Your level has increased to twelve!  

You have met the experience cap. You gain no further experience for this enemy.

You can distribute ten attribute points as you like.

All attribute points have been increased by one for killing a new type of enemy.

You have started a hidden mission

|Pestilence of the river|

Dangerous pebbles infest the otherwise peaceful river

Catch or kill seven river fish pretending to be rocks.

Optional: Capture four or more stone fish alive.

Optional: Use only your hands.

Optional: Don’t get wet.

“Pebble, stones, rocks or fish?”

Location: Unnamed rivercamp.

Difficulty: Irrelevant.

Reward: Slight increase perception when peering into water.

Optional rewards: Proficiency in stonefish rearing and cooking.

Optional rewards: Proficiency in stonefish using hands.

Optional rewards: Bountiful tier one cooking and fishing materials.

“Note to those watching at home, this is not how you fish. Please do not to recreate anything you see on the show.”

“Don’t be like this, look. The optional parts are practically impossible. Catch fish, don’t get wet? What is this difficulty?”

‘Just use magic.’

“I don’t know magic! And don’t side with that bastard.”

“Ah. Yet another “clever and elusive” fish managed to escape our protagonists grasps, those insidious little things!”

“They are clever and elusive! Don’t take that tone with me. You try it.”

‘We’ve been here for hours Ji, you already got two levels, we should start moving soon. While we still have daylight.

I’m also not sure where we are at the moment. So the more time we spend traveling the more likely we will find a safer space to stay.’

“But the mission! The experience! The glory!”

‘Glory?’

“The glory! I will catch four of these bastards if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Such indomitable will! You can practically see the determination in the young man’s eyes as his hand swipes towards the water.”

“Got it! I caught one! Did you see? Hoooo! How satisfying.”

Catch or kill six river fish pretending to be rocks.

Optional: Capture three or more stone fish alive.

Optional: Use only your hands.

“Hmmm. I won’t be able to get the third bonus reward but only three more and I’ll get the first and second one.”

“A look of boredom is apparent on the now lethargic looking young woman. Our hero too involved in his success to the notice the passing of time. Welcome to fishing with Ji.”

“Hmm. Hmm. Just three more!

That’s got to be one of them, what do you think narrator?”

“Clear blue skies, not a cloud in sight. What a lovely day.”

“Useless.”

Catch or kill five river fish pretending to be rocks.

Optional: Capture three or more stone fish alive.

Optional: Use only your hands.

“It’s super easy when you get used to it.”

“Gloating with a smug smile our hero stands in a shallow river catching fish as if it was some great battle of wits or a battle to the death. How great! How amazing, such narcissism is hard to come by.”

“This is a man’s romance, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Time flows as we hear the occasional cursing, the over the top shouting in celebration. A young girl has fallen asleep on the soft grass by the river.”

Catch or kill one river fish pretending to be rocks.

Optional: Completed.

Optional: Use only your hands.

“This should be last one! Come to papa.”

Your level has increased to eighteen!  

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

You have met the experience cap. You gain no further experience for this enemy.

You can distribute ten attribute points as you like.

All attributes have increased by three for clearing a hidden mission and clearing two optional objectives.

Your level has increased to twenty five!  

You have acquired eighty percent experience; twenty percent required to level up.

You can distribute fifty attribute points as you like.

All attributes have increased by three for clearing a hidden mission and clearing two optional objectives.

“Oh! So the experience cap doesn’t apply to quests? That’s cool, would have been disappointing getting just one level for all that effort.”

“Effort. This he calls effort, frolicking in a river catching near immobile fish. They are called Stone fish for a reason. Their main defense mechanism is concealment. Incredible, just incredible.”

“You can’t put me down!

Leysa, wake up Leysa. I finished it. I’m level twenty three!”

‘mmrm?’

“I finished the mission. Hehe. I’m level twenty three. Hello?”

‘What!? Twenty three? But how.

“Pretty much a level for each fish! Hehe, it was hard but I did it.”

“The river was harsh and unforgiving. Our hero persevered in the face of towering, terrifying foes. He stood his ground in a time of great wetness. How brave. How inspirational!”

“Shush you.”

‘How can you level up so fast from catching fish? How long was I asleep?’

“The lucky girl slept for over five hours of mind numbingly dull hand grabbing fishing.”

“Eh. Not that long, maybe an hour or so. Ye. An hour or so.”

‘I didn’t mean to sleep for so long, it’s almost evening, maybe we should stay here another night.’

“Ye? You think so. It’s up to you, I’m in no hurry. I may even try to get some more of these bad boys it’s surprisingly good experience.”

‘The earlier levels are easiest, don’t get ahead of yourself.’

“Got it. That was to be expected.”

‘But even so. You level abnormally fast. Is your rested bonus still at five hundred percent?’

“Let me check.”

|Rested|

Increases experience by four hundred ninety nine percent.

Experience penalties and experience caps still apply.

Current approximation of duration: Approximately twenty seven years.

‘What!? That’s. You sure it says twenty seven years?’

“Ye, seems like a long time. But I think it’ll drop a lot faster once the experience coming in starts getting higher.”

“Surprisingly, our protagonist is right for once. Although it is indeed an extravagant experience bonus, it will rapidly wither way if he does indeed start to be even remotely active in the pursuit of greater experience.”

