NOVEL NEXT Ch. 3
Chapter 3. Jelly Octopus
After much deliberation, Yul decided to ascend as a jelly octopus.
First of all, the octopus species has high intelligence and can do many things with its tentacles, which seems advantageous for survival.
‘…Or so I thought at that time.’
The abilities of ordinary octopuses that live in the sea's surface layer and those of deep-sea octopuses were different.
Other than its outward cuteness, it had nothing.
This octopus had fins attached near the ear-like parts that could flap around, but it had no ink. Nor did it have the special octopus ability of color transformation for camouflage.
Its tentacles were stubby, and except for the fact that there was a membrane between the tentacles, making swimming easier, it had no special traits.
‘So the cuteness was just a bonus…….’
Other than being able to endure the deep sea, it had no outstanding abilities.
[Ascension Complete]
[Jelly Octopus]
[A species of octopus that lives in the cold deep sea between about 200m–1,500m. Because it rarely encounters predators, it lacks defensive functions. It is, of course, cute.]
‘Give me something other than cutenesssssss!’
Wait, why would I rarely encounter enemies? I just saw a sea eel the size of a dragon god from DragonX not long ago.
[As the final function of ascension, you inherit one evolution gained from evolving a previous species.]
‘Inheritance? Then the ultrasonic organ.’
Honestly, among the previous evolutions, the most useful was the ultrasonic organ.
Without a light-emitting organ, eyes were almost useless in the dark environment of the deep sea.
【Evolution Status (Stage 0)】
【Creature Traits】
Deep-Sea Creature: Can adapt to deep-sea environments.
Cuteness: Cute.
【Inheritance】
- Ultrasonic Organ: An organ that emits weak ultrasonic waves. It can both detect and emit, making it useful for echolocation.
【Authority】 - Locked
【Awakening】 - Locked
【Ascension】 - Ascension Stage 1
Current Karma: 13
This Karma value seemed to have some influence on ascension.
‘What is Karma? Retribution?’
Perhaps it was the sum of everything done while living as this creature.
Simply eating something, meeting something, and struggling to survive was not enough.
If one achieved a great feat, perhaps one could accumulate more Karma.
For now, since he didn’t know exactly about Karma, he set it aside and decided to examine the octopus' body.
‘The feeling of having tentacles is really strange.’
The sensation of eight legs moving separately was truly odd. Each tentacle could feel on its own, and with these tactile receptors, he could sense both taste and texture at the same time.
Movement was done by using two fin-like wings on top of the head.
At the back of the head was a nozzle-like siphon, from which water was expelled, propelling him forward.
The movement speed was slow, but later, by using the tentacles to swim, it seemed it could get a little faster.
‘Still, I guess I can save some energy.’
Not eating brought hunger, but because of the slow speed, the energy efficiency was high.
But Yul was not reassured.
He recalled the first life-span sentence he had received after becoming a Xenoia. Since this jelly octopus was still an octopus, it would not live very long.
He had to complete his evolution and finish his ascension within his given lifespan to survive.
‘At least it won’t be in units of 30 days. I think I once heard that octopuses can live up to 2 years. Wouldn’t this deep-sea octopus be similar?’
He slowly moved away, propelling himself with bursts of water.
Scattering ultrasonic waves to scan the surroundings, as expected, nothing was detected.
There was a shrimp he had never seen before, so Yul approached and swallowed the shrimp whole.
[Experience required until next evolution]
[3/200]
‘A shrimp is worth 3 experience…….’
If he didn’t eat diligently and move diligently, it seemed dangerous.
Considering that the experience doubled, he might have to spend a few months doing nothing but eating and moving.
* * *
A week had passed.
Once he got as far away as possible from the region where the deep-sea mermaids lived, he was finally free of both the Sea God and the mermaids.
The deep sea was long and vast. It was a place filled only with terrifying silence.
And the density of living creatures was extremely low.
Yul kept repeating the cycle of eating, gaining experience, and swimming.
In this world without light, how he felt the passage of time was thanks to the status window that appeared on his right.
【Your Current Lifespan】
[Remaining – 4 years 50 days 1 hour]
This countdown to death became the motivation that made Yul diligent.
At last, after continuously accumulating experience, came the wondrous first evolution.
‘Finally, I ate enough.’
Yul knew he could choose the direction of his evolution, but if he strayed too far from reason, the status window would adjust it for him.
For example, if he said, ‘I want to use an incredibly powerful Hydro Pump!’ then accordingly it would respond with something like, ‘That doesn’t seem right, so here, I’ll give you an evolution where you can squirt a little water, hehe.’
So for the first evolution, it was speed. The deep sea was insanely vast, and the distribution of prey was terribly sparse.
[200/200]
[Evolution Conditions Met]
‘I need movement speed!’
[1. Improved Siphon Efficiency: The siphon nozzle sprays in a spiral to increase efficiency.]
[2. Improved Muscle Activity: Swim faster with stronger tentacle muscles. Speed comes from strength!]
[3. Eyes of the Deep-Sea Fish: If detection ability increases, won’t speed be unnecessary? With modified eyes, you can detect color even in the deep sea!]
[4. Locked.]
‘The system even finds improvements and puts them on a list? And why does it show the locked one too?’
For now, more sensory organs weren’t needed. Because the efficiency of ultrasonic waves was insane, he could detect almost everything.
After much deliberation, he chose to improve his muscle activity.
