Thalion had noticed them a moment ago but didn't want to interrupt Chloe. They were a lot weaker than those in the depths. After all, they were just level 53. Three of the four shapeshifters shot through the water in panic after seeing the squids.

"Hey, guys, where are they? I can't see them," Jack asked in confusion while turning around.

"Jack, you idiot, RUN! One is right behind you!" Chloe yelled from afar.

"Wait, what?!" Jack exclaimed as a giant squid appeared behind him, and one of the thinner and faster tentacles shot out to grab Jack. Jack tried to swim away, but it was too late. The tentacle reached him and grabbed his tail, and Jack was yanked back.

"No, Jack!" The other three screamed in fear.

They knew there was nothing they could do to save their friend. Thalion activated aqua lance and shot a condensed beam of water at the squid, ripping the tentacle and the squid into pieces. Squids are very good against most marine life, but against powerful water magic like his, they were just big targets. Their skin couldn't protect them at all.

"Holy shit!" Eddie exclaimed in surprise after seeing how the squid got destroyed, while trying to evade the other squids, which tried to catch the escaping pikes.

Thalion was on the chase, and his slim, long body glided through the water with incredible speed. Another aqua lance and a waterslash later, all the squids were dead.

"Oh god, you are really strong enough to kill us," Josh said with fear in his eyes.

"Ah, damn it!" Kael screamed in anger, punching the railing.

"What happened?" Kai asked intersted.

"Not sure what, but there is blood everywhere in the water. They must have died," Kael said reluctantly. "Let's return to the base, nothing we can do here."

"This might be a failure, but the skyships should return soon from the mountains with the crystal. Then our equipment will get significant upgrades," Kai said calmly.

"Although Thalion barely gained any level, he won't be a threat in the tutorial—just a treasure chest we need to claim," Kai continued.

"You are right, time to leave," Kael said. A moment later, the ship rose into the air on the way back to their base.

"Hey, what were the options we have again?" Josh said in fright, looking at the powerful serpent gliding through the water thirty meters under him. Josh only now noticed the fins on the side, giving the long creature more speed and maneuverability.

"Well, I am quite safe here, so I don't really care what you do, but I will kill you if you try something," Thalion said calmly.

"Why don't we go back and tell them that you escaped?" Josh stammered, still afraid of the serpent. It was astonishing what rarity that serpent was. If a level 42 was this powerful?

"Uh, guys, I just checked the surface, and they are gone," Chloe said in confusion.

"What? They left us?" Josh exclaimed in fear. "Oh no!"

"Hey, look, guys, I’m a giant squid!" Jack happily announced after switching his form.

"Look, look! The tentacles are going crazy!" Jack laughed while letting the tentacles go like a helicopter.

"Jack, it's not time for that," Chloe interjected, annoyed.

"Oh, I am so dizzy right now, guys," Jack said while coming down.

"Guys, what are we doing right now?" Chloe asked in panic.

Thalion had enough. He needed to get to the deeper parts to hunt, or maybe...

"I have an idea of what we can do," Thalion said. "A few kilometers from here are reefs with pearls on them. You collect the pearls for me, and I keep the stronger beasts at bay."

"But you need to help us get better forms," Eddie said after a while of thinking, and all the other pikes nodded, which looked weird as fish, even weirder as giant squid.

"It will happen anyway; there is a lot of life around the reefs," Thalion explained. He didn't really know where the reefs were, but it couldn't take too long until they found the giant reef they passed by last time.

<--

"What item do you think Thalion got for me?" Lucan asked eagerly.

"I don't know, but he put the pillar we were stuck, in his spatial ring, so maybe that," Maike said deep in thought.

"I am not really a builder, but it would be very interesting to see," Lucan nodded with a smile.

"So what will you do?" Kaldrek asked the smith.

"Stay, of course," Lucan answered instantly. "I am not needed in the next stage anyway."

"I heard Kael said that everyone strong enough needed to come, and you are one of the best smiths," Kaldrek commented with suspicion.

"Well, I must have overheard that. I am already old," Lucan said with a wide grin.

"Hey, Lucan, do you have my new ring ready?" Sylas said after entering the smithy.

"Oh, hello, you two. What are you doing here?" Sylas asked Maike and Kaldrek in surprise.

"Just a paid visit to their friend," Lucan explained. "You need to come by tomorrow. There were complications with the crystal, and it will take a lot longer to make such a strong item."

"Okay, you are the best," Sylas said with a wide smile. "How strong do you think it could get?"

"I am confident that it will be around exalted or ancient rarity," Lucan answered after a short pause.

"That's awesome! Thank you so much!" Sylas exclaimed, happy. "Good day; see you tomorrow."

