While Maurice pouted and Velistraine drifted away to let him focus, Henry turned his attention to the glorious, almost electric energies that were rushing through his body from the first A-rank he ever consumed. It wasn’t unlike his previous experiences, but it definitely felt a lot more intense, and the stat he gained from the core agreed.

  Moss-Shell Ravager core (A) contained significant Strength and Constitution stats. 4x Strength and 1x Constitution Stat points awarded.

  Henry raised a brow. That was a lot more stats than he had expected. And he’d only got a single point in Constitution? Was he that close behind it?

  Veilwatch Kraken (B+) - Level 38

  ...

  Veilwatch Kraken (B+) - Level 46

  2x Stat points awarded.

  1x Strength Stat points awarded.

  1x Spirit Stat points awarded.

  1x Constitution Stat points awarded.

  Henry stretched his arms above his head, enjoying the salty breeze for a short moment while he turned his attention to the relays he’d been dropping ever since they’d left Thalis. The link to the city was still there, and he could still extend his senses through the three clones he’d left there.

  Just gotta keep creating Shadows, he mused as he glanced behind at the door that’d take him below deck. Now, did he start with Maurice, or did he try and find Velistraine and ask about the Skill compressing thing?

  Eh. Velistraine isn’t going anywhere. I bet she’ll show up any minute.

  Maurice was laying on the wooden floor, occasionally rolling to the side with the ship’s swaying. Ash and Fabian were sparring, each holding on to a wooden sword.

  “You fought another A-rank without me.”

  Henry sighed, then plopped down and yawned. Reaching into his Maw, he popped out an Ambercrisp apple, then offered it to Maurice as a peace offering. The crab didn’t hesitate to snatch it up, and after getting himself a second, he got to munching. “You said you were busy for the first one, and yeah, fair. I didn’t ask for this one. But I’ve been itching for a win ever since I let that lobster go, you know. We can do the next one together. It wasn’t the kind of fight you could have helped a lot anyway. I just sat on its behind and pumped it full of poison until it couldn’t move. Its shell was really tough.”

  “What level was it?”

  “Level 4. A-rank. It couldn’t get me with its claws—which is where I assumed most of its damage is. So it just took time.”

  Henry and Maurice chatted for a few minutes, only pausing for a second when Ash activated the little construct she’d taken from Henry. Oddly enough, it didn’t work exactly like he thought it would. Ash had dashed toward Fabian, body low, then in an instant, darkness surged around her until she was wreathed in shadows before two dark silhouettes split out from her, all three dashing toward Fabian at an angle. A second later, the two on the side dissolved into motes, leaving only the one at the center who landed a good hit on the bewildered Fabian.

  Henry smiled. It reminded him a little of his first fight against the serpent. He had done something similar back then. And while her use was pretty straightforward and didn’t seem to allow her to switch places with the fake-copies just yet, he bet she could take it in that direction eventually.

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  With their spar done, Fabian and Ash ended up joining up. The two were a little reserved around Henry, but he didn’t really mind that.

  “That looked cool,” exclaimed Maurice as the girl sat down, face all red. She mumbled something while Fabian winced at the red welt she’d given him across the forearm.

  “That was a cool trick,” Henry told her, which got a nervous smile out of her. “Did you manage to modify it a little? Or was that how it naturally expressed with you?”

  Henry had to ask. What he’d seen wasn’t how his own Skills worked. It was how he’d used it on occasion, but he didn’t know if that had somehow made into the little construct he’d given her or if this was her own work.

  She nodded, shoulders still rising and falling as she caught her breath. “I managed to fuse what you gave me to an instance of my dash ability. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to control the fake-copies. I didn’t think there’d be two of them too. I think… I think I’ll manage to create something if—um,” she trailed off coughing as she averted her gaze, and Henry chuckled.

  “You need more?”

  She swallowed, looked him in the eyes and nodded. “If you can. Please. I don’t think I’ve got enough gold to repay you—”

  Henry just cut her off, waving her worries aside. “None of that. We’re all friends, and it costs me nothing to give you more. I don’t know if you’ve got a way to store them but in any case, just ask me and I’ll give you more. They’re not that expensive for me to create.”

  After that, all four just sat down and talked. Ash kept peppering him with questions about how his shadows worked and how he used them, while Fabian was more interested in the ink’s applications and how a clone could just act on its own. That part interested him a lot, and when Henry learned that Fabian was more interested in alchemy than fighting, it made a little more sense. Especially when Fabian outright stated that he’d love the ability to multi-task to the extent Henry could.

  “Well, Maurice managed to create his own version of my subminds. Maybe he can give you some tips.”

  “Yeah! You just need one Shapeshifting Skill to start working on creating functional organs!” Maurice enthusiastically explained. “The first few ranks will probably be bad for it, though. But if you keep working on it, it’ll evolve, and then you can start on creating your own nerve centers and the circulatory system that connects them to your brain, then make sure it all works and doesn’t give you seizures or make you sick! It’s very doable.”

  From anybody else, Henry would have absolutely believed the crab was being sarcastic. But he really wasn’t.

  “I guess… I’ll get started, then,” Fabian said, a little defeated smile on his lips, and Maurice put a hand on his shoulder, mouth full of apples. “You’fe got fis!”

  They chatted and joked for a few more minutes, and Henry couldn’t help but be impressed by the teenagers. Here they were barely around eighteen years old each, and they were C-ranks with fighting experience, in the crew of one of the most notorious figures of the era. At their age, Henry had been getting ready for college and trying to find a part-time job at grocery stores.

  A bit later, Velistraine popped in and joined their little sit-down and after making sure neither her first-mate or her cook were watching her, she pulled out a drink and a sandwich she smuggled from Thalis. When Henry stared at her, she shrugged. “Savros’ making stews. I freaking hate stews.”

  When he told her about his attempt at condensing an instance of Lightning Discharge, she raised a brow, still chewing, then wiped her mouth on her sleeve before speaking.

  “Yeah, I know of that technique. If you can even call it that. Not sure if it has a name, but it’s not really taught because of how instable and dangerous it is. I’m actually surprised it hadn’t backfired on your ass. You could have easily torn a hole in your own soul, and it would have taken days, if not weeks for it to heal. My advice? Forget about it. It’s really not worth the risk. If you want to give a kick to your Skills, either pepper in some concepts or work on condensing the quality of your own mana. Even shove plenty more mana. Just don’t… try to pressurize it all when the Skill’s activating within your soul. It’s bad idea. And I know bad ideas. Got it?”

  Henry nodded, frowning a little as he recalled his experience. “I guess that explains the strain I’ve felt. Didn’t know it was that dangerous,” Henry said as he scratched the back of his neck.

  “You don’t need to go that far to boost your Skills. Work on your Aspects, on your mana density, and how much mana your soul can handle. Those three are plenty. Upgrading the Skills themselves helps as always, but that comes with time and practice, so it’ll come naturally. Hell, the more you experiment and test things out, the faster you’ll upgrade them. So keep at it.”

  The conversation then drifted back to Ash and Fabian, with the captain asking about their progress toward the B-rank upgrade, which should happen soon. Though before they could talk more, there was a knock at the door and one of the crew called them for dinner, and as Henry and Maurice followed after the crew, they watched as Velistraine slunk away. To keep an eye out for danger, she had said.

  Shaking his head, Henry chuckled. Though he resolved to do the same once he was done with dinner. While he couldn’t deal with an A-rank right this second, he could definitely pick off some B-ranks.

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