Jade sighed as he looked up to the night sky, guilt warring with indignation inside of himself. He pushed away the latter, though, knowing that this was not a game to these people. It was their way of life. Yes he looked at the world as if it was just a different version on the game he played since he was a kid, but it had real people in it. Real lives moving around, trying to make the world a better place for themselves. Rushing in as he had done had only helped himself. And he needed to realize that. I’m going to make weapons for other people, who will put their lives at risk while using them, he realized, thinking on his goal for himself. I need to take it seriously. Looking up, he noticed the lake sitting right next to the sky house, the water crystal clear, so much so, he could see the cloud stuff at the bottom.

Looking through his inventory once again, he noticed the fishing rod and bait he’d stashed there earlier, having paid no mind to it in the moment. Now however, he could use the fishing to not only clear his head, but also generate some loot to help him out without harming the local adventurers. After moving to the water’s edge and plonking down his chair and campfire, he pulled the rod out of his inventory. I just… cast it right? he asked himself before feeling his magic taking over once more. The bobber sailed through the air with the force of his throw, splashing into the water and causing ripples to mar its surface.

And there he sat. Quietly watching the stars and pulling up items every minute or two. He knew fishing was usually a far slower process, but he could sense his magic resting in the water, generating the various items for him slowly.

#

After a few hours of fishing, Paul finally was able to get away from the sky house when other adventurers showed up to take his place. Jade packed up his stuff and headed back out into the woods and de-summoned the starling, which had watched him fish the entire time. Finding a new spot took no time at all and soon Jade was sleeping peacefully in his tent.

Morning came calmly for Jade, surprising him with how relaxed he felt, having just slept out in the woods. He supposed his more fit body helped with that, though he was still unsure how he was changed when he came to the world. A question for another time.

Getting packed up and back to town also took no time at all, Jade waving at the siblings as he entered the guild building with Paul. He had to go and fill out paperwork of course, but Paul gave him enough of a passing score to get a mage badge, making him eligible to enter the local dungeons. He came back out to sit down with Amy and Yondol at the bar, Amy immediately noticing something off with his expression. “Something happen?” she asked, surprising Jade with how kind her voice was.

“Uh… yeah. Sky island landed near our camp. I uh… looted something from it.” Both siblings winced as he said that, though Yondol just calmly smiled and shook his head after, while Amy gave Jade a glare.

“Just one thing? Why not take the whole-“

“What Amy means to say is that we hope you weren’t in too much trouble.” He arched an eyebrow at his sister, the pink lady turning away with a guilty blush.

“Slap on the wrist. The adventurer with me obviously knew I knew nothing about how the normal procedure went.” Jade then summoned the pink, crystal looking staff, both siblings moving closer to look at it. “I’ve always had looting abilities, though this item is the worst of the lot.” Jade’s expression soured at that, thinking about the fishing he had done during the night. Usually in Errant, you could get treasure from fishing, maybe even a crate that generated chest loot. Here, though, he could only get fish. At least I have a lot of potion materials and food…

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“What is it?” Amy asked avariciously, Jade rolling his eyes as he pulled the staff away from her.

“It’s a summoning staff. Summons a monster to fight for me, though this particular one is really weak…” Jade trailed off with a sigh at the wide eyed looks both of the siblings gave him, extending the staff to Amy with a roll of his eyes. “Here. Try it.” With an excited expression on her face, Amy took the staff, which immediately started glowing. A starling appeared in front of Amy, the pink woman squealing at the cute pink star that floated over to her.

“Can I keep it?” she asked, Jade rolling his eyes once more as he waved at the staff.

“Sure. Might as well see how well it works with your current fighting style.” Amy didn’t even frown at the mention of fighting, she was so enamored with the creature twirling around her head. “So do we want to head out to see the dungeon today or wait until tomorrow?”

“Might want to wait for tomorrow,” Yondol remarked, also looking a bit distracted at the starling. “Give you a day of rest and all that.” Jade reluctantly nodded, thinking of heading out to the sea to try his hand at fishing again.

Seeing a bunch of people in the room start to head towards Amy, Jade told Yondol where he’d be and headed out of the guild building, taking his time as he walked slowly towards the shoreline. Hopefully the ocean gives me more interesting stuff…

#

Unfortunately, fishing in the ocean also gained Jade nothing of particular value, the various fish he caught only being useful once again as food and potion ingredients. Might want to buy a cooking pot to make it easier to cook this stuff, he thought to himself, coming back into town around noon. The streets were surprisingly empty as Jade walked back to the center of town, Jade frowning as he suddenly hit a mob of people milling around the adventurer’s guild. Nope. He immediately turned back to head the other way before wincing at a familiar voice.

“Jade! Jade!” Amy excitedly cried, the crowd parting for her as she ran up to him. The starling twirled along after her, the crowd obviously there for the creature as several people tried to catch it. “Can you get more of those staffs? So many people apparently saw you hand it to me earlier…” The crowd soon landed their eyes on Jade, him letting out a sigh at the avarice in their eyes.

“Unfortunately not,” he firmly stated, causing most of the crowd to get suspicious. “Unless the guild wants to bring me out to every sky island, and even then, it’s not guaranteed from my looting magic.” Most of the crowd looked away disappointingly at that, quickly dispersing as some rather nefarious individuals tried to mosey up to the two. Jade quickly ushered Amy away, Yondol soon appearing next to them as they quickly headed back to the inn they were all staying at.

“That was… not the smartest idea,” Yondol muttered, Jade grimacing in agreement. “Well after we get what you need from the local dungeons, we can leave. Should only be a few days.”

“Fair. I just need something specific from looting the chests and we should be able to head out.” Yondol nodded at that, the three quickly heading to the inn, where thankfully the people following them did not go.

#

Sky Fish

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Prince Fish

Used in Peace Potions, which slows monster spawns within one mile.

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Siamese Fish

Used in Quiver Potions, which gives a 25% chance to not consume arrows when taking them from a quiver.

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Ocean Fish

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Shrimp

Used in Reduction Potions, which reduces a person’s size by 25%.