Early in the morning, the sky was still dark.
There weren't many people in the streets and alleys yet, but the shops and workshops for the morning market were busy preparing to open.
Some fully-geared adventurers had risen early, walking towards Katheryne to take on commissions and earn Mora - better to have funds for drinks later at Angel's Share tavern tonight!
Among them was Nolan, here to retrieve his net.
After an entire night passed, the amount of harvest depends on luck. Mondstadt wasn't a fishing focused nation after all.
Though some did work in the trade, not many, conveniently avoiding overfishing issues.
So Nolan wasn't worried about not having a single fish, and that was on the premise of having bait.
Stepping on the dewy grass, he walked Springvale Lake's bank once more. The dampness on his shoes likely came from the lakeside fog during nighttime.
A few minutes passed, and Nolan came to the location of yesterday's fishing nets.
A wooden stick was inserted into the soil, and the fishing net was pulled out about fifteen meters along the stick, which was not very big, and the shadows of the fish could be seen vaguely through the clear water.
Nolan grew somewhat excited. All he needed to do now was pull the net back in.
So heavy!
Only by grasping the net could its weight be felt. Seemed he made the right choice selling fish for a living, otherwise, how would a normal person like him easily gain Adventure EXP?
It took some effort to haul the net back onto shore. Plenty of fish both big and small got caught inside.
Mostly common ones like Glaze Medaka, Red-Belly Medaka, Black-Back Perch plus a few Bitty Bitterling.
【Defeated Powerful Enemy * 13, Obtained 65 Adventure EXP】
At this time, they were in a state of defenselessness, and without the need to kill them, they were judged to be successfully defeated by Nolan. If it wasn't for the fact that they could only be defeated once, it would be more perfect to raise them and brush them over and over again.
Unfortunately, no such loopholes existed.
But there were still benefits, such as he didn't have to sell the dead fish and could sell them more easily.
Removing the fish one by one from the net into a wooden tub, careful counting showed thirteen catches, 5 EXP each totaling 65. Added to his previous 47, he now had 112.
Exceeding 100 at last, enough to raise his level! He felt rather expectant over what would happen.
Whew~ Nolan took a deep breath, opened the character panel, and put Adventure EXP into the Level section. With a single thought the operation finished, and the number "1" behind Level flickered twice before slowly changing into "2".
Name: Nolan Walker
Level: Lv.2 (0/200)
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Race: Human
Title: None
Innate Talent: Entangling Affection
Skills: None
Specialty:【Descender】
Adventure EXP: 12
No major changes occurred on his character panel, yet a clear, comfortable stream of warmth suddenly emerged within his body. Like radiation, this energy slowly encompassed every cell, nourishing and strengthening them. He could feel himself growing stronger bit by bit.
Strengthening time is very fast. Nolan's physical appearance has not changed much, still so ordinary, but he clearly feels that he has become much stronger.
Strength, agility, endurance, spirit, and even life force all improved comprehensively. Scars on his arm from childhood tumbles had vanished without a trace.
If he were to face that Hydro Slime again, he believed that he would be able to defeat it head-on with his bare hands without the help of the environment.
This didn't merely represent physical augmentation, but racial evolution, and elevation of the vital level. Most intuitively shown through Nolan's lifespan increasing accordingly as well.
Although he didn't know exactly how much it had been enhanced, this was indeed what he felt when his body was strengthened.
In the long term, perhaps there would never come a day when his lifespan ended - who didn't desire longevity?
Nolan felt very relaxed in both body and mood, incentivizing collecting Adventure EXP even more!
Advancing the schedule of becoming an adventurer had to happen faster since defeating monsters represented the proper approach for obtaining EXP. Though for that, he would need to learn combat skills and techniques, not knowing how to start currently.
While pondering, he recast his net and sprinkled more fish bait before carrying the tub of catches back to the city to sell off.
At the gates area and thanks to arriving early for a prime spot, business went very smoothly. As food, fresh fish would never lack buyers, especially with just thirteen catches that didn't even count as a tiny fraction for Mondstadt's massive population base - soon sold out.
On average each fish sold for 1,200 Mora, totaling 15,600 income for the batch, immediately recouping his net costs.
When funds allowed more leeway after a few more days, he could return Amber's borrowed Mora and rent a place for himself then.
The rescue center is not only remote but also small, so it's fine for short-term living, but it's too uncomfortable for long-term.
Nothing more he could do today for fishing, have to wait till tomorrow's catches. But collecting Adventure EXP still needed continuous momentum.
Nolan asked at several restaurants, checking if they lacked back kitchen helpers or workers to process livestock and seafood - representing another stable income and EXP source if he could get such a position.
Unfortunately, they all said they had enough staff and didn't need any.
Feeling tired after all the walking, Nolan slumped onto a street bench to catch his breath and gazed blankly at the azure sky, deep in thought. Suddenly from the corner of his eyes, he glimpsed a burly uncle dressed like a hunter passing by.
The uncle carried a hunting bow on his back. Furry animal ears poked from above his head while he sported a mustache below his lips and chin.
Nolan's thoughts jumped and some memories came back to him, he seemed to be the chief of hunters in Springvale not far away from Mondstadt City, Diona's father, Draff!
Wait...hunter!
Nolan realized that if he wanted to become an adventurer, he still lacked combat skills and techniques. But to learn those required someone to teach him.
Thinking so, becoming a hunter would make a good transitional job. Also needing to traverse the wilderness, hunters wielded formidable hunting skills too, just against beasts instead of monsters.
If he followed Draff to learn the hunter trade, later gaining self-sufficiency surviving outdoors, then becoming an adventurer wouldn't be far off.
Moreover, even beasts should provide considerable Adventure EXP gains when hunted - he guessed.
Hunting would also be able to utilize the entire daytime gap when there was nothing to do for the time being after fishing and selling fish. So the problem became, could he convince Draff to teach hunting experience and techniques to him, even letting Nolan tag along on hunts?
Watching Draff walk further and further away, Nolan pondered briefly before chasing to catch up anyway.
How do you know it won't work if you don't try?
"Hunter sir, please wait!"
Nolan called out to Draff without revealing familiarity, in case of misunderstandings.
The furry-eared Draff halted his steps, unexpectedly turning around to eye this Liyue youth who stopped him and said:
"Just now I noticed that you have been looking at me with a hesitant look. Is there something wrong?"
As an experienced hunter with a subtle sense of the environment, Draff noticed the source of the sight from the moment Nolan turned his gaze towards him.
However, he just assumed that Nolan was curious.
(End of Chapter)
To be continued...