Henry fell upon the poor shark like a storm of electrified blades. He cut into its back, biting, injecting venom and discharging his electricity, only for the shark to shake itself, trying to dislodge the clone. When it wasn’t able to, its skin rippled for a second before spikes burst upward, cutting into the clone’s skin with ease. Henry felt the muted pain and then–

He lost contact.

Henry blinked, trying to understand what happened, and then he groaned.

Why did he think he could kill a C-Rank with a weak clone? The blood clones showed as D-Rank, sure, but they were a lot weaker than he was. Which he shouldn’t have forgotten about, considering how easy it had been to dispatch the Trickster’s clones while that thing had been a whole rank above his own.

Oh well. Maybe he should try with multiple clones once he was able to create more than one, and hopefully they’d grow stronger as he leveled.

“Though it did level at least, all that work finally… pushed it. Hmm.”

As Henry eyed the description of the Skill, he noticed that the ‘limited’ tag was gone, while his blood clone limit was lifted from a single clone to three.

“When did this happen? Is it the levels? Oh… actually, that might be due to the Octominds’ upgrade. It did become a lot easier to control a blood clone once the Octominds got better.”

Henry chuckled inwardly. The creation of his little army of clones was drawing near. He just had to make them stronger.

An hour or so later, Henry, Maurice, and Stormsong found themselves in a small cave nestled under a large reef. Henry chewed slowly as he looked down at the thigh he was holding. The drake meat was tough. Gamey. Not as fragrant as the crab, but all in all, pretty darn good. Especially considering the abilities he was getting from it.

Magic Mimic: Drakonic Strength added to Ephemerals.

Bite: Rupturing Bite of the Sea Drake acquired.

Mimicking Arms: Swift scales of the Sea Drake acquired.

Mimicking Arms: Resilience of the Hammerock crab.

Not a lot of abilities, in the end. Even the powerful hit from the crab hadn’t been technically a Skill, apparently, but something related to Concepts? It would be something to ask Stormsong, maybe. In a minute. For now, he pulled the Trait he gained after purchasing it.

Drakonic Strength (E): Continuously consume a small amount of mana to increase your strength.

A good ability that should mesh well with everything else. It should be possible to find a spot for it in Vitality of the Trickster, as it did somehow behave like Arcane Fortification.

Looking at the rest, he found it interesting how he’d gotten a resilience boost from the crab. It had been tough to crack through that shell, taking every ounce of strength Henry could manage along with the boost from Unimpeded Arm and Amplified Impact. But once that spike had been through, the crab had fallen quickly. Its shell might have been tough, but its insides weren’t.

Electricity’s terrifying.

Maurice waved one of the fallen crab’s legs.“[Do you think I’m this tasty? Wait, you ate my arms. Am I as good as this crab?]”

Henry looked up from his notifications and gave Maurice an even stare. “[You want to be tastier than this crab? You know that’s not a good thing, right?]”

“[I have to know if I’m better. It’s a matter of pride,]” said Maurice as he clacked his pincer. With a mana-claw, he cut another leg off the crab’s carcass, then gestured for Henry to hide it again before he started munching.

Henry had figured it was better to pull the carcasses out of storage, cut a morsel, then store them back in his Maw. Less risk of attracting predators or scavengers.

He bit into some crab meat and chewed for a moment. “[The Hammerock is tastier.]”

“[What? Why?]”

Henry shrugged with two arms. “[There’s more meat in it. Your pincers were too tiny back then. I could barely taste them.]”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“[Hmm. Fine. I bet I’ll be tastier when I’m larger though.]”

“[You ate his arms?]”

The dolphin had stopped munching on her piece of drake and was giving them an incredulous look.

Henry and Maurice glanced at each other, then the kraken raised an arm. “[It’s complicated.]”

Stormsong swallowed her bite of drake. Henry expected her to huff or say something scathing, but she didn’t. “[How? Does it have to do with your copying ability? Is that why you wanted to stop for the carpet shark?]”

