Apocalypse Reset: My Crab Can Heal the World!

"Ugh, Roscoe, where did you put the crate with the B Rank hauberk? We're supposed to sell that tonight."

Yunie pops up from the storehouse, looking around for her younger brother.

"We got a visitor, sis!"

Yunie jumps to her feet, wiping the dust off her clothes and scurrying up to the front. Who could it be this early? The Guild doesn't start offering quests until an hour from now.

"Oh, Barns!" she says with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Nice to meet you, little man," Barns laughs, patting Yunie's kid brother on the head. "You look like you're all ready for an adventure yourself!"

"That's right!" Roscoe exclaims. He's just a kid, but he has an adventurous spirit, and wears a long cloak around well-tailored leather armor. "I'm going to be an Adventurer soon, and then you can take me with you, legendary hero!"

"Hm, you'll have to talk to Yunie about that," Barns smirks, looking to his associate. "I have a selfish request, Yunie. Can I look through the quests before anyone else?"

Yunie is surprised. "Why, of course. Looking for anything in particular?"

"I need to get stronger," Barns admits. "And I can't just rely on fighting monsters to do it. I think by doing quests, I can achieve that."

"You hear that, Roscoe? The legendary hero says doing your daily quests will make you stronger."

"Give me one, too!"

Yunie hands her younger brother a piece of paper. She'd finished writing out all the quest details just a few minutes ago.

"Pull one hundred weeds...what the heck! This is boring!"

"If you can do that, you'll be eligible for even more difficult quests, Roscoe. Everyone starts somewhere!"

He grumbles a bit but still excitedly runs out of the room.

"What is he, twelve, thirteen?" Barns asks after he runs out. "I knew well how to fight by then."

"Roscoe and I aren't exactly the 'legendary hero' type. Honestly, he never used to be like this before the apocalypse. I think you inspired him! All he wants to talk about is how cool you looked when you saved everyone and brought them back on that ship."

"I know I'm busy, but I'd be glad to teach him some basics," Barns suggests. Yunie huffs and points toward the stack of papers.

"You said you want a quest, right? Focus on that."

Barns rifles through the papers. Since there were no more monsters in Dimartino, most of the quests involved collecting and gathering. However, there's one that catches his eye.

"Defeat 10 Sea Slimes. What the heck is a Sea Slime?"

"Oh," Yunie says, returning to the desk and looking at the sheet. "Yeah, we get these sometimes. Usually I send Godrick for this kind of thing. They wash up on the eastern shore, and if we let them build up too much, they start moving inland. They've caused some close calls with other Adventurers out gathering."

"This is exactly the kind of thing I need," Barns says, pocketing the paper. "Any other quests like this?"

Yunie shakes her head. "Not today, but every Saturday we receive a request to clear out Mantis Shrimp on the west coast."

"I'll check that out too - can I meet you here Saturday morning?"

"Of course. I'm surprised you're interested in these. You know you won't be able to resurrect them, right? These are just animal monsters."

"It's for training. Alright, Yunie! Catch you later!"

Later that day, Barns finds the Sea Slimes.

"Alright, you little bastards," Barns mumbles under his breath while he prepares his gear. "Time to get some experience."

He rushes out of the bushes near the beachline, where a small herd of Sea Slimes have gathered - fourteen, by his count. Each one is a bit smaller than him.

As he runs toward them, he unleashes a volley of water blades from his sword, Crashing Wave. They pepper the group of slimes, but it doesn't appear to do any damage.

'Makes sense, I guess,' Barns thinks. 'These things look like they're mostly water.'

As he reaches the first slime, he cleaves it in half, killing it instantly, but his sword gets stuck in its gooey flesh. He tries to pull it out as one of the slimes, now very much aggressive, tries to headbutt him.

He kicks it out of the way, and it blubbers backward. No sword is no problem - he has a new weapon to play with.

He clenches his right fist, and three sharp prongs of silver retract from his glove. They're glistening and sharp - like a wolverine's claws. He punches one of the slimes with the claws, and they easily tear through the gelatinous flesh. What's more, as the holy blades pierce the slime, it lights up with powerful light from within and explodes.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Barns roars, beckoning the rest of the slimes on. He leaps into a frenzy, tearing through them like a bull in a china shop, destroying them completely and sending explosions of light through the area each time his claws penetrate deep into the monster's flesh.

One of the Sea Slimes manages to flank him, and thrashes his back with all its might - but Barns was ready for the attack. A well-timed 'Harden Body' sends the slime richocheting off of him. He dives for it and slashes it with his claws, launching pieces of it into the bright blue sky.

When he finally finishes, he's breathing deep and full. It was barely a warm-up for him - his blood is pumping through every muscle, and he could do it all again a hundred times. Unfortunately, there's no prey left.

[Level up! You are now Level 3. Your HP and MP completely recovered.]

He hadn't taken any damage, so he doesn't notice the recovery effect. Still, he felt stronger. The window in front of him indicates that his Strength and Control both increased by one point.

A second window appears.

[As your Control is now 3, you have unsealed a locked skill.

New Skill: Flame Thrash.

Effect: When channeling this skill, your attacks will do additional fire damage. You may also use this skill to create fires.]

Barns smirks. "I remember this skill..." he says quietly to himself. It's the first skill he ever learned to use, from his first life. Any member of the Flame Clan that couldn't use this was considered a failure.

He scares himself as his fists light up in flames. He was thinking so much about Flame Thrash that he accidentally activated it. He dispels the flames, chuckling to himself.

"I must've had way more 'Control' in my past life, huh?" He looks out to the ocean. If he kept increasing his Control, would he be able to gain all his old abilities back? That would certainly provide him with the boost of power he's looking for.

"But to do that, I need to continue leveling," Barns says. "I've got a long way to go."

On that note, Barns leaves the beach, and the sea slime chunks slowly dissolve away into the sand. He knew how he'd spend the rest of the day - practicing 'Claws of Death'.