I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature-Chapter 37

Chapter 37. The End of the First Calamity
The translucent orca floating before him was none other than Yul’s familiar ancestral spirit whom he knew well.
-Why are you here, old man Milkit?
-It’s Rukit, you brat.
By now, Rukit had grown perfectly comfortable with cursing at Yul.
-You just suddenly appeared all dramatic, so what did you expect? You never even respond when I call you. What brings you here now?
-Because you’ve defeated the First Calamity. That creature was an ancient monster.
-Ah, you mean Ogh? But ancient?
-That thing was over six hundred years old. It survived by using Mantras to steal other bodies, living in hiding among the orca society.
-Huh?
Yul had no idea.
Then again, considering Ogh could use the Mantra of the Soul, it wasn’t impossible that he could seize another’s body.
-So if you knew he was doing something that evil, why didn’t you step in, old man?
-What could a powerless ancestral spirit like me possibly do? Besides, telling anyone about Ogh would’ve been the same as giving them a death sentence.
-Hmph. Fair enough. That creepy bastard…
At that point, Yul found himself agreeing with Rukit.
If an ordinary orca had heard about Ogh, they would’ve vanished without a trace soon after.
That’s how sinister—how monstrous—Ogh truly was. Just remembering how he’d stalked Yul made it all too clear.
-Still, be careful. With Ogh of the Rising Tide dead, all the ones who’d been suppressed by the Ascensionists are going to crawl out of their holes.
-There are worse ones than Ogh?
-No.
-Then what? Wait, hold on. Did you just call Ogh the 'First' Calamity?
Yul suddenly had the same feeling as a World War I soldier hearing someone from the future casually call it 'The First World War.'
-There are three calamities destined to destroy the Orca Tribes of the Great Azure Ocean. One of them was Ogh of the Rising Tide.
-And now you’re telling prophecies, too?
-Live as long as I have, and you’ll develop a bit of clairvoyance yourself.
Could age alone really grant someone the power to prophesy a race’s fate?
-Anyway, Ogh had been operating in secret within orca society—building his own sect. He planned to turn all orcas into followers who’d support the practitioners, and then offer them up as sacrifices for his Ascension.
-…That’s insane.
-If not for you, that plan might have succeeded. And the second and third calamities are not far behind.
-Who are they?
-A calamity doesn’t always have to be an 'individual.' It can be a 'phenomenon.' The second one has already begun somewhere… and even now, it’s in motion. It will eventually connect to the third.
-…Why are you telling me this?
-Because you’re the one who’ll save the orcas. And because your fate is already tangled up in it.
-Hmm. Sorry, but that doesn’t resonate with me. Why should I save the orcas?
-Where’d you sell your conscience? What, you’re just going to abandon your friends and your teacher and run?
Well… Yul could have said it didn’t matter—but he was more conscientious than he liked to admit.
'If I just turn my back and run, it’ll bother me later.'
-At least while you’re still an orca, live the life of one.
-…Yeah, fine.
-I figured you wouldn’t agree right away. You’re probably still weighing whether it’s worth it, if it’s a profit or a loss, huh? You little brat. Fine, I’ll pay you in advance. Information. See that box-like thing over there? Go take a look.
Rukit pointed toward the shimmering object in front of Yul.
It was the item Yul had obtained after defeating Ogh of the Rising Tide.
At first, it had seemed spherical, but on closer inspection, it was nothing of the sort.
It was an irregular, asymmetrical polyhedron—not a cube or an icosahedron, but something far stranger. Each face was a different size and angle, and the shape seemed to shift slightly every time he looked at it.
Its color was a deep, dark violet, while the edges of each facet gleamed faintly with gold.
-Do you know what this is?
-I’m not sure.
-This is the Abyssal Polyhedron. It’s the greatest masterpiece in Ogh of the Rising Tide’s life
-Oh, what’s this?
Yul reached out and touched the Abyssal Polyhedron. There was no response.
-I don’t know the origin of this item either. Even the Turusains only guessed that it was created in the primal abyss. Ogh just happened to pick it up.
-What does it do?
If it had no special power, I was thinking it might just be a beautiful gem to sell to the Sun King for a high price.
-It contains a Mantra. Essentially, it’s an item imbued with magic.
-Oh? How do you extract it?
-First, you need to make a contract. Since it has no current owner, pour your magic into it.
-Okay.
Yul thought of it like the various magic contracts he had done before.
[Abyssal Contract]
[Unilateral Contract. You may borrow the power of the Abyssal Polyhedron until your ‘growth’ is complete.
The revealed abilities are as follows:
1. Clearing any unrevealed achievement grants a random Mantra.
2. You can use the storage space inside the Abyssal Polyhedron.
3. You can summon and retract the Abyssal Polyhedron.
This contract contains hidden clauses, which cannot be viewed at this time.
-Wow, that’s unsettling.
It was surprising that even the status window couldn’t reveal the hidden contents.
-Ogh of the Rising Tide made the same contract. It’s nothing special.
-Even if you say so, hmm.
Click.
Yul felt as if the Abyssal Polyhedron had made that sound.
[Achievement]
[Contract with the Abyssal Polyhedron completed]
Then the Abyssal Polyhedron reassembled itself, changing its form.
What appeared was a shape resembling a peculiar character.
A Mantra!
As Yul focused on the Abyssal Polyhedron, it transmitted the Mantra to him.
【Mantra of Armament】
【Mantra of Armament: Using magic, you can control and enhance any equipment you recognize as weapons or armor. Efficiency drastically drops when using it for functions other than attack or defense.】
The polyhedron that had transmitted the Mantra stopped moving and floated in the air.
