“Don’t sleep. Don’t go to sleep.”

Henry lay slumped against one of the inner walls of his home. Panting and dizzy, he glanced at his health and triggered three charges of Hoard Vitals.

His health stopped ticking down for a few seconds, then it went down to 27%. The mind-numbing pain had receded for a few moments before it came back with a vengeance. And it kept going. “I should have used the temporary resilience… but I had no idea they could explode like that.”

Henry pulled himself together and gingerly sat up, then checked his notifications. The Core was worth 9380 Tokens. Not enough for a Constitution point, so he consumed it and tried to calm down.

The magic rushed into him, and he felt better for a moment before the searing pain came back.

Stalking Threat - Level 2 achieved!

…

Stalking Threat - Level 6 achieved!

1x Stat point awarded.

He added the stat point to Constitution. Even though his health was at 24%, he felt much, much, worse.

“Calm down. Breathe in. Breathe out.”

Henry’s limbs were shaking. He looked down at the three spikes. Two were in a frontal tentacle–one of which had cracked under his skin–while the third had fully pierced through another limb. The fourth was behind him, through his stomach.

He realized they all might be difficult to remove. Compared to the one he’d been hit with earlier, these had all punctured deep. He was almost sure he’d lose less health from cutting off his two affected limbs rather than trying to take the darts out, potentially increasing the amount of venom in his system.

Henry activated the Razor on one of his limbs and pushed it against the tentacle with two spikes. He groaned with pain, eyes closed. He struggled to cut through it. Probably because of his high Constitution.

Ironic, really.

After a few seconds that felt like hours, he severed the tentacle. Henry panted for a few seconds, then moved on to the next one. He looked down at the spike. It had gone fully through, so maybe it wasn’t worth cutting the whole limb. He pushed it all the way through and out. By the time he was done, his health was down to 18%.

He felt cold.

Henry struggled to get up, but he couldn’t leave his bleeding limb near him. So he pushed it down and out of the mostly blocked exit, then gave it an extra shove with Telekinesis before collapsing again.

“Disguise.”

Henry’s breath was shallow as he camouflaged himself. He activated three more charges of Hoard Vitals, then felt anger at himself for not having spent more time building charges. He only had two left.

His health went back up to 20%, but it was struggling with the venom that had made it into his system. The backlash of Telekinesis had mostly faded, and now it was mostly the dizziness, nausea, and the pain from the lionfish venom he had to deal with. And the last spike in his stomach.

“Should I remove it? What if it makes things worse?”

Henry closed his eyes and tried to ignore the pain and fear. He needed Accelerated Recovery to work faster. He should have worked harder on finding a dedicated healing Skill. Or on building up more charges in Hoard Vitals.

“Calm.”

19%.

At least the venom’s effect was slowing down. “I’m okay.”

Henry kept his disguise up and tried to relax. He was unable to suppress spasms caused by the pain, and he knew he vomited once or twice, but he tuned it out.

He only focused on the health displayed in his status, and on his breathing.

----------------------------------------

Somewhere along the first hour the venom stopped draining his health. Within the second hour the pain mellowed, and Henry found himself breathing deeper. His health began to tick back up. His severed tentacle was tingling, and a quick peek told him it’d started to regenerate.

Around the fourth hour he was up to 60%, but it struggled to go higher. He assumed it was because of the spine still embedded in his stomach.

Henry examined it for a bit, checking to see if it had fully pierced through. It hadn’t, so he slowly began to pull on it. It was a nauseating, painfully queasy sort of pain that would have had him in a cold sweat if he hadn’t been underwater. When he was done, his health had dipped back down by around 8%.

He discarded it in a corner, then went back to meditating.

When he reopened his eyes, he was at 87% and his severed tentacle was mostly reformed. The pain was mostly gone, so he finally breathed out and leaned against the turtle shell wall.

“That was too close. And all that damage was done through the second threshold of Constitution. Another probable death escaped just because I prioritized it.”

He checked his notifications and was glad to see his close call came along with some good news.

Hoard Vitals (E): Level 2 -> Level 3

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Telekinesis (E): Level 6 -> Level 7

Mimicking Tentacles (E): Level 5 -> Level 6

New Trait Unlocked: Toxin Resistance (F)

You have been exposed to and healed through powerful venoms. Octopuses are innately resistant to toxins, but this Trait will prime your body to handle stronger toxins better.

Toxin Resistance (F): Enhances resistances to toxins.

“I wonder if that session with the spiked starfish helped in getting this.” Henry examined his healed limbs and rolled a tentacle in front of him. “The resistance should make the next fights easier.”

He shook his head. He was still struggling to understand how lionfish were able to punch through his skin. Even the Whipcrack Sharks’ attack barely made him dizzy, and that was before he got to 20 in Constitution.

Henry glanced outside. Riptide sharks were peacefully roaming, and other fish were swimming around, as usual.

“Further exposure to venoms might strengthen it. But not right now.”

He stealthily swam up to the area in which he fought the lionfish and tried to find it, but there was nothing.

“Other fish probably nibbled on it.”

Henry settled down on a rock, as a rock, and checked his stats. Both health and mana were high, but his charges of Hoard Vitals were low. Too low to be out and about. And he still felt off from the whole experience.

“Alright then. I guess it’s time to build up some charges.”

Henry settled near his shell, lured a simple fish for dinner, then went home.

As he was about to enter, he felt something ping his telepathic sense. Henry looked back, alarmed. He scanned his surroundings, but couldn’t see anything. And the source of whatever Telepathic Sense had picked up was gone.

