While the shelled squids savaged a large being that meandered into their territory, Henry slunk along the seabed and made himself into a large rock. He would have liked to empower his camouflage with conceptual essences, but Shiftiness and Misdirection still somehow felt light and shallow.

  Clearly, those energies needed a bit more time to recover. It wasn’t anything like mana, and Henry had no idea how long it would take for them to be refilled, but one thing was clear; he couldn’t go around using his Aspects’ energies willy-nilly. He had to be frugal with them. He also needed to understand them better.

  I might also be able to use the stuff I recover from breaking down abilities with my own Skill soon. I’ll test that once I get a safe spot…

  Henry slowly made his way toward a reefy formation, looking for a hidden spot to settle in. He didn’t feel that great, now that the adrenaline was wearing off. Some of the energies from Sundots’ attacks had leached into him and made him feel heavy. Sick. It reminded him of having a fever, and he could feel the offending agents in both his body and his soul.

  He had an idea of how he could get rid of it, but he needed to be somewhere safe first. Any time now, the squids were going to get back to roaming, and he was in the middle of their territory.

  Maurice’s going to want one of those shells, Henry thought as he carefully traversed the area, occasionally sending ink clones to look around for safe spot and a few minutes later, Henry found a good spot. A bunch of large rocks seemed to have detached from the cliff a long time ago, and they formed a high, almost mountain-sized network of reefs and caves. Most were on the smaller size, but he found a good one that was curiously empty.

  Henry didn’t mind that. He slipped in and, using a couple of arms, mimicked a large boulder and plugged the exit to dissuade anything from trying to get in. He then let out a sigh of relief, but couldn’t really rest just yet.

  Pulling some essence from Vitality of the Trickster, Henry channeled it into a pulse of Arcane Regeneration and shivered as the skill coursed through his body. It was like a wave of cold water coursed into his body and soul, scrubbing bits and pieces of whatever Sundots had left him with. For the next thirty minutes, Henry kept activating the skill, occasionally boosting it with a bit of essence, as slowly washed away the foreign essence, and by the time he was done, Henry made himself a promise.

  He should put himself through this cleansing process more regularly.

  He’d never felt as good. It was like he just had the best night's sleep of his life, and his felt body energized and full of life, as if he just down a shot of espresso but without the nervous energy that would follow. To his greatest chagrin though, Vitality was now also empty.

  I need to figure out a way to stockpile these conceptual energies. Or make more of them.

  That was something he could ask Stormsong about. Glancing behind, he made sure once more that he hadn’t locked himself in a dangerous cave and readied himself to pull out Maurice and the dolphin—with whom he needed to have a conversation—but paused.

  Might as well get through the notifications first. And see what I got from the dolphin.

  Magic Mimic: Control Water (F) was copied. Added to Ephemerals.

  Magic Mimic: Sonic Pulse (E) was copied. Added to Ephemerals.

  Magic Mimic: Mind Shield (E) was copied. Added to Ephemerals.

  Inkjet: Torrential Ink acquired.

  Huh, Henry hummed. I got the clicky-skills. Wonder how that’s going to work. Still, good haul in general.

  Henry was disappointed for a moment because Control Water was copied at the F-Rank. But then again, as he recalled the fight with Sundots, the skill seemed to have a lot of powerful application that most certainly required practice and mastery. It might be a core ability of the species as well, as it was also what Stormsong used in their little bout, though her technique was different from Sundots’.

  Now, how about Aspect levels?

  Hunger of the Trickster (D): Level 6 → Level 7

  Shiftiness of the Trickster (D): Level 9 → Level 10

  Misdirection of the Trickster (D): Level 5 → Level 8

  Arms of the Trickster (D): Level 4 → Level 7

  Arcana of the Trickster (D): Level 1 → Level 2

  Vitality of the Trickster (D): Level 1 → Level 4

  Swiftness of the Trickster (E): Level 1 → Level 2

  Fury of the Trickster (E): Level 1 → Level 3

  As always, nothing better than almost dying for leveling up.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Shiftiness was ready to be upgraded to C-Rank. It would be his first Aspect to hit C-Rank but unfortunately, it would cost a whole B-Rank token to upgrade. While he already had enough to afford the expensive upgrades he’d unlocked against the Trickster thanks to the rush to C-rank, it’d be a minute before he got his hand on B-rank.

  I shouldn’t forget about the stat points either. I should be able to afford the batch that costs C-tokens soon, he reminded himself as he mentally dug into his Maw. Henry unfurled an arm and a multicoloured—but mostly red—crab popped out. Maurice looked around for a moment, examined Henry for a second, then a piece of crab meat popped into his claw and he began chewing. “[How did it go? Tell me everything. Can you recreate it with your illusions? That could be better. What if—]”

  Henry let Maurice ramble on and pulled Stormsong next. The dolphin immediately glanced around, water churning around her, and when she saw the crab munching as he stared back, she calmed down. “[What happened? Where are we?]”

  The kraken quickly filled them in, and even recreated some elements of the encounter when Maurice insisted. Once he was done, Stormsong stared at him, while Maurice was climbing over his camouflaging arm to take a peek outside at the shelled squids.

  “[You fought him? Sundots?]”

  Henry shrugged with two arms.“[I don’t know if I can call it fighting. More like I survived a few hits until the shark showed up.]”

