The kraken and the annoying crab crested over the rocks, forcing the small fish to scatter, and placidly swam down toward the Hammerock Crab. It started clicking its pincer threateningly, but that didn’t seem to deter the kraken.

Are they stupid?

Stormsong narrowed her eyes and clicked in annoyance. They were just D-Rank. That thing was a level 46 C-Rank. It was most certainly capable of infusing its abilities at this point in its life.

“I’m not risking my life to save strangers,” she warningly clicked toward Moon as she watched the oversized pincer begin to glow.

The kraken dithered for a second before it started circling the crab.

Moon grunted. “Wasn’t expecting you to. And do you mind reeling back the attitude? You’re not a calf anymore. About time you stop acting like one, Seasong.”

“It’s Stormsong. And I’ll act however I damn want,” she spat before swimming away from the older dolphin.

She was sick of him. Sick of all of them. She couldn’t wait to hit B-Rank and just leave.

Turning her attention toward the fight ahead, she found the kraken to the right as the crab swung its oversized pincer down. The kraken raised a couple of arms to stop the blow as it kept moving forward to attack, and Stormsong winced in anticipation.

Clearly, the kraken didn’t know much about conceptual attacks because, to Stormsong’s new senses, that infused arm might as well have been a collapsing reef. And clearly enough, the momentum of the kraken was completely ground to a halt as the unstoppable swing continued unimpeded until the kraken was pushed through the bedrock, cracking the stone the crab had been standing on.

Stormsong grit her teeth and softly clicked in her throat. Maybe she should give them a fin. It didn’t look like Moon had any intent to intervene. That little crab might be annoying, but it wasn’t worth letting them die.

The dolphin tensed and readied herself to shoot forward, but to her shock, the kraken was still moving.

It pulled itself out of the ground, broken rocks falling off of it as it unearthed itself. Stormsong expected to see blood and mushed tentacles, but the kraken was—fine.

A few of its arms had gripped the crab, while another was rippling and growing lighter, until it became some weird articulated joint with a sharp spike at its end. Then the spike shot down and pierced through the crab’s carapace, quickly followed by a sudden and violent blue flash of light, which turned on and off for a few seconds until the crab stopped moving.

The dolphin’s eyes widened. She didn’t even dare breathe. What is happening? Is it dead? How?!

The kraken seemed to relax, then the dead crab disappeared within the kraken’s storage Skill. The guest turned then swam toward them, no injury to be seen.

“[Sorry about that. I didn’t expect it to hit that hard. Do you think we should leave? Would that have alerted other things nearby?]”

Stormsong blinked at the kraken and identified it again.

[Krakenbane Wanderer (D) - Lvl 63]

While Moon clicked back in response, Stormsong looked back at the site of the fight. At the empty kraken-sized hole in the rock.

The Hammerrock crab had been almost 100 levels above the kraken. How did it die so fast?

And why is the little crab looking at me like that? Why does it look… smug?

***

“[We impressed them. We showed them that we aren’t to be messed with. We showed them that I’m the strongest crab. Can I get a bite of the crab, actually? But yes, we showed them. We’re the strongest, baddest–]”

“[Calm down, Maurice,]” said Henry as he followed the two dolphins. A moment later, he brought the crab closer. “[Wait, you can feel their emotions?]”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Miffed at having his proclamations interrupted, the crab crossed his arms. “[No. But it’s an educated guess. I’m sure of it. Can I get some crab now?]”

“[Wait until we stop. I can’t cut it up while it’s in my Maw.]”

“[Have you tried?]”

Henry was about to respond when he realized that no, he hadn’t tried to do that, in fact. Was that even possible?

They were slowly swimming back toward the dolphin’s home, taking the long way around while keeping their eyes peeled for any other beasties to hunt.

Henry focused on the crab he knew was in his maw and tried to grab one of its legs. No matter how he tried, whenever his attention wrapped around the dead crab’s limb, he felt the weight of the whole body fall into his mental grip. Which, he was pretty sure, meant that if he pulled that leg, the whole crab would come out.

