Chapter 374: Second Evolution (1/2)

Gravis' body itched again, and a picture of a giant eel appeared inside his mind. 'No,' he simply stated and started morphing that picture. He changed it as much as he could until he felt the boundary again.

'Decreasing my size also counts as a change, huh,' Gravis thought with interest. 'Originally, I wanted to keep my bigger body to eat more food, but making my body small again in the future might eat up a whole change this way. I think it's better that I remain small, even though finding small Energy Beasts will be harder.'

Gravis envisioned his new body, and after around a minute, he finalized the image.

”Master, strong enemy,” the flounder contacted him suddenly.

'Really? Now?' Gravis thought with frustration as he lost his concentration. The image inside his head reverted into a giant eel. He checked his surroundings with his Spirit and saw the new arrival. 'Middle-rank Spirit Beast,' he judged.

CRRRRR!

Gravis tore the beast apart since it had disturbed his evolution, though he was quite surprised by the amount of Spirit that it took to kill it. Tearing that beast apart consumed over 10% of his Spirit.

'Tch, this could become troublesome in the future. I could use my body to actually battle the beasts, but it's nowhere near done. Gaining battle experience with this slithery body won't help me at all in the long run.'

The offender had been a 100-meter-long stingray. If it had come at any other time, Gravis would have only caught it with his Life Ring, but, right now, he had only been angry at it. One should remember that beasts also had no Karmic Luck, just like Gravis. Because of that, they might also experience something that could be considered bad luck.

Gravis quickly regained the image inside his head and changed it again. It was a hassle, but his body wouldn't evolve without a clear image in his mind. After a minute, the image finalized, and his body started changing again.

It took a couple of minutes before the process was over, and Gravis looked at his new body.

Gravis had shrunken to a length of two meters, even smaller than he had been initially. Together with his slim frame, he looked even lighter than a human, but that would obviously change in the future.

Yet, there was something that didn't fit the rest of his body at all. Two powerful, imposing, muscle-filled arms grew out of his ”chest”. They were around half as long as his body, but they were even wider. The arms ended in hands with five fingers, which had claws at their end. If one looked at Gravis, they would think that half his body was comprised of these massive arms.

Yet, since he still had his slimy skin, they only looked weird. Gravis was happy with the results, but he also felt like he was becoming an abomination. An appearance like this looked surreal and weird.

'The next evolution will be my scales. Changing the outer layer probably also won't eat up an entire change. I should be able to move my mass around a bit, and making my torso wider shouldn't be an issue in the next evolution.'

”Can I eat?” the flounder suddenly asked.

Gravis looked at it and frowned a bit. After some thinking, he shrugged, thanks to his new arms.

Clank!

A Formation Array inside the flounder broke as it was released from the Life Ring's influence. It had tried to kill him, but it had also protected him. He felt like he should free it and get another guide. The flounder's lack of intelligence was more frustrating than helpful. It was also too big to eat.

The flounder's eyes widened as its old thoughts returned.

”Go, you're free now,” Gravis transmitted nonchalantly.

”You weak! You dare hurt me!?” it transmitted with anger as it shot at Gravis.

CRRRK!

And like that, the flounder was dead. Gravis sighed. 'I try to be nice for once out of pity, and look what happens,' he thought with disappointment as he shook his head. 'Fuck that stupid ass flounder!'

Sadly, the flounder was also way too big for him. Eating it would take ages. So, Gravis simply shot away.

Contrary to expectation, he was slower than before. That was because his body had become way heavier, and it required more of his Spirit to move around. He moved just as quickly as his Spirit regenerated. Sadly, that was only around a third as fast as previously.

'Tch, at some point, swimming will probably be faster than this,' Gravis thought in frustration. 'Well, doesn't matter. A couple more minutes won't change anything.'

After around a minute, Gravis reached the surface of the ocean again and started flying. The Spirit required to keep him airborne and moving forward was less than just moving forward in the water.

After some minutes of flying and searching, Gravis needed air again, or, in his case, water. 'My body doesn't require as much air as before, but it still requires some.'