《Esoteric Fishemperor: My fishing pond is surprisingly lucrative》 Happy Birthday!!!! They fished up something of unreality. Their name was Alaric, and today was their 18th birthday. He woke up in his bed, happy that it was his birthday. After all, he would be able to have a spoonful of sugar on his stale toast in the morning. He stretched his arms. He got out of his meager bed consisting of straw and a pillow filled with poorly plucked feathers. The pillow was not very substantial and provided no comfort. But Alaric didn¡¯t care. He was used to mediocrity. He was an insanely boring person. He spent half of his day at school sitting in class, occasionally raising his hand. He had no friends as well. He was widely considered insanely boring. People even preferred talking to Archibald, who extremely, extremely ethically collected pig spines as his whole life¡¯s purpose. At least he wasn¡¯t boring. He could talk about pig spines, Alaric could only talk about basic farm work, the weather, and fishing. He used to have friends though. The parents of other kids in his general age group would sometimes organize hang outs. That ended when one of the kids went insane and ran off into the woods to become a deranged hermit after being exposed to how boring Alaric was. There was nothing wrong with him though, he was just insanely boring. Almost mathematically the most boring person. You would think ¡°Oh, if he¡¯s the most boring, then that¡¯s actually interesting¡±. A couple other people had the same thought, but after talking to him for approximately five minutes you would be sweating in anticipation for the conversation to end. There was also no supernatural reason as to why he was this boring. Initially, when he was a little kid, his parents were so puzzled with how their kid was so boring, they went on a semi-expensive trip to a big city to go to a big shot exorcist. They thought that maybe some sort of demon had sucked out his soul leaving him as a human without anything interesting. But it was fruitless. The exorcist did see the problem, and agreed that the child was boring, but there was nothing literally wrong with him. The parents then proceeded to get mad at themselves for wasting money on such an endeavor. But today was an interesting day, he would graduate from being a boring kid to being a boring adult. Getting out of bed, he put on a white shirt and brown pants, along with his underwear and socks. He was ready to tackle the day. He was vaguely happy, he liked his birthday. He went out of his room. He lived in a single story house with his parents. He did have an older sister but she moved out a while ago. He went to a basin to wash his face. Looking in the reflection, he felt neutral towards himself. He looked okay, he had medium length black hair, brown eyes, and tan skin from working out on the farm. He looked about normal, nothing stood out. Going out of the washroom, he saw his parents in the kitchen. ¡±Good morning.¡± He said, greeting his parents. ¡±Happy birthday!! They both said. ¡°We made you your favorite breakfast!!¡± The father said, bringing out a plate. On the plate was a boiled egg with salt on it, and a piece of stale bread lightly dusted with sugar. ¡±This looks good.¡± Alaric said, sitting down to eat. ¡±Listen kid, your mother and I have been talking, and now that you¡¯re eighteen, you need to get a full time job. School for you ends this year, and to be honest we don¡¯t want to live with you forever. So here¡¯s the deal, we don¡¯t hate you entirely so we¡¯re going to give you some money, and you¡¯re going to figure out the rest of your life.¡± The father said, bringing out a bag of money. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡±Ok.¡± Alaric said. He felt the bag of money, it was heavy, consisting of a lot of coins. It would be enough to start out his life. He wasn¡¯t planning on going to a higher education like his sister, he was planning on buying some land and being a farmer. Maybe, just maybe if he was feeling it, he would have a river nearby where he would fish. ¡±Alright son, since you seem fine with it, we¡¯re going to send you out into the world now. You can visit anytime, but not really that often would be preferable.¡± The mother said. ¡±Ok mom, I will visit sometime.¡± Alaric said. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to go now. Bye. I will miss you guys!