The last shark got me past level 25. That’s 9 levels and two points to assign. Not bad, huh.

  Henry considered his options for second, then came to a decision.

  First one’s obvious. It goes to Constitution and makes it a clean 10. Then I should focus on Spirit to get it to 10 as well. So one each.

  Henry assigned the points.

  Motes of light appeared around him. It was definitely more than any other instance, but he assumed there would be some warmth and he’d feel better in a few seconds.

  The light sunk into him, and his limbs began jerking and twitching. The magic seared into his flesh and Henry groaned with pain as his body was changed for nearly a minute, and it took another whole minute for the tension and twitching to fully stop.

  He lay splayed on the sand, panting. He had not been expecting that. Had the tenth point been special or something?

  Henry pulled up his stats, looked through them for a moment.

  Class: Undecided Marine Biologist - Level 25

  Strength: 5

  Constitution: 10

  Spirit: 9

  Perception: 6

  Dexterity: 5

  Even though he’d been consuming the cores he’d been getting, it might be time to convert some to tokens. Now that he could bring down the sharks consistently, he could buy some more points.

  I still have 5 tokens from a few days ago… I should buy the remaining points for Strength and Dexterity and I would need…” He went to the increase menu and looked for the increases available and squinted his eyes, even though that didn’t matter at all when it came to the system’s interface.

  40 tokens. That’s what I’ll need. Alright. Now, let’s see what’s happening with my skills.

  Bite (F): Level 5 -> Level 6

  Mimicking Arms (F): Level 7 -> Level 8

  Inkjet (F) - Level 5 -> Level 6

  Hoard Vitality (F) [19 Charges]: Level 2 -> Level 5

  Razor Arm (F) : Level 5 -> Level 9

  Telekinesis (F): Level 1 -> Level 9

  It felt good to see the amount of progress he’d achieved in a few days.

  Telekinesis really levelled fast. To be fair, I’ve been using it non-stop since I got it.

  The skill had made dealing with sharks and other predators a trivial matter, so no wonder it was burning through the levels. Next were Hoard Vitality and Razor Arm, which had progressed tremendously as well. One being the weapon he used to kill his targets, and the second he continuously used whenever he had to take a break.

  Henry dismissed the interface and wondered if anything would happen on a skill’s level 10.

  I’m very close to it. Only 20 or 30 minutes of resting, then we find out.

  ***

  Perched at the edge of a particularly high reef section, Henry watched, camouflaged, as his most ambitious target to date approached the bait he’d prepared.

  [Riptide Shark (F) - Lvl 37]

  Riptide sharks reminded him of Blacktip sharks. They had similar morphologies, aside from the coloration of Riptides, and they were around the same size. The one he was currently looking at was the biggest Riptide he’d targeted yet, and compared to his octopus body, it was massive. But if he were human? They’d be around the same size. Maybe the shark would have 10 or 20 pounds on him. But it wasn’t anything as large as a Great White. Or Tiger. Or even Hammerhead but still, it could gulp him down in one mouthful.

  Henry breathed slowly. He didn’t dare move a muscle as the creature began tearing into the smaller dead shark.

  I’ve done this enough times now. Just stick to the plan. It’s only a bit larger.

  Henry held off on Telekinesis. It was expensive to use on larger sharks, and he was going to need all his mana to keep the creature still once he lacerated its gills. He checked above and around one last time, then Henry dropped down from his ledge.

  The shark twisted its head away.

  Henry was surprised by the quick movement, and the surprise quickly turned to stomach-churning terror when he came eye-to-eye with the shark, right before it lunged at him.

  Henry activated Telekinesis and it was as if he’d just tried to stop a swinging bat with the back of his eyes. A prodigious amount of energy got burned instantly, which, along with the painful feedback, left him with blurry vision and a splitting headache.

  The shark thrashed. Or tried to. Every attempted movement of its great muscular body ate another chunk of Henry’s mana while the latter struggled to control his limbs. He swam backward, toward a nearby hiding spot. Henry didn’t dare use Inkjet. The shark was too close and if he couldn’t see yet, Telekinesis would fail. Then the creature would be free to chomp him down.

  It’s okay. You’re okay. Just get out–

  A red hue appeared under Henry’s purple Telekinesis. Next thing he knew, Telekinesis shattered, and the jaws were upon him. But Henry could barely see anything as the skill breaking felt like a hot poker had been shoved through his mind. He was on the precipice of blacking out; the only thing that kept him awake was sheer terror and realization of how precarious his situation was.

  Henry shot an Inkjet and pushed water through his siphon as he tried to get himself out of the way. But the shark only had to snap down its jaws. Henry felt the teeth touch his soft skin and punch through it with the crushing force of a vice, and he screamed.

  The Riptide Shark thrashed him around, sending his blue blood to cloud the waters around him. Henry tasted and breathed his own blood as he desperately slashed with two arms at the shark’s eyes while he failingly trying to reach the gills with another, but his angle was wrong.

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

  It hurt. But the shark–even though he bit into him pretty deep–hadn’t been able to completely tear through him, not even with its violent thrashing and thanks to the five charges of Hoard Vitality, Henry’s thoughts were clearing, and the headache was finally becoming manageable.

  Henry doubled his efforts and slashed at everything his limbs could reach. Razor Arms was active on the three limbs he could move, and he dragged the bladed magic on anything and everything he could touch.

  The shark kept bucking, biting down as it did, trying to shove the octopus deeper down its gullet, while Henry tried to keep the panic out and focused on inflicting as much damage as he could. Still, in his frantic struggling, a thought crossed his mind.

