He was already regretting why he decided to stay. "Dammit!" Amidst his inner monologues, the 5 powerful predators already arrived. Boom! The leading predator broke out, not emerge as its powerful body tore through the opening, widening the hole that was already in the zone of transition. Green dust and a substance that looked like smoke engulfed the water. In this time, through his senses, Sebastian discovered that the remaining 4 predators already arrived also, his heart was pounding hard and fast. HISSSSSS¡­!!! The first predator that emerged hissed extremely loudly as it suddenly felt like the silent trumpet of death to all living beings was finally blown. The green dust settled, and all 4 predators were finally revealed. The first predator was, a Basilisk! Sebastian was horrified! Having read of mythical creatures due to his fascination with the marine world in his previous life, he didn''t simply know about mythical marine creatures, he also knew about other creatures of myth. This Basilisk was an enormously large and thick snake with an abnormally big head. Its fiery red eyes burned like a furnace, while its deadly rows of dagger-like teeth gleamed sharply like the edge of a blade as it hissed loudly. The second predator was, another mythical snake! Sebastian almost fainted! The second was a literal 2-headed serpent. This snake that was even longer than the Basilisk had 2 heads at the opposite ends of its body, both heads opened their mouth at the moment as they also exposed the deadly teeth packed within. The third predator was an abnormally enormous King Cobra. Almost 20 meters long with equally thick skin, this was an apex predator! The fourth predator was a Devouring Anaconda, Sebastian recognized it immediately as he already read about it in the advanced library. This predator was like a typical Anaconda snake back on earth, just with more snapping and biting, and an enormous size. The fifth predator was a Mobbing Python, Sebastian despaired. According to the dictionary, this Python that was smaller than all its other companions had an iconic ability that made it notorious in Oceania. They were called Mobbing Pythons because of their skill that could enable this predator to temporarily break down, dividing into countless smaller devil pythons that could unleash a lot of disaster to any opponent. All the smaller devil pythons mobbing an opponent was what inspired their name, and it was deserved. Seeing all these snakes together, Sebastian easily identified them as the overlords of the Snake Kingdom though he never knew them nor did he read about them, no one told him about them either. Once these 5 snakes arrived on the battlefield, a pause button seemed to have been pressed as every predator who was currently bathing in the fearsome aura of these 5 predators became petrified. The 5 snakes didn''t care though, they had a goal that brought them here. Whoosh! Sebastian saw his fastest individual speed since transmigrating into this world. The 5 snakes moved at the same time, disappearing like the flash. Only a white magic light was left in their wake, and across this light were tons of dead bodies. The snakes clearly didn''t care as the casualties did not discriminate, both snakes and clownfish that were on the way died. The predators felt even more petrified, none could move. Horror mixed with hatred could be seen in the faces of the petrified clownfish, while only honor, respect, and worship could be seen in the eyes of the snakes who were privileged to witness this scene. Even some of the snakes that died, Sebastian saw some spooky bodiless heads who still had a look of worship even in death. Sebastian was shocked, but unlike the others, he was not petrified. His brain moved, running at the speed of a supercomputer as he quickly arrived at a conclusion. "This is my chance!" [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] Whoosh! Chapter 374 - The Might Of The 5 Snake Overlords! [You have activated skill: Combined Super Sensing!] Due to the astonishing speed that he moved at; Sebastian''s strongest sensory skill was deactivated but he had to activate it again since what he saw upfront told him that he needed it. During the first time that Sebastian had the privilege of coming to the zone of transition, among the many admirable things about this zone, the massive gates that separated the major zones caught his attention the most. Then, Sebastian was like, which metal was used to make these outrageous gates?! But now, Sebastian''s mind just went brrr! "What the freaky f*ck?!" Though Sebastian already deactivated his 2 movement skills with the intention to stop moving forward, it was when the gate started getting bigger in his sight that he remembered the term called momentum. "F*ck! Brake! Stop! Stop!" [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] Sebastian had to counter his momentum by activating his mega dash skill again before he was able to stop. This was when he gave attention to the massive and impressive gate that was before him which was unfortunately now damaged. Sebastian didn''t know how the snakes did it, but through some spooky means that he dreaded imagining, during the short time that he followed in pursuit, the snakes were able to get here and rip the gate apart. Yes, rip the massive impressive gate apart! It was like the Hulk himself descended, wreaking havoc everywhere and eventually pulling the gate away and ripping it to pieces. Seeing the vacant space with pieces of shredded metal that were left in the space where the impressive gate was supposed to be, Sebastian gulped mentally. "Oh boy!" Sebastian dreaded the mere thought of facing these 6 snakes in battle. The only reason that gave him the courage to follow them was that he already verified that the 2 mythical snakes were Red tier predators despite their astonishing might. No matter how strong they were, so long as the ''B'' letter didn''t state their tier, to him, all was good and was manageable. This was the reason why Sebastian followed them but on seeing the little flex of power that was before him, he cautioned himself, deciding to take it slow and steady and observe the situation first. "Slow and steady wins the race, no rushing". With that, Sebastian went in. As soon as Sebastian went in, he noticed a change. Perhaps, it was because this zone was the most important in the clown city or perhaps it was because of the destroyed gate but he didn''t plunge into darkness after entering inside. With his sight and all his senses intact, Sebastian was able to already notice that the money and time spent on beautifying this zone were far higher than all the other zones. He felt like he just swam inside paradise. All the rainbow-like light that shone in here as an alternative to the absent green glow of the Great Sea, and the beautiful flowers and small trees that hung everywhere sang a harmonious and happy song to Sebastian. This sweet harmonious song didn''t last though, it turned into a rough reggae the next moment before finally turning into a literal war song. Boom! Boom! Sebastian cursed on hearing the sounds reverberating from the distance. "Can''t these guys enjoy the scenery a bit? How can you enter a beautiful environment like this and just start fighting?" "So barbaric! Too uncultured!" Though he threw a tantrum, Sebastian did not stay still as he knew that there was no time. He activated his unique ability again, entering an invisible state again before he swam closer. When he swam close enough, this was when Sebastian saw the 5 snakes in action. The battlefield was an advanced almost alien corridor that stretched a long way both in length and width, crossing the pathway where he currently was. The opponents of the snakes were a sturdy defense formation of mechs. The numerous elite mechs that formed a perfect, seamless defense formation were intimidating but not too much before Red tier predators. The real defense menace was the Doom Destroyers! Sebastian first became exposed to the notion of mechs in reality in the Anemone Domain, everything else that he knew was from fictional anime and novels but despite his fictional knowledge, he was still impressed. The heavy and massive body of the Doom Destroyers completely embodied might. It was like a stationary Giant Rhino, but with guns. Unlike what Sebastian was used to, like the Doom Destroyers, almost all the elite mechs that were dispatched here had none that was made in a clownfish shape. They were all made to accommodate and enable absolute defense! Another fact was that Sebastian already detected that a sizeable number of the clownfish soldiers that were dispatched here were purple tier predators. All the clownfish mech pilots of the Doom Destroyers were purple-tier predators. Their mech was powerful in relative to their strength, complimenting them and enabling them to burst with power that was far beyond their normal. Despite this terrifying defense, the 5 snakes could not be stopped. Boom! Boom! Boom! With the Ancient Basilisk leading the charge, the 5 snakes tore through the defense of the defenders like a blunt knife cutting through butter. Describing it as a hot knife cutting through butter would be too exaggerated. Despite this, the 5 snakes were worthy and exhibited the full weight of their tier. The Ancient Basilisk, the King Cobra, and the Devouring Anaconda were shadow domain magicians. The Mobbing Python was a water domain magician, while the Double-headed Serpent was a rare undead domain magician. The Ancient Basilisk simply opened its mouth, puffing purple substance from its deadly rows of teeth as its lethal poison saturated the water body. Any mech that came into contact with its lethal poison simply melted before evaporating. Despite the dimension stabilizing anchors that were installed here, this mighty snake was able to keep on warping forward, taking small steps at a time with its shadow domain. Its massive body and teeth were not for a joke. Any mech hit by its charge was crushed to scrap, its teeth chomped left and right, crunching on the metal exterior of the mechs like it was chewing biscuits. The Ancient Basilisk was the undisputed leader who led the charge. Behind it was the Double-Headed Snake. This massive snake did almost exactly the same thing as its leader, releasing poison, crushing mechs with its massive body on chomping down on others with its terrifying rows of teeth. The major difference was its undead magic domain. Anywhere the Double-Headed Snake passed, all enemies that came within range of its domain rapidly lost age, becoming an old predator in seconds before eventually evaporating into dust. Sebastian was horrified. He rapidly retreated, hiding his presence more and keeping a sizeable distance from this abnormal predator. Force aging was not the only utility of the Double-Headed Snake''s magic domain, but it was the main ability that it revealed for now. As for the remaining 3 predators, they wreaked havoc with their different magic domains, doing the same thing with their bodies as the first 2 snakes. This way, dozens of clownfish and enemy died to them every second as their astonishing powerful might enabled them to brute force away to safety. As the spectator, Sebastian was flabbergasted. Except in the case between the Rabbit Monarch and the Chosen Athena, this was the battle where individual predators exhibited the highest power that he had witnessed. "Freaks! Crooks!" While Sebastian yelled in his mind, thinking that his plan for chaos would not work and the snakes would bulldoze all through to inside the zone of glory, a change finally came once again. After taking their time, the 13 clownfish councilors finally arrived! Boss music that left Sebastian feeling chilly played! Chapter 375 - The 5 Snake Elders Vs The 13 Clownfish Councilors! "The Baskfool really came!" "Good, let us fight our battle here and end all the rivalry!" The powerful voice of the Chief Councilor blasted out like lightning accompanied with thunder. The authority, confidence, and might that he displayed in his voice left Sebastian who was far away shuddering. Almost immediately after the powerful voice blasted out, a hole was opened in the middle of the formation of mechs that belonged to the clownfish army. Through this hole, 13 iconic mechs of 13 different colors surged forward. Of the 13 mechs, the one that led the charge at this moment from the front was the most eye-catching of them all. This powerful red mech that was made in the shape of a dinosaur with 4 legs exhibited absolute power and dominance. This mech was so advanced, powerful, and big, as tall as 20 meters that it seemed like it come from 10 million years in the future. Though all the other 12 mechs were smaller than this one mech, they were also big and exhibited pure might in their own iconic ways. With the normal mechs parting ways for this 13 powerful mechs to take center stage, and with the 5 snakes on the other side facing them, it formed an iconic moment that would soon herald an epic showdown. "Crook, hand over the orb of illusion!" The Ancient Basilisk slowed down on seeing the 13 mechs like it was already expecting them as it demanded imperiously. Chief Councilor Crook Mane was angered. "IN YOUR DREAMS!" BOOM! Chief Councilor Crook Mane was a man of action, he never loved talking too much. Once the enemy said that one sentence that triggered him, a switch was turned on in his head, that switch of anger and battle. This Chief Councilor did not wait for his comrades. He was used to working and fighting alone, and now that the sacred switch was on, he was in his domain. Bright blue light shone from behind the red mech as its powerful flight systems blasted out in full power, propelling it forward rapidly. Mid-swim, metallic sounds rang repeatedly as the mech''s right hand extended with a red glowing plasma sword extending with it. On its left hand which was still held downwards, a Giant Positron Rifle emerged. The mech was in a dinosaur shape with 2 hands and 4 legs. Not only its hands had weapons, small hidden ports opened up in the knee section of the frontal legs as a pair of kinetic shell pistols appeared on each knee of the legs. As soon as these weapons appeared on the mech, it''s middle-section opened up also as what seemed like a blackhole became exposed. From this blackhole, white light stirred like a teleportation portal was being activated inside it as a Giant Machine Gun appeared the next moment. Before the Chief Councilor even closed the distance to his enemies, he already pulled the trigger as the powerful mech roared fire and destruction. Tututututututututu! Boom! Boom! Boom! The sound of the machine gun bullets that erupted like the sounds of a hail of rain were so loud and fast that they left the spectating clownfish dizzy, but this rapid sound was quickly overshadowed by that of the powerful Positron Rifle. The corridor itself literally quaked, shaking from the impact of the Rifle''s shots as the snakes reacted immediately to the offensive. The Ancient Basilisk did not dodge, he could not dodge the machine gun bullets in the first place so he simply focused on defending. The massive snake activated a skill as it expanded even more. Its skin turned into a jade green color, its defense increasing exponentially in the process as the bullets finally came splattering against its skin. Hiss!!! The Ancient Basilisk hissed a loud challenge at the powerful mech that was coming towards it, but the Chief Councilor was having no such formality nonsense as he already started his attack. Bam! Bam! While still unleashing hell with its guns, the mech righted its lethal plasma sword as it got ready to go on an all-out offensive melee battle. Apart from the Ancient Basilisk, the other snakes used different means to defend against the hail of bullets while instinctively drawing closer to their leader to form a more terrifying overall force against the mech. While the mech raised its plasma sword in preparation, the Ancient Basilisk who now seemed more ferocious than ever before expanded its head further this time before puking out a ball of shadowy death. In mere seconds, the mech closed the distance and they finally collided. The plasma sword collided against the shadowy ball of death. BOOM! The sound was like exploding dominoes and exploding volcanoes as all the weaker mechs in the area were flung in random directions like they were mere baggage, the light from the collision spiked. Watching from a distance away, Sebastian grimaced as his senses were scorched, causing a tingling sensation in his brain due to the light spike. Before he could recover, the battle was already continuing in full force. Clang! Clang! Clang! When the Ancient Basilisk was shown again, it was already in a heavy metallic war gear with lethal spikes jutting out of its sides. With its shadowy ball of death withstanding the force of the plasma sword, he donned his war gear, taking the battle to the next level. He had an advantage though, while the other councilor mechs were still rushing to the battlefield, all his allies were here. All the 5 snakes attacked the mech at the same time, but the Chief Councilor did not cower nor did he retreat, he was already high. Clear metallic rings reverberated rapidly like that of a professional drummer going through a new drum set, the powerful mech stood its ground, holding its own against all 5 monster snakes. The mech''s dangerous plasma sword slashed left and right repeatedly, dealing terrifying melee damage while also serving as a huge force of deterrence. The mech''s guns and other auxiliary weapons were what really dealt the main damage. They kept on vibrating like a super engine, unleashing death itself against the 5 mechs. The mech was extremely powerful, yes, but the skill of the mech pilot also needed an accolade since this was completely outrageous. Having so many weapons in the mech was an advantage but it could also be a disadvantage too. The ability to control them all impeccably, knowing the right time and place to use them to deal the most lethal damage all required skill. The snakes already fought with the Chief Councilor before so they knew his strength and skill level, but this was completely outrageous. The control was too unreal, even training for centuries was unlikely to bring such an improvement in control. The Ancient Basilisk''s cold eyes widened as it suddenly figured something out. The ruthless Chief Councilor took advantage of this almost negligible opening. Bam! Bam! The powerful mech rapidly fend all the attacks of the 4 other mechs, retaliating at the same time, pushing them back temporarily as it activated a special mechanism from the input of its pilot. The mini-boosters installed in the mech''s legs activated as the mechs leg suddenly kicked with superbeast speed. With the powerful kick, the Basilisk''s mid-section shifted back while the force of inertia brought its head forward. Whoosh! The plasma sword ruthlessly cut forward through the Basilisk. The Ancient Basilisk realized its mistake on time and retreated, barely dodging as the extremely lethal sword cut a huge injury just below its head. Instantly after this injury, as blood flowed like a flood, dying the water red, the Ancient Basilisk stopped swimming, hovering in place as its orange predatory eyes pinned the red glowing eyes of the mech. In this time, the other mechs finally arrived as they all boosted ahead, taking on the other 4 snakes, keeping them occupied to not intervene in the main battle. This left the 2 strongest predators and leaders alone. While looking into the mech''s emotionless eyes, the Ancient Basilisk finally spoke. "Your experiment was a success?" "Yes". The Chief Councilor''s grin could be felt through his tone. "I took a huge risk, but fortunately, it worked". "I have a mechanical implant adaptation now; my brain is now partly computerized and I can process information rapidly like a computer". "All I need now is the ultimate mech, and you''re not my match anymore!" "I see¡­" The Ancient Basilisk calmed down. "Well, you''re not the only one who improved in all this time". "Witness my new killer move!" "Killer Move: ¡­" Chapter 376 - The 5 Snake Elders Vs The 13 Clownfish Councilors! [2] Sebastian who was watching from the side was left flabbergasted. "An implant! A literal mechanical implant?!" Listening to the conversation between the powerful Ancient Basilisk and the clownfish Chief Councilor, he felt his brain spinning like he was stuck in a washing machine as everything he heard sounded too fictional to be real. Back in his previous world, as someone who had a rare love for science fiction, mostly fantasy and science fiction books since novels were one of the cheapest means of entertainment then, he knew of implants. Installing mechanical implants into humans, that would partly computerize the brain, increasing human''s IQ to an outrageous level where it could even match with a computer''s processors was complete fiction on earth. Most people opposed the thought alone, arguing that humans would become robots and a lot of other things. In his previous world, Sebastian was not like others, though he felt that some risks were associated with it, he still dreamt of himself living with an implant in his head. Now, in Oceania, he just confirmed through a clownfish that this was feasible. Sebastian''s eyes glittered like stars. "Another research route pinpointed!" Despite Sebastian''s excitement at his discovery and his inner monologue, it did nothing to stop the fight that was currently raging fiercely. The remaining 12 clownfish councilors and the 4 snake elders were still embroiled in their battle, only the Chief Councilor and the most authoritative snake elder stopped to converse just for a few seconds. "Well, you''re not the only one who improved in all this time". "Witness my new killer move!" Once Sebastian heard this, he knew that things already escalated. Despite his invisibility state, he tried to maintain his distance before it erupted. Once the Ancient Basilisk finished his words of bravado, he erupted! "Killer Move: The Hibernating Shadows!" Once these words left the mouth of the Ancient Basilisk, the temperature decreased rapidly as darkness descended into the corridor with only a faint yellowish-green light illuminating from a corner. Then from this darkness and yellowish-green light, came shadows! Wraaaaa!!! A high-pitched shriek reverberated as soon as these shadows appeared. They were so many, and they looked so menacing like they had the power to destroy the whole world with just a sneeze. All these shadows were shadows of the Ancient Basilisk. The powerful mech who was the recipient of this growing attack reacted, entering a defensive formation as its red eyes scanned and calculated rapidly. This was when the mech discovered its opponent inside the darkness. The Ancient Basilisk was now at least 3 times bigger, only its normal size was completely corporeal, its other parts looked incorporeal. With yellow eyes that glowed like those of a Lich, the overly massive Ancient Basilisk now looked like the god of shadows. The elaborate mechanism for this killer move revealed a fraction of what its real power was. Once it charged completely, the Ancient Basilisk attacked. Surprisingly, this was a 2-fold killer move. "Killer Move: Shadow Fight!" Wraaaaa!!! All the shadows that floated in the water all lunged at the enormous mech as soon as the shadow fight killer move was activated, they battered the massive mech with their whole body, from their teeth to their tail. With the shadows moving, the real Ancient Basilisk also moved as this massive snake started an elaborate offensive barrage on its opponent. Bam! Bam! Bam! Attacks rained down on the mech, submerging it completely till it was no longer in sight. Once the attack started, the darkness finally disappeared, but the mech could not be seen since it was already submerged by the shadows. Only sounds like exploding dominoes came from the center of the shadow convergence as they ruthlessly battered the massive mech with their all. The water vibrated constantly, sound waves, and shockwaves traveling from the heart of the massive battle as it affected everything in the vicinity. This trend continued for 1 minute as the shadows all overwhelmed the mech. When the resistance from inside started reducing and it seemed that the mech finally exhausted its reserves, the mech burst out with even more power. BOOM! A bright red light suddenly shone from the center of the shadow convergence, a bright light with heat that washed away the shadows like it was their nemesis. The bright red light was quickly followed by a powerful shockwave. Accompanying this shockwave was the glowing and still extremely lethal Plasma sword that was wielded by the mech. Though submerged in the shadows for over a minute, the mech never gave up even though it could no longer shoot with its Positron Rifle as it used its plasma sword alone to fend off all the shadows. Originally, the Chief Councilor would have succumbed already, but his implant enabled him to track everything, even the ones that he could not see. It was like the battlefield was in a 3-D version to him. This way, he made only the right decisions, maximizing efficiency as he butchered the shadows. After finding the right timing, it finally erupted, annihilating all the shadows, pushing the real Ancient Basilisk back, and ending the suffering. Once the mech was exposed, it easily became clear that its heroic enduring battle against the shadows was not without sacrifices. The mech''s armor that originally seemed inviolable was now damaged. Mechanical parts were exposed, electric light could be seen sparking in some parts, while one of the mech''s front legs was heavily damaged. The mech suffered a lot, but it was not the only one who did. Though throughout the attacking barrage, the Ancient Basilisk didn''t receive any damage, it lost so much mana in the 2 attacks that it now felt drained. The Ancient Basilisk no longer seemed as menacing as before. Both strongest predators were now weakened, but they were not spent. Boom! Boom! Boom! With the Positron Rifle finally seeing the light of day again, the clownfish Chief Councilor pulled the trigger without hesitation as positron beams and annihilation beams started raking the skin of the massive snake again. As for the Ancient Basilisk, it simply suppressed his drained state with sheer determination as he erupted into battle enthusiastically again. The reward on the stake for this battle was too important to miss. Since they had already come this far, he was not leaving without achieving any result. He would tear the mech apart with his teeth. Boom! Both predators became embroiled in a fierce melee battle again. Even as the 2 most powerful predators fought like there was no tomorrow, the other councilors and snake elders also fought with their all. For 3 hours, the battle kept on raging with no side ready to give up. At this point, the intensity of the battle already reduced a lot due to the wear and tear of the mechs and mana draining of the snakes that the Doom Destroyers who were originally relegated to support roles joined the battle again. "Give up, Baskfool, you are no match against me". "In your dreams!" By this moment, the Ancient Basilisk already exhausted all his plans and cunningness. The clownfish simply overprotected the zone of glory, and with the Chief Councilor''s breakthrough, winning became a more distant prospect. While the battle continued raging, with both sides taunting themselves, insulting themselves, and doing a lot of other things, a pair of eyes watched from the darkness. "Just a little bit more, and I will enter". Sebastian tracked the intensity of the battle with rapt attention, he was calculating the perfect opportunity to grasp and get his goal. Once the Ancient Basilisk became weaker again, Sebastian finally entered. "This is my time!" [You have activated skill: Supersonic Speed!] Chapter 377 - Absolute Stealth And Rapid Speed! Over time, with consistent use of his unique skills, Sebastian became exposed more and more to the reason why they were called unique. The importance of his Water Transmutation unique skill could not be quantified, and the same could be said about the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill if not even more. The doppelganger ability of the unique skill was OP on its own, the invisibility ability was even more OP, having kept Sebastian under the radar for 3 hours. Throughout these 3 hours, Sebastian was worried, thinking that he would be busted at some point but to his surprise, so long as he was able to keep the ability active, he remained invisible and indetectable. It may seem far-fetched, but Sebastian after today was now confident that unless he was going against a powerful Black tier predator whose magic domain was focused more on scouting than fighting, he would never be busted. Perhaps, he was wrong and he could be easily busted from his stealth state by any Black tier predator but a shark could dream. And it was this dream that gave him the motivation to engage in his last gasp move to get his goal. "It is now or never!" Once Sebastian activated the Supersonic Speed skill, his body jerked violently before he felt the next moment like he just left the normal dimensional space and was now inside the vacuum. In here, Sebastian could hardly see his obstacles again as they now looked like bloated images that were shot by an 1800s mobile phone. Whoosh! The next moment, he finally erupted forward with speed. The greatest advantage of having such an OP skill for movement, and having such an OP ability for stealth was that he swam forward in a lateral line like all the obstacles were not there. The Invisibility ability''s perk that enabled him to swim through obstacles like they were not there came in handy at this moment again. Sebastian moved so fast at the moment that all he could see was a blur, he could hardly keep track of his surroundings even with all his senses activated. Though at this moment, he was still invisible and was rushing through the enemy lines like they were simply not there, Sebastian knew that he was in a time limit as his face became paler with every passing nanosecond. The Invisibility ability of his unique skill alone was a tyrannical mana drainer, and the fact remained that no matter how economical he had been using it, he had still been using it for over 3 hours already. His mana was not full before as this mana draining skill was active, adding another massive mana drainer like the Supersonic Speed was like adding crude oil to an already burning fire and declaring violence. Violence really went on in Sebastian''s body as his mana drained like a running tap, not stopping no matter how hard or economical he tried to be. 2 skills were active, and they needed mana, there was no bargaining it. From its normal blue, Sebastian''s eyes turned red as he felt his mana points draining rapidly. At this moment, he felt like a diver who just lost his oxygen tank and had to stay economical with the last breath that he took. Even as he tried to stay economical, the 2 skills taking the little that he had from him left Sebastian feeling like bashing his head against a wall. Despite all the disadvantages at this moment, Sebastian strained his senses as he barely caught sight of what was happening around him. From his initial position at the very end of the zone of glory, his outrageous speed enabled him to move so fast that he already passed the lesser battlefield where the 12 clownfish councilors and the 4 snake elders were fighting. Once he passed this battlefield, Sebastian heaved a little sigh of relief before focusing on the next as his speed enabled him to eat yards of space like mere beans. At this moment, only a few Doom Destroyers and the other elite mechs were stationed at the back as the last line of defense of the zone of glory. All the other Doom Destroyers already mobilized to help their Chief Councilor and the other councilors. Most of them that swam out to help joined the lesser battlefield of the 12 councilors and the 4 snake elders, only a few of them stayed in the main battlefield