NOVEL NEXT 2.03: Excursion
Henry brought the Skill level he’d been accumulating up and grinned.
“Boy oh boy.”
He had to admit. Levels might have not been fast, but his constant training, along with his heavy use of Octominds and the frequent clashes with wildlife, did his abilities a lot of good.
Hunger of the Trickster (D): Level 4 -> Level 5
Arms of the Trickster (E): Level 9 -> Level 10
Lightning Discharge (E): Level 7 -> Level 9
Unimpeded Arms (F): Level 7 -> Level 10
Amplified Impact (F): Level 7 -> Level 10
Riptide Rush (F): Level 3 -> Level 8
“Storage capacity is now… 85 cubic meters. Almost an extra 30 cubic meters for the level. That’s an above average room. Soon enough, I’ll have an Olympic pool’s worth of storage.”
Henry stretched his arms. It was difficult to wrap his mind around such a large volume, but he couldn’t deny his excitement. It felt nice to be able to carry and store anything he might want to. He remembered how limiting the Skill had been at first, barely allowing him to keep anything in there, but as soon as he evolved past his octopus form, the Skill’s capacity had exploded upward. And it just kept growing with every level.
“Alright, let’s evolve the Octominds and see what I’m getting there.”
Henry paid the 1 C-Token, leaving him with 14.8 C-Tokens. His haul from taking down the C-rank beasties they’d met on their way here. After this series of upgrades, he was going to focus on getting those Tokens to 200. He wanted the Partial Shapeshift and Alter Form upgrades as soon as possible.
Light surged around him, kicking off some small rocks and making the algae dance for a few moments as it sank into his flesh. It was hard to sense the difference while he was already basking in the Current’s magic, but soon enough, the process was over. Henry excitedly brought up the new description.
Arms of the Trickster (D) - Level 1:
Assistance of the Octominds:
Passive: Your mental faculties are improved by the individual brains in your arms.
F-Rank: Amplify the effects of a Skill that can benefit from increased cognition.
E-Rank: Multiple Octominds can be temporarily pooled to provide a more efficient and substantial assistance.
D-Rank: The Octominds are capable of activating Skills.
Razor Tentacle (D)
Tentacle Whip (D)
Arcane Arm (F)
Henry pumped an arm. “Yes!”
He’d noted how the Octominds could help him trigger and maintain Skill, but they could never do it by themselves. Now though… Now he could have an Octomind on permanent healing duty to top him off whenever his health got low. Whether Henry was asleep, passed out, or busy fighting.
“This opens up so many options.”
A healing arm. An emergency escape arm that would cast Blink whenever he got too low. Automatic illusions. Telekinetic projectile defense. Maybe even some sort of training? Could he have some Octominds doing mana-exercice non-stop?
That ability in itself wasn’t an active Skill per se, but he didn’t think that would be a barrier to the new and improved minds in his arms. They seemed more… potent. Sharper. More present.
Clearly, the whole Skill evolved. The upgrade wasn’t just about the new unlocked ability.
“Good thing I’ll be heading out to test this all outside.”
Over the next hour or so, Henry upgraded Unimpeded Arms, Amplified Impact, Lightning Discharge and Arcane Arm. His heavy use of the Skill seemed to have unlocked the upgrade–or it might have been the Aspect leveling. Either way, it was time to bring it up to speed.
Summoning the magical arm, Henry focused on trying to modify it. To his astonishment, he could. He could add joints or spikes. He could create a razor-edge along the limb, but he couldn’t make a crab pincer or a human arm just yet, although the Skill seemed to be still connected to his shapeshifting abilities.
If he managed to create a human arm with Shapeshifting Limb, would he be able to summon a magical human arm to punch his opponents with?
It would certainly be interesting to see.
“And that’s all for now… Though the next batch of upgrades should be here soon. I should also focus on getting Mana Nexus to upgrade. That Skill practically doubles mana reserves whenever it goes up a level, and mana is everything. More of it won’t hurt, and that should allow me to use Blink without going broke.”
***
Henry swam out of the tunnel system and scanned his surroundings.