¡± Alaric said. Leaving. He could hear the sounds of his parents crying in the house. Little did he know those were tears of joy. They didn¡¯t hate their son, but they couldn¡¯t stand living around such a boring presence. Alaric walked at a reasonable pace alongside the road that was outside of his house. His parents were farmers, specifically for planting potatoes and carrots. They were middle class, and were considered nice people with some personality. Alaric didn¡¯t inherit the ¡°some personality¡± part. He was just kind of nice. Now having had left the house, Alaric was alone. No friends, no family, only some money for his future. He decided to head out to the forest to sort out his thoughts. He knew how boring he was. The second he was in the forest, tears streamed down his face. Despite doing nothing wrong, purely off of principle he was hated by humanity. And this wasn¡¯t from any kind of evil deed or difference from anyone else. It was just that he was insufferably boring to be around. He was destined to a life of solitude, living alone on a farm and occasionally going to a village market to sell his stuff. Maybe he would buy a dog. Animals had a higher tolerance for his boredom than other beings. He walked deep into the woods. He was heading to his normal fishing spot. It was a small pond in the middle of the woods. He would always be able to catch a small fish there. The fish there were normally too small to eat, so he just released them. Fishing by himself like this was the only way he could handle his isolation from society. He equipped his rod, a humble wooden rod. He got on his knees in the mud searching for a worm. These were his work pants so he didn¡¯t mind if they got dirty. Eventually, an adequate worm was found. The worm was squishy and slimy, perfectly wormlike. He admired the fish pond. It was of a modest size, it was relatively small. Being a pond in the middle of the forest, the fish population was limited, only containing the smallest of fish. During his life he had built a small shack next to the pond. It was made of wood, and was crudely put together with a mixture of concrete and mud to hold together the wood. It could collapse at anytime, but it worked. There was a simple chair in it. Alaric sat down, getting ready. He had gotten over his sadness. Why should he feel sad for himself? He had money and would be able to start his new life soon. He cast the rod into the middle of the pond, and jiggled the rod up and down, trying to be enticing to the fish. It took a second, but something then bit. He quickly reeled in to see what he had caught. It was a small bluegill. A humble fish. He took the hook out, and held the fish in his hands. He was so bored he made a fake conversation with the fish. ¡°Hi fish, how are you?¡± Alaric asked. ¡±Hi Alaric! It¡¯s me!!! Fish!!!¡± Alaric used a fake voice and moved the fishes lip up and down. ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question, how are you doing?¡± Alaric asked the fish. ¡±I¡¯m doing fine!! Just got some fresh air!!!! Good to spend some time out of the lake!!!¡± The fish responded. ¡±Ask me how I¡¯m doing. You should have asked me back.¡± Alaric was now a little angry at the fish. ¡±How are you Alaric?¡± The fish said feebly. ¡±I don¡¯t know. I have a new life now. I wish I could be a fish and live free like you!¡± Alaric responded. The fish stopped wiggling, the life fleeing out of it. Alaric stayed unmoving, throwing the fish back. Returning to the mud, Alaric found another worm. Yet another slimy, gross worm. This worm was very slimy, coating Alarics hand in slime. It may even be considered a nightcrawler, a fat worm, way too big for any fish in the pond. But Alaric would use it. He knew the fish in this pond better than he knew anyone else, so he knew it wouldn¡¯t be good bait. But something told him to do it. He slipped the barbed hook through the worm. A little bit of blood came out of the worm. He cast it into the middle again, he hoped nothing would bite it so he could stay sitting for a while idly. But yet, something did. It felt strange on the end, a slight tugging. Alaric was confused, there should be nothing like this in the lake. There should be nothing like this in the lake. Alaric reeled it in, and held it in his hand. They fished up something of unreality. ¡±This isn¡¯t supposed to be here.¡± ¡±This isn¡¯t supposed to be here.¡± Alaric repeated orally. He started to leak water from his mouth. His mind felt like it was going to shatter as if it was made of glass and someone hit it with an anvil. Whatever he had fished up didn¡¯t just not belong to the pond. ¡±This isn¡¯t supposed to be here.¡± This time, the one that said it wasn¡¯t Alaric. It was if the entire reality was reverberating with the message. The thing started to move towards Alaric. SCREEEEEEEEEECH Alaric screeched, almost inhumanly. Whatever it was, he had a sense of impending doom as it inched forward. It was utterly incomprehensible. SHOOOOOOM The thing shot into his body. The edges of Alaric¡¯s mouth started to curl up in ecstasy. His eyes opened wide, and the shape of his pupils changed to that of a fish. His posture became elevated, stretching himself out. Alaric was no longer going to be boring. The Pond Alaric was no longer going to be boring. His fish pupils lit up in excitement, filled with new ambition. The previous boring soul that Alaric possessed was now going to be completely overwritten. He looked at the lake, the meager small lake filled with meager small fish. This would have to change. Alaric sucked up his previous tears back into his eyes, leaving them now freshly moist. There would be no time to cry tears of sadness. From now on, life would be about indulging in greed and rising to the top of the world. Alaric looked at the bag of money. It was a reasonable sum, the most his parents could afford. The only purpose of this money would be to convert it into more money. Alaric through about what he would be able to do with it. ¡±Buy a weapon and start killing beasts to make money?