Chapter 50: Octopus Xavier (Includes Flashback)

Xavier was an octopus that didn’t fit in.
This lack of belonging was not only reflected between him and his own kind, but also between him and all the creatures he knew.

To be honest, many people were very surprised when they learned of his true form—even a low-intelligence octopus could evolve into an intelligent species?

That’s right, the octopus clan was not a long-lived species, nor a semi-long-lived species, not even considered a sea species.
Most of them were just unenlightened sea beasts, relying on their survival instincts to hunt and reproduce.
They were one of the species that were allowed to be hunted.

And Xavier was born into such a low-intelligence race.
Both his parents were ordinary, savage sea beasts.
When he was just born, his mother, who was excessively hungry due to childbirth, swallowed his father, and even looked at her own child with eagerness.

As an octopus who was born with intelligence, Xavier clearly remembered that his slower-running brothers were thrown into their mother’s mouth, while his scrawny and weak self was lucky enough to be pushed out of the nest by a strong older sister and hidden in a narrow crack in a cave, thus surviving.

Dying if you run too slow, this was Xavier’s first concept of death.

The older sister also had no so-called kinship.
Her kindness in bringing him out before was just because he happened to be in the way.

But even so, Xavier was willing to call her ‘older sister’, because although she would fiercely drive him away during meals, she would still leave some remains after she was full, allowing Xavier to eat.

The naturally frail Xavier had also survived on these leftovers until he was strong enough to go out and hunt on his own.

He placed the first small fish he had caught in front of his older sister and retreated under her gaze, which was like looking at a fool.
The sister was naturally not polite with the food delivered to her mouth, and wolfed it down.

Only after that, the sister never left any food scraps again.

He had thought that such days could last for a long time, but one day, the little octopus he called ‘older sister’ went out to hunt and did not come back for a long, long time.

Until the silver fish that Xavier had deliberately left at the entrance of the cave began to stink and rot, he still did not wait for the fish he wanted to wait for.

‘The older sister probably, like this silver fish, is stinking and rotting somewhere too, right?’ Xavier thought.

This was the second time Xavier had a clear understanding of death.

He left that nest and began to swim to farther places.
During this period, as a small octopus, he experienced countless crises of all sizes, living every day in the intersection of hunting and being hunted.
He couldn’t understand why his own kind couldn’t understand his intentions, just as he didn’t understand why he had to go to a distant place.

Xavier still maintained his own principles, trying to greet every member of his own kind he met, but he never got the response he expected.

Only once, that big octopus made a happy sound at him and even waved a tentacle.
And when Xavier approached happily, he was almost caught by the other to be taken to its nest to give birth to little octopuses, following in his father’s footsteps.

Slowly, Xavier understood that he was different from the food he ate every day, different from the large fish that hunted him, and different from his own kind.

It was impossible for him to get a response.

The longer he wandered, the deeper Xavier’s understanding of this point became.
He became more and more silent.

Where should he go?
Xavier didn’t know.
He could only follow the voice in his heart and keep wandering farther away.

He had originally thought that his life would begin in clarity and end in confusion, as a strange octopus, dying silently somewhere.

But one day, Xavier encountered a turning point.
When he wandered to a certain coral grove, because he hadn’t found food for too long, he fell off the branch he was resting on from excessive hunger.

It was as if several sets of teeth had grown in his stomach, gnawing at his internal organs from different directions.
And a dazzling white halo appeared before his eyes, and he couldn’t see things clearly.

‘Is this the end?’
He thought of his eaten brothers, of his disappeared sister, of the fish and shrimps he had eaten along the way.
In the call of death, for the third time, and the clearest time, Xavier understood what death was.

But the turning point came suddenly.
Xavier felt himself being picked up by someone, who rudely poured a pile of bitter liquid into his mouth.
But miraculously, his strength gradually recovered, and the deadly hunger from just now disappeared without a trace.

“Still can’t speak?” he heard the person sneer.
“You’re at magic level twenty-nine, yet you can starve yourself to death?”

“Even for an intelligent species evolved from an octopus, you’re not that incompetent, are you?”
The other’s tone was very cold, but the palm holding him was very warm.

“Sikes, what did you just feed him?” another voice rang out.

“A newly researched experimental potion. I’m still not sure of its effects, so he’s just right…” he replied.

…after the potion’s liquid, Xavier’s magic power surged, and he entered the promotion period from level twenty-nine to thirty, finally successfully advancing.

‘So there are creatures in the world that can communicate.
That kind of innate… I’m not the only one using it!’
Xavier was overjoyed and wanted to find the benefactor who had helped him, but the coral grove was already empty.

