Balthazar and his friends had been sailing along the coast on the Marquessian Dame for a couple of days now, slowly making their way to the cliffs that the crab’s map marked as his destination.

Blue spent most of her time flying around in the sky over the ship, enjoying the breezy freedom of the open sea and hunting down pesky seagulls who came too close to their boat, much to Balthazar’s approval.

Druma, on the other hand, had experienced a much rougher time. The young goblin learned soon after their departure from the dock that he suffered from severe seasickness, which left him spending most of his time onboard retching and dry weaving over the side rail. Despite his misfortune and slightly paler shade of green, the loyal assistant still managed to always give his boss a pained smile and reassure him that he was fine and excited to soon meet the arcane wizard again.

The Dame was a small but fine vessel, built by Captain Leander as his personal project after retiring. It was designed as a replica of his former and much larger ship back when he was still on active duty, but scaled down and built specifically to be manned by one person alone.

Despite their destination being a relatively short distance away from the Marquessian Bay, the old sailor explained to the crab that they would have to proceed very cautiously and slowly, as that was the trick to reach the treacherous coast Balthazar wanted.

Many a traveler had met their doom trying to reach those cliffs, either by land, getting lost in the dense and danger-filled forests surrounding them, or by water, finding themselves shipwrecked in the jagged rocks around that coast.

Despite his eagerness to finally find Tweedus and hopefully a way to repair the golem core he had been carrying ever since he left his pond, Balthazar did not mind the wait. He had already spent so much time looking for mangoes just to get directions to where he was doing, a couple more days were not going to hurt.

Perhaps traveling the continent was starting to teach the merchant the virtue of patience.

“Bah, I’ve been trying for two days, I’m never going to get it!” the frustrated crustacean exclaimed.

Or maybe not.

Standing next to Captain Leander on the deck of the ship, Balthazar waved dismissively at the practice dummy in front of him after another unsuccessful attempt at executing the skill the old tutor had been trying to teach him.

“Patience, my friend,” the veteran said, arms crossed as he calmly nodded at the crab. “Not everyone can learn new skills instantly, especially ones as powerful as this. It often takes a long time and a lot of effort.”

I like it a lot more when I can just look at a glowing scroll and get it right away. Balthazar thought, but still choosing to keep that fact to himself as to avoid awkward questions about how a local crab was able to learn skills from scrolls only adventurers were known to be able to use.

The secret skill Leander had agreed to teach him was called Mega Punch. According to the unarmed combat expert, the technique involved a punch so powerful that no defense or blocking measure was able to break it once unleashed.

The captain demonstrated the move shortly after they set out to sea, using one of the wood and straw practice dummies he had brought on board for the trip.

Balthazar’s eyestalks nearly popped off his shell when he watched the seasoned veteran’s fist begin to glow white with power, followed by an unstoppable punch forward that broke right through the target, sending wood chips and straw flying everywhere.

To further show how unbreakable the skill was, Leander had brought an old steel shield from the training hall as well. After placing the shield in front of a barrel full of sand and another target dummy behind that, he charged up one more Mega Punch.

The already impressed crab was stunned when he witnessed the old man’s muscular arm punch forward with white-hot energy. It effortlessly shattered the shield, ripped right through the barrel, sending exploding sand everywhere, and once again completely destroying the practice dummy behind it.

As claimed, that skill was unstoppable once activated, and Balthazar was excited to finally have some way to contribute more in a fight beyond just running his mouth.

Unfortunately, that excitement quickly withered away once the crab realized his pincers weren’t quite compatible with… punching.

“Alright, the first step is to make a fist,” Captain Leander had told him on the first day when they began practicing.

“I… don’t have fists,” Balthazar replied with a cocked eyestalk.

“Right. Fair point. Try maybe closing your… pincer?”

And so began the crab’s efforts to perform the most basic forward movement of punching, but no matter how much he tried, his front limbs were just not built for jabs like a human’s.

After much pincer slapping, claw smacking, and pincher swatting, the merchant was about ready to give up.

“There’s no use, captain. I’m never going to be a fighter. Punching just doesn’t work for me.”

Leander sighed deeply as he crossed his leathery arms under the high noon sun bathing the deck.

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“This doesn’t even sound like you, Balthazar,” he said. “Where is the self-confident crab that walked into our city, solved the mango crisis, and went up against a dangerous witch? Or the prodigal merchant that sold beach sandals to those mermaids we asked for directions when we were lost in the fog this morning?”

The crustacean let out a sigh of his own. “All those things only required me to talk, not actually fight. Maybe I’m just not built for fighting.”

“Perhaps you are right,” the man said. “I was hopeful that a melee skill that did not require holding a weapon would work for you, but maybe hand-to-hand combat is just not possible for you either.”

“Too bad there aren’t any pincer-to-pincer tutors,” the deflated crab said. “Or even just pincer-to-hand ones. There’s a clear hole in that market.”

“Or…” the captain started. “Maybe we’re just stubbornly going about it in the same way over and over instead of considering different methods.”

