NOVEL NEXT B1: Chapter 27 - "Price Of Power."
——————✴——————
〖Beast Skill Shop〗
[Polaris Kraken] - [Infant] - G Rank
[Quantum Marks]: 50
—✦—
Gooey Grip
Rank: G - Physical
Type: Passive
Description: "Mama told me I needed to get a grip, so I did."
Have you ever held onto something so hard it slipped through your fingers? Yeah, this isn't like that. This skill coats your fingers or appendages with a biogenic adhesive secreted through your pores, giving you an incredible grip on almost anything. Smooth rock wall? No problem. Escaping eel? Child's play. Someone trying to snatch your snack? Not today, sucker.
————
Requirements: Hands, tentacles, or suitable gripping limbs.
Cost: 10
—✦——✦—
Bioluminescent Bling
Rank: G - Supernatural
Type: Active
Description: "If subtlety fails, glow harder."
Light up your life… literally. Activates patches of natural bioluminescence along your skin, scales, or suckers. Whether you want to blind enemies in a dark cave, signal for help, or just look fabulous at a rave, this ability lets you choose color, brightness, and pattern. Bonus points for being very distracting. Channeling mana into these lights can cause a minor hypnotic effect.
————
Requirements: None
Cost: 10
—✦——✦—
Sleeper Cells
Rank: G - Physical
Type: Passive
Description: "Billy has eaten his fair share of strange things."
Your immune system is a ruthless intelligence agency. This skill improves your body's cellular adaptability, allowing minor resistance against toxins, pathogens, and magical contaminants. You may not notice it working… but that's kind of the point.
————
Requirements: Biological body.
Cost: 20
—✦——✦—
Bubble Blind
Rank: G - Supernatrual
Type: Active
Description: "Billy's sister taught him one! Mama stuck her in the crack."
Pop! Emit a cluster of sticky mana bubbles from your skin that float for 5–10 seconds before bursting in a localized area. Each burst releases a flash of bioluminescent light and a minor disorienting pop sound. Great for low-light distractions or momentarily blinding a guard. Not lethal — but very annoying. Actively channel mana to increase the size and effect of bubbles, up to 300%. Warning: Larger bubbles are more unstable and unpredictable.
————
Requirements: None
Cost: 25
—✦——✦—
Sensory Bubble
Rank: G - Supernatural
Type: Active
Description: "Bubble-Bubble, I sense trouble!"
Pop this invisible bubble around yourself and enjoy a hyper-sensitive awareness zone, about three meters wide. You'll feel every movement within it — ripple, vibration, breath, or scream. Side effects include mild paranoia and smug superiority.
————
Requirements: Active mana channeling.
Cost: 35
—✦——✦—
False Flow
Rank: G - Supernatural
Type: Passive
Description: "Float like the seaweed, sting like a jellyfish!"
You subtly influence local water and airflow around you, creating a misleading sensory signature. Scent trails drift the wrong way. Shadows bend oddly. Footsteps echo strangely. Reduces the chance of being detected by scent-tracking creatures or magical surveillance tuned to motion or sound.
————
Requirements: Minor aquatic or wind affinity.
Cost: 35
—✦——✦—
Kraken's Grasp
Rank: G - Physical
Type: Active Morph
Description: "Billy is only slightly weirded out by your lack of tentacles. But Mama said not to judge."
You've tapped into the juvenile Kraken's genetic memory — and it thinks fingers are boring. Activate this skill to shapeshift your fingers (or equivalent digits) into short, muscular mini-tentacles. These appendages are prehensile, highly flexible, and capable of gripping, wrapping, or even mimicking simple shapes and textures. They're also reinforced with subdermal mana filaments, granting them surprising durability and strength for their size.
While active, your fine motor control increases, letting you pick locks, hang from ceilings, and stir soup simultaneously. However, extended use may fatigue your nervous system (and weird out your friends).
————
Requirements: Hands or finger-like appendages.
Cost: 40
—✦——✦—
Rapid Regeneration
Rank: G - Physical
Type: Passive
Description: "Pain is temporary. Flesh is… surprisingly negotiable."
Krakens have among the most powerful regeneration abilities of all cephalopods. Thanks to their distributed nervous systems and natural magical talent, an adult Kraken can regenerate from the destruction of nearly 95% of its body through the process of transdifferentiation. While this skill won't make you nearly immortal like a Kraken (tough luck), it will let you rapidly heal from injuries, just like one! Neat!
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
This skill greatly boosts your ability to naturally heal by converting ambient mana into flesh, like a Kraken. Your healing rate increases, the higher the concentration of mana in the environment, and the better its nature matches your affinity.
————
Requirements: N/A
Skill Point Cost: 50
—✦——✦—
Void Pocket
Rank: G - Supernatural
Type: Active
Description: "This is where Billy hides his snacks. Don't tell."
Opens a teeny tiny extradimensional storage space inside your body. Perfect for hiding one small item like a dagger, snack, or suspicious letter. Technically not legal. Technically no one will know.
