“[I sense… your understanding. Answer.]”

  It wasn’t a request. The air suddenly felt thick. Darker. And the eye didn’t seem neutral or curious anymore. Everything seemed to fade around the giant glare that pierced through his soul.

  “I’m Henry! I mean you no harm. I’m sorry,” Henry said, scrambling. He spoke in his mind, just like he’d done with the System, and he hoped it would be enough.

  The ominous air abated, and the giant eye blinked. “[You… have the gift… of mind. I do not… hear the words. But I sense… the intent. Reveal yourself.]”

  Henry dropped Mimicking Arms and the air immediately tensed again.

  “[Deceiver… spawn,]” rumbled the voice in his mind. The displeasure of the voice made him quail, and the eye seemed to loom closer. “[Wretch!]”

  The voice boomed in his mind and his vision swam as a blinding headache slammed into his brains. Henry felt sick. Disoriented. It was a lot worse than the self-damage Hoard Vitality did and he struggled to think clearly. It seemed to understand his thoughts. Not as good as the System, but close.

  “I’m human. I was not born this way. I swear.”

  The displeasure mellowed, but it was still present, right at the edge of his consciousness.

  An odd call resounded from the whale’s physical throat, and similar calls were returned from all around them. Seconds later, shapes began to converge.

  “[Explain, Deceiver. But before… you start. Let me… hear you…better.]”

  The eyes of the whale shone, and there was a some sort of “pop” in Henry’s head. As if his ears had been stuffed and they just cleared out, but somewhere inside.

  Did they just pop a vessel in his head or something. Henry gazed up, still frozen, and asked “What did you do?”

  As soon as the word left his mind, he felt spoken, and he knew they’d reached the whale. The giant being looked down at him, and its voice came back through the same ‘channel’ that had been created.

  “[A way… for us… to communicate.]”

  Henry looked up at the giant eye glaring at him, and he had no choice but to take them at their words, so he told them. Everything. His death, waking up in a multi-colored turtle shell, speaking to the System and getting his class, and the adventures he’d been on since then. By the time Henry finished explaining everything, four whales were surrounding him, with the fifth above.

  A new voice spoke in his mind. “[You spoke… with the Supreme?]”

  “[You found… a sacred… traveler?]” another asked.

  The hostility was completely gone, and the one that had inflicted the damage spoke again. “[Forgive… my mistake… Henry.]”

  Henry paused in surprise. “[You believe me?]”

  He immediately regretted saying that. Why was he sabotaging his own damn self?

  “[We sense… the truth… of your words. We see… your odd nature. The gift of the Supreme… does not lie.]”

  That was cryptic, but okay? Most importantly though, he could ask questions.

  “[Are there humans nearby?]” He tried to picture a human holding a tool, or sailing a boat like he’d done.

  An odd call sounded from one of them, echoed by the others, one by one.

  “[Humans… yes… yes. Some live on land… some in the sea… with us.]”

  Wait what? Henry was going to need a follow-up on that, but for now he needed to stay on track.

  “[Are they far? How can I get to them?]”

  “[They are… outside… of the Great Current. It is… many cycles… of travel. Many.]”

  Henry’s heart dropped. “[You mean days? When the sun comes out and there’s light?]”

  “[A cycle… is ten of those days. Yes.]”

  Henry tried to take in what that meant. Many 10-day weeks? How many?

  “[You are… too young… to leave the sanctuary.]”

  What did that have to do with anything? And what sanctuary?

  The whales seemed to pick up on his confusion, so another answered. “[The sanctuary is in… the Great Current. To find… those you seek… you need… to leave the sanctuary, then escape the Current. You will not… survive. You are… too weak. Still.]”

  Henry deflated. Then he looked up at the giant whales and asked, “[Could you take me out of the Current? Can I travel with you?]”

  New sounds echoed between a few of them. Were they laughing?

  “[You have spoken… with the Supreme. We dare not… interfere… in its designs. And in any case… our path will take us… in much more…dangerous seas. Away… form what you seek.]”

  “[But when you… leave,]” another one spoke, raising a flipper to point toward the kelp forest, “[go… in that direction. It is the shortest… path. And least… dangerous. Do not… stray. Even we… would be in danger.]”

  That was a nice way of telling him he was on his own.

  Henry looked down at his many arms, then down at the empty fields of gold ahead. He’d have to make the journey alone. Would he even survive it?

  Suddenly, the feeling of being a little speck in the middle of nowhere came clawing back at his throat.

  “[You feel… loss. We… sincerely… apologize.]”

  Henry took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. He’d survived this far. He would be fine, he just needed to work hard and level.“[It’s fine. I’ll manage.]”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Henry wanted to go home. He looked up at the whale. He was a little miffed at them, but he could understand them not wanting to interfere if something odd was happening between him and the system and the fact that they were heading in a different direction than what he needed was understandible. At least, rationally.

  “[Can I come back and talk with you soon? Will you still be around?]”

  “[Yes… we will be here… for a few more… cycles.]”

  Henry nodded and began altering his appearance to head back home while a couple of whales turned around and swam away. As he followed him with his gaze, he wondered if they’d eventually let him take a bite so he could get their Telepathy or whatever it was they were using to speak in his head, but maybe that’d wait for another meeting.

  Henry was about to start swimming away when noticed the calves in the distance, and he remembered something.

  Henry looked up at the first whale he’d spoken too and spoke through the channel they still shared. A warning.

  “[There’s something big that lives nearby. I couldn’t see its name… but Identify didn’t work.]”

  “[Yes… we sense… it. It will not… move… if we leave it… be.]”

  Good to know. Henry said his good-byes, then left. Minutes later, he heard the voice echo in his mind again, right before the channel was severed.

  “[Good… luck. The Supreme believes… in you.]”

