Maurice stared down at his limp pincer. “[It’s not working. It feels… I don’t know. But at least it’s not shaking? It looks normal. No deformities or weird growths.]”

  The crab sighed, then severed his modified pincer with his intact one. Henry picked up the severed limb and eyed it for a second before slowly cutting through the exoskeleton.

  “[I can’t really tell, and this isn’t worth much, but the innards don’t look malformed. I’m sure you’ll figure something out soon.]”

  Creating functional organs was a significantly tougher challenge than either of them had expected. Henry himself was still struggling with his articulated arm project, so seeing a stumped Maurice wasn’t at all surprising.

  Brains were extremely complex, no matter how simple or small.

  “[I’m sure it’s possible. I remember you creating a small arm on your arm when you got the skill.]”

  The human-illusion of Maurice shrugged. “[I can still do that. But it’s not functional. I mean it moves, but I can’t control it. It was just the skill taking over.]”

  Henry knew exactly what the crab meant. Shapeshifting Arm acted like some sort of artificial intelligence that took their instructions and created whatever they pictured. But integrating a new creation with their own nervous system and have it be stable? Functional? Permanent?

  Much more difficult.

  Henry had barely managed to create a simple working hinge-joint in one of his arms in the past five days. Sure, they weren’t doing this non-stop, but progress had been slow. Henry’s illusion–a woman wearing a lab coat and tortoise-patterned round glasses–frowned as she leaned over the limb he’d just modified.

  “[It’ll be a while for me to get wings.]”

  Henry was using the image of one of his old professors. He told himself it was better for Maurice to learn from different faces, but to be honest it was better than looking at the person he wasn’t anymore. He knew that was an issue he’d have to face and deal with eventually, but it could probably wait.

  “[Wings will be hard to recreate,]” groaned Maurice, but Henry still felt the resolve and excitement under the thick layer of annoyance.

  The crab had been—and probably still is—fascinated by the idea of shapeshifting functional organs and limbs. Henry had shown him all sorts of configurations; feathered wings, membrane wings, even insectile wings. But once they started working on these long-term physiological changes they’d hit a wall pretty darn fast, and the frustration was getting to the crab.

  “[I think I’m getting close. But I can’t really tell,]” said Maurice, eying his discarded limb before looking down at his re-growing stump.

  They both silently ate from the Stoneskin kraken they’d freshly killed and considered their recent progress.

  Five days of hunting had netted Henry quite a few improvements. He bought himself all the points costing D-Tokens and pushed himself up to level 20, which push his Spirit, Strength, and Perception past a new threshold. Both Octominds and Arcana leveled-up due to his heavy use of illusions–which unlocked the E-Rank upgrade of the latter. He’d also acquired the abilities he had in his Ephemerals from the C-Rank Goliath and as of an hour ago, he had enough to unlock his final skill upgrade, which he quickly did before settling down for their daily Shapeshifting Arm training session.

  Henry eyed the joint on his frontal arm. Such a simple joint wasn’t very useful, but it was a step in the right direction. Joints meant a way to exercise his strength. Leverage. Arms could grip and latch on, but they couldn’t constrict that well and for the longest time, he’d relied on Arm Whip–which was stronger now thanks to the Goliath’s abilities–but he knew he wasn’t tapping into all of his strength.

  His weakness at this moment was a lack of joints, and that weakness extended to Arcane Arm. Henry had tried to change the shape of the magic limb, but he could only make it copy his current arms. Maybe in the future it could change shapes, but for now, it was limited.

  Speaking of capabilities, Henry loaded up his recent level notifications and considering none had reached level 10 just yet, he dismissed them and focused instead on his new abilities.

  Hunger just needs one more level, and then it upgrades to D-rank.

  Arms of the Trickster (E) - Level 5:

  Assistance of the Octominds (Weakened):

  …

  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.

  Arcana of the Trickster (E) - Level 5:

  Summon Illusions (Weakened):

  Stolen novel; please report.

  F-Rank: Summon an illusion within 20 feet of yourself.

  E-Rank: Illusionary sounds can be produced.

  Vitality of the Trickster (E) - Level 4:

  Arcane Regeneration (Weakened):

  …

  Actives:

  F-Rank: Spend mana to restore your health and recover from ailments.

  E-Rank: Spend a larger amount of mana for a significant burst of regeneration.

