ALL NOVEL 1.10: An upgrade
“The last shark got me past level 25. And I have two unassigned points. Hmmm.”
Henry considered his options for second, then came to a decision. “First one’s obvious. It goes to Constitution and makes it a clean 10. Then I should get Spirit to 10 as well. So one each.”
Henry assigned the points.
Motes of light appeared around him. It was definitely more than any other instance, but he assumed there would be some warmth and he’d feel better in a few seconds.
The light sunk into him, and his limbs began jerking and twitching. The magic seared into his flesh and bones as Henry groaned with pain.
The process lasted close to a minute, and it took another minute for the tension and twitching to fully stop.
“I was not expecting that. Was the tenth point special or something?”
Henry pulled up his stats. He looked through them for a moment and grimaced.
“I don’t like how I can’t tell where I used a level-point or where I got a bonus from a Core. Weren’t there some customization options somewhere… ah. There.”
Henry found the option and triggered it.
Strength: 5
Constitution: 10 [4 Class]
Spirit: 9 [1 Class][2 Consumption]
Perception: 6
Dexterity: 5
“Better. I still have 5 Tokens from a few days ago… I should buy the remaining points for the rest of the stats. I would need…” He went to the increase menu and looked for the increases available. He narrowed his eyes. “…40 Tokens. Strength and Dexterity need their last point. Alright. Now, let’s see the Levels and Skills.”
Bite (F): Level 5 -> Level 6
Mimicking Tentacles (F): Level 7 -> Level 8
Inkjet (F) - Level 5 -> Level 6
Hoard Vitality (F) [19 Charges]: Level 2 -> Level 5
Razor Tentacle (F) : Level 5 -> Level 9
Telekinesis (F): Level 1 -> Level 9
It felt good to see the amount of progress he’d achieved in a few days. “Telekinesis really leveled fast. To be fair, I’ve been using it non-stop since I got it. It changed everything.”
Henry dismissed the interface and wondered if anything would happen on a Skill’s level 10. He eyed his health and mana percentages and nodded.
“20 or 30 minutes. Then we find out.”
This was Henry’s most ambitious target yet.
[Riptide Shark (F) - Lvl 37]
Riptide sharks reminded him somewhat of Blacktip sharks. They had similar morphologies, aside from the coloration of Riptides, and they were around the same size.
The one he was currently looking at was the biggest Riptide he’d targeted yet, and compared to his octopus body, it was massive. But if he were human? They’d be around the same size. Maybe the shark would have 10 or 20 pounds on him. But it wasn’t anything as large as a Great White. Or Tiger. Or even Hammerhead.
Still, it could gulp him down in one mouthful.
“I’ve done this enough times now. Just stick to the plan. It’s only a bit larger.”
Henry held off on Telekinesis. It was expensive to use on larger sharks, and he was going to need all his mana to keep the shark still once he lacerated its gills.
Which turned out to be a mistake.
Henry dropped down from his ledge. And the shark twisted its head away.
Henry was surprised by the quick movement, and the surprise quickly turned to stomach-churning terror when he came eye-to-eye with the shark, right before it lunged at him.
Henry activated telekinesis and his mind rocked at the feedback from trying to stop the massive shark mid-lunge.
Over 30% of his mana was burned instantly, leaving him with blurry vision and a splitting headache.
The shark thrashed. Or tried to. Every attempted movement of its great muscular body ate another chunk of his mana.
Henry struggled to control his limbs. He swam backward, toward a nearby hiding spot. He didn’t dare use Inkjet. The shark was too close. If he didn’t see it, he couldn’t stop it with Telekinesis.
“It’s okay. You’re okay. Just get out–”
A red hue appeared under Henry’s purple Telekinesis. Next thing he knew, the jaws were upon him, and he could barely see as the headache slammed into him much more fiercely. He was on the precipice of blacking out; the only thing that kept him awake was sheer terror and realization of how precarious his situation was.
Henry shot an Inkjet and darted left. The shark only had to snap down its jaws.
Teeth sunk into him with the crushing force of a vice, and Henry screamed.
The Riptide Shark thrashed him around and blue blood surged out of him. Henry desperately slashed with two tentacles at the shark’s eyes, and tried to reach the gills with another, but his angle was wrong.
77% health.
It hurt. But the shark–even though he bit into him pretty deep–hadn’t been able to completely tear through him. And the headache was finally becoming manageable.
Henry doubled his efforts and slashed at everything his limbs could reach. Razor Tentacle was active on the three tentacles he could move, and Henry dragged the bladed magic on anything and everything he could touch.
The shark kept thrashing, biting down as it did, trying to shove Henry deeper down its gullet.
Henry tried to keep the panic out and do as much damage as he could, but a thought still crossed his mind.
If my head gets bitten down, I die.
39% health. Then Henry remembered Hoarded Vitality. He activated all of his charges, all 19 of them, as he slashed at the shark’s face. Finally, it seemed like he hit something sensitive.
