With Maurice still secure in his arm, Henry carefully swam away along a wall of bare, jagged rock. As he did, a strange thought came to him; how incredibly quiet the sea was. Especially when compared to the two weeks he’d spent above, and considering the literal thousands of tons of powerful muscle closing in on his positions.

  He expected them to be louder.

  The school of tuna was slowly drifting toward him, attracted by the floating cloud of blood and viscera, and they would have already been upon it if it wasn’t for the two twitchy Otodus sharks circling them, having also been lured by the possibility of an easy meal.

  It’s like I’m back in the first reef, Henry thought as he slunk away toward a less exposed vantage point, and then he paused. Just like the first reef?

  Still moving, Henry approached the school with one of his clones. The shark had not been receptive to his communication, but maybe the tunas would be. Through his clone, he singled one of the larger specimens and spoke to it as he showed himself. He decided to appear a few dozen yards away, just so he wouldn’t spook them, only for three giant tunas to immediately swerve and tear his clone apart before they rejoined their group.

  Well. Alright then.

  “[Maurice?]”

  “[Yes?]”

  Henry eyed one of the sharks as it tried to take a bite out of the closest tuna, only for the latter to literally blur away. And then, just like a net, the whole school surged toward the assaulting shark, as if they’d been waiting for it to come closer. Within a fraction of a second, the Otodus was in their midst. There was a crackle of electricity, and the school of fish lit up like a Christmas tree. When the light faded, the shark was spasming, twitching as if it was in its death throes. It was sporting multiple burns, and electricity arched all over its body, at which point the tunas fell on it like a school of starving piranhas, jolting it with more electricity whenever it tried to move.

  The second Otodus saw what happened to its brethren, and decided that actually, it wasn’t that hungry. Even its dreadful aura seemed a lot weaker as it turned tail and disappeared into the golden horizon of the Current.

  “[Pretty! The lights, I mean. Not how they destroyed that shark. What were you going to say, Henry?]”

  “[Hm? Oh, yeah. I was thinking we should stay near and find a way to lure the tunas one by one. How are you with electricity, nowadays?]”

  Henry crested over a rocky outcropping and found what he’d been looking for. A nice crack that led down into a wider network of cracks and crevices. With a wave of his arms, he summoned a dozen ink clones and sent them down to make sure nothing was hiding in there.

  Maurice tapped his claws on Henry’s invisible arm.“[Electricity? You mean lightning? I have that resistance. But I don’t think it would be very effective against them.]”

  Henry watched, invisible, as his clones flitted about, exploring all the nook and crannies of the opening below him . Through his other blood clones, he observed as the tunas continued tearing into the Otodus, biting and devouring the carcass as they moved in a flurry, electricity crackling over their sleek, powerful bright blue bodies in their excitement.

  “[Lightning is technically made out of electricity, though maybe this is all magic that just looks like electricity. As for the tunas… You’re right. I don’t think I’d do well either if I got caught in their midst. They took out the Otodus in like two discharges. No, I mean we try and lure them away one by one, then kill them quick before the rest of the school can come and smacks us around.]”

  Henry dove into the crevice and camouflaged himself so he wouldn’t be visible if something passed by the exit after he dismissed his invisibility. Next, he put Maurice on a perch near the exit, and the crab looked out then back at him. “[Okay! How do we do it?]”

  The kraken looked outward and began re-deploying and adjusting the position of his scouts, then took a moment to re-summon the blood clones that had died as he thought of a plan.

  “[A few of the smaller specimens get curious and leave the school now and then. We just need to lure one of them, and for that…]”

  Henry shrunk one of his clones, and using illusions, he created a soft glow around it before slowly approaching the school of tuna. He—

  “[What? How are you going to lure them? I can’t see what your clones are doing, Henry.]”

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  The kraken sighed, then gave the crab a play-by-play of what he was doing. He made the lure-clone small so not all of the tuna would rush at him, and as expected, one of the smaller specimens veered toward him, having not been able to get a good bite of the dead Otodus. Henry made the clone zip toward him and to his surprise, the tuna followed.

