Stormsong and Maurice watched the shell of light slowly dissolve into motes. The kraken was still asleep, but Stormsong noted the larger frame as the monster’s colors rippled and altered as it dreamt.

At least, that was her theory for the dancing colors she’d occasionally see when Henry slept.

The color shift slowed over the course of a handful of seconds, then the usual orange-brown colorations came through, and the kraken moved.

A trill of fear ran through her body as the kraken’s presence unfurled outward. A subtle thing that most would miss. But Stormsong had been around high-level dolphins enough to recognize the feeling, and it made her heartbeat pick up.

“He just broke into C-Rank, and he’s got the presence of some of the highest level hunters I know.”

The only one whose presence she was confident was still superior was Sundots, but then again, that dolphin was B-Rank.

Henry slowly unraveled his arms and began swimming toward them, which made her breath catch before she forced herself to relax..

Somehow, she felt that pretty soon , this kraken would be able to match old monsters.

[Watchful Guardian (C) - Lvl 1]

Another thing she didn’t understand about these two. But this time, she decided she’d ask. Which made her pause.

“They’re a tool. They’re only a way for you to leave the pod. Why would you care?”

Stormsong shoved the voice to the back of her mind again and spoke to the crab and kraken. “[Why do you display your classes for all to see?]”

Henry had come to a stop, and had just picked up the excited crab when both of them turned to her and their voices echoed in her mind.“[What?]”

***

Henry watched the dolphin, and couldn’t help noticing the wisps of color dancing around her. But only when he wanted to see them. And it wasn’t his mana sight either, though when he used that ability, he saw the wisps even clearer.

It was the same feeling he’d gotten when seeing the manifestation of his Aspects. Hers reminded him of their fight. A mixture of the speed and turbulence of stormy winds, and the unstoppable force of the sea. There were some other things there, but the dolphin’s next words shook him out of his contemplations.

“[Knowledge of your class is only for those closest to you.]”

Henry and Maurice shared a look, then the kraken lifted two arms in a shrug. “[I guess we’re all very close, then.]”

Maurice rubbed his claws together from his perch on top of Henry’s head.“[Yes. When do we see your class?]”

The dolphin snorted, sending out a large stream of bubbles. “[Never.]”

“[Jokes aside, I don’t feel the need to hide my class. Plus, it might help strangers know that I’m not just a mindless monster.]”

Stormsong beat her fluke a couple of times as she swam in a small circle.“[Fair enough. So. Can you see them?]”

“[See what?]” asked Maurice.

“[Yes. I think I do,]” said Henry as he glanced down at the crab, who just looked between the kraken and the dolphin.

“[See what?!]”

“[Don’t worry about it. Just get to C-Rank and you’ll know what we’re talking about. Now, give me a few minutes to finish cleaning up some stuff, then we can head out.]”

“[Henry! See what?]”

The kraken tuned the crab out—or more accurately, he had an Octomind stop the voice from distracting him—and loaded the Aspect Workshop. His available options appeared.

Upgrade Skills and Traits

Incorporate Class Skills and Traits in Aspect

Merge Skills and Traits

Create new Aspects

Fuse Aspects

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“Are these new options always going to be available?”

The system’s warning about playing with Aspects was still fresh on Henry’s mind. Considering everything that was now possible, it made sense.

He could really do some damage to himself with these possibilities.

“I’m going to need a lot of preparation before I make any big change. Would be nice if there were a way to simulate some of this stuff. Hmm.”

Henry looked down at his many arms. He doubted the Octominds could help with Skill merging. But maybe he could predict some outcomes from fusing Aspects?

Well. He could try right now. He was still hoping to create a movement-based Aspect, but he could try and think it through with the help of his Octominds.

Before that though, Henry wanted to check the new menu. The Concept Workshop.

Extract Concepts

Excise Class construct

Excise Ephemeral construct

Bind construct to class

Henry carefully read the available options at least three times, noticing with every iteration what wasn’t being said or made available.