and all of them were optimized for ranged combat. While maintaining a healthy distance from the massive predator, these powerful mechs burned their opponent with destructive loads of annihilation beams, positron beams, kinetic beams, and laser beams. Sebastian rapidly calculated, his mind already geared on overload and was working at the speed of a computer. If he could make it past the 2 battling hegemons of both races, then take it a step further past the last line of defense that was made up of the remaining few Doom Destroyers and other elite mechs, his breakthrough was sure. Once Sebastian deduced this, he strived for it. For the next few seconds, he strived towards this goal until his mana finally succumbed. [Mana Points: 632¡­, 321¡­, 93¡­] [Warning! Your mana points have decreased below the critical point!] [You have left the Invisibility State!] [Supersonic Speed has been deactivated!] It took only 3 seconds for Sebastian''s mana points to decrease below 100. This was completely outrageous, but it was also a little expected. Whoosh! As soon as he left his invisible state, Sebastian finally felt the water hitting against his body again, including the friction that it brought. He was not the only one who felt it, all the other predators quickly felt the presence of the intruder as the momentum of having moved at such outrageous speeds still tried to push Sebastian forward to his destination. When he was forced out of his invisible state, he was barely passing the position of the Ancient Basilisk, the powerful mech was still at his front. [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] Sebastian improvised instantly, switching from magic-powered skills to normal skills while trying to take advantage of the shock factor to escape to his destination before the clownfish and the snakes could react. What he failed to take into account was that he was up against elite soldiers, powerful councilors, and ancient snake elders. All the aforementioned predators all had superhuman reflexes that were trained through battle experience and relentless training for decades, or the snake elders even centuries. Snap! The powerful Ancient Basilisk reacted instantly to noticing the enemy. This massive predator''s instincts were already honed for such a long time that his intuition told him first before he even detected the intruder through his senses. He didn''t know the motive of the intruder, but so long as the intruder was here, it meant that he was probably an enemy rather than a friend. This was why his massive rows of teeth bit down instinctively and decisively. Sebastian could feel the approach of the powerful jaws, he felt it as the powerful jaws and the rows of teeth hidden within them ruthlessly snapped shut just a few inches from his tail fin. He shuddered, but he survived the disaster. Sebastian took this cue as his luck in play again as he revved the engine more, trying as much as possible to bring his speed back to the maximum. The advantage of his smaller body came to play again. With the water rapidly moving against his face, Sebastian tried to wriggle his way through the small corner that was left by the powerful mech that was already trying to crush him. On discovering him, the Chief Councilor did not also show mercy. His actions were completely instinctual also to get rid of this threat. In this tense situation, Sebastian saw hope again as his smaller body succeeded in wriggling through the small space away. But he got hit the next moment. When Sebastian''s momentum almost already allowed him to cross to the other side, from the rib side of the mech, a 3rd hand suddenly came out which enlarged and grabbed Sebastian''s body like a dad grabbing his kid. With a loud whoosh sound, Sebastian was waved here and thereby the massive mechanical hand before he was finally thrown against the wall. Boom! Sebastian groaned in pain. "Last gasp plan D, activated!" Chapter 378 - Last Gasp Plan D Activated! As soon as Sebastian was hit against the wall of the now battered corridor, the battle continued raging between the snakes and the clownfish but all attention was now focused on the intruder. The mech hand''s grip and the throw were so powerful that the area of the corridor where Sebastian was thrown at cracked, letting the expensive materials that were used to make it and debris fall. The debris and everything obscured direct vision, obscuring Sebastian''s figure. Despite this, every eye was on him. The snakes were as shocked to see an intruder as the clownfish themselves. They never expected a lone predator to be bold enough to try fishing when 2 hegemons like them were fighting, they were curious to see the predator. Those that had a decent detection skill, including all the mechs already pierced through the obstruction to see that the opponent was a shark. As for the others, they could only wait, and the intruder did not disappoint. [You have activated skill: Mana Control!] [You have activated skill: Megalodon Aura!] [You have actively triggered adaptation: Hard Dense Skin!] [You have triggered adaptation: Dense Muscle Fiber Defense!] All of a sudden, a dense mana presence descended, accompanied by a terrifying predator aura as it seemed like a nuclear bomb was about to explode. The first step of Sebastian''s last gaps plan D was a gamble. His small size gave him a lot of advantages, which he almost took advantage of a few seconds ago, but having to get that and losing 80% of his strength was unacceptable. This was why the first step of this plan was using an extremely radical method to try and get rid of his miniaturized state. Sebastian didn''t know if it would work, but after working at it in the anatomy department for almost 2 months, he had at least some hope in it. By activating his mana control, he tapped into the primordial origin essence in the water but he did not use it to replenish his mana core. He simply pumped it all into his skin as a biting pain started eating at him. His Megalodon Aura was mostly for intimidation and suppression, but at this moment, the feeling of an overlord Megalodon that he felt gave him the courage to go through with his plan. By activating both his hard dense skin and his dense muscle fiber defense adaptation, he succeeded in overloading his skin with both mana and tissue. By combining both organic and magical, he forcefully tried to nullify the effects that were keeping him in a miniaturized state. Sebastian felt airheaded the next moment, it was like a fire was burning in his head. The pain in his skin and all over his body grew so much that it became unbearable, he could not hold it again. Roar!!! Boom! With a roar, Sebastian''s body seemed to explode as injuries erupted at various parts of his skin. At the same time, he ballooned in size like a teenager who finally hit his growth spurt. [Warning! Your Mana Conductor Coating adaptation has been damaged!] [Warning! Your Hard Dense Skin adaptation has been damaged!] [Congratulations! All base attributes have been restored!] Sebastian''s reckless move was not without consequences, as 2 of his more important adaptations became damaged but all that mattered was that he was no longer suppressed, he now had his full strength back. [You have activated skill: Cardiac Sphincter Constrictor!] [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] [You have activated skill: Acrobatic Maneuverability!] [You have activated skill: Morphable Spike Attack!] [You have activated skill: Mega Crushing Bite!] [You have activated skill: Sound Reflection!] "YOUR COLLECTIVE DADS, MOTHERF*CKERS!" BOOM! After activating all these skills in quick succession, Sebastian once again grew in size as he now seemed as enormous as a purple tier Megalodon that came out of fiction even in Oceania standards. He made use of his sound reflection skill first though as the massive sound blast rippled through the water like blasting dominoes. A few mech''s surfaces exposed to damage from the sound attack which was outrageous, while the clownfish that were inside became the most affected. The mechs were not built specially to counter sound attacks. Though they had basic protection for their mech pilots, it was not enough as the massive sound blast managed to render a lot of clownfish incapacitated. As for the others, they already recovered their wits and recognized the threat that Sebastian presented as they rapidly attacked. Bam! Bam! Bam! Sebastian could not dodge all of them, but he didn''t have to dodge all of them either as he seemed to transform into a Michael Jackson Megalodon. Sebastian literally started break-dancing in the water, as his acrobatic maneuverability skill came into effect. By moving his body here and there, compressing parts, while expanding other parts of his body, he dodged like a pro. Sebastian didn''t just dodge though; he retaliated too. Sebastian had never used his acrobatic maneuverability extensively in battles before, but at this moment, his intuition nudged him in a direction and he unconditionally followed it. Whoosh! Sebastian''s body seemed to have turned into an elastic spring. From nowhere, his body expanded to have a neck as his neck expanded towards the direction of a mech, providing the best position for him to attack. Crunch! The mech was crushed, losing its head and most sensors immediately. Another crunch and the mech''s systems failed, automatically shutting down. The Doom Destroyers tried to retaliate but Sebastian''s elastic head and neck retreated to their previous positions at the speed of the flash. At this moment, Sebastian already turned from a stupid intruder who was courting death in the perception of the predators here to a nuisance that could bring a lot of troubles. The Chief Councilor noticed this and was why he tried to intervene. The massive Ancient Basilisk did not allow it though. For a long time, this powerful snake was already trying to break the deadlock which was his only chance of getting his goal, this shark was a god-sent opportunity. With his most powerful opponent being taken care of by another predator that he saw as an opponent, Sebastian could not have been happier as he stepped up his game, increasing his speed through his mega dash skill. Whoosh! Sebastian erupted like a train in an apocalypse. Bam! Bam! Bam! His goal was to take advantage of this opportunity as much as possible; this was his last gasp method and he did not want to botch it. Though his massive and powerful body was already proving enough against the powerful mechs, Sebastian did not feel safe without his magic power. This was why he tried new ways to work with his mana control skill but none was working. As he did multi things at once, attacking the clownfish mechs, going towards his goal, and trying to harness mana, a powerful enemy arrived. Apart from the Chief Councilor, there were 12 Clownfish Councilors. Even if 2 of them left, the impact on the lesser battlefield would not be too much and was why 2 councilor mechs overloaded their flight systems and rushed here. Once these 2 powerful mechs arrived, they slashed their powerful weapons down at Sebastian, a magic spear and a magic sword. The speed of the 2 mechs was too fast, Sebastian could only try to improvise and retaliate. His acrobatic maneuverability enabled him to turn his head back on time to try retaliating, but he had another package at the back of his mind. He resorted to his most reliable hidden trump card. "System, please increase my luck". [You have activated skill: Mega Crushing Bite!] [You have activated skill: Dissecting Bite!] [You have activated Vampire Teeth Adaptation Ability: Blood Vampire!] [You have successfully activated the Blood Vampire state!] There were 2 mechs, but Sebastian could only focus on one of them. Immediately after his deadly rows of teeth dug into the exposed metallic exterior of one of these powerful mechs, his Blood Vampire adaptation ability came into effect as a strange power rippled through the mech. This powerful mech was already engaged in a massive battle for 3 hours, with this new outrageous damage, the mech collapsed. Its weapon could not even touch Sebastian before it collapsed entirely, but the spear-wielding mech had the perfect opportunity to deal damage. Boom! The massive spear cut into Sebastian''s flesh, but the weirdest of things happened the next moment. A thin green glowing light briefly enveloped Sebastian''s body, then the spear bounced away. [Damage Reflection Skin Coating has been triggered!] All the spectators were horrified as the powerful mech suffered damage from nowhere, Sebastian coughed blood while the mech shed metallic parts. Both of them were flung towards opposite directions. The eyes of the clownfish present and even the snakes all widened. The fact that they already detected that this was a purple-tier predator increased their awe all the more. "What monster is this?!" Chapter 379 - Sebastians Show! Sebastian''s last gasp plan D was entirely dependent on his luck! This was the main reason why he called the plan a last gasp plan. For him to resort to using this plan meant that cunning, and stealth infiltration no longer worked, and since he could win against neither the Chief Councilor nor the Ancient Basilisk in a brute strength contest, he resorted to luck. Having witnessed the power of luck in numerous locations, most especially when he was chased by Tonado and the other predators when he killed the longevity fish, he knew how powerful it could be. In Oceania, luck was not superstition, it was a real tangible force of nature that could influence things in a lot of mysterious ways. Since conventional ways could not work anymore, this was why Sebastian resorted to the more mysterious ways of luck. Having negotiated with his system beforehand, once he pleaded, his system responded and increased his luck, spending all the luck reserves in the process. With this, Sebastian''s luck became so OP that on activation of the Blood Vampire adaptation ability, despite the chances of activation being only 2%, the mysterious nature of luck did it, making it activate immediately. Luck was really inevitable! With his luck blasting out in full power, and the Blood Vampire ability successfully activating, the fate of the first mech that Sebastian attacked was sealed. The only problem was the second mech. Sebastian was but one Megalodon, no matter how good and powerful he was, fighting against 2 opponents that were theoretically more powerful than him was no easy task. This was the reason why he could not react on time despite his unconventional acrobatic maneuverability skill being active. It didn''t matter though; luck came to the rescue once again. For the first time since he purchased this adaptation from his system during his evolution to become an orange tier predator and a sound domain magician, his Damage Reflection Skin Coating was finally triggered. Once this adaptation triggered, his skin was like it became covered by a green energy shield as it intercepted the attack from the powerful spear. He received only about 20% of the overall attack damage, which prevented him from dying immediately while this OP adaptation reflected over 80% of the damage to the enemy. The mech was shocked, its clownfish mech pilot was even more shocked as the damage rippled through the metallic frame of the mech, wreaking havoc and dealing untold damage. In just one move, Sebastian completely destroyed 1 mech while his luck took care of the rest, leaving the 2nd mech in a near-destructed state. These were not the only benefits that Sebastian got from his increased luck. Sebastian suddenly had a bold guess that the goddess of luck was finally smiling on him after snubbing him for more handsome Megalodon for so long. Since the battle started, fighting with only his body skills left him feeling unsettled. He was too used to fighting with his mana, with his magic domain, and this was the reason why he tried to remedy it. Despite everything that he tried with his mana control skill, he always fell short by a small margin and could not achieve what he wanted. It was after his luck increased and he repelled the 2 mechs that he felt a change. Sebastian already long ago discovered that the mechs of the clownfish were not entirely mechanical, they were magic-powered too. As soon as his Blood Vampire ability wreaked the first mech, he discovered that the magic power that enveloped and empowered it was dissipating. Instinctively, he used his mana control skill and tried to tap into it. To Sebastian''s shock, he was able to assimilate all the mana. This was when a light bulb lit in his head. Instead of trying to harness the primordial origin essence that was the most ancient and complicated mana source, why not lower his expectations and try harnessing the mana of other predators? Once he assimilated the dissipating mana, what Sebastian got shocked him. [Mana Points: 723/8270!] "Holy Freaking Sh*t!" Sebastian felt like dancing at this discovery, but he was still self-aware enough to know that he was embroiled in a battle. Not only that, a powerful enemy was not far from his position. This was why while the clownfish councilor was still marveling at what happened, shocked and trying to deduce how it happened, a rejuvenated Sebastian attacked the councilor''s mech ruthlessly. [You have activated bloodline skill: Breath of the Sound Megalodon!] Woo¡­!!! The sound blast came like exploding dominoes as it hit the mech with the impact of a mighty hammer against a rock. The already weakened mech stood no chance. While being flung away, the mech quickly broke into metallic fragments and scrap but the clownfish councilor who piloted it managed to eject his cockpit before the complete breakdown. In just a few seconds, Sebastian managed to teach 2 councilor mechs a battlefield lesson. All of a sudden, the Megalodon no longer seemed that fragile anymore to the powerful predators here at the moment. From the little that was already displayed, it was clear that looking at Sebastian like the typical purple tier predator was foolish and dangerous. Clearly, this shark was a freak! The Chief Councilor felt even more agitated and determined to stop the Megalodon, but the Ancient Basilisk felt even more determined to stop its opponent from intervening and stopping the shark. With these 2 still restraining each other, and the remaining 10 councilor mechs now strained with fending off the attacking barrage of the remaining 4 snake elders, Sebastian was now free to wreak havoc and get to his goal. His only obstacles were the intimidating Doom Destroyer mechs who were not that much again, and the other mechs piloted by elite clownfish soldiers. Sebastian didn''t care though; those clownfish saw themselves as elite soldiers while he saw himself as an elite predator. The battle was no longer merely between snakes and clownfish, he was now in the game and with him in, the battlefield was now his showground. It was time for his show! "Bring it on!" [You have activated skill: Mana Control!] [You have activated skill: Mana Empowerment!] [You have activated skill: Rasengan!] Chapter 380 - Sebastians Show! Entering The Zone Of Glory! Of all the skills that Sebastian had at his disposal, apart from the Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill, the peculiar Rasengan skill was the most mana hungry skill that he had, even more mana hungry than his 1st unique skill. The Rasengan could grow infinitely powerful so long as he had enough mana to feed it, and if he also had the technique to control it and prevent it from blowing up on himself which would easily make a top 10 most tragic magic stories. Apart from his unique skills, this skill had the most potential in his opinion. At this moment, Sebastian didn''t have enough mana to make it as powerful as he could in his peak, but this was acceptable. BOOM! The blue ball of mana tore through the ranks of the Doom Destroyer mechs that were before it, throwing them into different corners while also tyrannically tearing their metallic skin away like it was mere rubber. The shockwave was like that of a raging tsunami, sweeping through all the mechs that were before Sebastian as they all suffered. The Rasengan was the opening move for his unrelenting combo move. Of course, activating the Rasengan skill depleted his mana again but Sebastian used his new ability as he used his mana control skill to tap into the dissipating mana from the Doom Destroyer mechs. With this, he was rejuvenated again, feeling fresh and ready to go. [Mana Points: 1832/8270.] With his mana refilled, Sebastian began his offensive barrage. [You have activated skill: Acrobatic Maneuverability!] [You have activated skill: Mega Magic Shield!] [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] [You have activated skill: Mega Sound Control!] [You have created a sound construct: Loud Speakers!] [You have activated skill: Drilling Sonic Sword!] [You have activated skill: Water Cyclone!] [You have activated skill¡­] [You have activated skill¡­] [You have activated skill¡­] Sebastian turned into a literal mobile fortress. For the first time since transmigrating into this world, Sebastian enjoyed how it felt to have access to unlimited mana. The more mechs that he wreaked, the more mana that he had access to wreak more. He felt like the Destroyer. The more he wreaked and the more he destroyed, the more powerful he became. This sounded so OP and evil, but he absolutely loved it. During his latest evolution, though he already settled for his evolution route ahead of time, he hadn''t really felt the advantages of choosing the Mana Lord evolution route but Sebastian finally discovered it. Pugilist Kings were the Kings of melee combat and bodybuilding, while Mana Lords were the Lords of mana itself. At this moment, Sebastian felt like he was the lord of mana. Boom! Boom! Boom! With his mega magic shield active, he didn''t have to worry much about taking damage like before, he could directly tank it all without worrying about anything. His mega dash skill enabled him to move fast since entering the zone of glory was still his goal, while the acrobatic maneuverability skill gave him such agility that he felt like a rat scurrying through a world filled with cats. The only difference was that he was a monster rat, he was elusive, he was inevitable, the cats could never catch him, he was Sebastian! "Die!" "Die!" "Die, motherf*ckers!" The mechs fell apart like they met their nemesis, they stood no chance. Having activated his loudspeakers sound construct again, all of his sound skills were amplified. Activating his mana empowerment skill amplified them even further, he was a real mobile fortress at the moment. After his last struggle in the ocean volcano region, for the first time, Sebastian had the opportunity to really go all out. Back then in the ocean volcano region, he didn''t get to make use of all his skills but since the powerful opponents were still engrossed fighting themselves, Sebastian saw this as the right opportunity to test the effects of all his new skills. [You have activated skill: Sonic Magic Teeth!] Sebastian''s teeth finally saw action again outside of biting. Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! They shot out rapidly like the bullets from a sub-machine gun, hitting the mechs'' metallic surface and dealing both physical and sonic damage as the mechs deteriorated in performance with each shot. [You have activated skill: Sonic Torpedo Drill!] Faced against 3 heavy Doom Destroyers who were adamant in blocking his advance with their heavy metallic frames, Sebastian activated this skill and simply turned himself into a giant drill killing machine. He tore through the 3 mechs at the same time, his snout as the tip of the drill as the metal could not stand the force. Fortunately for the clownfish, they were able to eject out of the cockpit before the mechs fell. [You have activated bloodline skill: Megalodon Might!] [You have activated Inherited Magic Ability: Telekinesis!] [You have activated skill: Telekinesis Pull!] [You have triggered adaptation: Lancer Snout!] The clownfish mech pilot could only yelp in shock as his mech was pulled forward without his consent. He tried to reverse backward, but the pulling force was surprisingly stronger than that which was exerted by his mech. He could only eject from the cockpit, looking depressed as his powerful mech collided against the sudden extremely sharp snout of the massive shark that made the shark look like a swordfish. Ptui! The mech was pierced into oblivion. "Die motherf*ckers!" Sebastian was having the time of his life. From the harrowing situation that he originally pictured it as the actual reality differed so much from what he expected that he was left feeling like he was in a dream whereas this was reality. In the end, he attributed this unreal reality to only one subject. "Luck is really the strongest power in the universe!" None of the mechs could stop Sebastian. By taking them out one by one, and by swimming closer to his goal inch by inch, Sebastian finally managed to annihilate all obstacles that were blocking him and arrived before the small gate. Separating the real zone of glory from the corridor was a small black gate with a lot of mysterious magic runes drawn all over it. Seeing this gate, Sebastian''s excitement knew no end. Before he could move forward though, he was intercepted. Bzzz! After staying in the background, trying hard to beat the Ancient Basilisk back to no avail, the Chief Councilor pushed by the desperation of the situation finally dropped all pretense and revealed another hidden trump card. The Ancient Basilisk was left bewildered as after the Chief Councilor pressed a button in his mech''s cockpit, the massive mech simply faded out of existence. To the Ancient Basilisk''s shock, the mech arrived before Sebastian the next moment. If the Basilisk felt shocked, Sebastian felt spooked. After all the high that he felt from wreaking so many mechs, tearing through their defense formations tyrannically like a local tyrant, suddenly seeing the real local tyrant appearing left him feeling scammed. Sebastian gritted his teeth; he finally knew how complacent he felt on noticing that he was now the only free powerhouse on the battlefield. Instead of striving hard to get to his goal at that moment, he squandered it on trying to test the effects of all his skills. "Dammit!" Sebastian gave up hope. After witnessing this mech fighting the Ancient Basilisk, he knew that in a one-on-one situation, he stood no chance against it. He looked up at the glowing red eyes of the mech. His brain was already imagining the Positron Rifle aiming at him and blowing him into oblivion. But, the mech did nothing. After observing the Megalodon for 2 straight minutes, the mech moved to the side and made a gesture like he was inviting Sebastian inside the zone of glory. Sebastian was even more shocked, what type of sudden change was this? "Is this a scam?!" He was alarmed. Despite being alarmed, Sebastian felt even more confused. What was the reason for all this? If they were going to invite whoever got here first in, what were the reason for the battle and all the lost mechs? Amid his dilemma, he quickly made his decision. No matter what lay behind this small gate, he already made up his mind to go inside. He had too many goals that he hoped on fulfilling by going inside that he could no longer turn back. And besides, the Ancient Basilisk was already swimming in this direction with full speed, he had no time. [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] Whoosh! Sebastian finally entered the zone of glory. Chapter 381 - Inside The Zone Of Glory. Whoosh! The Megalodon entered the zone of glory! The snakes were confused and alarmed. The manner in which the Megalodon used in entering this place was not what they envisioned, they did not expect the Chief Councilor to stand aside and watch. Apart from the Chief Councilor, the Ancient Basilisk at the moment was the closest predator to the small gate that led inside this last zone. On seeing that the Megalodon already entered and that the Chief Councilor was still hovering with his mech at the side, he increased his speed immediately as he seemed to turn into a moving meteorite. He didn''t understand exactly what was going through his old enemy''s head at the moment, but if the clownfish was about to stop him, he calculated his current speed to be faster than the reaction speed of the mech. He could make it. Before he didn''t know it, but with the Megalodon''s example, he knew that to enter this last zone, all that he needed was to hit his body against the small gate. The massive Ancient Basilisk increased his speed even more, then with a bam, he collided against the small gate. Bonk! A strange silence descended on the corridor after hearing this sound. The other snake elder''s eyes twitched on looking at this scene, while all the clownfish that were outside their mechs had looks of worship, they did not even pay attention to the plight of the Ancient Basilisk. On colliding against the small gate at full speed, instead of entering the zone of glory directly or at least hitting it and inducing a mighty sound, the Ancient Basilisk received the shock of his life. Hitting the small gate was so different from his expectations that he was spooked. It was like, he hit a boulder when he was a mere bicycle. It took a few seconds before the mighty Basilisk recovered from the pain. Confused, he looked at the small gate again before turning to face the closest mech. The Chief Councilor''s mech never left its position despite the actions of his archrival. Now, as the Ancient Basilisk looked at the red glowing eyes of the mech, he knew that there was more to this situation than met the eye. It took him about a minute of rapid thinking, but he finally understood. As soon as the look in his eyes changed, the mech finally spoke. "I think you know the truth now". "We never protected the zone of glory from you, it is more than enough to protect itself. What we did was fulfilling all righteousness". "We had orders from our clown goddess, and we had to do it". The Ancient Basilisk went livid. "You¡­" "You think you know it all, Baskfool, but you actually know nothing". "I find it ironic, but today, your actions fell completely in line with what the clown goddess predicted, or should I say prophesied". "You were played by us; you were played by me". "¡­" The massive Ancient Basilisk closed his eyes as he tried to keep his emotions under control. In the centuries that he lived as a predator; he did not remember when last he was played like a fool. He was a calm leader, but despite how much he wanted to keep it cool, his brain said otherwise, his pride was too damaged to heal in the short term. He gritted his teeth, his tone turning ferocious. "You¡­, freaking¡­" "Motherf*cker!" The Chief Councilor completed his curse. This was the last stimuli that turned the switch on the Ancient Basilisk''s head, this massive snake erupted at the mech like a rabid dog with a wounded soul. Hiss¡­!!! ¡­ "Huh, where am I?" Sebastian though already guessing where he was, was still shocked on seeing himself in an apartment that he could say came directly from a fairytale. Yes, he arrived in an apartment, not an elaborate habitation zone like the zone of transition and all the other zones of the Anemone Domain. Fortunately, his skills were not blocked which allowed him to scan his surroundings with his electroreceptors. While doing this, he did not forget his injuries as he activated his healing skill. [You have activated skill: Mega Healing.] As the healing power of the skill worked on his body, Sebastian finally felt relieved enough to focus on what he was doing. With his electroreceptors active, he immediately discovered that this was an apartment that was made in a medieval Chinese setting. It was so similar to apartments in Chinese movies that he watched back on earth that Sebastian was 100% sure of it. It was a Chinese setting apartment with far more lighting than could be called normal and too many flowers that made it feel like a children''s room. On entering this strange apartment, instead of feeling spooked and weirded out like 99% of