¡± He thought. He considered becoming an adventurer. In this world, being an adventurer was high risk high reward. It was a cutthroat profession, hunting beasts and monsters in dangerous locations to reap their rewards. Some of these rewards were just from processing the corpses of the beasts, such as horns and bones that could be transformed into better weapons. Some of the treasure was getting things that the monsters had. Some monsters were smart, and had enough intelligence to have greed, and would covet human treasures. Often when I high level monster died, it would be a mad dash to find their stash of treasures. These treasures range from magical artifacts and just straight up cash in gold. ¡±Nah.¡± Alaric thought. At this point, he was just a ¡°normal¡± guy with fish pupils. He did have some innate strength from farm work all day, but this wouldn¡¯t apply well when slaughtering titans or dragons. Of course strength can always be enhanced through magic as well as magic accessories. But Alaric didn¡¯t want to go to school for magic. That is what his sister did. The market for magicians and mages is extremely oversaturated right now, everyone wanted to be a mage. So unless you were some kind of prodigy who could pulverize titans with a flick of the wrist, you would have little to no chance in the battle mage department. Many mages now were reduced to less adrenaline filled jobs. Most of the time their magic wasn¡¯t even good enough to get them a job in a magic adjacent field. ¡±I¡¯ll pass on magic for now.¡± Alaric thought. He also didn¡¯t want to be a farmer. Once he would become a farmer, there would be no real expansion in his life other than getting a bigger field. Although he was used to farm work, he found it boring, and didn¡¯t get much fulfillment out of it. ¡°Fishing could be good!¡± Alaric glanced into the pond, seeing his reflection in the water. His pupils were shaped like a fish, so it seemed like an obvious course of action. Something clearly had changed about his brain and functioning after the thing went inside him. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡±I don¡¯t really want to think about that now¡­ whatever that was I¡¯ll just ignore it. It¡¯ll probably be revealed to me later.¡± Out of mind out of mind was Alarics approach to the strange thing he fished up. He just wanted now to focus on reaping the benefits from whatever about him changed after it occupied him. He considered fishing. In this world, fishing, like adventuring had many levels. There were the casual fishers, who would catch fish for eating primarily. They wouldn¡¯t do it as their full job, but just to switch up the meal once in a while. Stale bread and potatoes got old after a steaming hot second. There were professional fishers too. People that caught fish full time for their job. They would have scaled up business, having boats and nets to catch a large amount of fish to sell. This was the level up. It was a stable job, and relatively safe. There was one other class of fisher. The suicidal insane fishers. Occasionally in the news there would be things about people fishing up insane things from random areas. There was some innate element of fishing that sometimes allowed for miracles to happen. Just recently, in the ocean there was a fisherman who reported fishing up a magical orb of the sun. This skyrocketed the fisherman¡¯s power, and now he was a solar archmage. But getting something like that out of the water was insanely rare. It would be akin to winning the lottery to fish up such objects. The conditions for any object such as that to be fished up were seemingly impossible to predict, and fishing with the aim of catching up such rare items was a losing game. Many believed that it didn¡¯t exist, and that the few times there had been results, it was just to fabricate an interesting story. Sometimes the amount of patience and fore planning one would have to have to fish up such things were astronomical, and most intense fishermen would go their entire lives without fishing up something so extraordinary. There were many dangers too. Just like how there were conditions that could be set to fish up insanely powerful artifacts, there were also conditions that summoned dangers. Also in the news recently, there was an old fishing couple who were causally fishing on the