  ***

  I should get my turtle shell and come to this area.

  Henry navigated his way back slowly and methodically, staying close to the seabed while he watched his surroundings. He was slightly less worried about the local fauna, but he still had to be careful.

  He came to a stop near suspicious cave and decided to swim around it. Now that he didn’t have five giant whales staring him down, Henr felt like maybe he should have asked more questions but between the disappointment of not getting a ride and them being massive and intimidating, he ended up wanting to retreat.

  I’ll have to try moving the shell. Could I carry it? I’d have to cover it up… Some fish are attracted to shiny things. With kelp? Maybe?

  Henry hummed. He didn’t have any tools to use to camouflage the shell. He was definitely not leaving it, though and soon, once he had a few more levels under his belt, he’d start moving.

  I’m in the safe section of this Current, then? At least I didn’t get dropped in the worst part.

  It would take weeks to get out, and Henry should have tried to get an exact figure but as he thought about it, he realized it would not matter. He couldn’t travel as fast as the whales, so whatever they’d say he’d have to take with a grain of salt.

  This Current sounds like a sea at the least least. Probably an ocean. And it extends in every direction from here?”

  Henry arrived home and looked at his shell. He swam around it, examining how it was stuck.

  I’m curious what a map of this world would look like. And how did you even get stuck like this?

  He thought at first that maybe the boulder had slid and trapped the turtle. But after examining the position of everything surrounding the shell, it didn’t seem like it.

  He began working his way under the shell, digging into the sand to create some space, which wasn’t easy or effective with his soft squishy arms. Henry then tried to move the sand with Telekinesis, but it didn’t work and after searching his surroundings for a couple of minutes, he found a flat enough piece of rock and used Telekinesis on that instead.

  Thirty minutes later, and after a mana-expensive push with Telekinesis, the turtle shell was dislodged.

  If this was the same turtle I chased…. It might have been dead for a while. Now that I think of it, even its bones aren’t around anymore.

  It was scuffed around the edges, specifically where it had been stuck. Barnacles grew around those spots and along the exits, but they didn’t seem to want to stick on the luminescent bits. So aside from some scuff marks, the coloured structure itself was intact.

  Henry slowly moved across the shell, examining the colorations of every scute. Each had vibrant colors that seemed to vary depending on the angle and light. A spot he would see as red would turn to yellow as soon as he tilted his head or angled the light differently. The whole back of the shell was like that, and it seemed like every color in existence was available somewhere on the shell. As long as you angled yourself right.

  Something about the colors was tingling the back of his mind somehow. As if there was a secret there, but he just wasn’t looking in the right way to see it.

  What is this even made of?

  As he stared at the shell, he knew he couldn’t leave it. It must be valuable and… well, it had some sentimental value, considering he’d actually died chasing this creature. Not that he couldn’t ever part from it, but he’d do as much as he could to keep it.

  Henry moved around and with his arms, he tried to lift and to his surprise, he actually succeeded.

  It’s still a bit heavy, though. For now.

  Eventually, he could maybe carry it atop of his head and travel along the sea floor, but for that, he needed a few more levels.

  Henry looked back toward the territory of the whales, then back to the shell. He was going to need some more points in Strength, and Telekinesis might end up the first to get to level 10.

  This might take a few days.

  ***

  Henry waited calmly for the shark to get in range, and as soon as it did, he dropped on it.

  [Riptide Shark (F) - Lvl 26]

  He stabilized himself and tore into its gills, then immobilized it with Telekinesis before it could activate its movement skill. When its core formed, he immediately consumed it and popped off the shark’s carcass before its brethren came to eat it.

  It had been two days since he’d met the whales, and though Henry had had some concerns at first about the killing spree he’d been subjecting the local ecosystem to, he quickly realized that for every shark he killed, ten showed up the day after.

  Plus, it wasn’t as if he could worry about the ecosystem as a lowly little octopus anyway. He wasn’t a safe human on a boat anymore, taking measures and samples and tracking migrations patterns to safekeep the dwindling population of Earth’s oceans. That life was behind him and he didn’t have that luxury here. He was in the food chain. Not on top of it.

  Henry swam down to his overturned shell and went inside, ignoring the stalks of kelp that came up from each of its sides.

  On the first day of travel, he’d confirmed that the shell was extremely attractive to every fish around. So after hiding it, he went and collected long kelp stalks that he wrapped around the shell to keep it somewhat hidden.

  It had been a massive pain in his inexisting ass, trying to tie kelp without hands. Telekinesis helped, but it wasn’t very accurate. Or at least he wasn’t while using it.

  I miss having hands.

  Henry came to a rest in his usual spot and peered out into the world. With two days of going out, hunting, and levelling, he had confirmed that he could see levels if they were within twenty-ish levels of him, though he still wasn’t sure what the deal was with questions marks. One particularly large Riptide shark had showed three question marks, which probably meant that it was high level, but what did the question marks mean, exactly?

  I’ll ask the whales. I’m heading there soon anyway.

  Once there, he could take some time to relax, find a good spot to hide the shell, and then go pester the whales and maybe get them to give him their their telepathy skill.

  And kill more Riptide Sharks. Then maybe leave them alone and find something else to harvest.

  Henry settled down in the center of his shell and watched from a distance as Riptide Sharks tore their own to pieces for a moment before he turned his attention back to his own notifications.

  Both Telekinesis and Razor Arm were at level 9. And he was one or two sharks away from figuring out what happened when a skill got to level 10.

  Henry fidgeted. He really wanted to know if something new would happen, but he had to wait out the shark’s frenzy.

  He’d head back out once they calmed down. He wanted to get this over with before reaching the whales.

  Well… I might as well assign my points if I’m waiting, he told himself, then brought up his menues.