The entrenching tool was taken aback. "But you said you'd let it go! Isn't this a bit... you know... breaking your word?"

Hank Fowler raised an eyebrow. "Who said anything about doing it myself? Just gotta outsource that shit. Like to those two overgrown crabs, for example."

The entrenching tool was speechless for a moment. "Boss, you're getting sneakier by the day. I'm impressed!"

Hank's face turned darker than a black hole. "Mute the shovel!"

The entrenching tool: "...."

.....

Hank continued his leisurely stroll across the island. He was on a roll, and nothing was gonna stop him now. Not even the distinct lack of anything interesting to find.

Before he knew it, he found himself standing before a massive tree.

Looked like a walnut tree, loaded with nuts – probably over a hundred, easy.

If he could snag all of those, it would be another sweet haul.

The only problem was that these walnuts were way up high.

This tree was a good fifty feet tall, at least. Climbing it would be a pain, and falling off would probably suck even more. He could almost feel the phantom pain of broken bones already.

Hank scratched his chin, thinking. Then, he opened his Spatial Bag and pulled out his trusty Machete, waving it in front of the walnut tree like a shiny, menacing pendulum.

The walnut tree nearly jumped out of its roots. "Human, what are you doing?"

Hank chuckled, a sound that promised mischief. "Relax, buddy. I'm not gonna hurt you. Just want some of your, uh, 'fruit'."

The walnut tree let out a sigh of relief, its leaves rustling. "How many do you want?"

"All of them," Hank said, straight-faced.

The walnut tree seemed to consider this for a moment. "Now, now, let's not be greedy. I'll give you half. Take it or leave it."

Hank didn't say a word. He just gripped the Machete and swung it in a wide arc, a flash of blinding light erupting in the air. It was like a mini sun had decided to grace them with its presence, only way more awesome.

The walnut tree trembled violently. "Okay, okay! No need to get violent! You can have them all! Just chill!"

"Less talk, more dropping," Hank growled, his eyes practically glowing with impatience.

The walnut tree didn't dare hesitate. It shuddered, and a rain of walnuts began to fall, thudding against the ground like a hailstorm made of delicious, brain-shaped loot.

Once the nutty downpour stopped, Hank scrambled to collect his prize.

After a flurry of activity, he counted a grand total of one hundred and twenty walnuts.

Stashing his hard-earned loot in his Spatial Bag, he moved on to a nearby patch of grass.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

After nabbing a dozen or so grasshoppers like some kind of insect-catching ninja, he headed for the beach.

The previous treasure chests had all come from the sea, which meant the ocean was basically a treasure chest vending machine.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd snag a few more.

As Hank reached the Sand, he suddenly heard the sounds of an argument.

"You can't eat her! She's royalty!"

"Royalty's a thing of the past! Now, she's just a stray waiting to be put down. Even if I don't eat her, someone else will!"

"I don't care! If you lay a claw on her, I'll fight you to the death!"

"You two little crabs think you can stop me? Are you tired of living?"

"You'll have to go through our cold, dead bodies first!"

"Fine by me!"

.....

Hank looked up, scanning the area.

Not far away, on a cluster of rocks, Bruiser and Petal were facing off against a giant sea turtle.

It looked like a fight was about to break out, and Hank knew he had to act fast.

That sea turtle was definitely stronger than Bruiser and Petal. If they fought, his crab buddies would be in serious trouble.

And he considered those two his friends.

He couldn't just stand by and watch his friends get hurt.

"Hank!"

Bruiser and Petal were ecstatic to see him.

Hank was ridiculously strong. With him around, that overgrown turtle wouldn't be so tough.

Hank approached them and asked, "Bruiser, what's going on?"

Bruiser quickly explained, "This jerk wants to eat our Sea Clan Princess! I said no, and now he wants to kill me!"

"Sea Clan Princess?"

Hank was surprised. "Where is she?"

The Sea Clan had a princess?

What was she like?

Was she a giant crab, too? The suspense was killing him.

Bruiser pointed a large claw behind him. "The princess is in a small pool nearby, but she's injured and unconscious."

"I'll check on her in a bit," Hank said with a smile. He turned to face the sea turtle, his eyes narrowing. "Bruiser and Petal are my friends. You mess with them, you mess with me. You looking for a death wish?"

The sea turtle looked Hank up and down, scoffing. "You? Kill me? Do you even have what it takes?"

"You wanna find out?" Hank let out a cold snort, took a step, and dashed towards the turtle with the speed of a caffeinated cheetah.

Then, gripping his Machete with both hands, he brought it down in a mighty overhead swing.

A sharp, piercing sound ripped through the air.

Faced with such a ferocious attack, the sea turtle didn't even flinch. It just casually retracted its head into its shell with a whoosh.

CLANG!

The Machete slammed into the turtle's shell, the sound of metal on metal echoing across the beach.

It felt like hitting solid steel, and sparks flew everywhere.

Hank felt a jolt run up his arms, nearly making him drop his weapon.

"Holy crap!"

Hank was stunned.

This turtle's defense was insane.

How was he supposed to deal with this thing if he couldn't even scratch it?

"Human, impressed yet? Still think you can kill me?" the sea turtle mocked.

Hank scoffed. "All you can do is hide in your shell like a coward. Come out and fight if you've got the guts!"

The sea turtle chuckled. "I am a turtle. Hiding in my shell is what I do. Got a problem with that? Come and bite me!"

Hank's eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint in them. A murderous aura began to radiate from him, like a dark cloud of impending doom.

If he couldn't even handle a single turtle, how could he ever hope to rule this world?

He had to kill this turtle today, no matter what.

"Boss, this guy's shell is too hard. We can't break through. Maybe we should just let it go," the Machete suggested, sounding a little worried.

"Let it go? Not a chance," Hank said with a cold smile.

The Machete was curious. "Then what are you going to do?"

"Use my brain," Hank said, a hint of smugness in his voice.

The Machete: "...."

It had heard from the entrenching tool that Hank's "using his brain" usually meant resorting to dirty tricks.

So, what kind of underhanded scheme was he cooking up this time?

The Machete was almost excited to find out.

Suddenly, Hank tossed the Machete aside and grabbed the sea turtle's shell with both hands, flipping it over with a grunt.

"Human, what do you think you're doing?" the sea turtle panicked.

Now that it was flipped, it was completely helpless.

It wasn't worried about Hank breaking its defenses, but this was still a pretty undignified position to be in.

"You'll see," Hank said, a wicked grin spreading across his face. He turned to Bruiser and Petal. "You two, go gather some dry grass. As much as you can carry."

"Dry grass? What for?"

Bruiser and Petal were confused but didn't question him. They scuttled off towards a nearby patch of dry grass and started furiously cutting it with their claws.

In no time, they returned, each carrying a huge bundle of dry grass.