Heretical Fishing-Chapter 53Book 4: : Foolhardy

It was a beautiful day to be out at sea. I leaned into the world around me, soaking it in with all of my senses. Gusts of wind only occasionally flitted by, wicking sweat from my skin; the surface of the ocean was calm, Bob the boat only shifting subtly beneath our feet; and, most notable of all, my doggo pal had just slammed into one of my best mates with enough force to vaporize an elephant.

When Barry collided with the railing—which I’d protected with layers of chi—he let out a noise so close to being a Wilhelm scream that I wondered if I’d imagined it. My crumbling layers of essence stole most of Barry’s velocity. Which was good, because it meant he didn’t sail over the next three horizons. But it also meant he did dozens of involuntary backflips in the time it took him to hit the water, which was bad. Well, bad for him, anyway—it was pretty fun for the rest of us watching.

I went to raise a platform of chi so he could lift himself from the ocean, but Barry had other plans. Two muscular arms shot up and slapped the surface of ocean’s surface so hard that he sailed into the air, and when I saw the red haze glowing around his eyes, I realized we’d gone too far. The homie was angry angry; I’d not seen him so furious since Claws and her raccoon depantsed him. He arced high above the ship, his quads and calves bulging as he streaked back down like a vengeful meteor.

I reached for my core, but before I could tell Borks and Cinnamon to scoot, they were already moving. Both ran through a portal to appear in the sky beside Barry, and now that they were all up there, I coalesced a platform in the space above the mast. They landed gracefully on the invisible barrier, then all civility vanished a second later with the first violent exchange.

Barry won the initial round when the end of his foot caught Bork’s rump, and I immediately felt a pang of indignation at seeing someone kick my dog. I let it go, however. Borks had attacked first, and the doggo could hold his own—that glancing blow from the muscle man was nothing.

But, more importantly, Borks had transformed into a borzoi, a breed whose long neck allowed him to whirl around and bite down on Barry’s ankle. Hard.

Watching Barry try to shake Borks off—and subsequently getting his other leg taken out from beneath him by the flying kick of a small bunny—I shook my head. It wasn’t my animal pals I needed to worry about.

Trusting that they wouldn’t actually hurt each other, I gazed down at the workbench. Bonnie’s creation had transformed, and it looked even more ridiculous than I’d dared to dream. The System drew my eyes in, and I happily obliged, letting the words occupy my field of view.

Mediocre Winch of the Foolhardy Adventurer

Common

This “rod” has been crafted by an adventurer, not an angler. It sacrifices flexibility for strength, making it all but useless to most. This “rod”, though many would hesitate to call it that, will not reward the user with skill levels. It also grants the Overkill passive.

Effect:

-10 strength

-10 fishing

As the words cleared, I immediately looked over its form. The pole was made of solid metal. I peered down at the reel—which was of an alvey design—and I understood why the rod had ball bearings instead of eyelets; the ‘line’ was braided metal. Its maker had woven a few meters of the stuff, producing a trace I could reinforce, but the System had seen fit to fill the whole damned spool with the stuff.

Having taken it all in, I let out a booming laugh. I couldn’t help it. In response, Bonnie’s cheeks flushed a violent crimson. Shame, embarrassment, and a touch of humiliation radiated from her abdomen, leaching out of her core. The unchecked emotions brought me up short, sobering my own feelings, and it took me a moment to understand their source.

“Bonnie... I’m laughing at the description, not you.”

She swallowed her budding anger, a whisper of it remaining as she blinked, not sure whether she should believe me.

I opened up my core, letting my amusement flood out. “The System called us foolhardy, gave a ‘passive’ that is massively negative, and named it a winch—the only times the word rod was used, it was wrapped in quotation marks.” I shook my head. “It might be the most condescending thing I’ve ever seen from the System. May as well have just told us to go frack ourselves instead of listing that all out.”

She blinked again, then looked at me like I was an idiot—which, to be fair, I was a lot of the time—but I couldn’t for the life of me work out why she was still bothered.

“That doesn’t make me feel better, Fischer,” she said. “I didn’t want to create it at all for this very reason. I’m not as good at fishing as all of you are, and the System agrees. The description confirms it.”