During his time as a human, his dream had been to be a gym rat… well, not really, but if the muscles grew stronger, the tentacle strength would also grow stronger, leading to an overall improvement.
[Evolution Complete]
[Improved Muscle Activity]
[Until Next Evolution]
[1/400]
‘Wow, the requirement is completely different.’
Now it seemed he had no choice but to just keep eating to raise experience.
This amount is too risky to achieve with just shrimp. I need new prey.
As he kept swimming around, Yul discovered something ‘artificial’ for the first time.
‘What is this?’
Checking the reflection of the ultrasonic waves, it looked just like a ‘temple.’
Like the Parthenon Temple of Greece, that kind of architecture.
Could such a structure really exist this deep in the ocean?
Yul even gave up on hunting for experience, moving his fins to inspect the underground structure.
Flap, flap.
If there had been air, it would have made that kind of sound. Arriving by swimming, he found the surroundings of the structure wrapped in a massive fence of chain material.
—Go away.
He felt as if the structure itself was saying that.
As if it was stirring the very roots of a creature, a disturbing sense of rejection was urging his body to turn back and leave.
‘No, but I'm curious!’
Even so, Yul pressed forward. If he wasn't going to go in, he wouldn't have come in the first place; he would have just focused on raising his experience.
Slipping neatly through a small gap between the steel chains, Yul went deeper inside.
‘Wow.’
Softly glowing luminous stones were embedded in the walls. Inside the temple, numerous stone statues were scattered about, as though sculpted by an artist.
‘Is this some kind of ultra-ancient civilization?’
Facing the mysterious traces of a sunken civilization, he felt a kind of thrill rising up inside.
If he didn’t think negatively about becoming an evolving deep-sea creature but thought positively, wasn’t this freedom to explore the unknown deep sea at will?
When Yul thought of himself as an explorer freely investigating the deep sea, his heart felt a little lighter.
He planned to look around the temple moderately, and if nothing special appeared, then leave.
While sending ultrasonic waves to examine the structure, Yul discovered something unusual.
‘An underground passage?’
Coming closer and scanning the structure with ultrasonic waves again, he confirmed that quite a space was hidden below.
‘I wonder what’s down there.’
In the first area, there were a great many stone coffins, but most of them had their lids open and were empty.
They looked like human coffins, roughly estimated at around 2 meters in size, varying with each sarcophagus.
At the end of the sarcophagi stood a door adorned with dazzling multicolored jewels, leading to another section.
As he looked around here and there, Yul discovered something like a cylindrical tube in front of the jewel-adorned door.
These were arranged along each wall, and they strongly evoked the image of a ‘cannon.’
‘Is this a dangerous place? Should I leave now?’
He planned to leave if the traps seemed too dangerous, and only look around as much as was safe.
He approached the cannon and picked up a pebble that had fallen nearby, then threw it.
Thud. Ziiiiiiing!
A terrifying heat beam blasted out, instantly ‘vaporizing’ the pebble, and Yul was startled in shock.
‘What the? It’s still working?’
At that moment, a voice rang out.
[Defense System Activated.]
[Checking.]
[Integrity 99.89%.]
[Error Detected.]
[Impurity discovered within the seal. Removal required.]
‘Huh? This isn’t the status window?’
It wasn’t the status window—something somewhere was actually operating.
Feeling a sense of crisis, Yul scanned his surroundings, and then one of the sarcophagi opened, and from within, some sort of doll rose up.
[Guardian - 08.]
[Remove the impurity.]
As the command fell, it spoke.
-Work again.
The being stepped out from the sarcophagus, detaching the frozen-liquid infusion tubes connected to its body.
Yul hurriedly looked for a place to hide and wedged himself in a corner.
‘What is this, an alien?’
It certainly looked like something one might call that: its head was in the shape of a long octopus, with beard-like tendrils sprouting from its chin.
Its body resembled that of a human, but its limbs were tentacles, and it wore a sleek, unknown-material black robe.
-Now, shall I find it?
As soon as the alien fiddled with a device on its arm, Yul felt something sweep over him.
‘Crap……!’
It wasn’t an ultrasonic wave. But he realized he had been detected by something. Ah, he shouldn’t have entered ruins like this!
He quickly stirred his tentacles, trying to escape, but the being instantly surged forward, riding the current.
-A deep-sea creature? But there should definitely have been a perception-blocking spell cast here.
The alien being cleaved through the water in an instant, soaring straight to cut Yul off.
There was no escape. Cornered, Yul blasted out a fierce ultrasonic wave, making the being halt in its movements.
He tried to flee again, but the enemy blocked his retreat.
So Yul darted deeper inside instead.
What lay ahead was a laser cannon set in front of the dazzling jewel-colored door.
Yul pressed himself low, slipping across above the cannon.
It was the tiniest hairline gap, but as long as the mouth could fit, an octopus body could slide through anywhere.
The startled being tried to follow Yul, but stopped in front of the active cannon.
-You… do you actually understand this trap is working?
As Yul stopped in front of the rainbow-hued door, it kept talking.
-Don’t worry, I have no intention of harming you.
‘What do you mean, your system just ordered you to eliminate me!’
Pouring a bit of will into it, Yul let out another ultrasonic blast, and the being’s two glowing eyes widened in astonishment.
-My name is Arktar. I’m an unfortunate, unpaid worker who ended up being chosen as a seal guardian for a thousand years. And I have no intention of harming you.