“[Hi Zerathstra!]”

  The ape sat down on the ground, uncaring of the splatters of blood barely a few yards away, and with a swirl of his hand, two softly glowing yellow apples popped out of thin air, which he lobbed at Henry and Maurice.

  “[How are you two doing? And what kind of trouble are you up to, you little scamp?]” Zerathstra asked, narrowing his eyes at the crab as he leaned forward.

  Maurice caught the apple with both of his pincers. “[We’re planning a scam! For more treasures. Do you know anyone we should fight?]”

  The crab bit into the apple, froze, then began vibrating as the sugar hit his taste buds. The ape gave Henry a head-tilt and a raised brow, and the kraken sighed and extended an arm through his fake stomach to reach for the floating apple.

  “He makes it sound worse than it is. It just so happened that someone thought they could beat Maurice up and take his shell, and we egged them on to raise the wager. We’re thinking of doing the same, but this time, it’s me who’d be fighting. Considering people know what the gremlin’s capable of,” explained Henry and bit into the apple with his beak.

  A shock spread through his body, and Henry stopped breathing as looked down at the apple. It was the tastiest apple he had ever bit into. Maybe even the best thing he’d ever tasted, bar none. It was as if someone selected the best, sweetest, tangiest varieties, and after centuries of crossbreeding and selection, they arrived at the pinnacle apple. Sweet and tangy, crunchy and crumbly, with an intense flavor that permeated all of his senses.

  Henry opened his eyes to find the ape grinning, while Maurice was running circles around the ape, begging for another.

  He didn’t even remember closing his eyes.

  “Like ‘em? They’re one of the prizes for the next tournament. A whole barrel of the things,” said the ape before summoning another. He hit it with his elbow. Both Henry and Maurice tracked the trajectory of the fruit, and something died inside of him when he saw the ape swallow it whole. “[Plenty of opportunity to ‘scam’ in there. You two are participating, aren’t you?]”

  Henry grinned and nodded, and Maurice slowed and began rubbing his pincers together. He had that calculating air about him.

  “Good! I’ll be watching, so there shouldn’t be any deaths. Just like the duel, you boys can go all out. Teach the little humans some humility.”

  Henry raised an eyebrow as he patched up the hole in his human stomach. “I thought you might be a little annoyed at us creating conflicts with your nobility. Also, what is that you do exactly? To prevent deaths, that is?”

  The ape waved that away and stood up. “Nah. I just let them do their thing. They like hierarchy and showing off against each other. As long as it doesn’t threaten the safety of Thalis, they can have their fun. They’re smart enough to not overstep my rules, so I let them. Though it seems some of them are trying to push the limits a bit. Challenging Maurice after being told he’s my guest is one of those, so knock some sense into them. You’ll even get a second barrel, off the books, if one of you manages to snag the first spot. As for how I do it… let’s just say things have a hard time dying if I don’t want them to. When in my presence, that is. And as long as true death is staved off, almost anything can be healed.”

  Henry thought of his new health orbs, and wondered if his Vitality aspect could allow such feats one day. He could heal a lot, but preventing something from dying? That sounded a bit beyond his abilities at the moment.

  “[What else can we win?]” asked Maurice as he nibbled on the apple juice still stuck to his claws.

  Both Henry and Zerathstra looked down at the crab, then the ape chuckled. “Anything you can get the participants to wager! You’ve got plenty to put on the line, but they know your tricks now, so better be careful. Alright, gotta go. You wouldn’t believe the number of beasties that want a piece of this place. Sometimes I wonder if we should have planted the trees outside of the Pillar, but if we’d done that, I’d be dealing with politics, which, believe it or not, can be even worse than roaming A-ranks.”

  And with a puff of leaves, the ape disappeared.

  I guess he’s got his own teleportation skill?

  “[He’s so cool.]”

  Henry glanced down at the crab, then at the arena and at the people still leaving the stands, heading back down the city, which made him recall that someone was waiting for him.

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  Henry let out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair and glanced down toward where Arisia and her store would be. “[I should go as well, I guess. I’ve got some training to get back to…]”

  “[Okay! I’ll go ask Sera about those apples. Maybe I can buy some? What if I—]”

  Henry blinked, then frowned at Maurice as the crab went on, talking about planting trees in pots and storing them in his storage.

