Henry shot away from the jaws of the eel as it snapped on where’d been and did the figurative button mashing on all of his skills.

  Ink! Escape! Dart!

  He smacked into a wall.

  The water was a mess of sand and limbs. The eel was with him in the turtle shell, but it couldn’t see him.

  Henry couldn’t see anything either for a few terrifying seconds, then he saw the exit and recalling how Bite had triggered, he swam toward it and willed the Dart skill to trigger, and his body blurred forward.

  Henry flew out into the clear water and didn't dare turn back. He did the same with Inkjet, and left an obscuring cloud of pigments behind him as he cut across the seafloor. He spammed Dart, trying to create as much distance between himself and the eel as he could and with every use, something was scooped out of his core so once he felt he was far enough, he slowed down on the skills and chanced a look back.

  As his ink dispersed and diluted, he realized he hadn’t gotten that far from his turtle shell and moment later, the eel came out of it in a flurry. The predator went still. Its head slowly tilting left and right, then it stopped. The head slowly turned toward him, and the eel began swimming in his direction.

  Henry hadn’t stopped moving and when he realized the damn thing was still coming after him, he went to trigger Dart again and to hell with his mana—or whichever it was that allowed him to use skills—but as soon as spread his arms to propel himself away, his body locked up. Glancing down at his arm, he saw the sheen of something surrounding them.

  For the love of god Dart. Dartdartdart.

  The eel surged toward him, and Henry screamed inside, letting out another Inkjet to at least give himself a chance. Some cover. And no sooner was he engulfed by the ink, his limbs shook free.

  Henry booked it. He kept using Dart, rushing over the sea floor and slinking between rocks, praying that nothing was in them and that the rocks wouldn’t fall and bury him alive. Then his eyes landed on a small cave hidden by a stalk of kelp, and he rushed for it.

  Please be empty. Please.

  Henry dove in and winced in preparation for whatever he might find… but there was nothing.

  He turned, scanning the outside of his hiding spot, and remembered his new skill. He brought forth two of his arms and wrapped them around themselves before using Mimicking Arms.

  You’re a rock. There’s no hole here. It’s a smooth rock.

  He left barely a crack to see through as he plugged the entrance to camouflage his hideout, and waited. There was an ache in his soul, and he was sure he didn’t have that many skills in him left.

  Seconds later, the eel came.

  It hovered up there, a few yards away, head tilting side to side. It swam in a small circle, scanning the area, then its head snapped upward.

  A fish swimming by suddenly froze up. Henry saw its panicked eyes flutter about while the eel slowly swam up to it and then it was gone. Swallowed in a single chomp.

  Henry gulped. Mentally. Was that why his limbs had been locked up? A skill?

  What is that? A paralyzing stare? A fear thing? Telekinesis?

  The eel then turned and began swimming away. Henry’s stomach sank as he tracked the predator with his poor excuse of vision.

  It was swimming in the direction of his shell.

  Get away from my home, you snake.

  Henry watched it disappear, but he wasn’t absolutely sure it took over his home and to be fair, there wasn’t much he could do about it at this point.

  Damn it.

  He knew the turtle shell wasn’t an optimal home. It was too big for him. And a hole in the wall–like the one he was currently in–was a much safer den for a small octopus like himself. He knew that. Rationally.

  But rationality didn’t prevent the walls from feeling like they were about to cave in on him. Or squish him. Or that he wouldn’t be able to move at any second and he’d get stuck in here until he died.

  Henry was bit claustrophobic. Which really didn’t mesh with the lifestyle of an octopus.

  He slowly parted his fake wall and peeked his bulbous head out. The eel had just gone around a recognizable outcropping of rocks. It was definitely going near his shell.

  Goddamit.

  Henry edged out of the hole, just enough so the wall stopped bearing down on him, and used his arms to form a clump of algae-like leaves on top of him. He hoped it looked realistic. So far nothing was nearby, aside from smaller fish that shouldn’t pose a threat to him. But he still kept an eye on the larger shapes. And prayed nothing was lying in wait nearby.

  He knew how many things could camouflage or hide under the sand to ambush their prey. And with his poor, colorless eyesight it was really difficult to see much.

  Would the new stuff help with that?

  Henry carefully scanned his surroundings again, perched on the edge of his uncomfortable hiding spot, then brought up his interface.

  Notifications?

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Mimicking Arms (F): Level 1 -> Level 2

  Inkjet (F): Level 1 -> Level 2

  Using the abilities levels them, huh. Makes sense, I guess.

  Henry brought up the rest of his screens and read through them for a few minutes. Now that he wasn’t running for his life, he noticed a few options to customize his interface, but decided to look at those later.

