The two companions sat atop of a reef, watching their environment casually while working on the first step of their loose preparation plan.

  “[Still nothing?]” Henry asked. Maurice picked up the newly consumed shell with a massive ghostly claw many times his size, then moved it away. Henry let him have the moment.

  A couple of amazed seconds later, Maurice responded. “[I only got Toxin Resistance from the last one. I think your theory’s right. We can’t have two abilities that copy skills and traits, and we can’t get everything ability transfer at once. You haven’t gotten Chimeric Assimilation either, right? Here, it’s healed. Try again.]”

  Maurice snipped off a claw and floated it forward to Henry with Telekinesis, who proceeded to crunch the tiny morsel before waving away some curious fish that’d been nibbling on the large carcass nearby.

  The Trickster had showed up again, this time with another Goliath and two clones. The Goliath had been a bit annoying to down, but it didn’t take long, and the Tricksters dissolved into ink, as always, making sure Henry got nothing out of the encounter aside from the Goliath’s sorely needed core. Maurice’d had enough tokens to purchase his new abilities, but Henry had been out.

  Abilities cost D-Tokens now and as for upgrades, none were available yet. Henry assumed some would show up as he gained more experience and practiced his abilities–old and new. Maybe if he encountered the same abilities at a higher level as well? As for Magic Mimic, it was now part of Bite of the Trickster. Recalling how the cornerstone skill would match the level and rank of the Aspect, and Henry assumed it would upgrade along with the latter, whenever that happened. Henry guessed once it hit level 10 it would, just like the skills had been doing.

  “[Hmm. Yeah, or there are abilities that just don’t transfer. In the case of Chimeric Assimilation, I got nothing. Not even a notice. Even Hermit’s Hoard had said it was incompatible, though in that case, maybe it’s a physiology problem before it became a redundancy problem.]”

  Maurice continued practicing with his new talents, and Henry took a moment to check out the abilities he ended up buying.

  This is getting a bit overwhelming. Thank god they can be fused together.

  From Maurice, he’d gotten Bissal Anchoring, which, considering his suckers, he didn’t feel he need much, and he’d also gotten Domain. An ability which allowed him to trigger skills that require touch within a radius around himself. For traits, he’d gotten Seeker’s Bounty, which should allow him to find ‘what he finds valuable’, and that was basically it. Maurice didn’t have that many abilities.

  Then Henry went back and grabbed some meat from the Arcane and Stoneskin krakens–or whatever remained of them—and was able to pick up Molten Projectile, and Draining Touch from the Arcane kraken.

  The last one had been the best find. He’d gotten it from biting into an arm, which made him think that maybe the area the meat was coming from mattered in ability transfers. Then again, he probably had had a bit of the arm earlier, but the skill hadn’t popped up.

  Magic Mimic is maybe random a bit? Or does it have to do with complexity?

  Henry didn’t know, but just in case, he decided from now one, he’d keep extra samples. Just in case. Until he figured what really made his copying skill tick.

  In the meantime, he didn’t mind if he missed out on an ability or two. He already had so much of them he needed to practice and get comfortable with–which he already did for a couple of hours or so. And considering how common krakens seemed to be in this area, he was sure he’d meet more of them and he’d have the chance to find and discover many more abilities. At this point, he needed to start aiming for quality instead of quantity.

  Though now I don’t need to be so worried about Mana Draining Bite.

  He had intended on keeping that one until the upgrade of Bite, assuming he’d get a way to keep the property permanently. Then again, two draining abilities were better than one. If he could stick on to a big target, he could continuously steal its mana and regenerate his health. Combine that with his defensive abilities and high Constitution, and he’d be unkillable.

  Henry glanced to his left, which happened to be the direction of the island. The same direction from which the krakens had come both times.

  It must be there. The Trickster kraken. And once they’ve dealt with the clone-creator, they’d move on from this area and travel toward the Current. After a quick peek at the island.

  Maybe I can snag a bird… though I doubt birds need skills or traits to fly. I don’t need any of those to swim.

  His plan to fashion wings with Shapeshifting Arm had to be put back on the back burner. The skill was too finicky, and wings were stupidly complex to recreate. Maybe it’d get easier later once he had more practice with the ability or once it upgraded. For now, wings would have to wait.

  Maurice shook him out of his thoughts. “[So. What are we doing now?]”

  Henry turned to Maurice to find the crab trying to munch on a piece of meat held by the Arcane Claw, so picked up a piece of Goliath himself. “[I was thinking of scouting out the island. Trying to find our friend. Maybe see if there are birds around.]”

  Maurice paused mid-bite, then continued chewing. Thankfully, that didn’t affect Telepathy. “[Birds?]”

  “[Animals with feathers that can fly.]”

  Maurice chewed for a second. “[Feathers?]”

  Henry paused his chewing and ducked his head. “[You know what? That was on me. A bird is… hmm. A bird–wait a second…]”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  That’s right! He did get a new ability that would be perfect for this. He hadn’t spent as much time on it as he did testing out the Octominds or Draining Touch, but it would be a pivotal skill in his arsenal.

