I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature

Chapter 16. The Orca Tribe

Aside from the status window, something else appeared. It was the Path of Ascension. Just like during the jelly octopus days, there was a quest this time as well.

【Ascension】

[Path of Ascension - Deep King Tribe]

[Having read the stone tablet, the path to ascension into a higher species opens. The next species available for ascension will be one of the Deep King Tribe, Sea Dragon Tribe, or Spirit Abyss Tribe. The option with the highest probability among higher species is prioritized in the list.]

[The conditions required for the species’ ascension are presented. After completing all evolutions, satisfy 4 of the following conditions.]

-Encounter the Snail of Darkness.

-Form a good relationship with one human being.

-Gold is desire itself. Gather one ton of gold.

-Encounter a creature possessing divinity. Retroactive application is not possible.

-Defeat one sea creature stronger than yourself.

-Deal with a creature that has risen from the deep sea.

‘What the hell? A ton of gold? Divinity? What even is this?’

It felt like the difficulty had increased compared to the jelly octopus days.

* * *

Orcas were traditionally a matriarchal society. The reason was simple—females lived about thirty years longer than males.

Because of this, orcas, regardless of gender, rarely left their mothers and would form large tribes under the leadership of an elderly female.

The eldest grandmother was, accordingly, an experienced and skilled hunter.

Thus, the head of a tribe was called the Matriarch.

These orcas, blessed by their ancestors who had ascended into the Deep King Tribe, possessed far greater intelligence and longevity.

The tribe's matriarch was an astonishing one hundred and sixty years old.

Matriarch Lancia was bewildered by an event she had never experienced before in her long life, but her age and wisdom kept her from acting rashly.

'What should I do?'

According to the tribe's rules, an orca born from a different mother cannot be accepted into the same pod.

The orca who introduced himself as Yul had an extraordinary origin—he had not been born from any mother's womb.

He hadn't even been born an orca, yet the orcas understood what ascension was—the act of transforming completely from one species into another.

If that was the case, then that creature was no longer an octopus—it was an orca.

All the tribe's elders, regardless of whether they belonged to the Traditional Faction or the Traditional faction, gathered together and started arguing heatedly.

-That’s a freak! It wasn’t born from a mother — it turned into an orca from some weird creature! And it even speaks our language? Kill it now, that ominous thing!

-Nonsense! You're talking about killing a child? Get a hold of yourself! And besides, you're saying it transformed from another species into ours? That's no trivial matter! This is ascension happening right before our eyes!

-That's right, elder! If it truly ascended from a lowly creature into our kind, doesn't that make it a divine creature? Perhaps it might even be capable of ascending into the next species after ours!

-Bah! You young ones, get out of here! How dare you interrupt when your elders are speaking!

When even the younger ones who had been listening jumped into the fray, chaos erupted.

Especially the leader of the Traditional Faction, he was the most vocal of all.

-Hand him over to us, the Traditional Faction! He must be protected and taught to share with us the knowledge of ascension!

-What nonsense!

-Didn't he himself say he doesn't know why he ascended into our species? Isn't that right, Nugh?

-Yes. From what I observed, that is the case. He was the jelly octopus who helped us seal the Sirendron, but he said he doesn't understand why he became an orca himself.

The warrior Nugh, who came forward as a witness, testified with a dazed expression.

-See? If that's not ominous, then what is?"

-The divine is always accompanied by ambiguity.

As the argument threatened to escalate, Matriarch Lancia made a swift decision.

- Enough. Forget about his origin for a moment and think differently. Suppose our tribe went out hunting and found a calf that had lost its mother in another sea. What would we do?"

-We'd bring it back and raise it.

-Then treat this as the same.

At Lancia's firm words, the dispute finally reached a conclusion. No matter the origin or different former species, a motherless calf would be taken in and raised.

Aside from his unusual birth, Yul looked no different from any other orca, so the reasoning made sense.

However, that did not ease the tension between the Traditional Faction and the Traditional faction.

It was only the Matriarch's overwhelming authority that kept their conflict buried deep beneath the surface.

