"Deal!" shouted Li Wei in his head.
"Alright. Throw your bait, I'll hook the salmon. It's heavy so I'll help you. The item is in the first Salmon's mouth," answered the Lake Fairy.
Hearing that, Li Wei quickly pulled out his empty hook before placing a bait at its end and throwing it back to the Lake. Not even 5 seconds went by before he felt a heavy pull coming from his fishing rod.
Immediately, Li Wei pulled his fishing rod, he was surprised to see how light it was since at the end of the rod, was a massive Salmon.
[System prompt: You have successfully caught a level 8 Salmon. Congratulations. You are awarded 400 exp]
"Wow, 400 exp?" thought Li Wei. At the same time, all the nearby fishermen turned to look at him. Level 8 Salmons were clearly fishes that could only be found in the depths of the lake. There was no way they would come close to the surface, so how did he succeed in catching one? But they did not say anything, everyone had their own tricks.
Placing the Salmon on a large net, Li Wei quickly pressed onto its mouth and place his hand inside its mouth. "Collect"
The fishermen were giving curious looks at this weird behavior. But Li Wei pretended to be checking the quality of the salmon. Seeing that a new item appeared in his inventory, he quickly turned to throw another bait.
In his inventory, a small blue pendant, [Tear of Fairies] was added to the lot. It formed part of the deal with the fairy, the fairy would give him a piece of equipment and help him win the competition and in exchange, he would have to return the favor in the future.
Li Wei was doubtful upon hearing this condition, helping them in the future sounded very vague but when the fairy pinched in the pendant, he quickly accepted as the Lake Fairy assured him that they would only contact him when he would be mature enough to handle the situation.
It was a very fishy situation, but when he thought about it, he was the absolute beneficiary of this deal. Not only will he win the competition and obtained a piece of equipment, but from the looks of things, he also secured himself a quest in the future. To top it off, he was being showered with exp!
With only 45 minutes left before the end of the competition, Li Wei quickly pulled out salmons after salmons. Despite their huge size, Li Wei had no problem lifting them and placing them on his net. All the nearby fishermen were not even focusing on their own fishing rods; they all looked at Li Wei with surprised expressions and dropped jaws as he slowly built his mountain of Salmons.
[System prompt: You have successfully caught a level 8 Salmon. Congratulations. You are awarded 400 exp]
[System prompt: You have successfully caught a level 9 Salmon. Congratulations. You are awarded 400 exp]
...
"Time is up! Everybody bring your salmons for weighing!" shouted the elderly man, whose voice was amplified by the mage.
At this point, Li Wei had pulled out more than 60 salmons and all of them were at least level 8. Just by looking at the pile of salmons, it was clear that he was the winner, just 30 salmons would have largely been enough for him to win but when the fairy asked him, he asked her to continue until the end of the competition. How could he let go of this great source of exp?
From fishing, he already collected more than 20000 exp just from the last hour; enough for him to level up. It was obviously a loophole. Normally, players would never be able to catch that much fish in a short period of time. But Li Wei put aside his principles for a moment and decided to take advantage of that. The temptation was simply too big; it was a full level for doing nothing.
Not only that, but his profession also leveled up. He was now a fisherman grade 1. Grade 1 professions naturally rewarded players and the bonus obtained for Li Wei was [Improved Sense of touch: Improves the sensitivity by 20%]
Sensitivity was a very abstract characteristic; there was no clear definition of it. Li Wei did not really think about it. He only considered it as a small bonus; he never planned to continue to train his fisherman profession.
As the fishermen heard the elderly man's voice, they woke up from their dreams and had a quick look around them to compare the piles. They were speechless to find that the rookie who just started to fish yesterday actually completely crushed them. It was unbelievable.
"You... Were you pretending to not know anything yesterday?" asked Andy but he was quickly cut by Bryan.
"How is that possible? He must have cheated somehow... It is impossible to collect this many Salmons in an hour, especially if they are that big. Even 1 day won't be enough."
"As incredible as it seems, I did not see him use any items or skills," said one of the fishermen.
"Yes, we should review..."
"Enough enough!" interjected the elderly man. "Regardless of what technique he used, there were no rules against such actions. Even you used your warrior's aura to dive into the lake; this should be a lesson for all of you to focus on fishing techniques instead of fighting ones. This is something we should implement for the next competition! For now, let's weigh your catches! I am tired after standing there all day."
"I do not agree, it..."
"Stop arguing Bryan. Being second place is good enough for you," said Andy.
"You..."
But there was nothing he could do. Everyone quickly brought their own catches to the balance except Li Wei. As he tried to lift the net, it did not even move. Now that the lake fairy was no longer helping him, there was no way for him to carry his catch.
In the end, the dejected Bryan and his sons had to lend a hand to carry the giant net to the balance. But before they lifted the net, they were stopped by the elderly man; there was no way for the balance to support that weight and instead, the mage had to estimate the weight with his levitation spell.
And like that, the ranking was decided:
1st Li Wei with 1287Kg
2nd Bryan with 592Kg
3rd John (the mage) with 513Kg
"Congratulations to all the winners. Let's distribute the prizes!"
...
Two hours later, Li Wei was sitting at the bonfire, surrounded by the fishermen. He was relieved at the results of the competition. Not only did he win 300 gold but he also obtained a large amount of exp and a piece of equipment but he did not dare take to take it out yet to examine it.
