Henry looked up and took in the scenery for a few seconds. The jellyfish were slowly drifting around, bathing the reefs and sea around them in a pinkish hue. It was… breathtaking. Henry had seen his fair share of incredible sights in his other life, but it had always been limited in some way. Either by safety measures, technological challenges, or even the laws of physics.

  Back on Earth there were luminescent jellyfish, but of course, they weren’t as bright nor were they as large as these. And being this deep? Henry would have had to use an underwater drone. These were not safe depths for diving. Especially not with the low visibility.

  Henry shook his head and focused back on his stats. He was two points away from Constitution’s next upgrade, as well as Dexterity’s. Considering the one unassigned point he had, he could just consume the next one or two big beasties’ core and he’d break in the 60s in Constitution.

  He felt great. He often didn’t notice small increases in stats unless they broke through a threshold. But now as he sat around and reviewed his few last encounters, he realized they’d snuck up on him. Henry felt as good as he had after the first evolution. He sincerely believed he could take on the Trickster kraken right that second. Which, funnily enough, he could now spot.

  He could see the distorted outline, and he could make out the slight shift in opacity caused by the–mostly–invisible clone. It was almost a stadium-length away. And he could pick it up. When he really tried.

  Henry looked away from the stalker. There was no need to rush, not when he and Maurice still had so much they could improve and work on. To Henry, a good milestone would be having Misdirection in D-Rank, which should unlock the upgrades for his clones. At that point, they could deal with the Trickster and they’d have a chance of winning decisively.

  He felt proud looking at his stats and all the abilities he now had access to. Though Dexterity was still lagging, as always.

  I guess I’m not seeing its benefits as much down here. Maybe it’d be more critical on the surface? I can see how navigating the world above–whether on the ground or in the air–could benefit from Dexterity. But down here… with how large I am? It doesn’t seem that efficient.

  Henry mulled it over a bit, replaying some of his recent fights.

  Well. I do take a lot of hits. I can rely on Constitution to manage the damage, but it would be probably better if I didn’t get hit from the get-go. Maybe I could have dodged some of those Goliath hits. Or like, deflect them? I often fight close-range and grab on, so evading’s rarely an option. Still, Constitution is worth prioritizing. That’s not a mistake.

  It’s true that he’d blacked out once or twice against the C-Rank kraken, but that thing was at least a 100 levels above him. It had skills that would have cracked the Mesmer’s eel’s head like a watermelon and Henry took them on the proverbial chin, over and over, and lived to tell the tale.

  He’d outlasted the damn thing. And that was before he invested even more points into the attribute.

  With that done, Henry turned his attention to the remaining notification then paused. He hadn’t eaten the eel’s meat since upgrading Hunger.

  The trait could pick up one or two more things. Worth a shot.

  Henry inched closer to the eel, cut a piece of the tail, then bit into it. A few moments later, his notifications were updated with one more upgrade listed at the bottom.

  Bite of the Trickster: Tranquilizing Bite acquired.

  Mimicking Arms: Draining Touch of the Mesmer Eel acquired.

  Superior Trait analyzed by Magic Mimic. Telekinesis upgrade unlocked.

  Superior Trait analyzed by Magic Mimic. Draining Touch upgrade unlocked.

  A quick check at the unlocked upgrades told him they were pretty straightforward. Both Draining Touch and Telekinesis’s were a potency and rank upgrade, while the new charge of Bite he’d noticed already.

  It should be useful. And an upgrade to Draining Touch is amazing. Saves me the trouble of having to upgrade it myself.

  Good haul. Great haul, actually. But Henry wasn’t seeing one particular notification and that bugged him.

  No notification about venom. Hmm.

  He wanted that odd venom of the creature. He needed it in his arsenal, so Henry's eyes drifted up the body of the eel and stopped at its slightly open mouth. His stomach immediately roiled in protest.

  If it’s a venom, and if it’s only in the inner jaw, then… I gotta eat the inner jaw.

  He had to be ‘familiar’ with the venom. So eat it, or apply it to himself. Consciously.

  Henry slowly approached the carcass, and Maurice stopped playing with his illusions’ facial expression to look up. “[What’s going on?]”

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  Henry quickly explained his thought process, to which Maurice had a succinct response. “[Eww. That’s gross. Henry, look at the disgust on my illusion’s face. Does it say ‘I think it’s gross you’re about to eat that’ clearly enough?]”

  The crab was an annoyingly quick study when it came to learning and adapting. Maurice even picked up on things Henry hadn’t been intending to communicate. It took the crab seeing Henry expressing his disgust at getting a mouthful of intestines only once for him to thoroughly understand the concept of disgust.

  Though Henry had to admit the crab had a point here. He wasn’t super excited at the prospect of eating from the pharyngeal jaw of the eel but in the end, it hadn’t been too bad, and Henry did end up getting the venom notification. Meaning he now had two venoms available; two neurotoxins. The serpent’s, which caused spasming and loss of sensation, and the eel’s tranquilizer.