river when they pulled in a swarm of locust piranhas that tore them to shreds. In order to pursue what was dubbed ¡°Esoteric Fishing¡± one would have to be lucky, insane, and willing to sacrifice it all in the name of fishing. The amount of mental willpower one would have to have in order to pursue Esoteric Fishing made it so that there were asylums dedicated to housing Esoteric Fishers that had gone insane in their quests to obtain treasures from the depths of the waters. This is what Alaric wanted to do. He had already seemingly fished up an Esoteric Fish, and didn¡¯t want to waste his luck. But he had two primary goals. Not only did he want to become an Esoteric Fisher himself, he wanted to bring it into the mainstream. In the past, magic and adventuring were seen as useless jobs. Who would care if you could make a spark out of your hand if someone could just rub sticks together and get the same result. But that changed over time. Through efforts in marketing, and the establishment of celebrities and folk figures who were centered around magic, it became the lucrative industry for the people running it today. This is what Alaric wanted to do. Bring Esoteric Fishing into the mainstream, and be able to fill the world¡¯s oceans with his wealth. He was resolute. There would be many challenges in doing this, and many of them would be questionably legal, but he didn¡¯t care. All questionable legal troubles could be overwritten with power and money. There were still many elements about Esoteric Fishing that he didn¡¯t know, and would have to learn about on the way. It was still a relatively unknown element of life, but looking at his fish shaped pupils in the reflection, he knew that it was true. And he knew that he would be able to find a way to the top. Purchasing power In order to get to the top, Alaric would have to start small and move up. He looked in the bag and counted out the money. He really wished that his parents just gave him a check, handling this much money left room for bandits to easily steal it. The currency of this world were small, wooden tokens. Their value was indicated by the charring on them, being charred by different kinds of fire. They all have a finish to prevent the coins from getting wet. Inside the bag there were about one thousand Charred. It consisted of about 100 coins worth ten Charred. He felt them in his fingers. In order to start his fishing journey, he would need to divide his money smartly. First of all, he set aside half of it. This half would go to standard commodities. This would include food, toiletries, clothes, standard things that everyone needed. This amount of money would last him about a month, as he would have to buy some things to start off with. After all, his parents left him with nothing except this pile of money. And if any money was left over, it would be a good failsafe. As he previously lived a boring life, he had little to no personal possessions of great value, so he didn¡¯t even bother with retrieving them. Two hundred and fifty were set aside for fishing gear. Alaric would need some solid gear and supplies if he was going to go down the road of Esoteric Fishing. At least at the start of his journey, he would be catching relatively safe and things. So the specialty gear he would need to start off with would be minimal. The last two hundred and fifty were going to be to get a small boat. He would have to start out by himself before expanding his operation. The focus now would be to get started normally, and then move in. Not much was known about esoteric fishermen, so he would have to do some digging. His goal would be to find a book, or a person that would have some more details regarding the whole process. But Alaric was prepared. He felt generally attuned to the fishing world, likely a factor of the previous thing he had fished up. He was still trying to ignore it, the feeling after whatever it was entered him was hard to explain. It wasn''t like a separate being inside him, it felt more like a diffusion of whatever it was into his mind. It started his determination to pursue esoteric fishing, so it may have some kind of mind control power. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. "I''ll try not to notice it, ignorance is bliss." Alaric convinced himself into believing that it wasn''t important for now. His mind felt like it was in a fragile state, and if a wrong thought was produced in his mind, his brain would collapse into a meaningless sludge leaving him as a husk. Ignoring that fragile mental state, Alaric decided to dial in on fishing. He would need to plan out his purchasing. He would head into the city on the coast in the coming day. There he would be able to buy a boat and fishing supplies, as well as the standard commodities. As for gaining information surrounding Esoteric Fishing in the city, that would be the more difficult endeavor. Esoteric Fishing was often a