  [Sparkfin Great Thunnus (B) - Lvl ?]

  At least they’re not like those damn squids. And this one’s on the weaker side. Perfect. Now, come here my pretty…

  The tuna followed, completely uncaring of the school it was leaving behind, too engrossed in investigating the curiously pulsing and dancing octopus. It crested over the rocky outcropping, and Henry made the clone pass right over his hiding spot.

  [Be ready to heal yourself if you need it, Maurice. It’s about to get here… Now!]

  The tuna passed over the entrance, and its movement instantly stalled as a purple hue surrounded its body while two giant arms surged out and coiled around the powerful body of the fish. The tuna fought back against the telekinetic grip, and it felt as if the creature was physically slapping him around with how heavy its flailing was. And then, it switched tactics. Right as Henry began injecting tranquilizing venoms into its body and pulling to draw it in, a light blue crackle of electricity danced upon its dorsal fin. Henry braced an instant before the discharge of lightning coursed through his body.

  His muscles locked and his flesh burned… but it was nowhere near as bad as he’d expected.

  Huh.

  Henry continued dragging the tuna in as it fought him, gritting his teeth and cursing as the jolts of electricity sizzled his flesh and made his limbs spasm. “[You okay, Maurice?]”

  “[Yes! It’s not reaching me. But that water tastes weird.]”

  Henry fought the tuna for nearly a full minute before he managed to drag it inside, at which point both him and Maurice quickly dispatched it.

  1x [Sparkfin Great Thunnus (B) - Level 18] Greater core fragment was collected.

  Henry and Maurice shared a look.

  “[That didn’t look too difficult,]” the crab said after a second. Then he scuttled closer, tore out a piece of the flank, and began munching.

  “[Hmmmm. Very tasty. Henry! Try it!]”

  Henry joined him and he had to admit that yes, the tuna was particularly tasty. The fatty meat just melted when he bit into it, and it almost felt as if sparkles of electricity were dancing on his tongue as he ate from it.

  Magic Mimic: Superior ability analyzed. Lightning Discharge upgrade unlocked.

  Nice.

  The two continued eating as they stared outward. This place was going to be a goldmine of cores and levels. And tasty, amazing meat, Henry thought, glancing down at the large tuna still gripped in his arms. Then he looked at the mess of blood and viscera the crab was creating.

  “[We’re gonna need to eat a bit more cleanly, Maurice. Or we’re gonna attract every single predator in the area.]”

  “[Okay,]” said the crab. He reached out to the flank, paused, then looked back at Henry. “[How do I do that?]”

  The kraken looked at the fish, looked back at the crab, then down at his arm.

  “[Huh. Not sure, actually. But maybe it would be better to start with the extremities next time. Easier to store it, too. Anyway, we’ll figure it out. Ready for the next one?]”

  “[Yes!]”

  Over the next hours, Henry and Maurice lured tuna after tuna. They had to stop every few successful hunts to allow for the blood to dissipate, or to wait for curious Otodus sharks to move on, but as time went by they racked up more and more cores. The skill levels soon followed, especially once they had to deal with stronger specimens. Aspect-empowered electricity was nasty, and it even knocked Maurice out a couple of times. But within twelve hours or so, they had to stop. The school of tuna had grown agitated, and after investigating the area and not seeing nor detecting the invisible crab and kraken, they moved east and disappeared.

  “[I think they might be my… third—no. My fourth favorite food,]” said the crab as he eyed the neatly-cut tail of tuna he had in his pincer.

  Henry threw the carcass it came from in his storage and as he stretched his limbs, he pulled up his notifications to start going through his upgrades. “[It’s great. And we have plenty. For months. We could maybe even sell some of it, if it’s rare,]” he added, chewing on his own portion.

  The notifications appeared in front of him, and Henry wished he could crack his fingers here. But alas, he had none, so he just ate his portion and got to work. He had system-stuff to get through.

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