Henry was sure that if his arms could shake from nerves and fear, they would still be shaking.

  It’d been close to an hour since he got back to his temporary home. The one he’d taken from the starfish. And he didn’t dare move or make a peep.

  There’s a sea monster nearby.

  Could it have been a whale?

  Henry’s sense of scale was off, but he didn’t think so. Also, he’d listened to every type of whale call back on Earth, and that didn’t sound like one he knew. Not even close.

  No more shark hunting. Not unless I can keep them from running.

  Henry eyed the haul he’d gotten from the shark and shuddered. In his panic, he’d converted it to token, not wanting to have the level up magic distract or draw attention to him, if that was possible. But still, killing the shark had been surprisingly easy, even if he almost got stranded somewhere he shouldn’t be.

  Well, even more than he already was.

  Holy shit.

  Henry kept staring at the wall for a few more seconds, then shook his head and brought up his interface. He would have loved to use the shark’s loot as leveling resources, but he had a feeling he would soon be able to hunt them down.

  At least the cores always show up nearby… aside from that first fish. Maybe it had to do with me not having the interface back then?

  Consumption Tokens: 47 F-Tokens

  Ephemerals (1/1):

  Magic Mimic - Riptide Rush (F): Summon a powerful current to propel yourself forward at immense speed.

  Henry eyed the shark’s skill. The one that refused to work. It looked useful, especially when he’d want to move away from this area. The problem was that he was running out of space in his class skills. He only had one spot left, and he kinda wanted to use for Telekinesis.

  Could he replace skills once he bought them? Maybe, but it was a bit expensive to test.

  Henry hummed, then shrugged with two arms and dismissed the screen. He’ll hold off on buying it and if it turns out needed it, he could always hunt another shark. The place was crawling with them.

  Then he paused. Should he even stay in this area? There was a sea monster a few minutes’ swim away. Should he try to find another spot? And what if he found something else just as big in the other directions?

  Henry looked down at the skill. He’d get back to it. At this point, he believed it had been an issue of mana and considering how for the shark had moved them with it, Henry wasn’t too excited about testing it just yet. He didn’t want to sprint into danger.

  He looked out of his hiding spot. His mana was tickling back, refilling, and his health was probably fine. He hadn’t been injured at all, aside from the mental damage of seeing a see monster. So he was in a good shape to head back out and level some more.

  There was nothing he could do about sea monsters, but he could do something about squatters.

  It’s time to go say hi to the eel. After I get some more mana back.

  But before, he had 47 Tokens to spend.

  ***

  Henry had a single Token remaining when he left his den again.

  The sharks were gone, with only one or two he could see in the distance. And they weren’t just dark shapes anymore.

  Henry could see their stripes. And he could identify them, even from this far out thanks to his upgraded Perception.

  Strength: 5

  Constitution: 7

  Spirit: 5

  Perception: 6

  Dexterity: 5

  He’d gotten the last available point in Perception, then spent everything else between Constitution, Dexterity and Strength. The two more points in Dexterity made his limbs a lot more responsive to his command and definitely more prehensile, the two final points in Constitution made him feel as if his skin was made of corded leather, and finally, the two points in Strength made him capable of lifting larger stones.

  The latter won’t matter as much, but he was sure he’d see the effectiveness of his improved Strength while fighting.

  Seconds later, Henry took a last turn and saw his turtle-shell home, radiant in the daylight.

  The days are longer in this place, he mused to himself as he closed in on his target.

  He looked up, making sure there weren’t any new predators around that would interfere with his plan, and stole a glance toward the surface some 50 yards away. Give or take 40.

  He couldn’t really tell how far it was. He could see it, though.

  Henry came to stop and camouflaged behind a nearby boulder. He knew there were nights. He’d caught it a couple of times, but without any measuring and testing, he’d say there were… Four hours of night? Maybe less?

  Very short nights. I wish I had a better way to measure time. Would be useful.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Seconds later, the purple eel poked its head out, and Henry curled his arms nervously.

  Ah… hello, friend. Alright, stick to the plan, he told himself as he took a deep breath.

  After one last check above, Henry dropped the camouflage and swam closer to the shell. The eel’s head snapped to him, and his limbs locked up.

  Step 1, complete.

  Henry, unable to move, floated toward the eel as he curiously peered through the purple hue surrounding him. He saw its mouth begin to open wider, and he readied himself. When he was close enough, he let out his ink and as soon as his limbs shook free, he swam right and around, rushing the distracted eel.

  It immediately turned to face him and lunged. Henry raised two arms in response and the eel clamped down on them. Hard.

  It hurt a bit, but not as much as he thought it would. He could feel the strength the eel was using, but its teeth were barely through the skin. The eel pulled, and Henry was pulled along with it as he slowly began wrapping a arm around its neck.

  Then the world spun.

  A death-roll? Really?