predators in Oceania would feel, Sebastian felt at home. He was currently in the living room that seemed like it was partially modified to act as a place to train martial arts, with painting frames of famous martial artists from his previous world painted on them. 3 of these paintings were made in a frame that was bigger than the rest, featuring the legendary Chinese authors, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li. Seeing all this, Sebastian felt a heavy load that he had been carrying since leaving his mind. "So, the Motherf*cker Lord is really from earth". With this load offloaded from his mind, Sebastian finally started exploring the apartment. On leaving the sitting room, he came before a hall with even more elaborate paintings. This time, they were not just martial artists, but of different celebrities of earth. At other parts of this hall, Sebastian saw pet cages with different predators held inside them. These pets ranged from small predators like crayfish, and seahorses, to big predators like snakes, Barracudas, and even sharks. Sebastian felt weird on seeing the shark cage. Though there was no Great White Shark locked in there, it still felt extremely weird and made him recall some memories. At some point, he also had sharks as pets. "What a weird life". He chuckled and continued his exploratory journey deeper into the Chinese-themed apartment. He went through 3 rooms consecutively, with different attractions in each of them and they were all earth specialties. At this point, Sebastian already confirmed the validity of the clownfish that he was about to meet so much that he became impatient to meet her. "Move your ass faster, Sebastian". He started swimming faster, ignoring most of the attractions that were before him now. It was when he came to the 5th room that he finally saw a change. Unlike the others that felt like mini-halls and the sitting room, from one look, Sebastian easily recognized that this one was a real bedroom. Seeing the pink background, the flowers, decorations, and everything that was here, he didn''t need to think to know that this was a girl''s room. Once Sebastian entered inside fully, he finally saw his patron. The massive clownfish was seated in a special pink mechanical throne that was modified to accommodate her clownfish physique. Apart from this, Sebastian saw no difference that distinguished this fish from other clownfish but he was still acute enough to know that this was the one. Sebastian deliberated for a few seconds on what to address her with before he fell back to what he knew. "Motherf*cker Lord?" "¡­" The clownfish was caught off-guard for a few seconds, probably dumbfounded but she chuckled a few seconds later. "I admit, now that is funny Sebastian". Chapter 382 - Meeting Eliana, The Motherf*cker Lord. Once Sebastian confirmed that no hostilities came from calling her what he knew, he became bolder as he asked her the most nagging question in his mind. "Are you an earthling?" The clownfish gave him a sideways glance. "Have your brain been muddled by so much killing and cannibalism that you don''t recognize a fellow earthling anymore when you see one?" "Umm¡­" "Forget it". The clownfish waved her small fin. "Yes, I am an earthling". This opening conversation was indeed weird, but it set the mood in the right order. As a Megalodon, Sebastian could not sit in normal chairs, and he did not have any custom-made throne like hers, so he could only hover before her. Then, an awkward silence stretched between the both of them. Sebastian had to admit that seeing the real thing hit hard than just guessing or even knowing it. For a long time, he had been guessing that his fellow earthling that reincarnated here would be a clownfish, but on seeing the real thing, he was spooked, even more so when this clownfish was supposed to be a hot chick. Just visualizing how she may have looked like as a human, and pairing it with the current clownfish, he almost choked. Perhaps, she guessed what was going through his mind through her minute movements but the clownfish refrained from speaking about them. She instead spoke about another thing. "How is life in Oceania?" "Well, um, life is good". "¡­" "Ugh, you''re so bad at conversations that you remind me of someone that I know". The clownfish finally complained. Sebastian shrank. "Sorry". The clownfish didn''t care anymore. "Never mind, let''s get to business. I believe that you''re guessing how I know you since I''ve never met you before nor did you leave any clues for me like I left for you, right?" "Yes". Sebastian was indeed curious about it. It may seem normal from his perspective, searching for the Motherf*cker Lord, but he knew that this was all because he saw the clues that were left by the clownfish. From the Lizard Lord to the Anemone Domain, the clues all pointed to the fact that a fellow earthling reincarnated and was a clownfish. Without the clues, he may have never guessed that a fellow earthling reincarnated with him. This was the reason why he went after the Motherf*cker Lord, but the same could not be said about him, so how did she know of him? The clownfish finally answered. "Actually, I already knew long ago that you will be reincarnated here". "Long ago". Sebastian caught that. "Does that mean that you reincarnated here way long before I did?" "Not exactly way long, but yes, I reincarnated before you. I have lived in Oceania for 2 years already". "¡­" "I also have a system, so don''t try to be secretive. We''re the same, I understand you and all the advantages that you have". "After I reincarnated, my performance was much worse than yours. I was flustered at the sudden change in the situation, and scared of the unknown". "Like, heck, suddenly waking up and finding yourself in a world filled with water as a clownfish, a clownfish! I was freaked out!" "My only saving grace was my luck, my starting luck was better than yours". "I also reincarnated in the Green Mist Sea as a clownfish that would have sounded underwhelming at first, but unlike you, this was the territory of the greatest clownfish that ever lived". "Once I inherited the Clown unique skill, my system gave me a mission to find the inheritance ground that was left by the Clown King". "I did, and through there, I was connected to the Clown Empire". "Once the clownfish there knew that their Emperor already had an heir, they acted fast and came to retrieve me. I spent only 1 month in the wild, I spent the rest of my time in the Clown Empire". "In a beast Empire, I had the best security and the best resources to improve. In just 2 years, I grew and developed so much that would have never been possible in normal circumstances". "Once I grew powerful enough, I started probing this world to better understand the circumstances of my reincarnation". "I wanted to know the truth; I was fed up of being kept in the dark". "This was when I received a unique system clue. I received the clue that another reincarnate from earth was coming in 7 months, so I started my preparation, preparation to pave the way to our eventual meeting". "As the unique clue specified that you would be reincarnated here in the Green Mist Sea, I focused all my efforts here". "The case of the Lizard Lord and the Anemone Domain is just a fraction of the multifold preparation that I made to give you hints and clues". "No matter which area of this Green Mist Sea that you eventually found yourself, with time, you would have found a clue left by me". "Once you arrived in the Anemone Domain, the soul imprint that I left here was triggered which was why I brought my attention back here". "Immediately, I triggered a series of hidden plans which were the main catalysts for all the coincidences that eventually led to you meeting me". "I gave the Chief Councilor specific orders with my soul projection, and he followed them to the letter. Actually, besides you, no other predator, not even Black tier predators unless they are 1 of the Sea Kings can break inside here". "And that is how we eventually came to meet". "Nice to meet you, Sebastian. My name is Eliana". "Eliana". Sebastian mumbled, distracted by the strange vibes that he felt on hearing the name. "It''s a cool name, nice to meet you too". With the introductions made, Sebastian finally became free of all his reservations as he started a real conversation with a fellow earthling. Once they started it, they lost themselves in it. The both of them died, suddenly leaving their world and reincarnating into another world where they met only strange people and predators every day. For a long time, they had felt lonely in a literal sense enough. Now that the both of them met, they were unleashed. They discussed like their life depended on it, from popular topics back on earth, to their hobbies, to their profession back on earth and a lot of other things. Surprisingly, Eliana was also an anatomist. This coincidence rang bells in Sebastian''s mind but it did not stop their conversation. They discussed their common hobby which was anatomy, both bragging on their achievements in this world where Eliana completely dwarfed Sebastian. Then they switched to their other hobbies. Eliana was the one who painted all the pictures that Sebastian saw on his way here. He did well to compliment her before teasing the hell out of her. This way, both earthlings quickly forgot the concept of time as they became taken away by the moment. After so long of only Oceania every day, hunting, killing, and predators all around, meeting a fellow earthling, and finally getting to release himself felt so good that Sebastian could feel his body relieving a lot of stress. They discussed random topics until they became tired, this was when they came back to the official territory. "You said you have been trying to know the truth behind our reincarnation outside what the Sage in your head said, so have you gotten any leads?" Eliana sighed exaggeratedly before turning to look at him. "Yes, actually, I already know everything that I need to know". Chapter 383 - The Truth. "You know, reincarnation saved our lives". Sebastian was about to say that he knew that, but he refrained from interjecting because his intuition told him that this sentence was deep and meant more than he could see on the surface. "Have you heard of the Atlantian legend of the Great Fall?" "No". Eliana answered on his behalf and Sebastian could not refute since she was correct. "The Atlantian legend of the Great Fall perfectly describes what happened to our previous world after our reincarnation". "Earth is no more". "I know that by now, you must have guessed that variant humans are mutated versions of the previous you and I". "You are correct, they all came here after the Great Fall". Eliana took her time and told Sebastian all that she knew about the Atlantian legend of the Great Fall before she continued. "Through my findings, the legend is correct, only the time frame is wrong since the variant humans came here before us". "This is a part of the truth that I have not found out yet". "Despite the inconsistencies, after getting a lot of clues, adding those from my system, and piecing everything together, I concluded that the Great Fall is real and that earth is no more". "The 2 of us, the lucky reincarnations were not brought here without a purpose. Your system is probably still telling you that you don''t have the requisite level to access such information, so I''ll tell you". "The Sages are real, and they are the ones who brought us here". "There is a war currently going on, a war between planetary dimensions". "Mercury, Venus, Earth, and all the planets that we were taught of in school that existed are real and are called planetary dimensions here". "Planetary dimensions like Earth and the likes are called the low essence dimensions and there are numerous dimensions like them out there". "Above the low essence planetary dimensions, we have the high essence dimensions and the pinnacle essence dimensions. The Myth Realm, the Void Realm, and a few other realms have grown to become pinnacle essence dimensions". "Oceania is not a planetary dimension. In theory, Oceania is nothing more than a breeding ground of the Myth Realm". "According to the little information that I was able to salvage about it, the Myth Realm is our mother planetary dimension where the Sages live". "From what my system revealed, there are 62 Sages in the Myth Realm and they are the overlord rulers of the Myth Realm pinnacle planetary dimension". "As one of the few pinnacle planetary dimensions in the universe, they stand at a pedestal above other planetary dimensions, but their existence was threatened once the Cthulu war started". "About this war, I know very little information about it but I was able to know that the one who started it was a planetary overlord called the Ancient Cthulu". Eliana inclined her head and clicked her tongue at Sebastian. "It leaves you wondering about what was going through the head of the author who first wrote about the Ancient Cthulu back on earth". "I still feel dread every time I think about it". "Due to the little information that I have about the Myth Realm, I don''t know much about the Cthulu war but I know that after swallowing a lot of low and high essence planetary dimensions, including earth, the Ancient Cthulu''s appetite increased as it finally set its sights on the powerful Myth Realm". "Once it waged war against the Myth Realm, this powerful pinnacle planetary dimension discovered their weakness and sought to remedy it". "This was what prompted the 62 Sages to create Oceania, the mother system, the subsystems, and the reincarnation hivemind". "What they sought was to create the ultimate existence that could go against the Ancient Cthulu but the difficulty of this plan became known with time". "After trying a lot of times without getting any results, with most of the Sages already dying, the remaining 8 Sages were driven to the point of desperation". "In the previous subsystems that were released and attached to reincarnates, the system had absolute control over the individual, prompting every action of the reincarnate but the mother system''s control decreased with time". "With the decrease in control of the mother system, the subsystem also lost control which is why it does not feel much better than a robot at this moment". "This is a boon to us though since with the loss of control, we now have full control over our actions, and we are the lords of the system instead of the other way round like it was originally intended to". "You and I are the last reincarnates, we are the Myth Realm''s last hope. At least, that was what I inferred after piecing all my discoveries together". "It was supposed to be only one of us, but the mother system''s botching control messed things up". "From my research, I guessed that we probably came from the same country, or at least the same continent since the mother system''s lack of control caused another target who was close to the original target to be reincarnated also". "I think you are the main target of reincarnation; the title of my system is the Ultimate Support System". "The only thing I don''t understand is why I reincarnated first". "So, in essence, we are the last hope not only for the survival of the Myth Realm but also for the survival of a lot of planetary dimensions". "The remaining 8 Sages put all their hopes in us. Instead of trying to fix the mother system, they instead decided to take a different route with this last try and see if giving us more control would help". "It feels unrealistic and marvel superhero-like, right? But sadly, it''s real". "With the deteriorating lack of control of the mother system, not only was our reincarnation affected but Oceania was also affected". "This was why the world changed about 7 months ago when you reincarnated. After a long time of stability and growth, the mother system lost control, and Oceania is about to pop like a balloon". "Estimations by the Clown Empire says we have only 2 years". "This is why the will of the Sages was transmitted to our world. The most powerful predators here already know, the world is ending". "Through the will of the Sages, we already know what to do to survive. According to the Sages, what we need is a unifying leader, the Ocean Master, master of all 7 unique skills who will take us through the dimensional barrier". "This is the reason why the Rabbit Monarch stood for you, and it is also the reason why the Atlantis Empire is after you". "Once an overlord, always an overlord". "Despite knowing that the existence of the world is at stake, Atlantis still wants to be an overlord, they want the Ocean Master to either be under their control or to be someone from their Empire". "Other Empires feel this way but are not as bold as the Atlantis Empire. What everyone agrees on though is that we need a unifying leader, and fast". "This is what is resulting in the war that is about to span the whole of Oceania. The Orca Revolution is just an appetizer". "With the Beast Empires knowing that their world is about to end, all their most hidden ambitions have finally surfaced again". "They want to get the Ocean Master through blood and fire". "That is why you need to strive Sebastian. You, me, we have only 2 years to make an impact or forget it all, we''re all dead if nothing happens by then". "I am a pinnacle Red tier predator at the moment, Sebastian". "After seeing what you did in just a few months in the wild that I could never achieve in the Clown Empire with all the resources and support, I believe that you''re the real reincarnation target and the unifying leader that we need". "I believe that you''re the real target to become the Ocean Master". "Now, it is up to you, to seize the opportunity or leave it". Eliana finally settled back down on her throne after the elaborate speech. Sebastian was already flabbergasted for a long time due to the reveal that now, he was as quiet as a mouse. "That¡­, was a lengthy reveal". Chapter 384 - Deflated Conviction. Have you been in a situation where as a soldier, you''ve fought bravely for years to protect your beloved country, and your loved ones, but one day, you suddenly discover that your world, country, and loved ones were all fake? This was exactly how Sebastian felt at the moment. There were differences between the 2 scenarios, but after all the information that was just dumped at him, he was lost for words to say. He could hear Eliana''s voice going on and on in his head. In his side quest to know the mysteries behind his evolution, never in his wildest dreams did Sebastian guess that he was stuck inside a planetary-wide battlefield. "Holy sh*t¡­" This was all Sebastian could say in his head. A lot of things finally made sense to him, he finally knew why he always felt like he was in a time limit and had to work hard all the time lest he ran out of time. After the encounter in the ocean volcano, he became exposed to a lot of high-level encounters that left him thinking. When Carcarot Gorgoneon knew of the Sage in his head, the reaction of the powerful Sea King already gave him a lot of clues. From Eliana''s explanation, it was the Sages who made their existence known to these pinnacle predators. Also, for a long time, he had been trying to guess why the Sage in his head was so restrained. Though the explanation of the Sage sounded feasible, he did not believe it entirely but as a mere host, he could only keep his doubt to himself. As an existence that was able to make the reincarnation fable a reality and create a system as OP as his that could even manipulate luck, Sebastian found it hard to believe that the Sage was as weak as he portrayed. Now, with Elian''s explanation, everything finally made sense, the Sages were too preoccupied keeping themselves alive from the Ancient Cthulu to spare too much time on him. The more he thought about all these, the more Sebastian''s dread for the Ancient Cthulu grew. "A planetary overlord¡­, how strong is he?" Also, after escaping the volcano eruption, he had always felt like a sword of Damocles was hanging above his head because of how the Rabbit Monarch appeared to help him and also disappeared without any explanation. He was grateful for the help rendered, but Sebastian could not feel safe whenever he thought of a powerful spooky Rabbit observing him from the dark. With Eliana''s reveal, this was also explained. The Rabbit Monarch was simply part of his pinnacle supporters that believed in his potential to become the Ocean Master. This eased the tension in his heart a bit, but Eliana''s other reveals didn''t. The sense of foreboding in Eliana''s words horrified Sebastian a bit. What did she mean by the Orca Revolution was just the beginning? He already knew the answer, but he felt too scared to accept it. "F*ck, am I about to be embroiled in an Oceania world war?" "Yes". Eliana answered like she could read his mind; this was when Sebastian was drawn back to the reality that he was still hovering before the clownfish. He looked at her, trying to find what to say but he could not find the right words. In the end, after going through everything that he just learned again, he asked only one question. "Is the earth really gone?" It took her some time to answer but she eventually answered. "Yes". Sebastian felt his whole world crumbling apart. When he just reincarnated into this world, Sebastian was horrified at first but after recognizing the prospects hidden here, he was happy, hyped up to become the greatest anatomist in Oceania. Even though he already adapted to this world, Sebastian never forgot about his previous world, some things were simply unforgettable. To him, earth was his real home, this was why suddenly discovering that his home was already devoured left him feeling lost. Sebastian clenched his teeth as a lot of things went through his mind. Thinking of the Ancient Cthulu who was the cause of all these, he felt anger growing in his heart as a feeling for revenge sprouted. But a question came to his mind. "Is the Ancient Cthulu even killable?" Sebastian could not imagine what he could do against this planetary overlord when even the powerful Myth Realm was pushed to such desperation. In the end, he felt lost and useless again, Sebastian''s huge body seemed to deflate a bit as he felt a lot of strength leaving his body. Eliana still on her throne watched everything that was going on silently. As someone who knew everything already, she understood how Sebastian felt, she once felt like this. "What is the title of your system?" She suddenly asked. "Ocean Domination System" Sebastian answered listlessly. Eliana repeated the title in her head as a lot of thoughts went through her head. Through the title alone, she already answered some of her questions. Both of them did not talk again as a long silence stretched. 20 minutes later, Eliana broke the silence. "You gave up?" "¡­" Sebastian turned to face her. "I can see it in your eyes". She sighed. "After I discovered everything, I was like you, I lost motivation and gave up on my purpose for living". "But have you thought for 1 second, why were you reincarnated?" "What is special about you that made you a target for reincarnation?" "Yes, what is special about me?" Sebastian caught hold of that as this question reverberated in his mind, echoing repeatedly. Eliana continued like she no longer cared about him. "To be sincere, apart from being an anatomist which I am also, I don''t really know what is special about you. With your system, I believe that some exceptional humans can do all that you did if not even better". "That''s why I see our reincarnation as a privilege rather than a right". "Of the 7 billion humans on earth, we are the only lucky 2 that survived". "Yes, we lost a lot of colleagues, a lot of loved ones, but the memories remain in our hearts. In my opinion, this should be our driving force". "Since transmigrating into Oceania, originally, my perception of everyone around me was beasts, but with time, I started seeing them as closed ones". "Before, seeing clownfish as closed ones would make people think that I''m crazy, but I''m a clownfish now. I have friends, I have clownfish that care about him, and I love to replicate that care too". "This is why I will never give up". "The Ancient Cthulu has already killed a part of my heart which is my home planetary dimension, earth, I will not allow the same to happen here". "I will do everything in my power to stop him, even if it means death". "The Orca Revolution that is currently sweeping through 3 Great Seas is just the beginning. I know that to truly protect my loved ones, I need to grow strong enough and tide the 2 years and make sure that the Ocean Master is born". "I don''t know if you have friends that you care for since transmigrating here, but I do and I will do everything in my power to protect them". "Friends¡­" This word rang in Sebastian''s head. A light bulb seemed to lit in his head. "I do have friends". The next moment, vibrant energy remerged in his eyes as he sprang up and swam closer to the clownfish. "Do you know the status of my friends?" "Friends?" "Yes, Leroy, Tungsten, Verni, Tosh, all of them?" Eliana smirked.. "Actually, yes". Chapter 385 - SH*T!!! Once Sebastian asked, Eliana knew that she achieved her goal. Though not all of them were sweet, she did not exclude any information that she knew as she explained everything that she knew about Sebastian''s friends and clan members to him in detail. By the time that she finished, Sebastian already calmed down. Sebastian felt mixed feelings after listening to everything. Knowing of the disaster that befell Old Mak''s clan, though he already expected it, he still felt bad as they were essentially his family members. He was happy though that the remnants of the clan were able to find their footing after surviving the ocean volcano eruption. Knowing that Tungsten was the new clan head of the new clan and that Strong already evolved too and was now the Commander of the new clan''s army, Sebastian felt contented and happy. The information about his first bus stop after transmigrating into this world was what really affected him the most. The disaster that befell Leroy''s clan after their rapid expansion was so unfortunate that he felt bad. Knowing that Spankster and other familiar faces back in the clan were dead left him feeling melancholic. Leroy and Big Group were the only ones who survived. Just like his clan head, Big Group was lucky enough to meet a small group of rogue Grouper fish who saved him and took him into their fold. The fact that Eliana was able to get all this information told him the privileges that she enjoyed in the Clown Empire, and it revealed how deep the foundations of the Clown Empire in this Great Sea were. They were the real overlords of the Green Mist Sea. To Sebastian''s surprise, Eliana didn''t just gather information about these 2 clans that he was affiliated to, she also gathered information about the Great White Kingdom which was a high-grade rural settlement. When Sebastian asked who they were, she created a soul projection directly inside his brain that revealed everything that he needed to him. Sebastian was shocked by what he saw, this high-grade rural settlement was the massive city that he was taken to during his evolutions. "This is my home!" Sebastian was ecstatic. Leroy''s clan and Old Mak''s clan were just clans that he met by coincidence and leaned in to survive. His real root in Oceania was the Great White Kingdom. This was where his body was given birth to. This was where his father lived, this was where his real family members lived. In all these reveals, there were good news and bad news. The good news was that of his 3 affiliates, none of them were annihilated but they were all in danger. The Orca Revolution that had swept through the Green Mist Sea, triggering a lot of rippling effects was not a simple disaster. The Orca Revolution was the bad news. Like with the Anemone Domain, 2 rival high-grade rural settlements of the Great White Kingdom used this avenue as an opportunity to launch an invasion. As for the Firelight Shark Clan that was headed by Tungsten, they were not swept by the Revolution storm yet, but it was only a matter of time. Sebastian didn''t know exactly what he was supposed to do, but as Eliana said, they were his loved ones and he was ready to do anything to help them. He believed that he could do something to help them, which was why he was already feeling anxious to leave and hit the road with speed. He had already forgotten that he was feeling demotivated a few minutes ago. When family was involved, Dominic Toretto could do anything, and so could Sebastian. A lot of ideas were already running a marathon through his mind. Despite the sense of urgency that was on his mind, Sebastian knew that he could not rush things. This was why he calmed down and took things slowly. Of the 3 main ambitions that brought him to the Anemone Domain, he already achieved 2, leaving only the information about the Temple of Enlightenment. "Please, do you know information about the Temple of Enlightenment?" Eliana was surprised. "You received clues about it too?" "The similarities between our systems are probably more than I thought". She clicked her tongue before explaining. "Well, I completed a system mission and I received the clue about the Temple of Enlightenment as a reward. Since then, I started using my connections to try getting more information about it, I succeeded to an extent". "According to my information, the Temple of Enlightenment is the inheritance ground left by a powerful Black tier predator of the Dungeon of Souls that once rivaled the powerful Necromancy King". "The Necromancy King killed him in the end, but his power was undeniable and the inheritance left by him was the temple". "According to my contacts, the temple emerges every 100 years". "6 months from now will mark the 6th opening". "I was not able to get detailed information about it, but rumors say that there is only one test inside and it is not like other inheritance grounds". "It is free for all and the only gain is gotten from entering inside is that by fulfilling some special quests, origin law comprehension can become countless times easier than it being done normally". "I intend to go there in 6 months". Sebastian''s eyes gleamed brightly after Eliana explained to him. He had to admit, a temple to comprehend origin laws faster was a really convenient way for him to increase his strength, his system did not lie. But the coincidence of it all is baffling. "Perhaps, this is the protagonist buff. Eliana did say that I was the reincarnation target, I guess she is right". With his most important question answered, Sebastian visibly relaxed as he finally started asking her more common questions about Oceania. He knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter, so he was not going to squander it for anything as he asked every basic knowledge that he needed to know till Eliana was left fuming. This was when Sebastian stopped, but he switched to her earth life next. Who was Eliana back on earth? She already revealed that she was an anatomist, but Sebastian wanted to know more. He wanted to know the circumstances of her reincarnation. The fact that her research showed that they probably came from the same region intrigued him more. Maybe, they even knew themselves before now. After a lot of pestering from him, she finally answered. "Actually, the circumstance of my reincarnation is extremely weird. I died of a heart attack and was reincarnated into Oceania". "¡­Umm, that''s peculiar". Sebastian was speechless. "Tell me more". "Ugh, my boss is the real stupid one. I worked in an anatomy department in one of the most renowned hospitals of my city". "I was the 2nd lead anatomist, while my boss was the lead anatomist". "Outside of our job description, he secretly had a fetish over Great White Sharks, even secretly having a pet pool for them in the hospital". Eliana jumped. "I mean, can you believe that? A shark pet pool, in a hospital!" "I wonder how his genius brain managed to device a means to prevent them from dying from not having enough space to swim to maintain their ram