“Ohhh,” I said, stalling. “I see…”

I had to fight my urge to ask questions. Bonnie had experienced a full breakthrough, doing so by acknowledging her ideal of wanting to experience everything the world had to offer. So why was she still filled with so much doubt? Was it something to do with her specifically, or a result of the world’s chi returning....?

I shook my head. They were considerations for later.

“You’ve got it all wrong,” I said. “I mean, sure, you could take it that way, but that’s not how I see it. You created something entirely new, something that no one else onboard could. If I had made a fishing rod out here, no matter what I did, I wouldn’t have tried to create this. And no,” I continued before she could voice the protest forming on her lips, “that isn’t a bad thing.”

“How...? The description said it all. This winch or whatever is useless.”

I paused for a moment as all three of my still-biffing friends above collided with a deafening thump, then gave Bonnie a grin. “Even if it was useless to literally everyone, the idea behind this was brilliant. I was so focused on the belief that the pole had to be flexible that I didn’t even consider making a solid one. You might call it ignorance or whatever, but I reckon it was a fresh take. My mind has been going down completely different routes, like growing trees with essence and using the entire tree trunk as the pole.”

Ruby choked at that idea, biting her lips to contain her laughter when I shot her a facetiously venomous look. “The point is, Bonnie, I was too focused on the rod needing to be flexible. Normally, using a solid metal pole would be moronic—you’d either rob yourself of any challenge, or have it pulled right out of your hands if you hooked something huge, but—”

“I see,” she interrupted, giving me a smile that was only half forced. “So it’s something we can build upon. Got it. I can accept that—a shame we can’t use it now, though.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I turned away, casting my gaze over everyone else. “Should I be offended by her lack of faith?”

“Hmmm.” Ruby rubbed her chin. “A humble leader wouldn’t be, so no, you shouldn’t be.”

“I... don’t understand,” Bonnie said.

I picked up the winch with one hand, letting out a whistle as I hefted its considerable weight. I could immediately feel the ‘buff’ kick in and sap some strength away. “The System didn’t say it was useless to everyone, Bonnie—it said it was useless to most. I, the strong, mighty, and powerful Fischer, am not most people.”

Visit freewebnoveℓ.com for the best novel reading exp𝒆rience.

“Don’t those three adjectives mean the same thing?” Steven asked Ruby in a stage-whisper.

“They do,” she replied. “And he omitted humble. He must be feeling unwell.”

Ignoring their childish and hurtful attempt at humor, Bonnie stared at me, her brows scrunching together. “What am I missing here? Even if it’s useable, you said not a minute ago that using a solid metal pole would be moronic.”

“Nah-uh! I said it would normally be moronic, but you didn’t let me finish. That’s only true if you go by the preconceived notions I brought with me to this world. On Kallis, none of that holds water. I’m not some little noodle-armed Earthling who will have a rod yoinked from my hands, and the creature I’m targeting won’t be easy to catch. If the same thing from earlier bites down on this, I’ll still have a hell of a time landing it, but I’ll have a chance, and that’s all I could ask for. You’ve removed one of the weak links, which will let me focus my chi where necessary rather than everywhere all at once.”

Pretending to look around at everyone, I locked eyes with Theo, who gave me the slightest of nods in response.

Cheers, mate, I thought. Appreciate you.

“See?” I continued out loud. “You were able to think of something I couldn’t precisely because you have less experience in fishing. You lack the biases I have. Or maybe you’re naturally more creative than me. Who knows? Regardless, I will absolutely be using it right now.”

Still carrying the winch, I marched over to Bob’s starboard side, then gazed down at the object in my hands. The line had no elastic properties—it was literally wire—but that might be just what I needed to land something monstrous. It was crude, decidedly imperfect, and the best option I had on hand. Bending down, I selected a hook and sinker, then started assembling a rig, the sounds of rapid-fire exchanges between three of my friends above making my heart overflow with joy.

***

Maria let out a long sigh, her core feeling completely drained as her pink-colored mist eased back into it. Slimes agreed with a soft burbling sound as he melted into her cradled arms. Perhaps they should have slept first after all.

“No good?” Keith asked.

Maria shook her head. “Nope. Not today, anyway.” She finally opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. The prismatic beams shining from the prison’s firelights were muted, nowhere near as stunning as they had been earlier that day. Mental fatigue must diminish whatever this visual effect—or ability—is. Now that it’d lessened, Maria could clearly see the people in the cell before her.

