Undersea Reincarnation - [Octopus Monster Evolution LitRPG]

As he watched a particularly belligerent triggerfish chase the purple crabs back to their territory, where the crabs scuttled and hid between the giant roots of the trees supporting Thalis, Henry came to a realization: fusing Aspects was a lot easier in theory than it was in practice.

Camouflaged atop of a reef, Henry tuned out the images and sensations coming through his blood clones. Especially the one watching over Maurice. The crab was once more hanging out with the farmers, bugging them and helping them out in equal measures. He'd gone there directly after their lesson with Arisia, while Henry had elected to head down to the water and continue his practice.

Well, most things Arisia had called easy were a pain in the ass to copy.

Arisia's explanation had been both surprisingly simple and annoyingly frustrating at the same time. It turns out that fusing his Aspects would be as simple as combining the two concepts without having them reject each other. It involved meditation, long hours of thinking and visualizing the possible combinations, and finally, to really trigger the fusion, he had to combine both essences of the Aspects seamlessly, without either of them overpowering the other.

Combining skills was similar, although a bit more complex, but he wasn't ready to tackle that part. Once he managed to mix the essences perfectly, he could then move on to planning out skill fusions. In any case, before he could trigger the Aspect fusion, he had to be able to seamlessly and easily mix the essences of both Aspects, which he was nowhere near just yet.

Henry looked down at the last concept shard he'd created. It was, in a way, as if an indigo-colored gem had grown black, leaky pustules that emanated a haze of ink. Already, the little gem he had created by pooling both essences was breaking down much faster than the stable shards Arisia had allowed him to examine.

Not even close, he thought before chucking the failed attempt.

There were only so many times in a day Henry could do these exercises. While his mana recovered fast enough thanks to Draining Touch and Mana Nexus, the essence generated by his Aspects didn't. He liked to compare the Aspects to trees, and the essence of the Aspects to the sap that flowed through the trees. Just like maple trees, you could only get so much sap in a day, and then you had to let the tree recover. It was the same with his Aspects, and now he had one last attempt at success before he would have to retreat for the day.

I'm out of Essence for Shiftiness and Vitality. Same for Fury and Hunger, and I have one more attempt to combine Swiftness and Misdirection.

Henry paused for a moment. Maybe he shouldn't be pursuing all three all at once. But then again, this was the current next step in his progression. Just like Arisia and Zerathstra had said, he was better off resolving these fusions before the next evolution. While generally such endeavors were done at the B-rank levels, both of them agreed that getting this done now would allow the fused Aspects to mature and grow better into their new forms, which would give him a better foundation for what would come later.

Plus, it would make the evolution to A-rank easier.

It had already been a week since the fight against Tevarius, and Henry had had the chance to learn quite a few things. One of which was that the evolution to A-rank required one of his Aspects to become the glue that tied them all together, which was why it would be easier to do with four Aspects instead of seven.

When he had heard that, he'd been surprised for a short moment until he remembered the System's presentation in his last evolution.

It showed me a collection of fragments hovering in the air, held together by my class. And it did say that as long as everything clicked together, then it would be fine, no matter the number. I guess it sort of told me what needed to be done all the way back then.

Henry watched the triggerfish retreat as a large purple crab came to chase it away. In A-rank, he would have to figure out what the system was up to. Otherwise, he either had to stop leveling or, like Zerathstra, refuse to take the next step.

Those are worries for another time. For now, focus. One more attempt, then I'm calling it for today.

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Henry wasn't sure what he was going to do after, but it might be worth heading back up. Hunting and exploring could be nice, but with his Aspects tapped out of their essence, he'd be playing with fire. While he could survive most B-ranks, you never know when an A-rank could show up and ruin his day, and if he was out of essence when that happened, he'd be screwed.

With a deep breath, Henry pulled the remaining essence out of Misdirection and Swiftness into the center of his being. The former was like flitting, shifting shadows. A flow of dark ink that morphed and danced its way toward its destination, while Swiftness was like a jet of purple glowing energy that just wanted to teleport and accelerate toward where he willed it. The two concepts met, and Henry pulled on his Octominds to help him control the fusion, mainly by buffing his focus and keeping away distracting thoughts.

The two energies collided violently at first, and as he recited the meditative note he'd prepared in advance, the essences began to swirl around each other. He pushed his mana to them, both to give them a medium in which they'd mix, and to have something to crystallize later.

Speed and teleportation are part of misdirection. Swiftness is not just about movement, nor is it only about reaching a destination. It's also about making sure my enemies never grasp where I truly am. Every ink and blood clone can be the real me, and if they get lucky enough to find the real one, then Swiftness would allow me to take another clone's place. The real combination is not just about speed and misdirection, but it's about blurring the line between what's real and what's fake. It's not just about outrunning my pursuers, but about completely neutralizing their perception. It doesn't matter if they know where I am. So long as I have clones, I can't be caught.

The two essences slowed their rotation and slowly began to merge. The black, ink-like Misdirection gained a purplish hue and accelerated, as if Henry had pressed fast forward.

Now, stabilize… please.

Henry maintained the train of thoughts he'd invoked with the note, and kept his breathing even as the two energies began to separate and re-merge. Small clumps of black ink formed, then they dissolved again as he reasserted the image of the two concepts.

You two are one and the same. What's speed without misdirection?

The process was now coming to an end, and Henry began concentrating the result. The cycle of merging and rejection was slowing down, and if his experience had taught him anything, this was the moment where he would know if it succeeded or not. Usually, this was where things fell apart. Henry had tried giving the mixture longer before he concentrated it, but that didn't seem to matter.

Still, he had a good feeling for this one. This time, the essences had mixed faster than usual.

Maybe I'm getting better at conceptualizing the mix?

Henry didn't know. But he would figure it out, sooner or later.

With a practiced push, Henry coalesced the aspected mana a couple of inches in front of his eyes and, without relinquishing control, he pressed his will around it even harder, until the nimbus of dark purple began to take a physical form. When all of the mixture was crystallized into the shard, Henry took a deep breath and loosened his grip on his Octominds. Already, a few images flitted into his thoughts, and one of them made him frown.

Why is Maurice sitting behind a merchant's stand?

Henry pulled his attention away from the crab's shenanigans and examined the shard that fell on his arm.

Huh?

It… looked good. It wasn't perfect, but the blemishes and residues of Misdirection were minimal. If he were to put a number on it, he'd say only 5% of the matter hadn't mixed, which was much, much better than his last attempt.

I'll be damned. It's working.

Henry was at a loss for words for a moment. He wished he could make another attempt right away, but he was out of essence and it would take him at least 4 hours to have enough for another shot. Still, this was a win.

Alright. Let's go see what Maurice is up to. And why he should never sell fish and fruits at the same stand.

Honestly, the fact that the crab had put both meat and fruits on the same damn counter was bugging Henry more than anything else. Focusing on the clone sitting atop the crab, he began channeling mana into the recalling Blink, only to pause when he saw the feed of another clone.

Is that… Is that a ship?