Stormsong and Maurice watched the shell of light slowly dissolve into motes. The kraken was still asleep, but Stormsong noted the larger frame as the monster’s colors rippled and altered as he dreamt.

  At least, that was her theory for the dancing colors she’d occasionally see when Henry slept.

  The color shift slowed over the course of a handful of seconds, then the usual orange-brown colorations came through, and the kraken moved.

  A trill of fear ran through her body as the kraken’s presence unfurled outward. A subtle thing that most would miss. But Stormsong had been around high-level dolphins enough to recognize the feeling, and it made her heart beat pick up.

  Even though he just broke into C-Rank, the presence that had filled the cave nearly matched that of some of the highest level hunters she knew. Not the B-ranks, of course. But it certainly eclipsed hers.

  Henry slowly unraveled his arms and began swimming toward them, which made her breath catch before she forced herself to relax.

  Somehow, she felt that pretty soon even the likes of Sundots would have to be wary of the creature in front of her.

  [Watchful Guardian (C) - Lvl 1]

  Stormsong read the class and wondered why both of them were showing their classes instead of their species. It was another thing she didn’t understand about these two. And she was about to ask, when a voice spoke in her mind.

  They’re a tool. They’re only a way for you to leave the pod. Why would you care?

  Stormsong shoved the voice to the back of her mind. That kind of thinking had allowed her to keep herself safe back in the pod, but she wanted to leave all of that behind. She wanted adventure, and she wanted to meet more being that didn’t see her as potential partner or competition.

  Plus, what was the harm in such a small question?

  Taking a deep breath, she approached the two talking friends and asked both of them.“[Why do you display your classes for all to see?]”

  Henry had come to a stop, and had just picked up the excited crab when both of them turned to her and their voices echoed in her mind.“[What?]”

  ***

  Henry stared at the dolphin, and couldn’t help noticing the wisps of color dancing around her. But only when he wanted to see them. And it wasn’t his mana sight either, though when he used that ability, he saw the wisps even clearer.

  It was the same feeling he’d gotten when seeing the manifestation of his Aspects. Hers reminded him of their fight. A mixture of the speed, the turbulence of stormy winds, and the unstoppable force of the sea. There were some other things there, but the dolphin’s next words took him out of his contemplations.

  “[What do you mean ‘what’? Knowledge of your class is only for those closest to you.]”

  Henry and Maurice shared a look, then the kraken lifted two arms in a shrug. “[I guess we’re all very close, then.]”

  Maurice rubbed his claws together from his perch on top of Henry’s head.“[Yes. When do we see your class?]”

  The dolphin snorted, sending out a large stream of bubbles. “[Never.]”

  “[Jokes aside, I don’t feel the need to hide my class. Plus, it might help strangers know that I’m not just a mindless monster.]”

  Stormsong beat her fluke a couple of times as she swam in a small circle.“[Fair enough. So. Can you see them?]”

  “[See what?]” asked Maurice.

  “[Yes. I think I do,]” said Henry as he glanced down at the crab, who just looked between the kraken and the dolphin.

  Maurice tapped on Henry’s arm urgently. “[See what?!]”

  Henry’s eyes twinkled as he looked down at the crab. “[Don’t worry about it. Just get to C-Rank and you’ll know what we’re talking about. Now, give me a few minutes to finish cleaning up some stuff, then we can head out.]”

  “[Henry! See what?]”

  The kraken tuned the crab out—or more accurately, he had an Octomind stop the voice from distracting him—and loaded the Aspect Workshop and eyed the new options available to him.

  Upgrade Skills and Traits

  Incorporate Class Skills and Traits in Aspect

  Merge Skills and Traits

  Create new Aspects

  Fuse Aspects

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Are these new options always going to be available?

  With a quick look around, he confirmed that everything would cost him Evolutionary points, which meant he’d have to be frugal about them though. Of course, that wasn’t the only concern. The System’s warning about playing with Aspects was still fresh on Henry’s mind and considering everything available to him, it made sense.

  I’m going to need a lot of preparation before I make any big change. But it’d sure would be nice if there were a way to simulate some of this stuff. Hmm.

  Henry looked down at his many arms. He doubted the Octominds could help with merging processes themselves, especially if he was being assisted. But maybe he could predict some outcomes?

  Well. He could try that right now. He was still hoping to create a movement-based Aspect, but maybe he could try and think it through with the help of his Octominds.

  Before that though, Henry wanted to check the new menu. The Concept Workshop.