  “[Wait, gimme a second.]” Henry triggered Summon Illusion. With Mana Sight, he watched tendrils of mana drift off of his body toward the area he targeted, and as they faded into the world, Henry felt the skill pull the image out of his mind. In front of him, a few feet away, a seagull took shape.

  It was a classic gull. White feathers, gray wings. It stepped through the water as if it wasn’t there, then opened its feathered wings. The details were a bit fuzzy. The illusion almost looked like a bad quality projection, to Henry’s taste, but that didn’t matter.

  Maurice was utterly gobsmacked. He looked at Henry for the mere moment he was able to tear his eyes away from the illusion. “[This is a bird?]”

  Henry enlarged the bird, and found it to be a struggle until he engaged the Octominds. Then, suddenly, he found himself having an easier time recalling details and smoothing out the image. He was even able to recreate some of the bird’s calls.

  “[This is a gull. It lives near the coast, back in my world. This right here–]” Henry waved an arm for dramatic effect, changing the bird in question, “[–is a sea eagle. Pelican. Penguin. Masked Booby.]”

  Henry switched from one bird to the next and found himself also getting into it. Maurice was captivated, just taking the images in, but after a couple more illusions Henry decided to stop.

  He was eating into his mana at an alarming rate.

  As soon as the illusion began to fade into motes, Maurice jumped up. “[Wait why did you stop?]”

  Henry jumped at the intensity of the crab. “[It’s expensive! We need mana!]”

  “[But–wait–what if… Wait.”]

  Maurice scrambled for an argument, but Henry had a proposal ready. It was one he was familiar with, back when he did presentations for preschoolers. “[Let’s do some scouting first, and whenever we’re about to get some rest, I’ll show you some more. Alright?]”

  The crab didn’t seem to be too happy about this compromise, but it was better than nothing. Though the crustacean was quick to change gears. “[Will these birds be on the island?]”

  “[I doubt it… But there’ll probably be some. Usually birds prefer land. They don’t live underwater.]”

  “[Like humans?]”

  Henry eyed the crab. “[Yup. Like humans.]”

  Maurice seemed to be mulling something over for a moment. “[Is that why you want to find land? To find other humans? Wait–what does a human look like? What did you look like? It’s the last one, I promise.]”

  That… Henry hadn’t expected that. He hadn’t thought of doing that.

  Quietly, Henry cast Summon Illusion. With the help of the Octominds, he summoned an image that still felt fresh in his mind, even though it was at least a year old. Months before the day he passed.

  Seeing it made the nerves in his stomach knot and made his skin feel clammy.

  An image of human Henry, with hands on his hips, grinning down at Maurice. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a discoloured university’s logo. The arms of his diving suit were tied around his waist. His feet were bare, and his skin was tanned from too much sun and not enough sunscreen. He did have a white cap on his head though, with a cute fish design for a logo.

  It had been the first time Henry had felt confident and happy in the life he’d chosen for himself, and looking at it from this angle, the current body he was inhabiting made him feel like a stranger to himself.

  Henry looked down at current body. At the thick, flexible, and nearly 20-foot-long arms he was resting on. He felt every individual sucker. He could taste the water through them, and it never got overwhelming, mostly likely thanks to the little brains of every arm, he assumed.

  Then he looked back up at the image he’d conjured.

  Which one am I?

  He didn’t feel the repulsion he’d expected. He didn’t know what to feel, honestly. He realized he hadn’t really sat down and processed a few things since he’d woken up in that turtle shell. He’d been so focused on survival he hadn’t had the time or will to dwell on such questions.

  How long has it been since I’ve disappeared from my world?

  “[Are you okay?]”

  “[Hmm?]”

  Maurice wasn’t looking at the image anymore, instead he was studying Henry.

  The once-human sighed internally. He didn’t feel the need to lie. Henry remembered himself keeping his thoughts and emotions close to the chest, but why bother? He’d died with a lot of things he should have said, but hadn’t.

  “[...It feels odd. Seeing myself like this. Did I tell you I died chasing that turtle? The one you’re wearing?]”

  Maurice’s eyes swiveled backward, and Henry felt guilt come off of the crab.

  Henry gently tapped the top of Maurice’s shell with the tip of an arm. “[Stop it. I didn’t say that to make you feel guilty,]” Henry said, snapping Maurice out of whatever he was thinking. The image of the old Henry leaned over and patted Maurice’s shell, and the hand went through the shell. “[You taking that shell was probably the best thing that has happened since I woke up in this body. So never feel guilty about taking it again. Alright? Definitely tell me if you get an interesting skill though. I wouldn’t say no to that.]”

  Illusion-Henry grinned again, winked to Maurice, then dissolved away.

  Both Henry and Maurice were quiet for a moment. Then the crab looked up to the giant octopus–no, kraken–and spoke. “[Are emotions always this complicated?]”

  Henry would have laughed. He could hear it in his own mind. He even considered resummoning his image to emote for him, but dismissed the idea for now.“[Yup. Well, not always. But it gets easier. You’re doing great, don’t worry.]”

  And with that, Henry picked up Maurice and swam up to the surface. He looked at the island in the distance, then at Maurice. “[Let’s go say hi to our friend.]”

  Cyanin, Cody S

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