Troy let out a yawn as he walked down the stairs, still bleary-eyed and clad in a t-shirt and pajama pants. “Definitely should’ve clocked out instead of watching that season premiere,” he mumbled to himself, and rubbed his eye before he stepped into the living room.

In the weeks since he had moved in, the piles of boxes had slowly been unpacked and set up. Now, the few items in the room included the TV, a brown couch that had seen better days back when he was in college, a cheap table and a few other details. Troy paid it little mind though, and circled around the gaming set-up to get to the kitchen.

As he entered the kitchen, Troy only had to glance around once before he waved to Alcydes, the elfkin boy already snacking on his third orange. “Morning, Al,” Troy muttered, and snatched up the coffee pot from the pile of clean dishes. As the pot began to fill with new water, he glanced back at the kid and asked, “Anything new happen with you?”

“Not much,” Alcydes replied. He popped another slice in his mouth, and quickly chewed before he listed off, “I sharpened our weapons, and managed to get some exercise in before breakfast.” As he held the last slice though, Alcydes added, “However, I did see an odd hawk outside earlier.”

Troy paused at that, and looked over with curiosity. “Really? What was odd about it?”

“Well, it didn’t have any silver talons, and had yellow legs instead of white,” Alcydes stated. Troy let out a small snort at that, but stilled as Alcydes continued, “It was mainly brown on top, with a yellow and speckled belly.”

Troy pursed his lips at the comment, the description niggling at his mind at how familiar it sounded. “Do you mean more like salt-and-pepper, or like white with black spots?” he questioned while his hand fumbled for his phone.

“Definitely the first,” Alcydes flatly confirmed, then tore the skin off his fourth orange.

Troy scrolled through online images, then turned the screen towards the elfkin. “Did it look like this?” he asked, pointing at the picture of a goshawk. When the boy gave a nod in confirmation, Troy let out a whistle and looked at his phone. “Damn, I kinda wish you had told me earlier,” Troy commented, and glanced out the window to possibly see it himself, “It’s pretty rare to see a northern goshawk around here.”

Alcydes gave a curt shrug at that, then glanced over at the door they had been avoiding the last few days. “Do you think the storm’s passed now?” he wondered, pointing at the door in question.

Troy pondered the question, then glanced over at a door. “I think it might, but it’s hard to tell,” he commented, then grabbed the bracelet from the counter. With the coffee machine starting to brew, he slipped the magic item on, then stepped up to the door.

As Troy pushed the door open, he was relieved to find that the weather was warm and mostly sunny. As he glanced through the door though, he realized that the entryway was a lot more skewed than it had been. Rather than a flat entrance, he could barely see the mountains he had previously. Most of what he could see was the thin clouds passing in the sky.

With growing trepidation, Troy stepped through the door, and nearly fell over as his sense of balance went wonky. He stumbled on the coastline, and looked back, only to wince at the sight. While the shack hadn’t been in the best condition before, the storm had torn the structure to splinters. Even the door’s frame was barely hanging together, with two hinges being broken in half.

Troy pushed on the door hesitantly, only to wince when another chunk broke off. “Well, this sucks,” he muttered, then leaned back into the kitchen. “Good news is, we seem to still have a way to Shallowcoast,” he declared as he stepped through, only to stumble at the imbalance again, “However, I don’t know how much longer it’ll stand up…”

Alcydes let out a huff at that, and tossed his scraps over to the trash bin. When his stomach let out a low gurgle, the elfkin finally looked sheepish. “Maybe with a proper meal first?” Alcydes asked, and Troy chuckled before he closed the door behind him.

After a late meal of scrambled eggs and hash browns, the two were soon speeding down the coastline to Shallowcoast. While the storm had long passed, the damages were clearly present on the landscape. Trees and rocks had been scattered heavily on the terrain willy-nilly, leaving nothing unscathed. As Troy passed by a giant turtle crushed under a massive mangrove, he shuddered at the gore splattered across the ground, and sped up even further.

