Chapter 12 Fishing

Chapter 12 Fishing

"Swish!"

An attack landed.

Ren Yu was hit with intense pain, letting out a scream as she entered a dazed state.

It wasn't that she failed to dodge; she simply didn't notice the small monster.

Jiang Xujie was startled and quickly looked up to see a giant scorpion on the metal frame above. He hurriedly directed his pet to attack, but it couldn't reach, and the zombie couldn't climb up either.

Seeing the giant scorpion about to use a skill, he pushed his pet forward to block it.

Don't let the female hero get killed again.

In fact, Ren Yu didn't lose much health, and the bleeding from her wound was minimal. However, the pain and the negative status effect made her feel dizzy and nauseous.

As soon as the negative status ended, Ren Yu jumped back and fired a shot into the air.

Bang!

The secondary damage triggered, followed by a Flame Burn, and the giant scorpion fell onto the metal frame. The loot appeared next to the scorpion's corpse, but due to the distance, they couldn't pick it up.

2 copper coins, 1 scorpion stinger, 1 piece of wood, 1 copper ore—she could only watch helplessly as she couldn't reach them.

"There's no way up, no path!" Jiang Xujie scratched his head.

Ren Yu also searched the area but found no way up.

But looking up, there were quite a few small monsters on the metal frame.

Not just on the metal frame, but occasionally, the silhouettes of small monsters flashed by the unsealed windows.

It seemed there were other types of monsters besides the giant scorpion.

"If there are monsters up there, there must be a path." Ren Yu tried to lift the protective net to enter the building, but it was ineffective.

After another thorough search, she realized she couldn't get in, probably needing some kind of trigger.

They had to give up for now.

Ren Yu: "Forget it, let's continue clearing the small monsters on the ground."

"Okay!"

The two continued deeper, working together to clear the monsters.

They would occasionally stop to rest and recover their fatigue.

This was indeed a great place to farm monsters. Due to the large area, the number of small monsters was substantial. By noon, Jiang Xujie successfully reached level three, tears streaming down his face in excitement.

Without the female hero leading him, he didn't know how many days it would take.

"Thank you, female hero, thank you, master!"

At level 3, he could use the higher-level skill 'Soul Split,' which he cast himself rather than through his pet.

In battle, he could join his pet in attacking, giving him an advantage over other players. Ah, the springtime for summoners is coming!!

Ren Yu, who was good at ruining the mood, said, "Give me the materials!"

"Sure, sure." Jiang Xujie nodded eagerly.

40 scorpion stingers, 36 pieces of wood, 12 pieces of cotton cloth, 7 bundles of cotton thread, 6 pieces of wild boar meat, 14 bundles of hemp rope, and 5 intact raccoon skins, 3 cat claws.

Ren Yu: "The quantities are wrong, you gave me too much."

"Not at all, not at all, thank you, female hero, for helping me level up!"

Alright, she still had a few strips of cloth. She'd give him a better belt when she found one.

After all, he was someone who brought her good luck!

"What does the female hero plan to do next?"

"Fishing."

Jiang Xujie: "Then I'll go explore and see if I can find more monster farming spots."

Ren Yu couldn't agree more. Go ahead, little lucky star!

They parted ways.

Ren Yu sprinted back to the residential area, fully recovered her fatigue, and headed to the stream. Instead of fishing immediately, she focused on the NPC on the water's surface.

She used to ignore NPCs, but after finding the skill book, things were different.

After observing for a moment, Ren Yu decisively entered the water and swam toward the NPC.

Upon entering the water, she automatically switched to swimming mode. Her movements weren't particularly smooth but weren't clumsy either, better than her previous doggy paddle.

A five-minute progress bar appeared beside her.

It seemed she could only swim for five minutes. After 5 minutes, she might start losing health or suffer some other negative effect.

"The distance isn't far, it shouldn't take 5 minutes."

It felt close, but it took her 3 minutes and 46 seconds to reach the destination.

Ren Yu climbed onto the bamboo raft.

Fortunately, there was a place to stand; if it had popped up with something like 'not allowed to board,' she would have had to rush back desperately.

As soon as she stood on the bamboo raft, the progress bar stopped advancing and disappeared from Ren Yu's sight.

After some thought, Ren Yu jumped back into the water, and the progress bar reappeared, but she noticed that the time had been restored by about five seconds.

"It seems I can refill the progress bar while on the bamboo raft."

She climbed back onto the bamboo raft near the NPC, who automatically displayed subtitles: "Chase, chase, chase! I've even hidden in the water, and you're still chasing me!"

Then what?

Ren Yu stared intently at the old man.

"Chase, chase, chase! I've even hidden in the water, and you're still chasing me!"

"Chase, chase, chase! I've even hidden in the water, and you're still chasing me!"

The repetitive content suggested no further gains, so Ren Yu sat down regretfully, partly to wait for the progress bar to recover and partly to try fishing from this spot.

