Chapter 142 - The New Shanks.

Shanks was evolving!

As soon as Sebastian noticed this, he was stunned. His plan originally was that after getting back to the shark clan, there, Shanks would have the perfect and secure environment to evolve to the orange tier.

He did not expect the shark to start evolving right away. This confirmed one of his hidden speculations that unlike him, other creatures in Oceania have little or no control over their evolutions.

Perhaps, they had slight control over it but it was definitely not as precise as the one he enjoyed through his system.

For a long time, he's speculated about skill and adaptation points. Now, through this encounter, he somehow answered his queries himself.

He guessed that like him, other creatures in Oceania got skill and adaptation points with each kill but they couldn't see it tabulated clearly the way his system simplified everything to him.

Perhaps, all they felt was a little change which became the metric in which they used to measure skill and adaptation points.

Clearly, Shanks was evolving for some time already as visible changes could already be seen in the shark's body, the most prominent being its size.

From his previous size of 5 meters, as time went by, Shanks already silently ballooned to a size of about 8 meters and was still growing.

From this change, he was not taking the more compact growth route like Verni. He was taking the more common route of gigantism, which was evident in Sebastian and most of the other sharks.

For adaptations, Sebastian could not see any that was visibly outwards yet but he was sure that even more complicated changes were going on inside Shanks' slowly ballooning body.

As someone who had already undergone 2 evolutions, he knew how long the process was so he resigned himself to wait a few more hours.

He rested his body at a more comfortable angle and watched the shark.

In silence like this, the time ticked forward as Shanks experienced even more changes in his body. About 30-40 minutes later according to Sebastian's estimate, Tosh finally came back from his hunting spree with food in his mouth.

Tosh obeyed his team leader's instructions. He didn't eat all the prey that he hunted; he brought some back to feed the 2 other members of the team.

With 1 enormous Yeti Crab and 2 mutated Giant Seals in his mouth, he swam closer to where Sebastian and Shanks hovered. But on swimming closer, the sight before him made his mouth open wide, dropping all the food in the process.

"Shanks is evolving?" 

"…"

"Really? What a moment this is! The little Shanks has finally grown-up". 

"Seba bro, what did you call it the other time? Yes, power leveling. We power leveled him, now he's evolving. Damn, what a proud moment!"

"Tosh!" Sebastian directed a glare at him. "Keep quiet, can't you see he's evolving, you want to disturb him?"

"Seba bro, I mean, this is a proud moment, right?"

"Tosh!!"

"Why do you guys hate speaking your thoughts so much? I resent…"

[You have activated unique skill: Water Transmutation.]

[You have created a magic manifestation: Bonking Rod!]

Bonk!

"Ouch! I'm sorry…"

Bonk!

"I'm sorry!"

…

A few minutes later, a now docile Tosh hovered beside his team leader as they both silently watched the proceedings of their other member evolving. 

Each minute that passed, more and more changes appeared in Shanks' body. Like a dream, the small Shanks of yesterday was now twice his size, towering at a size of 10 meters already.

After getting to this size, the growth finally stopped but other minute changes happened in the shark's body. It felt like a snake that was shedding its old skin to emerge with brand-new shiny skin afterward.

Seeing this, Sebastian suddenly felt that Tosh was right. This was a proud moment and he indeed felt proud, this was like his first student or follower who benefited from following him.

Like this, seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, and soon, 5 hours got elapsed. It was at this moment that a brand-new Shanks emerged.

Shanks was now an enormous Great White Shark towering at a size of 10 meters, with a visible adaptation on his snout that made it seem like the sharp bill of a deadly mutated swordfish.

Shanks smiled on feeling his 2 team member's gaze on him. "Team leader, Tosh, I feel so…, powerful!" 

Hearing this made Sebastian feel excited, his team was getting stronger. If even he felt excited, Tosh felt it even more.

"Oh Sh*t! Shanks is powerful! Seba bro, you hear that? Shanks is powerful!"

Sebastian almost instinctively yelled the shark's name but, in the end, he held back. Tosh was talkative, it was annoying but not that much annoying at this moment, Sebastian didn't want to ruin the atmosphere. 

Sebastian also made the cringe declaration. "Shanks is powerful!"

…

[System Snooping tool has been utilized.]

[Host is stronger than target, snooping successful.]

[Target Name: Shanks.]

[Power Tier: Orange Tier.]

*****

[Level: 11]

Stats:

Power: 41

Speed: 24

Mind: 21

Constitution: 28

Luck: 15

MP: 380/380

[Body Skills: Poison Bite; Advanced Swim; Dash; Dorsal Fin; Tail Fin; Advanced Electroreceptors; Spike Headbutt; Snout Ram.]

[Magic Skills: Water Wall; Water Control; Water Shield; Water Cultivation.]

[Adaptations: Head Spike; Sword Snout; Fire Skin; Mana Conductor Coating; Water Conducting Organ; Magic Organ; Water Reservoir.]

*****

With this last checkpoint, Sebastian confirmed that his Ultimate Dissectors hunting team really got another orange tier powerhouse.

About the normal stats, skills, and adaptations, of course, they could not be compared to his own which was something that he already observed when he saw Bush's stats, the shark that he dueled with.

Shanks skills and adaptations were interesting, but what really caught Sebastian's attention was the magic skill, water cultivation.

If he remembered correctly, bush had a similar skill that was named fire cultivation. He couldn't help but speculate if this was some really important universal skill that he missed when he got his magic domain ability.

This was for some other time though, at this moment, it was time to go home. After his evolution, Shanks' body healed completely which presented them with the perfect opportunity to leave.

With Sebastian taking the lead, the trio of sharks finally left.