Osho would be lying if he said he wasn’t pleasantly surprised by how quickly he found a potential customer.
Moreover, the person was quite open-minded, which Osho attributed to their possible desperation.
Not that he was complaining.
"Step back a bit, please." Hearing this, Osho nodded and retreated a few steps.
A rift opened next to the man as he accessed his beast space, and then something emerged, and immediately it did so, Osho couldn’t help but frown slightly.
The beast that emerged was an abnormally large octopus. Just by being there, it reached Osho’s chest in height.
It was dark blue, similar to the color of the ocean. However, a glance was all he needed to tell that there was something seriously wrong with this beast.
The color on its body had faded, like the pigmentation had been washed off slightly. At first, he thought it was because it lacked hydration. But its skin was still slimy like an octopus fresh out of water.
But that wasn’t the worst part: all of its tentacles and eyes were gone, and the injuries weren’t normal either.
Octopuses could regrow their limbs. Normal Octopus took weeks or months to do this, but as a beast, one at the Adept rank at that, the time needed should have been cut short.
But from what Osho could see, these wounds had been inflicted a long time ago. The cut parts seemed to have sealed into ordinary stubs that showed no signs of regrowing, and the place where its eyes had closed off as well.
"This is my beast. It’s an Aquamarine Octopus." The man sighed.
"I was wondering if you could evolve it and... possibly have the evolution heal it." Despite his best efforts, the grief in his voice still showed.
Osho was silent for a moment as he stared at the Octopus, and then he answered.
"I can not guarantee evolution will heal it, but I can definitely evolve it." Hearing this, Fredrick raised a brow behind his mask. He wasn’t surprised by the former part of the statement. It was a tall task to ask for evolution in the first place, but to be capable of healing it? That was just vain hope.
But he was surprised by the latter part of the statement. He was used to people boasting about the success rate of their evolution processes. He’d heard as high as 30% once, but he always took those things with a grain of salt.
However, this person didn’t give him a percentage. He just said he could do it, and the confidence in his voice... made Fredrick inclined to believe him.
’... I might regret this.’ He sighed inwardly but nodded.
"Alright then, how do we start?" He asked, and Osho tilted his head.
"Well, we need to get the materials first. But for me to be sure, may I observe your beast a bit?" He asked, and Fredrick lingered before nodding.
Seeing as He’d gotten the go-ahead, Osho went up to the octopus. Up close, he could observe its condition better, and it didn’t look good. An octopus has three hearts, but this one seemed so sluggish and barely coherent, making him wonder if all the hearts were functioning properly.
Carefully, he put his hand against the creature and felt it twitch under his touch, the slimy texture of its skin notable even past his gloves.
In truth, Osho just needed a single touch to see the ribbons. But after some experiments using Gale, he noticed that the longer he stayed in contact with the beast, the longer the ribbons would remain. As such, he intended to keep contact with the octopus long enough to allow him to see the ribbons for the rest of the night.
Fredrick watched as the man touched his beast. His touch was gentle but explorative, and Fredrick was coiled up, ready to attack the moment he noticed the man do anything to harm his beast.
But for a good ten minutes, the man just felt along its body, sometimes going below to observe its beak, but from start to finish, he never did anything threatening. At least, nothing Fredrick could detect.
"Alright, I’ve seen what I wanted. Follow me." The man finally stepped away, and Fredrick took his beast back into his Beast Space almost immediately.
As soon as he did so, the man walked out of the building, and he followed.
As they walked, Fredrick couldn’t help but observe him.
His stride was calm and confident. It was around this time that people who intended to scam him would start to show signs of being nervous as they got closer to ripping him off. This person, however, seemed wholly unperturbed, as if he was just doing something he needed to do and get it over with.
Soon, they reached a set of stalls selling different materials meant for beasts, and the man looked through it before pointing at four items without hesitation.
Fredrick followed his finger.
’Hadal Seaweed, Neon Coral, Silent Sea Salt, and Heavy Sea Water.’ He listed out the names of the items in his mind and looked at their prices which immediately caused him to cringe.
Everything would cost him a total of 95,000 credits which he barely had.
This is where he hesitated. What if this guy was a scam and was just very good at acting? Then he sighed.
