When it came to permanently acquiring the Skills he got from Maurice, Henry decided to go with Arcane Fortification. It was a Skill that, once enabled, would reinforce his flesh by consuming small amounts of mana. The second Skill, Hermit’s Hoard, had been incompatible. As for the last Skill, it had been the imploding bubbles. Henry would have gotten it as well, but he was out of Skill slots.

He could have replaced Toxic Ray, but to be honest, neither of the two abilities were his style. Henry felt that his strength was best expressed through his arms and physical abilities. A novel concept for him, for sure.

Being into the fray, fighting, and triumphing over his challenges in such a visceral and decisive manner was intoxicating. It felt good. It mattered, when compared to his old life’s challenges and what they took in mental effort, compromising, and maneuvering to reach his goals or to just not be stepped on. Nowadays his problems could be resolved by cutting them apart. Literally. And currently, his problem was getting to the next rank and being ready for whatever the stalking kraken threw at them.

Or he would, if they could find their quarry.

“[Do you sense it? Maybe it left. Do krakens stay in place often? You wouldn’t know, I guess. You weren’t born one. What are humans like, by the way? Do you have multiple arms as well? What am I saying; everyone has multiple arms.]”

“[Maurice?]”

The hermit crab’s eye stalks turned to look at Henry from his usual perch. Somehow, their travel situation reminded Henry of motorbikes with sidecars. The cheerful voice rang in Henry’s mind. “[That’s me!]”

“[What did we say about communication?]”

Maurice rubbed his pincers together in thought. “[One question at a time?]”

“[Yup. Otherwise I just can’t answer you.]”

They swam quietly for a few seconds, and Henry felt a memory crawl out of his subconscious and sink in his stomach.

He reminded himself of his father.

Henry turned to the quiet crab. “[Snakes don’t have arms. Serpents either. Or worms. There’s a few more.]”

“[Oooh. A serpent like the one you beat? You sure it was… umm… like me?]”

“[D-Rank?]”

“[Yes, that. Are you sure it was D-Rank and not like you?]”

Henry slowed down and fully faced the crab. “[Why do you keep asking me that?]”

Maurice's eye stalks shifted away. Then they turned back. “[What’s land like? Are there shells there? And if humans live on land, can they go in the water? Can humans swim?]”

Henry rolled his eyes and smiled at the blatant subject-changing technique. “[Yes. Humans go in the water once they learn how to swim. And land’s like the bottom of the ocean. Sort of. Without the water.]”

Maurice oohed, and Henry scanned the sea floor for movement. They were swimming circles around the reef in which they’d met the Goliath kraken. So far there was no trace of the monster, only a few Riptides and other low-level denizens.

“[Keep an eye out for caverns. Or large dens,]” said Henry after a few moments. As he spoke, he glanced above and around for something camouflaged.

Henry wondered if there was a clone watching them right now. It hadn’t attacked while he’d stocked up on Hoard Vitals charges, but he knew that as soon as they engaged with the Goliath–if they found it–the clones would show up. Just as it had when they were attacked by the ants.

Which reminded him, they were going to spend some time there soon. Henry wanted whatever abilities they might have, and so did Maurice.

In the meantime, he glanced toward the crab. “[Remember the plan?]”

“[Yes. We find the kraken, I kill it, then I take the Core and you can have the rest.]”

Henry considered chucking the crab down and letting him fend for himself–and it was himself, not itself, or herself. That had been Maurice’s declaration after the crab had deliberated with his newly gained voice, right after he finished burying Henry in questions.

Henry poked the crab with the tip of his arm. “[Not that. That’s not the plan I’m speaking of. And I need the Core, remember? I need to get to D-rank as well. I meant about the clones.]”

“[Oh. We don’t use everything so we’re ready if it attacks?]”

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

“[When it attacks. I’m sure it will.]”

Finding the last area they saw the Goliath kraken at, Henry swam in wider and wider circles, studying the seabed and reefs for any spot that the juvenile kraken could be. Around ten minutes later, Maurice stopped mid-sentence–a feat Henry hadn’t known the crab was capable of–and pointed down at a deep hole under a particularly large reef. “[Maybe there?]”

Henry slowed and eyed the large hole, then nodded. “[Yeah. I think it would fit. Or there might be something else in there.]”

Henry swam down, breathing slowly, and tried to feel for thoughts and intents through his telepathic Trait. As soon as he sat on top of the reef, behind the entrance, he felt it.

Annoyance.

“[It knows we’re here,]” said Henry. He turned to Maurice. “[You ready? Remember, the brain’s right above the eyes. Focus your bubbles there.]”