"Chase, chase, chase! I've even hidden in the water, and you're still chasing me!"

Being too close to the old man, within his trigger range, he kept talking non-stop.

"You came all this way, don't tell me you want me to run for nothing!"

Ren Yu was so bored that she actually engaged in pointless dialogue with the NPC.

After speaking, she activated her skill, and the fishing line automatically cast into the water, displaying a 25-second countdown in front of her.

During fishing, any attack could not be resisted or countered, but she could see the text that appeared in her field of vision.

"Sigh, you're right!"

Ren Yu's eyelids twitched; the NPC's words had changed!

What did he mean by 'you're right'?

Was the nonsense she just blurted out a trigger phrase?

"In recognition of your relentless pursuit, I'll give you this tattered straw cloak."

After the old man spoke, the straw cloak on his body peeled off... one layer, and automatically flew into Ren Yu's inventory.

The fishing countdown ended.

"You have obtained 1 carp, 2 skill experience points, and 2 character experience points."

Who cared about the fish at this moment?

Ren Yu hurriedly opened her inventory to check the straw cloak.

"Straw Cloak (Legendary), can resist all negative states and perfectly reflect them. Special item, no level restriction [Equip]"

Ren Yu's breathing became slightly disordered; it was an item with golden text.

The highest quality grade for equipment was 'Perfect,' and 'Legendary' was just one step below perfect. What incredible luck today!

However, it was a tiny bit disappointing that the straw cloak only worked against negative states and had no other attribute bonuses.

Ren Yu smiled contentedly: "Not bad, not bad at all. One shouldn't be too greedy!"

She equipped it with one click.

The straw cloak flew out of her inventory and covered her head, her body flashing with light, and then the cloak disappeared, leaving only a faint golden glow.

Ren Yu looked up and fixed her gaze on the old man's bamboo hat.

What's the point of playing a game without being a little greedy?

"This bamboo hat looks like a good thing too. Old sir, did you make it yourself?"

"Chase, chase, chase! I've even hidden in the water, and you're still chasing me!"

"I want this bamboo hat!" Ren Yu changed her approach (command).

She firmly believed that getting the straw cloak was related to the joke she had made.

So she tried different ways to converse with the NPC.

"This bamboo hat is quite nice. I wonder where you got it from, sir. Could you please tell me more?"

Ren Yu even clasped her hands together.

"Chase, chase, chase! I've even hidden in the water, and you're still chasing me!"

It seemed there was little hope!

"You came all this way, don't tell me you want me to run for nothing!"

The bamboo hat was probably unobtainable, but she wondered if she could get another layer of the straw cloak.

"Chase, chase, chase! I've even hidden in the water, and you're still chasing me!"

Alright, no need to push the NPC too hard.

Ren Yu sat down and continued fishing.

"You have obtained 1 carp, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

"Fishing... 25, 24, 23... 3, 2, 1"

"You didn't obtain anything. Please try again."

Again!

"You have obtained 1 worn-out shoe, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

Ren Yu: ? ? ?

Once more!

"You have obtained 1 carp, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

...

"You have obtained 1 tattered fishing net, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

With enough attempts, you can catch anything.

"You have obtained 1 worn-out shoe, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

Another worn-out shoe, it could match the one from before.

"You have obtained 1 mackerel, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

"You have obtained 1 carp, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

"You have obtained 1 crucian carp, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

A crucian carp finally appeared.

"You didn't obtain anything..."

"You have obtained 1 clam shell, 2 skill experience, and 2 character experience."

...

After more than an hour, her basic fishing skill leveled up to intermediate, and Ren Yu was almost sick of fishing.

"Through your diligent efforts, your 'Basic Fishing' has been upgraded to 'Intermediate Fishing.' The success rate has increased to 50%, and you have mastered more advanced swimming techniques."

Ren Yu let out a long breath.

This spot yields the most carp, followed by crucian carp, with mackerel being the least common.

There were also some junk items that she discarded directly to avoid cluttering her inventory.

43 carp, 15 crucian carp, 6 mackerel, and 1 clam shell, totaling 148 character experience points and 148 skill experience points.

Failing yielded no experience at all.

Ren Yu stood up and walked back and forth on the bamboo raft to stretch her body and recover some stamina.

She noticed that when her stamina dropped to a certain level, the physical sensation became quite noticeable.

Besides feeling tired, the stiffness from maintaining the same posture for a long time was very uncomfortable.

She would push herself harder later to catch more fish and sell grilled fish in the evening.

While relaxing, she inadvertently kept getting closer to the old man, causing him to repeat his nagging incessantly.

Text messages kept popping up above the old man, filling the void above him.

Finally, after a moment of silence, perhaps because he was tired of talking, a new surprise came unexpectedly.

"Your constant circling is making me dizzy. Why don't you open that clam shell already?"

Ren Yu turned her head sharply.

Clam shell?

Is it the one she caught?

She swore she had given up trying to get anything from the old man.