[You’ve received a Quest: Big Fisherman! Catch twenty edible fish in the next hour.]
[Reward for completing the Quest: 30 bonus attribute points.]
[Penalty for not completing the Quest: Your constitution stat will drop to 0.]
Logan jerked back reflexively, as if trying to avoid the System message. But there was no avoiding this. That mother---
For once, couldn’t it just let him revel in his success? It had to throw another curveball. And what the hell was this bullshit penalty? At least this time the System wasn’t threatening to chop off another body part, but in a way, it was just as bad. If his constitution went to zero, what would that do? Although he’d started with a small constitution score of 5, it had still been something. If he lost that, would that mean his hand would stop healing? What would happen if he were injured? Logan had a suspicion, and he didn’t like where his thoughts were leading him.
Could you function if you had no constitution at all? And worst possibility of all, did having zero constitution mean he would die?
This quest was on a whole different level. Whoever was pulling the strings behind the System had gone too far. It was like failing a driving test, but instead of failing, the result was a head on collision.
Logan kicked his way to the surface, pushing his wet hair away from his eyes as he bobbed in place. With a voice littered with sarcasm, Logan said, “System, I’d like to submit a complaint. You’re an asshole. Turn off all quests.”
[…No.]
Logan reflexively kicked underwater, warily looking around. He’d been joking and not expecting an answer. Just how closely was the thing monitoring everyone? Either it had singled him out, or it was actively listening to billions of people. To do that, you’d have to have massive resources. And massive processing power. Still, maybe he could get somewhere with this after all.
He tried taking a more pleading, apologetic tone. “System, please turn off all quests? I don’t think they’re fair.”
[…No.]
Logan ground his teeth and punched the surface of the water, creating a huge splash. It wasn’t as if he seriously thought that was going to work, but the fact that the System answered him meant it was aware this quest was fubar and yet persisted. Asshole on top of asshole.
Okay, okay. He had an hour to do this. He’d already caught one fish, and it hadn’t seemed that hard. Maybe this quest wasn’t too bad after all.
Optimism! A glass half full attitude would get him through this. He could be that dude.
Sure.
Logan dropped underneath the surface of the lake, searching for his spear gun. He’d dropped it just as he’d speared the trout, and the pitiful fish was still hopelessly swimming and trying to get away from the spear in its side. Logan didn’t have any time to spare, so he willed the trout into his collar so he could get the spear gun ready for another round.
[Error! You cannot store living beings inside a spatial device!]
Damn. That was weird. Did that mean that the Cursed Length of Rope wasn’t technically alive? But he had no time to think it over. Instead, he yanked the spear out of the trout’s side and then forced the fish into the fishing net.
He scanned the water, looking for any signs of fish. But either he’d made too much racket, or the dying rainbow trout had scared them off. He’d have to go deeper. Logan kicked his feet underwater, half walking, half swimming as he moved further into the lake. Eventually, the shallow, blue water ended as he approached an underwater cliff. Down below, there was nothing but blackness.
Was he really doing this?
He was doing this.
Logan stepped off the cliff, letting himself sink down into the depths. Luckily, the drop seemed to sheer off as he fell about twenty feet and his feet touched sandy floor. The sun still had the chance to pierce the water at this depth, and he could make out a rock formation covered in seaweed up ahead. Didn’t fish like hiding in seaweed? He’d take it; he had nothing else to go on right now.
Logan glanced to the right, seeing—ah, man.
A flash of a white tentacle.
That wasn’t a fish. Why couldn’t he catch a break? The Okanagan Lake was a freshwater lake, ‘tentacle’ shouldn’t be in his vocabulary. That’s why he’d never once scuba dived in his life; the fear of the unknown. The lake had fjord drops all around it; deep, deep drops, and as far as he was concerned, it was the equivalent of diving deep into the dark ocean without a submarine. Without being able to see through the darkness, his mind would play tricks on him, picturing Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas monsters everywhere.
But this wasn’t a monster from a novel. If something down here had tentacles, there was a good chance it was already enhanced by the System.
Logan stared in that direction, nerves making him bunch up the fishing net in his hand. He kept staring, a clock ticking in his head as he fell further behind on the quest, but the tentacle didn’t appear again. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Logan kicked his feet, moving away from the area, going closer to that rock formation, just as—oh fuck! His lungs had suddenly seized as he gasped for air underwater, inhaling nothing but water and choking. He couldn’t breathe he couldn’t breathe he couldn’t breathe. Logan clawed at his throat, feeling as if his eyes were bulging.
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The quest had distracted him from the fact that he had limited time underwater. He’d just reached the maximum limit on [Deepwater Idiot]. Psyching himself up to increase the skill was one thing but triggering it when he wasn’t expecting it was another. The agony was somehow worse. The pain had spread to his chest, the equivalent of having the worst pneumonia coughing fit in the word. At his wit’s end and about to give up and swim to the surface, Logan let out a silent scream as the pain shuddered through his starved lungs.
[Deepwater Idiot is Level 4!]
Just like that, Logan inhaled the biggest gulp of air of his life. A shot of clear air filled his lungs, but on his exhale, there were no bubbles, no oxygen rising to the surface. The skill kept baffling him. He was underwater, but it was as if he’d just breached the surface and received a shot of pure oxygen. But holy crap, that had been torture.
He didn’t know how much time had passed since the quest had been announced, but time was the enemy and he’d yet to catch one fish.
Logan continued moving towards the rock formation, his spear gun ready. He’d caught the rainbow trout easily, but it had been close. So close he would’ve kicked himself if he’d missed. Hopefully it was easy to use the spear gun at a distance.