They were as depressing as ever. A queen and princess reduced to prisoners, one filled with growing anger, the other with empty despair.

“Why do you waste our time with this stupidity?” Tryphena asked, her face looking surprisingly similar to Trent’s when she tensed her jaw. “And when is my brother returning?”

Maria returned a tired smile, not at all bothered by the animosity—she’d just been within the cores of the royal women, so she knew Tryphena was basically a walking bundle of sorrow and regret held together by with a ribbon of guilt. Sure, the outburst was misplaced, but it was welcome compared to the state of the queen.

Penelope Gormona had yet to respond at all. From the outside, her core felt hazy, like she wasn’t really there at all. Maria had hoped the inside would be a different story; it wasn’t. Even if she and her familiar had arrived here today at full strength, she was under no illusion she’d have been able to heal them.

These twoare going to be much more difficult, Slimes, she thought.

Still a puddle in her arms, he mentally burbled his agreement.

Maria smoothed her shirt as she stood, her other arm held to her chest so Slimes didn’t ooze onto the floor. “That’s all we’ve got in us for today, Keith. We’ll have to try again tomorrow.”

“Greeeeat,” Tryphena drawled. “Can’t wait for the next time your fake happiness pokes around my soul for literally no reason.”

Maria sighed. Okay, maybe she was a little bothered by the animosity. But rather than engage the former princess, she turned and left, her eyes tracking each of the magically lit torches on the way out. They passed another cell of captives. Maria gave the former handlers of Gormona a smile, but she had no more energy to spare them—she was already exhausted. They looked back sullenly, their collective emotions ranging between Tryphena’s self-loathing and Penelope’s emptiness. Maria felt a little a little bad about the relief that flooded her when they were no longer in sight.

Keith had joined Maria’s silent walk, and tired as she was, she could still sense the doubt seeping from his core.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

He sighed. “I did my best to contain my feelings, but the more I tried, the worse it got. Sorry.”

“Funny how that works, isn’t it? Fischer always says you have to acknowledge thoughts before letting them go, but it’s easier said than done. Regardless, you don’t need to apologize. I’m genuinely happy to talk about it.”

“... Are you sure you’re not too fatigued?”

“Yeah. Why?”

He pointed down. “Because you and Slimes both exerted the same amount of effort, and he’s currently drooping so hard that he’s almost touching the ground.”

Sure enough, most of her familiar’s viscous form was dangling from Maria’s arm, jiggling about with each step she took. She hadn’t noticed. Using her other hand, she scooped him back up, his beady eyes barely open as he looked up at them.

“I’m a boyyyy,” he groaned, utilizing the last of his strength to retreat into her core.

Maria shared a smile with Keith, then took a slow breath to center herself. “I really am okay if you want to talk about it. I’m absolutely exhausted, but that doesn’t mean I can’t listen.”

“It’s fine, I think. But I appreciate the invitation, especially given all you’ve done today.”

“Well, the offer stands if you change your mind. Deal?”

“Deal,” he replied, his core feeling lighter despite not venting anything.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Maria resumed her study of the lamps, their lines a little more colorful after Slimes had returned to her core—or was that her imagination? It was one more question to add to the ever-growing list of unknowns. As they reached the cells where the birdlike cultivators had been held, Maria froze. “Huh.”

“Huh,” Keith agreed.

Where bars had been before, a smooth stone wall stood. It was as if there’d never been rooms there at all. They looked at each other, shrugged, and kept walking. It wasn’t even in the top-ten weird things that had happened today. They reached the not-a-prison’s daunting door without exchanging another word, and Keith dashed forward to pull it open.

More time had passed than she’d thought. A blanket of stars stretched out above them as they stepped outside, making a sense of dissonance flash through her. Shouldn’t she have noticed the coming of night through the many windows they’d walked by? She really needed some rest.

Before the feeling of wrongness could fade, something flashed to the south, so bright that it lit the entire horizon.

Keith snorted, as did Maria.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“No clue...”

When another web of lightning appeared, each bolt far too thick to be natural, the sky beyond the southern mountains became illuminated once more. Maria smiled up at it. What was that little otter up to?