————
Requirements: Attuned to spatial mana.
Cost: 55
—✦——✦—
Shimmer Skin
Rank: G - Physical
Type: Passive
Description: "You're not invisible. You're just unsettlingly hard to focus on."
You've gained fine control over your skin's pigmentation and surface texture, allowing you to subtly alter your appearance. While this doesn't grant full invisibility (yet), you can actively blend into your surroundings when still or moving slowly. This reduces your visibility in natural environments, shadows, and murky water.
Your skin can:
Shift between matte and glossy finishes
Mimic colors and patterns in your immediate surroundings
Dampen reflected light and blurs hard edges
————
Requirements: Exposed skin or epidermal control.
Cost: 60
—✦——✦—
Nerve Net
Rank: G - Mental
Type: Passive
Description: "Your brain is no longer the boss — welcome to the network."
You've partially restructured your nervous system into a decentralized lattice — much like a true cephalopod. With this adaptation, your reflexes are no longer entirely dependent on your brain, allowing you to respond to threats more quickly and maintain partial control over limbs even if they're severed or immobilized, thanks to a low-level psionic link.
This distributed neural network also grants you heightened resistance to mind-affecting effects, making it harder for external forces to manipulate, stun, or overwhelm your consciousness. Damage to your brain or spinal cord is no longer a death sentence. Your system can reroute and repair around catastrophic trauma, allowing recovery from conditions like magical paralysis, neurotoxins, or even strokes over time. You are functionally immune to most forms of permanent mental or cognitive damage.
Warning: Effects ranked over G rank may still overwhelm your new nervous system. Caution is advised.
————
Requirements: Biological nervous system.
Cost: 100
—✦——✦—
——————✴——————
Jeremiah stared at the list, eyes wide as a slow breath escaped him.
"There's… more options than I was expecting," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else.
Mero floated up beside him, peering at the screen with narrowed eyes.
"Well, baby or not, he's still a kraken," the fairy said, voice tinged with pride. "Kid needs the right tools to protect himself."
Jeremiah raised a brow, glancing at the sleeping cephalopod. "You're telling me Billy can actually do all of this?"
Mero rocked his hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. "Sort of. It's more accurate to say he will be able to… eventually. Quantum marks represent quantified potential. If that potential wasn't already inside him, these skills wouldn't even show up. What you're seeing here," he gestured to the glowing list, "isn't everything either. Just what the System thinks is currently relevant to your bond. Check back often. As Billy grows, the options should shift."
Jeremiah gave a small nod, turning back to the screen. Even this initial selection felt like too much to process. He couldn't imagine sorting through more.
"Now the question is… what to pick?" he muttered.
He could immediately rule out the last three.
[Void Pocket] was undeniably tempting. If it did what he thought, it offered access to dimensional storage — rare, expensive, and game-changing. Those lucky enough to generate their own could build an entire career around it.
[Skimmer Skin] seemed ideal for infiltration. He could just sneak right into Jonny's base and steal the focus right from under them.
[Nerve Net] was another standout. That kind of Mental ability could easily land someone in the 'Gifted' category. He found it strange the System had it marked at G-rank.
Unfortunately, all three were beyond his current budget.
"How likely is it I can gain another ten marks before time runs out?" he asked, turning to Mero.
The fairy folded his arms, frowning thoughtfully. "Without yer shop? Pretty slim. The only reason ya've got that many marks, to begin with, is the ranking bonus. And the Tutorial mission only offered that much to tempt ya into continuing the Skills Tutorial. To passively earn ten more, ya'd need to spend several days taking care of Billy."
Jeremiah clicked his tongue in frustration and glanced at the snoozing kraken.
Mero shrugged. "As for taking up more missions? No guarantee they'll reward you with marks either. Plus, I don't think piling more on yer plate at this point is a smart move."
"Yeah, I figured," Jeremiah said with a sigh. "Still had to ask."
"Course. That's what I'm here for."
Jeremiah turned back to the list. His choices were thinning.
[Gooey Grip] and [Sleeper Cells] were scratched off next. Both had their appeal, but neither offered immediate utility. The same went for [Rapid Regeneration]. It was tempting, sure — but faster healing didn't mean he would be more durable. As for [Bioluminescent Bling], just seemed like a lesser version of [Bubble Blind]. Less punch and more glow.
"Ya can knock off [Sensory Bubble] too," Mero added.
Jeremiah shot him a questioning look. "Why?"
The fairy leaned in and tapped the screen, pointing to the fine print. "Requires active mana channeling. Ya might've gotten a bit more 'magical' recently, kid, but learning to use mana isn't instant. It takes training and knowledge."
Before Jeremiah could reply, Mero raised a finger. "And no, I can't teach ya. The public might call it all 'magic', but Billy's magic isn't my expertise. Wyrd and mana are two very different beasts. As for Billy…"
His gaze flicked downward. The kraken snored softly, one tendril twitching in a dream. "Even if he could talk, most of what he does magic-wise is instinct."
