“[What will happen when we find humans?]”

The island was close enough for Henry to make out trees and seals on the beach. It was gravelly, with boulders here and there on which the largest seals lounged, taking in the sunlight.

Henry dove deep and swam through the kelp. He began circling the island from a distance, eyes peeled for any caverns or odd, out-of-place formations. Already they could see glass spires, and the kelp was growing sparser by the second.

“[Nothing good, if we’re not careful. If the intelligent people of this world are anything like mine–whether they’re humans or other–then we won’t be safe if we just show up like we are. We tend to be scared of anything not like us.]” Then, after a beat, Henry added. “[I guess I can’t say ‘we’ anymore. But yeah. Intelligence doesn’t mean they’ll be nice.]”

“[Then what’s the plan? I mean, I’m curious to see how they live, but I’m guessing we need to prepare?’]”

Henry scanned the seabed. The eastern side of the island dipped further down than the kelp forest. Deep enough that Henry struggled to see much.

“[Find civilization first. Then we scout, from far away. Then, if we want to step on land, we’ll need to be able to disguise ourselves and blend in. That should allow us to learn even more. Visit a library, if there’s any. Ask around. We’ll also need to be able to defend ourselves, just in case. But we can take that one step at a time.]”

Henry came to a rest against the sloping seabed and glanced at Maurice.

“[It’s getting a bit difficult to grip you. It always feels like I’m holding you with the tips of my fingers, and that’s making me nervous. How about you use Bissal Anchoring and stick to my head?]”

“[Oh, okay. Let’s try it!]”

Henry brought the arm holding Maurice to the top of his head. He felt the Skill activate and stick Maurice to his Skin. It felt like someone stuck a nerf suction dart to his forehead.

Now stabilized, Maurice continued chatting. “[Why would we be in danger? If they’re smart, wouldn’t they want to talk to us? Also, what’s a library? What do we learn from them?]”

“[Even if we’re smart, if they’re anything like the humans from my world, what they’ll want to do is put us in a lab, cut us open and study us. And when they’re done, kill us or sell us to the highest bidder. Because we’re not people. We’re just smart animals. Or monsters to be controlled or put down. As for libraries, they’re places where people collect books. And before you ask, a book is a bound stack of paper with writing on them. Usually about something specific. There’s all kinds of books, but I have no idea what we might find. It’ll really depend on how this world’s civilizations have developed and where they’ve gotten to.]”

Henry tried to look at the crab above him but the angle was all wrong. Still, he should have answered everything.

“[Writing is the stuff in the Skill description, right?]”

“[Yes,]” said Henry as he camouflaged himself and began swimming down into the depths. Maurice was quiet, deep in thought. Henry would have absolutely let the crab ponder, but they were on a scouting mission. And visibility wasn’t great, though Henry was beginning to see some red hues below.

“[Keep an eye out Maurice. We might be–]”

Maurice was the first to notice the presence coming down on them from above. “[Clones!]”

Two clones were rushing at them, one of which shrieked an unintelligible series of noises into his mind as it bared its beak, intent on getting its many arms around him.

Henry showed his beak in response, and a glowing piece of rock shot toward the clone. Two more followed in quick succession, with only one of them hitting. It was enough to dispatch one of the clones.

“[Does Dexterity help you with aiming, Maurice?]”

Maurice had tagged the second clone as well, though his shots had been more precise. “[I think so? I’ve got 23 points in it.]”

“[That’s not so far from mine… I guess I need practice. Also, I think we’re near its burrow. It would explain the rage.]”

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Henry swam deeper, and the red colors intensified and multiplied, like lamps through a fog. A few seconds later, the kraken and the crab reached the seabed.

“Holy crap.”

From the base of the underwater mountain that made up the island and its volcano came a river of lava. A wide thing, at least forty or fifty feet wide, that snaked north-east and away from the island. The river was running under a thick pane of familiar glass, with countless cooling towers all around the river, but never on top of it. Ants came in and out of entrances along the towers, moving up and down the river as they went along with their business.

