Henry paused and eyed the text that popped above the creatures once more.

  That’s a lot more than me… but maybe it’s because they eat their cores while I use mine to buy stats? I doubt something like a starfish has access to a complicated store of stats and skills.

  Henry observed as the crab used its worryingly sharp pincer to pick apart bits and pieces of a small carcass. He began backing up.

  Maybe this was a bad idea…

  Then Henry stopped himself. He exhaled and curled his arms tighter.

  Come on, Henry. Don’t be a wuss. It’s called Bladed Crab for god’s sake. It definitely has a useful skill. Maybe two. Now…. where are the brains of a crab again? Not the center… Around the eye stalks?

  Henry could picture how he should attack and position himself. But he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it.

  One big injury… and I run.

  He nodded to himself. That seemed fair.

  The crab seemed to finally notice something going on, and it began to slowly turn, and Henry stopped breathing. The eye stalks of the crab peered curiously at the bundle of algae for a few seconds, then seemed to think nothing of it and turned back to their meal.

  Phew.

  He could do this.

  I can do this. I have enough mana and health. The last hunt cost practically nothing. Even the fish bites weren’t doing much damage anymore. I can do this. And it’ll help me against the eel.

  Then, before he could psych himself out again, Henry shot forward and had on arm on the crab before it even realized what was happening.

  The sand surged around Henry and the crab as they rolled over each other. Henry twisted and maneuvered himself on top of the crab, screaming inwardly whenever a pincer got close. Ink may or may not have been expelled, but most importantly his panic didn’t seem to affect the three hearts of his little body. He could think somewhat clearly, which is why his hearts leapt when he finally wrapped two arms around the base of the right pincer, successfully hampering it.

  Then from the corner of his eyes, Henry saw a thin gray line appear along the inner edge of the crab’s free pincer, then watched as the edge snipped two of his arms like tailor’s scissors cutting through mediocre cloth.

  Ahhhh, you dick!

  Pain filled his mind, but it wasn’t as terrifying as the odd lightheadedness that immediately stole through him. The cloud of churned sand and ink gained a blue hue in some places, but Henry didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. He frantically worked his arms to immobilize the crab, narrowing his focus on his enemy.

  The cut was deep. The crab had gotten him at the base of the arms, even cutting through the membrane connecting all of his limbs.

  Henry activated two of his Hoard Vitality charges and felt the oddly mute pain recede, just as he finally immobilized the second pincer. Without losing any more time, Henry lined his beak to the little area behind the crustacean’s eye stalks, and use Bite.

  The shell cracked, but his beak didn’t get past it. He bit again, and it barely got through. The crab was frantically pulling, clacking its pincer on nothing. Henry bit down once more. And again. And again until here was geyser of blood and cracked shells.

  Finally, the crab stopped moving. Henry slowly let go as the core began to form. He was still bleeding and looking up, and saw a few fishes peering curiously from afar… then they scattered.

  Henry’s heart dropped as a red-striped shark slowly circled its way toward the commotion. Henry picked up the core, and after a burst of Inkjet activated his algae disguise and slowly began to roll away.

  The shark came down and picked up the crab in a single motion. It crunched, and a cloud of blood and viscera trailed the shark’s swimming path as it went back up.

  [Riptide Shark (F) - Lvl ??]

  Henry watched, frozen with fear for a few moments, then slowly crawled back to his den.

  ***

  Henry entered his temporary home and dropped his disguise.

  He sat still for a few moments, trying to recover from the panic. That shark had gotten close. Too close.

  I can’t be fighting in the open like that.

  His camouflage had worked. Or else he wouldn’t be around. But… were there things that could see through it? Could the red shark have smelled him? Maybe it couldn’t tell there were two sources of blood in the area?

  Do question marks in Identify mean high level?

  That was the only reason he could think of. It seemed like there was a limit to the levels he could perceive, but he’ll need to figure the rules out and fast but it was safe to say, he was better off not tangling with anything he couldn’t Identify.

  He brought the core closer. It was a silvery thing; somewhat shiny, like a pearl. He Identified it as well, and his eyes widened at the exchange offered.

  23? That’s like… six or seven normal fish. That’s almost what I got for hunting for two hours.

  So high-level targets gave more? Yeah… that made sense. But it also had been dangerous.

  Henry decided to finish going through his notifications before he sat down and thought about things.

  Razor Claw is not compatible. Skill has been adapted to Razor Arm.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  Magic Mimic: Razor Arm (F) was copied temporarily.

  Yes! Exactly what I wanted.