Jeremiah pressed his lips together. It made sense, even if it frustrated him. He'd hoped to pick up [Sensory Bubble] now, then save up for [Nerve Net]. The first gave him the edge he needed short-term, while both seemed like they would synergize very well. Now he had to rethink his plan.
"So where does that leave me? [Bubble Blind], [False Flow], and [Kraken's Grasp]?" He frowned. "Not a lot."
"Maybe not," Mero said, "but do you need much more?"
Jeremiah glanced at him. "What are you getting at?"
Mero sighed. "You've already got [Tempered by the Waves] pushing your body to its limits. You know Jonny's a Speed-core. Not strength. Not durability. You're not trying to outrun him or out-punch him. What you need is versatility."
Jeremiah nodded slowly. That was true. He wouldn't be able to out-speed Jonny — but he didn't need to. He wouldn't get flattened immediately, thanks to the user skill from his contract. What he needed was something flexible, something that would let him adapt.
"I can get rid of [False Flow] then. It seems like decent enough stealth ability, but it doesn't offer me anything if I get caught."
That left two.
[Bubble Blind] was direct. Depending on how quickly he could generate the bubbles, they might work for disruption, distraction, or even offense. Once he figured out mana channeling, the effects could scale fast. But it was singular in purpose. His gut told him he could get creative with it… with the right mindset and some experimentation. But that would take time.
[Kraken's Grasp] had the opposite problem. Jeremiah could see a lot of potential uses for it right away if he understood the description correctly. Plus, the added durability didn't hurt. But it didn't do much on its own.
Still, one thing about it nagged at him.
"Mero," Jeremiah asked quietly, eyes still fixed on the screen, "is [Kraken's Grasp] safe?"
Mero tilted his head, one brow rising. "What makes ya ask that?"
Jeremiah shook his head. "Morphs aren't exactly rare, but gene-mod mishaps happen all the time. Every year, some poor bastard buys a bootleg mod thinking he's getting a top-tier Morph, only to get stuck in that form permanently."
Mero barked a laugh. "Ah! No worries there, kid. The System ain't some back-alley chop-shop hack. Beast skills don't alter your body in the way you're thinking. Not permanently, anyway. It's more like the System's... superimposing your bond's potential onto your frame."
He floated up a little, gesturing vaguely around Jeremiah's chest and shoulders. "At their core, beast skills are borrowed strength. Even something wild like [Nerve Net]? The System can reverse it cleanly. Usually without any lasting impact."
He paused, giving Jeremiah a look. "Most of the time. Think of the whole process as something closer to… polymorph. Not a perfect analogy, but that's the closest I got."
"…I see," Jeremiah muttered, voice low. Not that the fairy's words had eased much of his fear. Stories of polymorph spells gone wrong were almost as notorious as bad gene mods.
Still, it gave him enough certainty to commit.
He studied the remaining skills one last time, then inhaled deeply, steadying himself.
Then, with a flick of thought, he made his choice.
His quantum marks dipped instantly. The shop screen vanished in a shimmer of blue light.
His System copy, silent until now, gave another round of applause.
"Congratulations, User, for purchasing your first skill!"
Jeremiah exhaled slowly, eyes closed. The weight of the decision pressed against him.
Had he made the right call?
It didn't matter now. Right or wrong, the choice was his, and he'd have to live with it.
Drawing himself upright, resolve settling in his bones, Jeremiah called up his status screen.
——————✴——————
〖Jeremiah Bridge〗
Distinction: ☆
System Authority: Probationary [Tutorial]
User Grade: G - 9
Mental - (G): 4
Physical - (G): 5
Supernatural - (G): 0
User Skills: [2/5] [✚]
User Equipment: N/A
Quantum Marks: 10
Active Bonds:
Attunements - [0/3]
Contracts - [1/1]
— Billy Bridge (Polaris Kraken) - Beast Skills: [1/1] [✚]
[Kraken's Grasp]
Pacts - [0/0]
——————✴——————
〖Beast Skills〗
—✦——✦——✦—
Billy Bridge (Polaris Kraken) - [1/1] [✚]
—✦—
Kraken's Grasp
Rank: G - Physical
Type: Active Morph
Description: "Billy is only slightly weirded out by your lack of tentacles. But Mama said not to judge."
You've tapped into the juvenile Kraken's genetic memory — and it thinks fingers are boring. Activate this skill to shapeshift your fingers (or equivalent digits) into short, muscular mini-tentacles. These appendages are prehensile, highly flexible, and capable of gripping, wrapping, or even mimicking simple shapes and textures. They're also reinforced with subdermal mana filaments, granting them surprising durability and strength for their size.
While active, your fine motor control increases, letting you pick locks, hang from ceilings, and stir soup simultaneously. However, extended use may fatigue your nervous system (and weird out your friends).
—✦—
—✦——✦——✦—
——————✴——————