The shark spit him out and turned away, leaving Henry floating in a mess of blood and shredded limbs. Three tentacles were gone, while two were shredded and barely responsive. The remaining three had been blades, but the Skill was fading as he was trying to reorient himself.
The shark didn't leave. It circled around, face disfigured with open, bleeding gashes. It kept him on its left flank. Because Henry had gotten its right eye.
It was bleeding profusely.
Henry watched the shark and waited. His shredded limbs were knitting back up thanks to Hoarding Vitality’s charges, but slowly. He was glad the Skill would have activated even if he’d forgotten about it. He never had to use it… so it had slipped his mind. The fact that it softened the headache as well made every painful use of the Skill worth it, and he vowed to focus on creating many more charges through it.
Henry felt tingling at the edge of his severed tentacles. 40.... 41… 42% health. 27% mana.
Then the shark rushed him again. Without using its Skill.
Henry waited.
When the jaw was only a second away, he reactivated Razor Tentacle on one limb and put everything he had on Telekinesis. The shark froze mid-bite. Henry ignored the renewed headache, shoving his tentacle into its remaining eye.
He forced it as deep as he could. He felt some resistance at first, then he managed to punch through. When he did, he scoured everything he could cut through.
Then Telekinesis stopped. He was out of mana.
The shark hung in the water, lifeless.
Henry looked up and around. Some sharks were coming, but he had a couple of seconds.
The massive body of the shark should be more attractive than himself.
Henry collected the Core and did the octopus-equivalent of limping his way to cover. He entered the den he’d been trying to get to before the shark had bitten him, consumed the Core, and promptly passed out.
When Henry woke back up, he felt like shit.
He glanced at his status.
“Mana 18%, health 52%. How long was I out? One hour? Two? I can’t tell…”
That had been too close. He could still feel echoes of that fear. Feel the teeth sink and crush through him. “Careless. Complacent.”
He sounded like his dad. And it pained him that the voice wasn’t wrong.
Henry lay in the roomy space under the rocks, watching small fish swim nearby. One peeked out at him from a bundle of anemone.
“If I hadn’t pushed Constitution to 10, I think I would have died there.”
Henry groaned inside, but he wished he had vocal cords to voice his suffering. It just wasn’t the same without it.
He decided to go for another short nap. When woke back up, he felt more ready to tackle his notifications.
He pulled them up and began sifting through them.
Undecided Marine Biologist - Level 27 achieved!
...
Undecided Marine Biologist - Level 30 achieved! 1x Stat point awarded.
Undecided Marine Biologist - Level 31 achieved!
Hoard Vitality (F): Level 5 -> Level 8
Razor Tentacle (F): Level 9 -> Level 10
Telekinesis (F): Level 9 -> Level 10
Access to Skill Upgrade module granted.
“Good. And I level when I use the charges from Hoarded Vitality? Good to know. Now. Let’s see…”
Henry brought up the new options. It listed both Skills that had gotten to level 10 without further details. He clicked on Telekinesis first and braced at the cost that was about to be thrown his way.
Upgrade Telekinesis (F)
Pick the focus of the Skill upgrade
Potency of the effect
Or
Improved targeting
“Interesting… but where’s the cost? Do I need to click on one? Just in case though...”
In case the upgrade was free, he should make sure of what he wanted. What if I clicked one option and it went along with it?
“Potency or Targeting? I’d love both to be honest. But if I were to choose…”
The image of the shark breaking through Telekinesis with its Skill was too vivid. “Potency. Maybe I can work on targeting by myself? Could I force the Skill to work differently through brute-force? I wonder if that’s possible…”
Henry made his choice, expecting to get a price prompt in response.
Something hummed inside of him, and a buzz grew in his ears for a few moments. Then it faded.
Telekinesis (F) successfully upgraded to Telekinesis (E)
Glancing at the Skill description, it seemed to be the same, aside from a small detail at the end. “I’ll have to test it, I guess.”
Telekinesis (E) - Level 1: Spend mana to control the movement of a perceived target. [+Potency]
Henry looked up at the stone above him. “It was free?”
Everything so far had cost him something. It was surprising for Skill upgrades to be free. Did it have to do with the fact that he had to level the Skills?
“It did reset to level 1, though. Well, I’ll maybe find someone to ask, eventually. Let’s get the second one over with. Then I can focus on resting up.”
Henry went back to the upgrade menu, and found Telekinesis still listed. “Huh?”
He clicked it.
Improve Targeting of Telekinesis (E)
Increase [10,000 CT] | Cancel
“There it is. And holy crap that’s a lot of dead sharks.”
Henry shook his head and opened up his second Skill Upgrade.
Upgrade Razor Tentacle (F)
Pick the focus of the Skill upgrade
Fully transform the tentacle into a bladed instrument
Or
Improve the sharpness of the Skill
“That’s… not an easy choice. Dammit, System.”