Henry peered around, but saw nothing heading their way. He kept his camouflage up, especially from the ants. For a second he worried about Maurice, who he couldn’t cover up. But then again, the crab was tiny compared to himself; he shouldn’t be visible from this far. “[Back where I’m from, ants can’t live underwater. I don’t know how these are living underwater and not burning or drowning to death.]”

While Maurice watched the ants, Henry swam along the rocky seabed, searching for hints or dens. He knew it should be nearby. He only had the reaction of the clones to go on, but this area was deep enough to allow for something large to live. After a few minutes, once Maurice focused up and began searching with him, Henry tried activating Mana Sight.

It was as if a filter was applied to his vision.

The water around him gained a blue tint. The rocks below him, a mix of gold-brown. In the distance, even from this far, he could see reddish smoke-like mana wafting off the glass-covered river.

There was a lot of mana freely floating around, but unless it was extremely concentrated or extremely close, everything was overpowering by the ubiquitous green-blue mana of the water itself.

“[Wait.]”

Henry stopped.

Maurice was quiet for a second, then he pointed with a claw. “[There’s something there. Seeker’s Bounty is telling me there’s something in that direction.]”

Henry’s eyes followed where Maurice was pointing. It was at the rocky facade of the island.

Without looking away or moving, Henry spoke up. “[How far? Can you tell?]”

He had a couple of theories, depending on how much else Maurice had for him.

“[Hmm.. not sure. I’m sure about the direction, but the only way to know if I’m close is to go toward it.]”

Both of them looked at the stone wall in the distance. Henry could picture a giant octopus surging out of the rocks to ambush them, just like he’d done quite a few times.

“[We might need to run. But if it’s holed up in a den, we can always come back. You sure you want to do this?]”

Henry was absolutely willing to poke the hornet's nest. Not just poke, he was ready to throw the proverbial firecracker into the hornet's nest and then douse the whole thing with Pyroclastic Ink.

Maurice was probably willing as well, but Henry could sense a bit of apprehension from the crab. Henry grinned at that. “He’s brave. But he definitely has some of the instincts of a hermit crab.”

As if he sensed Henry’s amusement, Maurice steeled himself. “[I’m in. Let’s do it.]”

“[Are you stable with your Skill? Is there a chance of you dropping?]”

“[I think I’m okay… unless they manage to cut me away along with the flesh of your head.]”

Henry exhaled. “[Alright. Keep me updated. And hold on to your mana.]”

With that, Henry began gliding along the dark rock of the seabed. His skin was inky black, making him meld along with the dark-gray stone. The wall of rock was approaching quickly, and Henry turned on Mana Sight again.

He expected to see the familiar teal-colored mana all over. He hoped to see something different to give him a hint and point him toward their destination. What he saw was even better.

Most of the rock wall was golden-brown, with veins of red. Looming ahead of them, where more rock was visible, the earthen mana was missing. Only teal, in a mostly circular shape. Where there was supposed to be stone and earth.

The wall ahead was an illusion, and Henry dropped Mana Sight just in time to see a giant, red-skinned octopus come out of the mountain wall like a monstrous ghost.

It dwarfed Henry. He couldn’t make out its dimensions from this angle, but the first question his mind came up with was, how did this thing fit anywhere? It was at least triple his size, and considering the thing’s healing factor, they were in for a slog of a fight.

[Adult Goliath Kraken (C) - Lvl ?]

“[Henry… are we doing this?]”

Henry’s limbs twitched with nerves, and venom began building in his beak. It was bitter. Potent. And he was about to pump the Goliath Kraken’s brains full of it. And seeing this specimen come at them, Henry felt a few pieces begin to click in his mind. [“Be ready for us to run. This isn’t the main threat. She’s still hiding.”]

The adult Goliath cut through the water toward them, and Henry looked beyond it.

He was almost sure now. The clones were from a C-rank, if not higher. A brooding, territorial Trickster kraken with a grudge who refused to leave her den. And if it happened to be above C-rank, then they’ll have to come back some other time. That would be too large of a gap, even if the Trickster kraken was being defensive and preferred hiding.

The red kraken opened its beak and roared, taking them both by surprise, and Henry flew away. Just to lead it further from the Den. In case something else came out.

If the Trickster came out, Henry and Maurice were running. Otherwise, it was time to earn some Evolutionary points for his next power-up.