Chapter 23: 1.22 Gone Fishin’

I decided I’d go fishing.

The experience I got from that one fish wasn’t half bad. I got the bright idea of using my ice lance spell to try to kill them while they were still in the water. How I was going to get them out was a different story, but I would worry about that later.

In hindsight, I should have probably taken this spell earlier. I could have avoided the backlash I experienced with that squirrel earlier.

The spell itself was a simple icicle that shot forward in a straight line. The reason I decided to use that instead of a fireball when shooting it into a stream of water couldn’t be more obvious.

In my rage, I’d actually spent quite a bit of mana casting two unnecessary fireballs. I should learn to control my temper, I couldn’t use spells without thinking like that. 

I decided to wait a bit before casting spells. In the meantime, I would try to get fish to jump out of the water like the other one.

I thought about making a net, if only for a brief moment, and quickly concluded that it would require too much silk to span this stream. I estimated it to be about six feet across. I wasn’t even going to try.

A hook might work, but I’d have to ask Cellestra for one. Baiting them would simply be faster.

I did create a small line of silk with a small ball of thread at the end. I then lowered the knotty end into the water and moved it slightly in order to attract fish.

I saw a couple of fish swim in the crystal clear water. Most of them were entirely red, like the one I’d killed, but there were a few more common fish in there as well. I saw several fairly large goldfish pass me by.

I believe I even saw a pike, although it passed too quickly for me to confirm.

It was a big one too.

I seemed to get little attention, but eventually, one of the red fish seemed to be interested in my bait. I pulled in the line with my pedipalps and waved as if to taunt the fish when it got close.

Its attention was caught.

It jumped out of the water, and I jumped to the side. I repeated the same actions I’d taken before and simply kept it away from the water long enough for it to die.

You have killed a Small Red Reaperfish:  EXP +92

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 7!

You have been awarded 7 EP.

Nice.

I thought about dragging the fish towards the nearest tree and hiding it under the nearby vegetation but decided I was going to try to catch more of these anyway. If anything, this would prevent birds from trying to eat me. They could simply take a fish instead. I was going to assume they preferred something with more… meat on it.

I continued my fishing trip.

It took a while for me to get a response from another fish, but I finally got lucky after what felt like an eternity.

A larger fish seemed to be interested in my lure. I presumed this wasn’t considered a ‘small’ reaperfish anymore.

It was faster, too. I barely managed to jump out of the way as it lunged forward.

This fish was easily four times my size, possibly more. When I skittered close to prevent it from dragging itself back to the water, it turned and snapped at me with its many teeth. I had to take a step back in order to avoid getting bit. I had this physical barrier and all, but not getting hit was the best defense.

It dragged itself back to the water slowly, but steadily. It seemed to be able to survive on land quite a bit longer than the other fish.

I skittered close again earning another snap aimed at me.

This was one angry fish.

I ran circles around it in order to keep it occupied. As long as it tried to attack me whenever I would get close, it couldn’t get back to the water. It would eventually die, right?

After a minute or three, the fish seemed to lose strength. Instead of trying to bite me when I got close, it was now solely focused on getting back to the water. I saw my chance and grabbed the red fish’s tail with my pedipalps and tried pulling it back.

This fish was immensely strong and was able to drag itself, even as I tried pulling it back. I slowed it down significantly, and I hoped it would be enough before it got to safety.

Its strength waned further, and I started to get the upper hand. My strength became enough to keep it in one place.

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I’d won.

A minute or so after that, it flopped over to a side and a blue square popped up.

You have killed a Red Reaperfish:  EXP +163

This was an excellent catch. I couldn’t wait to see Cellestra’s face when I showed up with a fish that was this many times my own size.

Before going back, I wanted to at least try to get a bit more experience with my spells. 

I looked up to the sky and noticed the sun starting to get close to the horizon. I had no idea it was this late already.

Had I been so invested in all this hunting that the time had simply slipped me by?

I disregarded the thought for now and skittered back to the edge of the stream. There were still plenty of fish about.

I readied my ice lance cast and fired at the nearest fish. The icicle pierced the water but missed the fish I’d targeted.

It was then I forgot something important when spearfishing.

One had to aim lower than where the fish actually was. I didn’t quite know how it worked, but I’d picked that little fact up from someone in a tavern after duties once.

I estimated that I could cast the ice lance spell twice more before running into mana issues. I was a bit disappointed I had not remembered this simple hunting trick earlier, but there was no point in dwelling on it.

I waited until I saw a fish that swam by slowly. This time I aimed lower and fired my ice lance. The resulting icicle cleanly pierced through the fish.

You have killed a Small Red Reaperfish:  EXP +84

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 8!

You have been awarded 8 EP.

I disregarded the messages as I wanted to fire my last spell before heading back to the elf’s home for the night. If I lingered here too long, another bird may steal the prize that I had secured for us. 

I saw another reaperfish approach the corpse of the other reaperfish. The dead fish’s blood got mixed in the water and seemed to get attention from the other nearby carnivorous fish.

I should have thought of this earlier.

I cursed at myself for not thinking about it. I mean, I had done the same thing with the moths earlier. 

I was definitely going to exploit this tomorrow.

I should be able to get my next evolution the next day. After that, I would have to see if these fish still gave as much experience. Their experience was great, but it was severely limited by the fact that I couldn’t use too many spells in quick succession, and they didn’t seem to be extremely interested in a piece of silk.

They were interested in me, but only if they got very close. I wondered if their eyesight was as terrible as mine had been when I first woke up as a spider.

I could perhaps use some part of the previously caught fish as bait in order to lure them out of the water…

That should work.

I took aim at one of the fish who was now eagerly eating its dead species member. I fired my ice lance and watched it skewer the fish.

You have killed a Small Red Reaperfish:  EXP +87

With that, I quickly skittered back to the large fish I’d killed and started dragging it behind me as I ran over to Cellestra’s house as quickly as I could.

Which turned out to be not that fast with a fish as large as this in tow.

I was lucky my legs were quite powerful, otherwise, this would have been impossible.

I also made sure to watch for birds in the sky. There was no way I was going to let anyone try to take this from me.

While moving through the grass in the clearing outside the wooden building, I saw Cellestra exit. She seemed like she wanted to move to the nearest tree first, but once she noticed me, she gasped and instead walked up to me.

I knew she’d be impressed.

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