The hook brushed the fish’s flank.
Two notifications flashed back-to-back.
[ITEM]
Rough Fishbone Knife
Low-Tier Enchanted Scroll: Eye of Insight
He didn’t even reel. He just… received.
Ethan’s mouth went dry.
SSS-Rank Infinite Fishing wasn’t about water. It was about a target.
Anything could be a “fishing spot” if the System allowed it.
He opened his inventory.
[PANEL]
Rough Fishbone Knife—A small blade carved from fishbone. Sharp, but brittle.
Eye of Insight (Low-Tier Enchanted Scroll)—Glimpse the essence of things. Total duration: 1 hour. Can be paused; time accumulates.
The knife felt smooth in his hand, light and balanced. It was closer to a dagger than a short sword, its edge thin enough to catch sunlight in a cold line.
A real tool. A real weapon.
The scroll was a rolled tube of old leather, sealed with red wax.
An hour of use. Pausable.
Ethan broke the wax and unrolled it.
As the last crease flattened, pale blue sigils shimmered across the hide—and a cool, sharp sensation rushed straight through his skull. Menthol and ice, a sudden clarity that made the world snap into focus.
Information poured into him.
Not as words on a screen. As knowledge.
[SKILL]
Eye of Insight activated.
[SKILL]
Azureglow Sea
Route: Storm Island (major island)
Islands: 1 major / 12 minor
Reefs: 152
Resources: …
He blinked hard, breath catching.
So this stretch of water had a name. And a destination.
He looked down.
[SKILL]
Old Lifeboat Raft—Salvage from the ship Explorer.
He looked at the fish still gasping on the boards.
[SKILL]
Glimmerfin Bluefish—Common species in the Azureglow Sea.
Diet: Luminous Threadworms.
Toxicity: None (edible).
Trace mana present. Spoils within 48 hours after death.
Useful. Incredibly useful.
In an unknown world, being able to tell poison from food was worth more than gold.
But the scroll was low-tier. One hour total. He couldn’t afford to burn it on curiosity.
Ethan rolled the leather back up.
The cool clarity vanished at once, as if someone had shut a door inside his head.
The sun had shifted. The heat had softened. Afternoon, at least.
Spending a night on open water was a bad idea—even with a Talent that could patch his Health. Waves didn’t care about Health bars.
The problem was direction.
Eye of Insight told him there were islands, but not where they were. One major island, twelve minor ones… scattered across an ocean that looked endless.
So he did the only thing he could do.
He cast again.
The hook slipped silently into the sea.
A chime rang.
[SYSTEM]
[QUEST] New quests available.
[QUEST]
Quest 1: Familiarize yourself with the world. Gain 10,000 EXP.
Quest 2: Obtain a Relic.
Quest 3: Locate an island and successfully make landfall. (Personal)
[QUEST]
Cycle limit: 15 days.
Countdown initiated.
A new tab appeared in his panel. When he opened it, the timer was already running, digits bleeding away second by second.
The chat lit up.
[CHAT]
Player 0459: “Seriously? We’re isekai’d and you still want us grinding quests? Fifteen days?!”
Player 0139: “I’m a student. My ‘parents’ are forcing me to study for an exam tomorrow. How am I supposed to do this?”
Player 0866: “At least nobody is forcing you to propose.”
Jokes, panic, complaints—until someone asked the real question.
[CHAT]
Player 0763: “How do we even get EXP?”
Player 0152: “Yeah. There aren’t monsters everywhere. Where’s the grind?”
After a moment, Player 0028 answered.
[CHAT]
Player 0028: “I figured it out. Use your Talent. When I control fire, EXP goes up—about 5 per minute.”
Others compared notes.
E-Rank Mental Boost: focusing while reading gave 2 per minute.
C-Rank Strength Boost: heavy labor gave 4 per minute.
The conclusion was obvious: EXP gain scaled with Talent rank.
So did the despair.
Because almost everyone also reported the same downside—using a Talent drained their stamina fast.
Even Player 0028 admitted pyrokinesis left him wiped out. Long-term grinding was a fantasy.
Ethan looked away from the argument.
For him, “using his Talent” meant fishing.
He checked his quest progress. He had been casting for about five minutes.
The number made him pause.
45 EXP.
And it was still ticking upward.
He counted in his head. One point every seven seconds—roughly nine EXP a minute.
More importantly, the act didn’t tire him. He could hold the rod all day without that heavy, burning fatigue everyone else described.
And when he left the hook in the water without reeling in—
The EXP still climbed.
Ethan stared at the endless horizon and let a plan take shape.
If the System wanted grinding, fine.
The sea was already doing the counting for him.