Xavier’s memory of his benefactor only had two clues: “his name is Sikes” and “he is good at making potions.”

Later on, he successfully found the gathering place of the sea species and mixed into the free enlightenment courses for the cubs.

But this process was not as warm as Xavier had imagined.
He even felt a deeper alienation than when he had been wandering on his own.

“A low-intelligence species is also worthy of learning magic?”
“My god, am I seeing things? The octopus on my dinner table can also gain sentience?”
“Disgusting low-intelligence species, get away from me. Don’t infect our child!”
“Xavier, look, is this piece of meat your kin? Hehehe!”

Xavier slowly closed his mouth and focused on improving his own strength.
As a special octopus, what he didn’t tell anyone was that he actually had two magic schools at the same time, special-attribute-type and nature-type, and his cultivation was also several times faster than others.

When his strength had risen to level sixty, the piercing voices around Xavier had lessened a lot.
But at this time, he had already learned to remain silent and no longer wanted to speak.
And when his strength reached level seventy, and because he was the only one in his clan who had gained sentience, he was automatically given the function of a lord by the rules, the voices around Xavier changed direction.
Flowers and songs of praise filled his life, and countless people wanted to get close to him.

At this time, Xavier found that he seemed to be unable to stand being in a crowd.
This would make him feel stiff and uncomfortable all over.
He always felt that in the next second, someone would laugh and take out a knife and stab him in the body or heart again.

He left the big city and came to the edge of his benefactor’s territory, which he had spent a lot of effort to find.
But he didn’t dare to disturb the other, and was also afraid that the other’s actual appearance would shatter his years of hope, so he silently lived alone on the edge of the Sea of Death for a long time, until…

Until this time, when he was purchasing goods, he provoked the siren clan and was placed under such a curse.

Xavier looked at the benefactor sitting right in front of him.
He had a lot to say, but years of silence had made him clumsy with words.
In the end, he could only tell the story of provoking the siren clan intermittently.
Regarding his past, regarding that help, he couldn’t say a single word.

‘Maybe the other has already forgotten?’
‘This is also good.
Only one person needs to know about repaying a kindness.
He will help his benefactor solve all his troubles.’

Sykes had a very hard time figuring out what had happened from this big octopus’s intermittent narrative, and he also completely confirmed his previous guess—

This guy not only had social anxiety, but also a rather severe language barrier!

Even if the other was a rare intelligent octopus, he shouldn’t have such a characteristic.

However, Sykes had no interest in prying into others’ privacy.
It was just that he remembered a medium-sized octopus he had occasionally rescued when he was traveling with Tom.

That octopus was extremely ugly, but its will to live was exceptionally strong, so strong that it could be transmitted to Sykes’s ears from a great distance.

The disturbed Sykes had very impatiently gone to that grove and given the other a bottle of precious magic power potion that he had intended to use to exchange for travel expenses.
Later, when he had no money to stay in an inn, he was even complained about by Tom for half a day.

‘I wonder how that octopus is doing now?’
Although its appearance was worlds apart from the pink and tender octopus lord, they were both rare members of the octopus clan.
Maybe they could keep each other company?

“What do I need… to do?” the cold-faced lord in front of him squeezed out a sentence.

Only then did Sykes realize that he had actually been lost in thought in front of the other just now, which was a very rare occurrence for him.

“No repayment is needed. Although the curse on you has been lifted, your current strength is probably only one-third of the original. You need some time to fully recover,” the merman thought for a moment and decided to explain the effects of the potion to him first.

Then, perhaps because Sykes had thought of the little octopus from the past, he uncharacteristically meddled and suggested, “Do you have any enemies in the outside world? Just for snatching and buying things, the siren’s revenge is only this once. But your enemies might hear the news and make a move. If you need, you can temporarily stay in my territory to recuperate. There are still many empty rooms.”

Xavier was worrying that he wouldn’t be able to repay his benefactor if he was driven away.
He immediately agreed, “Okay.”

“Thank you,” Xavier quickly added.

“No need,” Sykes waved his hand, signaling the waiting Ella to take the other to find a place to live.
“By the way, be careful of those children.”
As he spoke, he opened his notebook, planning to record the previous experiment process, and didn’t see the octopus’s expression.

The merman’s original intention was to let the octopus be careful of those energetic players.
After all, they were the ones who had almost cooked him.
But he didn’t expect that in Xavier’s ears, it had turned into the meaning of “help me look after the children by the way.”

“I will,” he nodded firmly.