The crab was four feet away when Henry used Identify.

[Bladed Blue Crab (F) - Lvl 11 ]

Henry paused. “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.

“Maybe this was a bad idea…” Then Henry stopped himself. He exhaled. “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. Henry didn’t move.

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.

The sand surged around Henry and the crab as they rolled over each other. Henry rolled 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 tentacles 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 left pincer. The edge snipped through the two tentacles like tailor’s scissors 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 tentacles to immobilize the crab, narrowing his focus on his enemy, but he still stole a glance toward his status.

66% health.

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

Henry activated two of his Hoarded Vitality charges and felt the oddly mute pain recede, just as he finally immobilized the second pincer. Without losing any more time, Henry bit down.

The shell cracked, but his beak didn’t get through. He bit again, and it barely got through. The crab was frantically pulling, clacking its pincer on nothing. Henry bit down again. And again. And again.

Finally, the crab stopped moving. Henry slowly let go as the Core began to form. He was still bleeding. He looked 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.

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The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Henry entered his temporary home and dropped Mimicking Tentacles.

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.

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 Tentacle.

Razor Tentacle (F) was copied by Magic Mimic.

“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 left the cave.

Henry moved a tentacle in front of him and activated the Skill. A thin, almost invisible line appeared through the length of his tentacle. He might not even have been able to see it before his Perception update.

“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 levels…”

Bite (F): Level 5 -> Level 6

Mimicking Tentacles (F): Level 5 -> Level 7

“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 Hoarded 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 tentacles, and his health climbed by… 2%.

“What?! That’s it?”

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

“What a crappy conversion rate. It costs 10% and it gives back 2%,” 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 Tentacles 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 Tokens to spend, and his first purchase was going to be his latest temporary acquisition.

Skills (3/4):

- Identify: Get basic information about an examined being or object.

- Hoard Vitality (F) - Level 2 [4 Charges]: Store 10% of your health on your body to be released at will or when severely injured for a burst of healing.

- Razor Tentacle (F) - Level 1: Summon a razor-sharp blade along the edge of a single tentacle.

“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 more 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.

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 Tentacles, while he himself–and his remaining tentacles that he’d patiently regrew 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-tentacle and bit. It tried to pull, but Henry found himself able to resist the pull. When the second fish bit another tentacle, he moved.

His bitten tentacles curled around the fish, and he activated Razor Tentacle 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 Tentacle is expensive though… 9% per activation? It’s effective but damn…”

Henry picked up both Cores and hid under a rock.

Increase Constitution: 5 -> 6

Increase [20 CT] | Cancel

Henry felt the light sink into him, and he 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 his metaphorical eyebrows shot up.

No Constitution Stat Increase available.

“Huh. That answers my questions, I guess.”