  “[And you brought an Otodus… That’s so… ]”

  Stormsong was speechless, and Henry was very much aware how precarious his situation had been, but then again, he was somehow growing used to the danger. Which was concerning.

  Not wanting to dwell on those thoughts, Henry eyed the dolphin for a second and let the question drop. “[They seemed… very intent on getting you back. And now that we’re travelling together, mind telling us what’s going on with you and your pod?]”

  Maurice stopped watching the outside world and scuttled up on one of Henry’s arms, while Stormsong quietly stared back. A few small bubbles escaped from her head, then she bobbed her body a couple of times. “[Your lives were at risk because of me. So I’ll tell you. But I don’t want to discuss it. Can you respect that?]”

  Henry agreed. Maurice continued munching on crab meat.

  “[There are two reasons I wanted to leave. Or at least, I was waiting for a chance to leave. The first is that I have no one in the pod. My parents were exiled when I was just a calf. The second is that there are expectations of me that I have no interest in. I don’t know if I can even call them expectations, now that we’re here. More like… obligations. But I don’t want that. I want to travel and see the world. I’m not naive enough to believe my parents are still out there, but if they are, I want a chance of seeing them again. No matter how small it is. I want to be somewhere else. Anywhere but back there. I don’t want to be forced into anything. No matter how important it us for the ‘survival of the pod’.]”

  Henry listened quietly, skin crawling when he realized what the second might have been. Knowing the habits and behaviour of dolphins back in his world, he guessed these dolphins, even though they were sapient and all, might still have some unorthodox and potentially traumatic behaviours. From the tone and muted body language of the dolphin, he assumed it wasn’t pretty. Henry felt Maurice about to say something, and decided to cut him off. Just in case the crab wasn’t picking up on the heaviness of the situation.

  As for the solemn mood itself, Henry wasn’t sure how to deal with it, but food usually helped him take his mind of off things. A therapist would have been better, but in the interim, a nice, juicy cut of C-rank eel would do.

  Putting down the meat in their midst, Henry nodded toward the dolphin. “[Thank you for telling us, and you’re welcome to continue traveling with us.]”

  Stormsong stared at the piece of meat and at the tiny fish that were getting close to it, then took a bite.

  Maurice cut out a piece with his claw next, then looked up to him inquisitively, so Henry shot him a quick private message. “[Questions later. This is a sensitive topic. Let’s change the subject.]”

  The crab’s excited voice came through their minds almost immediately. As if he’d been waiting.

  “[Can we get one of those squids? Stormsong, do you know them?]”

  The dolphin looked up, chewing, then approached the exit and peeked outside over Henry’s arm, seemingly welcoming the distraction.

  “[No. I don’t recognize them. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone speak of them either… Maybe they don’t leave the Current? Or maybe they prefer staying at the bottom?]”

  The cave was quiet for a few seconds as Henry looked at the squids through his remaining clones. Then Stormsong spoke once more. “[Is that it? You’re not going to make demands out of me? You’re just inviting me to travel along with you two after I got you both in trouble?]”

  Henry looked back at the dolphin and even though he was a bit taken aback by the pained and raw voice in his mind, he still shook his head. Beyond her disabled Mind Shield, Henry sensed surprise. Suspicion. Expectations of rejection and so much fear, buried under hopes and anger. Loneliness, too. Her parents might have left a hole in her chest that might have never been filled and that… stung.

  The kraken picked up the crab and helped him see through the camouflaged exit. Even Maurice kept quiet. Henry knew he was listening, and calmly answered the dolphin. “[When I opened my eyes in this new world, I was alone. Weak. I almost died to an F-rank eel within the first few hours.]”

  Stormsong quietly listened, and slowly, Henry noticed the feelings and emotions coming off of her slow to a trickle then disappear, but that didn’t bother him.

  Baby steps, he thought, then continued.

  “[I was terrified. But I also couldn’t help but be amazed by everything I was seeing. Everything I was experiencing. The ocean is such a marvellous world. Incomprehensibly large and so full of life… but it can be such a terrible place to be alone. Maurice happened entirely by luck and that probably helped keep me sane. Who knows what could have happened if I’d been by myself all that time?]”

  “[You’re welcome]” piped up the crab. Henry chucked him deeper in the cave and looked back the dolphin. “[All that to say, no. No, there are no expectations. You’re still a new recruit, I guess, so give us a hand. We’re not strangers. You’re welcome to travel with us and if one day you want to head out on your own, you’re free to do so. For now, no bad feelings. You’re not responsible for your pod’s insane behaviour.]”

  Stormsong stared back at him, and then bobbed her head and seemed to relax, so Henry turned his attention back out.

  His clones watched the squids, camouflaged along some algae leaves at the edge of the squids’ territory. “[They seem placid on their own, but as soon as something approaches, they swarm it. They fight together, and they’re fast. They’re using their shells for both offense and defense, hiding within when they’re attacked, or they stab with the pointy end. If we want to catch one of them, we’ll have to lure it away. Otherwise we’re fighting them all.]”

  Henry looked down to the crab as the latter scuttled back toward them, then to his multicoloured shell. Aren’t some squids attracted to shiny things?

  Maurice noticed his gaze, then a worried voice came through. “[Why are you looking at me like that?]”

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