Chapter 88
Return to Purpose
(Thrush)
At last, I welcomed the cold of the sea through my fur. There was no reason to blink in the water. I paddled into the depths, I swam down the continental shelf, and I slid down into the abyssal plain. My lungs took in water when I forgot to cut to the surface for air. The burning of saltwater was little matter. What really mattered was fish!
I sensed schools of fish, spied dark shapes in the darkness, and felt the currents of fleeing monsters. The chase was the fun of it. Discovering new creatures and monsters was a delight. More than once I was scooped up by behemoth creatures and swallowed whole.
The first one to have eaten me turned out to be a Blahtawana. It was so fast that we could race together. I wondered if I had come upon it before in ancient times when it had been just a tadpole. Whether that was the case, the Blahtawana was the longest creature I had ever come across. Its tail was covered in fins as large as masts. When it had swallowed me whole, it took nearly half an hour until I arrived at its stomach. I climbed back up until I came near to its beating heart. Its heartbeat was so loud that my eardrums broke time and time again. I purred to heal myself as I broke through flesh and sank my teeth into its heart.
It thrashed as I chomped. When it died I put the whole thing in my inventory. I sank like lead as my Composition changed.
Satiation:
112%
Composition:
71% Dreambon
10% Blahtawana
06% Precious gems
01% Woolbane
12% World
100% Ethereal
02% Red Bestie
When my bottom hit the bed of the sea, I was still chewing my last bite of Blahtawana heart. My system asked if I wanted to Appraise Item.
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[Appraisal level 1218.]
[Blahtawana.]
[Value: 20 gold per pound/ 2 silver per pound at market saturation.]
My most expensive and crunchiest fish.
My eyelids began to droop.I was so heavy that I began sinking into the sand of the sea bottom. I yawned and released a giant bubble. It was so dark I could not see it.
I woke a day or two later with sand and saltwater in my lungs. I cut through the world onto dry land in some summer woods. I hacked sand and seawater at my feet. I coughed and coughed and coughed. I put the trees in my inventory and cut through the world to return to the frigid deep sea.
I fished for days on end.
04x Lantern Fish
54x Bristlemouths
77x Eelpouts
87x Decapods
01x King Crab
47x Yeti Crabs
85x Blob Spined Throwmouth
Of my catch, only the Blob Spined Throw Mouth was spicy—unfit for humans. The king crab held the least value. Blahtawana still held the most.
My inventory was burgeoning! Inventory Management was at level 3999, more than 1000 levels above my next highest skill. Quests kept coming; but, like promises, I only wanted to do one at a time.
Next to my other fish, I had so much to smoke! And eating the fish had changed me. My composition had changed. My palms had become soft as eel skin. My nose and the inside of my ears had grown copper fish scales. My fur shortened. My eyes took on layers upon layers of silver sheens. Sunlight bounced off my eyeballs. My fingers and toes had become slightly webbed. Fins had emerged along my spine. While my dreambon Composition had reduced to 50%, my fish Composition had increased from 10% to 31%.
After battling a frenzy of blue sharks, and eating one, my skin took on a tough and gritty layer. And just as I put 4 of them into my inventory, a gash appeared in the sea, through which I could see Abigail in Hawkin’s snow covered clearing. I stepped through.
As soon as I set foot, blue jays fled the nearby canopies. Abigail and Hawkin greeted me warmly.
“Looks like you’ve been fishing,” said Abigail.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with fins,” said Hawkin.
“Deep sea fishing,” I said. “I will smoke some of my biggest catch.”
“Hawkin and I have more beer to give you. Would you mind meeting me at Hiccup’s mansion to make a delivery? I’m sure Evon will have a lot of items to give you.”
“I would love to. That’s where elodon meat awaits me.”
“I’ll go prepare,” Abigail said. She entered the cabin.
“I must prepare too,” I said. “Let’s put some fish to smoke.”
Hawkin helped me fire up the offset chamber of the smoker. When the temperature was just hot enough, I laid down a slab of Blahtawana. Its skin sizzled on the rack. I shut the door. My eyes pulsed and throbbed as I watched blue smoke fly from the smoke stack.
“Dreambon?” I said.
“Good timing,” said Hawkin. “We’ve just run out.”
“I’ll fill the barrel with more when we return.”
Abigail returned a few moments later, all ready to go. She would stay the night at Hiccup’s mansion because the travel would tire her. Just before we set off, Hawkin transported groups of barrels from his ethereal plane: ethereal dungeon beers, ethereal stroll beers, goblin spit beers, warm-warm beers, and warm-warm spit beers.
By the time I had stuffed everything into my inventory, I was ankle deep in the ground. Abigail was surprised to find out that I was nearly out of Anti-gravity beers. She made a few barrels for the meantime and suggested we talk to Hiccup about providing me a massive quantity of the beer.
She sipped from a Brewer’s Portal attribute beer and vanished. I cut through the world to Lavenfauvish, and I already missed the aroma of smoked fish.