Blackclaw Marauders? You know those people, then? What’s up with their heads? Freaky!


    [In the western seas, marauders rule in the straits where the Harbour Imperatours from the Whirlpool City cannot defend,] [Think of them as bandits on the sea, and, like many bandit fleets on the continent, these marauders regularly consume crustaceans to biologically modify themselves. Since most of them do not have systems that allow them to control how their mutations manifest via Hexichor conversion into points, they usually end up… disfigured like that.]


    You mean if I ate the fairy shrimp’s meat without having you in my neck, I’d mutate fairy shrimp traits on my body?


    [Yes.]


    How many crabs did they have to eat to have their entire heads and arms replaced with that?


    [They are the ‘Blackclaw Marauders’, one of the weaker known bandit fleets of the western seas. They are quite infamous even amongst the many criminal organisations in the Hasharana’s database,] [The Blackclaw Marauders do not have an established outpost. We believe they drift around solely on their ships, making it difficult for the Hasharana stationed in this region to track them down and eliminate them. However, it is rumoured that wherever they settle down somewhere for repairs, they always make sure to choose a location with plenty of crabs for them to chew on—suffice it to say they probably eat more crabs in a single week than most men ever do in their entire lives.]


    Fast! And strong!


    [Indeed. And the Blackclaw Marauders are known to be particularly cruel and vindictive during their pillages as well. If they catch you, they will probably enslave you in their galleys, and you will never see the light of day again,] [That is, if they do not simply pluck off your limbs and decide to turn you into bait for catching more crabs. That is also very much a possibility.]


    their


    [... Do not tell me you are getting cold feet, now.]


    [Did you not slay the fairy shrimp leviathan with a less than five percent chance of success?]


    …


    I don’t suppose I can beat them, right? I mean, I’ve never been in a fight before!


    [Even if you knew how to fight, I would not recommend going up one against fifty with superior battle experience and weaponry. Please just run.]


    Where? Is there anywhere I can–


    [This appears to be a rather large landmass. Skate west and begin ascending a series of small hills. There is a cliff overlooking the entire landmass next to a waterfall—you can lose them there.]


    now


    Whoa!


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey–


    [The Blackclaw Marauders’ preferred food of choice is the ‘Lightfoot Crab’also known as the ‘Red Rock Crab’, one of the more common species of crab in the western seas,] [Most adults of the species are mottled or spotted brown, pink, or yellow, and their Hexichor Art is ''Aqua Volley'', which allows them to spit high-pressure streams of Hexichor-infused blood in response to external threats. Now, if a little lightfoot crab spit seawater at you, it would not really hurt, but when you scale a lightfoot crab up to the shape and size of a human and then do a little biological modification, and then have them spit their own Hexichor-infused blood instead of seawater, which has far more punch than normal seawater–]


    If I get hit once, I’ll die?


    [Perhaps. Or perhaps not.]


    How useful you are, Upgrade my speed level to five! That’s… um, four times four is sixteen! That’ll be sixteen points, right?


    <hr>


    <div>


    [Speed: 4 → 5]


    <div>


    [Indeed. You have fifty points remaining.]


    I have so much left? Then, can I–


    [Please refrain,] [I have a proposal to make once you reach the top of the cliff.]


    [See that small boulder next to the waterfall? Pick it up, throw it off the edge, and then climb down the cliff on one of the vines.]


    … Oh!


    plop


    Y-You’re a genius, Archive!


    N-Now I just h-have to climb back up–


    [I detect many hollow spaces behind the waterfall,] [Please, order me to deposit fifty points and unlock the tier two mutation second to the left]


    W-What do you mean? I–


    [–please just do it–]


    –deposit fifty points and unlock the tier two mutation second to the left!


    reflected


    <hr>


    <div>


    was


    was


    <hr>


    … Nope, Can’t walk… anymore. Need to lay down. It’s safe to rest here… right?


    [I believe so,] [I hope you do not roll in your sleep. Three rolls to your left and you would fall out of the cave and down into the basin. Perhaps you should move a little bit deeper into the cave.]


    Right… I’ll do just that–


    swore