matter of trial and error. They had to real options, going out by themselves and testing random things, or learning some basic principles from another. Unfortunately, Esoteric Fishermen were few and far between, and ones that were mentally sane were even fewer and further between. Ultimately, Alaric had nothing other to do than just go to the city and find things out. Taking action would be the only way progression could be made, and progression had to be made. Alaric ultimately wanted to act on his ambition. Ambition to not be mediocre. Ambition to dominate. The city was a half days carriage ride away. It was only morning, all in all, Alaric made up his resolve for the close future rather quickly after he had woken up. So he would have time today. Going into the town of the village, it was just a matter of finding a carriage that would take him. That would be easy. This town was very boring and mundane, and the only place that people really would want to go would be the nearby city. He could probably hire a crappy carriage, and carriage-pool with some other person heading into the city to cut down the cost. This would cost about twenty charred out of pocket by him. This plain was in a flat plains area, and was primarily an agricultural settlement with a population of about a thousand spread out over its width. Compared to this, the city was way denser, and was primarily a trade city. Not many goods were produced in the city, but it served as an international trade center. Other cities would dock their boats, unload their goods, and trade. Goods were constantly going in and out of the city. Unfortunately, the seafood industry wasn''t very large in the city. The costal villages in the surroundings were delegated more to the duty of fishing for food. The city was also home to a major adventuring guild of the surrounding area. Named after their specialty in slaying, the guild was called "Wolf Slayer Guild". The guild was famous for their stamina, going on long trips to slay primarily wolves and wolfmen. They were no matter for now. The city would just be a good place to purchase gear, and obtain information. Because of the ever-cycling population of traders entering and exiting the city, it would be the perfect place to find information regarding Esoteric Fishermen. Alaric walked out of the forest, heading back out to a common road. The road was a simple dirt road, and due to the flat environment the town center was pretty much always in sight. Alaric walked to his future, the light of the sun reflecting off of his fish pupils. Carriage Walking along the road, the town center was in sight. The town mostly consisted of far out houses with farmland. But the town center was the exception. It contained a small marketplace where the farm goods were sold, as well as other stores. But nothing in the stores interested Alaric. He just wanted to get out of this town and start fishing. He suddenly realized, his eyes were extremely irregular. As far as he knew, having fish shaped pupils would out him for something, and he would get investigated. This wasn''t preferable. Once he got to the city he could pass it off as either a genetic defect, or some kind of magic blessing he had obtained. But in the town, too many people knew him. "Actually, everybody avoids me because i''m so boring, so it really shouldn''t be an issue." Alaric happily thought. Being unpopular and avoided was usually crushingly depressing, but in this instance it was useful to cover up his predicament. After walking for a while, he ended up in the town square. It was midday on the weekend, so there were a decent amount of people walking about, purchasing and selling goods. The town square was structured as rows of shops with a wide central road in the middle. This road was paved with stones, albeit roughly. It would tear up somebodies feet if they were to walk on it unprotected by a shoe. Alaric pitied the horses and livestock moving about along the rough rocks. The weekend was the prime time for commerce in the town, so it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise to find a carriage. Alaric scanned the town, most of the contents could be seen from a single sweep around. He saw what he was looking for. On the far end of the town center there were a couple carriages stationed. He walked over to see where they were going, and what the prices were. On all of the sides of the carriage, there was an insignia. The insignia was of the head of a falcon surrounded by a corona of wheat. It seemed that all of the carriages belonged to the same service. That would mean that the prices would likely just be based on where they were heading. ¡°Where do you guys take people?¡± Alaric asked. ¡±I¡¯m going to take some people to the town over.¡± Said the first carriage driver. He was a skinny and tall man, with white hair and a beard. He was wearing a simple black uniform. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Anybody going to the Merchant Coast?¡± Alaric asked, getting straight to the point. ¡°I¡¯m taking people there.¡± Said another one of the drivers. This one had short, jet black hair, and he was wearing a top hat along with the black uniform the other drivers were wearing. ¡±Perfect. How much?¡± Alaric asked the second driver. The third driver looked gloomy, he was likely going to somewhere where nobody cared about. His carriage was further away from the other two, clearly an outcast of the carriage rider trade. ¡±Thirty charred one way. You get a piece of bread to satiate hunger along the way too.¡± The carriage driver responded. ¡±Ok, I like the bread, but can we bring the price down a little??? Like maybe ten, fifteen???¡± Alaric tried to convince the driver. ¡°It¡¯s a fixed price.¡± The driver responded definitively. ¡±Let¡¯s do like twenty. Does that work? I¡¯m a little short on cash right now.¡± Alaric was not a great negotiator. The driver eyed the sack clearly filled up with a lot of money that was in Alarics hand. ¡±twenty five and you don¡¯t get the bread.¡± The driver responded. ¡°Twenty six and I get the snack?¡± Alaric countered. He was slightly hungry. ¡±Sure. Get in.¡± The driver was a little annoyed at the whole ordeal, but at the end of the day, a four charred difference didn¡¯t really matter. Alaric reached into the sack and took out the right amount of money. He didn¡¯t feel like scamming people quite yet. Alaric got into the carriage, and looked around. The carriage had a covering, and there were two benches on either side of it, which could fit about four people per side, but could likely go up. At the front of the carriage he could see where the driver would control the two horses to move it. ¡°We leave in thirty minutes.¡± The driver said from outside. Right now, Alaric was the only one inside of the carriage. He waited a while, thinking about what he would do when he would get to Merchant Coast. Another passenger than entered the carriage. It was one of his classmates, Melisandre. She never talked to him, mostly nobody did, but she greeted him to make the interaction less awkward. ¡±Hi Alaric.¡± She said dismissively before sitting down on the opposite side of the bench on the side furthest away. She tried not to look at him, lest a conversation start between them. Despite this, she briefly glanced at him. And she saw his eyes. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. ¡°He¡¯s not completely boring now!! Now he¡¯s just weird and has freaky fish eyes!¡± She thought internally. She, along with many of the other classmates were somewhat skeptical of the exorcist that deemed him as having a soul that wasn¡¯t depleted by a demon. She was happy for him, this confirmed he had a soul. ¡±What¡¯s with the eyes!?¡± She said excited. If his eyes were so different, maybe his personality had changed too. ¡±Fuck what do I say¡­.¡± Alaric thought internally. ¡±I ate a lot of fish yesterday, and I guess my eyes absorbed the nutrients from them.¡± Alaric came up with a middling reason. He didn¡¯t want to say the exact truth, as if he was exposed as having something obtained from Esoteric Fishing, he would be put at the center of attention to early. His time to shine as an Esoteric Fishing celebrity would have to come in the future. Melisandre was happy, he was just stupid now. That was more interesting to talk to than someone who was completely boring. There were about five minutes before they would go, but before they went, one final member would join the carriage. Right armed ¡°What¡¯s up guys???!!!?¡± A familiar voice entered the space of the carriage. This time it wasn¡¯t a classmate, but a local young farmer. He was muscular, and had tan skin as well from spending time in the fields. He had blonde wavy hair and brought a brown pack with him. ¡±Hi Andrew.¡± Melisandre said. ¡±Nice to see you Mel!!¡± Andrew said, clearly recognizing her. Alaric knew who he was. He was well known for growing some questionably legal plants in his garden. He was well regarded by the young people as being ¡°cool¡± but was generally hated as the town mostly consisted of old people. Alaric personally hadn¡¯t interacted with him much, but he knew of him. His cocky attitude came from his father. His father was a semi-famous local mage who hunted beasts. Andrew had always bragged about receiving some basic mage training without having to pay for the school. But at the end of the day, he was still a farmer. Andrew sat near Mel. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re going now.¡± The driver assumed his position behind the horses and started to lead them along the road. It would be about five hours until they would get to Merchant Coast. ¡±So, why are you guys headed down to Merchant Coast??¡± Andrew broke the temporary silence. ¡°I¡¯ll go first, my dad was invited to a party with the Wolf Slayer Guild, so I¡¯m going to party with them.