She only seemed curious. And nervous, frequently looking around, but this was a lot better than the first couple of interactions they’d had.

“[Yes,]” broadcasted Maurice to both of them. “[I can copy abilities from shells. He can copy them from meat! I give an arm, and he makes me a shell out of bone.]”

The dolphin looked at them, mouth open. “[That… sounds like cheating,]” she sent them after a few seconds. She shook her head and bit into her meal.

Henry eyed her for a moment before his curiosity got the better of him. “[You can’t copy abilities?]”

This conversation might tell Henry more about the dolphin’s abilities. It was still a bit of a mystery, to be honest. They seemed like strong physical fighters, but clearly they had some telepathic abilities as well, on top of whatever green magic Sunspot had summoned back in the cave.

Stormsong snorted and bubbles escaped out of her head. “[Of course not,]” she said before picking up another bite and pointedly looking away.

Henry and Maurice shared another look, then the crab pointed at her, then nodded toward her with his eye-stalks.

“[Stormsong?]”

She turned toward him, and silently continued to chew.

Henry groaned. This should be fun, he thought to himself before broadcasting again.

“[If we’re traveling together for a bit, we would appreciate knowing a bit more about your abilities. We would also appreciate some general… friendliness, or at the very least, some cordiality. We should be able to talk and chat in a relaxed manner.]”

The dolphin chewed for a moment, and Henry noticed how she seemed to chew harder for a moment before her body relaxed.

“[That… sounds fair. To me. Just listen to my orders, and we’ll do well.]”

Henry blinked. “[Excuse me?]”

“[I’m the strongest here, so it would make sense for you two to listen to me.]”

Henry’s eyes widened while Maurice literally started cackling in telepathic messages. Stormsong progressively grew more frustrated, glaring at the crab, but before she could say anything, Henry forestalled her. “[I apologize for this, and I don’t mean any disrespect, but you’re not the strongest here. We have a destination in mind, and you’re welcome to travel along with us. And before you say anything, this is not up to debate. If this isn’t something you can work with, we can go our separate ways.]”

Stormsong swam higher, slowly approaching them, and Henry poked Maurice so the little gremlin would stop laughing while also readying himself for any aggressivity. He couldn’t tell what the dolphin was thinking, but she seemed tense.

“[I’ll fight you for it then. If I beat you, you listen to me. If you’re actually stronger, then I’ll follow you. How’s that sound? Huh?]”

Henry pushed himself off the ground as he eyed the dolphin. Two blood clones were stealthily circling their area, watching for threats.

He could do this. Would be a good way to know what the dolphins were capable of. Maybe even get a bite in. Though this posed a small problem. He considered creating a spike or pulling the leviathan’s fang, but those would be overkill. “[Can you heal yourself?]” Henry asked as he stretched his arms.

Stormsong beat her tail and blew a ring of bubbles toward him as a smug voice came through. “[I don’t need to.]”

Henry stared at her evenly for a few seconds, then he asked again. “[Can you. Heal. Yourself. Answer, please.]”

Henry began morphing one of his arms. He changed his mind, actually. If she could heal herself, he would be making a spike at the end of that arm. If she couldn’t, then maybe a spike-less bat.

Because he knew she wasn’t going to throw in the towel fast. He’d have to really get the point across.

“[Fine. Yes. I can heal. Are we doing this or not?]”

Henry sharpened the freshly shapeshifted arm. “[Maurice, keep an eye out. Stormsong, if this,]” he raised the sharpened spike, “[touches your head, or your side, you forfeit.]”

“[What? Why?]”

“[Because if I push this spike into your brain or your heart, you will die. Deal?]”

The dolphin slowed for a moment, and Henry almost thought he felt confusion for a second before she shook herself out of it. “[Fine. Come on. Let’s see who’s strongest.]”

“[Maurice, give us a signal.]”

The crab looked up at him and paused. “[A signal for what?]”

Henry exhaled, then quickly explained the concept to the crab, who clacked his pincer excitedly while Henry made the discovery that yes, krakens can get headaches.