  Extract conceptual essence

  Excise Class construct

  Excise Ephemeral construct

  Bind construct to class

  Henry carefully read the available options at least three times, noticing with every iteration what wasn’t being said or made available.

  There was no mention of what he was supposed to do with the extracted essence. Or what he was supposed to do with the results of the excision options. As for binding… As he tapped the option, he had no help. Nothing. And from feeling out the option and what it was expecting, it felt like the final step of the skill creation process. The final firing in the kiln to stabilize and solidify everything. To bind it.

  Meaning, he somehow had to create the ability himself, then he could bind it to the class. After which he could transfer it to an Aspect in the Aspect Workshop.

  This was a lot to take in.

  Alright. Let’s try for something easier than that, for now. So how about a simulation of a potential fusion?

  If he were to create a movement Aspect which included Blink and Riptide Rush, what could he fuse it with after? Could he combine it with other Aspects?

  Octominds, get it done.

  Henry left the three blood clones with an Octomind each, then took the remaining five for his new task. He closed his eyes and waited. He wasn’t actually sure it’d work, but in the meantime, he visualized his Aspects on a pedestal, like he’d seen them with the System, and waited.

  He felt ideas come out of certain Octominds and head to others before they were modified. The image in his mind changed, as a vague shape was introduced from above, but it all felt… inefficient. There was hesitation in the Octominds. They weren’t being confident, and their musings seemed to be uncoordinated and within a minute or two, he felt them hit a wall.

  So, Henry pooled them. All five Octominds became one, and the image he was visualizing immediately grew sharper. Text began overlaying over the new Aspect as it grew more distinct, gaining a deep blue—almost indigo—color.

  Lines came out of the new simulated Aspect and connected to each single Aspect, then a percentage popped over the line.

  Movement + Hunger estimated compatibility = 10%

  Movement + Shiftiness estimated compatibility = 25%

  Movement + Arms estimated compatibility = 20%

  Movement + Misdirection estimated compatibility = 80%

  Movement + Arcana estimated compatibility = 60%

  Movement + Vitality estimated compatibility = 50%

  Henry went through every line, his inner smile growing wider by the second. He could only agree with the estimations, even though he knew the Octominds were based on his own thoughts and biases, but it made sense to him.

  Hunger and its abilities didn’t have a lot to do with movement, while Misdirection with its clones, scouting, and ink screens could work pretty well with movement abilities.

  Henry pictured some possible combinations of Misdirection and Blink; when he did, he had to stop himself from immediately pressing the create Aspect button.

  What if he could somehow Blink to his ink clones? What if he could do it all over the world?

  Calm down. I have no damn clue if it works like that, Henry told himself as he forcefully reeled back his hopes and expectation.

  He took a few minutes to consider a movement Aspect combined with Arcana and Vitality, but he couldn’t picture a combination as impressive as clones and teleportation. Vitality had healing and resistances; he had no idea how that could work well with teleporting, so he moved on to Arcana.

  Arcana summoned illusions, had Mana Skills and Telekinesis, which might explain why its compatibility with a movement Aspect was up to 60%. Even if it was somehow possible to teleport to an illusion, it just wasn’t as good as teleporting to clones.

  He couldn’t take his mind off that combination. He wasn’t even sure what he’d do with it, but if there was a synergistic possibility he could aim for with a movement Aspect, he couldn’t think of anything better.

  Alright. We’ll see how it goes. But I still want the movement Aspect, so let’s start with that, he thought as he activated the Aspect creation in his workshop.

  Blink and Riptide Rush can be merged within Swiftness of the Trickster

  Amplified Impact, Krakenbane’s Wrath, Lightning Discharge, Accelerated Strike, and

  Cavitational Impact can be merged within Fury of the Trickster

  Henry examined the two options. He was happy to see his movement Aspect, but he wasn’t sure about the Fury though to be honest, it was growing on him by the second. He could also see it fit pretty well with his other Aspects. A quick check with his 4-mind Octomind showed him a 90% compatibility with Hunger and a 60% with Arms. Everything else was lower.

  Well, I’ll look into it later, he thought as he agreed to the creation of Swiftness of the Trickster, grumbling while paying the 5 Evolutionary points, and as the magic began collecting around him, he could only think of everything else he needed to do.

  Still need to move my skills around and get through notifications.

  The magic coalescing about him pulled his attention away from his to-do list, and as he paid attention to the wisps of foreign concepts, he could only chuckle.

  In a way, he might have just been given the keys to the magic of this world. He just had to not screw it up.

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