“Man, I’ve never seen a storm cause this much damage,” Troy muttered, glancing over at an ancient tree burnt from the inside out. As he passed the fallen tree by, he glanced back at Alcydes and asked, “Are the storms normally this bad?”

“Not really,” Alcydes muttered, clinging to the back of Troy’s shirt, “It’s pretty rare for a storm this bad to pass through.” Troy let out a whistle at that, and his mind started to wander while he drove. With the storm being so widespread, it was hard to tell if the town was still standing. He only hoped it wasn’t flooded underwater, New Orleans-style…

As he drove downhill, Troy heard the sound of splashing underwheel, and skidded to a stop. Troy glanced down at the ground, only to wince when he realized the wheels were axle-deep in saltwater. As the man glanced around, his heart sank at how the lower shore was flooded. Stretching nearly a mile across, the shore was already a foot deep in the shallows. And given how the hill had only gone deeper when it was dry…

Troy shuddered at driving underwater like this, but as he looked at the other side of the flooded marsh, he was relieved to see the town still standing above the floodlands. “Well, at least the town’s left above water,” he commented. As Alcydes let out a snort, Troy began to back the truck up and worked his way around the new shoreline. It took twice as long as normal to travel around, but outside of the area being flooded, it was thankfully peaceful.

When Troy reached the city limits, he powered off the vehicle. As he stored it away in his guild tag though, he glanced around at the town in concern. While some of the pier seemed to be flooded, like the other area of the shore, most of the town was still relatively dry. The only real damage seemed to be whatever had been thrown around by the storm. The plank that tore through the wall next to him was certainly proof enough.

When the last particles faded away, Troy hid his guild tag under his shirt again, and entered Shallowcoast proper. As the man and boy walked down the street, the town abuzz with repair work, Troy asked Alcydes, “So, what kinda quest should we take today? Fishing? Digging for clams? What do you wanna do?”

Alcydes slowed down at the question, and his gaze turned to the ground. “What I want to do…?” he murmured, his hands clasping at thin air. When Troy looked back at him, Alcydes looked up and asked, “Could we go on a hunting quest?”

Troy grimaced at the question, his mind flashing back to the giant boar that had nearly killed both of them. When he looked down at Alcydes’s expectant face though, Troy sighed and relented, “Let’s see what quests are available first, then we’ll go from there,” he relented, and continued towards the guild while Alcydes followed, a small spring in the boy’s step.

When the two finally arrived at the guild hall, Troy was happy to see the place was a lot calmer than it had been before the storm. As he entered the store, he glanced at the guild’s tavern. While it was still pretty light in traffic, the air had a happy cheer to it, like a crew that had finally hit land after a long trip. Though if the storm was that bad, maybe that’s fitting, Troy mused to himself, then finally walked up to the counter.

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As Troy approached the counter, he perked up at the sight of a familiar face on the other side. “Hey, Yvalyn! It’s been a while,” he greeted the receptionist, and glanced around in visible interest, “I take it the guild hall managed to survive the storm well?”

“Better than the ports, at least,” the elf confirmed, a sigh escaping her lips as she put her clipboard down, “It was a bit worrying with the storm, but thankfully, the visiting mages helped reinforce the wards before the storm hit.”

Troy raised an eyebrow at the comment, but it was cast aside when Yvalyn pulled out some forms and the guild crystal. “Speaking of which, it seems the guild wanted to talk to you about the whole eel ordeal,” she commented, and set the crystal down. Troy balked at the comment, fearing a penalty, if not worse.

But when Yvalyn tapped on the screen, her expression turned faintly joyful as she pulled out a specific form. “With how you managed to handle the Mother Eel with your current experience, the guild wanted to thank you by giving you a promotion all the way to Charcoal Rank.”

Troy started at that, and grabbed onto the counter to stabilize himself. “I’m sorry, but does that mean I’m skipping both rank requirements?” he asked in a hissed tone, Alcydes’s gaze glancing up in intense concern.