* * *

Yul was captivated by the orca's strength and speed.

The smooth, streamlined body was perfectly designed for swimming.

With just a small twist of his body, he could travel much farther than he ever could as a jelly octopus and with far greater power.

'Even a muscle-enhanced jelly octopus couldn't compare. It feels like the entire physical scale of my species has increased.'

Roughly speaking, if evolution had previously raised his stats by ten points, then evolving into an orca felt like every stat had increased by a hundred.

And though his body length was currently only about two meters, it would grow several times larger as time passed.

-What are you doing?

After Lancia and Nugh left to continue their discussion, Yul was checking over his own body when a voice startled him.

It came from above, from someone he hadn't sensed at all.

The owner of that ghostlike presence, whose movements carried no sound or sign, was a smaller, more delicate female orca than Nugh.

From what Yul could tell, she seemed nearly an adult or just about to become one.

-Hi? I’m Tuania. You’re that orca called Yul, right? Hmm?

The orca looked him over with curious interest.

-So you're the strange one Grandpa mentioned. You look ordinary, though.

-Grandpa?

-Nugh. He's my grandfather.

Yul blinked. Nugh had a granddaughter? From what he'd sensed, Nugh had felt like a young adult, maybe in his thirties.

-How old is Nugh, exactly?

-My grandpa? Eighty.

-That's... surprising.

-Well, our kind is blessed not only with intelligence but also with longevity.

Even so, Nugh had been such a formidable warrior, still looking fit and nowhere near old. Truly a blessing of longevity...

-You know there's chaos in the village right now because of you, right?

-I'm aware.

-Especially the Traditional Faction, they're in an uproar.

-Traditional Faction?

Tuania moved beside Yul as silently as a shadow, not making the slightest sound.

Even though Yul was watching her with his own eyes, he couldn't sense her presence at all—it was unsettling.

-The Orca Tribe's Traditional Faction revere the Deep King Tribe as gods and worship their power. In contrast, the Traditional faction wants independence, to walk their own path apart from the Deep King Tribe.

'Orcas have politics, too?'

From the sound of it, it wasn't quite like a political party, more like a primitive division of beliefs.

Still, Yul could roughly guess how each faction might view him.

Tuania continued speaking to him with a friendly tone.

-You know, about you—huh?! I should go now.

-Huh? Why all of a sudden?

Tuania vanished as silently as she'd appeared.

Yul soon realized why, the head of the Orca Tribe, Matriarch Lancia, had arrived.

-Yul, the meeting in the village has ended.

Yul turned toward her as Lancia relayed the decision made during the assembly.

-If you choose to accept your fate and live as an orca, then you must learn our ways as the others do. In that case, we will accept you into the village.

-Understood.

-Are you sure?

It sounded like an easy decision, but it wasn't. Yul had already been thinking that it would be nice if he could blend into this orca village.

After all, Ian had said he wouldn't return to the lighthouse for another three years, so staying with the orcas until then didn't seem like such a bad idea.

'So, I've somehow been accepted as one of their kind, huh?'

Even though the orcas' reactions toward Yul were split—some welcoming, others wary—he wasn't particularly worried.

If things ever got dangerous, Madness would activate automatically. In that case, he could just smash through the nearest wall and escape.

But there was no need for that. Yul had been accepted here, albeit imperfectly.

Just as he was thinking that—

'Huh? My breath...'

Yul suddenly felt as though he couldn't breathe. It was a first for him. Ever since he was born as a deep-sea creature, he had never once breathed.

But unlike his previous form, orcas—despite their powerful physiques—required oxygen.

Instinctively, he swam up toward the surface.

Pwoof!

As he took his first breath and exhaled, the cold night air of the sea filled his lungs.

The blowhole was on top of his head. The strange sensation fascinated him, and an unexpected wave of emotion washed over him from that single, short breath.

It was only breathing, but that first breath of his life was deeply, overwhelmingly moving.