He slowly swam inside and kept his eyes peeled. The emotion had felt unclear at first. But then something came through. Something familiar. And worrying.

Curiosity.

----------------------------------------

Henry couldn’t relax with his eyes closed. And he might not be able to sleep any time soon.

He picked up one of the spikes of the lionfish he’d removed earlier, then bit into it. It was crunchy, but it also caused a stabbing pain in his mouth. Mild, compared to the initial stabs, but still painful. He had retrieved his severed limb, took out the spines, then threw the limb out. If he was sitting around, he might as well work on his resistances.

He didn’t get a notification this time, as his Skill had already soaked in the flesh of the lionfish. This was just to work on his resistance. Hopefully his theory will be confirmed soon. In the meantime, he checked his old and new–and for some, unexpected–acquisitions.

Inkjet: Poisoned Ink (Lionfish) acquired

Mimicking Tentacle: Venomous Spikes (Lionfish) acquired

Venomous Spine Shot is incompatible.

Accelerated Spine Regrowth is incompatible.

Piercing Projectile (F) added to Ephemerals.

Spiteful Detonation (F) added to Ephemerals.

Synthesizing ability from unused material…

New Trait Unlocked: Venom Production (F)

Venom Production (F): The salivary glands can now produce venoms after sufficient exposure. Available venoms: None.

More Skills and Traits. “What projectiles am I going to use the Piercing Projectile Trait with? And Spiteful Detonation is just wasted space. In what scenario am I going to blow myself up? At least Venom Production’s useful. Especially if I get my hands on some good venoms. Like the serpent’s.”

Henry didn’t know incompatible abilities could result in a new ability like this. He remembered how an incompatible ability would be adapted to him, like Razor Tentacle or Tentacle Whip, but an ability so different it couldn’t be adapted? That was new.

Though the incompatibility in this case made sense. An octopus’ skin was somewhat soft; spines would be really out of place for him. Then again, Mimicking Tentacles was able to copy the spines.

“Probably because my Skill only mimics the appearance, while those Skills and Traits need something real to work with.”

Henry dismissed the miscellaneous menus and glanced at the entrance. Whatever had been outside hadn’t shown back up on his wonky telepathic radar, so, once again, Henry triggered Hoard Vitals and kept his eyes vacantly staring at the entrance.

He exhaled, and sunk back into a half-wary, half-meditative state.

Half a minute later, his Trait activated. Either his nerves were fried enough, or he was getting better at finding the right meditative groove for Accelerated Healing to kick in. Maybe trying to stay calm when venom was running through his system helped. Being poisoned and stabbed was generally a bit more stressful than a potential stalker in his area. But it wasn’t far off.

His health ticked up to 95%, and he activated Hoard Vitals again. “This one’s the ninth.”

The world outside was growing dark, and he could see some luminescent shapes swimming in the distance. Identify wasn’t telling him anything, so he kept studiously building his safety net.

He needed to work more on his defenses. Find Skills and Traits that would synergize with his own core abilities. There would always be a surprise ability he couldn’t prepare for, and he couldn’t keep getting caught off guard like this. Especially if he’d been half-assing his preparation.

The couple of instances he had tried to work on toxin resistance had helped in the end. If he hadn’t put himself through some exposure therapy with the first lionfish, he might not have unlocked the Trait in time. It worked out, but he needed to put his back into getting stronger. He needed to start leveraging his abilities and strengths better.

His eyelids felt heavy. Henry kept his breathing even, which unfortunately was making him sleepier. His health and mana ticked back up, and they were almost back to full when something flared in the foggy range of Telepathic Sense.

Curiosity. Again.

A shiver went down his back. It felt closer, and even though he kept his eyes on the unblocked exit, he could see nothing. Was something about to try and come in?

Henry pulled his tentacles closer. Whip and razor? Wait for a visual for Telekinesis?

He tried to decipher whatever Telepathic Sense was sending him. It was often a mess of impressions and mostly nothing, unless an emotion was powerful enough. And if he detected anything recognizable, it was really hard to pinpoint a direction.

Which made it even more surprising when he felt the burst of curiosity again. Above him.

Was it the turtle shell that was attracting the stranger’s attention? It was camouflaged and on its back, so the colors shouldn’t be visible.

Henry approached the entrance, primed to strike if anything showed up, and slowly peeked his head out to see if something was above him.

Nothing.

Henry was slowly backing inside when an oddly familiar call reached his ears.

A sharp feeling of alarm reached Telepathic Sense, which made Henry flinch and furtively look around.

“I hate this. I want to disable this Trait, but I most certainly shouldn’t.”

The call was echoed a few more times, coming from different directions. Henry peeked outside, camouflaged and keeping still.

He waited for any other telepathic signals, but there were none. Only repeating calls, some of which were drawing near.

The Riptides were getting agitated. Henry watched a lionfish swim down to the rocks and disappear between some thick kelp stalks. The call grew louder. Henry braced, eyes peeled.

Then a snout emerged from behind a barely visible boulder far ahead. A dark and fluid figure followed, effortlessly gliding through the water and around the stalks of kelp. It opened a large, fanged maw and called again, and more gray and brown shapes appeared out of the deep green waters.

One passed nearby, a black-spotted specimen of at least 12 feet.

[Echo Seal (E) - Lvl ??]

“That looks like a leopard seal. A large one. And seals usually live on land… is there land nearby?”

As Henry backed away from the entrance the head of the nearest seal snapped to him. It smoothly zoomed toward him, like a murderous dog who just heard the squeaking of a chew toy.

Henry would have pursed his lips if he had any. “Dammit.”