“Hmm, I have been known to do that,” Balthazar understated. “What do you have in mind?”

The sailor gazed at the sea thoughtfully. “Perhaps you need to focus on what you can do, rather than what you’re seeing me do. I use my fist to deliver a punch. What would be the equivalent for a crab’s claw?”

Staring off at the horizon too, Balthazar pondered the old man’s wisdom.

He was right. The crab had never been one to solve his problems through punches. Whether it was a slippery fish in his pond, an annoying twig on his path, or even a pestering adventurer stepping on his shell, the crustacean’s answer had always been a swift pinch with his pincer.

“Hmm, what if…”

The merchant looked at the straw man placed against the ship’s rail. Instead of trying something he was no good at like silly human punches again, Balthazar decided to focus on something he knew much better.

Flexing all of his eight legs and pulling his right arm back, the giant crab opened his large pincer and held it back firmly.

“That’s right, Balthazar,” Captain Leander said, placing his hand on the left side of the crab’s shell. “Focus on everything I’ve taught you the past few days, but use it in your own way. Channel it. Make it yours.”

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, the crab pictured his tutor’s glowing fist again. Unbreakable, unyielding, unwavering. Then he thought all the way back to the day he discovered that mysterious scroll, when that foolish adventurer stepped on his shell and he retaliated by pinching his ankle.

And then he remembered the day Madeleine was taken by the dragon and he was powerless to stop it.

Snapping his eyes open, Balthazar pushed his claw forward as a faint white energy started glowing all around it.

Surprised by his own feat, the crab closed his pincer around the neck of the practice dummy, cutting its straw head clean off and sending it flying into the water below.

[Revealing new skill…]

[Mega Punch is incompatible with current anatomy]

[Adapting skill…]

[Mega Pinch]

[Skill - A tier]

[Requirements: 20 STR]

[Cost: 30 mana]

[For 60 seconds, your next pinch will carry unbreakable force, making it physically impossible to disrupt its grasp.]

[Would you like to learn this skill?]

[Yes] [No]

“Woah…”

“I think you did it, Balthazar,” the proud captain said. “You learned your own way of using my technique.”

“I… I think I did,” the smiling crab said, looking down at his own pincer, which had returned to normal.

“Land ho!” Druma shouted from the front of the ship.

“And not a moment too soon,” Leander said, peering through his spyglass. “We’ve arrived at your destination!”

The old sailor rushed to the wheel, leaving Balthazar to gaze upon the description of his newly learned skill.

Damn, expensive one. 30 mana. I really wanna try it, but it would cost me all the mana I have, so I should save it for a moment of need. Who knows what we’re about to encounter on that coast.

Then his eyes went back to the requirements lines.

Wait a minute… 20 Strength?! Ah, crabapples! I don’t have anywhere near enough to use it!

Suddenly feeling deflated again, the merchant did some quick calculations in his head.

I’d need to invest every attribute point I’d get for the next five levels just to get enough Strength to use this thing. That’s way too much!

He thought back to his encounter with Velvet, and how his Gift of the Crab had been unsuccessful against her because his Charisma wasn’t high enough. His intention from then on was to put every new point he’d get into boosting his Charisma even more. But now that would mean all his efforts to learn a combat skill from Leander would have been for nothing if he didn’t get enough Strength to fully unlock it.

For every new accomplishment, a new setback.

Choosing to leave his new conundrum for later since there was little he could do about it at that moment, Balthazar joined the captain as he brought the ship closer to shore.

The crab looked at his map and at the spot Ruby had marked on it as the location of Tweedus’s hideout. They were close. Somewhere past that small beach, beyond the dense forest surrounding it, and on the rocky cliffs above.

“Well, this is where we part ways, my friend,” Captain Leander said as Balthazar and his two companions descended from the Dame and onto the sand. “I must return to Marquessa as quickly as possible and manage the guardsman situation as promised, before Olivia starts giving her aunt too much trouble.”

“I really wish we could get a guide through that forest too,” the merchant said, glancing back at the dense trees past the beach.

“I wish I could help you, but the deal was only to show you how to reach this area. And to be honest, I’m probably doing you a favor by not coming along. The fairies said to dwell in these woods do not take kindly to the races of men that dare enter their domain. Maybe they will be nicer to a crab.”

After saying farewell to the captain and watching him depart on his ship, the crab, goblin, and drake turned to the forest.

“Well, no turning back now,” Balthazar said with a deep breath. “Let’s find that wizard.”

As the trio crossed past the treeline, the small goblin started growing visibly worried.

“What’s wrong, Druma?” the crab asked.

“Druma is scared,” the assistant said, grasping the borders of his hat nervously. “Druma always hear that fairies are mean and hate goblins.”

“Relax,” the goblin’s boss said. “I’m sure they can’t be that bad. They’re just little winged, sparkly creatures. That doesn’t sound very threatening to me.”

Druma kept on following the merchant into the forest despite his clear wariness.

“Come on, I bet we won’t even find any fairies here,” Balthazar said as small glowing sprites began appearing between the trees all around them.