“[No, it doesn't work. I can’t just grab the leg.]”

“[Dang it. Skills are a scam…]”

Henry watched Stormsong dispatch some sort of flatfish and decided it was time for another test. He pulled one of the giant teeth out of his Maw and started working it in a limb, surrounding the base of the tooth with the extremity of his arm. He planned on turning that flesh into bone, encasing a good portion of the tooth in it. Then, higher up the arm, he formed two simple joints and began the process of stabilizing everything, using half of his Octominds to enhance his focus and make sure everything was as it should be.

The whole thing took barely a minute. The Octominds were much more efficient at narrowing his focus, allowing him to somehow keep up with multiple thought processes at once.

Henry marveled at the assistance he had at his disposal. He hadn’t even begun pushing the capabilities of his Octominds.

Once he was done, he had a second arm, similar to the one he’d used to kill the crab, but this one was tipped with a giant tooth. Henry turned the extremity around, flexing the joints and testing the alignment. The movement was satisfyingly smooth. He could put a good deal of strength behind the claw as well, which he looked forward to testing.

Good thing Stormsong was done with her flatfish.

Henry looked up to find both dolphins staring at the new limb and at the dangerous-looking tooth.

“[Ah, are you done with the flatfish? I’ll get it.]”

Henry wasn’t sure he wanted to hear any comments on his abilities from these strangers. Maybe next time he should experiment alone, but then again, the whole point of this excursion was to test and work on his abilities.

Henry shoved the poorly battered flatfish into storage, wincing as he felt the weighty fish drop in his proverbial stomach. Maw was getting full. He might have enough space for one or two other monsters, at most, at which point he needed to start taking things out.

“We can head back in and drop everything before heading back out. If you’re both still capable of going?” asked Moon once Henry let him know.

“[Of course!]” said Maurice. Stormsong clicked her agreement as well–and this time, she didn’t knock one of Henry’s arms as she swam past him. Moon began gaining on him, but stopped at head level. The dolphin’s eye swiveled down to the tooth, and this time, he spoke directly to Henry’s mind. “[Interesting find you’ve got there. Have you tried channeling your mana into it?]”

Henry looked at his arm, then back up to the dolphin. “[The tooth?]”

Moon swam past. “[You should try it. But definitely be careful with it.]”

Henry watched the dolphin swim away. “[What do you mean?]”

The dolphin didn't respond. Instead, he began swimming faster. “Let’s hurry up. We don’t have all day.”

Henry grumbled under his breath and pumped his arms. He really needed to work on his speed. Somehow.

As Henry followed the dolphins, he kept an eye on his surroundings, while Maurice peered at everything that moved. Slowly, Henry began pushing mana down his newly-made arm before he caught himself and stopped. Instead, he ordered the Octomind of the tooth-weaponized arm to pull mana to the tooth.

It was an interesting sensation. Both familiar and alien, having a detached mini-mind independently giving orders in his body. A mind that knew all his tricks and methods.

The Octomind created a feeling of suction in the arm, inhaling the mana out of Henry’s arm. Mana rushed out, obeying the vacuum created by the Octomind, and his arm began to glow progressively brighter. When the mana reached the tooth, Henry felt a small resistance. A tiny barrier that soon cracked. Mana rushed into the tooth.

It was as if a leak was sprung.

Mana rushed down faster, the tooth drinking every drop of it. Henry, alarmed, considered stopping the flow, but before he reached a decision the process was over.

His mana settled, and the draw eased up on his reserves.

Henry lifted his arm and looked at the tooth as a shiver ran through him. The improvised weapon had lost that bone-white color he was familiar with. Instead, the tooth had become black. A deep, mind-numbing black that seemed to drink in the light around it, and then–it began clearing up. Slowly, the ominous darkness seemed to fade away, leaving bone-white tooth.

A moment later, the crab’s voice reached his mind. “[Can I have one of those?]”