Aqua
When I wake up again the next morning, I find the wounds on my stomach completely gone now. Meanwhile my arm has regrown all the way back to my elbow. On top of that, all the other wounds on my body are all gone. No more bruises, broken bones, or fractures. Making for a pleasant morning.
The only thing I have to worry about at the moment is my arm and its itchiness.
And it is quite itchy.
I go ahead and go through my usual morning routine and stretches, which proves to be far easier than it was yesterday thanks to my stomach wounds and other wounds being gone, before putting on my armor. Then I go ahead and sit down in my cavern and accept the first job of the day.
Which is not really a job. It’s vocal training.
So fortunately nothing I need my arm for.
And the vocal training actually ends up going by really quickly. With the vocal trainer complimenting me more than I think they should. Both on my voice itself and on my talent in singing.
Seriously though. What is so great about my voice?
I’ve heard from Rhett that people have actually been making ASMR videos using my voice alone. Which is weird.
It’s enough that he is actually planning on having me record some ASMR voice files just to sell.
Actually, that’s the next job after this one.
Another easy job to do without my arm.
So I go from one job to the other today without any setbacks. Getting a good amount of progress with my vocal training according to the vocal coach and then recording the ASMR, which pretty much comes down to me talking softly into a microphone for the viewers.
I still don’t understand the appeal though.
After that I return to my body and leave my cavern, letting the broadcast turn on. At which point things begin to take a turn.

Alan Pioneer News
“That’s a secret,” Alan stares blankly at the screen as he hears Aqua’s voice echo from the first variety show appearance she has made. Where he sees her on the screen with a playful yet slightly cold smile on her face and her finger held to her lips as if she was shushing someone.
And something about the interview makes Alan wonder something. He isn’t sure what it is, but he just feels like something is off.
The variety show’s ratings were completely off the charts compared to its previous airings. With everyone flooding it with praise for being the very first variety show with Aqua on it.
Yet he just can’t get it out of his head, even as Rodrick says, “Wow! That was certainly one way to make a first appearance on TV live!”
Despite Rodrick’s words, Alan signals the staff with a hand under the counter to show Aqua’s current broadcast. Making the screen quickly switch over to it soon after she goes live. Showing her as Aqua swims through the water within the tunnel she’s been going to frequently as of late. The one leading to where she fought the starfish.
“She’s already back to it again?” Rodrick exclaims, his eyes widening in surprise. “Wow. Does she ever rest?!”
“I’m not sure if she knows the meaning of the word rest at this point,” Alan comments before narrowing his eyes at the screen as something feels off to him. But he can’t quite nail what it is at a glance.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Right now Aqua is swimming with her usual outfit on except without the armor for her right arm. Revealing her entire right arm up to the elbow where it is currently scabbed over to him and the other viewers.
Then it finally clicks in his eyes.
“Rodrick,” Alan states, his tone sounding a bit more serious than normal, catching his co-host’s attention in the process. “Take a look at her right arm. Tell me if you see anything unusual.”
His co-host frowns for a second and turns to look at the screen while muttering, “Her right arm? But it’s nothing more than a stump, so what’s there…”
Rodrick’s words trail off as he no doubt notices.
Alan makes eye contact with some of the staff behind the cameras before nodding. And at this point they’ve realized it too, so they quickly begin to make preparations.
Then Alan turns his gaze back to the camera with a smile as he says, “Boy do we have a surprise for you, viewers!”
At his word, the screen changes to make half of the screen show the aftermath of her battle with the shark while the other half of the screen shows her current broadcast. And even just at a single glance, it’s obvious on the screens the difference.
On one screen, her arm is barely a few inches past her shoulder in length. Meanwhile on her current broadcast, her arm can be seen all the way down at the elbow.
“As you can clearly see, Aqua Fallen’s arm appears to be growing back!” Alan exclaims, his voice filling the entire studio in his excitement. “And since I haven’t gotten any word about sponsors sending regrowth elixirs her way, and it doesn’t have the usual side effects of a regrowth elixir, I think it’s safe to say she is regrowing her own arm!”
“Just like a Kraken…” Rodrick mutters, his voice filled with awe.
“I’m sure the Bloodline Research Center is already having a fit over this,” Alan says with a chuckle. “I’ve heard they’ve been pulling all-nighters just to determine her Bloodline. And this will no doubt throw more fuel onto that fire.”
Rodrick bursts out laughing at that as he says, “You’re right! I bet they’re pulling their hair out trying to figure out what she is!”

Bloodline Research Center
A scream echoes through the main room of the research center as Fraxis clenches his fist around a clump of hair and the man whose head that belongs to clutches his scalp while resting his forehead on his desk. But Fraxis doesn’t pay him any attention, having only grabbed onto the first thing closest to him that wasn’t a desk. Since they were pissing off their sponsors by wasting so much money replacing desks.
“Now she can regenerate limbs,” Fraxis growls out, feeling his eyes flicker with uncertainty, rage, and hints of a shattered pride as he glares at the screen. “Does this mean she really could be a mix of two different Bloodlines?”
No one in the room says a single word in response. Both because they’re afraid of having their own hair torn out, and because they don’t want to be responsible for pushing their head researcher any further into this dark hole he’s crawling into.
Ever since the new Bloodliner appeared, all the researchers at the research center have noticed it. That their head researcher has been getting worse and worse as time goes on.
Becoming more violent. More mentally unstable than he was even before all this happened. And even reaching the point of taking his anger out on people around him.
Worse yet, they all know they aren’t able to resign.
Not when the Grand Chancellor himself wants this Bloodline figured out.
If they try to resign, they will soon learn just how terrible life can become. And they all know that from experience.
The experience of when the first researcher there tried to resign a couple days ago and had his life ruined within a day.
On the other hand, the salaries of all the researchers has increased since then. Giving both the carrot and the stick to them all and telling them in no uncertain terms that they are not allowed to leave.
It’s becoming bad enough that the Grand Chancellor is even beginning to directly order the Aquamarine-Life Laboratory to assist in the research into Aqua Fallen’s Bloodline.
And yet, even they’re getting nowhere with it.
The only thing they’ve nearly confirmed by now is the high possibility that she has two different Bloodlines somehow.
That of the Kraken, and that of the Abyssal Orca.
But the Orcayne family still refuses to speak on the matter. And the Kraken’s Bloodline was thought to be lost, leaving no one to question about it.
Everyone in the room watches as Fraxis grits his teeth and mutters to himself without taking his gaze away from the screen. And when some of the people in the room hear his mutterings, a look of horror spreads across their faces.
“Maybe I should try to pressure her agency to release her Bloodline information… if they know it… or maybe I could ask them to ask her? But how to do that…”
An ironclad rule in the Alliance that even the Grand Chancellor doesn’t even break.
Do not mess with the Bloodliners.
If you’re in a fair competition against them, it’s fine.
But unfairly attacking a Bloodliner in any way is grounds for a lifetime imprisonment, or even death. By law of the Bloodliners’ First Act.
Everyone in the room begins to carefully make as much distance as they can between themselves and Fraxis.
As they all realize just how broken he has become.