Chapter 34：Giant Tuna

It was 6 PM when Da Fei woke up. Three days had passed in the game.

Anyways, Da Fei was glad that everything was okay. He hurriedly ran downstairs to eat some fried rice and returned to the game. Then, he continued to stare blankly at the sea.

The sea was calm and the sky was clear. Usually, seagulls would appear when the ship was near an island or landmass. However, nothing could be seen now. They were definitely at the center of the ocean. Although oceans were not that huge in the game, this was still a terrifying situation for floating refugees. When will I see the end?

I have seven Skill Points. Should I use them all on Nautical Skill? That way, my Movement Speed will increase by 100% and it'll do more work… No, no! I must save my Skill Points for battles after I land. I'll slowly defeat monsters and complete quests to earn repair fees for my ship.

Sigh, so troublesome. There's nothing good for me even after the Beginner's Trial. Forget it, I can't do much in such a Weakened State. Even though I've finished my portable 7-day rations, I still found some seafood on the beach to consume.

Da Fei opened up the package and was completely shocked.

—Rotten Ingredients: Expired food ingredients. Upon consumption, players will exhibit food poisoning symptoms.

What the heck! There's such a thing as expiration dates in this game?! What should I do now? Only drink water?

Chey! This won't defeat me.

Da Fei dragged his weak body slowly to the basement artillery cabin by propping himself up against the ball. He took out over a dozen fishing rods. Hehe, I found these accidentally that night in the pitch-black artillery cabin. It's impossible for sailors not to have fishing rods. Furthermore, this slow drifting pace is the best for fishing. As for the bait, these expired ingredients will do.

These fishing rods all had specially made hooks at the end of their handles to place onto the side of the ship. Hence, Da Fei lined up the rods along the deck and flipped through all the voyage journals out of boredom as he waited for fishes to take the bait.

The System did not disappoint Da Fei. Within a day, all kinds of random fishes were caught by him. He could only eat them raw. The sailors even ate fleas to survive. Anyways, even though consuming food raw caused him to fall into a Weakened State with lowered damage, he was no longer starving. After drinking some water, even his Stamina recovered.

Then, Da Fei was troubled again. He could only continue to fish. He really hated fishing. However, he would be alright with everything if he managed to find a floating bottle that could grant three of his wishes. He would also be okay with hooking a mermaid.

Da Fei's bait improved in quality. The small fishes became the bait. Then, the System did not disappoint Da Fei again.

After a long while, a fishing rod shook. There was something!

—System Message: You caught a swordfish! You gained 135 EXP!

Eh? Fish that gives me EXP?! Big guy! I still remember that I couldn't defeat these big fishes in the ocean back then!

Da Fei finally found something fun to do. Hence, he used the scraps to hook small fishes, then used the small fishes to catch the medium fishes, and so it must work if he used the medium fishes to catch the big fishes, right? He was determined to see this through.

Da Fei exhausted most of his Stamina and almost broke his fishing rod before reeling the half body-sized fish in. Then, he combined over a dozen fishing rods into one and tied them together. Afterward, he cruelly placed all of the fishing hooks into its body.

Since I'm fishing for something big, my fishing line and hooks must be plentiful and durable. However, will a big fish really fall for this? These probably aren't that reliable either, right?

Da Fei thought for a while and found a huge bunch of spare thick cables used to tie up the sails. He wrapped them around the fish and tied the other side of the cables to the mast. This should work, right? Then, he threw the fish back into the ocean.

However, I wonder if my random techniques will be recognized as fishing by the System? If not, isn't this starting a fight against a BOSS?

Fighting BOSSes? Actually, that's my favorite. My ballista is hungry for some blood!

Hence, Da Fei returned to the artillery cabin and spent ten minutes to reassemble the ballista. It was only left with 8 HP. However, it was fine. Things were different now. The cabin was the actual defense of the ballista. If the monster wanted to get rid of the ballista with 8 HP, it had to destroy the cabin first. I don't believe a mere fish will be capable of that.

Time passed by slowly. The sun rose and set. A day in-game, or two hours in real life, passed just like that. It seemed like it was difficult to encounter a predator that could consume such a huge bait in this game. Indeed, the System might not recognize this method of typing the fishing rods together, combined with reinforcement from spare cables, as a legitimate fishing method. Maybe that's why nothing's going for the bait?

Whatever. I'll drift slowly.

