Concepts were a mystery. And while Henry had gotten a few hints about them and about their origins, how often were they actually used? What was it they made possible? What were their limits?

  Apparently, that heavy impact from the Hammerrock crab had been empowered by conceptual energies, which made the crab’s pincer fall on Henry with the weight of a mountain. It didn’t squish him because of his high Constitution, but even though he had braced for it and had channeled plenty of mana into his defensive abilities, he hadn’t been able to resist the impact at all. In fact, in that scenario, it was the bedrock under Henry which cracked under the impact, and it was only his durability and malleability that absorbed the brunt of the impact, sparing him from most of the damage. But if he’d been sandwiched between two of those pincers? Henry could have been significantly more injured.

  Concepts were also what allowed the weird effect of the leviathan’s fang. The dark coating made it so that the tooth could pierce through anything Henry had encountered so far. Even the magic turtle shells.

  So the question Henry asked himself was, was Stromsong using concepts to keep his arms off her? Was that what was making her so damn slippery? Because she was somewhat of a pain to deal with, and her smaller, compact frame wasn’t making it any easier, either.

  Henry’s arm shot out at the incoming dolphin, but before it could hit, it was rebuffed by the incredibly powerful current that surrounded the dolphin. Like a miniature whirlpool twisting and churning the waters around the length of her body. Not even Unimpeded Arms or Amplified could push through. Which made no damn sense.

  The rostrum punched into Henry's side like a bullet, and he groaned as he lashed out, arm whipping toward the mammal, but the dolphin was already past him, leaving a trail of disturbed bubbles and wisps of blood from an already sealed cut.

  Henry turned to face her. Mostly annoyed, but impressed nonetheless. She was strong. Definitely stronger than most C-ranks he’d faced so far.

  Was it her use of concepts? The sharp intelligence must have helped as well. She was very careful not to allow him a grip on her. She couldn’t do that much damage to him, but he couldn’t land that much either without locking her down.

  He knew he could hurt her. He did, early in the fight when she’d underestimated him, but ever since the deep cut he scored on her flank, she hadn’t let him get a single grip on her.

  That’s about to change, he thought as he pooled all unoccupied Octominds to lock her down with Telekinesis, but before he could clamp down on her, the maelstrom around the dolphin suddenly calmed down. It wasn’t affecting the sands under her. It was still there, but it grew significantly weaker. And then, it died down.

  A burst of bubbles escaped out of the dolphin’s blowhole as she looked to the side, unwilling to meet Henry’s eyes. “[Curses. You win.]”

  Henry stilled. “[What?]”

  Stormsong glared at him for a moment. Her flippers kept twitching in annoyance. “[I can’t empower my Skill anymore. I’m out of stor–I’m out of my conceptual energy. And without that, you’ll be able to catch me and that’ll be my loss, so let’s save us all the trouble, okay?]”

  Ooooh. Was that why he Skills hadn’t been able to break through hers? Was that why he’d been rebuffed so hard?

  As the Stormsong swam back toward them, Henry felt himself excited at reaching C-rank himself. He wanted to see what he could do with these concepts.

  “[You. Let’s see who’s strongest between us. You should be easy enough to beat.]”

  Henry looked up to find Stormsong hovering above Maurice, who clacked a pincer at her.

  “[You’re overestimating yourself, fish!]”

  The kraken swam down toward the two. “[What are you doing?]” he asked as he stopped next to Stormsong.

  The dark eye of the dolphin flicked to him. “[I lost to you, so it makes sense to answer to you. But he didn’t beat me, so now’s a good time to establish who’s superior between us.]”

  A large claw materialized above Maurice. “[Bring it on!]”

  Henry put an arm between the two and they looked up at him. “[Let’s not. If you two want to spar later, fine. But let’s all calm down for now and–]” He froze, then looked at his two companions. “[Big shark’s coming. I’m hiding you. Don’t move.]”

  The kraken spread his arms above the two. Maurice, familiar with the maneuver, quickly dismissed his arm while Henry mimicked the shape of an anemone covered boulder.

  “[This is uncomfortable,]” said Stormsong.

  “[Poor you,]” retorted Maurice.

  Henry felt the water grow agitated under his arms, so he snapped at the two. “[Cut it out, you two!]”

  Moments later, the shark in question came into view.

  [Otodus Giant Shark (?) - ?]

  Henry’s eyes tracked the monstrous shark as his heart picked up speed. It was swimming along the wall of light. A giant, easily 100 feet long. Its jaw was open, almost as if the thing was smiling, showing two rows of comically sharp and triangular teeth. It had a somewhat thin and aerodynamic body, with ghostly white scales that contrasted sharply with its black, empty eyes.

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  As it swam above and past them, Henry’s limbs twitched as a shiver spread down through him; it wasn’t excitement or his rearing for a fight. No. There was something primal about the shark. Henry couldn’t tell if the kraken’s genes were picking up on it, or if it was his own fear. But it was as if his own death was slowly swimming just above him, and if it had noticed him, it’d have been it.

  He would have died.

  The dread was nearly palpable, but slowly, it receded as the shark faded into the distance. From his second clone, Henry watched as it continued its swim around the wall, until again, it faded from the blood clone’s sight.