Immediately, his eyes found the wall of golden light, a couple minutes’ swim away. All around were rocks and reefs with large multi-colored growths. As he looked down at the exit he’d come out of, he noticed the clearly carved pattern in the reef, drawing a wide circle around the entrance, cutting through reef, plants and sheer rock. Clearly, the entrance markings were maintained; it made sense, considering how easily the entrance could be lost.
Above, Moon–the leader of the hunting party–was already emitting clicks, scouting the area for anything too dangerous for them to deal with. Which left the fourth member of this small hunting party to come out of the cave entrance in a huff, bumping Henry’s arm on the way out before giving him a challenging glare.
Maurice shook his pincer at the new, smaller dolphin.
“[He’s rude! I said hi and he glared at me,]” complained Maurice.
Henry didn’t know what their problem was. Moon had shown up, asked if Henry was up for a hunt, and then they were out.
“Alright,” Moon clicked. “The goal is to bring you three up to speed. It will be good to see what you two are capable of, and it will be good experience for Seasong here. Once–”
“It’s Stormsong,” clicked the younger dolphin as they glared at the side, somehow managing to inject a lot more attitude in the clicks than Henry thought was possible.
Moon slowly turned to face the dolphin, then his eye flicked to Henry. “You will be working with Stormsong here because she’s incapable of getting along with any other pod. We won’t be worrying about formations too much, and we’ll be taking things as they come. I need to make sure none of you get in trouble and I need you to listen when I call for a retreat. Understood? Good. Follow me.”
Henry pumped his arms, following the two. He couldn’t help but feel amused when the second dolphin began shooting smug glances at him, twirling and taking the time to swim side to side once it was clear Henry had to work a bit harder to keep up with the sleek dolphins.
He could activate Skills and whatnot, but clearly these beings were more built for speed than he was.
They swam vaguely away from the wall of light, with Moon occasionally clicking and changing directions. Henry patiently followed until all of a sudden, the dolphin dove and signaled for both Henry and Stormsong to follow.
“[Target near,]” sent Moon telepathically. “[Eel. Pretty large, but thankfully isolated. Who wants to take care of it?]”
Henry and Maurice shared a look. “[We can do–]”
Stormsong ignored them all, swimming up and over the rock outcropping, forcing a resigned click out of Moon. The dolphin swam after her, and Henry quickly followed, where they all got to watch a pretty even fight.
The green eel seemed to be specialized in venoms, reminding Henry of the serpent he’d fought a while back. It kept trying to bite Stormsong, making its skin glow and waft greenish-looking clouds, but the dolphin was incredibly fast. She didn’t seem to mind the venom, zipping back and forth non-stop, continuously landing painful looking headbutts that made the eel squirm and screech with pain before it could retaliate.
The whole thing took around three or four minutes. Finally the dolphin landed the final blow, at which point Henry swam closer and stored the dead eel.
“[Let’s see you do better, kraken,]” said the dolphin, somehow again managing to hit one of his arms on her way back.
Henry and Maurice shared a look before the crab threw both arms up. “[Why is she so mad at us?]”
“[I think she’s mad at everyone, Maurice. Don’t worry about it.]”
Minutes later, Moon flagged another target.
[Hammerrock Crab (C) - Lvl ??]
The large crab was slowly picking at some carcass, uncaring of its surroundings. It had spikes all over its body, and one pincer was significantly larger than the second.
Expecting the dolphin to try showing off again, Henry saw her looking sideways at the crab, then back at Henry before she turned away.
Moon turned to him. “[Can you handle this?]”
Henry eyed the crab as he stretched his arms. “[Yeah. We’ve just got something to check real quick, but we’ve got this.]”
“[We’ll see who’s the best crab,]” said Maurice as he clacked his pincers. “[I’ve never tasted crab.]” When Henry looked down at him the crustacean added, “[As long as it’s not a friend, of course.]”
Henry laughed inwardly as he swam toward the crab. The monster immediately turned and clacked its oversized pincers at them. “[We’ll test it, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be friendly.]”
Maurice clacked his pincers. “[Craaaab!]”