Da Fei could not bear to read the daily diaries belonging to the normal sailors. The System did not place any interesting stories inside. The Captain's journal was even more boring. It was filled with lectures. "An excellent voyager should be determined and focused. He should always be vigilant, blah blah blah." Are you running for the political commissar? This is nowhere near as interesting as the Artillery Chief's one. Seems like those are all the clues I'm going to get from the journals.

The night passed and a new day began. Da Fei stared blankly at the sunrise. During the first few days, this view might still feel beautiful and grand. However, it probably gets repetitive and dull really fast, driving people insane. For instance, those sailors in the Artillery Chief's journal passed time only by playing cards. This occupation isn't that easy to undertake, after all. Things might be better if there was a woman on board. What the heck, would that still be called a voyage? She would only exist as a personal bikini model on a rich person's yacht, right? So enviable.

If I become rich, I'll recruit the prettiest female heroes in taverns and bring them onto the ship. I'll buy the sexiest bikinis for them to wear and all my sailors will fantasize about them! Wahahaha!

Da Fei lost track of time while daydreaming. Suddenly, the fishing rods hanging on the side of the ship started shaking. The fishing line went stiff with tension.

Da Fei's heart jumped. Was a big fish on the hook? He hurriedly looked over the railings. There were wild waves on the surface of the ocean! What the heck, it really is a huge fish! Don't even think about reeling this kind of fish in. A huge fish like this that can swallow half a human in one bite is definitely worth a lot of EXP!

Da Fei immediately ran to the artillery cabin. The ballista was fully loaded—Aim! Fire!

Boom, boom! Two shots were fired and created giant splashes in the ocean—"Missed!" "Missed!"

What the heck! You can miss shots?! Oh right, the Artillery Chief complained about this in his journal. Nothing much I can say about this. Continue to reload! I'll wait until it jumps above the water surface!

—Boom! "-33!" "-21!"

—System Message: You have obtained incomplete information about the Giant Tuna!

Da Fei was invigorated. Giant Tuna? BOSS? Forget it. Continue to shoot. However, this damage fluctuates so much. Ballistas aren't designed to fight against underwater creatures. Luckily, there are tens of fishing hooks digging into its throat. The more it struggles, the more HP it loses. "-2" "-3" "-2" "-3" Good!

The battle lasted for over half an hour. A giant tuna over ten meters long was finally killed after a huge round of explosions. It turned over and revealed its belly as it floated to the water surface.

—System Message: You killed a Giant Tuna! You obtained 20,000 EXP! You obtained item, "Tuna Roe".

—System Message: System Message: You have solo-killed 10 Boss monsters that are of higher levels than yourself, you obtained the achievement "Lone Warrior 10 Victories in a Row". Health Points +15, Base Damage +1. The next achievement "Lone Warrior 100 Victories in a Row" will require you to kill 100 Boss monsters of higher levels than you without bringing any troops along.

—System Message: You improved your information collected about the Giant Tuna!

Da Fei laughed! He finally completed the achievement! Sailing isn't actually that boring. I'm too tired to look at the exact details about this BOSS. It's so rare to encounter BOSSes in the sea. Once is probably more than enough for my entire lifetime. Let me check out what this roe is.

—Tuna Roe: Sea product. Can be used to breed tuna in territories owned by players near the ocean. Tuna is a delicious large-sized type of seafood. It's difficult to catch and wildly popular on the market.

So it's a territory specialty product! That's good stuff. It's difficult for players to become Lords of territories. It costs a lot of money to build armies and cities, but there aren't many ways to earn money. The more specialty products we have, the more money I can make. I'll just auction it off online. It'll easily sell for a few hundred thousand dollars. I'll be rich! Wahahaha! Sailing is the best!

Wait, no no no, is it easy to encounter a BOSS on this vast ocean? Even if you do encounter one, killing it is even harder. Not everyone is as smart as me. Why do I have to sell this off? I'll just take over an island at sea and build my own fishing farm. Won't I be printing money? However, it's difficult to build your own city. It requires a lot of upfront investment. Anyways, I'll keep it with me for now and see how the market behaves.

Just at this moment—

—System Message: Reconnaissance Skill warning! There are large numbers of powerful enemies approaching, please be alert!

Da Fei was stunned! Large numbers of enemies! He instantly pulled out his binoculars and saw a huge group of turquoise-black fins rushing toward him—sharks!

What the heck! After the tuna come the sharks? Is this the story of the Old Men and the Sea?