  Why was it that Henry was training and suffering, while Maurice got to lounge around and bother random farmers again? Did the crab not need training as well?

  A small smile crept on on Henry’s lips, and the crab stopped his ramblings and looked up.

  “[… Henry? What? Did I say something bad?]”

  ***

  Over the next two days, Henry suffered the teachings and cruel exercises of Arisia, and Maurice was right there with him. The crab was an annoyingly quick study as always, but he didn’t get to gloat or rest on his laurels, as whenever he showed any mastery of the exercise the B-rank set for him, she’d immediately raise the bar and force him to start over.

  But there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

  The kraken closed his eyes and narrowed his focus on the center that fueled his his abilities; his deep reserves of mana. The ball of intense, glowing blue liquid. And right around it, he pictured a metal-like structure. A frame that would hold the Skills he activated before they were sent out into the world. Slowly, Henry pushed the frame out. Out of his stomach, and out into the world.

  The sensation was very disturbing. As if he’d been standing on a tripod and someone just cut one of the legs out, but this wasn’t Henry’s first attempt, so he endured.

  The frame he pictured slowly moved, and the Henry didn’t use any of his Octominds in this endeavor. Inch by inch, he felt the construct move, and only when it got to around two feet out of his body did that he felt his control begin to waver.

  Good enough, Henry thought, and he activated Telekinesis and targeted his body. Now’s the hard part.

  Henry felt the Skill grip him, and as he pulled it upward, he willed the skill frame—which Arisia called a Skill Nexus—to remain exactly where it was.

  It was like trying to rotate an arm clockwise and another arm counterclockwise. Without using an Octomind. But Henry had been on this for the last 48 hours, and he had to get it to work or he’d have a hard time in the tournament.

  But it won’t work if I stress about it, he reminded himself. Relax. Breathe.

  Henry took a second to re-center himself. Then he tried again. He kept the frame in place, picturing the purple skill of Telekinesis within it, pulsing, its tendrils reaching out to Henry’s body, then pushed.

  The telekinetic grip pulled Henry upwards. His arms left the dry, flat wooden tiles below him, and hung limply, but he didn’t dare move them. All of his attention was on keeping the source of the Skill instance in the same spot.

  Henry levitated one inch above the ground. Then two inches. And within seconds, he was a full four feet above the ground, a nimbus of purple around his limbs. Henry began moving himself around, left and right, up and down. He kept the movements simple, but he was slowly growing accustomed to the exercise.

  He moved diagonally. He accelerated and played with quick changes of directions, but they were awkward and threatened to break his focus, so he slowed down and just focused on getting familiar with the movements.

  Seconds turned to minutes, and eventually Henry felt he could really move his body as much as he wanted. Now, he had to invert the exercise; instead of moving his body, he had to drag the skill frame around. Otherwise, he’d be locked into a limited area with this technique and as Arisia had said, if he’d left the Skill Nexus in a single spot, someone might end up targeting. If they had a way of sensing it. That was why he had to pick and choose when he’d make use of this alternative way of casting. It was much easier to disturb an ability being cast outside of his own body.

  That shouldn’t be difficult, Henry thought as he narrowed his focus on the Skill Nexus and willed it to move. After all, most of the practice has been to prevent that exact same thing. Now I need to do it willingly, not instinctively.

  In the end, it wasn't too difficult to manage. It took nearly an hour, and it was still awkward, but Henry could manage to move the frame without destabilizing the Skill. The only issue was he either moved himself, or the Skill Nexus. Not both at once.

  “You have to do both at once. This might be enough for today, but it won’t be enough for the long term. Also, you’ve been using the same Skill for an hour,” Arisia said, and she swatted in Henry’s general direction.

  Both Skill and Skill Nexus slipped his control, as if he’d just tried to grasp air, and Henry splattered against the wooden floor.

  He glared up at the woman, and she gave him an impassive stare. “Start over. You as well,” she said, turning her attention to the crab, who fell down with a plink, shell first.

  The two shared a look, then quietly got back to work.

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