ventilation mechanism". "¡­" "To cut the story short, one day, his genius brain did it, he actually succeeded in creating a merge between 2 entirely divergent species". "In his celebration though, he lost himself and was bitten by his shark". She chuckled. "It''s sad but funny at the same time". "Well, he died. As his 2nd, I went in first and saw his dead body. I pressed the alarm button immediately, but the gruesome scene was too much for me that I got a heart attack and died". "Well, the fact that he was handsome had a hand in it too". Eliana pouted. "I secretly had a crush on him but never could find the courage to tell him, seeing him like that really tore my fragile heart". "He is crazy with his work, so he never noticed me anyway". "I don''t feel sad anymore, I reincarnated while he became shark food". Eliana was overwhelmed by her emotions so much that she was now just rambling on and on, while Sebastian''s jaws were left open in a big O shape. "Eliana?!" Sebastian suddenly exclaimed. "What?" She finally stopped, noticing the change in the atmosphere as her voice lowered into a whisper. "What?" "Eliana Jake?" "Huh, how did you¡­" "Green Top Hospital?!" Eliana''s eyes widened; Sebastian''s eyes widened too as she whispered a question. "Sebastian Foden?" Sebastian died. "Holy freaking sh*t!" Eliana fainted. "What the f*ck!" "Holy father of anatomists!" "Holy mackerel!" "SH*T!!!" Chapter 386 - A New Ambition! "¡­" After knowing the truth, and combining it with all Eliana''s rambling, Sebastian felt like vanishing if he could. After their outburst of emotions, the atmosphere became so awkward and silent that Sebastian kept on cursing in his mind while Eliana kept on making flowery soul projections in her head. "I still can''t believe it''s you!" She exclaimed. "I still can''t believe it''s you too!" "Ugh¡­" Eliana commanded her throne to turn to face the other direction as she peeked at the massive Megalodon through her soul eye. "Seeing you as a Megalodon feels even weirder than the gruesome state when you died". "¡­" Sebastian covered his face. In the end, they kept on cursing in disbelief for 20 straight minutes before the truth finally settled in and they calmed down. Eliana''s research was right, Sebastian was the real reincarnation target, her reincarnation was probably because she was the first person to see his dead body as his soul was reincarnated. Back on earth, in the Green Top hospital where Sebastian worked where he earned the nickname of the Crazy Dissector, he was the lead anatomist while Eliana and Dave were the closest to him in authority. He worked with these 2 for so many years that knowing that one of them followed him to Oceania left Sebastian feeling like starting a dance. Also, he kept hold of a sentence from her ramblings. "You actually had a crush on me?" "Get lost!" "Well, that proves it". Sebastian laughed out loud. "You guys always called me crazy, especially you, who would have thought, haha". Eliana glared daggers at Sebastian so much that he finally succumbed. After taking their time, with Sebastian mostly teasing her, they finally familiarized themselves enough. Now, they went back to another facet of the reincarnation mystery that was just opened before them. "How come I reincarnated here first if you are indeed Sebastian Foden?" Sebastian was confused also as he kept on trying to crack this mystery. "Perhaps, it is the same phenomenon that brought the variant humans first". "Maybe". Eliana shrugged. In the end, having sobered up to each other, an enthusiastic Sebastian started it first as they started talking about memories that they had together, reminiscing the good old days back on earth. "I wish Dave reincarnated too, that would have been just perfect". Sebastian lamented once he remembered his reliable buddy. After enjoying their time reminiscing the past, they finally came back to the present. After everything that he learned today, Sebastian''s perception of Oceania already underwent a meteoric change. He already knew that Oceania was on fire and that he needed to save his loved ones fast before they could become engulfed by this raging fire. All of his plans needed to be fast-forwarded now to cope with the changing times. Sebastian believed that he was up to the task. He already lost earth and all the loved ones that he had there, but even if he was going to lose Oceania too, he vowed not to lose the loved ones that he had here which was why it was paramount that he acted fast. This was why he needed to embrace his destiny. After Eliana''s guided words, he was now pretty sure that his destiny was to become the Ocean Master. It felt ironic. Even as an anatomist in his previous world, he was a fan of Marvel superheroes, his best superhero being the Iron Man and Thor. He had always dreamt of being like these 2, never in his dreams did he expect this dream to come to pass. And while Iron Man and Thor were mere entertainment shows, his was real which stoked him all the more. With the fate of all his loved ones on his shoulders, perhaps including the fate of the whole universe from the tyrannical hooves of the Ancient Cthulu, the pressure was strong but the power of family gave Sebastian the motivation that he needed to keep on fighting. "Hehe, all those that go against my family shall know pain!" "What?" "Nothing". From today, Sebastian got a new ambition. Becoming the Ocean Master to him before was just a platform for him to dissect more beasts, but a new ambition was now tied to it which was protecting his family. Only as the Ocean Master could he protect his family. He no longer saw becoming the Ocean Master as a mere system mission again, becoming the Ocean Master was now his motivation for living! Now came the part where he needed to leave. "Eliana, it was nice meeting you but I have to go". "I know". Eliana already calmed down completely, she no longer fidgeted nor blushed which was evident by her colorful body glowing more. "What about the ongoing invasion by the Snakes?" "You''ll have to help me destroy the snakes". "¡­" Now, this was embarrassing. "Umm, in case you have forgotten, I am still just a purple tier predator, I can''t fight Red tier predators yet". "I know, that is why I will give you the Orb of Illusion". Sebastian''s eyes shone brightly as he quickly remembered that this was the reason why the snakes attacked the Anemone Domain so aggressively. Eliana waved her fin and an orb glowing with the colors of the rainbow appeared before her. "This orb is a magic gadget, I created it and infused it with power using my unique skill". "By infusing your mana into it, you can activate my 2 strongest attacks that I imprinted into it. You can activate it for 3 times in one month before it has to hibernate to recover". "This is the gift that I prepared for you, now take it, it''s yours". Sebastian felt out of place as he took the orb. "As the boss before, I was the one who distributed gifts, getting to take gifts now feels weird". Eliana rolled her eyes. "If you know its value, you wouldn''t complain". "Ok, thank you". Sebastian finally said the right sentence before he asked a question. "I get that you''re a strong Red tier predator, but how strong is your strongest attack, and your unique skill, what are its abilities?" This was personal information that predators seldom revealed to others, but Eliana and Sebastian were too close to even consider themselves as strangers. "My strongest attack can not injure a Black tier predator of course, but it can obliterate that Basilisk in seconds". Sebastian gulped. "Thank you". "About my unique skill, the name feels weird, when I first heard that I was rewarded with the Clown unique skill, I thought that I was scammed but with time I knew how fortunate I was". "The Clown unique skill has only 2 abilities. The first is related to souls, while the other is related to illusions". "My 2 strongest attacks that I recorded in the Orb of Illusion are from the 2 abilities of my unique skill". "The first can obliterate the soul of the Basilisk without even touching its body once. While the second can pull any predator that is below the Black tier realm into an illusion that they cannot escape from". "These are my 2 strongest skills, and they are the only tyrannical ones. I guess my master was a huge prankster even in his prime because everything else that I can do with my unique skill is silly". "I won''t elaborate". "Ok¡­" Sebastian nodded again in understanding, feeling that his luck shone again and he hit the jackpot, the Orb of Illusion was his best trump card already. "So, your 2 unique skills, you care to explain them?" "Why, of course". Sebastian grinned; it was time for him to flex too. He did not exclude any information, revealing everything about his 2 unique skills, hoping that Eliana would keep on exclaiming in awe and surprise but to his disappointment, she kept quiet throughout. "Extremely powerful, as befitting of the main reincarnation target". This was her only comment on his elaborate reveal. "Once you get the remaining 4 unique skills, I''ll give you mine voluntarily". Eliana was nonchalant about it as she said this. Sebastian didn''t react much to her declaration. Knowing that all their lives were on the line, he understood how she felt. With that, their meeting finally came to a close. "Goodbye Sebastian, it was nice meeting the crazy you again". "Goodbye Eliana. The next time we meet, perhaps you will have your dream fulfilled and may get to kiss your crush". "Get lost!" Sebastian was booted out of the zone of glory. Chapter 387 - The Legend Of The Megalodon Lord! Boom! Boom! Boom! The battle between the Ancient Basilisk and the clownfish Chief Councilor already reached a new peak as the corridor was the one who suffered, it was now nothing but just a glimpse of its former self. The massive mech already shot so many Positron beams, overloading its Positron Rifle so much that the massive Rifle already turned into scrap. The powerful Chief Councilor continued the battle with the plasma sword alone. Not willing to give up its advantage, the mech refused to go on the defensive as it clashed head-to-head with the Ancient Basilisk. Hiss¡­!!! The massive Basilisk already lost all sense of reasoning. This massive snake was known throughout the centuries for his calm in tense situations and his intelligence but in this battle, that grace could no longer be seen as it seemed like a Pugilist King possessed the snake. All this was because the Ancient Basilisk knew of the value of the Orb of Illusion, he knew what he just lost, and it pained him to his very bone marrows. A few decades ago, a master forger of the Snake Kingdom had a breakthrough and managed to forge a powerful magic gadget whose only purpose was evaluating the value of other magic gadgets. Through this magic gadget, the master forger was able to bend the rules of nature and evaluate the value of the Orb of Illusion that the clownfish councilors were so proud of and always held in high esteem. To their shock, the value of the Orb was so much that it exceeded the valuation limits of the magic gadget. The snakes were consumed by greed immediately, and this was one of the main reasons that led to all the planning that eventually resulted in this battle. Knowing that he was played which was already damaging enough to his pride, and then knowing the value of what he just lost, the Ancient Basilisk lost every dine of rationality as he degenerated into the evil god. "Die!" "Die!" "Die!" At this moment, he was like an investor who just lost all his stocks. Bam! Bam! Bam! His teeth repeatedly crunched at the metallic frame of the mech, his body coiled around the mech, trying to squeeze it through pressure while his internal organ adaptations repeatedly released lethal poison on the mech''s frame. Various parts of the mech made sizzling sounds as the terrifying purple poison ate at its frame. Despite this, the mech held steady. The battle between the other councilors and snake elders already divulged into a side battle as the Ancient Basilisk and the Chief Councilor''s ferocity grew so much that the shockwaves of their battle alone were dangerous to the others. Every one of them was tired, they''ve been battling for over 5 hours non-stop, they didn''t dare to stop only because their leaders were still fighting. As the battle between the 2 main predators kept on escalating, something happened that instantly caused the both of them to stop their battle. Bzzz! The Megalodon was teleported outside the small gate that led inside the zone of glory, everyone was shocked. Before they could even start thinking and speculating about what happened inside the zone of glory, a rainbow-colored orb floated before the Megalodon. [You have activated magic gadget: Orb of Illusion!] [You have activated magic gadget''s active skill: Soul Snatcher!] Whoosh! Once Sebastian aimed, he released it. A rainbow ball of light that was only visible to Sebastian immediately shot out from the orb towards the Ancient Basilisk. Immediately, the powerful predatory snake shuddered as it felt threatened. Without even thinking, the Ancient Basilisk turned intending to escape but the invisible rainbow ball of light was faster. Bam! A soft sound of impact reverberated that all the predators present felt in their souls, making them shudder. Hiss¡­!!! Before the shocked eyes of the predators, a blob of darkness was pulled out of the Ancient Basilisk''s head. The blob of darkness struggled and hissed loudly but the power pulling it had a firm grasp on it as it crushed it the next moment. With a soft puff sound, the blob of darkness disappeared. The soul of the Ancient Basilisk was crushed! [Congratulations! You have killed a Red tier mutated Ancient Basilisk- Level 76: You have gained Experience.] [You have gained 200 Skill Points and 250 Adaptation Points.] [You have acquired a Condensed Mana Core.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up once.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up once.] Absolute silence suddenly descended into this corridor. The body vessel of the Ancient Basilisk was still intact, only the injuries that it had sustained since were still there, no new fresh injury that could kill it immediately was there but it was dead. Whoosh! The remaining 4 snake elders reacted instantly! With a speed that Sebastian could not imagine that they had before, these 4 powerful Red tier predators beat a hasty retreat. Activating the Orb of Illusion for the first time sucked Sebastian''s mana dry. The clownfish were now his allies, so he could not just suck their mana like before which meant that he could not recover it anytime soon. Boom! The powerful mech of the Chief Councilor threw its plasma sword at the escaping snake elders. The super-hot sword cut one of the elders, but despite the pain and the bleeding, this tenacious snake persevered and escaped. According to Eliana, the clownfish would understand his new status when he came out, so Sebastian didn''t even deem it right to speak to them immediately. Now was time to win the war, talk time was later. [You have activated skill: Mana Control!] "Follow me, let us vanquish the snakes!" "Follow the Megalodon Lord!" The Chief Councilor yelled. Once the other clownfish received their Chief Councilor''s consent, they yelled in response to Sebastian as together, they stormed out of the corridor outside towards the zone of transition where the battle was still raging fiercely. [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] [You have activated skill: Dissecting Bite!] Sebastian did not waste any time before jumping into the fray. With his teeth that were raring for blood, he tore the snakes that were before him apart. The Chief Councilor''s mechs and all the other councilors jumped in, as they started a slaughter that pierced straight into the heart of the snake army. On seeing their leaders, the clownfish soldiers felt their morale increasing rapidly while the snakes felt their hearts clenching in fear. Despite the doubts that the snakes had, they believed that their elders were behind them which gave them the courage to fight back. Unfortunately for them, their elders were gone. They were now left alone to fend for themselves which they could not. The Anemone Domain became a slaughter ground for snakes. Under the leadership of Sebastian and the Chief Councilor, the clownfish soldiers slaughtered every single snake in the city and outside the city before they brought the battle to the enemy territory. Sebastian was not stopping until the Snake Kingdom became history. The 4 snake elders that escaped were not able to do much before the full force of the clownfish descended upon their territory. The 4 snake elders did not dare to stay behind, they took only their closest and strongest confidants before abandoning everyone else and their home. Once the snake elders escaped, the Snake Kingdom became history. On that day, the seamount where the Snake Kingdom originally lay shattered. Hundreds of thousands of snakes died, a few escaped, and the Anemone Domain became the undisputed winner of the war. The first true overlord of this region of the Sea was born. Also, that day, the legend of the Megalodon Lord was born. The powerful Megalodon singlehandedly turned the tides in favor of the Anemone Domain. Chapter 388 - Aftermath Of The War, And Celebrations. After the conquest against the snakes, Sebastian was now level 28. Killing the Ancient Basilisk gave him 2 level-ups which was a far cry from what he originally gained from killing Red tier predators in the orange tier realm, and the further rampage on the snakes gave him another level up. This further highlighted the difficulty of leveling up at the purple tier realm. Sebastian could now understand why some predators spent decades and centuries at a single tier before being able to evolve, he felt for them. Despite the increasing difficulty, his luck was that he also became more proficient at leveling up. Coming to the Anemone Domain proved to be his lucky charm, enabling him to level up 3 times consecutively. In just a few months, he already leveled up 7 times with increased difficulty. He would have never been able to do this in normal circumstances, or if he was a normal predator. All this made him feel even more gratified at his circumstances. Despite the spooky reveals that Eliana just revealed to him, he had to look at the bright side that he was even chosen for reincarnation and was the candidate for the Ocean Master title who would save the universe. If he wasn''t chosen by the system, perhaps he would be among the 7 billion humans of planet earth that were already history. After finishing the conquest, destroying the seamount where the snakes once called their home and taking all their riches and resources, the clownfish army came home victoriously and in a celebratory mode. This called for a celebration and the clownfish were ready to make it big. Becoming the single overlord of this region was no easy feat. While the Anemone Domain prepared for their big celebration, with the massive city slowly returning to normalcy, Sebastian was led to the 2nd most important zone of the domain. He finally got to enter the central business district, and those escorting him were the 13 clownfish councilors and the Commander in Chief of the clownfish army who delegated time out of his busy schedule to escort the hero of his race. Having entered the zone of glory already, the central business district no longer seemed as appealing to Sebastian. He merely glimpsed through all the attractions while his mind was mostly focused on the might of the new trump card that he just got. When the Ancient Basilisk just entered the zone of transition, on feeling its aura, Sebastian was horrified, thinking that it was a Black tier predator. Though he later proved that it was a Red tier predator, the might of this enormous snake was the real deal. Its might was confirmed again after Sebastian killed it and he saw his system information about it. Though he managed to hold it in to not destroy his image before the clownfish, being shocked was an understatement after looking at his system notification. According to his calculation, the massive Basilisk was just 4 levels away from the level cap to prepare for evolution to the Black tier realm. This reveal horrified the hell out of him, but what horrified him, even more, was how one attack from the Orb of Illusion managed to wipe all life away from this powerful predator that was just one step away from the Black tier realm. "Freak! How strong is Eliana actually?!" The massive difference in strength once again verified the claim that the skills recorded in the Orb of Illusion were the strongest abilities of a unique skill. Having another hidden trump card now, Sebastian could not have been happier. Theoretically, he now had access to 3 powerful unique skills. Also, he finally had the means to fight and even reliably kill Red tier predators. This was both a life-saving skill and a powerful power-leveling gadget. At times, imagining himself as another purple-tier predator having to go against himself left him horrified. He was like a cheat in Oceania, a cheat with too OP abilities and a system. "Well, this is the least that I have to be to potentially become the Ocean Master in the future. It doesn''t cut it to remain mediocre". Amid his inner monologue, they finally arrived at the most luxurious place of the central business district, the clown goddess hall. This hall was built originally to host the clown goddess, but since Sebastian was related to her, he was eligible to be hosted here. Sebastian was the weakest here, but he hovered above the host throne. "Thank you, hero Sebastian". The Chief Councilor could not help himself as he appreciated the Megalodon sincerely again. Sebastian acknowledged the appreciation which he was already getting used to for the past few hours before he went straight to the point, he asked a controversial question first though. "Everything that happened, was it part of your plans?" "Like, did you know I was related to your clown goddess immediately after I arrived in the Anemone Domain"? "No, hero Sebastian". The Chief Councilor replied respectfully. "A lot of sharks, including Great White Sharks visit our city every day, so I was not sure that you were the one immediately". "You only came into my sights after your stint in the music district and the Aurora Hospital. Still, I wasn''t sure, so I waited and started watching you closely". "After the invasion from the snakes, I was surprised when you just died a few minutes after joining the war. But it was when my surveillance supercomputer detected your appearance again that I suspected you were the one". "I didn''t have a hand in everything that happened from there. I believed that the clown goddess was in control, so I let everything progress normally". "Now, here we are". "Oh". This was all Sebastian could reply with. After satisfying his curiosity, he finally went to business officially. "I asked permission from your goddess, and she said I can ask for anything". "Absolutely". The Chief Councilor replied. "Ok, I want a compilation of all the books in the anatomy libraries of the Aurora Hospital, even those that I am not obligated to read at the moment". "Also, I want to keep my research data on mana cores". "Done!" Sebastian was surprised. "So fast?" "We guessed that you would request for this, so everything was already prepared beforehand. Also, some of your colleagues after receiving permission from me requested to go with you to help in your research". Now, Sebastian was shocked. "How did they know that I intend to take the research data away and research elsewhere?" "They''ve been your colleagues for months; they already know who you are. Once you became the hero of the Anemone, they understood some things and is the reason why most of them applied to go with you". "Ok, I understand, I''ll go speak with them later". Though Sebastian was surprised, he easily accepted it since it was a good thing. After this, the Chief Councilor''s tone turned solemn as he asked. "Did the goddess leave any instruction?" Sebastian thought for a second before replying. "I''m about to go visit her again, why not tag along and ask her yourself?" The Chief Councilor was stunned. "It would be an honor". With that, the small meeting came to an end as all the other councilors left to do their thing, including the Commander in Chief of the clownfish army while Sebastian and the Chief Councilor went back to the zone of glory. Chapter 389 - A Lecturing! Clang! With a slight nudge from Sebastian, the small metal gate that led into the zone of glory was pushed open immediately as he entered and was followed closely by the massive clownfish. Having passed through it before, this time, Sebastian was experienced as he quickly led the Chief Councilor to the room where Eliana was. To Sebastian''s surprise, not even the Chief Councilor knew the layout of the zone of glory though he was the one who overseeds its construction. This alone gave him a glimpse of Eliana''s illusion powers. Once they both entered the room where Eliana''s throne was supposed to be hovering in the middle, Sebastian was surprised not to see her. It took him only a few seconds before he understood what happened. According to Eliana, after the start of the Orca Revolution, the Clown Empire being among the few powers in Oceania that knew the truth about what exactly was happening stepped up her training. The Clown Empire wanted to have a unifying leader when the storm that was about to sweep throughout the whole Ocean finally reached its peak. They wanted the heir to the Clown King to develop to her full potential as fast as possible. With a peak Eliana at the helm of the Empire, the Clown Empire would be guaranteed to survive the turbulent period that was coming. To make Eliana reach her peak as soon as possible, not only was her training time increased, her training intensity also increased and her free time was now at its lowest since her transmigration. Of course, as the heir, she could decide not to follow the plan of the clownfish elders but being aware of what was at stake and not wanting to be useless, Eliana willingly complied with all the training plans. At the moment, she was a Red tier predator firmly at level 80. She already fulfilled all the requirements for evolution, she was just waiting for that moment of epiphany that would catalyze her evolution. According to her, the evolution from the Red tier to the Black tier was even more difficult than what he experienced when evolving to the purple tier. Evolving to the Black tier didn''t just rely on accumulation and strength anymore, luck played a large role in it. Though she did not explain much, Sebastian could imagine the rest himself. This was why he didn''t say anything, only deciding to rest at the side. On seeing his actions, the Chief Councilor also patiently waited. His eyes were filled with admiration and respect as he admired the aesthetics of this room like they were works of the divine. Like this, they waited for 15 straight minutes before she finally arrived. Whoosh! Eliana arrived with her custom-made throne. This time, she had her left fin inclined in a posture like she was holding her chin. The manner in which she arrived and her posture made Sebastian guess that she was thinking about something. Before he could speak though, she did. "You know, after our conversation, on returning to the Empire, I was unable to focus on my training as I kept on thinking about the utility of your unique skills". "After thinking long and hard, I arrived at a conclusion". "Are you sure you didn''t suffer brain damage because of the rigors of reincarnation and eventually reincarnating into the body of a shark?" "¡­" Sebastian was speechless. "Where are you going with this?" "No offense boss, but I think that your imagination has grown really stale after your reincarnation. After analyzing the potential of the Water Transmutation unique skill, I finally understand why it''s the strongest unique skill". "In my opinion, I think that you''ve severely underused this unique skill". "I get that your mana quality was not high enough before to go unrestrained with your imagination, but when you were pursued by Tonado and the other predators, when you almost died, did you think of creating a syringe?" "I mean, a healing syringe in my opinion is one of the most basic constructs that can be made with a unique skill like the Water Transmutation". "It''s not complicated and it has only one use which it is good at, healing, why didn''t you think of it?" "You''re an anatomist, you know marine beasts like the back of your hand. In your place, if I faced that Octumpedum, I would have thought of creating magic manifestations to counter its weak points rather than brute-forcing through". "I thought of a lot of similar scenarios in my head that it leaves me speechless. Yes, you did great, I admit it, I''ll never be able to survive in the wild as long as you did, but you sacrificed intelligence for barbaric strength". "For an anatomist of your caliber, that is a huge degrading". "¡­" "No offense boss, but I couldn''t prevent myself from pointing it out". [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have created a magic manifestation: Bubble Stinger!] Sting! "Ouch! Sebastian?" Eliana turned and glared at him as the stinging pain from the bubble stinger made her colorful clownfish face turn red. "I''m sorry, I was just being creative". Sebastian laughed. "Your creativeness is better appreciated on the battlefield". She snorted, prompting Sebastian to laugh again. Despite laughing, Sebastian could not help but think about what she just said. No matter how much he wanted to refute it, she was right in a sense, all she forgot was that in most of these situations, he faced them as the weaker predator. His imagination may have been below par in most situations, but the pressure and the fear of death could warp his thought process to an extent. Despite his argument though, he could not forgive himself for forgetting simple utilities like a healing syringe. "What the f*ck, how did I forget that?" Now, he felt depressed. "Thanks, Eliana". He remarked sarcastically. "I gave you so much freedom back then as your boss, now this is how you pay me, lecturing? Good, good!" "I covered up your weird fetishes". She remarked coolly. "¡­Ok, I admit it, we''re even now". Throughout this conversation, the Chief Councilor was watching from the side like a spectator, not interjecting even once. It was after they finished that both Sebastian and Eliana remembered that another fellow was here. Both coughed, then they changed the topic of conversation. Eliana adjusted her posture on her throne as she asked. "I can see that you''re in a bit of haste, have you made your decision?" "Yes, I''m leaving today, I came back to ask a favor of you". "Ok, go on". "I want you to be my anatomy assistant one last time". "¡­" "Lol, is that your manly inferiority complex acting up?" Eliana asked sarcastically but no one laughed, the atmosphere felt even weirder. "I really need your help this time". Sebastian adopted the most serious expression that he could at this moment. "I told you about my unique skills, this time, I want to fulfill a plan that I''ve been building for some months now". "I want to create my 3rd and strongest living doppelganger". Chapter 390 - Start Of The Legend. After planning for well over 2 months, Sebastian was finally confident enough to take his ultimate living doppelganger plan to the next level. Throughout these 2 months, not only did he engage in intensive research as much as possible about Space Beasts, to know their habitat, nature, and hobbies, he also tried to fulfill one of his ultimate ambitions which was getting his hands on a real Space Beast. With time, Sebastian understood the requirements of his Doppelganger and Invisibility unique skill more and tried to work around it. He knew that to create the extremely complicated Space Beast living doppelganger that he wanted, he needed to go more than just basic research, he needed to access the real body of a Space Beast. This