  Some blue blood seeped from the arms being chomped on. The eel managed to tear into his flesh a bit more than with the initial puncture… but that was it.

  He finished wrapping his arm around its neck and activated Razor Arm, then wrenched it away, as if he’d been pulling on a boat’s start cord.

  Blood surged out of the eel’s sliced throat, and Henry pried his two arms out of the panicked eel’s mouth.They were shredded a bit, but nothing that wouldn’t heal in a few hours.

  The eel floated in front of him, twitching as blood seeped out of its opened neck.

  That was underwhelming, Henry thought as he swam past the once-predator and into his home, dragging the still spasming creature along as it went through its final death throes.

  Its body fell to the sandy floor of the turtle-home, and the familiar sheen appeared over it for a moment before reducing into a shiny violet Core.

  [Telekinetic Eel Core (F) - 29 F-Tokens]

  Henry glanced down at the eel in his arm, then as he consumed its core, he took a nibble from its flank.

  Undecided Marine Biologist - Level 7 achieved!

  …

  Undecided Marine Biologist - Level 10 achieved!

  1x Stat point awarded.

  Telekinetic Eel Core (F) contained significant Spirit Stats. 1x Spirit Stat point awarded.

  Magic Mimic: Telekinesis (F) can be copied. Discard Riptide Rush (F)?

  Telekinesis (F): Remotely control the movement of a visible living target

  Henry approved the replacement, then read through the ability. He bit out another piece of the eel as he confirmed that was the only Skill it had.

  I can get stats from Cores? That’s good to know.

  Next, he went to his Skill Acquisition menu to double-check everything was still there, and realized that while Riptide Rush was still available along with Telekinesis, Dart had disappeared.

  Damn. So there’s a time limit…

  That complicated things a bit, but maybe if he figured out a way to keep sample, he could work around the limitation. For now, he turned his attention to the stat points he’d gotten and after a quick consideration, he put it in Constitution. It was the stat that was keeping him alive at this point. The eel barely managed to damage two of his arms.

  After the light show was over, Henry looked down at the eel and sighed.

  You were terrifying. But compared to what’s out there…

  After eating his fill, Henry dragged the eel outside for other fish to eat and found a nice spot for it. Not too close, but close enough that if something came to nibble on it, he could ambush it and get himself some more levels. Then he went back into the shell he’d woken up in almost a week ago.

  He gripped the bottom edge with his arm for comfort, then peered through the entrance toward the rippling surface.

  Sooner or later, he’d have to get up there. He wondered if he’d be able to see anything.

  I’d be so lucky if I could see land.

  Then what? It wasn’t as if he could grow legs and go out on land.

  He glanced around and tapped his arms on the nice sand below him and paused.

  Inching closer to one of the edges, he lined his beak to the turtle shell and tried to chomp a little bite out of it, but after trying for nearly a minute, he had stop.

  Damn. Maybe in a few levels.

  For now, Henry triggered Hoard Vitality which didn’t affect him as badly anymore, then let himself drift into a short nap.

  ***

  Henry woke up to the sound of nearby thuds.

  He rose up to the entrance, then poked his head out. A few feet away, two large crabs were fighting over the half-eaten eel he’d thrown out. Around them, smaller fish were darting in and out, nibbling on the dead creature.

  [Bladed Blue Crab (F) - Lvl 17 ]

  [Bladed Blue Crab (F) - Lvl 15 ]

  Henry watched the crabs fight.

  I guess the bait worked. I’ll get the winner.

  Henry watched the crabs dance around each other. Occasionally, they’d try to angle their pincers to snip the other crab’s arm off but they’d immediately get parried, which explained the noise.

  After a couple of minutes, it seemed one of them grew tired of the charade and its pincer moved a lot faster than before. It sheared through the second one’s arm and a leg, which forced the latter to back-off.

  The victorious crab–the higher level one–turned back to his meal, and Henry slid out of his hiding spot. He circled around, approaching the crab from behind using his siphon.

  After a quick look up to make sure nothing dangerous was roaming nearby, Henry focused the crab and triggered Telekinesis.

  A purple hue shrouded the crab, immobilizing it. Henry could feel it fight back. Trying to break free. And every attempt scooped out a bit more of Henry’s inner reserves.

  That’s not pleasant.

  He rushed forward, one limb chopping down with a Razor Arm primed, but it barely scratched the tough shell of the crustacean. So he wrapped his arms around its claws as he dropped Telekinesis, and used Bite.

  Damn, this thing’s tough.

  A few seconds later, he successfully cracked the shell and bit into its brain. Then he carried both the crab and the half-eaten eel to throw them further away from his home.

  Having multiple arms is sorta growing on me. I’d prefer thumbs… but this isn’t a bad alternative.

  With another arm, he picked up the core, and as he swam back home, he wondered what he should do about the fact that his neighbor was a huge monster.