  Slowly, he released his camouflage and let the two out. They were quiet. They nervously looked around; clearly, they’d sensed the shark’s presence as well.

  Maurice was the first to ask. “[What was it? I don’t know if I’m more excited or scared, but I’ve never felt like this. I think. Maybe.]”

  Stormsong turned to look at Henry. “[Otodus shark?]”

  “[Yes.]”

  Stormsong glanced toward the glowing waters of the current. “[Nasty things.]”

  Henry could only agree. Glancing at the few C-tokens he’d scrounged so far, he began thinking that maybe those Skills he was budgetting for would have to wait. Being in this area as a D-rank was becoming too dangerous, and if there were beings around that could just neutralize his abilities like Stormsong did, then he just couldn’t go on like this.

  He had to get to C-rank. He needed to gain access to concepts. To see them and manipulate them like C-ranks were doing.

  “[What’s their trick? What can they do?]”

  Henry had no intent on going after that shark, but if he could learn more about it, why wouldn’t he? At least he’d be ready when he’d find himself face-to-face with one.

  The dolphin gave him a long look. Then a few bubbles softly escaped as she answered. “[Did you see how I fight?]”

  Henry confirmed.

  “[Well. That’s it. I… copied them. But while I’m hitting you with my mouth, the sharks would come at you with their jaws opened wide and take a chunk out. Or just bite most of you and leave only whatever didn’t fit in their bite.]”

  Henry glanced at the dolphin and refrained from asking who she saw die like that. There was a resigned bitterness in how she said it. And there was even a spike of sadness that slipped out of her thoughts, but she quickly clamped down on it and Henry didn’t point it out.

  He looked toward the direction the shark had disappeared in. Henry was still sore–another thing concepts seemed capable of, as it seemed they could linger after the attack and disturb his healing–but replacing those hits from Stormsong with jaws full of sharp teeth gave him flashbacks to his early days as an octopus. When he got munched on by a Riptide shark.

  Definitely not ready for another round of that, he thought. Thinking of a slightly safer question, he turned to her. “[Why’d you copy them?]”

  The dolphin stilled, then abruptly turned and swam away. “[None of your business.]”

  ***

  The next few days were a mesh of fighting, hiding, and quick meals before hunting again as they slowly traveled further away from the pod’s territory.

  Stormsong often kept to herself, but she did begrudgingly listen to Henry’s instructions. Because he didn’t let her and Maurice fight, the two kept bickering and taunting each other.

  Maybe he should let them. He just didn’t want Maurice to lose and he wasn’t sure the crab could take her on, especially with his lack of mobility.

  Since their encounter with the Otodus shark, Henry upped the number of clones he had around. The blood clones were limited in number, sure, but that limit didn’t apply as much to inky clones. While the Scouting clones were fragile, they were just as good for scouting and keeping an eye out. It was just challenging to keep up with all twenty or so clones roaming about. The Octominds helped, but he couldn’t wait to have them get stronger the strain would become lighter.

  Still, all that effort did result in a few Aspects levels in Misdirection, which mildly empowered his blood clones, at which point, after a handful of attempts, Henry finally managed to down a low C-rank with only his blood clones.

  By the fifth day, Henry was finally at level 94. His skill slots were full, and his traits slots were well close to follow, thanks to the many creatures they’d encountered.

  From a Carpet shark, he’d gotten Reinforced Skin and Faint Presence.

  From D-Rank pufferfish-like specimen, he’d gotten Accelerated Venom Production, which would continuously consume mana to refill his venom sacs faster. He’d also gotten its venom. A neurotoxin which caused dizziness and numbness in small quantities, and currently was the most lethal venom at Henry’s disposal.

  They’d also stumbled upon a C-Rank mantis shrimp. Henry had poked his head around the corner of its small cave and ended up with two burst eyes before he even knew what happened.

  From the crustacean he’d gotten Farsight, Accelerated Strike, and Cavitational Impact–an implosion provoking Skill that was much more compatible with his fighting style than Imploding Bubbles. So he replaced that one. As for Accelerated Strike, he ended up taking it over Toxic Ray. He still had that Skill, though it was still sitting at F-rank, and it wasn’t capable of channeling his own custom venoms, so he decided to remove it for now.

  Maybe he’d change his mind in the future, but for now, he preferred to play to his strength, which were to get up close and personal with his targets, where he could do the most damage, and two powerful skills that’d empower that aspect of his abilities were better than two weak ranged attacks.

  For the last new Trait, it was Blood Trail, which he’d gotten from a C-Rank Whipcrack he’d just wiped the floor with, and he hoped its core would push him to level 100.

  In between the fighting, Henry had asked to copy Stormsong’s abilities, but she refused and that… was fair. Plus, his Skills were full. The best he could have gotten from her was a Trait. There were still two empty trait slots, but he had to keep going. And considering the dangers around the Current and the risk of the dolphins finding them, it was time to move forward.

  The trio found a well-hidden deserted cave, and Henry settled in.

  “[Don’t worry, we’ll keep watch.]”

  Henry looked at the crab. “[No bickering. And no fighting. Both of you. Understood?]”

  “[Fine,]” sent the dolphin as she roamed around the illusion, while Human-Maurice gave him a grin and a thumbs up.

  Finally, Henry consumed the core and loaded up all the notifications he’d been ignoring.

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