ocean-life Book 5: Chapter 33: Crabbing
Book 5: Chapter 33: Crabbing
Book 5: Chapter 33: Crabbing
Heretical Fishing
Sergeant Snips hated that she’d missed the honeymoon camping trip, along with all the relaxation, fun, and delicious food no doubt involved. But as she peered out at her many followers, seeing their bodies drifting this way and that in the tumultuous current, her disappointment was all but forgotten.
They were at the bottom of a vast ravine between two seas, its walls sheer and smooth, worn down by the ocean’s currents over millennia. Once, it had likely been a tiny crack. A barely visible fault created by tectonic movement, or the attack of some long-dead being. Over the years, the clashing tides had done their worst.
As if summoned, another torrent arrived, forceful enough to obliterate all but the mightiest of crustaceans. She and her bonded familiars were safe, of course. Water flowed around the flattened bodies of the recon crabs, met its match against the stack of boulder-sized rock crabs that were the Church of Carcinization, and passed over the meditative cloud of assault shrimp.
Considering the crushing pressure, there shouldn’t be any animals down here, save for those with hard-shells: snails, limpets, and the deep-sea mussels attached to the ocean floor. The latter were what had drawn an opportunistic scout down into this channel, the crab having spotted them from afar and wondered what they tasted like. What said scout hadn’t expected, however, were the tiny creatures she’d discovered clinging to the shellfish.
Crabs. So small they resembled ants, the hardy crustaceans had somehow found a way to live in these harsh conditions. Snips had assumed the secret to their survival was their size, allowing them to hunker down and hide in gaps barely larger than themselves.
She’d never been so happy to be wrong.
Snips revelled as thousands of tiny crabs let go and flew past her, tumbling chaotically, limbs tucked into their bodies, their eyestalks flattened sideways in specialized grooves, making them look pleased by the involuntary travel.
Suddenly, a second blast of water came from the right. She’d been here an entire month, and never had she seen the opposing forces meet in the middle. She had wanted to keep this a secret until at least one of her groups of followers had experienced a breakthrough. With the arrival of this rare event, however, things changed.
She exerted her will, using every ounce of intent she had to hold two oceans at bay, and hissed an invitation across her strongest connection.
***
I had known that it was Snips calling to me. I had known she was far beneath the ocean. And I had known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the rest of her bonded crabs were there too. Rather than a cry for help, she had sent a call to action, promising that if I came to her, I wouldn’t regret it.
I’d never been so happy for Snips to be right.
The moment my light faded, Snips let go of two opposing forces, both with the power of an ocean behind them. The one pouring into the ravine from the left arrived first, sending me whirling sideways, limbs splayed, body cartwheeling at incredible speed. I nodded at the tiny little crabs spinning with me, whose expressions made them seem overtly pleased with our current predicament.
“Fellas,” I burbled. “How are we this morn—”
The second ocean cut me off, its force pouring in from my right. Or what used to be the right. My cartwheel of immaculate form turned omniangular, water blasting me from—and in—all directions. So too did the crabs fly. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they were looking even more pleased.
Some of the poor buggers sailed up into my nose, so I blew them out, returning them to their brethren as our passage finally slowed. All of us—Snips, her bonded crustaceans, thousands of those little crabs, and me—all swirled to a stop hundreds of meters above the ravine.
We slowly drifted back down, flitting through the lingering currents like leaves in the wind. I grinned all the while, closing my mouth whenever one of the happy little crabs flew too close. The last thing I wanted was to eat one by accident.
“Snips,” I said across our connection. “You’ve outdone yourself. Thank you. A thousand times, thank you, once for each of our crabby little frien... Huh?”
I focused on one of the tiny creatures. The cheeky little git had landed on the tip of my nose and tried to grab hold with a claw. Its pincer would fail, of course. An unawakened crab couldn’t hope to find purchase on my enhanced body.
Except it did find purchase. And instead of holding on, the little bastard ate me. A part of me, anyway. That first claw, smaller than the head of a needle, removed a cluster of dead skin cells and chucked it into its mouth. Its second claw followed suit, but I used the chi I was still holding to raise a barrier. I breathed a sigh of relief when its snipper bounced off. Being eaten alive by a swarm of gnat-sized crabs was not on my to-do list.
The ambitious crustacean tumbled away, having accidentally launched itself off my shielding. I raised more walls around it, watching it close, my senses flooding out. I’d only meant to ensure it didn’t absorb my chi. Instead, words flooded my vision.
Deep-Fathom Cleaner Crab
Uncommon
Found...
This time, I knew what to expect, and I waited for the updated description to arrive.
Species re-identification bonus: +10 to fishing! Congratulations!
Deep-Fathom Cleaner Crab
Rare
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Once found within the pots of crabbers and believed to have lived on the ocean floor, this crab was a good-luck charm and source of wealth. Their initial discovery revolutionized the crabbing industry, unlocked the final wave of naval classes, and eventually led to the first, second, and fourth Deep-Fathom wars. They survived the gods’ departure via hibernation.
Cleaner crabs are one of few creatures possessing the innate ability to incorporate the world’s chi into themselves, making them deadly to awakened- and non-awakened beings alike. Their potential for harm is mitigated by the spontaneous disassembly they undergo when lifted from the ocean floor. Only their claws survive this process, which are a treasured crafting ingredient.
I shook my head to clear my vision and smiled at the information. Being hit with so many implications would usually bring me grief. But this...? Almost all of it was fishing and crabbing related!
These are the kinds of revelations I can get behind!
I had so many questions. Crabbing industry? Naval classes? And if these snippy little things caused the first, second, and fourth Deep-Fathom wars... what the frack caused the third one?
