Chapter 5 – Fishing day! It’s not really cheating if it’s a single-player game

🙞❤︎🙜

The next day dawned bright and clear, with blue skies and fluffy white clouds framed by the dark green leaves of the trees. The sun shone through the forest canopy, speckling the ground with patches of golden light. I took a deep breath and enjoyed the fresh scent of the loamy earth and lush vegetation.

I whistled as I watered the potato plants. They had grown to about two to three inches tall, and I was quite pleased to note that they seemed healthy. I even fancied that I could see a gentle glow surrounding them, giving them a slight mystical feeling.

Once I was done watering the plants, I set off to my chosen fishing spot. Since I lived near a river, there were plenty of places where I could try my luck catching fish, but, according to my Farm Guide, certain spots were better than others. The nearest one was only ten minutes away, but I wanted to go to a more peaceful and shaded area.

After around half an hour of walking, I found myself in a clearing that featured a pond with crystal clear water that reflected the greenery and sky above. Dragonflies and damselflies flitted around the edges of the pond, while fish swam lazily in the water. This was a vernal pond, a small, seasonal body of water that was at its peak during the spring after the snow melted. The rest of the year, it would be dried out. Since now was the only time I could fish in it, I wanted to make the most of this time. The best thing about this pond was that the killifish that lived in it were especially easy to capture.

I skimmed the description of killifish, but there wasn’t anything in particular that stood out to me.

[Killifish (Fishing Level 1):

A small, freshwater fish often found in ephemeral waters. They are able to survive in these conditions by burying their eggs in the mud at the bottom of vernal pools.]

The important thing was that my fishing level was good enough to catch them.

[Fishing: Level 1]

The pond was in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by trees. I picked a comfortable-looking spot at the edge of the water that had a large rock that I could sit on when I was tired.

Taking out a fishing rod from the System inventory, I momentarily lamented the fact that I could only use the beginner items. The primitive fishing rod I had was nothing more than a long, flexible bamboo rod that had a string tied to the end. It didn’t even have a reel.

[Bamboo Pole:

A bamboo fishing rod perfect for the fisherman who wants to feel closer to nature. The bamboo gives the rod a natural feel, while the line is made of high-quality material to provide durability and strength.]

I placed a piece of shrimp on the steel hook as bait, then cast it towards the pool.

During my travels with my parents, I had done a bit of fishing, including times when I used this type of “stick and string” fishing rod. Once a fish was on the hook, all I had to do was steadily lift the fishing rod straight up. In theory, it was quite simple, but actually catching a fish was often quite challenging.

I waited with bated breath for a nibble. After a few minutes, a notification screen popped up.

[Hit!]

Now came one of the worst parts of Adventure Incarnate! I really hated the fishing mini-game.

A little fish icon appeared on the screen in front of me and started moving up and down. I tried to match its movements with my bamboo pole, but failed, and the fish got away.

How annoying! I had hoped that, since this was now real life, I wouldn’t have to play the mini-game. Was it really too much to ask that I could fish normally?

I sat down on the rock and pondered my choices. The truth was, I didn’t really need to level fishing at all. I wanted to do it, because fishing was one of my favorite activities in the game, but it was only good for gathering fish. But the fact that I already had billions of fish in my inventory meant that the fishing skill was superfluous.

The only reason that I had loved fishing in the game was because I used a popular mod, the “Easy Fishing Hack.”

Suddenly, I realized that there was no way that my friend GIA would have played without using a lot of mods. Could there be a way for me to find these modes and activate them? I spent half an hour looking at the System menu, but I couldn’t find anything.

Gritting my teeth in determination, I cast my line again. Again and again, I played that stupid mini-game, only to fail every time. Rhythm games were my weakness. I couldn’t explain it, but for some reason I had a terrible sense of rhythm, and my reflexes had always been particularly slow. That was probably why I played a relaxing game like Adventure Incarnate instead of something more exciting, like an FPS or MOBA.

I had already given up when a notification screen popped up.

[Activate the Easy Fishing Hack?]

Heck, yes! Mentally choosing the [Accept] button, I was greeted with a very welcome System message.

[Easy Fishing Hack Activated]

In your face, mini-game! Killifish, here I come.

I cast my line towards the center of the pool once again, but this time when the notification screen popped up, there was no mini-game. All I had to do was steadily lift the bamboo fishing pole up a few feet out of the water. Then it was considered a success, and the fish was automatically added to my inventory.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” I did a little dance to celebrate.

Somehow, although one killifish was hardly important, the fact that I was able to successfully fish after hours of frustration was extremely satisfying.

Farming was very nice, and I enjoyed it a lot, but there was something about the thrill of getting a fish every few minutes that was much more stimulating.

I spent a pleasant day fishing as much as I could until the sky began to turn dark. The thirty-eight fish that I caught gave me a few fishing levels.

[Fishing: Level 4]

Of course, the first ten levels of every skill were incredibly easy to get. The difficulty increased as the levels increased, so I probably won’t be able to level three times in a day next time.

With a light heart, I made my way back to my home, already planning my schedule. From now on, my day would consist of watering and caring for the plants, clearing land, and fishing until I reached level ten.

My current stats were still quite low, so I had no plans of training my combat skills just yet.

[Player Name: Violet

Farming Skills:

Farming Level 5, Fishing Level 4, Woodcutting Level 5, Cooking Level 1, Herblaw (locked), Foraging (locked), Hunting (locked), Mining (locked)]

Regarding my woodcutting level, I had enough experience for level 12, but all of the farming -related skills were capped by the player’s farming level. When harvest season came along, I would get a bunch of farming experience, and my woodcutting skill would level up at the same time as my farming level.

As for the non-farming related skills such as crafting, magic, and combat, I would think about them once I had fulfilled my basic needs for comfortable shelter and delicious food.

The beginning stage of the game was peaceful, so I wouldn’t have to worry about the demons and bosses until much later.

LinMeili

• The results of the poll in the last chapter are clear. I'll sprinkle in a few "extras" now and then.
• Let's not worry about the demons. They won't appear until much, much later.
• When I was writing the story, I got some feedback from another author along the lines of, "I'm afraid that the progression won't be satisfying if it's too easy for her." Well, the only way to fix this is to make her struggle, but my vision for the story is a relaxing, cozy one, even if it makes leveling up less impressive.
• I feel that one way of thinking about is that Violet is filthy rich. She has all the items. However, being wealthy is just one part of a person's life, and there are still problems that can't be solved with money. Right? What do you think?
• Besides, would a farming video game really be that challenging? It's not like it's a zombie survival game.
• Thank you very much for reading my story!
• Are there any errors? Please leave a comment and I'll fix them.