It took him plenty of tries, as he already expected, but eventually, the trick of trade he had reinvented worked like a charm. From an outsider’s perspective, he was just staring into the waters idly until the result showed itself.

All gnawing doubts disappeared when a humongous fish hurled itself out of the deep roaring water as it chased after the magical bait. It was truly a magnificent sight to see, like a movie or something. Obviously, this trick-of-trade was one of the few of the first ideas when he came up with the huge technological disadvantage in this world.

The ground vibrated under his feet as the river monster slammed onto the ground right before him. Cold sweat bathed him as a ridiculous but plausible thought came through.

Luckily, it didn’t have any or suddenly grow legs.

He certainly had not prepared for such a possibility and it could have meant the end of him.

The next obvious thing he needed to do was to stab the limbless river monster to death which was pretty much helpless on land. Simple, right? No, of course not, as doing what was preplanned was totally a different matter.

And despite the bubbling excitement, Ake was frozen for a few seconds too long as he gathered his flailed nerves. He couldn’t imagine anyone from Earth having the guts to do something like this ever, let alone an average guy like him. It took him some serious time before he gritted his teeth and got to work.

At least, he would try his best to finish the job while not dying in the process. It was clear why no one but the tribes in his vague memory had ever tried to catch them this way.

It was obvious why trying to wrangle it was futile. The monster fish was huge and it wouldn’t let up one bit even when it was out of the water. Its frantic fin flaps alone had sent him off his feet into the air and the giant wagging tail was best avoided.

He might really kick the bucket if he was hit by that.

Perhaps the [Life Lease] existence was the only thing that kept his manly balls together. He wouldn’t have called it a river monster if it didn’t also have shark-like teeth, each the size of his fist. One chomp and he would have to say goodbye to his limb, half-K HP or not.

‘Why am I doing this again?’ Ake asked himself.

The dagger Liara had loaned to him reminded him why, and it should be helpful but he still had to deliver the kill himself. Ake gritted his teeth once again and lunged at the monster. Every time he tried, he was tossed away like he was just a nuisance but he could not let any of that stop him.

Each time he was in the air, Ake kept wondering how he was able to muster the guts to finish the job. He was a huge coward for god’s sake.

It was no surprise when the dagger could only scratch and slide off the thick slimy scales. Most of the time the weapon only bounced away and he couldn’t imagine trying to kill this slippery monster underwater.

As if the bitch-slaps from the fin weren't enough, a simple body check would have caused his rib to scream in pain. The monster was pretty much still deadly even out of its nature, at least for him. He imagined Liara could make short work of it when the fish was out of the water.

Between the maw trying to take a bite and the tail, Ake was beaten and bruised before he was able to plunge the dagger into its eye, but as expected, it was far over yet.

He held the dagger with both hands like his life depended on it until the flappings finally ceased. His whole body was in pain and he had long run out of his original HP. Luckily, probably no one could tell that little fact.

Exhausted, he slid off the huge fish and fell to the ground.

It felt almost unnatural for him to keep at it until the end.

A curse escaped him as he lay on his back with the huge fish corpse beside him.

“You better taste really freaking good,” he said as the pain took its dear time to go away. “Or you sell really well,” Ake chuckled.

[-35 HP]

[Life Essence absorbed.]

[Life Essence at 65%.]

A system notification later had his eyebrows raised in astonishment.

A single kill took him from a mere [8%] to all the way to [65%].

The amount of essence he had absorbed was far more than he had anticipated. It would still need more experimentation but he might have uncovered something huge here.

Thanks to the sheer amount, Ake also could almost feel the difference. It felt like more inner sponges were used to absorb the spilled water as the [Life] essence washed over him.

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Something was telling him it had to do with the total shards he had kept active to get to the point of ending his life. Ake didn’t know how he knew this, but also, nothing else could have explained the feeling he had. It was all just mostly assumptions at the moment but something was telling him he was on the right track.

He had used two shards as the whole trick was to use an extended [Strand] with just enough [Flesh] essence at its very end as some sort of bait. Too much [Flesh] essence would be wasted and also a bit too attractive. The longer [Strand] cost more the ten mana points he was supposed to have but no one should be able to tell that for a fact.

Nevertheless, it was a total of two shards vs zero against the rabid rabbits. The healing originated from the [Flesh] shard should not count as it was only reactive.

Ake was still on his back while he was trying to fill the demands of his lungs for more air as he recalled how he got to this point.

He had first tried to use it with [Ethereal Arm] but the [Flesh] essence had refused to stick and just dispersed into the air. The [Thread] would be easier but he realized it would defeat the true purpose of this experiment.

The tribe's crazy activities aside, the core idea came from his other favorite time waster back on Earth. There were only a few things that could beat fishing with a fishing pole, and obviously, no one here would be fishing this way without the rope invented.

