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.'
After diving for a bit again, he continued his journey. 'I need two middle-rank Energy Beasts, two high-rank Energy Beasts, and two low-rank Spirit Beasts. This shouldn't take longer than a couple of hours,' Gravis thought as he inspected the water below him with his Spirit.
After around five minutes, Gravis saw a fitting target. It was a six-meter-long barracuda. Its mouth was even more imposing than normal, but that was the only change.
'Fast and powerful. The big jaw allows it to hunt bigger prey,' Gravis thought. 'I kind of want to test my new arms. It's a whole rank higher than my body, but arms are more useful against animals than people believe, even without a weapon.'
Splash!
Gravis entered the ocean again a couple of hundred meters in front of the barracuda. The fish quickly noticed Gravis and shot at him with impressive speed. Gravis' fleshy exterior looked appetizing. Yet, Gravis only smirked.
Gravis was directly at the surface. So, the barracuda shot diagonally upward at him and opened its mouth wide. Gravis waited for the last moment to dodge. He used his powerful arms to shoot himself further down into the water. His arms' power in relation to his body's size shot him over ten meters down, making the barracuda miss him.
Splash!
The barracuda couldn't stop its powerful charge and left the water.
Bang!
Gravis' powerful tail shot him upwards again, and he stretched his arms.
Pack!
The barracuda was long but not very wide. His hands grabbed its sides and held it above him. The barracuda struggled in the air with all its power, and it was quite challenging to hold it, but Gravis was powerful and experienced enough to handle it.
Snap! Snap!
The barracuda threateningly snapped its jaws in the air, but they were nowhere near Gravis. Its fins also couldn't reach Gravis' body or arms. Gravis only smirked as he watched the barracuda. 'Sucks to not have proper limbs, eh?' he thought as he barracuda struggled.
CRRRRRRRR! CRK!
Gravis used his new maw for the first time and bit the barracuda on its belly. It took a lot of effort since the barracuda was a whole rank stronger than him, but eventually, he managed to crack its scales and took a bite out of it. 'Doesn't taste that bad actually,' Gravis thought.
He hadn't tasted anything up to now since he had always just shoved it into his stomach, bypassing his tongue. It tasted way better than he had expected.
The barracuda was helpless. Gravis could slowly kill it with his maw or keep it above water for like half an hour to suffocate it. Seeing that he had won, Gravis just decided to tear its brain apart with his Spirit. The winner was already clear.
'Arms are useful,' Gravis thought with a smirk as he put the barracuda into his Spirit Space.
Usually, it was nearly impossible for a beast to jump ranks in a battle. After all, beasts had fewer ranks in general in comparison to cultivators. So, every rank was a bigger jump. On top of that, their techniques and battle styles weren't as varied as humans. The stronger one simply won.
Fish were incredibly fast and agile in water but nearly helpless in the air. The air just didn't give enough resistance for their fins to work effectively. If Gravis hadn't fought directly at the surface, this fight might have become tough and prolonged. Of course, that was only true as long as he didn't rely on his Spirit or will.
Gravis shot out of the water again and continued his hunt. After another ten meters, he found a 15-meter-long swordfish. It was a high-rank Energy Beast. Gravis destroyed its brain and summoned it into his Spirit Space.
One would think that his Spirit Space was starting to get crowded, but after he had reached the Unity Realm, his Spirit Space had grown tremendously. It now had a radius of around 200 meters, easily enough to accommodate all his prey.
'One more middle-rank Energy Beast and one more high-rank Energy Beast,' he thought as he continued hunting.
After another ten minutes, he found his second fitting middle-rank Energy Beast.
30 minutes later, he found a fitting high-rank Energy Beast.
'Alright! This should be enough,' Gravis thought as he dove into the water again. 'The Spirit Beasts are at the bottom. I think I'll first check for a smarter guide that can check my surroundings while I watch the CMO. Luckily, I don't need to sleep anymore.'
After around a minute, Gravis reached the bottom of the ocean again.
'Let's see what I'll find,' Gravis thought as he shot into the distance.