“Alright. So are we staying another night here?”

‘Give me a moment to think.’

“Unaware of the incoming patrol, our couple tries to make a decision that could decide whether they live or die. True horror is other people and their ignorance.”

“Damn it! Leysa. The narrator says a patrol is coming.

No. not this again.”

‘We don’t have time to waste.

“My fish!”

“Our hero gets swept away and is already in the air before he knows it.”

“Are you going to do that every time? Also, why do I have to sit in your lap? This is demeaning.”

‘You are free to move.’

“No. I’m good right here.”

‘Stop squirming.’

“Rivers, giant trees, overgrown small towns. In the distance we can see what once was a flourishing city. Now a fragment of its former self, crawling plants and sky defying trees. Nature and time are a formidable foes.”

“Wow. That’s pretty cool. I wonder how large those buildings used to be.”

‘We can’t go there, too many places to hide. Too many people and other things attack from the shadows in abandoned cities.’

“Oh. That’s depressing. Looks so cool.

You said mentioned you thought we were lost earlier right? Are we still lost?”

‘Sort of, but we can just continue going towards the setting sun, we’ll find our way sooner or later.’

“Okay. You lead the way then.”

“A hint of impatience shines through our main characters eyes when he spots another river. Once in awhile he’ll see a small critter and figuratively drool. The eyes of a vulture, a phrase fit for this less than ideal hero.”

“In what way am I not ideal!? I tick all the boxes! I’m an orphan for one, I’ve got to fight this illness. Uhm. What else? I'm incredibly brave, practically fearless!”

“Can you hear my eyes roll? Is there a way to express how I feel right now in words? I wasn’t trained for this level of idiocy.”

“What! It’s true! Screw you man. I’ve even got a follower already. Just look at Leysa, you must admit she was a great catch!

Owh! Ah. Owh! Stop! Damnit! Owh!”

“Mmmmmmmmmmm the sweet, sweet taste of karma.”

“Leysa please! I was just. It was the narrator's fault!”

“That has to hurt. Hopefully this will improve his character, mold him into a proper protagonist. Someone with depth! Someone more handsome preferably.”

“Hey! Say what you will about my character but don’t drag my looks into this.”

‘Ji. Please shut up.’

“See what you've done? Now you got little Ley against me. Unbelievable!

Mmmmhrm!”

“Finally silenced. We can now enjoy the quiet flight. The scenery is absolutely stunning, the mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes. The great variety of fauna and flora. Let’s breathe it all in, this fantastic silence.”

‘I’ll remove the gag later, let me enjoy the silence for a bit.’

“When the restless protagonist finally stops resisting he sighs and closes his eyes. Somehow managing to fall asleep. As always, we are baffled by his behavior.”

“Mmrrhmph!”

‘Shush.’

“Time flies when you are having fun and no obnoxious self-important tool is ruining your day. One can expect the hours to pass peacefully for a while.”

…

…

…

“The majestic emperor eagle dives down, preparing to land. The area is flat with oddly perfect looking monoliths and piles of oddly arranged stones. One must wonder, how were these made? And why?”

“Pah! Pah! Pah!

This was humiliating! You can’t just gag me. What are you? The gestapo? Do you know what a little thing called Freedom of speech is?! My good lord, this was painful.

Had a nice nap, but still!”

‘Nothing in this world is free, speech included.’

Don’t be ridiculous. How are you going to charge people for talking?

‘I’ll gag them.’

“Point taken.

Where are we? And what are those things?”

‘Not sure what they call it but this is a location where people come to clear missions or quests. And those things are monoliths, they do nothing.’

“Is there a difference in missions and quests?”

‘No. some might argue that a quest is a long mission but in the end it’s all the same thing in my opinion.’

“Oh. Alright then. Are we staying here for the night then?”

‘We are, the eagle needs rest. We won’t be sleeping the entire night though. We will have moonlight now and since we found out that someone might be chasing us we have no time to waste.

That means not roaming about, hunting or the lord forbids, fishing.’

“A carcass appears in front of the emperor eagle that lets out a quiet screech and starts purring.”

“Why does it purr?

Leysa? Why does it purr?”

‘I don’t know, you should rest.’

“I just took a nap.”

‘Then stay guard while I rest.’

“You can sense the indifference in her tone, she may have gotten enough of his nonsense.”

“She’s just exhausted.

I wonder why the eagle doesn’t fly away. It looks like the extremely proud kind of animal.”

“After fumbling about for the better part of an hour, our hero finally sits down and closes his eyes.”

...

…

…

‘Ji. Up. Get up.’

“The clear skies are lit by moonlight, a soothing sight. The monoliths give of a foreboding feeling, shadows appear and disappear in the fields. A gloomy sensation lingers in the air.”

“Already? I feel like I just closed my eyes.”

“Oblivious to the truly lethal danger that lurks in the mono-fields. The spirits of possession wander this area. They might not do physical damage but they’ll test your spirit, the tenacity of your will and the stability of your mind.”

“What the shit. That’s terrifying. Hurry Leysa let’s get the hell out of here.

Leysa?”

“You will bow or you will be broken, and there they will lay, the shattered pieces of your pride.”

“Hello? What?! What is this? Who are you?”