The side facing him was nearly intact, while the other half of the bridge was missing completely, removed from the surface of the marsh as neatly as if it had been sliced away by a surgeon’s scalpel. But the shorn bridge wasn’t the reason why he was so excited.

The reason why a broad smile had blossomed on his face was swimming in the water below.

Hundreds of fat fish the length of Nick’s forearm were gliding across the clear waters, weaving their way between the pillars anchoring the stone edifice into the earth below. Otherworldly creatures with scales of amethyst and lilac, that sparkled like the facets of gems.

But what really captured his attention wasn’t the animals’ unusual appearance, although they were undeniably remarkable, but the reaction that his foraging skill was making at the sight of the gleaming purple piscine. As he stared into the crystalline waters, Nick’s skill told him that not only were the colorful creatures edible, they were absolutely delicious.

“Sophia, hold up.” He came to a stop, scanning the riverbank to make sure that nothing unpleasant was lurking around or below the waterline.

“What is it?” She fell into formation beside him, drawing her dagger in a flash. “Do you sense something stalking us? I can’t see anything, but your evaluate threat skill is better than mine.”

“No. Nothing like that.” Nick smiled as he watched her lithe movements. “It’s not a threat that I’ve spotted, but an opportunity. The fish in the river are highly nutritious. We’ve stumbled across a perfect chance to top off our stores.”

“Let’s keep going,” she frowned, glancing up at the tower in the distance. “We still have plenty of food in our bags. Besides, how would we even catch them?”

Stolen story; please report.

“We both need a break,” Nick gestured toward the severed bridge. “Something fun to let off a bit of the pressure we’ve been under. Besides, you said that you wanted to see if my foraging skill could teach you anything useful. This is a perfect opportunity to find out why my level ten skill is going nuts at the sight of those fish. As to your other question…” he let the mystery hang in the air as he slipped off his pack and opened the flap.

He reached inside and pulled out his fishing rod with a dramatic flourish. “Nick’s magic bag has you covered.”

As he had hoped, the absurd performance was enough to get her to laugh. A musical chuckle, full of delight, that warmed his heart to hear. “Be careful Nick." Sophia walked over to the bridge, giving in to his request with rising enthusiasm. “Or I’m going to expect you to always have exactly what I need in there. Where did you find all this,” she pointed to the line and hook that Nick was in the process of attaching to the rod.

“The hook came with my toolbelt, and I found the line in a dungeon back in the tutorial. The rod was one of my basic item choices the System offered after the tutorial. My travel journal and these denim coveralls were the others, since my clothes were bloodstained rags by that point.”

“Combining pants and shirt into a single item, clever. You seem to have a good eye for collecting useful items too, not just those that were handed out by the System. That pack, combined with a high foraging skill, makes you a pretty handy person to have around. Let’s get on with it then. It would be a crime to let all that hard work go to waste.”

“That reminds me,” Nick added. “I’ve been recording all the knowledge point unlocks I earned back in the tutorial into my journal, along with anything else I could think of. You should look at it later and see if there’s anything in there you haven’t already read, then jot down any entries you unlocked that I didn’t. I eventually hope to compile a System encyclopedia, then distribute it to everyone I can. The info should help people make the best decisions when spending their free attribute points and training various attributes via conditioning.”

“That’s a great idea, Nick.” Sophia looked impressed by his ingenuity. “I’ll take a look through it when we camp for the night. I know about most of the terms on our profiles. We pooled our points together during my tutorial so that we wouldn’t waste kp unlocking the same entry twice. But for now, let’s focus on the fishing.”