Chapter 117 - Evaluation And The 3 Shark Elders.
Well, he shouldn't have asked in the first place because now he felt awkward. Sebastian didn't know the right way to react to Old Mak's answer, in the end, he simply shone his teeth to form a wild smile before turning to scurry away.
Seeing the shark disappear, Old Mak revealed a sharky smile before turning to face his favorite wife. "I think I like him already; he reminds me so much of my best friend. He's freakishly talented, inquisitive, and handsome".
Heareth replied to that with a smile before she swam out of her platform. "I'm going to the veteran chamber; I'll be needed there for his evaluation".
"Ok". Old Mak gave his consent before also swimming away into the depths of the throne. It took only a few seconds before he was quickly consumed by the darkness there.
…
As soon as Sebastian passed through the pitch-black wall back outside into the expansive side of the cave, he saw a Great White Shark swimming across.
"You're the new guy, right? Welcome, I'm Shanks".
"Thanks, I'm Sebastian".
As Sebastian answered, he also observed the shark. This fellow was fairly small compared to others, even smaller than Verni, towering at a size of about 5 meters.
It didn't have many adaptations either, it was extremely plain and still in the most basic form of a shark. Seeing all these, Sebastian easily deduced that it was still at the white tier.
This once again emphasized to him the importance of bloodlines. Even for the Draconic Lizards, most of their low-leveled family members had low intelligence but a white tier great white shark was so much different.
Just with this alone, he could deduce which bloodline was stronger between those of the Draconic Lizards and Great White Sharks.
"You're going to the veteran chamber for your evaluation, right?" Seeing him keep quiet, Shanks asked.
"Yeah, can you please show me there?"
Sebastian suddenly felt awkward having asked that, was it too formal? Ugh! He felt exhausted, adapting to interacting with sharks instead of humans didn't seem to be an easy task from the expression on Shank's face.
The shark revealed a confused expression. "What's that? What's please? The clan head once said that's a word used for begging, are you begging?"
"No, sorry, dammit no, just take me to the veteran chamber".
"Ok, let's go".
With that, the 2 sharks left towards the direction of the veteran chamber. As they swam, Sebastian used this opportunity to think about his encounter with Old Mak while heaving a sigh of relief.
He felt relieved as he was not asked sensitive questions like how he became a Megalodon at the orange tier, what skill he used to kill the Devouring Octopus, and a myriad of other things that would have left him in a tough spot.
Overall, from his encounter with the alpha shark, he seemed to be safe which was something he really appreciated.
For once, after killing, killing, and killing, he finally had a place where he could live harmoniously with other predators without them baring their teeth against his skin.
For the stories told by Old Mak, he believed them because they explained a lot of things such as their ability to use technological devices as he said.
As he thought, it did not take much longer before Shanks took him to the veteran chamber. With his work done, the shark turned to leave but Sebastian stopped him.
He wanted to say thank you as was normal after receiving help from someone but remembering the shark's reaction to 'please', he changed it. "I'll take you hunting when my evaluation is done".
"Really? Yay! I'll be your loyal junior brother if you take me out hunting". Shanks was thrilled which was expressed in his reaction.
Sebastian revealed a smile on seeing that before entering this segment of the cave that was called the veteran chamber.
Getting inside, he was once again wowed by the construct. This chamber was separated into smaller chambers by a special transparent rock that he didn't know the name of, and in one of these smaller chambers hovered Verni.
Entering here, he felt like he entered a modern hospital though this was a cave. Verni saw him also as soon as he entered, he waved a fin at him which he reciprocated.
"Are you Sebastian?"
"Yeah…, yes". Sebastian turned only to see a Great White Shark that left him stunned again. Compared to the others, this shark didn't look like a predator at all, it rather looked like your everyday nanny who took care of kids.
"Please, come this way for your evaluation". The nanny shark led the way.
"Ok".
As he followed, this strange nanny shark started telling Sebastian the most basic information about the elders of the shark clan.
"We have 3 elders, Marble, Dangle, and Shine". After telling their names, she introduced information about them.
According to her, Marble was the eldest and strongest of the elders. He was an earth domain magician and was also at the purple tier. All 3 elders were at the purple tier, which was a criterion to being one.
Dangle was the only female elder. She was a sound domain magician, just like Sebastian which left him thrilled immediately.
Shine was the last of the elders who only broke through 2 years ago. He was a light domain magician who focused more on the illusionary part of light magic. Together, all 3 elders and Queen Heareth were responsible for evaluations.
By the time she finished her introductions, she already led Sebastian to one of the smaller chambers. There, he was placed on a platform like the one in the throne chamber where he had just come from.
A few seconds later, a Great White Shark came in and stood beside the nanny shark. It was the elder, Shine.
"Sebastian, don't resist it, take it in and feel like you want to sleep".
Before Sebastian knew it, he was already feeling groggy and sleepy.
[You are currently being affected by illusionary light magic: Drowsiness.]
Of course, Sebastian instinctively tried to resist but it proved futile. In a few seconds, he was asleep.
After he slept, 2 other elders came in, including the Queen, Heareth.
Marble immediately started manipulating the earth, creating what seemed like earth ropes as they dug into the stationary shark's body. While he did this, Dangle went closer and touched Sebastian with her dorsal fin.
[You have been affected by a skill: Vibrational Search.]
Unfortunately, Sebastian couldn't see the notification because he was asleep. After the earth ropes dug into his body, the other parts of the rope were connected to an old machine.
As soon as it was connected, numbers and figures appeared on the machine's screen and started rapidly counting away. In a few seconds, dozens of patterns were established by the figures and were tabulated by the nanny shark.
Due to the earth ropes digging inside his body, Sebastian's body started bleeding but Heareth diligently healed him, making sure that he didn't lose too much blood from the injuries.
With the 5 of them working together, they got what they wanted in a few minutes. The only problem was that the tabulated figures that they got shocked the shit out of them.
Elder Marble didn't comment despite the strange figures that were gotten after the evaluation; he simply ordered the nanny to do as already established.
"Go give the figures to the Head".
"Yes, elder".