¡± Andrew said confidently. ¡±I¡¯m just going to see my grandma.¡± Mel said. ¡±What about you dude?¡± Andrew glanced at Alaric. ¡±I¡¯m going to buy a boat, and do some fishing, make some money.¡± Alaric answered simply. ¡±So let me get this straight, you have eyes that look like fish, and you are going to fish?¡± Andrew said slightly laughing as he said it. ¡±Yeah. I¡¯m a big fishing guy.¡± Alaric responded. ¡±Sweet man. You know, we need guys that do boring jobs like fishing too in society. Give me a fistbump for contributing to society.¡± Andrew brought out his fist. Alaric bumped it. He kind of hated Andrew, but there was no sense in making enemies with him. Having the defense of his father was reason enough to leave him alone for now. The rest of the carriage ride was carried out in minor amounts of noise. Andrew and Mel made small talk, making fun of the people in the town that they both knew. Meanwhile, Alaric was deep in thought. He would likely do his major purchasing tomorrow, so one he arrived in the city, he would find a place to stay and then purchase the next day. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. His knowledge of Esoteric Fishing was lacking other than the surface level that everyone knew. But he still wanted to go down that path. The basic gear to start Esoteric Fishing was basic. Just a rod was needed, along with some kind of bait. What he knew and what most people knew about Esoteric Fishing was that a lot of luck was involved. It was akin to gambling with the water. But deep down, somehow Alaric knew there was more to it than that. What usually happened in the stories about Esoteric Fishing that happened, it happened accidentally to someone fishing, and then they would quit fishing to invest fully into whatever they had caught. There were only one or two major stories about Esoteric Fishing a year. ¡±They just don¡¯t have it in them.¡± Alaric thought. He had confidence in his abilities. He wanted to pursue it fully, not quitting after initial success. Obtaining information would be his primary goal. Once in the city, he would want to find a fisherman¡¯s guild to talk to. So his schedule looked like this -get to the city -find a place to rest -rest -wake up the next morning -buy gear -find a fisherman¡¯s guild He was resolute. He smiled broadly, and a glint entered his eyes. This feeling was like what he felt when he initially fished up the ¡°thing¡±. He was filled with determination and spirit to complete his goal. He knew, there was a part of him that knew he would have to succeed. Time had passed now, they were about an hour out from their departure location. He saw something in front of him, a hook connected to some string dangling from seemingly nowhere. The string seemingly came out of thin air. Alaric blinked with his fishy eyes. It was still there. ¡°Grab it.¡± ¡±Grab it.¡± Grab it.¡± He found himself saying this unconsciously. The hook looked sharp, and it had barbs in it. It definitely wouldn¡¯t be pleasant to grab. ¡°Who is the bait?¡± The two other passengers suddenly looked at Alaric, their heads transformed into that of fish. ¡±When is the fisherman going to come?¡± The other passengers asked suddenly. Shakily, Alarics hand seemed to instinctively reach out for the hook, slowly. Alaric tried to hold his arm back, not wanting to be hooked on it. But it was futile. His hand was inches from the hook. Splurt ¡°AAAAAAH!!¡± Alaric cried out in pain as the hook went through the palm of his hand. It was now stuck in so that if it was pulled out it would cause great pain. Flop Flop Alaric looked down, there was a dark blue fish flopping on the floor of the carriage. The fish stopped flopping and spoke. ¡°The fisherman and the fish have become one.¡± The fish said meagerly before flopping out of the carriage. Yank The hook was now traveling upwards, Alaric¡¯s arm in tow. Alaric tried to resist, pulling his arm down, but it only made it worse. Suddenly, with a powerful yank, the hook fully dislodged the arm from Alaric¡¯s body and pulled it through thin air. He returned to reality frothing at the mouth, The two other people in the carriage gave him a strange glance before returning to their conversation, spoken without the heads of fish. Alaric didn¡¯t know what to think. It was clearly some fishing adjacent psychosis, but he didn¡¯t know why or how it happened, or what any of it really meant. But he internalized it. It was no daydream. A couple hours had passed on the trip now, and they stopped at a campsite where other carriages were parked. ¡°Here¡¯s your bread.¡± The driver opened a chest in the carriage with a key, and from inside he took three half loaves of bread. He gave one loaf to each of them. Alaric quickly ate his bread before talking a stop at the campsite to use the restroom. After about ten minutes they were ready to head back on the road. They were one hour away from the city.