Using a trapping skill, I generated a net and set it in the spring—right in the direction the lord seemed likely to flee. Then came the thrashing. It was tangled, its movements visibly slower than before.
Nice! That worked! Cutting off its escape routes was the right move. Now, we just need to attack and weaken it.
“Shouko, help me whittle it down.”
“Very well, let’s do this.”
She set her aim and began attacking the struggling lord. It continued thrashing and splashing at the surface, putting up a fierce resistance... Boy, was it tough. From the feeling in my hands, this was no ordinary fish. If my fishing skills or my gear had been lacking, I would have lost it in an instant.
Eventually, after wearing it down a long while, I gave the rod one final, strong pull.
“Pole Fishing!”
I yanked it out with a splash, leaving it flopping on land.
“Just as I thought, it’s not the Dark Bass Lord. Heck...it’s not even a lord.”
I couldn’t help but be shocked by just how hard it was to fish up. I couldn’t help but stare in a daze at the fish I’d caught: the Dark Salmon.
“A...salmon?”
“I think so. It’s my first salmon, but...”
What was this feeling? It was one of the fish I wanted to reel in eventually, sure—but rather than this quirky fish unique to the game, part of me just wanted to land a real, good, and honest salmon.
Actually, I couldn’t even come to terms with the fact I’d caught it in a spring like this. I should just treat this as something completely different. After all, salmon come in all sorts of varieties, like how Japanese salmon and king salmon are different.
“Let’s not count this as the salmon I wanted.”
“So...what kind of fish is it? Is it edible?”
“Seems like it, for what it’s worth, but the darkness is strong with this one. If we made a hot pot with this, it’d turn into a literal dark hot pot.”
I hadn’t dismantled it yet. Instead, I decided to stuff it into my inventory to show it off to the others first.
“It feels like Yamikage will end up as the butt of the joke again.”
Sure enough...from her perspective, perhaps even this looked like a delicacy.
“This place really slaps that dark theme on everything, huh? We even met Yamikage here.”
“Indeed. That said, I can’t afford to get distracted and fall behind,” Shouko said.
“Now, we know that this weird fish was added, but...we don’t know if a new lord was added too, so let’s keep at it.”
“New content is added with every Dimension Wave Event. Even if it isn’t here now, there is a chance there will be one eventually.”
“True. Or maybe...there’s another dark-themed fishing spot somewhere out there.”
“I can see it.”
We chuckled at the thought and kept casting our lines. The plan was to keep at it until my Fever Lure wore off.
“By the way, Shouko. If salmon’s not farm-raised, you can get food poisoning from eating it raw. Did you know that?”
“Really? I didn’t. How does that work in this game?”
“In general, if you don’t properly prepare river fish, you get afflicted with poison.”
“So they replicated that part of it.”
“Yeah...but seriously, I can’t seem to catch a second Dark Salmon.”
“The encounter rate for Dark Salmon seems quite low.”
Even with my Fever Lure causing a feeding frenzy with nonstop bites, I was mostly getting Dark Bass, Shadow Dace, and Bone Fish.
“Ah.”
And suddenly, Shouko’s rod dipped.
“A big one?”
“Looks like it. I’ll give it my best.”
I could hear the grating whirring of her reel as she entered combat just as I’d taught her.
Yeah. She’s got it down. Her movements are precise, and her skill’s gone up for sure—not just in-game skill, but actual player technique too.
The fish tugged and thrashed, but the resistance itself didn’t seem all that strong.
“I’ll pitch in!”
I set another net to restrict it and called out Chris to attack.
What about attacking with a lure? No can do. With Fever Lure active, I’ll hook something the moment my rigging hits the water, so it’ll be useless.
“Here I come! Haaaah!”
The fish launched out of the water, landing on the nearby shore.
“Bingo. Looks like you beat me, Shouko...”
I checked its name just to be sure—and sure enough, Shouko had landed the Dark Bass Lord.
“I did it! I know I had your assistance, Kizuna, but that was easier than I thought.”
“That’s how luck works sometimes. Even if I’ve got a lure that makes everything bite, there’s no guaranteeing it. With that in mind, I’d say you’ve got some stellar fishing luck, Shouko.”
You couldn’t force lord encounters. The RNG was the devil to some, but others saw it as the real heart of the experience. And the fact that my comrade realized the joy of fishing and landed a lord right before my eyes? That was something worth celebrating.
Competition wasn’t all about kicking each other down.
“After my last defeat, I thought this one would be a lot harder.”
“You’ve got experience and better gear, and to be honest, this is still an early-game fishing spot. Even after the updates, this lord eventually wound up as one of the easier ones.”
“I see. So that’s what makes it worth traveling from place to place.”
“That’s right. Anyway...this calls for a photo. Shouko, hold up that Dark Bass Lord and give me a victory peace sign!”
“Do I have to?”
“Of course you do.”
“It’s a little embarrassing, but...understood. Just promise me that you will do the same pose the next time you take down a boss in combat.”