  Alright. Okay. So skills level by usage, and considering the description of Nothing is Lost, I would gain levels by… consuming cores. I don’t remember seeing a core on the fish I killed, though. Did I miss it? Or did it not have enough power to form a core? Is that a thing? Also, there’s stats and empty skill slots… where do I get those?”

  Henry waited, hoping for the interface to answer him, but nothing happened. “Hey System, how do I increase my stats? How do I get skills?”

  You do not have Consumption Tokens to spend.

  Henry nodded to himself.

  Okay, I need some of these Tokens. And I assume I got Dart from the fish I ate. So would I get whatever the eel used if eat it, right? But the ability would still be temporary. Can I make a temporary skill permanent?”

  You do not have Consumption Tokens to spend.

  Henry nodded again. This was starting to make sense. But worryingly, it meant he had to go out there and… kill things? To get their cores? He could gain levels through those, or exchange them for Consumption Tokens.

  Henry glanced around, then up at the tiny swimming fish. Way above, a dark shadow swam through the stalks of seaweed. It was too far to make out with his crappy eyesight, but one thing was clear; he had to stick to his neighborhood until he could handle bigger threats.

  He shuddered. What else was there around? Henry struggled to not let his mind conjure gigantic jaws and malevolent dead eyes surging out of the pitch black ocean.

  He shook himself. He’ll just keep away from the depths until he could handle them. For now, he needed levels.

  Fish. I should do some fishing. And raise my stats.

  Henry brought down one of the arms that looked like an algae stalk and reactivated Mimicking Arms. The pigments moved and changed, and the skin itself gained ridges and pseudopod to mimic the segments of a worm.

  This is incredibly effective. But I’m still tiny.

  He looked up and around, then shimmied the rest of himself out of the hole. The world opened up around him and his limbs twitched in relief.

  Okay. You can do it.

  There was still an empty pit in his stomach. If it were hunger or anxiety, Henry couldn’t tell. But the fact was, he still hadn't eaten much. Because of that damn eel.

  You’ll pay for that, eel. And I’ll take that freezing skill from you. Somehow. And I need to increase my Perception as soon as possible. I’m far from being able to fight anything bigger than I am, so I better be able to see the danger coming.”

  For now, he’d hunt some fish, get some of those Consumption Tokens, then he should start studying the local fauna.

  If he was stuck underwater, he might as well get acquainted with his neighbors.

  ***

  Ah… this is gonna suck.

  A larger than expected fish was swimming closer, occasionally blowing into the sand in search of food. It was alone. But it was almost twice his size. While he’d been waiting, the aching sensation he’d gotten from using so many skills had faded. It made sense that skills would use some sort of energy source, which he decided to call mana. He’ll need to confirm that those sensation were really related to mana and if so, he’ll have to be careful managing it.

  I’ll do some measurements later. For now, he had to focus on the prey approaching him. It was risky. But fish were dumb. If he played his cards right and brought this one down…

  [Goatfish (F) - Lvl 2]

  Identify was thankfully easy to use. Henry slowly exhaled as he examined his surroundings and braced. He wiggled his worm-leg. The fish paused its sifting, then slowly approached.

  Here goes nothing.

  Henry wiggled his worm-arm again, and the fish lunged.

  Mother–

  The fish bit and pulled, and Henry was violently yanked toward it. The fish startled and darted away, but Henry’s arm was still in its mouth. And he’d already made contact with a second arm.

  The fish bucked and twisted, with Henry holding on for dear life. The arm in its mouth was pulsing with pain, but the remaining ones worked awkwardly to grip the fish and crawl toward its head.

  Seconds later–that could have easily been a full minute–Henry had his beak lined up to the fish’s head. It had finally calmed down. Did it grow tired? Or is it not feeling my weight?

  No matter. Henry opened his beak and used Bite. His beak closed down with a mighty snap, taking a chunk out of the fish’s tiny brain and eyes, and it went still.

  Henry looked around through the small cloud of blood and viscera. They were thankfully still low, right next to some rocks where running or hiding was a possibility, and as far as his crappy eyesight told him, he was clear.

  He saw a notification come in, but that wasn’t what he was after. Henry detached from the fish carcass and turned to watch it. Barely a second later, the fish gained a hazy sheen that rippled and slowly swirled on itself. It detached from the carcass and over a couple of seconds, condensed itself into a sphere. Then the cloud of light lost cohesion, and a gray bead fell to the sand right next to the carcass.

  Henry picked it up with his arm. He wondered what color it was.

  1x Goatfish Core (F)

  Consume or Exchange for 3 F-Tokens

  Yes!

  Henry wrapped an arm around the fish’s tail and dragged it along as he went to hide under some rocks, then exchanged the core for Tokens.

  Let’s see what the menu has for me, then.