"Uff, that was close," Maike said after Sylas was gone.

"What ring are you making for Sylas?" Kaldrek asked Lucan.

"None so far," Lucan answered disgusted. "They are trying to kill my friend. No wonder he had worked day and night in the smithy to finish his sword."

"Wait, that red sword? He built that by himself." Kaldrek exclaimed in shock.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"You have seen the finished product. Tell me, how did it look like?" Lucan asked, interested. "I know that he had used my formation for something."

"The color of the blade was black-red with crimson red runes on it. They almost looked like veins," Kaldrek said.

"Marvelous! I wonder how he did it," Lucan murmured. "Say, what rarity is the sword?"

"If I had to guess, I would say it's around ancient or legendary—definitely powerful," Kaldrek said with confidence.

"Amazing! I can't wait for him to come back," Lucan said excitedly.

"Remember, no word about this to anyone, okay?" Kaldrek reminded the two.

"Yes, of course. I will say nothing. The other smiths don't like me anyway," Lucan nodded.

"Hey, Jeff, how long are those three talking?" Sylas asked the smith on the other side of Lucan's shop.

"I don't know, but it must be a while," Jeff said with a shrug.

"Interesting. Are they visiting Lucan often?" Sylas asked inocently.

"No, I have never seen them in this area before," Jeff reported, a bit more seriously. "Well, I saw Kaldrek, of course, but he let other smiths handle his stuff. I think the name was Lucas, who has his shop at the end of the street."

"Thank you. It was so nice talking to you. Oh, one last question. How much time would it take to build a ring at ancient or legendary rarity?" Sylas asked is his final question.

"Depends, maybe a few days. If I got access to the formation, it would be even faster," Jeff said with confidence.

"That's pretty fast; are you sure?" Sylas continued now, very interested.

"Yes, I am. Lucan should be even faster, only a few are as good as him," Jeff sighed, making clear that he was not in that category.

"You must be very talented. What else do you know about Lucan?" Sylas continued his questioning.

"Not much, he is almost working all the time. He helped me from time to time, but that's it," Jeff shrugged. "Oh, Thalion was always in his smithy before the attack."

"What! Thalion was here every day." Sylas exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah, they were close friends," Jeff shrugged, still not really caring.

"Okay, thank you again. You have helped me a lot," Sylas said. "I will talk with Kael to give you more rare materials. We all want to bring as many people through the tutorial as possible, and that's why we invest in talents like you."

"Oh, thank you. I will not let you down," Jeff promised while Sylas was leaving his shop.

This Thalion must be very evil if such a nice guy like Sylas is worried. What is he doing right now? Jeff thought as he picked up the hammer and continued to his work.

"Ahhh, I hate these damn crabs," Jack screamed in a high-pitched voice. "They are everywhere!"

"Jack, what are you doing? Squids normally hunt crabs," Eddie interjected.

"Yeah, but I am always messing it up with the arms, and those pincers hurt," Jack retorted annoyed.

Most pearls were guarded by some beasts on the reef. They were mostly crabs or coral golems.

Jack was hyped and had grabbed four crabs, level 43, at the same time, but then moved with the wrong arms, which led to the crabs slowly cutting his tentacles off. But he couldn't let them go after the pain he had gone through and always grabbed them again before they landed on the reef, and the game began anew.

"Thalion, what are you doing? I thought you would help us," Josh yelled at him.

"Against the strong beasts, not against some crabs," Thalion said, annoyed. He was currently working on his soul cultivation. He had the same spirit body in all his forms, but he made it for his human form, which led to a twisted spirit body in his beast forms. To counter this, he had to rearrange his spirit body, which thankfully was not that much work if those four dummies wouldn't yell at him every few minutes.

"Thalion, I can't kill the coral golem alone," Chloe shouted while the golem was shooting parts of its body after her.

"Fine, but then I want my peace," Thalion retorted after diving down to help them.

He had hovered a hundred meters above the reef to have a good oversight. A few aqua lances and water slashes later, and the crabs and golems were dead, and he was back on his spot.

He could already feel the effect of aligning his spirit body with his real body. The energies in his body moved a lot faster now. He watched in amusement how they struggled to get the pearls. Eddie, in the form of a coral golem, got superman punched in the face by another golem while Jack was still struggling with the crabs, which were happily eating his tentacles.

Chloe had also turned into a coral golem and was currently stuck in a gap between two corals and was desperately trying to get out. Josh was sitting a bit above her as a crab, laughing at her attempts. Now, with his spirit body aligned, it was time to start with the body tempering manual he had bought from the system shop.