time, he wanted the perfect living Doppelganger, and with this discovery, he knew that the only way to make his ambitious plan a success was to dissect a real literal Space Beast. This was such an ambitious notion that to others, it would sound foolish but Sebastian already made up his mind to fulfill it. If he could dissect a real Space Beast, he would not only get closer to fulfilling one of his greatest ambitions, but he would finally get the perfect feel and the right proficiency to try creating a Space Beast based on it. This was why he sought Eliana for help. Before meeting Eliana, Sebastian had been stuck with the dilemma on how to locate a living Space Beast that he could kill or capture to further his research but with her appearance, a lot of things became easier for him. Seeing the look on the Megalodon''s face, Eliana knew that Sebastian was serious, she could feel his desperation. "Tell me your plan". "I want to capture a Space Beast, living or dead is acceptable". "I already laid most of my ambitions bare to you, but after hearing everything that you said about the world ending, I finally understand that I have no time again which is why I accelerated my plans". "You have the Clown Empire behind you, and I believe that they have the connections to locate a Space Beast if they wanted one". "I want a Space Beast that I can dissect and experiment on which can enable me to confirm all my theoretical plans to prepare for my 3rd living doppelganger creation". "It doesn''t have to be a Red tier Space Beast; a purple tier Space Beast would do too. And if possible, I want in on the action, I may learn a lot from the battle experience and of course, you and I know that I need to level up fast". "Locating a Space Beast is not my main plan for calling you". "What I really need your help with is to be my anatomy assistant again, even if it was just for this one time". "With your help, I believe that my research will improve faster than I originally speculated. I really want to create the perfect war vessel this time around, so Eliana, please, help me". Sebastian poured his heart out in this sincere speech that Eliana was left speechless for a long time before she finally reacted. She pouted. "When did you learn such persuasion skills?" Sebastian smirked. "Reincarnation taught me". Eliana created a soul skill that made time in her head flow faster than in the real life. This enabled her to think about all the pros and cons and arrive at her decision in less than a minute. "About the Space Beast, that can be easily done. The only complication is you insisting that you want to be in on the action". "That will complicate matters a bit, but it is not impossible. You just have to hope for a Space Beast to be roaming around this area". "Well, let''s talk about being your assistant again". She inclined her body slightly. "It feels kind of sus to me, you have other plans, right?" "No!" Sebastian denied immediately. "Well, if you say so, I believe you". "My training schedule is tight for the next few months until I can find my opportunity to evolve to the Black tier realm. But if I tell the elders that I''m taking time out to help you grow stronger, they may approve". "It all still depends on probability though". "No Space Beast may be in the vicinity, and my elders may not approve either, so it depends on your luck, Sebastian". On hearing that, Sebastian heaved a sigh of relief. "If it comes to matters of luck, I''m not scared so it''s all good". "So, do we have a deal?" Eliana blinked. "That sounds kind of cringe". "Answer!" "Ok, we have a deal". And that ended Sebastian''s adventure here. Sebastian had nothing doing here again, and given the time limit of 2 years that he was in, he needed to proceed with his plans as fast as possible. Sebastian waved goodbye to Eliana one last time before leaving her, allowing the Chief Councilor to finally present his case before her. Sebastian didn''t just leave though, once he arrived outside the zone of glory, he went straight to the working-class zone, precisely the Aurora Hospital. On getting there, despite already getting a heads-up from the Chief Councilor, Sebastian was still shocked at the reception that he received. To his shock, Doctor Craban of all people was the leader of these defectors. Besides the head Doctor, Miniman and 2 other senior anatomists also joined the entourage, including all the junior anatomists, Sebastian was shocked. "All of you want to follow me?" "Yes!" "¡­" They were many, but in Sebastian''s dictionary, there was nothing like too many helpers. He took them all into his entourage that followed him out of the Anemone Domain. Once they knew that their hero was leaving, the clownfish arranged an elaborate send-off ceremony for Sebastian in just a few hours. With that, Sebastian finally left his first region of Oceania where his actions really left a lasting imprint. It seemed inconsequential, but his legend already started here. Chapter 391 - Growing Fame! The victory of the Anemone Domain over their main rivals was a shocking outcome that spread through a large area of influence of high-grade rural settlements. Every rural settlement knew of the news. In the decades-long stalemate that both high-grade rural settlements were forced to drag their rivalry on, a lot of people believed that the Snake Kingdom was the stronger side. Despite the advantages that the mechs of the clownfish brought, the Snake Kingdom was the side that still had the deeper foundations. Their snake elders were also seen as stronger, as all 5 of them were veteran Red tier predators that could go against any same-tiered opponent without worrying unless they went against freaks like Eliana. The fact that the Snake Kingdom was the one who started the invasion first did not surprise a lot of spectators, this was only to be expected. It was the outcome of the invasion attempt that shocked them stiff. Situations where the dark horse won against the favorite were always loved and hyped by people, and the same thing remained prevalent with Oceania beasts. This victory of the Anemone Domain instantly shot them to fame among the most prominent high-grade rural settlements of the Green Mist Sea. The Anemone Domain became a household name to a lot of predators, not only because they won the war but mostly because of the little time that it took them to vanquish the snakes. In the whole Green Mist Sea, even the war that was already brewing between the Beast Empires, none of them had properly developed yet not to talk of ending which made the clownfish victory all the more iconic. When the situation seemed dire to them, the manner in which the clownfish turned the circumstances was so legendary that the feat could not be ignored. The wisdom of the Chief Councilor of the Anemone Domain was clearly demonstrated through the victory. By deliberately ordering some of his councilors to collude with the snakes, pretending that they were dissatisfied with his rule, they managed to hoodwink the hoodwinkers, playing and winning the snakes in their own game. The performance of the other 12 councilors, and of course the Commander in Chief of the clownfish army could not be sidelined either. Despite the wonderful performance of all these iconic clownfish in the victory, the real hero of this upset victory was not a clownfish, but a Megalodon! The Megalodon who came as an anatomist, but left as a hero of the Anemone Domain became known in a lot of regions of the Green Mist Sea after his exploits in the clownfish-snake war. Sebastian''s feat of being a mere purple tier predator who managed to annihilate a pinnacle Red tier predator like the Ancient Basilisk was so legendary that no predator dared to sideline him. No one questioned how he killed the snake, they didn''t even care if he used outside help, all that they knew was that he killed a Red tier predator. Killing a Red tier predator of the Basilisk''s caliber was already enough to be called a legendary feat, but doing so as a purple tier predator hit a lot harder. Instantly, Sebastian''s infamous exploits spread everywhere. Sebastian''s stint in the ocean volcano region where he killed Octumpedam and all his other exploits was also an abnormal feat that could only be described as legendary, but those exploits did not garner him any fame. He didn''t get fame because the ocean volcano was cut off from the rest parts of Oceania. It was when he proved his mettle in a well-known high-grade rural settlement that he finally entered the sight of the big players. Instantly, every high-grade rural settlement and beast organization in this region of the Green Mist Sea was taking note of this Megalodon. Sebastian''s exploits brought him to the limelight, and this exposed him to both neutral, enemy, and friendly beast organizations. ¡­ The Green Mist headquarters of the Demon Inter-racial bounty organization. Inside the secret underground compartment that was the secret headquarters of this massive beast bounty organization, the dimly lit room was filled with a serious atmosphere as the variant humans went on with their work. On one of the well-sophisticated virtual system multipurpose computers, the white screen suddenly turned blank before switching on again with a red background now dominating the computer screen. Also, an alert icon was flashing on the red screen. On seeing the alert icon, the red scale-skinned variant human floated up immediately as he left the dimly lit room to another part of the underground base. "Come in". Before he could knock, his superior already permitted him so the red scale-skinned variant human swam in without wasting any time. "Your Excellency, Master Red Mask!" "What is the situation?" "News about the Megalodon was just discovered". The blue-skinned variant human immediately stood up. "Tell me". "Yes, your Excellency". A few minutes later, the leader of this base finally understood the full gist. "Connect me to the deep-strike team". "Yes, your Excellency". About a minute later, a communication request was put through to the deep-strike bounty hunting team that was sent to claim the black bounty target. "Information about the target has been found". "Reorient your search direction. Start a wide-search sweep with the high-grade rural settlement called the Anemone Domain as the starting point". "If we''re in luck, we can intercept him before he escapes again". "Yes, your Excellency!" Once the call ended, the grayish-white eyes of the blue-skinned variant human narrowed as he tried to guess the thought process of the Megalodon. In the end, he sighed. "What a random fellow". ¡­ A lone warship floated through the waters of the Green Mist Sea in stealth. At this moment, the massive warship was moving through a region filled with dangerous predators but it could not be seen due to its stealth state. This was the modified Annihilator warship that was renamed a few months ago when it changed owners, becoming a private-owned warship. The Omega Annihilator warship was the vessel of the lone Atlantian warrior, Captain Omega who was now on a vengeance hunt. A few months ago, when Captain Omega tried his hand taking the lone warrior route with his newly acquired warship, he expected a lot of difficulties but the problems of going alone still proved more than he expected. For over a month, this Captain and his crew struggled as they could not settle down completely to build a foundation of survival for themselves. It was when they started it that they really knew the challenges involved. They were no longer part of a massive Division Fleet where they could easily restock with headquarters, they were alone, survival was theirs alone. Surviving beast attacks, recovering from damages to the warship, maintaining a healthy diet and sleep schedule, all became problems that plagued Captain Omega''s crew. It was only recently that they started adapting. Due to the challenges of adapting to going alone, Captain Omega''s crew had never been able to focus on pursuing their target, what they didn''t expect was for the Megalodon itself to leave clues behind for them. Like most of the major rural settlements out there, though they were just a single warship, they were powerful and also got the information. Once Captain Omega got the news, his eyes that were already turning weary from exhaustion shone again like he had just taken a dosage of hard drugs. "Full throttle ahead!" "We''re going to the Anemone Domain; our search starts there!" The Annihilator activated its accelerators as it blasted away at full speed. Chapter 392 - The Ultimate Dissectors Organization! A few days ago, the Den of Sin became the Den of Anatomy. A few months ago, after Sebastian delegated his first mission to his living doppelganger, his living doppelganger lived up to its potential as it fulfilled the first part of the mission effortlessly, easily moving to the next part of the mission. The Dwarf Merchant tried to mess with a client that he was not supposed to mess with, and he became a stepping stone to further Sebastian''s ambitious plans. With his assistant, Doctor Josephine who now dubbed as Layla Frost, after taking over the massive Den of Sin, Sebastian started an ambitious rehabilitation plan as he worked on restoring this secret base to its previous heights. He didn''t just aim to restore it to its previous heights that were maintained by their creators, he aimed to improve it even further to make it qualified to serve as his first official anatomy base. His ambition was laudable, but nothing would be possible without money. Even in a world filled with water, Sebastian learned that money''s indispensable power and importance were universal. This was one of the main reasons why taking the Dwarf Merchant''s business was all the more important to him. Immediately after Sebastian took over the Dwarf''s business, he flourished. Back on earth, he may have not have been an acute businessman, but he was literate, he knew enough to ply the trade here in Oceania. Also, in a developed world like this, there was no lack of knowledge. In any way that he saw himself as deficient, he simply learned it in as little time as possible. The Dwarf Merchant was an acute businessman with the killer instinct to strike beneficial deals, but his warped personality was his real detriment. Instead of making use of his talent to work hard and make legit money, the Dwarf Merchant loved stealing more. At least, when he stole, it was not as stressful as working for it himself and he could spend it lavishly without feeling the prick. This greedy and useless personality capped how much he could climb with his talent. This was why once Sebastian took his place, with a little bit of tweaking and relationship amendments, the Dwarf Merchant business empire started flourishing. No client suspected his identity despite the sudden personality change, the doppelganger ability of his unique skill was just that OP. The normal doppelganger skill replicated everything about the Dwarf Merchant, even the most hidden details that were known by only his closest confidants were replicated with Sebastian only needing to tweak it a bit. With this, the potential of the Dwarf Merchant identity was unleashed. In just 2 weeks, Sebastian made his first money and it was massive, even higher than the highest that the original Dwarf Merchant had ever made in one go as he finally started his investment. Sebastian invested all his money into the secret base, engaging in renovation and every essential thing, most especially getting the advanced anatomy equipment of Oceania that was within his budget range. In the end, the secret base did not expand much in size, but it became countless times more valuable due to the new equipment bought inside it. Sebastian finally completely erected his first state-of-the-art anatomy base. In here, he could kidnap all the beasts that he wanted and dissect as much as he wanted, experimenting as much as he wanted without attracting any retribution from any government authorities. He was already taking a step towards fulfilling one of his main goals again. The vision of a world where he could dissect any beast that he wanted without repercussions was already there since, but now, he finally took the real step to realize this vision. A few days ago, when the base officially started operation, Sebastian gave it a new name, the 1st Den of Anatomy of the Ultimate Dissector''s Organization. After spending time leaning on others for help, and joining other organizations, Sebastian finally created his own organization. The Ultimate Dissector''s Organization that he envisioned was a multipurpose one. Of course, its main goal was anatomy, but he was not restraining himself, the Dwarf Merchant''s business was already a part of the organization. In the future, he could decide to create a beast army, a beast mercenary organization, or any other thing imaginable and they would all be under the organization also. Sebastian already knew that to truly flourish in this world, most especially in the turbulent periods that were coming, his organization needed to be diversified. He could not put all his eggs in a single basket. After the 1st Den of Anatomy started operation, the main work became preparations. Sebastian was the leader and the head anatomist, all decision-making power was with him, he was the shot caller here. This was why he stopped all the experiments that his anatomists were previously working on. He started preparing them for the only main experiment that they needed to focus on during this period, his ultimate vessel creation experiment. Every one of the anatomists started reading on Space Beasts. Before the real package came, they needed to master every theoretical recorded data about the powerful pinnacle bloodline predators. Though his main body was still not here yet, Sebastian was able to bring all the books that were compiled from the Anemone Domain and keep them already. The same way that all his living doppelgangers could access his unique skills, the same way could they also access his system inventory. If his Atlantian living doppelganger kept something in the system inventory, the main body could access it immediately and vice versa. This was how he easily got access to the compiled books. While preparation started in full for the ultimate experiment, news finally came from Eliana about the quest to hunt for a Space Beast. There were good news and bad news. The good news was that a Space Beast was found and its current location was not too exaggeratedly far, the bad news was that the Space Beast was a Red tier predator. It was a powerful opponent, but still a side character before the astonishing might of the Clown Empire. The only shortcoming would be that Sebastian would not have much of an impact on its death as he wanted. He didn''t care too much about this though, all that mattered was that he already got what he wanted. Now all that remained was hunting the beast down. It was after getting the Space Beast sample that he could finally start his experiments and implement the crazy ideas that were flowing in his head. He felt hyped already, he worked best when he was going imagination crazy. After making sure one last time that everything was in order in the Den of Anatomy, Sebastian''s Atlantian living doppelganger finally left the secret base. After months of separation, the living doppelganger and the main body were about to group up again for this mighty hunt collaboration. The hype increased to a peak. Having known of their boss''s ambitions already, all the anatomists that were in the Den of Anatomy were hyped up to be able to work on a Space Beast for the first time in their lives. They all wished their boss Goodluck. Chapter 393 - Grouping Up With The Clownfish Empires Strike Force. Sebastian''s living doppelganger left the secret base with his assistant. After months of staying together, Doctor Josephine was already akin to an inseparable sidekick to Sebastian. Spending months with an iconic existence like Sebastian was something that most variant humans never experienced in lifetimes. When she was first kidnapped by Sebastian, she obliged his demands only to safeguard her life. She planned to make the Megalodon lower his vigilance towards her, then she would strike when the iron was hot. Her strike plan was of course contacting her Empire, and making another Division Fleet descend on the Megalodon, annihilating it for good. But with time, her plans changed. Sebastian''s living body was not just an extremely handsome variant human, his knowledge about anatomy was outstanding even for her standards, and he had a peculiar personality that appealed to her. To others, Sebastian''s emotion-driven personality would seem repulsive, but she loved it, she loved Sebastian''s craze for anatomy. Also, after spending months together, Sebastian was already letting up, revealing information about his previous world that was not supposed to be in Oceania, Doctor Josephine was always caught up whenever he started. With everything that she saw and heard from him, she was already guessing that perhaps Sebastian was more than he seemed. One day, she made an outrageous guess that Sebastian was not from this world. The only problem was that she had no evidence to verify this, so she could only put up with sticking with him to learn more about him. This was also the reason why she was following him for the hunt. Against a Red tier Space Beast, she was useless but as Sebastian''s sidekick and anatomy assistant, she could learn a lot of things from watching a Space Beast in battle and watching how it was killed. This was the reason why Sebastian did not object to her following him. Apart from spending money on increasing the anatomy prowess of the 1st Den of Anatomy, Sebastian also spent money on its defense. He already recruited a few mutated beasts as subordinates, not only that, but he now purchased more military-grade shuttles to protect the secret base. At this moment, he was riding on one of the faster shuttles with Josephine. "How far out is your body?" Doctor Josephine asked as she manually controlled the movement direction of the military-grade shuttle. Sebastian was lazing around, sitting on a floating chair while playing a card beast game that was invented by a Black tier turtle. He turned to answer his assistant. "I dunno, probably 30 minutes or an hour". After answering, he went back to his game as Josephine could only sigh. A few minutes later, she got bored and set the shuttle A. I on autopilot before going to join her boss to play a multiplayer version of the game. While they played, she asked. "So, you said you are just like a side body, or should I say, living doppelganger?" "Yes". "How does it feel getting to meet the main body again?" "I don''t know, it feels kinda weird of course, but I''m cool. Our relationship is weird so I don''t know how to explain it, we''re actually one and the same person, it''s only different bodies of mine meeting". "¡­Ok, if you say so". Doctor Josephine ruffled her hair in the water, making it float tantalizingly behind her. "What is his personality?" This time, Sebastian dropped all his cards and turned to face her, exasperated. "We are the same person!" "Oh, I get it". The game of cards continued in silence from there for approximately 45 minutes before the shuttle finally rang an alert. Before Josephine could go check on what it was, Sebastian already knew. "We are here". With a command from Sebastian, the metallic walls of the military-grade shuttle turned transparent as the unprepared Josephine gasped at the sight. Outside the shuttle hovered the mighty Megalodon. Seeing the mighty shark that was countless times her size, with the mighty jaws and the rows of teeth that seemed capable of detaching her head with one snap, she gulped, suddenly unsure of how to react. In the end, she followed her instincts and finally reacted. "Welcome, boss!" "Thanks, Josephine". The Megalodon and the Atlantian answered at the same time, spooking her even more. Megalodon Sebastian laughed before finally turning around and leading the way. He was too big to fit inside the military-grade shuttle, so he had no choice but to swim and lead the way. Sebastian felt kind of weird. Having created his 1st living doppelganger months ago, separating with it meant that they had to experience different things, now getting back together reinforced the notion that they were one. They didn''t feel estranged, Sebastian felt the connection even more at such a close range like he was one consciousness controlling 2 bodies. He likened it to him being a VR game player, and he had 2 game avatars. The journey to meet the strike force that was dispatched by the Clown Empire was a long one. Sebastian spent 5 hours on the road before he finally met them, Eliana''s virtual projection directly invaded his shuttle''s privacy. "You''re finally here? You took your time". "I started coming as soon as you contacted me". "It doesn''t matter, come on board". Eliana''s voice was boss-like, making Sebastian imagine how she was like at this moment. Before going inside the main warship though, Sebastian took his time to admire the 5 warships that were dispatched by the Clown Empire. The warships were of roughly the same size as those used by the Turtle Confraternity and Toad Alliance, the main themes that separated them from others were their clownfish shape and their iconic emblem. The iconic emblem of the Clown Empire was a pure white background with a single massive clownfish being depicted in the middle. This clownfish was smoking a pipe and was puffing out green smoke. This clownfish, was the late Clown King. Just seeing the clownfish told Sebastian a lot about its personality. This predator was such a carefree pinnacle bastard predator that he would be happy to prank every single beast in all of Oceania. His death was sad and catastrophic to the Clown Empire, but in Sebastian''s view, maybe it was a good thing as it rid Oceania of a pestering nuisance. The other 4 warships opened up the formation to allow Sebastian''s shuttle to access the main warship. He entered inside with his assistant. Once he was led to the main chambers of the warship, he finally saw Eliana seated on her throne but this one was made in a more militaristic form. Below her throne was a row of custom-made chairs numbering 20. Sebastian easily recognized that 17 of the clownfish seated in these chairs were purple tier predators, while the remaining 3 were Red tier predators. He gulped. "What an extravagant display!" As he looked at Eliana at this moment, he finally understood the reason for the subtle change in her tone, Eliana looked like a mafia clownfish at this moment. He swam directly towards her. "So, is the target''s location confirmed". "Yes". Eliana turned to face him. "I appealed with my elders, and I was able to get a better offer for you". "I brought along with me a valuable magic gadget that can suppress the power of any Red tier predator back to the purple tier for 1 day". "I figured that it would be useful for your cause". On hearing that, Sebastian was surprised before he grinned. "Thanks". "Anything for a homie". Chapter 394 - The Mighty Leviathon! With Eliana''s help in the form of the magic gadget that she brought; the Space Beast hunting mission just became a lot more important to Sebastian. With the incredible utility of this magic gadget, he just couldn''t fantom how valuable it actually was. He was grateful for her help. With the Codex Suppression, the Space Beast could be temporarily suppressed to the purple tier realm, thereby making Sebastian alter his plans since he could now take the hunt personal. Against a Red tier predator, Sebastian stood no chance not to talk of when this predator was a Space Beast to boot. But if this Space Beast was a purple-tier predator, Sebastian would be damned if he didn''t claim the opportunity to battle this worthy opponent. Since evolving to the purple tier realm, Sebastian had fought some equal-tiered opponents, but none of them have managed to give him a challenge. From the stories that he already read about Space Beasts and his extensive research about them, he knew that he finally found a worthy opponent. Sebastian didn''t need to ask Eliana why she did this, she declared her reasons though he was not about to ask. "I want to see how prepared you are for the exalted title; I want to see how you will fare when going against the best of your tier". After listening to her, Sebastian was like. "Fear not, I got this!" Once the Megalodon and his assistant were taken into the strike force team, the Clown Empire''s deep strike force finally continued their journey with Sebastian''s military-grade shuttle on auto-pilot following behind them. Locating the Space Beast seemed to be even more of a hassle than when Sebastian located the deep strike team. For the first time, Sebastian was exposed to the high-grade technology that was used by warships of this caliber, the most prominent being the warships'' connection to Oceania''s version of a satellite. According to Eliana, Oceania was all water but there was still something akin to a sky here. Sebastian had never tried to swim up to try if he could see the top of Oceania, he finally understood the reason. He never dared to do it because his brain was protecting him in a subtle manner that he was always unaware of, swimming to a depth high enough could kill any predator according to Eliana. According to beast scientists of the Clown Empire, Oceania had a membrane that separated it as a planetary dimension from other planetary dimensions. If predators could get to this membrane and get past it, it was like getting past the escape velocity on earth which enables free space travel. The only difference was that this membrane was countless times more powerful than the region of earth''s escape velocity. Only some powerful pinnacle Black tier predators had been able to get to the membrane, but none of them could cross it, they all died before they could do it. At Sebastian''s current level, getting anywhere near the membrane would directly evaporate his body like he was going towards the sun. The energy at the membrane is humongous and is primordial origin magic. Though predators could not get close, Oceania''s beast scientists were able to devise ways to harness the powerful energy stored in the membrane. By building powerful and ingenious technological devices that take power directly from the membrane, things like ocean satellites were finally built and this heralded a new technological era in Oceania. Throughout the journey of locating the Space Beast, Sebastian admired the works of technology while listening to Eliana''s stories. The strike force spent 20 solid hours before they finally located the target. The strike force detected the mighty Space Beast from afar as all 5 warships immediately stopped, shutting down their engines, including the shuttle. The Space Beast was asleep. Once Sebastian accessed the zoomed image of the sleeping beast, he immediately identified its species. This Space Beast was of the same species as the one he encountered in the ocean volcano region; they were called Leviathons. After knowing that this world was a breeding ground of the Myth Realm for the Sages to cultivate the ultimate challenger, Sebastian''s horizons became more open and he was more receptive to sudden radical knowledge. According to Eliana, her discoveries pointed that 90% of the original creatures that lived in Oceania before the arrival of the variant humans were artificially modified versions of creatures found in the Myth Realm. Mammoth Crocodiles were modified from a mixture of the Mammoths of the Myth Realm and other native beasts, while Draconic Lizards, Death Dragons, and a lot of others were modified from the powerful Dragons of the Myth Realm. As for the Leviathons, though Eliana had no evidence about this unlike her previous theories, she guessed that they were modified from Leviathans. Their name also speculated this. This beast was one of the most dangerous species in Oceania. They had the most tyrannical bloodline, and with the most eccentric magic domain, they were nightmares to face for any predator. Unlike the young purple-tier Space Beast that Sebastian encountered some time ago, this fellow was not only bigger but was also more developed. At its current level, the Leviathon had 3 heads, a long, huge, and heavy serpentine body almost twice as long as Sebastian from head to tail and a mighty jaw with rows of teeth that seemed like swords that came straight out of a cultivation novel. This mighty predator radiated an aura of indomitability! Just looking at it, any predator would feel dread and become extremely intimidated, but Sebastian did not feel all that. As he looked at this monster that radiated power on every side that seemed able to thrash him with just one swat of its powerful limb, instead of feeling intimidated, Sebastian felt emboldened as his blood started burning hot. He could feel his competitive spirit rising already, his brain felt hot. "This is my prey! No one can take it away from me!" Whoosh! Sebastian finally launched out of the warship alone, towards the Leviathon. Almost immediately after Sebastian moved, the sleeping Leviathan''s ears twitched as its blood-red eyes snapped open the next moment. Before it could turn its head in the direction that it already felt the enemy coming from, its senses felt something green shooting directly towards him at the speed of a shooting star that he could not resist. The shot of the Codex Suppression could not be dodged after it narrowed down on its target, it must hit after it locked on to the target. Bam! The green shooting star hit the mighty beast and disappeared inside its body. The Leviathon didn''t feel anything for a few seconds after the shooting star disappeared into its body, it was confused at first but the next moment, it turned and glared in Sebastian''s direction as it roared angrily. ROAR! "The beast is pissed!" "Deploy the space stabilizers!" Eliana ordered from her warship calmly. