Alaric was now awake, and had some breakfast. It was now time to fish.
He had been putting it off for a second. He had to do many things to prepare, but he would be able to fish now.
He brought up everything he needed onto the ship. He brought the alcohol as bait and got his fishing rod ready. He decided to take his other fishing supplies like pliers and replacement string and hooks aswell.
Alaric wanted as many as he can, but his maximum capacity would be about ten. If he could get ten over the course of this month, he should be fine.
"I assume to feed them I just need alcohol, after all that's what attracts them..." Alaric thought.
Alaric had a large supply of alcohol at this house. It would primarily be the food for the fish, as it was very low quality. He had bought a decent bottle to share with the rat. But he didn't want to have it often. Having the lapse in judgement produced from having alcohol would be detrimental if he were to encounter a wild beast.
Anyways, Alaric got on the boat. He untied it and set sail off. He kept a map and a compass with him so he wouldn't get lost. The rat had came with him, as usual.
It was a reasonable day, slightly cloudy. There was nothing really notable about the weather. Rain would be the optimal weather for normal fishing, but Alaric was unfamiliar if that was relevant or not to Esoteric Fishing.
The day looked good enough to start.
Alaric headed off into the deep ocean. He went far enough away so that he would barely by able to see the shore. He was at that point now.
He took the rod out, and looked at it again. The curse on the rod was still a notable player in the area of Alaric's life.
It definitely had changed since he had first used it.
Alaric didn't mind for now. He got one of the tiny Alcohol bottles out and put the hook through the cork to secure it.
"Alright, looks good enough." Alaric said before submerging it in the water. He would likely have to wait a while for a fish to bite.
"Wait, they sit on the bottom, and have a limited ability to go up, I should get a little closer to the shore." Alaric thought.
"I still don't really know how it works yet, the fish last time seemed to just appear from nowhere. There's no way all of these fish are swimming around in the water all the time." Alaric thought.
He didn't yet understand this element of fishing.
"Maybe it has to do with a calamity..." Alaric thought. But he felt that it wasn't truly his thought.
"eh, none of them would really make sense for it." Alaric decided.
Alaric eye suddenly felt a sharp pain in it. One of the fish started swimming around in the eye.
"Ah!" Alaric thought.
"The calamities will come soon." He felt. They would come soon.
"I guess they're coming soon." Alaric thought. He would need to read a book on the calamities later to refresh himself.
Alaric refocused on the fishing rod.
"I need to stop thinking about the world, and I need to think more about fish." Alaric thought.
Alaric imagined his mind as a pond filled with fish. Absolutely filled to the brim with fish.
Alaric started drooling.
Keeping his imagination going was the only thing he could do while fishing. He wished he had a companion that could speak english.
The rat was alright, but they couldn't do anything together if Alaric was doing something already.
The day started to go by. Alaric sometimes took the rod and bottle up onto the boat to give his arms a rest. After a couple short rests, he returned. It was about lunch time now.
"Man, it's not coming as quickly as it did earlier." Alaric thought, thinking back to instantly fishing up the fish earlier.
Another hour went by and Alaric had a lunch break. He had a subtle sandwich that he ate with a mysterious air.
He then returned to fishing.
After an additional hour and a half, he finally felt something.
Tug
Tug
Tug
Alaric now began reeling it in. It was very heavy.
"Just a little more.... C'mon!" Alaric said using as much of his strength as he reasonably could.
Shooop
A fat drunkard fish landed on the deck of his ship.
"Sweeet!"
Alaric then quickly dislodged the bottle before closing the mouth of the fish back up.
"Got the bottle back too!" Alaric said happily.
He now looked at the fish in front of him.
"This one has a beard...." Alaric noticed.
This was a strange thing for a fish to have. Normally fish don't have beards.
"Probably an age indicator" Alaric thought.
This was definitely good. The fish had a nice round belly filled with drink.
"Alright, this one is aged a little. It took a little longer to fish up, but seems like it was worth it." Alaric said.
He looked at the fishing rod.
Unfortunately, it had changed once again. It was now a shade darker, and some of the metal peeled off into short spikes on the body. It was very slight now.
"Looks like the curse gets worse every time I fish something up." Alaric deduced.
"Still don't know what the negative effect is, guess we have to keep fishing to figure it out." Alaric thought. It now had a limit on it. Alaric would eventually have to replace it.
Alaric ignored the rod for now and turned to the fish.
"Let's get you over and into a pit." Alaric said a joyous smile on his face.
Alaric now set sail back to the house with the fish.
It was getting late enough as is.
He wanted to take a look at the fish in depth once he got back. He was curious about the biology.