Infinite Evolution: Rise of the God of Metamorphosis

Chapter 14: Test

Eliot used the past few days as the chief productively.

Apart from training the previously chaotic fish school into a cohesive unit, he also did some personal observation on his part.

Led by Commander Bomber, as the fish of the attack department went out to hunt successfully for the fish school, Eliot noticed something.

During the past few days of hunting, a few of the fish in the attack department were able to level up, he noticed due to his snooping tool.

This was when he arrived at a theory after careful analysis.

‘Commander Bomber and ex chief are already level 5 fish’.

‘It’s clear that level 5 is the first climax point for Salmon fish, to grow further, they need to use a single species evolution orb to evolve and gain magic’.

This brought an idea to tweak the hunt strategy of the attack department.

‘Since Commander Bomber no longer has use for XP unless he uses a single species evolution orb, there’s no use for him landing the killing blow to prey’.

‘I will introduce a strategy that will help other fish to land the killing blow’.

‘This way, the attack department will get stronger faster’.

Eliot made this analysis a few days ago.

At the moment though, his focus was on ex chief who answered his summons, coming to the lair of his fish school whose construction was completed just 2 days ago under the leadership of Commander Blinky.

The lair of the fish school according to the chief’s instructions were dug underground like a labyrinth.

Only the chief, ex chief, and the 3 Commanders knew the full blueprint to their labyrinth lair, all the other fishes only obeyed instructions.

This was one thing why Eliot loved these Salmon, they always blindly obeyed instructions from their chief without thinking or asking questions.

When under a chief like ex chief, this was disaster.

But under Eliot, they thrived.

The purpose of the lair was to serve as the last defense stand of the fish school. In the face of immense danger, instead of ex chief’s shout danger and run strategy, Eliot’s strategy was for all the fish to retreat here strategically.

The holes of the labyrinth were just big enough to let the biggest Salmon fish through them, this prevented bigger predators from forcing their way in.

This way, not only could they protect themselves, but against arrogant and overconfident predators, they could even launch a counterattack right there from their labyrinth and secure an unlikely victory with the odds against them.

“Chief, all fish must die someday!” Ex chief bowed as he swam before the chief. “You summoned me”.

At this moment, ex chief was very respectful around the new chief.

This was not only because of the title of a chief.

Having lived through 3 generations of Chinook Salmon schools, even during the era of the conqueror chief, ex chief was impressed by what Eliot did.

Though he didn’t understand why, he could tell that the fish school was now more cohesive and collectively stronger than ever before.

He no longer felt like one fish would die every day of living.

This still didn’t shake his belief though. “All fish must die someday!”

Hearing that sentence again for the umpteenth time, Eliot sighed. “I wonder if you’ll ever change that belief of yours”.

“All fish must die someday!” Ex chief repeated seriously.

“…” Eliot was speechless.

Eliot didn’t dwell on it; he faced his assistant with a serious look on his face the next moment as ex chief also became serious noticing his look.

“Ex chief, it’s time”. Eliot felt excited as he said it.

“For days, I’ve held the fish school back from exploring because I felt we’re not yet ready to explore, that’s why I focused on training”.

“But finally, I think it’s time”.

“Before I start the ambitious plan in my head though, first, I need to test you all. I need to test you to confirm that you are ready to explore”.

“A test?” Ex chief was interested.

“Yes, the test shall be a hunt”.

“The job of the defense department is mostly passive so they’ll probably be left out of this. My main reason for this test is to challenge the scouting and attack department to see how they will fare when the going gets tough”.

Ex chief listened attentively.

“This is why I need your knowledge again; you’ve lived the longest here”.

“I need a worthy opponent to serve as a test”.

“A beast that is powerful enough to put the attack department on a pinch, obviously a beast without magic but a powerful one”.

“Oh…!” Ex chief’s eyes widened, he finally understood.

“What about…,” He thought for a few seconds. “Killer Croc?”

“…” Eliot’s fish eyes twitched.

“No…, hell no!”

“Why?” Ex chief was baffled.

“Magic or no magic, Salmon fish has nothing to do against a croc”.

“When we’re ready, I’ll know”.

“Right now, we’re nowhere ready to take on a Croc”.

The look that Eliot gave this old Salmon fish changed as he looked at him. ‘No wonder so many of our brothers died, your decision-making skills is crazy man’.

“What of…, the old geezer Anaconda?”

“…” Eliot just stared at this fish.

If he had hands, he would place them akimbo just staring at him.

Feeling his gaze, ex chief coughed awkwardly only for bubbles to come out of his mouth. “What of the Barracuda of the West?”

Eliot’s eyes gleamed. “Tell me about him”.

Ex chief entered story telling mode as he elaborated about the fateful encounter of the fish school with the dangerous Barracuda.

This encounter occurred like 3 months ago.

Eliot guessed that this beast was yet to evolve, he made his decision.

“That’s our target”.

“Inform the scouting and attack department”.

“Yes, chief”.

…

10 minutes later, 15 Chinook Salmon fish left the labyrinth lair.

The defense department was the largest department of the fish school with 25 Salmon fish, more than half of the fish in the school.

The 2^nd largest department was the attack department with 8 Chinook Salmon, while Commander Bonkers’ scouting department had only 6 fish.

Instantly after leaving the lair, as they swam towards the west, the 6 fish of the scouting department led by Commander Bonkers gave the others a head start.

Having trained intensely and practiced for the past few days, the scouting unit gave a perfect performance leading the way to the target as they detected and led the hunting force to avoid 3 deadly predators and 2 hostile fish schools.

13 minutes after they left the lair, the scouts detected him.

At the west end of the Thunder Reef, the Barracuda casually swam.

[WARNING! A powerful predator has been discovered!]

[You have encountered a Barracuda Fish!]

[Support system tip: Escape!]

‘No!’

For the first time, Eliot ignored his support system’s tip.

His eyes gleamed as he saw him. “Game on!”