The Fishman (Part 1)
A day spent doing nothing—or rather, a day where I was entirely unable to do anything—finally passed.
Rain had hammered down with torrential fury, trapping me inside the cave for hours on end. With no smartphone and only the Gallery to keep me company, I felt like I had spent every waking moment just browsing and shitposting. In between, whenever time dragged, I tried to juggle my Internal Cultivation Art and foundational physical training, but there was no shaking the suffocating sense of boredom.
Well, that’s over now.
Looking up at the cloudless, crystal-blue expanse above, I drew in a deep breath. Perhaps because of the heavy downpour, the scent of damp earth hung far richer in the air than usual. It was a thoroughly pleasant, refreshing smell.
Thanks to the drainage ditch I had dug yesterday, not a single puddle had formed near the cave entrance. If I hadn’t bothered with that trench, the entire front yard would have turned into a rancid mud pit. A quiet sense of pride swelled in my chest.
Even though the downpour had ceased, an endless list of chores awaited me. The most pressing was reinstalling the traps. Doing that would probably eat up my entire morning, and there was plenty more waiting beyond the riverbank.
I have to reinforce the drainage ditch properly, too.
Yesterday's fix had strictly been a temporary patch. All I did was shovel aside some excess mud. But the sheer violence of the deluge had caused the earthen trench walls to collapse in places, creating stagnant mini-pools. At the very least, the waterway needed proper framing. I figured I could easily procure some construction stones from the Auction House.
With that, I resupplied my stock of fish traps courtesy of the dwarf.
And just like that, fresh Inedia Pills arrived straight from the Heavenly Demon.
The moment the bundle landed in our cave, the one who rejoiced the most was none other than the Fast Tree Sloth. When a sack packed with pills materialized out of thin air with a quiet thud, its eyes bulged wide open in astonishment. For a creature that usually kept its lids narrowed to barely visible slits, that reaction told me everything about what was going through its head.
"How's that, huh? Pretty amazing ability, right?"
"……"
"……Yeah. I'm an idiot for bragging to a sloth."
To Ppareumbo, I was undoubtedly just a bizarre walking tree anyway—a mystical tree that spontaneously dropped delicious rations out of thin air. Today's trick probably cemented that belief in stone.
"Listen here, Ppareumbo."
"……"
"Whatever you do, don't you dare go slicing open the belly of the goose that lays the golden eggs, alright?"
Because that goose was me. I kept that last thought to myself, of course. There was zero chance the sloth could comprehend human metaphors anyway; it was merely my own self-deprecating banter. Either way, I had gathered everything I needed from the fixed-handles. Now, all that remained was hard labor.
"Chomp, chomp. Whew, salty. Salty as hell."
"Nom, nom, nom."
Before getting down to work, I had to take care of breakfast. Today's meal was smoked meat. All it took was a brief sizzle over the campfire to warm it through and render it tender. Every cut of meat I had preserved in salt had now finished its smoking cycle. With a solid month's worth of rations secured on top of the fresh Inedia Pills, hunger wouldn't be an issue for a long time.
The only thing missing is other human beings.
Nothing could be done about that. I just had to find my own way out of this deadly forest.
Once breakfast was settled, I returned to the drainage ditch. I shoveled out clumps of sludge to clear the stagnant water and tamped down the trench walls so they wouldn't cave in again.
Lining the bottom with cut stone slabs should do the trick, right?
Naturally, I planned to comb the Auction House or commission the dwarf for those stones. It wasn't something I needed to tackle this second; securing our daily food by setting the fish traps came first. Getting the traps submerged and anchored would take at least half an hour, so clearing that chore early was the smarter move.
Might need to hunt a few frogs while I'm at it, too.
Since I hadn't disturbed the Golden Poison Frogs lately, I couldn't even tell if they were doing well. Once Allfather handed over the antivenom, I hadn't felt any pressing need to hunt them down.
I could really use a pair of proper work boots, though.
The boots crafted by the dwarf's artisan friend were waterproof, but by design, water was bound to seep over the ankle collar if I waded too deep. Even so, trudging into the wild river barefoot was out of the question, so I resolved to bear with it just for today. If they got soaked, I could always dry them over the campfire later.
"Alright. Let's move."
"Kyuu!"
With Ppareumbo riding piggyback and Wonmo trailing along, we headed toward the river. Wonmo seemed to be in high spirits today, bounding and hopping circles around my legs. Watching that fluffy ball of energy scamper about brought an instinctive, warm smile to my face.
Ruuuush!
When we reached the riverbank, the surging torrent had calmed considerably compared to yesterday's raging flood. Yet, aside from the receding water level, something else caught my eye.
Flap! Splash!
"Huh?"
"Kyuuuu!"
While I stood there blinking, Wonmo's eyes glittered. The cub took off in a rapid, pitter-pattering sprint. It moved too fast for me to pull it back, but there was no real need to stop it. Scattered across the muddy banks were fish—dozens of them, stranded and flopping helplessly.
They must have ridden the crest of yesterday's swollen river only to be left behind when the flood abruptly receded.
Talk about an unexpected windfall!
Just along this narrow stretch of bank, more than five sizable fish flailed in the mud. Three of them were the massive, crimson-scaled varieties native to the Forest of the Four Seasons, while the others were smaller river species. But among the haul, one creature looked strikingly abnormal.
"Do eels even live in freshwater like this?" I muttered aloud.
