Maurice saw sweat beading down Fabian's brow as his mana coalesced within the vial, and one little glowing drop fell into the dregs of glowing liquid right as the leather-ball hit him on the nose.

Fabian reeled back with a startled yelp, then stared at Maurice as the ball floated back in his hand.

"What the hell, Maurice!"

"What? You told me to distract you so you can work on your focus!"

Fabian rubbed his nose, his glowing vial still in his hand. "I thought you were going to do the same thing as Arisia. Not hit me in the face with a ball."

Maurice's brow knitted. He didn't know why Fabian expected him to play by his expectations and in any case, he wasn't sure how to do the poking thing like Arisia had done yet. "Isn't this better? The whole point is for you to maintain your focus. What's the point if you're just ready to ignore a specific thing? In fact, I should just use this. I should spray you with water too. And shove you. And try to dispel what you're doing. Right?"

Fabian's lips pressed into a line and Maurice grinned. He knew he got him, though before Fabian could come up with a response, Ash stepped into the little cabin, arms held out ahead of her as if she was transporting some priceless artifact. One hand had a little mana-wrapped shard of familiar shadows, and one looked like a one-time ability.

"Told you," Maurice called out as he hopped off the cramped bed so she could sit. She looked up at him and smiled, somehow still disbelieving. "He didn't even hesitate."

"I mean, yeah. Why would he?"

Both teenagers shared a look and chuckled. "Anyway, Fabian, can you tell Velistraine Henry wants us to slow a little? He said he has something to do."

Maurice blinked. "Wait, what?"

***

Henry smoothly dodged the jagged rock that flew at him, unimpeded by the water it nearly boiled by its passing. In exchange, a dozen Shadows slammed into the hill-sized crab like crackling bullets before latching on to it and unloading a powerful Discharge that made the monster screech in pain. At the same time, Henry's Octominds peppered it with Toxic Rays from a distance, all but the two who'd chosen to go for its eyes, and when the giant crab tried to flatten one of the Shadows, Henry detonated all of them, making the monster flail and wail.

He'd tried to speak to it, but unlike the lobster, this one actually wanted to eat him. The only thing he sensed out of its mind was anger and hunger, even through its innate resistance. So Henry didn't feel like holding back and considering he'd had a couple of days to rest and relax, he was ready. And he had a plan.

Toxic Ray isn't actually using any of my venoms. But my Venom Production Skill is producing the different venoms I've copied. So how to fuse the two without losing my ability to inject the venoms through bite?

A brown orb of dirt-colored light condensed in front of the crab's mandibles, making the ground shudder as clumps of rock lifted out of the sand before exploding up, clipping a few of Henry's clones while he whipped his own arm to block one.

I would have to somehow take the essence of the venom before it's synthesized then have the Toxic Ray use that, he mused as he sent another batch of clones before channeled some conceptual essence of Predation to the two Octominds working on the creature's eyes. It was dodging and condensing more of its dark colored magic around them, but sooner or later, Henry's Octominds would break through.

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So how do I do that? He wondered as the crab was electrocuted once more. Do I try to fuse the two Skills, or somehow link them? Do I break them down in smaller chunks?

Henry hummed as he created more and more Shadows. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. He layered them behind him and pelted the crab relentlessly as he considered his options. The best option was probably linking both, but keep them semi-independent and also, to make it so Toxic Ray would be based upon Venom Production.

Oh! Maybe even break down Venom Production and isolate the part that memorizes and informs Venom Production of its toxins. A passive that'd be called something like Venom Library or Toxic Memory, which both Venom Production and Toxic Ray could use as a source for their own function.

Henry liked that solution, but even though he said he'd work on it right now, he didn't expect to finish it mid-battle. This wasn't just a Skill upgrade but actual manipulation and splicing of a particularly complex ability of his. But that didn't mean he couldn't start on the work right now.

I could work on analyzing both. And that'll need a little time, as for this friend right here…

Henry had to hurry up the fight. While his Shadows were doing damage and he was managing to tweak his Skills a little to push them forward, it will take hours for him to be done here and he couldn't ask the crew to just stop for him, so when the next batch of Shadows rushed the giant crab, Henry slipped among them, darkening himself to match though he was definitely larger than them all.

The Shadows detonated, enraging the crab further, while Henry latched himself near the back of its body, which had been cleared from the moss thanks to the explosions to reveal a brown-colored shell. Henry settled in, using his arms to wrap around the edge of the shell. He could have enlarged himself to match the crab's size, but this was easier. With his current stature, he could apply the abilities he wanted to work on while making himself difficult to reach and address.

But the crab did notice him. And unfortunately for it, its arms couldn't reach that far back its body so when Henry began grinding his beak into the shell, it went wild, throwing itself against the reefs and shot more of its rocks toward him, though considering Henry was at an incline, he didn't even need to make any effort to dodge the rocks. Instead, he just channeled more of the essence of Predation into his beak, gnashing and biting until the shell finally cracked.

The vulnerability would be perfect so he injected his venoms in the monster's system, and while Lightning Discharge had been effective from out of the shell, he'd bet they'd be even more deadly from within so as he kept track of his surroundings and the ship with the help of two Octominds, he divided the rest on two tasks: 3 were tasked with spreading their senses inwardly and observing Venom Production's process as Henry accelerated production and injected the venoms as he switched between each of the concoctions, while the remaining three were to help him in the fight itself.

Already, Henry's own mana had been injected within the crab and he could sense its strengths and resistances lose some of their edge. Which was being made worse by all of Henry's arms and bites stealing copious amounts of mana that were near instantly sent back within the shell as bolts of ionizing lightning that made the crab tremble like a leaf in the wind.

It screeched, slamming its claws on its own shell, but Henry was too far back, and while he would have liked to shorten its suffering, it really was incredibly tough to the point that he didn't believe his usual brute-force method would be effective. No empowered swings or stabbing would do the job fast, and of course, he'd open himself to retaliation. This method was safest, even though he was being flattened against sharp rocks here and there.

Lightning Discharge wasn't just physical when I fought against the lobster. Or maybe that was just because of how intense it was?

Henry considered the Skill as the giant crab's movement grew lethargic. Maybe the lobster's lightning had been so powerful because of its Aspects?

Yeah, that was it. It must have had something lightning-themed. That's why I was having trouble moving and controlling my body before flushing out the essence, Henry thought as delivered another dose of his own malicious mana into the monster's system, this time empowering it with Predation before he followed it up with another pulse of lightning though this time, he didn't just blast it willy-nilly.

No, this time, Henry held on to the spell nexus and didn't let the discharge leave his body. Instead, he pushed more and more mana into it, more than the Skill usually took on its own, and when he reached triple its normal cost, he let it go.

For a fraction of a second, Henry went blind.

The whole shell of the crab and Henry's own body lit up as the blue arcs of electricity surged wildly, to the point that a few bolts somehow flew back at him and zapped him. But it was nowhere as bad as it had been within the crab's body.

The taste of cooked crab permeated Henry's beak and arms. He was doing damage, and he would win. But it was certainly taking time.

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