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! In just a few seconds, dozens of space stabilizers were shot into the water across a region of a few kilometers. The Space Domain Leviathon could not escape again even if it wanted. Its space teleportation skill was now suppressed, the only chances open to it was to either fight or die. The already angry Leviathon narrowed its eyes. Blood-red eyes and pitch-black eyes clashed! Chapter 395 - The Mighty Megalodon Vs The Indomitable Leviathon! As soon as the blood-red eyes of the Leviathon clashed with the pitch-black eyes of the Megalodon, sparks seemed to erupt in the water as it seemed like a visual tug of war just started. The narrowed eyes of the Leviathon narrowed even further. In myth, Leviathans were known to have high intelligence and in Oceania, Leviathons were also known to have high intelligence. Once they grew past the young stage of the purple tier, their evolution was not just a simple growth of strength, it was a growth of character, personality, and intelligence, it was an all-rounded growth. This Leviathon had lived over half a century already. Compared to other pinnacle Red tier predators, his life was short but his intelligence and strength were stronger than all those century-old monsters. This was why he did not blindly decide to escape once he detected a part of his mighty strength being suppressed once the green light entered his body. For the past 24 hours, this Space Beast had been restless as his current environment no longer felt safe to him. His intuition was not specific, but he faintly felt that he was in danger. The only reason why he didn''t escape already was his lack of experience. This Leviathon may be extremely intelligent, but without experience to base his intelligence on, he was still limited in a lot of ways. Throughout his 50+ years of life, he had never entered a situation where his life was seriously threatened so the danger was kind of strange to him. This was the reason why he was caught off-guard. Yes, he was caught off-guard but he adapted to his circumstances immediately. On noticing that the strange green light suppressed his powers down to the purple tier, he felt alarmed but not hopeless. He was already overlooking the Megalodon that was currently swimming towards him. In his opinion, this Megalodon was not his real opponent, his real opponents were in the dark and were the ones that he should worry about. Sebastian''s purple tier aura felt too weak for him to take him seriously. Even if an ape lost all his hair, he would not be seen as a human. The same thing applied here, though his strength was suppressed to the purple tier realm, inherently, he was a Red tier predator. He got prepared for battle, his nerves already stretched tight, ready to send nerve impulses to respond to any sudden movement from the hidden enemies. He focused all his attention on the hidden enemies, all his senses blasted out, penetrating the surroundings to try detecting the hidden enemies, he kept this up until the Megalodon finally attacked. [You have activated bloodline skill: Breath of the Sound Megalodon!] BOOM! Having been in the Space Beast''s shoes all his life as a purple tier predator, enduring the feeling of seeing other purple tier predators as not worthy opponents, Sebastian understood exactly how the Space Beast felt at the moment. That was why he decided to send a wake-up call to this Leviathon through his first attacks. The first one clearly did its job as the massive Snake Beast''s blood-red eyes finally turned to look at the pitch-black eyes of the Megalodon again. The Leviathon was shocked, how can such power come from a purple-tier predator? Despite his doubts, he reacted immediately. This massive beast finally moved his 4 humongous webbed limbs, hitting them at the water with force as a tsunami seemed to have been induced. Sebastian''s attack was a sound attack, this was deliberate since it reduced all of the Leviathon''s hopes of dodging it to nothing but attacking it back or defending. This was why the Leviathon defended. With the flap of its limbs, as the water raged like a tsunami was rising, this massive predator opened its large maws and screamed soundlessly in the direction of the sound attack. No sound could be heard, but to Sebastian who was a purple tier sound domain magician, he could feel the invisible ripples that were traveling through the water and they were lethal. This was a space wave skill. The waves of the spatial skill collided with the sound waves, then every ear went deaf for a few seconds. BOOM! Sebastian despite being a distance away from the heart of collision was affected, the Leviathon was affected also as both predators jerked backward. The shockwaves and sound waves of the collision dealt a 2-fold attack to not only the both of them that were fighting but also spread an annihilation wave throughout this region, slaughtering every organism that stood in its path. [Passive Skill has been triggered: Healing!] With this passive skill triggering, Sebastian''s horrifying recovery speed kicked in as he recovered from the effects of the collision in just a few seconds. He recovered slightly before the Leviathon, and without even contemplating his choice, he added another skill to send the right message again. [You have activated skill: Mana Empowerment!] [You have activated skill: Rasengan!] Woo¡­!!! If the first time was a fluke that left the Leviathon confused, the 2nd time finally succeeded in sending the right message to the Leviathon. This massive Space Beast no longer showed shock, but amazement as its intelligent eyes surveyed the massive blue ball of mana that was now shooting towards his direction like a moving meteorite. The speed of the moving mana ball was horrifying, which was why he only looked at it in amazement for a second before he finally reacted. "Space Wall!" The Leviathon spoke for the first time. Once he spoke, the water space seemed to shrink as a massive amount of the space energy in the water was harnessed. The next moment, silvery-blue energy lines started revolving around the body of the Leviathon. His mana presence increased exponentially as the silver-blue energy lines finally converged together to form a massive silver space shield. Sebastian''s Rasengan collided with the shield with force. BOOM! Once again, a sound that could burst eardrums was induced. A storm seemed to be raging at the moment, or dominoes were being blasted as the 2 skills ground at each other before finally negating each other. Once they negated each other, the horrifying amount and quality of mana that just engaged in the tug of war finally erupted at the surrounding in the form of a large area shockwave. The aftereffects took even longer this time, destroying even more and harvesting a lot more lives before it finally slowed down. By this time, Sebastian already stopped swimming not too far from the Leviathon''s position as the interference from the shockwaves finally dissipated. When Sebastian''s pitch-black eyes pinned the Leviathon now, he no longer detected any scorn which made him secretly nod his head in his mind. The Leviathon''s eyes were now filled with seriousness and zeal for battle. This intelligent predator already understood. Seeing the strength that Sebastian displayed, and the fact that the hidden enemies still hadn''t appeared, he finally understood his current situation. His escape route was already blocked, now, he was nothing more than a training target to this Megalodon. The situation was extremely infuriating, but it only induced his anger and will to teach this Megalodon a lesson that it would never forget. "If a battle is what you want, get ready, because a battle is what you will get". "Space Domain Skill: Flames of Justice!" Boom! Chapter 396 - The Mighty Megalodon Vs The Indomitable Leviathon! [2] "Space Domain Skill: Flames of Justice!" Immediately after he said it, the mighty Leviathon activated this space domain magic skill from a distance as the silver blue lines revolving around his body became even more prominent. The silver blue energy manifestation started burning the next moment. Like fire spreading through a forest with dry trees and leaves in harmattan, the mighty space energy ravaged through the water with impunity. The spatial flames wreaking havoc through the water spread across indomitably, annihilating every obstacle that was in their path. On seeing the move of the enemy, Sebastian finally confirmed that the Space Beast was taking this battle seriously as he also upped his game. He felt extremely excited, he could feel his bloodlust rising as his innate Megalodon bloodline took over. He roared, letting his bloodlust run unrestrained. [You have activated skill: Mega Magic Shield!] [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Torpedo Drill!] [You have activated skill: Rupturing Sonic Ram!] [You have activated skill: Sonic Reflection!] "Let there be violence!" Boom! As soon as the sonic reflection skill amplified Sebastian''s scream, turning it into an attack against the Leviathon, Sebastian exploded with speed as his massive body dashed towards the even more massive Leviathon. The sonic reflection was mostly to counter the raging silver flames, and though it could not counter it fully, it still did its job. With the mega magic shield active, Sebastian''s intention to tank the remaining damage became clear. Both the sonic torpedo drill and the rupturing sonic ram were attack skills that relied on momentum. Like a doomsday truck, after activating all these skills, amplified by his mega dash skill, Sebastian rushed towards his opponent like the wind. From the first exchange of attacks between the both of them, it was already clear that they had powerful range attack skills and powerful defensive skills also. To break the deadlock faster, they needed to take the battle close and personal. This was why the currently hotblooded Sebastian took the lead first. Boom! Boom! Boom! Once the silver flames collided against his skin, Sebastian felt a biting pain nabbing at his consciousness as the tyrannical flames scorched his skin. The damage dealt by the flames were plentiful, but in the end, he managed to tank through it all as he finally arrived before his opponent. On seeing the Megalodon already before him, the Leviathon braced himself for impact as it seemed like he just took a deep breath. "Adaptation: War Avatar!" Once the mighty Leviathon triggered this adaptation, his body visibly vibrated as a master massager seemed to be working through his massive body. The next moment, his body made cracking sounds as his muscles expanded. The body of the Leviathon bulged, becoming even more intimating with a lot more muscles that could tank a lot of damage and deal a lot also appearing. "Come on!" Both mighty predators finally collided! BOOM! Like usual, the sound was like exploding dominoes but having anticipated it ahead of time, Sebastian created an equivalent of earmuffs with his sound control skill to prevent being too affected by the effects. On collision, Sebastian felt all the kinetic energy that he already gathered in his body being transferred to his opponent while he also felt an opposing energy that grinded at his without holding back. While this happened, both predators became temporarily still as the impact of collision and the shock temporarily paralyzed their bodies. When the shock finally ended, the melee began! [You have triggered adaptation: Spikes!] [You have activated skill: Morphable Spike Attack!] [You have activated skill: Dissecting Bite!] [You have activated skill: Mega Crushing Bite!] [You have activated skill: Acrobatic Maneuverability!] [You have activated skill: Megalodon Might!] [You have triggered adaptation: Lancer Snout!] [You have triggered adaptation: Muscle Fiber Defense!] After a long time, and for the first time since evolving to the purple tier realm, Sebastian finally had the opportunity to test his melee prowess unrestrained against a worthy opponent and it was nothing short of bombastic. Boom! Boom! Boom! His fins, his body, his snout, his teeth, and his adaptations all rose to the challenge as they helped him in his goal to batter the opponent with his all. The sounds of collision as he attacked the Leviathon were deafening, Sebastian could see terrifying damage numbers appearing rapidly in his system notification, but the Leviathon barely showed any signs of discomfort. For the first few seconds, this mighty Space Beast simply tanked all the damage, trying to take back the initiative before launching his own offensive. In just these 2 seconds, it became clear to Sebastian that this predator knew his stuff. Not only did he calmly take Sebastian''s barrage, he was able to lower the intensity of the battle enough for him to start his own barrage. Roar!!! The Space Beast roared as he finally started his counter-attack. "Space Armor- Repel!" "Space Descent- Obliterate!" "Space Descent- Penetrate!" "Space Descent- Annihilate!" On hearing the name of these 4 skills, Sebastian quickly associated them with those that were used with the previous Leviathon that he saw but these ones quickly proved to be a superior version. Once the space armor activated, Sebastian who originally clung close to the body of the Leviathon bounced away like a football. Before he could stabilize himself mid-water and charge back, the Leviathon opened his enormous jaws wide, exposing the dangerous rows of teeth that were hidden underneath before finally clamping them shut again. Bam! Sebastian was confused at first at the methods of his opponent since he was not in the range of this bite but he understood the next moment. Following the Leviathon''s jaw movements, the familiar silvery blue magic energy tyrannically spread through the water. The next moment, they created a magical form of the Leviathon''s jaws with edges like those of a post-apocalyptic grinding machine as they came down at the Megalodon with force. Boom! The space teeth tore into Sebastian''s skin ruthlessly having bypassed his magic shield defense as he gasped for pain for the first time in this battle. [Warning! You have received staggering damage from your opponent!] Before Sebastian could react, the next moment, the rows of teeth that were originally grinding and tearing at his skin developed a new attribute as they became as long as literal war lancers like those used by the Knight Lancelot. Ptui! The rows of teeth rose briefly before clamping back down, penetrating Sebastian''s skin with such penetration force that Sebastian for a second felt that the long rows of teeth penetrated his body from one end to the other. He groaned in pain as his system gave him another warning notification of having received staggering damage. The 3rd effect quickly came into effect also. The 3rd Space Descent skill was even more tyrannical. The spatial teeth seemed to have turned into the carriers of a primordial annihilation energy as they descended on Sebastian''s skin with the intent to pronounce their verdict. Boom! Boom! Boom! This time, they didn''t just descend once, nor did they descend twice, the spatial teeth descended rapidly on his skin so many times, unleashing the terrifying annihilation energy as Sebastian repeatedly puked blood. By the time that the effects of the skill finally came to an end, his body was riddled with injuries and blood and was aching all over. Sebastian could hardly keep his concentration due to the biting pain. Once the skill finally came to an end, it was not the end as he felt the water rapidly moving. When he blasted out with his combined super sensing to penetrate all the interference, he saw the Leviathon''s mighty jaws already before him. Crunch! The Leviathon bit directly at his head. The pain was traumatic, but Sebastian didn''t feel trauma, as blood flowed, his bloodlust increased more. "Haaaaa!!!" [You have activated skill: Mega Dash!] [You have activated skill: Mega Crushing Bite!] The melee battle started all over again, but this time with both predators biting and ramming into each other without a care of the world. The 3 tyrannical skills of the Space Beast were so horrifying that they took over 50% of Sebastian''s health, this sudden melee barrage started increasing the damage stat but Sebastian didn''t give a damn. All that was in his head at this moment was battling and digging his teeth into his opponent''s body, Sebastian was consumed by the battle. Bam! Bam! Bam! For 15 straight minutes, both powerful predators went at it as the terrain literally changed because of their battle. This was when another system notification alerted Sebastian. [Warning! Your health has grown below the critical state of 10%!] [Undying Zombie passive skill has been triggered!] [50% percent of your health has been restored!] Instantly, Sebastian felt like his body just lost a virtue while his health points regenerated rapidly. Some of the severe injuries that were in his body healed instantly, shocking the Leviathon. "Play time is over, motherf*cker!" "I have had enough of being your punching target! "Now, let''s get real!" After holding himself back since, Sebastian finally released his living doppelganger from his head and the new body entered the battle explosively. Boom! Chapter 397 - The Mighty Megalodon Vs The Indomitable Leviathon! [3] After over 30 minutes of battling intensely against the Megalodon, the Leviathon Space Beast who saw himself all his life as superior to other mutated beasts in this world was left rethinking his life. Over these 30 minutes, he saw a new reality of his world in the Megalodon. Yes, the magic gadget that was used by the hidden enemies did suppress his strength down to the purple tier realm, but only his basic strength was suppressed. This suppression meant that his skills would no longer hit as hard as they did in the Red tier realm, their strength would be suppressed to the purple tier realm. That was all, this suppression did not affect his origin law comprehension, neither did it suppress his 50+ years of battle experience and the repertoire of advanced powerful skills that he had over the Megalodon. This suppression also didn''t affect his power accumulation in the form of his adaptations. Unlike Sebastian, he already reinforced his skin so much that his defense was stably at the Red tier realm even with the suppression. This was why despite being suppressed, he still went into the battle confidently because he still did not see Sebastian as his opponent. About his repertoire of advanced powerful skills, as a predator that came from a race where all the skills that were researched and developed by his ancestors were already stored in his brain, he didn''t need to research new skills. All he needed to do was to go shopping in his head. This was when his intelligence came to play, he had so many skills unlocked in his head that wisdom was required to choose only those that fit him most. It took him over 50 years and counting to accumulate his current repertoire of skills, and there was still more to explore. With all these advantages, the Leviathon expected an easy victory, but the Megalodon kept on shattering his belief of reality. The skills that were revealed by the Megalodon were so unorthodox and powerful that he felt like Sebastian was a Space Beast too. OP skills like the Rasengan eluded his understanding, while the one that left him all the more baffled was the Mana Control. This skill literally turned the Megalodon into a monster. With this skill active, Sebastian could use his mana, while also stealing the mana of his opponent to extend his longevity in the battle. This also completely negated the Leviathon''s advantage of mana points. In this state, Sebastian was a monster that never lacked mana. All these advantages of the Megalodon left the Leviathon befuddled, but this was not all, when he was already going all out to annihilate it, the Megalodon not only restored 50% of his health instantly, he showed that he was not done yet. BOOM! The Atlantian living doppelganger appeared when the Leviathon least expected it, and on his hand was a magic weapon sword, the Golden Shatterer. Sebastian bought this powerful magic weapon through a high-grade auction using the connections that taking the Dwarf Merchant''s identity brought, now the sword was about to debut in its first official battle. While the Leviathon was still biting at Sebastian''s head, not willing to let go, the Atlantian Sebastian appeared, slashing directly at the Leviathon''s head. Whoosh! The mighty Leviathon was shocked and unable to react on time as the sword slashed through his head. Not only that, it unleashed golden sword energy filled with a lot of annihilation energy that ripped through his dense muscles. Roar! The Leviathon roared in pain as blood flowed like a river from his head. While he was still trying to make sense of the situation, both Sebastians already lunged at him like sharks that just smelled blood. Sebastian took advantage of this opportunity to the fullest. The main Megalodon body attacked from the front, bombarding the Space Beast with sound domain attacks and melee attacks fiercely, while the fast and elusive Atlantian body circled around it, dealing lethal damage with each attack. In just a few seconds, the tides of the battle were turned again. Roar! Roar! Roar! Sebastian and his living doppelganger did not hold back. As they attacked with their all, the Leviathon lost blood at a staggering pace, his injuries increasing and worsening as he could hardly keep himself safe now. Facing one Sebastian alone was already a challenge, getting to face another one, the difficulty increased so much more than just 1 plus 1. The Leviathon was thrashed for 2 straight minutes, and he was beaten to a half-death state before a change finally happened. This pinnacle bloodline predator was not done! ROAR!!!!!! Even while both Sebastians still attacked him, the Leviathon no longer defended as he suddenly roared loudly, creating a massive soundwave that swept through the water across a region of kilometers. While roaring, the blood-red eyes of the Leviathon remained the same, but they now glowed brightly like a red torch in darkness in a more menacing manner. Also, the magic presence, physical presence, and everything about the Leviathon suddenly experienced an exponential increase. From nowhere, the Leviathon grew stronger and not by a small amount. If this was an attacking skill, Sebastian''s system would have notified him, but it was not. This was the race specialty passive skill of the Leviathon, the Berserk Warlord passive ability. When their health drops below 20%, this passive ability activates and it increases the Leviathon''s power by 70% on every facet. 70% more mana, 70% more health, 70% more power, 70% more everything, this presented an even more horrifying version of the Leviathon. ROAR!!! The Leviathon roared again as his glowing red eyes pinned his 2 opponents down. The next moment, he activated a trump card skill. "Bloodline Specialty: Domineering King Kong Physique!" "Bloodline Specialty: Dimensional Slash!" Boom! The next moment, the Leviathon''s size increased again. Its body muscles became more buff and prominent, while its overall physique changed to make it look like a Leviathon King Kong. The description felt off, but it was apt to describe the current version of the Leviathon. It now completely towered over Sebastian''s 2 bodies. Before it could even attack, his 2nd bloodline specialty took effect. Whoosh! The dimensional slash came from the void like it was a slash that was really sent from another dimension. This crazy powerful slash did not give any room for dodging, it came and went for Sebastian directly. Sebastian braced himself for impact. BOOM! Bzzz! Sebastian felt all his senses being scrambled for a few seconds. He could feel the pain, but it felt fleeting, he could feel the numbness of the attack spreading a feeling of weakness through his body. It was a few seconds later that he finally regained control over his senses, the Dimensional Slash cut away a part of his face, including his spike adaptation, his dorsal fin at the left side of his body, and a lot of flesh. This attack directly took away 30% of his regained flesh, this was horrifying damage that sent chills down Sebastian''s already cold-blooded spine. The Leviathon was not done, it finally descended on the Megalodon with its King Kong-like physique after putting up with all its grievance for the past 2 mins. The enormous front arms of the Leviathon were now adapted to look like King Kong''s huge and powerful arm superweapons as they hammered at Sebastian. Boom! Boom! Boom! Every slam sent ripples through Sebastian''s body, into the water, and the surroundings as it seemed like he was about to be slammed directly out of this world into another dimension entirely. Every slam sent nerve impulses of immense pain to Sebastian''s brain. This continued for only 30 seconds and in this time, more than another 10% of Sebastian''s health was already wiped out. The Atlantian living doppelganger was attacking the Space Beast unrestrained in all this time, but the Leviathon no longer cared. The glowing blood-red colors of its eyes at the moment were not for show, triggering that passive ability affected its intelligence, warping them and making him more receptive to settling problems with violence. The Atlantian living doppelganger was free to attack him with all his might, but it was a pinch of salt compared to the damage that he dealt to the Megalodon. After wiping away all of Sebastian''s health, reducing it to below 10% again, he did not rest this time as he decided to finish the job. "Bloodline Specialty: Atomic Breath!" Woo¡­!!!!! On seeing the white ball of light that was appearing, filled with tyrannical radiation energy, Sebastian was thrilled more than he was shocked. "Leviathons really have the Atomic Breath!" "Bring it on baby!" He was clearly unafraid of death. The Leviathon didn''t care though, if the Megalodon had a death wish, he would gladly fulfill it and he did as the ray of tyrannical radiation energy finally swept through Sebastian''s body like a plague. BOOM! Chapter 398 - Killing The Mighty Leviathon! In his previous world, Sebastian first heard of atomic breath being associated with the mighty fictional monster called the Godzilla. As a lover of marine beasts, though Godzilla was not one, he was attracted by the bombastic prospects of such an OP ability and he followed it. Due to this, he was quite a fan of the mighty Godzilla. This was why after the conquest, once he had access to and read in the pinnacle library of Aurora Hospital''s anatomy department that Leviathons had this overpowered ability, he was stoked! This increased his enthusiasm to make his ultimate vessel all the more. The ability to generate from within oneself radiation, concentrate it into a laser-like high velocity using electromagnetic force and unleash it from the jaws in the form of a red radioactive beam excited Sebastian to no end. Since this current battle started, the Leviathon had revealed a lot of powerful abilities and skills that changed Sebastian''s perception of the numerous possibilities available out there. Despite all these powerful skills that were released, all his mind was focused on was finally the mighty Leviathon making use of its ultimate skill. Finally, his wait was not in vain. WOOOO¡­!!! The red extremely concentrated radioactive beam came out like a nuclear bomb, and its effects were also like a nuclear bomb. At this moment, both battling predators were not far from each other, but perhaps due to the nature of power involved or because he was close to dying, Sebastian could see everything clearly to the details. As the atomic breath swept towards him tyrannically, every living organism in its path seemed to wither and die before turning into ashes. The extremely hot temperature that was accompanying this OP breath swept across, frying every living or non-living thing that crossed its path to oblivion. Sebastian braced himself for impact. [You have activated skill: Megalodon Might!] [You have activated skill: Mana Empowerment!] [You have activated skill: Mega Sound Blast!] [You have activated skill: Breath of the Sound Megalodon!] [You have activated skill: Rasengan!] Sebastian braced himself for impact by attacking back which embodied his battle style perfectly, offense was his greatest defense! Attacks from both sides finally collided. BOOM! Despite the 3 OP skills that Sebastian used together to try cutting the advance of the atomic breath, even after empowering them with other skills, they were only able to weaken it a bit, the atomic breath could not be stopped. Wooooo!!! The OP Atomic Breath continued towards Sebastian tyrannically. At this time, the distance was already too close, he could not think of anything complicated again. Despite not being able to think, pushed by the clear sense of death looming over him, Sebastian''s creative spirit came to the rescue. [You have activated Inherited Magic Ability: Telekinesis!] [You have created a new skill: Telekinesis Wall!] [You have activated skill: Telekinesis Wall!] [Mind Bottleneck has been broken¡­] A huge wall shield made out of his mind telekinesis powers was erected. Like the first, the shield could only delay the inevitable as the atomic breath succeeded in not only breaching through it but still having more than enough momentum to vaporize Sebastian out of existence. Sebastian could only brace himself one last time. [You have activated skill: Mega Healing!] The atomic breath finally collided with him. BOOM! The sound was explosive, the impact was mighty, the damage was horrifying! Sebastian felt like he was just handed to a butcher who sliced his body into a thousand pieces with an extremely sharp knife before his body parts were finally put on the frypan filled with hot oil that was on the fire. The extremely hot radioactive power ravaged his body as he felt sick, irritated, weak, and dead at the same time. Just the first touch wiped away his remaining health points at the same time. But before his health points could touch 0, they surged up again as his mega healing skill finally proved its mettle for the first time. Sebastian already forgot his surrounding, all his attention was now on his system notifications that depicted the battle between his mega healing skill and the atomic breath of the Leviathon. [Health Points: 593/5321.] [Health Points: 7/5321.] [Health Points: 328/5321.] [Health Points: 2/5321.] For 2 seconds, this tug of war continued but the atomic breath proved its superiority as it finally vaporized the Megalodon out of existence. Sebastian died! [You have activated skill: Reanimation!] A few nanoseconds before his health points finally clocked zero, as he had been timing it, Sebastian reacted fast and activated this skill. Once the atomic breath finally vaporized the Megalodon out of existence, the exhausted Leviathon roared again to announce his superiority before he turned wearily to see the Atlantian version of his opponent. His senses were sharp enough to detect that this variant human and the Megalodon were one and the same predator, this was the last huddle to cross, that was what he thought but was it so? Bzzz! 2 seconds after the Megalodon was vaporized to death, a sound like the fabric of reality was just torn open reverberated behind the Leviathon. When the Space Beast turned to look, he was shocked to see a blue glowing version of the Megalodon slowly being pieced back to life. In less than a second, the Megalodon was pieced back to life. Sebastian came back to life! The Leviathon was horrified! Seeing the horror on the Leviathon''s face, Sebastian''s little sadness at the aftereffects of activating this skill evaporated like the wind. He laughed crazily. "Hahahahahaha!" "Surprise, motherf*cker!" The Leviathon was extremely intelligent despite its passive skill already triggered. Not only that, but he also had powerful sensory skills and easily detected that the new Megalodon that appeared had an ineffective mana organ. This was the penalty of activating the Reanimation skill, but Sebastian did not mind it because his Atlantian living doppelganger was here. After using the Atomic Breath, the Leviathon was visibly exhausted, it was like he just used all his remaining essence to activate the skill. The Leviathon was weakened, his main body was rendered ineffective, but his Atlantian living doppelganger was still fresh and ready to go. Also, who said that he had gone all out already? Sebastian could never be described as having gone all out in a battle without activating his unique skills first, they were his real hidden trump cards. The Atlantian living doppelganger took the mantle from there. [You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation!] [You have activated unique skill: Doppelganger and Invisibility!] [You have created a doppelganger!] [You have created a doppelganger!] [You have created¡­] [You have created a magic manifestation!] [You have created¡­] The next moment, the Leviathon could only open its mighty jaws in shock as different doppelganger versions of Sebastian appeared around him. Even though these doppelgangers could only access 80% of the main body''s overall power, they were still more than 10 and it was a horrifying amount to face. Not only that, but they also had unrestrained access to the unique skills. Facing 10 Sebastians who could use the unique skills differently was a situation that the Leviathon could not survive, he was cornered. Even as the doppelgangers cornered him, magic manifestations also appeared everywhere as they all pointed towards the Leviathon. The real battle began! