"Glad to have you on board," Gravis said to the octopus.
"I want to see the wider world and know more about it," the octopus slowly answered. "I have stayed in isolation for far too long, thinking that there was no more to achieve. Your words have shown me a new world, and I feel the excitement from my youth return."
"Judging by your words, you are probably pretty old, huh?" Gravis asked.
"I do not count my age, but all the offspring I have fathered have already died. I haven't spoken to anyone in a very long time," the octopus said.
"Do you have a name?" Gravis asked.
"What is that?" the octopus answered.
"A name is a word or concept that only refers to you. You are an octopus, but there are many other octopuses. How would anyone be able to refer to you specifically when you don't have your own name?" Gravis explained.
The octopus remained silent for some seconds. "Refer to me as Orthar," Orthar said.
Gravis nodded. "Fitting name. I will call you Orthar from now on. My name is Gravis."
"I will remember your name, Gravis," Orthar slowly said. "What guidance do you require?"
"How well do you know the surrounding areas and the Spirit Beasts ruling them?" Gravis asked.
"Very well," Orthar answered. "I have traveled far and wide, and I have seen the rulers."
"Do they know you exist?" Gravis asked.
"No, you are the only being that knows of my existence," Orthar answered.
"But then how did you travel? The others should have noticed a huge octopus swimming around in their territory," Gravis asked.
CRRRR! Clank! Clank! Clank!
Orthar's form changed until he looked exactly like a conglomerate of crabs. The crabs even had their claws and snapped them threateningly at him.
"Like this," Orthar said.
Gravis' eyes widened in astonishment. If he hadn't already seen Orthar, he would have believed that this was only a wave of crabs. This went way past the simple concept of a disguise. Orthar has basically transformed into a swarm of crabs.
Yet, if one looked closely, they would see that the crabs were all connected by some thin lines or at areas where they touched each other. But if one didn't already know what to look for, they would never notice that.
"Impressive. I believe you, Orthar," Gravis said. "I am searching for Spirit Beasts with small bodies. I need to eat them to evolve, but I don't want to eat for a really long time."
Orthar morphed into his normal octopus form. Initially, he had still looked like a coral reef in the form of an octopus, but now, he was showing his original form. Orthar was utterly black, and his tentacles were massive. His head was "only" around 200-meters-long, but every tentacle had a length of 300 meters. His size was awe-inspiring, and Orthar towered over Gravis.
"There are ten beings that fit your requirement in the surroundings. I will lead you to them," Orthar said as he swam into the distance with his original body. There was no more reason to keep himself secret since he would leave this place soon.
Gravis followed him but needed to use his Spirit to keep up. After all, Orthar was already a high-rank Spirit Beast.
After some minutes, they arrived at their goal. Yet, Gravis furrowed his brows. "This isn't small at all," Gravis said.
He saw a clam, nearly 100-meters-wide. That couldn't be considered small.
"You said you require beasts to evolve. The clam might appear big, but all its meat is concentrated in a small area," Orthar said.
Gravis nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. Thank you," Gravis said.
BANG!
Water came out of the clam's mouth as it shot into the distance. This octopus was way out of its league.
CRRRRR!
Gravis' Spirit tore all the meat off the clam's body and then tore it into many small chunks. The clam had died very quickly. "One down," Gravis said. "I need another one."
Orthar was impressed by Gravis' power. He had felt it before, but seeing its destructive effect gave a whole different feeling.
"Follow me," he said as he swam in a different direction.
After around half an hour, Gravis saw the other Spirit Beast. It was a 30-meter-long eel with impressive teeth. Sadly, this one was a mid-rank Spirit Beast. Yet, Gravis only shrugged and killed it. He would need these either way later. Might as well gather it now.
Gravis explained the first three levels of beasts in more detail to Orthar so that this wouldn't happen again. The explanation took multiple hours, way longer than it should.
It wasn't that Orthar wasn't smart enough to understand that concept, but that he repeatedly asked questions. When Gravis answered those, Orthar asked different questions. After some hours, Gravis had to stop the bombardment of questions since they were becoming increasingly philosophical.
Gravis could only sigh. 'Orthar is really curious about everything. Well, it makes sense. After all, he is pretty smart and wants to learn as much as possible.'
Gravis promised Orthar that he would answer his questions later and tell him about all his experiences and his life up to now. Yet, doing that now was only a waste of time. Gravis could explain all these concepts to Orthar when he was eating.
After the talk, Orthar said that there were two beasts fitting Gravis' requirement, and he quickly led Gravis to one of them. The number became smaller since he didn't know the specific power differences between Spirit Beasts. The journey took nearly an hour this time.
Yet, Gravis wasn't disappointed. Some kind of 200-meters-long, but very skinny worm appeared inside his Spirit Sense. However, the worm didn't look appetizing at all.
Gravis only sighed and killed the worm. Something as unimportant as disgust wouldn't stop him from eating it.
After that, Gravis sat down on the ocean floor. Finally, he had everything he needed to become a Spirit Beast. The only thing to do now was to eat.
"How strong is a Unity Beast?" Orthar asked.
Well, eating was maybe not the only thing. However, Gravis had time now. So, Gravis started explaining everything to Orthar.
Gravis told him about his homeworld, about humans, about land, about other beasts, about technology, about psychology, about forging, and many other things. Orthar was interested in absolutely everything.
Gravis didn't keep his background a secret. There was no reason to. The more Orthar knew about how the worlds worked, the better. Gravis didn't underestimate his intelligence just because he was a beast. If a beast learned enough, they could become as smart as humans. Skye was a good example. So, the more Orthar knew, the better his advice would be. Gravis couldn't always know everything.
After around a day of talking, Gravis reached the level of a mid-rank Energy Beast. His body grew in size until he was 15-meters-long. Yet, he still looked tiny in front of Orthar. By now, Orthar already knew why Gravis was so small, and he agreed to Gravis' assessment that a small body was more mobile and flexible in a one-on-one fight.
Another day later, Gravis reached the level of a high-rank Energy Beast. By now, he was over 40-meters-long, though that made it easier to eat the worm and clam.
Gravis was still answering Orthar's constant questions, and if Gravis didn't have such a powerful will, he might have already grown annoyed. Orthar also didn't care about the fact that Gravis was a human. Humans just sounded like smarter beasts to him with different strengths.
After another day of eating, Gravis felt the familiar itching sensation again.
It was time to become a Spirit Beast!