"So, tell me how you did it? What is the secret technique?" asked Bryan. The man was clearly drunk as he roughly patted Li Wei. After a few bottles of wine, Bryan already forgot about the event of the day and was already treating Li Wei as an old friend.
"That's a secret. I cannot tell you that," answered Li Wei.
"Come on, we are fellow fishermen now. Here, you should take a sip" said John while lending a bottle of wine to Li Wei.
Seeing the bottle of wine, Li Wei immediately froze. After yesterday's event which could have ended badly, there was no way he would drink that again. He politely refused but the fishermen were very persistent. 'I was very lucky to meet the lake fairies. I gained a lot from this exchange, but I must not make the same mistake twice.'
And it's like that that Li Wei's night went on, with drunk Fishermen loudly shouting and drinking.
At the same time, in the middle of the lake, two transparent silhouettes were floating above the surface of the lake. They were barely noticeable under the moonlight.
"Why did you help this human? He only helped me cure a gnome. There was no need to intervene, the other humans could have detected you."
"It was only giving him some salmons. It's no big deal considering the fish population. As for the other humans, in this environment, there is no way they would find me, regardless of how strong their detection skills are."
"Then why did you give him the Tear of Fairies? He clearly did not deserve it!"
"Maria. You are smart but at the same time stupid. It's like you noticed. His ring is special. It is, without doubt, the Ring of Chaos. That sneaky aura is so iconic. This man is destined to have a great future! You know the legends. He is the heir of Chaos! "
"But still! The Tear was meant to be given to the heir of Abyss, not the heir of Chaos… What if in the future he turns against us… Did you even inform the queen?"
"The heir of Abyss already appeared at the Arstan Empire. It would take years before she arrives here. It would be a better use to give it to that man. Now, he owes us a favor and we can even ask him to help the heir of Abyss. Anyway, throughout history, the heir of Abyss and Chaos always had good relationships. I will take full responsibility for my actions."
"Tsssk but that is not what the queen said! I will get in trouble because of you! Sigh... Well, at least you did not bring him to the altar."
"The altar? For now... Maybe in the future…"
...
The next morning, Li Wei woke up feeling much better. Having resisted to the temptation of alcohol, he was not feeling any discomfort like yesterday. Andy was already busy in the kitchen and quickly offered him some breakfast.
Since he did not want to act as a freeloader, Li Wei offered to leave a few salmons here. These could easily sell for 5 gold considering their size despite being classified as low-level creatures. Although Andy refused at first, after a quick talk with Li Wei, he ended up accepting the salmons. They could sell it later on at the nearest village.
After the breakfast, it was time to leave. Most of the community was still asleep as Li Wei bade farewell to Andy and sincerely thanked him for taking care of both him and his horse.
"That was an eventful journey... I only came here for Shining Alyssums but still, the harvest was not bad." He now only had two storage slots available and most of his items could sell for quite a bit of money or contribution points.
Since he was now alone on the road, Li Wei took out the pendant given by the Lake Fairy.
[Tear of Fairies(Grade 2)]
Intelligence +2
Wisdom +1
Effect 1: Mana Regeneration +30/minute
Effect 2: Will resonate and emit light upon receiving a specific signal from the owner of its counterpart.
It was a grade 2 equipment! It was Li Wei's first time seeing that but he was disappointed when he saw that it was tailored for mages. But still, Li Wei did not have any pendants right now. He promptly equipped it, one never had enough Mana.
As for the second effect, it was what he discussed with the Lake Fairy. He was too weak now and was of no use to them. But in the future, when he will be strong enough to assist them, then the Lake Fairy would send him a signal.
Strangely, there was no contract between the two, only a verbal agreement but considering the help he received, Li Wei promised to himself to help the Lake Fairy when the time would come.
Having sorted his equipment, Li Wei took a quick glance at his character window:
Name: Seven
Race: Human
Level: 12 (2438/30000)
Class: Warrior
Profession: Fisherman
Title: None
HP: 100/100
MP: 80/80
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 19(+2)
Vitality: 9(+1)
Intelligence: 7(+3)
Wisdom: 9(+1)
Stat Points available: 1
Skills: [Cleave], [Strengthen], [Weapon Throwing],[Howl],[Blade Draw]
Fatigue: 3%
...
One day later, at around 14:00
"Stupid rain! How unlucky am I?!" shouted Li Wei. He was about a day away from Algate City when the rain suddenly started crashing down. It was a very sudden change in the weather and Li Wei was not prepared for that. He did not even bring a coat with him and if he did not protect himself, he might be inflicted with a "Sick" status.
Already, the visibility around him was decreasing. Li Wei quickly looked around him and decided to go to one of the nearby farms, hoping to receive shelter until the end of the rain.
Fortunately for him, a family of three warmly welcomed him inside. He was even invited to spend the night there since according to the old farmer, the rain would only stop in the evening. "Trust these old bones, it only hurts like that when the rain lasts until the evening!"
Li Wei had no choice. He quickly took out some gold coins; it was something he was not lacking right now, and he did not want to look like a freeloader again.
"At least, I am only a day away from the city... And the guild's meeting is only in two days... There's a lot of time," thought Li Wei.
Inside the house, Li Wei silently practiced his Gliding Steps. The rain was not an excuse for him to slack off. After a quick session, his gliding steps now displayed (89/100) mastery points. One more day and he would finally obtain the skill.