Before I could find any answers, I had to make sure that crab hadn’t consumed any of my power. The description had only said they could incorporate the world’s chi, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I narrowed my eyes at the cleaner crab, ready to call all of Tropica’s forces here if needed.
Its mouthparts undulated, chewed thoughtfully, and... spat my dead skin out. It ate underwater carrion for a living, but my cells weren’t good enough? What was up with that? I’d be lying if I said my feelings weren’t hurt.
There was a blur of blue, and my reliable guard crab appeared before me, metal-spiked eyepatch giving her a severe visage, claw cocked open and ready to slam closed. “Shall I destroy it, Master?” hissed Snips.
“For hurting my feelings, or because it might have taken some of my chi?”
“Yes.”
Laughter bubbled from me. “Nahhhh. It’s all good.” I caught the cleaner in question on my palm. It tried to pinch my skin again, so I flicked it away. I focused on its clackers as it drifted down toward the seafloor. “Did you know about the chi in its claws, Snips?”
“I was not aware, Master. They did not try to eat us. An evolutionary advantage, perhaps, to not eat other crustaceans.”
“I didn’t sense it either. Something about the essence used by unawakened creatures makes it hard to notice, maybe? Which reminds me...”
I sent her the memory of the flathead. A stream of contemplative bubbles rose from her, and she drifted down to wrap her limbs around my arm, clinging to me as implications unfurled in her pretty little carapace.
But she was ripped back into the present moment later when hundreds of crustaceans—every single recon crab, Church of Carcinization member, and assault shrimp—started to glow. The world’s chi responded. It flowed in from all around with the undeniable weight and strength of an ocean. Swirling, it went over and under them, through rock and stone, and pooled at the bottom of the ravine.
One of the cleaner crabs, its body bereft of chi and movement, likely already dispatched by the collision of two oceans, drifted down into the gathered essence and... popped?
I got my first look at ‘spontaneous disassembly’. There one second, a small cloud of matter the next. As stated by the System, only its claws remained. The wisps of substance streaming from them reminded me of the smoking boots of an otherwise-exploded cartoon character.
Frack me.That was a bit much.
If my shock was a surge, the shock of Snips and her bonded souls was a tsunami. They hissed in unison at the dispersing cloud of atomized crab, clearly disturbed. I raised a layer of solid chi, stopping any more of the unawakened creatures from making contact, but the damage was already done.
The light of their impending advancement flickered, dimmed, and vanished, as did the pool of essence below, only a small portion flooding into the now-dull beings. Something changed within Joel, Jess, and the rest of the Church of Carcinization, but the same couldn’t be said of the others.
Silence settled in the ravine, then faded with a series of quiet pops as more cleaner crabs suffered spontaneous disassembly, having perished from the earlier clash of water. It was only a dozen or so, but each pop made the awakened crustaceans cringe. I smiled, rueful. Such was life for the average unawakened animal.
After such movement and violence, the stillness was unnerving. The fact it was raining tiny crabs made me feel a little better. I tried to catch them like snowflakes, but they no longer saw me as a potential snack, avoiding my outstretched hand with their rear swimmers. As they hit the bottom of the ravine, they flattened their bodies and went still, just as disquieted by their exploding brethren as Snips and the others. It was amazing how swiftly they blended into the environment. Not wanting to bother them any further, I crossed my legs and floated above the bottom of the ravine on wisps of chi, overwhelmed by all that had occurred over the last... what even was it? An hour?
Ruby had given birth to an awakened newborn. An absolute prick of a fish had been healed. Shelly had discovered her ideal. Three kids had become strategists. Claws had created a natural artifact. And now all this...
A faint needle of anxiety poked my side, but it swiftly vanished. I instinctively knew there were no more major events about to occur. The world felt still. Balanced. I breathed a sigh of relief that formed into bubbles and raced away, charting a path to the ocean’s surface.
A soft hiss drew my attention, and I glanced down to see Snips looking amused. She nodded at the object beside her. I floated closer. Not an object at all. A cluster of creatures, whose long brown shells I’d never seen before.
Species identification bonus: +10 to fishing! Congratulations!
Deep-Fathom Mussel
Common
These mussels evolved from another species following the departure of the gods.
I blinked, half expecting more information, but none came. Snips’s visible eye cleared at the same time and met mine. Despite our ability to speak directly into each other’s heads, it wasn’t necessary for us to communicate our feelings. I reached out, grabbed a mussel, and prepared to pull it away, but was stopped by a swift clack of Snips’s claws. Communication was necessary, apparently. I cocked my head in question, and she answered by ushering over the Church of Carcinization.
Honestly, they were kinda terrifying as they scuttled over, like giant underwater spiders covered in armor. Their long forelimbs reached down, their snippers going toward patches of the just-discovered shellfish. Before they removed any, however, unknown powers rushed from their cores and into their bodies.
I watched with bated breath, wishing more than ever that my senses weren’t reduced by how much essence I was feeding into the tunnels below. I’d have detected their new ability already if I were at full strength. What would this new ability be? The fact that a crabbing industry and nautical classes existed in this world at some point had made me think about gathering skills. Was that why Snips had stopped me? Could they collect them more efficiently? The heavens were the limit when it came to System frackery.
But then the transformation happened, their rigid claws shifting, changing into a new form that could much better grasp the massive mollusks. They paused just long enough to give me respectful nods, then raced around the ocean floor, collecting the mussels at incredible speed.
They looked ridiculous. I probably should have laughed until I choked. Instead, I rubbed my chin, a plan forming in the back of my mind. I... I could use this transformation. It was the perfect counter to the two belligerent fathers that were waiting for me back in Tropica. A trump card I could whip out if my other preparations failed.
A grin spread over my face and broadened as the newly transformed crab-folk swam along the ravine, plucking mussels from the stones.