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! This time, the Leviathon stood no chance. It tried to struggle, but Sebastian simply thrashed it for 5 straight minutes before finally putting an end to its life. The Leviathon died to an Ice Lancer magic manifestation that pierced into its head, destroying its brain and all its brain juice in the process. The Leviathon fought admirably, but the mighty Megalodon won! Chapter 399 - Returning To The 1st Den Of Anatomy. When the battle finally came to an end, serenity returned to the water. For the past 1 hour as the 2 powerful predators went head-to-head at each other, while they were engrossed in their battle, it was the terrain and the original inhabitants of this region that suffered it the most. This past 1 hour seemed like any other hour, but the aftereffects of this battle managed to wipe out over a million living organisms out of existence. This region was now already nothing more than a barren region since the few organisms that managed to survive the aftereffects would never return to this region in centuries unless they suffered brain damage. Knowing that the battle finally came to an end and that he won, Sebastian was silent as he looked at the effects that were induced by his power. Seeing the changed terrain, the now barren region, and every other visual effect of the destruction that was just wrath, including the Leviathon corpse that was before him, he finally understood he much he grew in just a few months. Back on earth, no human, beast, or even any machine created by man could achieve such a destructive effect but in just a few months since transmigrating into Oceania, he now had all this power at his fingertips. He felt surreal, his journey so far felt unbelievable. From quaking at the first sight of mere Eels and white tier Devouring Cobras, he was now a predator who could take on a Red tier Leviathon that was suppressed to the purple tier and still emerge victoriously. Atlantian Sebastian clenched his fists. "I am strong now!" This battle was so massive and intense that Sebastian got a lot of battle experience that he needed to settle down and properly digest. There were too many pros to fighting against such a powerful monster. In this battle, he had to test himself to his very limits, even being forced to activate his Reanimation skill for the first time and seeing its effects. Activating this skill for the first time, Sebastian was able to experience sensations that he had never experienced in both his lives. Getting so close to death, and even dying only to be pulled back to life was such a huge rollercoaster of an adventure that he would never forget. He could brag about this to his children for lifetimes and never get tired of it. Apart from the battle experience, and finally getting to test his full strength against an equally strong opponent, Sebastian''s biggest gain in this trip was the corpse of the Space Beast itself. Getting a Leviathon''s corpse was the main goal fulfilled in his book. With this, he could finally take his plans for his priority goal to the next level. Sebastian grabbed the Leviathon''s corpse with his Telekinesis grab skill before finally turning to swim in the direction of the Clown Empire warships. ¡­ Inside the main warship of the Clown Empire''s deep strike force, Eliana took a bite from a nutritious Oceania vegetable as she looked at the returning Megalodon with a peculiar look in her eyes. Together with her guard team that she selected herself who were with her in the warship, they watched the battle from the beginning to the end. Through the advanced filters of the powerful warship, they were able to spectate the battle with such clarity like they were next to both predators. In this mode of spectating, they were able to experience the lows and highs, the emotional shifts between the 2 predators, and they were able to also see the trump card skills of both predators in action. In the end, after a highly intense battle that left even Eliana herself feeling tense, her former boss was able to edge the Leviathon, emerging victorious. She sighed. "I had to admit, that was some intense battle right there". "Yeah". Her second in command, a Red tier clownfish agreed with her. "What do you guys think of his performance?" She suddenly asked. "¡­" The clownfish took their time before Ella, her 2nd in command answered again. "Apart from the fact that he is still just a purple tier predator, almost every other thing about him is befitting of a powerful predator with a lot of potentials". "I think he is ready to claim the esteemed title in the future". "For him to become the Ocean Master, at this point, I think it depends on his luck and how fast he can level up and evolve through the tiers". Eliana quietly ruminated over the words of her 2nd in command. "You''re right, Sebastian is ready to grab that title in the future". "All he needs like you said is to fulfill his potential". Whoosh! After spending 2 minutes swimming, Sebastian finally returned to the warship with his prize being dragged behind him. After death, the Leviathon shrank back to its normal size and could now barely be forced into the warship. On entering the warship, Sebastian flaunted his prize before all the clownfish before quickly locating a corner to rest his exhausted body, leaving his Atlantian living doppelganger to interact with the others. This battle drained his main body so much that just remaining awake was a chore. Once he found a corner to rest, he slept in just a second. Once his main body slept, his Atlantian living doppelganger became the defacto him as he communicated with Eliana and the others. While the warships started returning to the 1st Den of Anatomy secret base, Eliana worked with her assistants as they examined the corpse of the Leviathon to confirm that everything was in order. From that point on, the Leviathon officially turned into a test subject. It took a few hours, but the warships finally arrived at the 1st Den of Anatomy. Layla Frost was already waiting for them, and she personally welcomed the entourage. On seeing Eliana who her boss kept on speaking of since a few days ago, she could not help but exchange glances with this Red tier predator. Of course, she was intimidated by her but her curiosity made her bold. Eliana didn''t give a damn though. Once they exchanged pleasantries, the Leviathon was towed into the base while she was escorted to her living quarters. Sebastian slept for 2 full days before he finally woke up. On waking up, he felt extremely hungry but thankfully, he was surrounded by so many powerful predators that food was not a problem. On waking up and seeing food not far from him, he started an eating spree as he crunched on all the delicious prey, devouring them all. 15 minutes later, when he had already eaten a truck-full of them, he was finally full as he rested his enormous body again to let his body recover normally. In this state, Sebastian finally started thinking about his iconic battle against the Leviathon that could not leave his mind. In his 2 days'' sleep, he even dreamt of the Leviathon as they were engaged in another battle. As soon as he started thinking about the battle against the Leviathon, his system lit up a new notification. [Congratulations! Mind Bottleneck has been broken!] "Yes, I remember this".. Sebastian''s interest was piqued. Chapter 400 - Telekinesis. [Congratulations! Mind Bottleneck has been broken!] [Host has achieved initial level Mind Control!] [Host has achieved intermediate level Mind Power!] On seeing this detailed system notification, Sebastian went into deep thought as he tried to replicate the scene in his head where he was forced to make use of the inherited magic ability in the battle against the Leviathon. Faced against the OP Atomic Breath attack of the Leviathon, Sebastian was pushed to the brink after trying all his normal methods to block it. Having strictly instructed himself not to make use of his unique skills at the time as he wanted to test his normal limits, he could only try to be creative, and given the small-time frame, he could only think of his telekinesis ability. When Sebastian first received this inherited magic ability from his system, seeing a familiar term like telekinesis, he was hyped by its prospects. When he discovered that he could not use it again, of course, he was disappointed. A few months later, after his purple tier evolution where all his base attributes experienced an outrageous increase, he could finally use it. To his dismay though, the telekinesis ability didn''t offer as much OPness as he expected. With skills like his Rasengan and his bloodline skills, the allure and importance of the telekinesis ability seemed to reduce with time. Despite the disappointment, he never gave up on this ability. The fact that this was the core ability of the late Ocean King said a lot, this was why he actively invested a lot of time and effort into trying to work it out. Now, for the first time, his system notification just gave him a prompt that pointed him in the right direction. When pushed by the danger of the atomic breath, his creativeness was put to the test and he came victorious again by creating the Telekinesis wall skill. Instantly after this, his system declared that he had a mental breakthrough. From the notification breakdown by his system, he now achieved an initial level of Mind Control while also achieving an intermediate level of Mind Power. Sebastian having seen a similar power scale once illustrated by his system could already guess the next progressive levels but he still asked. "System, what are the other levels of the Mind Power scale?" [Mind Power Scale is divided into the initial, intermediate, advanced, master level, and grandmaster level.] With this, Sebastian finally understood. His perception of the Telekinesis ability was flawed from the beginning, telekinesis was not a skill like his Rasengan, this was an ability that could be seen like his sound magic domain. The only difference between his magic domain and this was that the latter took his mana as its energy source, while Telekinesis took his mental energy as its energy source. In a sense, they were different sides of the same coin, all made for the purpose to give him a variety of attack methods in battle. And clearly, for his telekinesis to become OP enough for it to become another powerful alternative to his magic domain is if he could improve through the power scales of this Mind scale. Sebastian didn''t know how much he improved with this breakthrough, but the fact that he easily created another skill like the Telekinesis Wall gave him a vague idea of what to expect from the skill. Clearly, his Mind Control stat was related to his proficiency at creating telekinesis skills while his Mind Power was probably related to the power of the skills and how he utilized them in battle. Sebastian was pleasantly surprised by this discovery. With this, a new world of the Telekinesis magic ability finally became open to him. The obscured world behind this ability finally became clear a bit. Sebastian was not sure how leveling up to the intermediate level of Mind Power improved his attack power with his telekinesis skills, but his intuition told him that this was by a lot, and all he needed was creating the right skills. Perhaps, his Telekinesis powers were finally proving their chops. Now came the conundrum. Sebastian was imaginative, he knew it, but since transmigrating into this world, he was so used to purchasing skills from his system that suddenly having to create them himself sounded alien to him. He would have loved to dabble into this creative world in normal circumstances as it would allow him to fulfill some of his old-world fantasies. The thought of becoming so OP that he could move entire seamounts with his telekinesis ability, throwing them at enemies and dealing tons of damages sounded so appealing to him that he practically drooled at the prospects. All his imagination soon deflated though, coming to a stop. Unfortunately, the current circumstances were not normal that would enable him to take it slow and easy, he didn''t have all the time in the world. With the threat of the Ancient Cthulu looming over Oceania and the universe as a whole, he could not afford to take things easy, this also meant that the time to be creating telekinesis skills, he could better use it for something else. Then this brought the question. If he needed to create the skills, what prevented his system from performing its duty like usual and giving him a ready-made version of these skills? Sebastian acted on it immediately. He accessed his main system store, but to his disappointment, he discovered no skills related to telekinesis there. He did not give up though, there was still his evolution system store. He couldn''t wait till his next evolution before developing his telekinesis prowess though, so he just decided to explore more ways to cheat his way through this. This was the main use of his system Afterall, so why kill himself? Once Sebastian completed his analysis of the telekinesis ability following the system notification, in the satisfied state that he currently was, he finally started going extensively through his battle against the Leviathon. This battle could not be said to be his fiercest battle yet having once fought in a battle that involved 2 Black tier existences, but 1 on 1, Sebastian believed that this was probably his most intense battle. In this battle, he got a rare opportunity to test his limits, fighting an opponent that forced him to really go all out without being smacked to death immediately. In this battle, he got to use all his skills for the first time. From the melee showdown to the magic domain showdown, to the bloodline skill showdown, they all made this battle all the more intense and legendary. Through the battle, he was able to understand himself better, including his skills and how much effective damage they could deal in battle. He was able to know how much his skin could withstand damage, and the effects of all his adaptations, most especially the Dense Muscle Fiber Defense. In the battle, this adaptation increased his defense in a way that he did not expect. He was also able to see most of his passive skills in action. After getting it for a long time, he finally got to see his Undying Zombie passive skill in action for the first time which was such a thrilling encounter to him. He also perfected his battle style in this battle. All in all, Sebastian was extremely satisfied with the battle. Now, he really knew his body and how much he could push himself in battle like a textbook. This was extremely useful as it could prove to be a life-changer in any of his fierce battles that he would be engaged in not long from now. Of all these gains, Sebastian was happier for the insights that fighting against the Leviathon gave for his ultimate vessel creation plan. At this moment, he was stoked, he could not wait to start his plan. That same day, he met Eliana as preparations for the experiment officially began in full force. Chapter 401 - Preparation For The Ultimate Experiment. After a long time of being told to prepare and study hard for the ultimate experiment that their boss was prepared to embark on, the 1st Den of Anatomy jolted to life as the time finally came. All the anatomists, both those that Sebastian met here and inducted into his team and those that followed from the Anemone Domain were all stoked for the possibly once-in-a-lifetime encounter. Getting to dissect a Leviathon was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime encounter. The experiment didn''t start immediately though. After engaging in what Sebastian termed passive preparation, active preparation finally started. The passive preparation was mostly him and his assistants all stacking up their knowledge on Space Beasts and other relevant general knowledge. After the encounter in the Anemone Domain, precisely the Aurora Hospital, and adding the knowledge that Eliana revealed to him, Sebastian''s knowledge in the anatomy domain about Oceania finally grew to a sufficient level. Now, he practically already knew all the theoretical knowledge that he needed to know about a Leviathon and other powerful rare beasts in Oceania. With this knowledge, he could finally start his experiment but Sebastian wanted everything to be perfect. Everything needed to be perfect since getting the opportunity to work on a Leviathon was indeed an incredibly rare chance. If he screwed up, destroying his Leviathon test subject in the process, Sebastian was not sure if the Clown Empire would be so accommodating to babysit him to hunt another Space Beast. Having heard of the powerful beast organization called the Sacred Temple of the Pinnacles, he knew that it was taboo for Beast Empires to wantonly start hunting these pinnacle bloodline predators. The Sacred Temple of Pinnacles was such a mighty organization that even the Clown Empire was unwilling to antagonize them. Sebastian did not dare to push his luck, he wanted perfection, his test subject must not be ruined which was why this active preparation was necessary. The first thing that Sebastian did was call all his assistants to the core anatomy lab of the 1st Den of Anatomy. Of course, his Atlantian living doppelganger was the one who did this calling while his main body got to rest. After going nonstop for months, the main body finally earned the rest that it deserved. This laboratory was a massively expanded version of the previous one that occupied here, almost 10 times bigger than the anatomy library where Sebastian got to work with Doctor Craban and others in the Aurora Hospital. Starting with Eliana and Josephine, once all the assistants that would be directly working on this experiment came, Sebastian addressed them. He didn''t talk much, first confirming that they were all familiar with the machines that they were about to make use of in this experiment. Once he confirmed this, he once again confirmed that all the machines were working well and were in pristine condition before moving to important topics. Through remote control, Sebastian presented a virtual projection in the water that was large enough for all the anatomists in the laboratory to see. - Priority Experiment Targets: 1. Research on Mana Cores. 2. Alternative Mana Recovery Option. 3. Research on Mechanical Implants. "This, is our priority for the duration of this active preparation time". After finally dissecting and working on the corpse of the Leviathon, Sebastian wanted to start his ultimate doppelganger vessel creation immediately after as that time would be when he would be most inspired. This was why he cut out these priority experiment targets from the real main experiment which was dissecting the Leviathon and exploring its anatomy. Sebastian''s plan for his ultimate vessel was extremely ambitious. He was a potential candidate to become the Ocean Master, once he knew the significance of this title, he simply refused to think small again. He was past that level where he needed to scheme repeatedly with contingency plans, and pray fervently for grace just to attack a Blue Tang fish and earn his daily meal. Now, he was a powerful purple tier predator who had 2 unique skills. This was something that no other predator in Oceania had ever replicated. He was unique and he knew it, so his goals were now also unique. After his breakthrough experiment on mana cores, Sebastian took his research data away. Now, he was ready to start tackling this problem again since he wanted to implement it on his new living doppelganger. With powerful and knowledgeable assistants like Eliana and Josephine, he did not believe that this was an insurmountable challenge. About the mechanical implant, he got this idea after listening to the Chief Councilor of the Anemone Domain. Originally, he was intimidated by the prospects of taking this difficult route but he changed his mind. He already got the research data from the Anemone Domain. All he needed now was to finetune it to fit his new living doppelganger body. As a living doppelganger that Sebastian created to be his ultimate war vessel, he wanted it to be as overpowered as possible in every possible way. His living doppelganger would probably be stuck in battles spanning hundreds of kilometers in the future, where it had to fight overwhelming enemy forces while controlling other doppelgangers to help. With so many things going through his head in battle, he theorized that an implant would make things a lot easier. With an implant, his brain would be partly computerized, enabling him to process information at a far faster speed. The last of his priority experiment targets was the alternative mana recovery option. Sebastian saw this as the most important priority of them all. After the battle encounter with the Leviathon, Sebastian understood the importance of having unlimited mana access even more. Without his ability to keep his mana up to par at all times by stealing the spilled mana of his opponent, he would have run out of mana far faster than his opponent which would have handed an easy victory to the Leviathon. He didn''t think of this before but after tasting the delicious advantage provided by unlimited mana through his mana control skill, he was adamant to replicate the same with his ultimate war vessel. This could be a defining trait of his war vessel in the future. It was at moments like this that he loved his Mana Lord evolution route all the more but he couldn''t replicate it with his Space Beast living doppelganger, this was because Leviathons had different evolution routes to Megalodons. Sebastian didn''t have any idea to replicate this, but this was why he called it an experiment. With intellectuals like Josephine, Eliana, and Doctor Craban around him, he believed that they would eventually come up with something. Once Sebastian listed his priority experiment targets to his assistants and explained to them what they represented, he finally laid his work plan to them. "For the Research on Mana Cores experiment target, I and Jakren will be the lead anatomists of an anatomy team dedicated to this target". "For the Research on Mechanical Implants experiment target, I, Eliana, Josephine, and Doctor Craban will be the lead anatomists of another anatomy team that is entirely dedicated to this target". "For the last experiment target which is the Alternative Mana Recovery option, I, Eliana, and Josephine will be the lead anatomists of the anatomy team that is dedicated to this target". "We''re not stopping until we get results". "And we''ll start our main experiment only when we get conclusive results for all 3 priority experiment targets". "Now, let''s get to work!" "Yes, boss!" Chapter 402 - 2 Weeks Of Preparation, 2 Successes. Once Sebastian officially declared the start of the active preparation phase to pave the way for the start of the main experiment, the 1st Den of Anatomy woke up from its slumber as it became a hive of activity the next moment. Only the anatomists that Sebastian called to the main lab were eligible to work on the main experiment target which was the preserved Leviathon corpse. These lucky and highly competent anatomists were the leading assistants, while all the other anatomists of the 1st Den of Anatomy were the side assistants. Once the 3 priority experiment targets that were listed by the boss were divided among 3 different anatomy teams, these teams inducted all the side assistants to help and make their work a lot more efficient. The 1st Den of Anatomy entered its busiest period in all its history. All the anatomists worked with zeal as their goals aligned with that of their boss, they felt even more enthusiastic than their boss to fulfill his goal. A lot of them felt that they were about to witness history being born when they understood the ambitious plans of their boss. Sebastian was not following conventional sense at all with this experiment, he was breaking new grounds with this experiment. Almost every one of his more radical plans was off the books that most anatomists were used to. Being exposed to this new unrestrained variety, all the anatomists were fascinated and like obedient children sent to school, they all did their best not to fail the expectations of their parents which at this moment was Sebastian. Of all the anatomists currently at work, Sebastian was undoubtedly the busiest. He made this himself so he never complained of the cramped-up schedule. Being the only anatomist that got to work as a leading anatomist in all 3 priority experiment targets, he was bugged with the most work but he persevered through it all since the desire to create the perfect war vessel burned stronger than ever. With 2 bodies, he could do a lot more than normal. When the Atlantian living doppelganger was tired, the main body simply took over and this enabled Sebastian to be more efficient than his counterparts. In the laboratory that was designated to the Research on Mana Cores, for one week, the Clown Empire forces came here often to dump a lot more variety of mutated beasts. Sebastian''s ambition to forcefully accommodate another mana core into a mutated beast when their body was not naturally made for this was revolutionary. Despite the numerous ways that the beasts'' natural body makeup tried to hinder his plans, through a ruthless game of trial and error, Sebastian and Jakren worked hard to find the right formula for a beast to accommodate a 2nd mana core. Even as more mutated beasts ruthlessly met their ends at the hands of these 2 anatomists, the research also progressed a lot as they got more progress on how to safely accommodate a 2nd mana core inside a mutated beast. As more beasts died, Sebastian and his companion knew the nuisances involved more. They got more experience on what to expect by doing this or that, and this enabled them to reduce mistakes and casualties as much as possible. In a week, they had a lot of progress but still, Sebastian and Jakren were not able to arrive at that formula that guaranteed 100% safety. The situation felt kind of frustrating, but they continued the grind. As the research on mana cores progressed, the research on Mechanical Implants progressed also and it had the most progress among the 3 research targets due to a series of reasons. The fact that this research direction was already fine-tuned and finalized in the Anemone Domain which was evident in the Chief Councilor was a great boon. Unlike with the other 2 priority experiment targets, this was not pioneering an entirely new road. All they did with this research direction was trying to bend the already established rules a bit for it to accommodate another body. The only difficulties that they experienced in these experiments were all caused by the complexity of Space Beasts, these beasts were just too endowed. Considering that the brain of Space Beasts was one of the most complicated in all of Oceania due to their inheritance mechanism, it was almost a thousand times harder to add an implant to them than adding to a clownfish. All these difficulties were hard and frustrating, but the great challenge only served to push these great anatomists harder as they gave their all to solve them. It was the last priority experiment target team that was constantly butting their heads against a wall. With time, the Alternative Mana Recovery option team saw that their research target was the hardest. They started with such a disadvantage that this team having the least progress in one week was not that surprising. Unlike the other 2 teams that had a template to work with, this anatomy team was starting from scratch. Theirs was more of research than an experiment, and it proved harder than the others. With this anatomy team, Sebastian was trying to find an alternative for his Mana Control evolution route skill. The difficulty of doing this could not be quantified nor could it be described in words. Not only did they have to research even deeper about Space Beasts, but they also had to research even more rare mutated beasts as they tried to find a similar ability that they could draw inspiration from to fulfill the boss''s goals. Throughout the past week, they almost always met a dead end when they thought they were finally progressing only to start all over again. Sebastian being the main leading anatomist of this team was also left frustrated. As nature kept trying to punish him for trying to defy it, the more his stubbornness and willingness to defy it grew. "I am not bound by nature!" "If I can create an abomination variant between a Great White Shark and a Whale Shark and it survived, this is mere cake in comparison". "You freaking nature, no matter how much you resist, I believe that I''ll still be able to cheat my way around you!" "All