Azure Sea, Catfish Clan.
Sou Shou suddenly encountered a stroke of fortune, and his strength soared.
After trying out all his awakened talents, Sou Shou returned to the cave brimming with confidence.
Over the following months, Sou Shou immersed himself in the thrill of Devouring and leveling up, his All Attributes rapidly rising.
No creature in the clan knew about this, nor did they care to know.
To the clan members, Sou Shou's lofty ambitions had merely been the ravings of a fool.
One day, an uninvited guest arrived in the Catfish Clan's territory.
That day, the clan leader led a group of strong young catfish to the Nine Spirits Great Sea Trench.
Because the Catfish Clan lacked resources, they had no choice but to seek them in the great trench of the public area. This had been the case for countless years.
Sou Shou had not been informed of this trip. The clan creatures despised and ignored him, and no one had bothered to notify him.
The clan leader's group took away most of the clan's able-bodied members, leaving only Sou Shou and some old, weak, sick, and disabled catfish in the clan grounds.
Not long after the clan leader and the others left, a group of sea eels chased a beautiful woman with a fish tail into the Catfish Clan's territory.
The fish-tailed woman was covered in wounds. In particular, a savage gash on her tail leaked glowing blood.
Her face was pale from excessive blood loss, yet she desperately fled while the sea eels pursued her relentlessly.
Upon entering the catfish territory, she found an area filled with black sea mud and darted into it.
Suppressing her nausea, she smeared herself black. The pursuing sea eels headed farther away, and the woman narrowly escaped disaster.
Though the