’That’s the risk with the black market I suppose.’ He decided to bite the bullet and bought the items from the stall owner.
As soon as he did, the man started walking back to his stall without his word and Fredrick felt a touch of irritation. He just spent almost a hundred thousand credits but the guy didn’t seem to care one bit.
’Whatever.’ He huffed and followed him.
Once they returned to the stall, Osho looked at the man and tilted his head before asking.
"Do you want to watch me work?" The question startled Fredrick.
"You– You’re asking me if I want to watch...?" He couldn’t help but repeat. But he couldn’t be blamed.
Most people who dealt with evolution kept a tight lid on their skills and tended to operate in secret. Fredrick expected to be told to wait in the waiting room, yet he was offered a chance to watch.
’Maybe... he’s trying to show me his sincerity.’ He considered, and he was correct.
’This is the final hurdle to cross. If he suddenly changes his mind then there isn’t much I can do. This show of sincerity will increase the chances of him staying.’ Osho mused as he watched the man go silent. He wasn’t naive enough to think that just because the materials had been bought, the man would go through with the evolution.
After all, he was doing something that would alter his beast, and if it went wrong, the results could be catastrophic. So it wasn’t surprising for someone to get cold feet at this point.
"There’s no need. Just do what you need to do." However, Osho didn’t need to do any of that.
He stared at the man with some surprise, his voice indicating that he no longer seemed worried.
"You seem confident in your abilities. So I will trust them as well." Osho blinked, surprised by the sudden trust.
’Huh. Is he so desperate that his mind is messed up?’ He couldn’t help but think.
’Maybe he was trying to use reverse psychology on me to tug at my heartstrings and make me trust him. If so, then he succeeded. Regardless, I’ll decide to trust him.’ Fredrick decided.
Osho stared at him for a few seconds before nodding.
"Suit yourself." He then took the materials and entered the workroom where all his things were.
He sat on the floor cross-legged and grabbed a Mortar before putting in the Neon Coral which quite literally looked like Coral but with a Neon ocean green color.
He grabbed his pestle and smashed at the Coral until it had broken apart and turned into small pieces.
He set the mortar down before turning grabbing a chopping board and a knife. He grabbed the seaweed that was as long as he was and started cutting it into small pieces.
In a while, he had a bunch of diced Hadal Seaweed on the chopping board which he transferred into the bowl and set it next to the Mortar.
He grabbed another bowl and poured in the Heavy Sea Water that was heavy in a literal sense and Osho put some effort into hauling the container which it was in.
He poured it into the bowl before taking out the Silent Sea Salt and poured it into the water.
He watched as the Sea Salt gradually dissolved into the water, then he poured it into where the seaweed was and waited for thirty minutes.
Once that was done, he carried the crushed Neon Coral and added it to the bowl. After that, he grabbed a turning stick and stared at the contents of the bowl.
He kept at it for another twenty minutes until everything had been turned into a sort of paste that smelled a lot like the ocean.
Osho then covered the bowl for ten minutes and as soon as the time elapsed, he opened the bowl and saw that everything had dissolved and looked even more like paste, the oceanic smell getting stronger.
Nodding to himself, he transferred it to a large container and put the lid on before he opened the door.
Fredrick stepped in and was hit by the smell of the ocean, before he could ask though, Osho spoke.
"Take this and apply the paste on every part of the body of the octopus. And I mean EVERY part. Make sure not a bit of paste is left and not a single part of its body is uncovered." Hearing this, Fredrick stared at the bowl and then back at the masked vendor before him.
He placed the container on the ground and held up his watch and typed a few things before Osho felt a vibration in his pocket.
"You’re very trusting." He remarked, knowing that the buzz was the notification of his money being sent.
"Desperate is more apt. Anyway, what should I call you?" Fredrick asked.
"Maven, call me Maven." Osho answered and Fredrick was silent for a moment before nodding.
He took up the container.
"If I get another beast, I’ll come here again." At this, Osho just nodded.
"Alright, also you better be quick, that stuff is only effective for an hour, so I suggest you get going." Hearing this, Fredrick flinched and was hit with a sudden bout of urgency.
"Oh! Thanks!" He said and ran out.
’What a weird guy.’ Osho shrugged and started to clean up.
’Good thing I have a mask on.’ He thought as a small smile played at his lips.