The final step was to move around the [Flesh] filled end to simulate a living thing, just like all high-end baits were designed. Of course, the path to success was difficult. Ake only got the gist of using the unique method after losing quite a few baits all morning.

It was a blessing that the bait was not something arduous to put together.

And the thought of human flesh had enticed the monster fish was disturbing but it probably ate anything that even twitched. Its diet would be revealed if he cut open its stomach but he rather not ruin his nose. Who knew what kind of smell would come out?

Anyway, he was glad he had kept at it. He had almost given up when it was already past lunchtime by the time the fish stopped flapping like crazy. The mysterious large amount of [Life] essence aside, it was about time, if anyone had asked him. His stomach couldn’t last any longer without something filling it.

It also could have died because of being out of the water for too long but who would know about alien man-eating fish physiology? He certainly had no idea.

Ake heard a pair of feet land nearby while he was wondering what his stalker’s opinion of his awesome catch was. He was already too tired to even move after the intense life-and-death battle and only turned his head to look at the newcomer.

The tall person had a full body cloak on like he were some kind of edgy ninja who vouched to kill everyone, including his own cool perverted master. The large slanting shoulder pads were wide enough to cover thick manly muscles if anyone had asked him.

His opinion of whoever the person was plummeted when the person pointed a long sword at the self-proclaimed, exhausted boy genius. Ake labeled the person as a male based on how tall he was standing and he couldn’t care less if he was proved wrong.

“How did you do it?” Asked a muffled voice.

“Do you mean the kill or the catch?” Ake asked for clarification.

Sarcastically, of course. He would have added the thing he did last night but it might be pushing his luck who was already at the pointy end of the sword.

“How do you make the fish jump out of the water like that?”

“Tribe trade secret,” Ake shrugged at the prepared answer.

“Don’t fuckin’ lie to me,” the sword edge moved closer to his neck. “Men have spied on many tribes and none of them have reported such a thing!”

It was probably a lie but he was not going to point it out. The whole thing had nothing to do with him as he was just a body snatcher.

“Ah, perhaps this is one of those chieftain's only secrets?” Ake scratched his head. “I don’t really know, has anyone spied on any chieftains?”

The person was taken aback, “No, they are too-” the person stopped himself.

Ake could tell that the man’s eyes narrowed, “You are too relaxed when a sharp object is so close to removing your head.”

Ake sighed, “I’m not really a kid, as you already know, and why should I be afraid? A dead chieftain can’t tell you his tribe’s super awesome secret, am I right?”

“But this knowledge can help humanity as a whole!” The person suddenly yelled. “With this way, anyone can also enjoy such an exotic food.”

River fish was labeled as exotic food, he never thought he would ever hear that. The guy had a hero complex to say at least. He would also add a strange affinity to foodstuff in general into the person's character list. The claim was outrageous but Ake didn’t want to discredit his awesome fishing technique.

“Hey, I’m willing to trade it for a price, but before you ask me to do the right thing, does anyone from those hundreds or thousands of people ever care whatever happens to tribal people like me?” Ake argued back.

The cloaked person was taken aback again. This time the person stepped back as if he had just realised something he had never thought of before.

‘Yeah, I don’t think so, buddy,’ Ake mused as he sat up.

He didn’t really care either way but he needed the hesitation to get himself out of the danger zone. Of course, the real reason Ake was able to ignore the person’s threat was more than what he had said. He wouldn’t be able to keep his cool if he didn’t have a pair of [Ethereal Arms] prepped and ready to do whatever.

Changed by the mysterious [Ether] shard and powered by his mana, these ghostly tentacles were a whole lot more responsive, much faster, and stronger than his flesh and bone. He had chosen not to reveal them but even one of them could have made a very quick work on the river monster.

One Arm could easily lift him up, and because of this, Ake was pretty sure he could slap or yank the sword out of the person’s grip easily. Unless the person secretly weighed a ton, he was probably able to lift the person up into the air if he had to.

The other ability he had crystallized was a little too flashy so he had kept it reserved until he had to use it for whatever reason. At the moment, he could see any reason to use the [Arcane Flesh] and it also was too mana expensive for his taste.

Ake checked his [Soul Ledger] and clicked his tongue. The total [Life] essence was already considered huge for a single kill, but he had wasted the whole morning to get it to this point. If his maths was right, he would need two more such catches to get to the first level.

It was faster than anyone around but not nearly as fast as he wanted.

Ake sighed and got up. He went to grab the tail before dragging the huge fish. Thankfully, the palm-sized scales were coated with thick slimes. The slippery goo made it much easier for his weak body to drag it back.

Nevertheless, he would need to measure the people’s reaction to the catch before he could decide on anything else. Earning some coins in the process would be a bonus.