-This is amazing.
-See? I even explained how to use it. After you finish all the calamities, I’ll give you some more goodies as a post-payment. How’s that?
-Post-payment? But I got this by beating Ogh up.
-So, do you understand how to use it now?
-I might have figured it out just by messing around with it.
-Then how about the location of the Turusains’ treasure vault as a post-payment?
-Oh… that’s actually tempting.
* * *
After the suddenly appearing Rukit disappeared, Yul first retracted the Abyssal Polyhedron and then released the fifth Formula, 'Isolation,’ which was still consuming mana.
At that moment, he felt a sudden dizziness in his head.
-What’s this?
It’s not a physical problem. The issue lies in the mind.
There had been an issue with 'Isolation.' Part of Ogh's lingering thoughts had merged into the separated portion of Yul’s soul.
-Ogh… are you still alive?
-Ogh is dead.
-What are you
-I will ascend as a Deep King Tribe.
Yul still didn’t know how to deal with the fragment of Ogh's consciousness mixed into his isolated soul.
Naturally, the concept for the next spell formed in his mind.
'If the sixth Formula is Balance, then the seventh Formula must be… Restoration. Restoring the isolated soul.'
Yul didn’t have infinite mana, so he couldn’t maintain the Isolation Formula indefinitely.
He felt Ogh's thoughts and memories flowing into him.
The actions Ogh had taken as a practitioner and the deeds he had committed to ascend came in as fragmented memories.
'As expected, to ascend, he didn’t hesitate to kill, threaten, or manipulate others.'
Ogh had not only threatened Yul. Other unknown species, other creatures Yul had never met, had also suffered at Ogh's hands.
'His lingering thoughts are annoying.'
Even though Yul had won the battle of souls against Ogh, he was drawn to the intense desire remaining in Ogh's consciousness.
The desire was simple: to become a Deep King Tribe.
Yul’s soul was vast and expansive, like an ocean. Ogh's influence was no more than a drop of ink within it.
Yet, Ogh's burning desire to ascend managed to shake part of Yul’s will.
'I originally wanted to remain human, but… maybe becoming a Deep King Tribe along the way isn’t so bad.'
As he pondered this, Yul shook his head in surprise.
'No. Why should I agree with Ogh's thoughts? I’ll choose my own path. If there’s a reason to become a Deep King Tribe, fine. If my path leads somewhere else, I’ll ascend as a different being.'
But it wasn’t all negative. Yul also gained information from Ogh's memories.
He learned more about the process of ascension.
For an ordinary orca that didn’t evolve and ascend like Yul, the method of ascension was this: Through a special artifact, performing a special ritual, and undergoing a special awakening, they could ascend to become a Deep King Tribe.
The precise process was only vaguely visible because Ogh's remaining memories were incomplete.
'He said something about reading the inscriptions on a stone tablet and recalling something.'
Ogh had rambled about light, but the insight itself wasn’t preserved in his consciousness.
All the memories left in Ogh's thoughts were related to ascension, extremely fragmented, some hazy, and jumbled together.
Still, by roughly assembling and interpreting the memories:
After becoming a practitioner, Ogh had gathered all kinds of information, killed another orca, and obtained the Abyssal Polyhedron.
Then, he survived by switching bodies multiple times to continue his path toward ascension.
'He attacked me along the way and ended up dying himself.'
And should he consider the cost incurred? He lost about 10 years of his lifespan due to the constant activity of the Stone of Authority.
Perhaps because of the intense battles, even more of his vitality was consumed than usual.
'Ten years… that’s not too bad.'
Anyway, there was one more thing—the Mantra of Illusion that came along with the Mantra of Armament.
【Mantra of Illusion: Within the range of this Mantra, you can distort the senses of the target to make them perceive whatever you wish. To resist the illusion, one must doubt their own perceptions】
This Mantra forcibly imposes visions and illusions onto the target.
It belonged to the category of magic that distorts the opponent’s senses.
Looking at the way Ogh's body shimmered and tried to become invisible, one might assume this Mantra had something to do with invisibility—but in reality, it simply caused sensory confusion in Yul, making him perceive that effect.
'Even though I have a considerable amount of magic, I still fell for it.'
It wasn’t something that could be countered just by having more magic.
Those affected by this Mantra had to fight against their own senses.
If they didn’t struggle, the enemy wouldn’t question their own perceptions, which made this Mantra optimal for stealth operations.
And then there was the Mantra of Armament.
It allows influence over items recognized as weapons or armor.
You could put on or remove equipment faster, levitate it in midair, slightly improve its efficiency, sharpen weapons, or reinforce armor a bit.
However, it required a fair amount of subjective interpretation.
In short, it mattered what you recognized as a weapon versus a farming tool.
It seemed to only work on items you consciously perceived as weapons or armor.
Moreover, much of the influence over equipment was ambiguous and had many useless aspects.
'It looks like Ogh of the Rising Tide didn’t use it properly either.'
Still, if properly applied, such abilities could be quite useful.
'I might even figure out some applications… or maybe I could ask Ian to make a weapon for me.'
Ian had once told Yul that he could forge weapons from Krelsite.
What if he made a weapon with a handle that conducts magic, and Yul manipulated it to drive a spike directly into an enemy’s body? That could work.
Anyway, judging by what he had obtained this time, the collection was quite substantial.
After sorting all of this out…
'I don't know about calamities or whatever, but… let’s do some business first.'
Ah, for now, just trade. He needed to extract some profit from Krelsite.