Among the squirming catch, exactly one specimen was an eel. And true to the absurd scale of this forest, it was colossal. In length alone, it stretched well past a meter.
Looks kind of gross, honestly.
With its slick, serpent-like body, it gave off a slightly repulsive aura. But what was an eel known for back home? It was hailed as the undisputed king of vitality and stamina, the ultimate health food that men would cross oceans for.
Granted, stranded out here in the middle of nowhere, I had zero outlets to put that kind of stamina to use, but good nutrition was still good nutrition. I could always direct that vigor toward manual labor.
"Nom, nom, chomp."
Wonmo had no interest in wrestling the monstrously huge fish; instead, it picked through the smaller fry stranded on the gravel. Having just finished breakfast back at the cave, the cub treated them like crunchy snacks.
Meanwhile, I pulled on the World Tree Silk Gloves and began tossing the stranded fish into the catch basket. A sudden surge of simple, unadulterated happiness warmed my chest.
Splaaash!
"Pffft?! Gah!"
Just then, the eel created an unforeseen crisis. The moment my hands closed around its slick midsection, it whipped its head around and lunged straight for my open mouth. If my reflexes hadn't kicked in to jerk my head back, it wouldn't have been a mere peck—I would have ended up in a full-blown French kiss with a river beast.
Even though I dodged the worst of it, the slimy sensation brushing my lips was utterly revolting. Grimacing, I forcefully shoved the writhing creature into the wicker trap. Despite its slick, mucus-covered hide, the textured grip of the World Tree Silk Gloves allowed me to stuff it inside without slipping.
"Ptui! Ptooey!"
Ugh, absolutely disgusting. Wiping my mouth frantically against my sleeve, I glared at the wriggling silhouette trapped inside the basket.
Just you wait until dinner tonight, you little bastard. You're dead meat. I'm only sparing you for now because I don't know the proper butchering technique yet.
Having scavenged the stranded fish, I decided to make a quick trip back to camp. To keep them fresh, they needed to go straight into our cold-iron water barrels. Just to be safe, I dumped the eel into a separate, wider drum. Remembering how aggressively it had tried to bore into my mouth, there was no telling if it might attack or suffocate the other fish inside a cramped container.
The sudden appearance of the giant eel sent ripples through the Gallery. Most users chimed in that they had never witnessed an eel that massive, or joked that it looked closer to an anaconda than a fish.
I indulged in a fleeting smirk of pride, but learning how to properly prepare and butcher the beast came first.
I'll research the recipe tonight.
Right now, securing the traps was the main objective. Gathering my animal companions once more, I marched back down to the riverbank with the wicker frames ready.
"Ribbit. Croak."
"Rib-croooak."
Before wading in, I had to clear the perimeter of Golden Poison Frogs. Despite the raging floodwaters, the stubborn amphibians hadn't abandoned their territory.
Wonmo and I retreated several paces. It was time for Ppareumbo to take the stage.
Ptooo!
Thwip!
Pffft!
Globs of thick, noxious purple venom sprayed through the air, streaking directly toward the Fast Tree Sloth. Yet, as if scoffing at their pathetic marksmanship, Ppareumbo swayed and tilted its body with nonchalant grace, dodging every single volley by hair's breadths. Once their poison sacs ran completely dry, the exhausted frogs surrendered and hopped back into the current with soft splashes.
Now was my opening to set the traps.
WHACK!
"Gah!"
Just as I was securing the final anchor line in the shallows, a stray fish shot clear out of the water and slammed directly into my face. Agony flared across the bridge of my nose, forcing me to clutch it with both hands. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes from the stinging pain.
Drip—drop—
Worse than the dull ache was the warm liquid welling up inside. My nose was bleeding. I had taken plenty of bruises and lacerations since dropping into this wilderness, but getting a nosebleed from an airborne fish was a brand new low.
Yet before I could even curse my luck, an alarming commotion unfolded right beneath my feet.
Splish-splash-churn!
Drawn by the metallic scent of fresh blood, dozens of aquatic silhouettes converged on the shallows, tearing through the water in a frenzied stampede. Come to think of it, a similar frenzy had erupted when I dumped the tiger's entrails into the river before.
Terrified of getting dragged under or bitten by the rabid swarm, I scrambled out of the water as fast as my legs could carry me.
"Phew……"
Letting out a ragged sigh of relief, I wiped my brow. At least I had managed to secure all the traps before my nose decided to turn into a fountain. With the wicker cages anchored firmly in place, it was time to retreat to the cave.
I would plug my nostrils with some rolled-up tissue and get straight to reinforcing the drainage trench.
Do I really need to pop an Elixir for a simple nosebleed?
I pondered the thought for a second. If the bleeding refused to clot on its own, I'd consider it, but wasting high-grade medicine on this felt ridiculous.
Drip—drop—
Even with the tissue jammed tightly inside, scarlet droplets steadily seeped through the paper, staining the wet dirt beneath my boots.
A short while after Grylls departed the riverbank……
Swooooosh!
A solitary hand broke through the rushing surface of the water.
Webbed membranes stretched taut between the elongated fingers like those of a frog, yet the skeletal anatomy and muscular articulation belonged unmistakably to a human.
Chhhhh—
Moments later, the owner of that grotesque limb slowly breached the river's surface. Its countenance was terrifying to behold.
"Grrrrr……"
Lined with rows of serrated, dagger-sharp teeth, its maw bore an uncanny resemblance to that of a great white shark.