“Well, it’s not a proper promotion, more of a probational one,” Yvalyn clarified, then pushed the forms over to Troy, “Since it’s a bit of a special ordeal, you won’t be getting the normal gifts you’d get as a welcome to Porcelain or Charcoal-rank. If you don’t meet the flat quota by the end of the month though, you will be demoted to Porcelain-rank.”

Troy gulped at the statement, and looked at the papers with a growing frown. “An all-or-nothing deal, huh?” he muttered, his fingers drumming on the counter in thought. While he was happy to have the wider options, he didn’t want a third near-death experience to come out of it… He hemmed and hawed at the prospect for several minutes, before he finally gave her a flat look. “We won’t have to hunt those giant boars I found Alcydes fighting, do I?”

Yvalyn raised an eyebrow at the question, only to sputter in denial when the memory visibly hit her. “W-what? No, of course no!” she exclaimed, waving a hand in the air before swiftly composing herself, “The chances of running into one of those is one in a thousand if you’re going after the younger ones! They normally stay near the island-trees until they’re of breeding age, then they move deeper into the swamp.”

Troy narrowed his eyes at the comment, but eventually sighed and handed his guild tag over. “In that case, I don’t see the problem with that,” he told her, and began filling out the forms in front of him. As he wrote his signature down for a seventh time, Troy paused. “Actually, what kind of beasts are available right now for me, for Charcoal-Rank?”

“Give me a minute to check,” Yvalyn replied. When she returned the guild tag to him, she pulled the quests out and began to flip through them. “Let’s see - With the town mainly on the mend, we’re mainly looking for monsters with materials we can use for repairs. As such, we’re looking for bush quail, silt slugs, mudcrabs, shambling coral and hydrawood. However, we wouldn’t say no to swamp turtles, beach slimes and giant clams.”

Troy hummed in thought, trying to figure out how any of those would be safe to hunt. However, with how little he knew of the local beasts, he could be putting himself into a death sentence if he chose the wrong kind. If they had to face a monster that could ignore the melee damage he and Alcydes could hunt…

After a moment of thought, he eventually turned to the elfkin boy next to him. “Well Al, you’ve got a lot more knowledge than I do,” he stated, “Which would be best for us to hunt?” Alcydes didn’t immediately answer out loud, but his hand eventually came up to claim one in particular…

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“So that’s a beach slime?” Troy quietly asked, crouched behind a cluster of shrubs. When Alcydes nodded in affirmation, Troy looked up past the foliage at their target. Slowly sweeping across the beachside, several pumpkin-sized gelatinous blobs slowly drifted along the waveline. They weren’t that appealing visually, being greasy green globs - In fact, if it wasn’t for the visible path they left behind, he would’ve thought they were just some whale vomit or squid guts that washed up.

As the cluster approached some driftwood further up the shore, he turned to Al and wondered, “They don’t seem that dangerous. Why does it take Charcoal-rank to hunt them?”

Alcydes glanced up at the question, then pointed at them as he stated, “Their cleaning potential.” Troy’s gaze followed the finger to the driftwood, where several slimes began to envelop the driftwood. While it was unapparent at first, Troy’s eyes widened when the wood began to quickly dissolve under them.

“While they aren’t aggressive, slimes will quickly dissolve any debris and weapons. They don’t eat live flesh, but are a mess on materials. Even brushing against them can stain metal and cure leather,” Alcydes explained as the slimes ate away at the debris, “Drop their innards in dirty water though, and all that’s left is grit and clean water. Just make sure to seal them away before they spill out everywhere.” By the time Alcydes finished explaining, the slimes had already finished, and a faint pulse of liquid dispelled the grit like a small wave.

Troy nodded along in fascination, then grabbed his spear. “In that case, we’ll have to make sure to use skills that don’t directly touch them,” he commented, then lifted his new shell shield up in preparation. He had been surprised to find the guild had finished treating it during the storm, but it was surprisingly light, given that it was large enough to hide his torso and knees at the same time. With the slimes still unaware, Troy stepped out onto the beach, and pulled his spear back to send out a [Stony Hail].

