Bizarre Voyage: Summoning The Fourth Crisis

”Oh? Another Skill Book dropped!”

Li Miao’s eyes lit up. He couldn’t help but look over at Faraway. ”By the way, Faraway, have you learned that Skill Book you got earlier?”

Hearing this, Faraway shook his head slightly. ”Not yet, but I’m almost there. A little more practice should do it.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but think, ’If the Skill Book doesn’t disappear after I learn the Skill, that means it’s reusable.’

Then he’d be able to use the practice progress and time to roughly calculate how much of a bonus his Talent provided.

”I have a feeling it’s probably a one-time use thing,” Li Miao said, glancing at the faintly glowing ball of Ashes.

Faraway wasn’t too bothered by that.

’If it’s a one-time use, so be it. The monsters on the island respawn anyway. It’ll just take a bit more time and effort, that’s all.’

”Let’s divide up the loot first,”

Faraway said.

They were operating as a team now, which was efficient, but they didn’t have any set rules for distribution yet. They could only decide based on personal judgment.

But thankfully, everyone was pretty easygoing and didn’t sweat the small stuff.

Besides, as long as you weren’t an idiot, you knew that the expert Faraway was a powerful backer. The stronger he was, the higher the entire team’s potential.

So, the loot was quickly distributed.

The Magic Skill Book still went to Faraway. The Sand Worm Leg Guards were originally meant for Guagua, but she chose to give them to Li Miao.

This made Li Miao feel a little embarrassed. He puffed out his chest and promised he would be a great frontline Tank for Guagua.

Finally, there was the [Sand Worm Essence Meat Bait]. It ended up in Guagua’s hands.

It wasn’t that the others were taking advantage of Guagua. They all understood that fishing required a bit of luck, and luck was the one thing Guagua had in spades.

So, giving it to her would likely yield the best results.

Brother Mangzi didn’t get any of the main drops, so he received a little extra Wax Oil.

”I have a feeling Brother Yu would really like this...” Guagua said, blinking.

As a veteran fishing fanatic, Brother Yu’s interests were almost entirely focused on the game’s ocean, so he didn’t have the energy to team up and adventure with the others.

And since they were practically strangers who had just met by chance, they certainly wouldn’t force Brother Yu to do anything.

It’s not like they held it against him. After all, Brother Yu was just passionate about fishing. Before the fishing rod was introduced, he was offline most of the time—probably fishing in real life...

”Coincidentally, we’ve gathered almost all the materials. How about we craft the fishing rods first and then go find Brother Yu?”

Li Miao suggested.

Hearing this, the group quickly decided to do just that.

After pulling Brother Mangzi away from where he was still smashing bugs, the group quickly crafted their fishing rods and began searching the island for any sign of Brother Yu.

「...」

”Wow, the sky is so much brighter, and the sea breeze is so warm.”

Guagua stretched out her arms, took a deep breath, and sighed in contentment.

Li Miao, on the other hand, had his fishing rod slung over his shoulder and a puzzled look on his face.

”Huh? Where did Brother Yu run off to fish? Why can’t I find him anywhere?”

He looked left and right but couldn’t see a trace of Brother Yu.

He even went to the spot where Brother Yu always used to space out, but he still couldn’t find him.

”He probably logged off to go fishing again,”

Brother Mangzi said.

”Logged off? No way. Does that mean the ocean in this game is just for show? That you can’t actually catch any fish?”

”Or maybe the fishing system isn’t complete yet, and Brother Yu wasn’t satisfied?”

Li Miao was confused.

This was the fishing feature Brother Yu had been dreaming of. Now that it was finally here, why would he log off so easily if there wasn’t a problem?

”We’ll know once we try.”

Faraway had already found a good fishing spot, moved a rock over to sit on, and started baiting his hook.

When Li Miao and the others heard that, they figured he was right. They put the search for Brother Yu out of their minds for the time being and took out their own fishing rods.

”So how do we do this? I heard that before you fish, you’re supposed to... to do what, again?”

Brother Mangzi racked his brain but couldn’t remember the word.

”Chum the water. It means tossing out bait to attract a school of fish.” Li Miao found it a bit funny. ”Forget it. Why would we chum the water in a game? We don’t have that much bait. Let’s just cast our lines and see what happens.”

”Okay then,” Brother Mangzi said, understanding now.

”I don’t know how to fish. I’ll watch you guys first and learn.”

Guagua squeezed in between Faraway and Li Miao, curiously watching their movements.

Silently lurking in the background, Luo Ge was also fishing in a corner of the island.

The fishing feature was new, and he hadn’t tried it before either.

’I wonder what you can catch in these coastal waters.’

PLOP.

Accompanied by the SPLASH of the waves, the players’ hooks all fell into the sea.

The players’ initial fishing rods were all made from Spirit Candles. They resembled traditional wooden fishing rods, with a white, feather-like bobber, looking completely unremarkable.

[Fishing...]

Most of the time, fishing is boring.

But since they were in a game, none of them expected to have to wait as long as they would in real life.

However, after waiting for two minutes, Brother Mangzi was the first to get restless.

”...Why is it taking so long to get a bite in this game? Don’t tell me there are no fish.”

Brother Mangzi’s brow furrowed.

Although he was indeed impatient, his words did make Li Miao and Faraway think.

”Hmm... Don’t tell me this game is realistic even when it comes to a secondary feature like fishing,”

Li Miao mused.

”It’s possible. But judging from the game’s setting, it’s very likely we won’t just be catching ordinary fish,”

Faraway added.

Although they had seen these elements mentioned in the game’s introduction, from what they had experienced so far—both in terms of the Spirit Candle’s game content and the vague background storyline—combat and exploration were the core gameplay.

If even fishing was identical to reality and required players to spend a huge amount of time and energy... that would indeed be a flaw in the game’s design.

From a pure gameplay perspective, of course.

”What else can you catch besides fish?” Li Miao was getting curious too. He chuckled. ”Goblins?”

”Hey, hey!” Guagua suddenly patted Li Miao on the shoulder and shouted in pleasant surprise, ”You’ve got a bite!”

Hearing her, Li Miao snapped back to attention, gripped his fishing rod tightly, and began to reel it in.

He had also invested quite a few points into his Power Attribute, so as he pulled with all his might, the fishing rod instantly went taut.

”Don’t pull too hard. Take it slow,” Faraway reminded him.

Li Miao heard him and immediately eased up a bit, starting to reel in with focused concentration.

Fortunately, whatever was on the hook didn’t seem to be anything too powerful, and it quickly lost the struggle.

SPLASH!

The water sprayed up, and a lively, wriggling brown figure soon appeared before their eyes.

Li Miao quickly grabbed it.

[You have caught: sea crab ×1.]

[sea crab]

[Type: Item]

[Effect: ? (Can be identified at the Spirit Candle)]

[Rarity: Common]

[Description: Crunchy, crab-flavored.]

”Well, well, if it isn’t Mr. Crab-bro,” Brother Mangzi teased.

”...How is my first catch a crab.”

Li Miao looked at the crab in his hand, feeling both happy and a little speechless.

Faraway looked at it and said thoughtfully, ”New items need to be identified...”

”I’ll go to the Spirit Candle and check its Effect.”

Li Miao quickly put away his fishing rod and ran toward the Reef Cave.