  It was good progress, and Henry, thanks to all the downtime and the new upgraded Hoard Vitals, discovered that past 70 charges, the ability’s creation of charges slowed significantly but aside from that, everything was levelling well. Even the abilities he’d picked up from the Goliath, and he had high hopes for them.

  Unimpeded Arms (F) - Level 4: Channel mana into your arms to suppress environmental friction.

  Amplified Impact (F) - Level 3: Channel mana into a limb to release on impact, significantly increasing the offensive capability of an attack.

  Lower rank abilities were levelling the fastest. These two new ones, as well as Dispelling Bubble and Domain were blitzing through the levels and speaking of Domain, Henry found that the skill worked extremely well with Bite’s temporary charges, for example. Unfortunately, it was easily the most expensive skill in his arsenal, so he had to use it moderately. Still, it had potential, which is why he experimented with it whenever he had the time. He knew there would be great applications, such as Maurice’s imploding attacks. The skill was a cornerstone for one of Maurice’s Aspects, which meant it was stronger and more versatile in the crab’s claws, but Henry knew he could push it and maybe even fuse it to a cornerstone eventually to expand its reach and potential.

  So much to do. So much to test, Henry thought. He only wished he could level his Aspects as easily as his class skills. The two he needed to get higher barely moved, but at least Arms of the Trickster kept progressing well, thanks to his heavy use of the Octominds.

  We just need something powerful to fight. An encounter where I can let loose with the Ink Clones and actually make use of them.

  Henry turned to Maurice, who seemed to be preparing for another try at shapeshifting a mini-brain into his pincers.

  “[Maurice. Want to explore one of the caves we found?]”

  The crab looked up, and it took him barely half a second to detach from the deep focus he’d been in. “[Sure! The one near the jellyfish or the other one?]”

  They had found a couple of dark, deep caves where life seemed a bit sparse, which pointed toward the possibility of a large and dangerous predator living within. Henry had made note of them, saving them up for later, but now was a good time.

  “[Let’s start with the jellyfish. It might be a powerful Arcane kraken hiding in there.]”

  Mana-draining jellyfish. Their territory had been an hour or two to the west of the island, and it had been a surprisingly good hunting ground. The jellyfish themselves weren’t a big deal–outside of their painful, mana-stealing stings–but there were some large triggerfish over there. Even a couple low D-rank krakens.

  “[Alright, let’s go. We should spend some time there and try to train a resistance to mana-drain.]”

  Maurice groaned. “[Yeah… I guess you’re right. It feels bad though. It makes me sleepy.]”

  “[More reason why you should build a resistance to it.]”

  Henry picked up the crab and placed him on the usual spot, then launched himself up from the seabed. A quick activation of Unimpeded Arms and Slick Coat made him fly through the water.

  “[Those two skills seem close,]” said Maurice after a few moments.

  “[Yeah. I bet I’ll be able to merge them pretty easily on the next evolution. How’s the progress with the levels?]”

  “[Good. I’m doing what you said. Buying stat points. You’re right, it feels like the better choice and I still have a bunch to buy.]”

  Henry nodded at that. “[Same. I already bought everything I had available and spent the rest on unlocking the weakened abilities. I’m going to need C-tokens for the new points, so no rush there. Hopefully whatever’s in that cave is high D-rank. Or maybe low C-rank if we’re lucky.]”

  That would certainly cover a lot of expenses. Plus, Hunger was about to get to level 10. Henry was suspecting he was about to pay through the nose for an Aspect upgrade, so better start saving.

  “[You think we’re ready for C-rank?]”

  Henry produced an “eh” sound with Summon Illusion’s new upgrade, which made Maurice jump. “[Sorry. That was me. Also yes, I think we can take one if it’s in the same vein as the Goliath. If it’s that simple. Otherwise… it might not be worth the risk. Not yet.]”

  Maurice was quiet. Henry expected a comment about the sound-illusion, but the seconds stretched. From his Mind Weaver’s Tongue, he felt shock. A constant hum of excitement and astonishment.

  Henry was about to speak when Maurice broke through. “[Chimeric Assimilation just finished working on the turtle shell. I got two skills.]”

  “[Oh!]” Henry immediately landed on a large rock and looked up. “[What are they?]”

  In response, Maurice detached from his head. The crab beat his pincers to gain some distance then turned to face Henry, and then–

  Maurice disappeared in a puff of purple light and immediately reappeared a few yards to the right. “[It’s called ‘Blink’! The second one is ‘Find the Path’.]”

  And with that, a world of possibilities opened up ahead of them.

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