  He was surprised the crab didn’t have anything else, but this was already a much better haul than he’d expected when he had left the cave.

  Henry moved a arm in front of him and activated the skill. A thin, almost invisible line appeared throughout the length of his limb. He might not even have been able to see it before his Perception increase.

  Wicked.

  He disabled the Skill, and took note to test if he could cut himself with it. That would be important to know.

  For now, show me skill levels…

  Bite (F): Level 5 -> Level 6

  Mimicking Arms (F): Level 6 -> Level 7

  Inkjet (F): Level 4 -> Level 5

  Hoard Vitality (F) Level 2 -> Level 3

  We’ll see what happens at 10. I feel like that might be a condition to unlock something.

  Which reminded him… His stats were still low and he felt like Hoard Vitality hadn’t done that much for using two charges. To test it, he triggered a third, leaving him with four.

  He felt the healing pulse spread through him. It moved toward his injured membrane and lost arms, and the cut healed, but only by tiny bit.

  What?! That’s it?

  He waited a few more seconds, but the healing effect had stopped.

  What a crappy conversion rate. Every charge made me sick for like thirty minutes but it gives back barely anything, Henry grumbled. But he couldn’t deny it being potentially life saving. He just needed a lot more charge. And he hoped it would get more efficient as it leveled. Or ranked up.

  He noticed the other skills being a little better as they leveled up, but it wasn’t anything game-changing. Inkjet had a bit more ink. Bite seemed a bit stronger, and Mimicking Arms took him less time to form the shape he had in mind.

  Maybe because it’s the lower rank?

  In any case, it was time to focus on recovering. And shopping; he had 23 F-Tokens to spend, and his first purchase was going to be his latest temporary acquisition. His new skill. With that done, he loaded his class skills and nodded.

  Skills (3/4):

  Identify

  Hoard Vitality (F) - Level 3 [4 Charges]

  Razor Arm (F) - Level 1

  13 Tokens remaining. I would go with Perception but that’s risky. I need more health. And I need to be able to maneuver easier. So Constitution and… oh wow.

  The sixth point in Constitution cost 20 Tokens. And so did Perception’s.

  That’s more than I expected. Do I invest them in other things, or wait and grab a couple mackerels?

  He’d feel more comfortable with a higher Constitution. It hadn’t helped that much against the crab, but against other small fish? They couldn’t injure him with their small bites anymore. He guessed with a high enough Constitution, even the crabs would have trouble cutting through him.

  Henry nodded. He hated having Tokens sitting idly like this, but he wanted the Constitution upgrade. Once that was done, he’d look into some Class levels. Maybe those had some advantages, and then he could start investing in the other stats.

  But before he could head out, he needed to recover his mana. And his health.

  Henry looked down at Hoard Vitality and sighed.

  ***

  Now that he paid attention, he was noticing the effects of his stat increases and his skill levels.

  Of course, the most obvious was his vision. He could see very well now. Not too far, because everything became blue when he looked far enough but close by? It was great.

  Henry sat still, baiting three or four fish all at once with his Mimicking Arms, while he himself–and his remaining arms that he’d patiently regrown over the last day or so–were wrapped around his head, making himself seem like a random stone resting on the sand.

  Maybe I should have done one at a time.

  He wasn’t afraid for himself, but he thought he might only hit one of them. As soon as he moved, he assumed they’d scatter.

  The first fish approached his worm-arm and bit. It tried to pull, but Henry found himself able to resist the pull. When the second fish bit another bait-arm, he moved.

  His bitten limbs curled around the fish, and he activated Razor Arm on both fish.

  One of them was completely decapitated, while the second had a deep gash through its head and gills.

  The rest scattered, as he’d expected.

  Razor Arm is expensive though… It’s easily the most mana-consuming skill I’ve got. It’s effective but damn…

  Henry picked up both cores and hid under a rock.

  Increase Perception: From 5 to 6 for 20 F-Token?

  Henry confirmed and a moment later, he felt the light sink into him, reinforcing his flesh and skin.

  Henry sighed with relief at the odd sense of strength that filled him.

  Now, how much is it going to be for the next one? I’d rather be prepared.

  Henry looked through his Stat Increase menu and groaned.

  Increase Perception: From 6 to 7 for 1 E-Token?

  Well… that’s for another day I guess. Now, let’s see the progress.

  Strength: 2

  Constitution: 5

  Spirit: 5

  Perception: 5

  Dexterity: 3

  Henry was happy with those numbers. They were growing nicely. It might take a while until he could afford the next Constitution point, but he wasn’t worried. Henry was confident he’d find more ways to get stronger.