Undersea Reincarnation - [Octopus Monster Evolution LitRPG]

From tracking the mysterious-looking turtle back in his old world to sinking below the waves, Henry told them everything. Waking up in a turtle shell, nearsighted and color blind, meeting the System, getting ambushed by an eel, struggling against the sharks and meeting the whales. Henry went through most, if not all, of his experiences, while Velistraine and Zerathstra listened. At first, he had intended on keeping it brief, but the captain was a great audience, her expression shifting and emoting along with his retelling. He even thought he saw her eyes shine when he talked about parting ways with the whales, at which point, after waving him to continue, she summoned an intricate glass bottle and proceeded to fill three small glass cups with an amber-colored spirit that somehow managed to burn Henry's nose.

He didn't think alcohol could get that kind of reaction out of him, considering his stats.

After downing the shot—and nearly blacking out from the violently intoxicating drink—he moved on to what happened in the algae forest while channeling some mana into Arcane Regeneration to fight off the surprisingly powerful drink. He told them about how he nearly died to a suicidal lionfish—one of which was still sitting in his storage—fighting the juvenile serpent, being stalked by the Trickster and dealing with its progeny until it all culminated in the final fight over the whale's calving ground. Then he spoke of going through the Trickster's den and finding the leviathan's skeleton embedded in the rock.

Velistraine asked to see the turtle shell, which she didn't recognize. But at the mention of the ball he recovered from the cave and how it pointed up toward the second planet above, she blinked, and Zerathstra titled his head before he tentatively answered, as if he already knew the answer to his own question. "Do you mean the pearl you wagered in your duel with young Sev?"

Velistraine's head whipped around, eyes shining, though this time, it wasn't anything noble or emotional. Seeing the glint of greed, Henry resolved to not let her borrow the treasure if she asked for it, especially when she skooched closer to him, a wide ingriating smile on her lips. "Pearl?"

Zerathstra clicked his tongue, and the captain caught herself as she straightened up. "Right. Not the time. But let's talk later about those leviathan teeth later," she whispered before she schooled her features. "About the metal ball… what does it look like?"

The intensity of the duo made him frown for a second, then with a shrug, he triggered Maw of the Trickster a couple of inches in front of his sternum, and with his hand, he caught the cold coppery ball.

Huh. A bit bigger than I remember.

While back in the den, Henry had been pretty large. Comparatively, the sphere was merely the size of a bead back then. Now that he had human proportions, he had to readjust. It was a bit smaller than his fist, but barely. Its surface was smooth. Unblemished, and when he glanced up at the two A-ranks, he found them staring at the object, eyes wide and a moment later, Velistraine looked down at her own hand as a frown drew itself on her brow, mumbling to herself. A pulse of magic later, another metallic ball appeared out of her ring.

Henry's breath caught as she extended her hand toward him. The new sphere had the shine of silver, and when the two objects were near enough, Henry felt a pull, as if they had been holding two magnets close to each other.

Velistraine grinned, then before Henry could warn against it, she relaxed her grip, and the two spheres made contact with a metallic clink.

In that fraction of a second before the two objects collided, the world slowed as Henry scrambled to activate all of his defensive spells. Even as he tried to pull his arm away, he realized that it was too late and so he squinted while the metallic sound reached his ears.

Thankfully, there were no explosions. None as far as he could see. But something did happen.

The moment the two orbs came in contact, a wave of purple light spread along their surface, highlighting an intricate matrix of scribbles that seemed to cover all the orb's surface, and a moment later, the magical writing disappeared, and they were left with two orbs sticking to each other.

Both Henry and Zerathstra glared at the woman who might have killed them all if this thing had been a bomb or any other kind of weapon, and when she realized what she'd done, she gave them a shrug and a sheepish grin. "Sorry?"

Zerathstra rubbed his face, head shaking slightly, but he never stopped staring at the two orbs as Henry put them down on the wooden surface of the dock. The ape took a deep breath, nodded to himself, then got up to his feet. "Wait here."

Velistraine looked up. "What? Where are you going? Do you have one too?!"