There was no mention of what he was supposed to do with the extracted concepts. Or what he was supposed to do with the results of the excision options. As for binding… As he tapped the option, he had no help. Nothing. And from feeling out the option and what it was expecting, it felt like the final step of the skill creation process. The final firing in the kiln to stabilize and solidify everything. To bind it.

Meaning, he somehow had to create the ability himself, then he could bind it to the class. After which he could transfer it to an Aspect in the Aspect Workshop.

This was a lot to take in.

“Alright. Smaller picture stuff for now.”

So. If he were to create a movement Aspect which included Blink and Riptide Rush, what could he fuse it with after? Could he combine it with other Aspects?

“Octominds, get it done.”

Henry left the four blood clones with an Octomind each, then took the remaining four for his new task. He closed his eyes and waited. He wasn’t actually sure it’d work, but in the meantime, he visualized his Aspects on a pedestal, like he’d seen them with the System, and waited.

He felt ideas come out of certain Octominds and head to others before they were modified. The image in his mind changed, as a vague shape was introduced from above, but it all felt… inefficient. There was hesitation in the Octominds. They weren’t being efficient, often focusing on the same point. Within a minute or two, he felt them hit a wall.

So, Henry pooled them. All four Octominds became one, and the image he was visualizing immediately grew sharper. Text began overlaying over the new Aspect as it grew more distinct, gaining a deep blue—almost indigo—color.

Lines came out of the new simulated Aspect and connected to each single Aspect, then a percentage popped over the line.

Movement + Hunger estimated compatibility = 10%

Movement + Shiftiness estimated compatibility = 25%

Movement + Arms estimated compatibility = 20%

Movement + Misdirection estimated compatibility = 80%

Movement + Arcana estimated compatibility = 60%

Movement + Vitality estimated compatibility = 50%

Henry went through every line, his inner smile growing wider by the second. He could only agree with the estimations, even though he knew the Octominds were based on his own thoughts and biases, but it made sense to him.

Hunger and its abilities didn’t have a lot to do with movement, while Misdirection with its clones, scouting, and ink screens could work pretty well with movement abilities.

Henry pictured some possible combinations of Misdirection and Blink; when he did, he had to stop himself from immediately pressing the create Aspect button.

What if he could somehow Blink to his ink clones? What if he could do it all over the world?

“Calm down. I have no damn clue if it works like that.”

He took a few minutes to consider a movement Aspect combined with Arcana and Vitality, but he couldn’t picture a combination as impressive as clones and teleportation. Vitality had healing and resistances; he had no idea how that could work well with teleporting, so he moved on to Arcana.

Arcana summoned illusions, had Mana Skills and Telekinesis, which might explain why its compatibility with a movement Aspect was up to 60%. Even if it was somehow possible to teleport to an illusion, it just wasn’t as good as teleporting to clones.

He couldn’t take his mind off that combination. He wasn’t even sure what he’d do with it, but if there was a synergistic possibility he could aim for with a movement Aspect, he couldn’t think of anything better.

“Alright. We’ll see how it goes. But I still want the movement Aspect, so let’s get this done.”

Blink and Riptide Rush can be merged within Swiftness of the Trickster

Amplified Impact, Krakenbane’s Wrath, Lightning Discharge, Accelerated Strike, and

Cavitational Impact can be merged within Fury of the Trickster

Henry examined the two options. He was happy to see his movement Aspect, but he wasn’t sure about the Fury. Though to be honest, he could see that one fit well with his other Aspects. A quick check with his 4-mind Octomind showed him a 70% compatibility with Hunger and a 60% with Arms. Everything else was lower.

“Maybe I can divide the abilities among the other Aspects? Well. I’ll look into it later.”

For now, Henry agreed to the creation of Swiftness of the Trickster, grumbled while paying the increased cost of 5 Evolutionary points, and as the magic began collecting around him, he could only think of everything else he needed to do. “Still need to move my skills around and get through notifications.”

The magic collecting around him pulled his attention away from his to-do list, and as he paid attention to the wisps of foreign concepts, he could only chuckle.

In a way, he might have just been given the keys to the magic of this world. He just had to not screw it up.