The first layer was very identical to the wind body tempering for eagly. The first stage was all about strengthening the body’s resonance with water. This meant to feel the subtle vibration in the water and prepare the body for a deeper connection.

Meditation time: he sank deep into his body and tried to connect to the natural mana around him.

"Don't stand up there looking, you dumb crab, and help me out," Chloe hissed at the crab that was dancing in amusement.

"Sorry, I can't hear you. This form has no ears. Anyway, I think you need to pull a bit more with your right arm," Josh laughed loudly.

"Ahh, when I get out of here, you better hope that the freaking crab is faster than my coral golem," Chloe ranted.

Then a large tentacle appeared above Josh, and a sucker stuck to the back of his shell and pulled him in.

"What the heck! Jack, what are you doing?" Josh screamed in panic.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there, Josh," Jack shrugged. "I'm really busy killing all those crabs."

"Stop pulling me in!" Josh screamed.

"Sorry, man, I can't see you. It's the position of the eyes. I can only feel," Jack retorted. "Ouch, man, those pincers hurt. Take that crab!"

One crab got sucked in, and the giant beak of the squid bit the crab in half and started to eat the inside.

"Are you crazy? That could have been me!" Josh screamed, now in panic for real.

"Ah yes, totally forgot about that," Jack said unbothered. "Okay, what about now? Did something change?"

"No, what did you do differently?" Josh asked confused.

"I let one go," Jack answerd camly.

"Okay, let's try a different approach," Jack continued. "Do you still get pulled in?"

"Yes, nothing has changed," Josh said with worry.

"Okay, that was to be expected since I started to pull everyone in at the same time," Jack murmured deep in thought.

"Oh no, I don't want to get eaten!" Josh exclaimed, exhausted. "Do your suckers have thorns on them?"

"Oh yes, I can hold my prey better with those," Jack explained happily. "I have managed before to completely cut through the shell of a crab, at least from the feeling of it; still can't see anything."

"Yes, I can feel that. Let me go immediately!" Josh screamed in rage.

"I am sorry, but I don't know which crab you are," Jack replied.

"How about the only crab not cutting your tentacle?" Josh complained.

"Hmm, yeah, I got over ten crabs in here, and those over thirty-meter-long tentacles have so many nerves my brain is overloaded," Jack responded. "I am sorry, Josh, but you have to wait for a bit until this problem is solved."

"Okay, that's it! I am cutting myself free now!" Jack yelled in frustration.

"Ouch! Hey, stop it, that hurts!" Josh replied while throwing his tentacles around.

"Feel the water, every single vibration," Thalion told himself to sink into a deeper meditation.

"Help! This crazy guy is going to eat me!" Josh yelled at him.

"This is all a big misunderstanding. I am just killing those crabs," Jack yelled back. "Stop being so unprofessional."

"I am a crab! I am a crab, you idiot!" Josh yelled back.

"I feel like you are not listening to what I am saying," Jack said and then continued very slowly, like he was talking to a child, "I can't see you."

Thalion had managed, even with all the distractions, to sink into a deep meditation and even make some progress as he felt a cold shiver running down his back.

He turned around to look for the danger and saw three people in blue robes swimming in their direction.

"Hey, you four, hide! Blue robes are coming!" Thalion screamed at the four shapeshifters.

"I am stuck in here and can't get out!" Chloe screamed in panic.

"I am also stuck here against my will!" Josh screamed.

"It was an accident," Jack retorted, "and I can camouflage us. They will see nothing."

"I am already hidden," Eddie said out of a small coral tunnel.

Thalion shot down and circled in the darker waters, a hundred meters away from the reef. He should be very hard to spot with his passive skill, camouflage of the depths. He watched a panicking squid trying to change color. They wouldn't make it.

"Why are we not invisible, Jack?" Josh yelled in panic.

"Stop pinching me. I can't concentrate like this!" Jack yelled back.

"A speaking squid? That is something new," the lady in the blue robe said.

In her right hand was a blue staff with a snakehead. She was Nerissa Serwyn.

"I am sorry, lady. I have a crab problem at the moment," Jack said, worried.

"Help! I am stuck in here!" Josh yelled from a ball of tentacles near the mouth.

"Who is stuck in there?" Nerissa laughed, her two comrades joining in.

"I am Josh, please help! I don't want to die!" Josh desperately yelled.

"I never planned on killing him. It was all an accident," Jack yelled back.

Nerissa summoned an ice blade and cut two tentacles off, and a happy free crab slowly drifted down to the reef.

"Yes! Finally, I am free!" Josh yelled, relieved.

"So you are a talking crab?" Nerissa laughed even louder than before.

"Only for the moment. Normally, I am a human," Josh said with fear when he saw her cold eyes staring down at him.