Undersea Reincarnation – [Octopus Monster Evolution LitRPG]

 

Henry clicked the exchange button, his tentacle still wrapped around his meal’s tail.

 

Goatfish Core (F) was exchanged for 3 Consumption Tokens.

 

Immediately, he felt the notification come through. “Should have used Identify on the Core. I need to start using that Skill.”

 

Mimicking Tentacles (F): Level 2 -> Level 4

Bite (F): Level 1 -> Level 2

Access to Stat Increase module granted.

Access to Skill Acquisition module granted.

Access to Trait Acquisition module granted.

 

Though this time, he didn’t get a Skill. Henry took a bite of his fish, feeling grateful for the lack of sensory nerves in his mouth, and waited again.

Nothing.

“One… no, two possibilities; Either Dart is blocking the new Skill, or the fish didn’t have a Skill.”

He looked down at the fish. And took another bite. Then another.

“Well, if Dart isn’t blocking new temporary Skills, then this fish doesn’t have a Skill.”

Henry ate until he felt full, then a quick look above told him it was time to leave. A few larger fish seemed to have noticed his meal, and they were circling closer.

“I’m full anyway,” he thought as he slinked away. He carefully looked into the rock crevices, then entered one that was covered by some anemones. A large dotted rust-red starfish was nestled against it, and Henry decided that would be dessert.

“Maybe it has a healing Skill. Those would be important to have, if they exist.”

Feeling safe and comfortable in the roomy crevice, he started with Stats.

What did I say? Right. Perception. And Constitution.

The Stat Increase menu listed every Stat, and he had to click on each to get the cost of the increase. Henry was surprised at the costs.

“So Perception’s at two, and it costs one Token to increase, while Spirit’s at four, but it costs… six Tokens? So the higher their value is, the more expensive they’ll be to increase. Good to know.”

He tapped Perception.

 

Increase Perception: 2 -> 3 

Increase [1 CT] | Cancel

 

“Perfect. One Perception, please.”

Light coalesced around him, and Henry flinched. Some ink may or may not have been lost, but that wasn’t the focus right now. The light seemed to intensify, and he thought he could see motes of light drifting toward his eyes. Henry braced for… something. Pain? Pinching? He didn’t know. He did have to close his eyes though, as the light was blinding.

He felt a soft heat enter his eyes, then felt an uncomfortable burn. As if he’d opened his human eyes in salt water. The heat spread from his eyes to his brain for a moment, and then it was over. Henry opened his eyes.

“Yes! Colors!”

Henry peeked out and looked around, then his smile faltered.

There were colors, sure. But his depth perception was still pretty bad. Everything was still somewhat distorted, and the colors weren’t as vibrant as he knew they could be.

He got back inside and popped the menu up again. “Let’s see for another…. Crap.”

 

Increase Perception: 3 -> 4 

Increase [2 CT] | Cancel

 

Henry glared at the prompt with his crappy vision. Did he want to put everything on Perception?

Henry thought about it for a second, then shook his head. “After the next hunt.”

He bought a point for Constitution, which immediately made his Health go from 90% to 92%. For the last point, he explored the other modules before committing.

The Trait Acquisition module was empty, and the Skill module had one item. He clicked it.

 

Acquire Skill: Dart(F) - 10 Consumption Tokens 

Insufficient Tokens 

 

“Fine.”

Henry scanned the stats again. “What else can I increase… Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution again. If Constitution raised my health, then I assume Spirit does the same for mana. Strength is straightforward. Dex… not sure.”

He went with Constitution. The same phenomenon happened again, with motes sinking into him. Moments later, his health went up again by another two percent.

Henry sighed and looked out. Well, at least he had a path forward. He just had to get out there, and hunt everything he could beat.

Though now that he thought of his stats… “What’s the point of class levels? Are they worth investing in? System?”

Nothing answered him. “Fine. Keep your secrets.”

Henry looked around his small cave, and decided to rest up. Maybe his health and mana would recover a bit. Then he could go out and hunt.

“I’ll come for you, eel. In… god knows how long. But I’ll get there.”

He felt sleepy. But right before he let his mind drift, he clamped his tentacles around him, and mimicked a rock.