I have to do is to create a bug that you cannot erase immediately. If programmers can do it with computers, I can also do it with anatomy!" "Just wait for it!" The grind continued in the 1st Den of Anatomy as pushed by Sebastian''s zeal and passion for these experiments, every anatomist worked well above their normal levels all with the enthusiasm to fulfill their boss''s goals. Despite how much effort Sebastian pumped into the Alternative Mana Recovery option experiment target, even in all this time, the progress was still small but the Research on Mechanical Implants team finally got an acceptable result. After trying the puzzles an uncountable number of times, trying to fix them, and in the process deriving a lot of anatomical theories, all the puzzles finally fit as the right process for a mechanical implant surgery was finally confirmed. The team designated to this research route had to experiment on this process 10 consecutive times before it was finally confirmed. With the idea that one of the anatomy teams finally succeeded, perhaps having ridden on this momentum, 3 days later when it finally clocked 2 weeks since the experiments finally started, another research was finalized. The Research on Mana Cores team was not able to arrive at a 100% safety margin for the implantation of a 2nd mana core, but they settled at a manageable 72% which was the best that they could get to theoretically. Despite riding on the momentum of these 2 consecutive successes in 3 days, the last priority experiment target team could not achieve immediate success. Despite this, the 1st Den of Anatomy was in a joyous mood due to the successes.. The boss was 2 steps closer to fulfilling his ultimate goal. Chapter 403 - Need For Speed; Thinking Outside The Box. After 2 weeks of nonstop work, research, and experiments on different beast samples, the anatomists in the 1st Den of Anatomy finally had their first day of rest to celebrate the 2 successes. Even for the highest level of professionals of every field, working nonstop for a long period was detrimental, rest was essential. The anatomists deserved the rest as their work rate exceeded Sebastian''s expectations in these 2 weeks. The constantly high energy levels, enthusiasm, and a lot of other factors were what facilitated the 2 successes. Having recognized the hard work of his subordinates, Sebastian gave them the reward that they were due, which was a nice day of rest. He didn''t just do this, he splurged money to fulfill all of their more modest wishes. For that day, they had the opportunity to eat any meat and as much as they wanted, even the meat of purple tier beasts. Being the only lead anatomist that was among the spearheads of all 3 anatomy teams, Sebastian felt the effects of the successes up close. He was extremely happy, despite the numerous restrictions that plagued their pioneering research routes, the fact that they still succeeded proved to him that nothing was impossible in Oceania. In Oceania, the impossible could become possible with the right amount of imagination and creativity. While the other anatomists had today as a day of rest, to Sebastian, he didn''t need it since his 2 bodies were already rotating sessions to rest properly. This was the reason why after every other anatomist already left, he stayed behind in the main laboratory as he went through the recorded data and research direction that led to the 2 major successes. For the research team that was dedicated to researching the mechanical implant, their only major problem was finding the right formula for an implant to be installed in a Leviathon''s head without things going wrong. Despite the advantage that the Anemone Domain already provided to them, completing their experiment was not an easy feat. The brain of any beast was one of the more complicated organs, adding the fact that this beast was a Space Beast increased the complexity even more. To achieve any major or minor success, this anatomy team not only had to thoroughly study to understand a Leviathon''s brain, but they also had to find the right altering formula to work on to accommodate a mechanical implant inside it. To the anatomists, it was like playing a game of cards blindfolded. In the end, after a lot of research and experiments on other beasts, they were finally able to achieve their end goal. By subtly altering the brain nature of the virtual Leviathon specimen that they worked with, they finally achieved the right formula for it to contain a mechanical implant without the Space Beast''s head exploding. This was the first major success. Seeing all the research data, the work that his subordinates put in, and the results before him left Sebastian feeling emotional. After the success of this anatomy team, the team researching mana cores also completed their goal. Though, unlike the mechanical implant research team, they could not achieve a 100% formula, 72% was still workable. Throughout the 2 weeks of nonstop research and experimenting, the records easily showed that this research team used and wasted more test subjects. The anatomy team dedicated to researching mana cores experimented so much, leaving so many mutated beasts, even a few purple tier predators dead that their designated lab seemed like a slaughter ground instead of an actual lab. After a lot of headstrong trial and error computations that were led by Sebastian with mutated beasts as the test subjects, the research team achieved the peak result that they could just relying on the body of their test subjects. No matter how much more they researched and experimented, trying to find a balance that would increase the success rate of the mana core infusion, the test subjects always ended up either exploding to death or being disabled. The percentage success rate was firmly stuck at 51%. After trying for 2 more days after 1 week crossed, Sebastian and his assistants finally concluded that they were unlikely to get another significant breakthrough working on the compatibility of the beasts'' bodies alone. This was the reason why Sebastian turned the research direction to focus more on improving the carrier that was supposed to house the 2nd mana core inside the beast target for implantation. This decision was what finally broke the deadlock. When Sebastian worked with Jakren to experiment on the Sea Elephant, they already noticed then that the carrier housing the mana core played a significant role but it was when they focused on it that they finally understood fully. The carrier that housed the mana core was actually as important as the mana core itself. Whereas the body of the beast was the natural habitat of the 1st mana core, the carrier was supposed to be the natural habitat of the 2nd mana core. This carrier was not only supposed to be the natural habitat of the 2nd mana core but it was also supposed to connect the 2nd mana core to the beast''s body. In this way, a symbiotic relationship would be formed where the 2 mana cores will complement each other. With both mana cores having their exclusive territories which was the body and the mechanical carrier, they would no longer clash as much but if the mechanical carrier was finetuned perfectly enough, they could even cooperate. Once Sebastian got to this conclusion on paper, he pushed his anatomists hard as they worked overtime to make this theory a reality. A few days later, when the time finally clocked 2 weeks, they succeeded. Though the compatibility between both mana cores and the success rate of the implantation was only 72%, to Sebastian, this was completely acceptable. It was not only a lot better than the previous 51%, but he already theorized that with the current research direction, it would take a miracle for them to increase this percentage further so he could only settle for it. In his opinion, a 72% success rate was worth risking. He didn''t have all the time in the world for this experiment and that was why he had to be frugal. With these 2 successes, Sebastian was now closer to his ultimate goal than ever. Of course, the joy of the successes left him feeling like giving himself a much-needed rest too but the pending experiment target disturbed him. The last priority experiment target proved to be a pain in the ass. Trying to create an alternative mana recovery option for his ultimate vessel living doppelganger proved harder than Sebastian expected. After meeting so many dead ends, this research team was so far behind the others in terms of progression and results that it was painful to see. As Sebastian tried to avoid being frustrated by this lack of progress, while trying hard to ponder to get a solution, he quickly discovered that simply trying to get his goal scientifically or magically would not work. For the past 2 weeks, they already worked on so many scientific and magical theories with none of them working that Sebastian grew fed up with them. At this moment, to get progress and due to the need for speed to meet the changing times, he needed to think outside the box. "Thinking outside the box¡­" Sebastian muttered. Chapter 404 - A Radical Plan! "Thinking outside the box¡­" Throughout the past 2 weeks, alongside his assistant anatomists, Sebastian seemed to have returned to his university days when he read day in day out to be best prepared to take on his final year exams. This time though, instead of this intense reading being for his university exams, it was to fulfill his ambitious plans for his ultimate vessel. Through Eliana''s connection which was the Clown Empire, Sebastian got access to all the exclusive data that he needed to upgrade his knowledge. Having spent 2 full days already, searching for ways to somehow create a bug in the Leviathon''s body for it to get access to unlimited mana and failing, Sebastian and his assistants tempered their expectations. They finally returned to relying on proper scientific methods. This time, through the expansive library of the anatomy department of the mighty Clown Empire, they sought to search for anything related to unlimited mana that has ever been recorded in Oceania. Taking this search route as the focus, they discovered a lot of recorded information that was related to unlimited mana in one way or the other. This was where Sebastian learned of the powerful Space Beast species that was called the Nessie. Just like the Leviathon species, Nessies were also known for having an extremely high affinity to the advanced pinnacle space domain magic. With another extremely rare Space Beast race, the Nessies were known as the kings of Space Beasts. The Nessies were renowned for their 2 race specialty abilities, the mighty Devour ability, and the indomitable Dimensional Teleportation ability. The Devour ability enabled these powerful beasts to constantly devour primordial origin essence in the air, processing it into usable mana which provided them with a situation where they never ran out of mana. As for the Dimensional Teleportation ability, it was even more peculiar. For younger immature Nessies, this innate ability was rumored to enable them to easily teleport to any of the 7 Great Seas without any restrictions. For normal Space Domain magic beasts, if the distance of teleportation was large, they needed to know their destination ahead of time and have a solid mental image of it before being able to teleport there. Also, their teleportation suffered a lot of other restrictions depending on the tier that they were as mana quality varied among each of the beast tiers. The Dimensional Teleportation ability of the Nessies left normal Space Domain magic beasts in shame, there were no restrictions. Teleporting all around Oceania was just a side attraction, the main reason for this ability''s fame and why it was called the Dimensional Teleportation was because it could enable mature Nessies to teleport between dimensions! This was such an OP ability that its importance could not be measured. This ability was the reason why the Nessies were called the Void Travelers. Despite how OP and attractive these powerful Space Beasts were, it was not relevant to Sebastian since he could not get one of them to base the idea of his upcoming living doppelganger vision on. This directly eliminated the Devour ability from his choice list. Of course, he tried researching for ways to replicate this ability but it proved even more difficult, he achieved 0% progress each time. Apart from reading about the Nessie, Sebastian also read about a lot of other occurrences that were related to unlimited mana, even of the Dimensional magic weapon, the Mana Deliverer that granted unlimited mana to its wielder. The only problem with all these discoveries was that they were either so high up above his current level that he could not achieve them or they were simply too unrealistic to be implemented in his plans. After suffering all these frustrations for 2 straight weeks, Sebastian finally decided that perhaps, his straight thinking was what was hindering him. This was why he decided to think outside the box. On more than one occasion, Oceania already proved to him that those things he originally thought were impossible were possible here so why not try his luck? Instantly, Sebastian started letting his imagination run wild. At first, he kept on thinking about ridiculous things that were not feasible but he didn''t care, all he cared about at the moment was to simply think up ideas no matter how ridiculous they seemed. Sebastian kept on thinking for 30 straight minutes without arriving at anything that he found acceptable enough for his plans. He felt even more frustrated, but he didn''t give up yet. This was when he remembered that his ridiculous thoughts were still coming from the perspective of an Oceanian. Perhaps, this was the problem, why not try to think up crazy ideas from the perspective of an earthling? Once Sebastian thought of this, he instantly changed his mindset. This time, he didn''t even need to think much, earth had too many focus points for him to start with. He easily started from the movies that he watched back on earth, then the cartoons, mostly the ridiculous animes. When his thought deviated to the perspective of an earthling, Sebastian only had to think for 5 minutes before the light of inspiration lit up in his head. "Damn! That, why did I not think of that before?" Once he thought of it, he tried to rationalize it with his understanding of the magical laws of Oceania to see if it would work. Back on earth, Sebastian remembered once watching an anime about a knuckle-headed kid who lived in a world of ninjas. That was not the focus point, the focus point was that this kid had a demon sealed within him. Apparently, his village was involved in a mighty war where the elders had no choice but to seal the terrible demon terrorizing them within the kid. This menacing demon after living with the kid for years developed a symbiotic relationship with him. And the main help that the demon rendered was giving the kid almost unlimited access to mana¡­, no, chakra. With this as his starting advantage, having access to virtually unlimited chakra, the kid was able to grow with time into the strongest ninja of the world. As he thought of this, Sebastian''s eyes widened. What if, instead of trying to create another skill like the mana control to generate mana which was clearly not working, he decided to get a beast that could become his own demon Kyuubi. This idea came completely out of the blue. It sounded so ridiculous that even Sebastian himself felt ridiculous, but at some point, it also felt slightly reasonable. The more Sebastian thought of this, the more his eyes glittered. There were flaws in the idea, he could see them. What if there was no such beast in Oceania? What if there was no such sealing method? What if he was not compatible with the beast? All the questions tried to quench his enthusiasm, but Sebastian''s hype for this thought route already gathered so much momentum that he could no longer stop, he was already feeling stoked at the idea. Instantly, he grabbed his communicator and dialed Eliana. "Eliana, I got a new extremely radical idea!" "Do you remember the anime, Naruto?!" Chapter 405 - Evolution Beast Races, The Mana Lord Hunting Plan! "The anime Naruto¡­?" Eliana looked intensely at Sebastian, trying to confirm that he had not gone crazy due to thinking too much these past few days. In the end, she asked a question to clear her doubts. "How in the world is an animate cartoon related to Oceania, your ultimate vessel, and your so-called extremely radical plan?" "Wait! Wait, just wait¡­" Sebastian was exasperated at her reaction, and his exasperated look finally made Eliana quieten down and listen to him. "Just cool down, wait, listen and let me explain". "Ok, this is my plan¡­" "By the way, which anime is Naruto?" "¡­" This time, Sebastian was speechless for more than 2 minutes before he finally almost exploded. "YOU DON''T KNOW NARUTO?!?" "Hey, take it easy, I left earth 2 years ago, cut me some slack". On hearing that, Sebastian calmed down a bit as he discovered that she was probably right. Staying in Oceania for 2 more years, he would not be sure how much his personality and knowledge would have changed. Perhaps, he was asking too much of her to remember this popular anime cartoon but he still felt indignant that she had forgotten it. "Is it that anime cartoon with that cool quiet kid that I like?" Eliana finally asked again after taking her time to think. "Yes, that''s it! You still remember!" Sebastian was ecstatic. "That is Sasuke!" With that as the starting point, Sebastian spent additional 15 minutes before he finally refreshed the knowledge of Naruto back into Eliana''s head. With this, they could finally proceed. "So, what does Naruto has in common with your¡­" Eliana stopped mid-way on feeling Sebastian''s predatory glare. "Ok, I give up, continue". "Good!" Once he succeeded in getting her undivided attention, Sebastian finally went to the point. The focus of his explanation was based entirely on Naruto, and his relationship with the demon Nine-tailed Fox, Kyuubi. By the time Sebastian finished explaining the relationship between Naruto and the demon Kyuubi, Eliana could already guess where he was going with the conversation and she felt absolutely bombilated. Sebastian finally asked the ultimate question. "So, do you think this is possible? Like, can I replicate the same here?" Eliana was lost for words to say. "That¡­, that is crazy!" "Oceania is crazy!" Sebastian exclaimed. "Magic is crazy! Even the universe as we know it is now crazy, so why can''t I go crazy?!" "Besides, Oceania already proved to you and me multiple times that crazy things can be possible here. Most times, crazy is the reality in Oceania". "So, Eliana, this crazy idea can work, right?" "¡­" Eliana kept quiet, sinking into a long period of silence as she tried to think about the crazy idea that Sebastian had just come up with. "Damn, this guy still has such a crazy imaginative mind!" She secretly exclaimed in awe in her mind as she directed subtle hidden glances at him with her soul eye skill while going through the feasibility of this plan. About 10 minutes later, she finally spoke again. "Sebastian, I can''t really confirm if your plan can work, but have you heard of the evolution beast races?" "Umm, no". "Ok, then you need to know this". 10 minutes later, Eliana explained everything to Sebastian that he needed to know about the evolution beast races. The evolution beast races were just like Space Beasts, but with a less tyrannical background. The beasts from these races are the original carriers of the evolution routes that every beast in Oceania now enjoyed. Unlike other beasts that had to evolve through the ranks before getting the opportunity for a sublimation evolution to become one of these evolution routes, these beasts were born already evolved in a specific evolution route. For example, during Sebastian''s last breakthrough, he accessed a significant amount of evolution routes where he eventually decided on the Mana Lord. Evolution beast races were the progenitors of these evolution routes. The Vampire Megalodon, Shapeshifter Megalodon, Dark Magic Megalodon, Mana Lords, and Pugilist King evolution routes all have progenitors and the natural owners of these evolution routes were the evolution beast races. According to Eliana, the Mana Lords were part of the evolution beast races. The Mana Lords were the progenitors of the Mana Lord evolution route. With their strongest being rumored to have pinnacle Black tier strength, this was a beast race that stood at the top of Oceania but they were infamous for always living an isolated life away from other beasts. This was not the reason why Eliana spoke of this beast race though; she spoke of it because they were related to Sebastian''s plan. Apart from the horrifying strength and skill all related to mana that Mana Lords were renowned for, it was their mana manipulation that was their most renowned ability. The mana control skill originated from them Afterall. Mana Lords were a special beast species who were rumored to be descendants of the mythical Kraken of the Myth Realm. Not only were they identical to Krakens, but they also had the power to back it. Immediately after Eliana finished explaining all that she knew about the powerful Mana Lords, Sebastian was left dumbfounded for only a few seconds before ideas started flowing in his head again like water. The fact that she specially explained the Mana Lords in such details revealed to Sebastian that she already understood his plan, he grinned. There was no guarantee that even if he could get a Mana Lord, he would be able to seal this beast in his body so he could enjoy the advantages that Naruto enjoyed, but in his opinion, this was a plan worth taking. Sebastian only had to think for a few minutes before he decided that prioritizing this was the most important in his scale of preference. This was the reason why he asked for the help of the Clown Empire again. The Clown Empire did not disappoint, after just a day of searching, the Empire discovered an isolated water domain that was suspected to be one of the lairs of these hideous mana freaks. The only problem was that unlike against the Space Beast, the Clown Empire refused to give Sebastian any significant help to hunt the Mana Lords. Though the Mana Lords never founded a beast Empire, no beast Empire in Oceania dared to antagonize them. These beasts were such powerful existences in Oceania that it would require balls of steel to go against them. Coincidentally, Sebastian had balls of steel. Sebastian didn''t blame the Clown Empire; he was grateful for the help that they were able to present already. This time, he resolved to tackle this problem his way without relying on the mighty thigh that he clung to which was the Clown Empire. Despite thinking this way, with all the information that he already knew about Mana Lords, Sebastian was not delusional enough to think that he could take on the smallest of their lairs alone. This was why he resolved to find help outside the Clown Empire. This originally left him in a dilemma, but a tip from Eliana gave him direction. After being excluded from the ongoing revolution for a reasonable amount of time, the chaos of the Orca Revolution finally extended towards the new region where the Firelight Shark Clan founded by Tungsten resided. Sebastian easily made his decision. He was going to help his brothers survive this disaster, and they would also help him with his plan. He knew that time was not static which prompted him to work even faster, the time was ticking away like a ticking time bomb. Chapter 406 - He Came Back! When the anatomy team that worked on the last priority research target discovered that their boss finally found a breakthrough though minor, they were all ecstatic as they went into a jubilatory mood. And of course, when they were informed of Sebastian''s decision, they all volunteered to help in any capacity that they could. From the day of rest when Sebastian just started thinking radically to remedy the stunted research target, it was 3 days already, and in this time, Sebastian already drafted the plan for his next series of actions. In his opinion, 3 days was too much time already. Sebastian''s plan was very simple, it simply entailed taking the strongest predators currently in the 1st Den of Anatomy with him to participate in the rescue plan for the Firelight Shark Clan. While taking the strongest predators alongside himself, he would leave the competent anatomists to keep on finetuning the 2 research successes. He hoped that by the time he came back with his price, the survival percentage of the Mana core implantation research would have improved. Of course, simply going to rescue the Firelight Shark Clan was not the end of his plans. With Eliana''s information, Sebastian already knew about the 3 powerful predators of the Firelight Shark Clan and what they were capable of. With Tungsten and Strong, even Queen Heareth along, Sebastian believed that his plan to capture a Mana Lord would become a lot easier. The next step of Sebastian''s plan was Doctor Josephine escorting the rescued sharks back to his Den of Anatomy while he and the other powerful predators finally go on the hunt with the information from the Clown Empire. Of course, if the hunt was successful, the next step was bringing the Mana Lord back while resuming the research on the alternative mana recovery option. Once Sebastian went through the plan one last time, confirming that there were no loopholes, he finally left with his entourage. That day, 10 military-grade shuttles left the 1st Den of Anatomy. ¡­ "Commander Strong, the 3rd frontline defense line just crumbled!" ¡­ "Commander Strong, the 5th frontline defense line just crumbled!" ¡­ "Commander Strong, our rear defense line just suffered a breach!" "HOLD YOUR GROUND!" A powerful voice filled with such raw might that instilled a sense of authority and safety on the sharks reverberated through the comms as the battling sharks found their safety net. This haven did not prove resilient enough though as another news finally broke the conviction of the battling Great White Sharks, spreading panic that even Commander Strong himself could not resolve immediately. "Commander Strong, a defensive breach has just been established by the enemies that lead directly into the pen!" This time, the voice sounded horrified, angered, and in disbelief. "The Queen is already withstanding enemy attacks herself!" Once Commander Strong heard this, it was like a fuse switched in his head as a sense of aggressive protectiveness erupted all over him. "Nooo¡­! Not the pen!" Since the day that he took the oath to become the first military Commander of the Firelight Shark clan, Strong took on a lot of responsibilities such as ensuring the survival of his subordinates and every single shark of the clan. The pen was the most protected part of the new clan, and this was the part where he also felt more protective, suddenly hearing that this zone was breached despite all the heavy protection left him horrified. As he imagined scenarios of what may or may not be happening at this moment, a sense of horror gripped his heart that made his blood burn hot. "Nooo!!!" For the first time, Commander Strong charged out of his command post straight into the battlefield, to the heart where Queen Heareth was fighting. Originally, he commanded the army from a distance, common sense telling him that the time was not ripe yet for him to engage physically, but with the pen now threatened, he would be a fool for not acting immediately. Once Strong came out in the open, the army Commander of this clan that was already infamous in the region finally came before the enemies. A few days ago, the Orca Revolution that was currently sweeping through the Green Mist Sea finally extended here. Because they settled here not too long ago and were a relatively new clan in the region, the Firelight Shark Clan had no significant enemies at the moment and were supposed to be safe for some time, at least. Things didn''t always go to plan though, and today was one of these days. The Firelight Shark Clan had no enemies, but their allies did. The Triton Clan was a powerful beast clan that unlike Old Mak''s clan had the privilege to grow with time without encountering a disaster like the Volcanic eruption. Survival in Oceania was not easy. In most cases, a beast clan surviving the turbulence meant that another beast clan met its end. Unfortunately for the Triton Clan, one of the beast clans that were supposed to have met their end during their rise was not annihilated completely. The Orca Revolution was a disaster to most and a revival opportunity to a few. The 3-Tip Orca Clan that once suffered a near-annihilation defeat to the Triton clan finally had the opportunity to reemerge. The Orca Empire was a mighty beast Empire, but it was inevitable that it could not spread its tentacles to every corner of Oceania. In some regions, Orcas did not enjoy privileges due to their senior bro. The 3-Tip Orca Clan was one of these unlucky clans of Orcas, but with the sudden Revolution of their big bros, they got the teeth that they lacked previously. Now, this powerful Killer Whale Clan was back to hunt their hunters. In this fairytale-like story, the innocent Firelight Shark Clan was unexpectedly drawn into the fire zone, now they had no choice but to join the war. This was what culminated in all that was currently happening. A frenzied Commander Strong charged in the direction of the Pen. Faced with the reality that the precious baby sharks were about to die, Strong entered a super shark state. In his full war gear, he turned to a gym freak war machine as he bulldozed his way through all the obstacles before him. After his evolution, Commander Strong already developed an extremely notorious reputation from the few major battles that he fought. One on one, at close range, Commander Strong was unstoppable! Despite the army of powerful Killer Whales that were currently facing him, his body simply swatted them away like they were mere bugs. His strength was already prodigious enough, but perhaps due to his current extreme emotional state, Strong managed to activate one of the magic effects of his sole living weapon that he got from his master, the Berserker state! In the Berserker state, all Strong''s attributes increased by 100%. Not only that, the more he was beaten in battle, the stronger he became, this presented a scenario where he could grow infinitely stronger so long as he lived. This current state Strong entering the battlefield was unfair to the Orcas. Boom! Boom! Boom! Strong bulldozed his way through the Orcas, smacking left and right, crunching Orcas to death with impunity, he unleashed a massive wave of destruction till he arrived at the pen. On arriving, he discovered Queen Heareth with some minor injuries but he heaved a sigh of relief since the Queen managed to protect every single baby shark. With the pen safe, Strong could finally focus on unleashing his wrath on the Orcas who dared to target this extremely important location. "Die!" "Die!" "Die!" Strong unleashed a wave of death. You crash into him, you die, he crashes into you, you die, you attack from afar, he sends a tooth and you die, Strong was the perfect embodiment of a physical killing machine. Despite how much he killed, the 3-Tip Orca Clan was relentless, more Orcas kept on coming as more protector Great White Sharks died. This continued until the life of the first baby shark was finally threatened. Strong was horrified, he was angered, but he could do nothing as he was already preoccupied with battling another cluster of Killer Whales. The Firelight Shark Clan was pushed to the wall. Of course, the clan already contemplated escaping from this region but the ruthless Orcas already cut off all their escape routes, they were trapped. Tension ran high, Tungsten who was leading the battle on the main battlefield felt it even more. "Am I about to fail my elders?" Before the first baby shark could die, change finally came. When the sharks least expected it, help came! "It''s Sebastian!" "Seba bro!" "He survived!" "He came back!"