As he stepped on an open patch of sand, a sudden shower suddenly shot up under him. Troy stumbled when something slimy enveloped his leg from the knee down, and dropped his shield in surprise. “What the hell?” Troy exclaimed, and glanced down at the bound limb. Wrapped around his leg like a burlap stocking, a sand-colored mass squeezed his leg in a death grip.

“That’s a silt slug!” Alcydes shouted as he ran past, “Just slash it along the back, and it’ll die quick!” As Alcydes began to attack the slimes, Troy slashed the bone spear along the back. The slug quickly died, and the man shook the dying bug off. With the dead slug at his feet, Troy turned back to the battle and rushed forward… only for a new slug to jump up, enveloping his free arm.

“God-damnit!” Troy cursed, and quickly slashed the slug twice to kill it. When he tossed the oversized beast off though, he looked up to find that Alcydes had already finished the slimes off.

Alcydes looked up from where he was storing the leaking corpses and gave a nonchalant shrug. “You’ll have to watch your step out here,” he told Troy, and as the last body was absorbed, stood back up and hopped back to the tree line. “Come on, we’ll need another thirty-some slimes to meet quest requirements.” Troy grumbled at the statement but didn’t argue as he picked his shield up and followed after the boy.

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Troy glanced over the bent log, watching as a batch of three slimes approached some leftovers he had set out. While they didn’t have eyes, they were definitely approaching the bait in a direct manner. “Alright, let’s try this again,” he told himself, and as Alcydes jumped a batch further down shore, he stood up and wound up for a swing. “[Stony Hail]!” he proclaimed as he clipped the ground, and several stones shot out and through the slimes in a short-ranged shower.

With the puncture holes being too quick to recover from, the slimes quickly started to deflate as their innards leaked out. Seeing the battle was already over, Troy began to walk over to their bodies. However, a burst of sand erupted from the left of the pile, and he cursed when a large silt slug started to slurp up one of his kills. “No-no-no-no!” he hissed in panic, and sprinted forward to keep the detrivore from stealing his kill.

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Sweat dripped down Troy’s brow as he waited for the slimes to enter the pitfall. While the four were slowly traveling down the slope into a rocky crevice, it should be an easy kill to get them all. It just took them getting in there… When the last slime slipped in, Troy stumbled up to his ‘shooting hole’ and began to drop fist-sized rocks into the peephole. Several wet splats echoed from the impact, and he continued to drop it in until he heard no moving inside.

Now that the slimes were surely dead, Troy got on all fours and began to rummage around. He blindly felt around, only to finally grab a squishy blob. Thinking it was one of the dead slimes, Troy pulled his arm up, only to balk at the slug sucking on his arm like it was candy. “Are you kidding me?!” he exclaimed and slammed his arms down on the rocks to make the slug let him go.

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Troy stayed crouched with bated breath as he watched the slimes congregate around a pile of detritus he had stacked up on the shore. It wasn’t the best way to hunt them, but he only needed to kill these groups to meet the halfway mark. This had to work! As he stood up though, a large blob landed on his back. A rather familiar, mucus-coated blob.

“Oh, come on!” Troy spat out before the slug enveloped his head, his growing scream of rage rippling through the skin of the gastropod. The man flailed about as he tried to cut at the snail, his spear pushing at the skin, but he didn’t dare try to cut his own head off. It was only when the snail was torn to shreds that he let out a needy gasp, and he looked down to find Alcydes holding the severed slug corpse.

With his body now coated in mucus, Troy fell on his back and gave Alcydes an emotionless look. “I don’t care if it’s going to take us a couple more days,” he told the elfkin kid with withheld frustration, “Once we clear this last group out, we’re turning in for the day. Then tomorrow? We’re finding other party members.” When Alcydes gave a curt nod at his words, Troy closed his eyes and let him take out those slimes while he recovered from the mess.