The seaweed was high, double his own height and swaying in the underwater current. That caused reduced visibility, the seaweed blocking whatever sun had managed to reach these depths. How the hell was he going to fish if he could barely see a foot in front of him?
Logan strained his eyes, using all the perception at his disposal to see through the murk. Was that something moving just behind that cluster of seaweed? He furrowed his eyebrows, squinting and doing his best to make it out, finally holding his hand above his forehead, trying to stop his bangs from swinging in front of the scuba mask.
Yet no matter how hard he strained, there wasn’t anything he could do about the muck. You couldn’t see through muck.
This was impossible.
Ding!
[You have been granted the skill, Deepwater Sight! This skill allows you to see what remains hidden at underwater depths.]
[Skill convergence found! The skill, Deepwater Idiot, has been merged with the skill, Deepwater Sight, to form the uncommon skill, Deepwater Explorer. This skill allows you to breathe at deep, crushing depths, and illuminates what would normally be hidden in the dark. Duration of the skill advances per level.]
Damn. Okay, he’d take it. Based on the description of the skill, he could go even deeper without worrying about underwater pressure levels. Logan knew there were decompression problems at depths. This new skill meant he could go as far as he wanted without that worry, and also see everything around him.
He could already notice a massive difference. It was as if a spotlight were illuminating everything around him. The murkiness had to still be there, but he could see through it. The only barrier to truly crystal-clear sight was the mask over his eyes. Removing the mask felt the opposite of sane, but he didn’t need it to breathe, and he no longer needed it to see.
Logan removed the mask and willed it back into his spatial storage.
Water rushed into his face, but only a few blinks were needed to get used to seeing underwater.
Even better. It was as if he weren’t underwater at all.
That meant that hint of what he thought was something moving up ahead wasn’t a hint anymore. About ten feet in front him, bobbing in between a strand of long seaweed, was a fish the size of a coffee mug. It was bright orange with spiky pectoral fins shaped like a mohawk. It looked like a tropical fish! There was fish like this in the Okanagan Lake?
Logan used [Idiot’s Inspect] on the fish.
[Pumpkinseed: Level 0. A freshwater fish.]
Huh. He’d take it. Logan tried to be stealthy and moved closer, angling his spear gun at just the right angle.
There.
He released the spear, watching with a churning stomach as it travelled through the water. Logan’s mouth grew dry as in slow motion, the fish became aware of the projectile and smoothly darted out of the way.
Damn.
Okay, okay. No reason to panic. He still had time.
Did he still have time? There was no way to ask the System; he couldn’t talk underwater. Logan thought as hard as he could. System, how much time, System, how much time, System—
[Quest Progress: 0/20. 50 minutes remaining.]
And the trusty old creeper accommodated him. Fuck fuck fuck. How had ten minutes passed already? He hadn’t even caught one fish!
His heart racing, panic beginning to build, Logan kicked-slash-walked forward, moving deeper into the seaweed forest. There! Another fish, this one a rainbow trout. It wasn’t as big as the other one, but it was still a good five inches. It was doing the same fishy thing—pecking away at the seaweed leaves. There must be something tasty on the things.
Logan entered what he’d call stealth mode, trying to be an underwater statue as he crept closer, using only small pushes forward. Fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet…
He released the spear, letting it shoot forward.
And…
The trout darted to the side and swam away so fast he could hardly track it.
DAMMIT.
His glass half full optimism was now in the dirt. Obviously, that first catch had been luck more than anything. There was a technique to fishing with a spear gun. In a normal day, Logan could have experimented until he found something that worked, but thanks to the creeper, the System, he no longer had that luxury. If he didn’t do something soon, he was going to fail this quest, and maybe even lose his life.
The worst part was the uncertainty of not knowing the consequences of failure. There was a chance that having zero constitution just meant he’d be vulnerable to attack, but if Logan knew anything about this System, the fairest, positive option would never be a reality. The fucker wanted to kill him.
Logan hesitated. There was one thing he could try. He had no idea if the Cursed Length of Rope would work underwater, but it might be his ace in the hole.
Life or death times called for desperate measures.
Let’s see if the sociopathic rope could catch fish.
Logan stored the spear gun in his spatial collar and then willed the rope out. It landed in his hand as if it never left. He received a distinct feeling of surprise and then glee as it took in the world around him with its rope fibres, the rope slithering through the water like a snake.
Stay down, fucker, he thought at it. If it flexed in the water like a lasso, he’d scare the fish away before he even got close. Seeming to catch onto his thoughts, it deflated, becoming a regular piece of rope once again.
Logan swam around the edges of the seaweed forest, hoping to catch sight of another fish. He’d need one deep in the leaves. One that hadn’t picked up on his presence. It was beyond frustrating to try to be stealthy when his heart was beating out of his chest and a ticking bomb was thrashing in his ears.
Jackpot.
Another Pumpkinseed. This one was a baby, only the size of a jar. It was bright green with black speckles. Using a spear gun, Logan may have passed it by—since its body wasn’t big enough to spear. The Cursed Length of Rope might be a different story.
Logan approached slowly, trying to employ his stealth mode once again, but as soon as he lifted the rope, hoping to swing it, the thing exploded. Glee glee glee was communicated to Logan as the fibres swelled with water, its beaten up look turning slick like slime. It travelled through the water so quickly Logan could hardly track it, turning into a whip as it slammed into the fish, wrapping around it end over end.
By the time Logan had managed to pull it back, the head of the fish was nothing but a skeleton, the tail still full of fishy flesh.
Ding!
[You have successfully caught one edible fish!]
[Quest Progress: 1/20. 45 minutes remaining.]
Ah, man.