“[Yes. That’s the thinky-part, right?]”

“[Right,]” said Henry as he eyed the drop. They needed to confirm it was their target first; if it was, then maybe keeping it trapped in its den was best. Henry paused and brought Maurice closer to his face. “[Can you see in the dark?]”

Maurice's eye stalks turned to Henry, then leaned over to look down, then back to Henry. “[...I don’t want to answer that.]”

“[I’ll pull you up really fast. Just pinch my arm if you see it. Or if you see anything move.]”

Maurice seemed to squirm a bit and even slowly receded within his multicolored shell. “[Okay.]” Then the crustacean popped back out. “[This is like a job, right?]”

Henry eyed the crab and felt the anticipation emanating from him. As if he’d just laid a trap and was watching him about to step on it. It was his turn to not want to answer a question, but he wanted to move things along. And he’d be lying if he said the crab wasn’t entertaining. “[Yes. It’s a job, I guess.]”

The eye stalks bobbed. “[That means I get something for doing a job, right?]”

Henry stared back and resolved to tell the crab less about how the world worked in the future. “[I’m lowering you now.]”

----------------------------------------

Maurice was having the time of his life. Its life? Neither of them sounded bad, really, though he opted for the first option.

Henry had explained some of that stuff early on. Back then, though, most of it flew over Maurice’s head. Now that he had settled into his new cognitive abilities and could understand nuance better, he could ask for all the clarifications he could ever want.

Henry was very helpful. Very knowledgeable as well, though it took him effort to keep up with the blitzing speed at which Maurice lived life. He often asked Maurice to slow down and ask questions one at a time, but that wasn’t how Maurice did things.

“I’m just gifted. Not everyone’s as lucky as you are, Maurice.”

Maurice kept his mind busy as the tentacle lowered slowly over the den’s entrance.

“Maurice. Maurrice.” He liked how the r’s rolled in his mind.

He snipped off a bit of coral and munched on it. It wasn’t bad. But meat was better.

The dark cavern extended ahead, and Maurice peered in. His pincer was already wrapped around Henry’s tentacle, ready to pinch.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed a few things. The den was bare. Mainly sand and gravel with the reef-stone on top. Dug recently, he concluded.

And then, yellow eyes. Red skin.

Maurice pinched. It was stronger than he intended and he expected blood to flow, but there was none. Which ground one of his trains of thought to a halt. “How is Henry so strong? He’s a lower rank than me. This is crazy. And amazing.”

There were so many things to see and discover. Answers to find. Maybe that’s why he’d gotten his class? Henry explained that nomads were people who traveled and lived in many places. That matched the understanding Maurice had gotten from the description, though he hadn’t had that many words to describe his impressions at first. And it fit who Maurice thought he was perfectly.

The yellow eyes surged forward right as Maurice was pulled away. He tried pinching again, a bit stronger. It still didn’t break through. “Incredible.”

Maurice was finally above the reef, and Henry’s large shape loomed over. He’d grown a bit in the last few days. Thanks to all that work making shells.

“[Ouch. Stop it. Did you see it?]”

Maurice’s right pincer twitched before he remembered he had a better way to communicate now. “[Yes! It’s in there. It’s coming out.]”

Maurice felt anticipation and excitement from Henry, which echoed his own feelings.

Henry was easy to understand. Often. Sometimes his intentions and feelings got complicated and Maurice struggled to understand them, but in moments like these? As easy to see as the sun in the sky.

One of his eyes looked up, and yes indeed, the sun was easy to see.

It made Maurice trust Henry more. That hadn’t been an issue when Maurice had just come to consciousness, but the more he thought of it, the more he was sure he’d been lucky.

Any other being might have turned Maurice into a snack. Instead, he found a friend.

The Goliath kraken swam up and faced them. It was twice as large as Henry, and even Maurice couldn’t see its levels. If he’d been alone, he wouldn’t have tried this fight. At all.

The kraken swam toward them. Even the sun disappeared behind the monster, and Maurice stopped himself from hiding within his shell.

“[Let’s do this,]” said Henry.

Maurice shivered, then aimed.

“For friends. And adventure. And tasty meat. And maybe more shells? I should ask Henry to find me better shells. Maybe a glass shell from the ants? Henry would–”

Blood surged as Henry cut into the kraken’s eye, missing the target he’d talked about. Maurice missed as well. The kraken had lifted a wall of flesh to stop his imploding bubbles, then quickly healed the damage they'd dealt to it.

Maurice shut down all of his different thoughts but one. It was time to focus.