* * *

-Then let me introduce you to the orca you'll be living with. You already know him, don't you? It's Nugh of the Warrior Corps. Since he's successfully completed his recent mission, he'll be returning to his family for a while.

Nugh was assigned to take responsibility for Yul's training and education until he reached adulthood.

He had temporarily left the Warrior Corps and said he would travel with his family for a time.

Yul would be joining them.

At first, Yul felt some resistance toward the idea of a creature "raised," but given that his current body was about the size of an orca calf, he eventually accepted it.

It felt strange, realizing that throughout his twisted life so far, he'd never really had a childhood as a living creature. He didn't need protection, yet someone was offering it to him.

In any case, Yul left the village with Nugh and, for the first time, swam through the upper ocean layers.        

-Come, Yul. I'll introduce you to my family.

Nugh presented his family: his mate, Nemore, along with their three children and grandchildren, thirteen orcas in total.

-This is the child?

-Yes. He's the one we'll be taking in.

-Welcome, Yul.

-Hello.

Nemore was about the same size as Nugh. Normally, a female would be the leader, but in this pod, Nugh seemed to hold that position.

The one who welcomed Yul most warmly was Tuania.

He later learned why—most of the pod consisted of older orcas, and the only one younger than Tuania was Yul himself.

-So you're coming with us too?

-Where are we going?

-The northern region where the Blue Wave sleeps.

Yul followed the pod as they departed the village.

Nugh's family migration led them far to the northern seas.

As they swam through the vast open waters, Yul began learning the basics, starting with hunting.

[You have consumed a Great Azure Ocean Tuna.]

[Gained 22 Experience Points.]

[302/600]

That was the first time Yul ate prey that someone else had caught, and he realized his experience points still increased.

'Even if I don't catch it myself, I still gain experience? That's amazing.'

The tuna had been caught by one of Nugh's sons, not Yul himself.

He passed one tuna over to Yul, who, upon seeing it, couldn't stop his mouth from watering. As he bit into it, he savored the warm, fatty, oily taste.

Chomp, chomp.

-How can he eat an entire tuna by himself?

Tuania, surprised by Yul's appetite, teased him.

-He's like a pig, Uncle.

-... Well, maybe so.

-Isn't it normal to eat a whole one?

-Most can't, you know.

A "pig"? Yul almost asked how she even knew that word, but then remembered that everything he heard from them was somehow translated into words he could understand, so he let it go.

'Now that I think about it, I've never really felt full or hungry before.'

There had been times when Yul seriously wondered if everything he ate just vanished into a black hole in his stomach, turning straight into experience points.

At first, he only ate what they caught for him, but when the others noticed how fast he was growing, several times quicker than normal, Nugh began taking him along on hunts.

Yul carefully observed how they lured fish, how they formed encirclements, and how they hunted together.

'What an intelligent way to hunt.'

It was a method that used every aspect of the orcas' physical abilities. The large females would first swim upward and take deep breaths.

Then, from below, they would create bubble nets, forming a kind of wall or net in the water.

The school of tuna, unable to think of breaking through, would flee in other directions, and in doing so, they were guided into a trap.

Then, the waiting orcas would charge in like bullets, each snatching up a tuna small enough to fit into their mouths.

'Looks doable.'

Though Yul was still smaller than the others, watching the larger orcas hunt made him confident he could do it too.

-Wanna give it a try?

Without even answering Tuania who had been watching from the side, Yul moved.

-Huh? Hey! Wait—it's my turn!

Yul shot forward like a torpedo, clamping down on the smallest tuna in the school and catching it in his jaws.

Then he slipped out through the bubble net, holding the wriggling fish tightly between his teeth.

-Oh? That's not Tuania, it's Yul!

From afar, Nug watched in amazement.

Yul had succeeded in his first hunt. Tuania did grumble at Yul later for taking her turn, though.

'So this is what it feels like.'

Living as an orca felt like joining a hunting tribe. The strange sense of belonging and the satisfaction that came with it stirred something deep inside Yul's heart.

The orcas packed their catches neatly into enormous giant clamshells for transport—large enough to hold a bounty of prey.