Henry brought the Skill level he’d been accumulating up and grinned.


    “Boy oh boy.”


    He had to admit. Levels might have not been fast, but his constant training, along with his heavy use of Octominds and the frequent clashes with wildlife, did his abilities a lot of good.


    Hunger of the Trickster (D): Level 4 -> Level 5


    Arms of the Trickster (E): Level 9 -> Level 10


    Lightning Discharge (E): Level 7 -> Level 9


    Unimpeded Arms (F): Level 7 -> Level 10


    Amplified Impact (F): Level 7 -> Level 10


    Riptide Rush (F): Level 3 -> Level 8


    “Storage capacity is now… 85 cubic meters. Almost an extra 30 cubic meters for the level. That’s an above average room. Soon enough, I’ll have an Olympic pool’s worth of storage.”


    exploded


    “Alright, let’s evolve the Octominds and see what I’m getting there.”


    Henry paid the 1 C-Token, leaving him with 14.8 C-Tokens. His haul from taking down the C-rank beasties they’d met on their way here. After this series of upgrades, he was going to focus on getting those Tokens to 200. He wanted the Partial Shapeshift and Alter Form upgrades as soon as possible.


    already


    Arms of the Trickster (D) - Level 1:


    Assistance of the Octominds:


    Passive: Your mental faculties are improved by the individual brains in your arms.


    F-Rank: Amplify the effects of a Skill that can benefit from increased cognition.


    E-Rank: Multiple Octominds can be temporarily pooled to provide a more efficient and substantial assistance.


    D-Rank: The Octominds are capable of activating Skills.


    Razor Tentacle (D)


    Tentacle Whip (D)


    Arcane Arm (F)


    “Yes!”


    He’d noted how the Octominds could help him trigger and maintain Skill, but they could never do it by themselves. Now though… Now he could have an Octomind on permanent healing duty to top him off whenever his health got low. Whether Henry was asleep, passed out, or busy fighting.


    “This opens up so many options.”


    A healing arm. An emergency escape arm that would cast Blink whenever he got too low. Automatic illusions. Telekinetic projectile defense. Maybe even some sort of training? Could he have some Octominds doing mana-exercice non-stop?


    present.


    Clearly, the whole Skill evolved. The upgrade wasn’t just about the new unlocked ability.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    “Good thing I’ll be heading out to test this all outside.”


    Over the next hour or so, Henry upgraded Unimpeded Arms, Amplified Impact, Lightning Discharge and Arcane Arm. His heavy use of the Skill seemed to have unlocked the upgrade–or it might have been the Aspect leveling. Either way, it was time to bring it up to speed.


    Summoning the magical arm, Henry focused on trying to modify it. To his astonishment, he could. He could add joints or spikes. He could create a razor-edge along the limb, but he couldn’t make a crab pincer or a human arm just yet, although the Skill seemed to be still connected to his shapeshifting abilities.


    If he managed to create a human arm with Shapeshifting Limb, would he be able to summon a magical human arm to punch his opponents with?


    It would certainly be interesting to see.


    “And that’s all for now… Though the next batch of upgrades should be here soon. I should also focus on getting Mana Nexus to upgrade. That Skill practically doubles mana reserves whenever it goes up a level, and mana is everything. More of it won’t hurt, and that should allow me to use Blink without going broke.”


    ***


    Henry swam out of the tunnel system and scanned his surroundings.


    Immediately, his eyes found the wall of golden light, a couple minutes’ swim away. All around were rocks and reefs with large multi-colored growths. As he looked down at the exit he’d come out of, he noticed the clearly carved pattern in the reef, drawing a wide circle around the entrance, cutting through reef, plants and sheer rock. Clearly, the entrance markings were maintained; it made sense, considering how easily the entrance could be lost.


    Above, Moon–the leader of the hunting party–was already emitting clicks, scouting the area for anything too dangerous for them to deal with. Which left the fourth member of this small hunting party to come out of the cave entrance in a huff, bumping Henry’s arm on the way out before giving him a challenging glare.


    Maurice shook his pincer at the new, smaller dolphin.


    “[He’s rude! I said hi and he glared at me,]”


    Henry didn’t know what their problem was. Moon had shown up, asked if Henry was up for a hunt, and then they were out.


    “Alright,” Moon clicked. “The goal is to bring you three up to speed. It will be good to see what you two are capable of, and it will be good experience for Seasong here. Once–”


    Stormsong,


    Stormsonglisten


    Henry pumped his arms, following the two. He couldn’t help but feel amused when the second dolphin began shooting smug glances at him, twirling and taking the time to swim side to side once it was clear Henry had to work a bit harder to keep up with the sleek dolphins.


    He could activate Skills and whatnot, but clearly these beings were more built for speed than he was.


    They swam vaguely away from the wall of light, with Moon occasionally clicking and changing directions. Henry patiently followed until all of a sudden, the dolphin dove and signaled for both Henry and Stormsong to follow.


    “[Target near,]”“[Eel. Pretty large, but thankfully isolated. Who wants to take care of it?]”


    “[We can do–]”


    Stormsong ignored them all, swimming up and over the rock outcropping, forcing a resigned click out of Moon. The dolphin swam after her, and Henry quickly followed, where they all got to watch a pretty even fight.


    The green eel seemed to be specialized in venoms, reminding Henry of the serpent he’d fought a while back. It kept trying to bite Stormsong, making its skin glow and waft greenish-looking clouds, but the dolphin was incredibly fast. She didn’t seem to mind the venom, zipping back and forth non-stop, continuously landing painful looking headbutts that made the eel squirm and screech with pain before it could retaliate.


    The whole thing took around three or four minutes. Finally the dolphin landed the final blow, at which point Henry swam closer and stored the dead eel.


    “[Let’s see you do better, kraken,]” again


    “[Why is she so mad at us?]”


    “[I think she’s mad at everyone, Maurice. Don’t worry about it.]”


    Minutes later, Moon flagged another target.


    [Hammerrock Crab (C) - Lvl ??]


    The large crab was slowly picking at some carcass, uncaring of its surroundings. It had spikes all over its body, and one pincer was significantly larger than the second.


    Expecting the dolphin to try showing off again, Henry saw her looking sideways at the crab, then back at Henry before she turned away.


    “[Can you handle this?]”


    “[Yeah. We’ve just got something to check real quick, but we’ve got this.]”


    “[We’ll see who’s the best crab,]” “[I’ve never tasted crab.]”“[As long as it’s not a friend, of course.]”


    “[We’ll test it, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be friendly.]”


    “[Craaaab!]”