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Ignoring her, the ape jumped and disappeared in the canopy, while Velistraine gave Henry an offended look as if she couldn't believe the ape's behavior, which lasted for barely a couple of seconds before she turned her attention back to the mysterious orbs. With an extended finger, she poked one and watched them roll innocently. "What do you think this is? Have you seen anything like this in your world? Wait… you said there's no magic over there, right? That must be fascinating," she said, grinning.

"It's definitely a different experience," he said, looking back down at the two orbs. Henry had no idea what they were. His experience with magical items was practically inexistent, having mostly relied on his own skills ever since he'd gotten to this world. But considering the little light-show that had happened when the two orbs made contact, he had the firm belief that they were part of a set. Tapping his fingers on his knees, he hummed. "Maybe a puzzle of some sort? Or a key? Were you able to read what had been written on them?"

Velistraine snorted. "Nope. Those aren't runes I recognize. Though maybe… hmm. Let's try separating them again."

They did so. It took some strength to detach them, much more than any magnet Henry believed existed, but they soon came free, and when he let them reconnect again, the orbs lit up with the intricate script.

It's like someone dipped an ant in ink and made it crawl on these things.

Velistraine had been leaning close to watch the reaction and not even a second later, she shook her head. "Nope. No clue. But I can tell you it's not just the surface. There are more runes activating deeper into the orbs. Much, much more."

At that point, Zerathstra came down from the canopy, with something tucked under his arm, and Henry held his breath.

No way…

Crouching, Zerathstra hovered a rust-red orb above the three, gazing between them, then allowed his arm to lower until it was merely a foot away from the copper and silver orbs.

The set jumped up, twisting in the air, and the silver orb slammed into the rust-red sphere. This time, the runes lit up with a blue shine as the light spread out along the rod-straight row of orbs.

The dock was quiet as the waves lapped at the wood below them, and when Henry finally looked up at the ape, he found the ape intently staring at the 3-set of orbs, one hand under his chin. A moment later, he lowered his hand and sat down. "My… friends left me with this. A while ago. When they left me to guard this settlement. They told me to keep it safe."

"[Henry! There are guests here! We're friends already. Where are you?]"

The crab was poking the invisible clone above his head, so Henry told him he'd be up soon before he turned to Zerathstra. "Did they leave you with any clues about what it could be?"

Next to them, Velistraine stilled for a second, but she said nothing, as if she'd just remembered something, and Zerathstra shook his head as he picked up the mysterious set. "It never reacted to anything aside from pointing up at Sevaria when coupled with divination. Nothing made it react. I didn't try destroying it, but I can't think of anything else I hadn't tried."

Velistraine got up and dusted off her pants as she spoke. "I tried that. Didn't even leave a scratch. That's why I kept it."

Zerathstra sighed. "Of course you did."

Ignoring the ape's mumbling, she continued. "Also… I know where another one is."

Both Henry and Zerathstra straightened up at that while the captain seemed to have swallowed a fly. How many more were there, he wondered. And what was their use? What was their secret?

Did it have anything to do with the turtles and with how I got here?

Henry felt that might be a slight stretch, as these items seemed to have been hanging around for a while. But two dead turtles near one of the orbs was an odd coincidence.

"Well? Where is it?" asked Zerathstra.

Velistraine grimaced. "Atall of the Isles."

Henry frowned. Was that a city?

"Isn't he a friend of yours?" Zerathstra asked, tilting his head.

Velistraine looked at her nails, then up at the canopy before mumbling. "We… uhm. Had a falling out. He wanted to get into the politics of his homeland and, well, you know..."

The ape ruefully shook his head, while Henry turned back to the set, thinking of one of his skills. Focusing his attention on his Navigator-Octomind, he asked. "[Try and find the others.]"

The skill activated, and the two A-ranks turned to him questioningly, sensing the increased flow of mana. Before they could ask him, he told them what he had in mind. "I'm gonna see if I can find any others. They're a set, and I feel like Pathfinding might be able to get us something."

Now, how hard would that be?