Then he went to sleep.

Henry woke up to excruciating pain. 

He jerked away and reflexively shot a jet of ink, which had the unfortunate side effect of making him blind.

His tentacle was burning with pain. When he tried to pull it, it felt stuck in something. “What’s happening?”

Henry darted toward the exit, expecting to hit something on the way out, but nothing happened. He realized he still couldn’t dislodge his foot. Though from this angle he could see what was causing the pain.

“You little shit.”

Henry dove at the rust-red starfish, beak ready to strike. It had somehow dragged one of his tentacles under its center and begun to munch on it. 

The starfish didn’t offer much resistance, and a second later there was a beak-shaped hole in its central disk. Which had the unfortunate consequence of shaving off the tip of his tentacle.

Henry freed his limb from the starfish and glanced at his health. It was at 90%. 

The tentacle was still pulsing with pain. A few seconds later his health went down to 89%, confirming his fear.

“Venomous. It's a carnivorous, venomous starfish.”

What should he do? He looked down at the starfish, and to his shock, horror and fascination, he saw the hole begin to reform.

“No way… I damaged the central disk. It shouldn’t be able to reform.”

The starfish didn’t care for his opinions and continued reforming. The dots on its rough skin were fading, one by one. Then a limb curled, and it began crawling out of the crevice. One millimeter at a time.

“Would I adapt? Is this a dangerous venom?”

An idea came to him. He hated it, but it might help.

The pulsing pain was still at the extremity of the tentacle and, having already lost a limb to the eel yesterday, he knew he could stop the blood flow. So Henry brought the tentacle under him, and bit the extremity off.

“Damn it. Why the ocean? Why a fucking octopus?”

Blue blood drifted off the severed limb, and his health dipped by another two percent, but he could feel the burning pain lessening.

He glared at the starfish. Then glanced at his notifications.

 

Venomous Grip (F) was copied by Magic Mimic. Ephemerals are full. Replace Dart (F)?

 

“Looks useful,” admitted Henry. He glared at the starfish and reached out a tentacle to pull it back.

“I’m not done with you, little guy.”

How did it heal? Was it another Skill? If so, Henry needed it. But could he risk ingesting more of this thing? Well… yes. Probably. He just got confirmation that its grip was venomous. Not necessarily its blood.

“Or I can wait for a few hours. See if the bit I already ingested does anything.”

The starfish slowly curled toward his tentacle, and Henry dropped it in front of him. “You’re a dick. And I will make it quick. But you’re gonna give me your Skills first.”

Henry wanted to test something as he waited to see if the starfish’s blood was poisoned. He refused the replacement of Dart (F), then went to the Skill Acquisition Module.

Venomous Grip was available for purchase.

“So I just need to encounter the Skill to get it? Same price too... Good to know.”

Thirty minutes or so later, his health had gone up by one percent and Henry felt somewhat confident he hadn’t been poisoned. So he leaned over the starfish, and used Bite on one of the starfish’s limbs. He tried to keep the barest piece in his mouth, then swallowed it.

He watched more of the white spots disappear from the starfish’s skin and the limb began to slowly reform. “Please give me that. Whatever that is.”

Then the System answered his prayer.

 

Hoard Vitality (F) was copied by Magic Mimic. Ephemerals are full. Replace Dart (F)?

Hoard Vitality (F): Store 10% of your health to be released at will or when severely injured for a burst of healing.

 

Henry looked down at the Skill description, and he couldn’t feel the excitement he hoped for. Did it take the health away to give it back later? It sure looked like it…

“Do I want it instead of Dart, though?”

Henry considered it for a moment, then looked down at the starfish. Should he kill it and take the Core?

Henry didn’t feel good about that. It was trying to get away… and it was utterly defenseless.

“Yeah. I’d rather go hunt something else.” Trying to kill the starfish might take a while, with the many spots he could see remaining, and that felt like cruelty. 

Henry peeked out of his den and chucked the starfish. “You paid for your freedom with your blood. Don’t be a dick next time.”

He turned his attention back to his menu, and sighed. “Alright, let’s do some testing.”