The creature in the water seed to realize that no matter how much it thrashed, it couldn’t shake free from the hook lodged in its mouth, and it beca even more frantic.
Its sudden burst of strength nearly overwheld Leon, dragging him forward several centiters across the wet ground.
“This one’s a tough custor.” Leon grunted, stepping back slightly and leaning his weight backward, using both his strength and gravity to gain the upper hand.
Off to the side, Krobus raised a hand, ready to step in.
If Leon couldn’t hold on, Krobus would yank the fish out of the water in an instant.
The only reason Krobus hadn’t jumped in already was that Leon hadn’t asked him to. In Krobus’s eyes, Leon seed to be enjoying this battle of wills with the fish, so he respected Leon’s interest and let him have his fun.
Leon had no idea that Krobus could simply haul this aquatic brute out with ease. If he did, he would’ve asked him to step in right away—after all, he wasn’t a dedicated fisherman. If you can use a landing net, why go through all the trouble of hauling by hand?
If it weren’t for the presence of a peaceful legendary beast nearby, Leon would have been tempted to bring Professor Yang’s teaching kit and show this fish what “Left zero, right fire, thunder god aid” really ant.
His thoughts wandered, but his hands never stopped working. The back-and-forth tug-of-war had sweat beading along his neck.
By now, his hands were numb, and a deep ache had set into his lower back.
Fortunately, the fish was tiring too. At last, Leon managed to drag it out of the water by brute force.
With the faint glow of the luminous moss in the sewer, Leon got a clear look at the creature twisting on the hook.
Its oversized head was covered with countless tiny spines. Unlike a normal fish’s tapered head, this one’s was perfectly round, with an absurdly large mouth full of sharp, crowded teeth. Its beady fish eyes, blood-red in color, bulged from the top of its head.
Its thick upper body was coated in large patches of turquoise-green scales, but its tail was pathetically short and thin, the proportions wildly off.
The most striking feature was its golden dorsal fin—thin as a cicada’s wing, shimring with a tallic sheen, like a triangular blade of pure gold.
“Mutant Carp (Fish): The strange waters of the sewer have deford this carp. (Requires special cooking before it can be eaten. Effects unknown after consumption.)”
“Long hours of fishing have given you new insight into how to catch fish. Your Fishing skill has increased by one level.
After a clash with a fish king, you’ve realized your weaknesses in fishing. To make up for your still-green technique, you’ve thought of so clever tricks to improve yourself. Special Recipe unlocked: Dish o’ the Sea.
Fishing has beco more familiar to you, but you’ve also realized that there’s more than fish in the water. You’ve co up with a new thod of capture. Crab Pot recipe unlocked.”
“Dish o’ the Sea (Dish): Temporarily increases Fishing skill by 3 levels for 5 hours after consumption. Ingredients: High-Quality Sardine ×2, Hash Browns ×1.”
“Crab Pot: Place in water, bait it, and check after a day to see if you’ve caught anything. Can be used in rivers, lakes, and the sea. Materials: Wood ×40, Iron Bar ×3.”
“That’s ridiculous. I just got Fishing level 2 a while back, and one fish king bumps
straight to level 3?”
Leon hadn’t even had ti to think about what “special cooking required” ant for the Mutant Carp before the System Prompt popped up, making him sigh in disbelief.
After all, since reaching Fishing level 2, he’d only caught this one fish—and it just happened to be the sewer’s fish king, boosting him yet again.
Not long ago, he was lanting his lack of progress in fishing. Now, his Fishing level had shot up to rival his Foraging and Mining skills. His Combat level was only at 2.
anwhile, his main profession, Farming, was still stuck at level 1, making him look a bit… distracted from his true calling.
But unlike other skills, Farming only granted experience when crops matured and were harvested. Watering and tilling didn’t count. Owning a Coop could also provide experience by tending to animals, but overall, the opportunities were limited and hard to grind. So Leon felt no guilt about it.
“This fish looks really strange.”
Krobus eyed the less-than-one-ter-long Mutant Carp in Leon’s hands.
“It is strange. And ugly,” Leon agreed without hesitation.
“It reminds
of creatures from the Shadow Realm. Maybe it’s because I’ve dumped too much Void Mayonnaise into this pond, making it turn out this way.” Krobus looked a bit conflicted.
“Maybe I should start tossing spoiled Void Mayonnaise sowhere else.”
Combining the effects of Void Mayonnaise with the description of “strange water” causing mutations, Leon was certain this was Krobus’s doing.
That thought made him quickly encourage Krobus. “No, keep dumping it in here. Let’s see if we can raise another one of these Mutant Carps.”
If Krobus stopped, this fish might be the last of its kind—and Leon was hoping to use Mutant Carps to grind Fishing levels in the future.
After all, this was the only fish king that didn’t depend on seasons or weather, available in the sewer year-round. It would be a sha to lose it.
“You really like breeding weird fish, huh? Wait—you’re not thinking of eating it, are you?”
Krobus frowned, then quickly warned, “I don’t know what it tastes like, but it grew up eating Void Mayonnaise. That’s not good for humans.”
“I just think catching it is fun and challenging,” Leon replied, shaking his head.
Eating it? He wasn’t sure how. The thing didn’t even look edible.
But the System Prompt had specifically ntioned that special cooking was required before it could be eaten.
That alone stirred his curiosity—and the part about “effects unknown” made him feel like the system was deliberately teasing him.
The system was baiting his curiosity, and Leon was falling for it exactly as intended.
With Nature’s Shelter protecting him, even if eating the Mutant Carp killed him, he could hang on long enough for rescue. He had other safety asures, too.
So Leon decided—once he found the right recipe, he was definitely going to find out what this Mutant Carp tasted like.
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