  If my head gets bitten down on, I die.

  Henry still had upward of 18 Hoard Vitality charges, and he activated five more and as he slashed at the shark’s face until finally, he hit something sensitive.

  The shark spit him out and turned away, leaving Henry floating in a mess of blood and shredded limbs. Three arms were gone, while two were shredded and barely responsive. The remaining three had been blades, but the skill was fading as he was trying to reorient himself.

  The shark didn't leave. It circled around, face disfigured with open, bleeding gashes. It kept him on its left flank. Because Henry had gotten its right eye, and he was glad to see the beast was bleeding profusely.

  Henry watched the shark and waited as he activated five more charges, leaving him with three. His shredded limbs were knitting back up thanks to the healing magic, but slowly, though one thing was clear; the skill has probably saved his life. If it hadn’t been for the charges he’d already used, he might have already bled out. The fact that it softened the headache made every painful use of the skill worth it.

  Then the shark rushed him again. Without using its skill.

  Henry kept waiting.

  When the jaw was only a second away, he reactivated Razor Arm on one limb and put everything he had on Telekinesis. The shark froze mid-bite, and Henry grit his beak and powered through the renewed headache. There was one thing on his mind, and one thing only.

  Henry shoved his bladed arm into the shark’s remaining eye, forcing it as deep as he could. He felt some resistance at first, then he managed to punch through. When he did, he scoured everything he could cut through.

  The shark tried to thrash and break out, but Telekinesis held him still as it burned through Henry’s reserves. It might have seconds, or a full minute, but at some point, Henry couldn’t maintain Telekinesis anymore.

  He’d run out of energy, and as he clung to the unmoving shark, there was a fist sized hole in his core. Where his heart would be. But it was over.

  The core had formed.

  Henry picked up the little bead and abandoned the lifeless shark as he glanced around. Some more sharks were coming, but he should have a couple of seconds to get away. After all, the massive body of the shark should be more attractive than himself.

  With his loot in one intact arm, Henry did the octopus-equivalent of limping his way to cover as darkness began closing in on him. He entered the den he’d been trying to get to before the shark had bitten him, consumed the core, and promptly passed out.

  ***

  When Henry woke back up, he felt like shit. But he wasn’t bleeding out, and his insides still felt like they’d been scooped out. But he survived.

  How long was I out? One hour? Two? I can’t tell…

  That had been too close. He could still feel echoes of that fear. Feel the teeth sink and cut through him. He’d gotten careless.

  Complacent.

  Henry shuddered, and shoved the thought away. That sounded like his dad. But there was no denying the thought wasn’t wrong.

  He exhaled as he lay in the roomy space under the rocks, watching small fish swim nearby. One peeked out at him from a bundle of anemone.

  If I hadn’t pushed Constitution to 10, I think I would have died there.

  Henry groaned inside, but he wished he had vocal cords to voice his suffering. It just wasn’t the same without it.

  He decided to go for another short nap. A couple more hours must have passed, but he felt better.

  Time to check the notifications.

  Undecided Marine Biologist - Level 26 achieved!

  ...

  Undecided Marine Biologist - Level 30 achieved!

  1x Stat point awarded.

  Hoard Vitality (F): Level 5 -> Level 8

  Razor Arm (F): Level 9 -> Level 10

  Telekinesis (F): Level 9 -> Level 10

  Access to Skill Upgrade module granted.

  Henry brought up the new options. It listed both Skills that had gotten to level 10 without further details. He clicked on Telekinesis first and braced at the cost that was about to be thrown his way.

  Upgrade Telekinesis (F): Pick the focus of the Skill upgrade:

  Potency of the effect

  Or

  Improved targeting

  Potency or Targeting? I’d love both to be honest. But if I were to choose…

  The image of the shark breaking through Telekinesis with its skill was still too vivid.

  Potency. Maybe I can work on targeting by myself? Could I force the Skill to work differently through brute-force? I wonder if that’s possible…

  Henry made his choice, and a new prompt showed up, asking him to pay 10 F-tokens.

  Can’t have anything for free, he grumbled. After popping his head out a couple of times, he caught enough small fish to get himself to 10 tokens, then triggered the upgrade.

  Something hummed inside of him, and a buzz grew in his ears for a few moments. Then it faded.

  Telekinesis (F) successfully upgraded to Telekinesis (E)

  Glancing at the Skill description, it seemed to be the same, aside from a small detail at the end, which he’ll have to guess, once his reserves and health were back to full.

  Telekinesis (E) - Level 1: Remotely control the movement of a perceived living target. [+Potency]

  The description used to say ‘visible target’, but now it specified ‘perceived target’.

  I wonder what that implies… but later.

  Henry went back to the upgrade menu, as Telekinesis hadn’t been the only skill that’d hit level 10, but he was surprised to find that there was yet another upgrade for Telekinesis still listed.

  Huh?

  He clicked the upgrade, curious what was going on, then stilled when he read it.

  Improve Targeting of Telekinesis (E) - 10 E-Tokens

  Holy crap that’s a lot of dead sharks.

  Henry shook his head and opened up his second Skill Upgrade.

  Upgrade Razor Arm (F): Pick the focus of the Skill upgrade

  Fully transform the arm into a bladed instrument

  Or

  Improve the sharpness of the skill

  Henry collected his still healing arms under him and grumbled.

  That’s… not an easy choice. Damn.