Master Of None

”Jumping fish school ahead! Prepare nets!” The call that went out was from an experienced sailor. He had worked with merchants that traveled the coat line for many years. When he saw the jumping fish he knew it was the same as seeing gold leaping on the ships.

The jumping fish were a monster that was considered dangerous only to those unaware. The leaping fish didn’t leap to attack anyone, they did so because they enjoyed the sun. they would swim as fast as possible to reach the surface then leap out of the water extending their fish as much as possible. From there they would enjoy the sun before falling again. This was the ideal chance to catch them.

Since Walker could see the approaching school of jumping fish, he used his all around appraisal skill and caught up with what was going on easily. He explained this to Midnight who thought that the heavens had opened up and that a heavenly lord of creation had gifted her food that jumped in to her mouth.

The other dragons seemed just as energetic even though they maintained their composite for the most part. However, none of them could hide the slight glimmer in their eyes. They had never eaten these fish before other than Current since he was used to being in the water. Now they would be able to eat as much as they desired without repercussions.

Some of the water mages directly used the water to reach out and take the jumping fish from the waters. They trapped them in small bubbles that they brought on to the ship. It was a surprisingly efficient way compared to the merfolk who managed to spear multiple on a single spear before climbing right back on to the ship.

The sheer amounts of these jumping fish surprised anyone that had never seen them. No one had assumed that the ocean was such a bountiful place. No one had even thought to assume that they would face such an amazing boon after just being away from shore for the last few hours of calm sailing. But this was what the bright open sunshine on the ocean brought. A feeling of warmth and jumping fish.

”Get back from the edge!” The sailor that had made the original call pulled back one of the water mages as a larger monster broke the surface, it was all within his expectations. The moment he had seen the shadow of the monster he had been quick to keep everyone out of the path.

The hard blue and green shell with many spikes made everyone wonder what had just appeared. It was even more confusing to see the green webbed skin with algae growing all over it. Yet, the shape was somewhat familiar to what some of them had seen before.

’Spiked water bear

The spiked water bear is a unique monster that enjoys jumping fish more than life itself. They only eat jumping fish and will fight one another to even follow behind a school of them. When there is a larger school of jumping fish it is not unexpected to see over twenty spiked water bears attempting to feed.

Their shells can be made in to impromptu shields and are often done so by sailors. Their fur is actually an algae that allows them to better process the high amounts of sun they get from living on the surface of the open ocean. Many will never touch land in their lives.

Due to their tough shell, most monsters leave them alone because they are too hard to eat. The only things that actively hunt them are the adult leviathans because they can swallow them whole without much issue. However, they are still not the leviathan’s favorite food so that is normally a rare occurrence.’

”Spiked water bears that might never see the land. That’s pretty different.” Walker was sure that the bears he had seen were very different. But in front of him was a monster very similar to them. They had just lived and grown in a massively different environment that caused them to leave behind their diversity in diet for one single thing.

The temperament that only cared about their favorite food also amazed him to a small degree. The spiked water bears would only fight amongst themselves which made them a less dangerous predator for the ships. A few of the spiked water bears even went out of their way to avoid the merfolk swimming in the waters to hunt the jumping fish.

Yet, there were a few of the merfolk and demi-humans that seemed angry upon coming aboard with their broken spears and other weapons. They were victims of having their prey stolen by the water bears since the fish stabbed on their spear were much easier to eat than the ones trying to swim away from them.

”Pull back! The school is moving away!” The sailors called to those on the ocean to return to ships. Some had already done so since it was safer than being in competition with the spiked water bears.

The royal dragons remained with the school for some time. This left everyone in awe of how a dragon hunted. The size of dragons was already awe inspiring. But when it came to the fact that they could easily scoop up sixty or more of the jumping fish stunned people. Even when Ignus managed to get ahold of a spiked water bear by accident, he just crushed it with his teeth as if it was nothing to him.

The only one that had not joined in on the feast was Terron, but that was not an issue. There were plenty of his earth affinity dragonkin that had taken the spoils of their catch to him below deck. It was a sure thing that they were remaining loyal to their lord through their actions.

”I guess we will have a lot of fish to eat tonight.” Walker’s laughter as he saw the fish being set up already for preparation was one of sheer amazement for the ocean. He was sure that this was just one of the many amazing things he would see.

”Boy, you haven’t seen anything yet. This is a sign from the goddess of luck. We were blessed to get fortune as soon as we set sail. Now we just need to respect the waves and tides to make sure we sail smoothly.” The sailor sitting by Walker was just resting. He had left the catching of fish to the younger deck hands. But he had been right there to shout out orders and advice as any wise sailor would.

”I definitely did not see those spiked water bears coming. I would have been scared to death if I had jumped in to the water and found myself next to one of those.” Walker’s laugh made the sailor straighten up.

”There are worse things to find yourself in. just wait until night time and I will point them out to you. The night will show you exactly where you should not sail under any circumstance.” The resolute tone made Walker understand that this was something he would have to memorize and abide by. Any danger worth this amount of seriousness had a fair reason behind it.

The energy on the ship slowly died down returning to the normal patrols and watch while some of the best chefs on board worked on preserving their surprise food reserves. Walker could only think about what dangers might come at night while sailing.

He had been sure to look for a few books here and there along with asking around about sailing in general. He knew that there were monsters tough enough to chew through the hardest steel or large enough to swallow people whole and then some. But he wasn’t sure exactly what would be more dangerous during the day or night other than the fact that they would be unable to see the monsters coming at night.

”Wait, you actually managed to catch a spiked water bear!?” Su was the one that was shouting. She had found that Gil had managed to shoot an arrow right through the neck of one while it tried to grab a fish. He had asked the merfolk to bring it up and they were all impressed with the precise shot and the toughness of the shell.

”Don’t tell me you want it as a new shield? A spiked water bear shield? That would be perfect for the ship but do you really need it?” Gil was teasing. He was clearly going to be giving it to Su since he had heard what the older sailors had said. But Su was just stunned that he had managed to hit it while it was moving through the water and the school of jumping fish.

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