  I’ll probably get the lionfish’s as well once I pick one up for their detonation skill. Theirs is probably a hemotoxin of some kind. It did cause some bleeding along with the pain, if I recall.

  Henry quickly went through the upgrades available, but held off on them.

  I’ll do them in a short bit. I’d rather have some tokens on hand. Though the Aspects are getting crowded again… Can I still fuse things? Okay. That’s still available, but nothing to fuse. Can I get a new Aspect then? Hmmm.

  After trying to find some new hidden option in his menus with no results, Henry shook his head.

  Doesn’t seem like it. Probably needs to be done with the evolution process. Though that means I should prepare for it next time.

  There were a few options he could explore. Henry had initially considered a projectile-themed Aspect, but recently he’d gotten another idea. If Aspects were somehow limited, he’d rather get a mobility-themed Aspect.

  I could try again to track down that Dart fish. Get Riptide Rush. And then I could make Blink its cornerstone. That skill obviously can grow into something quite powerful…

  That would be interesting to see. There were also Seeker’s Bounty and Find the Path. Those two seemed similar and would probably merge with something in Arcana of the Trickster.

  Henry narrowed his eyes as he read the skills.

  Wait a second. These do seem like they have something in common with Mind Weaver’s passive. All of these skills can sense things nearby…

  Henry looked up at the crab, then down at his stats. What if Perception had something to do with these? Did Maurice put everything into Perception? Was that why he was so good at sensing nearby things?

  “[Maurice! How much is your perception?]”

  Maurice’s illusion raised a thumb and pinky in one hand, and the pinky, ring, and middle finger in the other. “[Twenty-three!]”

  Henry stared at the fingers Maurice was using and didn’t comment. He’d already explained to the crab that his way of showing numbers made no sense, so Henry didn’t repeat himself. He was almost sure the crab was doing it on purpose. Instead, he focused back on his gutted theory.

  Okay. I’m just bad, then.

  ***

  “[Are we sure about this? I can tell you’re worried, you know? And that worries me. It’s like, your emotions are contagious.]”

  Henry brought the crab to eye level as he swam through the murky green area. “[You picked this option. And the second cave was empty. I told you we can check this spot, or we can explore, or we can spend time around the ants, and you picked this one.]”

  “[Yes, but I don’t know any better and now you’re worried. I still want to see what it is, but maybe we should be safe? Or maybe return some other time?]”

  Henry came to a stop on top of a large boulder. All around them were thick and familiar stalks of kelp. “[We’re almost there. Do you want to turn back?]”

  Henry’s heart was beating faster, he had to admit. He was worried. But he was also curious and excited.

  It’s been a while since he’d been to the reef he woke up in.

  Maurice looked up at him, looked back in the direction they came from, then looked forward. “[Yeah, okay. But we run if it’s bad.]”

  “[Absolutely. I’m mostly curious. I don’t feel like picking a fight with this thing anyway, but I’m pretty sure the Trickster will try something so we have to be ready for anything.]”

  Maurice hesitated, but stayed quiet. Henry eyed the crab. “[What is it?]”

  The crab rubbed his claws together, looking left and right for a few moment, hesitating, then he asked.“[Are you sure that’s the best way to evolve your ink skill?]”

  Henry chuckled then shrugged. “[I mean that’s not the main reason why I want to go there, but it seems like it would work. It’s not levelling fast, and I think that’s because it’s a Aspect that’s made to escape and confuse. To misdirect. If there’s nothing to misdirect, it doesn’t seem to level. Maybe in the future I’ll have another way of levelling it, but right now, Ink Jet and Ink Clones aren’t enough to push it forward.]”

  Henry had noticed that some Aspects could be peculiar about levelling and frankly, the most progress he’d done with Misdirection and Inkjet was when he was in the middle of a big fight, or when he was trying to lose a pursuer. With his high durability and the progress they’ve mad recently, he’d felt there was less and less of a need to work those muscles, and so the levels slowed.

  “[I’m not saying we’re heading there pick a fight, but if whatever’s in there gets aggressive, I can get some training done. Otherwise, I just want to know what’s in there. Admit it. You’re curious as much as I am. And if the Trickster tries something, I think we could take it. We could still keep training and preparing, but at this point, I think we’ve got a good shot at downing if it shows up.]”

  Maurice picked up a cracked conch shell, turned it in his claw, then threw it out. “[Yeah, that’s fair. Okay. Let’s do it!]”

  Henry blinked at how fast the crab moved on from his worries, but that wasn’t anything new so he just launched off the boulder and continued swimming toward what he hoped was the first reef. As long as he wasn’t utterly lost and off his mark, they were going to pay a visit to an old neighbour and if the Trickster wanted to crash the party, then they could do something about it.

  It was time.

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