Henry fell upon the poor shark like a whirlwind of crackling, sharp, bladed arms. 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 again when he’d be able to comfortably control three or more. Preferably once they wouldn’t be popped with a single hit as well.

  Though it is getting better. I see that ever since I upgraded the Octominds, the ‘limited’ tag had disappeared, while his blood clone limit was lifted from a single clone to three. Was that because I got more processing power to control more of them? Would the number keep growing as long as he levelled?

  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, and Henry pulled a couple of slices of drake. The dolphin wasn’t hungry, so just him and Maurice snacked. 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.

  Bite: Rupturing Bite of the Sea Drake acquired.

  Mimicking Arms: Swift scales of the Sea Drake acquired.

  Mimicking Arms: Resilience of the Hammerock crab acquired.

  All temporary skills, in the end. He still had Drakonic Strength sitting in his traits, which he’d soon spend some time with, but it was unfortunate that the Hammerrock crab hadn’t giving him anything aside what Mimicking Arms copied. For now, he brought up the definition of the drake’s trait and quickly read 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.

  With his portion of drake done, Henry grabbed a leg from the crab and crunched it within his beak. 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. Plus, while its shell might have been tough, its insides hadn’t been, and even though his physical attacks had struggled to break through, Lightning Discharge hadn’t been that slowed.

  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. Which Henry just did. It was better to pull the carcasses out of storage, cut a morsel, then store them back in his Maw. There was much less risk that way of attracting predators or scavengers.

  Henry continued to chew the piece of crab leg as he stared thoughtfully at the expecting crab. “[The Hammerock is tastier.]”

  Maurice reeled. “[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.]”

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

  The dolphin had stopped munching on her piece of drake and was giving them an incredulous look. “[You ate his arms?]”

  Henry and Maurice glanced at each other, then the kraken raised rubbed an arm behind his head. “[It’s.. Uh… complicated.]”

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  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 the copying ability you mentioned?]”

  She only seemed curious. And nervous, as she continued to frequently look around and out of the cave they were hiding in, but all in all, she was much more approachable than she’d been the first time they’d encountered her. Henry was about to bring that point up when he decided the timing wasn’t the best and even if he had wanted to, the chatterbox next to him would have interrupted him as the crab had jumped on the opportunity to answer her question.

  “[Yes, we can copy the abilities of what we eat! Sortof]” 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 didn’t expect dolphins to have copying abilities as well, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Plus, he was genuinely curious about the change in personality of the dolphin. It was bothering him and well, she was travelling with them. It might be good to know more about here, and now, he telepathic shielding was down so it’d be easier to detect if she was being insincere.

  “[You can’t copy abilities I assume? And what’s with the personality change, if you don’t mind me asking. You didn’t seem that friendly toward us on that first hunting trip.]”

  The first part of the question might tell Henry more about the dolphins’ 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. Copying abilities isn’t that common. It’s not that big of a deal either. Useful, but not in any way the key to great power. There’s A-ranks out there that can’t copy skills, as far as I heard,]” she said before picking up another bite and pointedly looking away. “[As for the rudeness, you two seemed like weak D-ranks that showed up out of nowhere when I was getting ready to make my escape. It was a little annoying. My bad,]” she grumbled that last part.

  Henry and Maurice shared another look, and the crab gave Henry a barely visible nod with his eye-stalks. She seemed to be telling the truth. Turning to the dolphin, Henry spoke up.

  “[Stormsong?]”

  She turned toward him, and silently continued to chew.

  “[We wouldn’t mind hanging around for a bit, but if we’re traveling together, 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,]” he broadcasted, and sensing Maurice about to chime in with something slightly taunting, Henry poked him.

  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, and even Maurice stopped clacking his pincers at Henry’s arm as he slowly turned on his many feet and looked up. “[Excuse me?]” Henry asked.

  The dolphin continued to eat as she stared down at both of them. “[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 hostilities.

  “[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. They were a good distance away from the pod, and it 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, and he dismissed the thought of holding back. 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. A little. 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.

  Click here to join

  If you want to support me and read ahead, there's . I use the new subscription model, so you will not get double billed on the first of the month.