As Nathan trudged through the desert, a window popped up in front of him:
[Travel to the Ends of the World!]
Goal: 5000 miles from your current location. See the sights! Look at all that endless desert! I'm sure you'll find something interesting! And it'll also, unfortunately, mean that you’ll have to stop working on the Dustend. How unfortunate. Oh well.
Rewards:
– Uh, I don’t know. The experience, I guess?
[Accept]
Nathan looked for the deny button. It wasn’t there. Instead, he clicked the exit button. A second later, the window popped up again. This time, the exit button was gone.
He frowned. The quest seemed interesting, but he was too busy dealing with the Dustend. No time for a 5000-mile detour. His eyes scanned the window for another exit button and spotted one at the top left corner. He clicked it, only for the window to pop up again. This time, the exit button was front and center. He clicked it, and the window disappeared, this time for good.
"The system must be glitching," he muttered, shaking his head.
Nathan continued walking. Hours passed as he crossed the dunes until he finally arrived at the location marked on his map.
There was nothing.
He blinked. “Did I get the location wrong?” He pulled out the paper and checked it again. After a moment, he sighed and put it away. “Not like I’ve got GPS out here. If I did mess it up, I’ll probably have to start all over.”
Before he could think further, a gust of desert wind kicked up, obscuring his vision with dust. He shielded his eyes instinctively.
“What the hell? Where did that come from?”
It wasn’t damaging like the Dustend—the grains didn’t feel like they were cutting into his skin—but the wind felt... off. Almost like he was being touched with clouds rather than dirt.
As the wind settled, Nathan found himself staring at an oasis. A green palm tree stretched toward the sky, and grass sprouted along the edges of a milky white lake.
“Okay,” Nathan said. “That just happened.”
He looked back. Sure enough, he wasn’t where he’d been a moment ago. You know, in case the oasis-that-came-from-nowhere wasn’t enough evidence of that. He turned back to the milky white lake and took a cautious step forward.
Something deep within him stirred, calling toward the lake. His hands twitched.
He reached into his inventory and pulled out his old fishing rod—the wooden starter one the system had given him at the beginning of his journey. His better rod was on the verge of breaking, so it stayed put.
Nathan cast his line into the lake. The hook slipped into the water without making a single ripple, like it was vanishing into fog.
“What the hell?” he murmured.
Setting the rod aside, he reached toward the lake. His hand passed right through the white water. It was like dipping into mist.
Nathan shook his head and sat on the bank, picking up his rod again. He rested his chin in his palm and waited.
Hours passed. Nothing.
He glanced at the setting sun, frustration building. Something about this place was important; he could feel it. Essential to defeating the Dustend, yet his ridiculously high fishing level wasn’t helping.
He muttered to himself, “I’m missing something. Something important.”
Maybe it was the bait? Nathan pulled some Scythian worm from his inventory, attaching a chunk to the hook. He cast his line back out.
Another hour passed. Nothing. The worm remained untouched.
Nathan sighed and stashed the bait back in his inventory. At this point, he was tempted to jump into the lake and see for himself what was down there. The thought made his heart race, and his plant arm spasmed violently. He grabbed it, breathing deeply until the tremors subsided.
It seemed his instincts were screaming against the idea. Some deep part of him whispered: If you go into that lake, you won’t come out.
He hesitantly sidled backward. “Okay, maybe I shouldn’t jump into the weird magic lake.”
Nathan cast his line again. To his side, his plant arm started to shudder uncontrollably.
Think. What am I missing?
He felt a familiar energy within him calm his arm—warm, like a campfire. It wasn’t mana; mana was oppressive, bearing down on him like heat. This energy was soft, internal, and he used it unconsciously to control his plant arm.
Maybe that was the key? If it could control his plant arm, maybe it could have other unexpected effects if he pumped it into his fishing rod?
Nathan focused, circulating the energy through his body. His limbs felt stronger, like he could leap into the sky. Slowly, he streamed the energy into the fishing rod. To his surprise, it flowed easily, like the rod was an extension of his body. The energy traveled down the line, pooling at the hook.
A moment later, something latched onto the hook. Nathan’s eyes widened. He lost focus, and the energy snapped back into him like a whip. The rod flew from his hands, sailing through the air.
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Panic surged. Nathan dived, grabbing the rod mid-air as it landed on the opposite shore. The fish on the line pulled again. This time, Nathan held steady, but it was slipping away, phasing through the hook.
In desperation, Nathan flooded the hook with energy. Just before the fish escaped, the energy solidified, trapping it. Nathan dug his feet into the ground and pulled and with a final heave, the fish flew from the lake.
It was milky white, blending almost perfectly with the water. Its only distinct feature was its crimson red eyes. As it flailed mid-air, a glowing barrier appeared around it. Nathan’s line snapped. The fish plummeted back toward the lake.
Nathan didn’t hesitate. He grabbed a harpoon from his inventory and hurled it. The harpoon struck the glowing barrier with a sound like thunder, sending both the fish and the weapon tumbling across the shore. Nathan retrieved the harpoon and walked to where the fish lay, motionless.
It was dead.
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Nathan inspected the fish more closely. The scales had a translucent quality, almost glass-like, but with a soft, shimmering, prismatic effect that danced like a rainbow trapped inside a cloud. He’d never seen anything like it before. It was mesmerizing.
He picked up the fish and scanned it.
[Spirit Fish]
A translucent troublemaker that makes regular fish look like they’re not even trying. Born in the spirit realm and clearly feeling superior about it, this milky-white show-off sports prismatic scales that would make a disco ball jealous.
WARNING: Don’t bother with your fancy mortal fishing rods—this aquatic diva only responds to spiritual energy.
Special Properties:
* Corporeal Immunity: Passes through physical matter like your ex through your savings account.
* Prismatic Display: Natural light show included at no extra charge.
* Spirit Touch: Can only be caught by those wielding spiritual energy (fishing license fees in the mortal realm NOT applicable).
Nathan raised an eyebrow. Spirit realm? He’d never heard of that before. It was another mystery to ask Gius about when he got the chance. For now, he tore off one of the scales and examined it.
As he held the scale, it dug into his fingers, carving a bloodied line across his palm. He frowned. How was it so strong? And wait, shouldn’t the fish have some kind of rank or level?
Putting that thought aside, Nathan wondered how he could use the scale to upgrade his Tidal Shield. Rolling the scale between his fingers, he noticed how the sunlight hitting it caused the colors to shift. Amazing, but not exactly helpful.
Finny had mentioned something about a breakthrough triggered by holding the scale. Nathan stood still, waiting for something to happen. After several minutes of nothing, he shrugged, stashed the fish in his inventory, and started his journey back to the Kingdom of Sandara.
Huh… shouldn’t the fish have evaporated or whatever?
He ignored it for now, focusing on the scale. Even as he walked, he kept the scale in hand, marveling at its durability. Despite his immense strength, he couldn’t so much as dent it. Curious, he decided to test its limits.
He dropped the scale on the ground, walked a short distance away, and lined up a shot with his harpoon. The weapon slammed into the scale with a deafening ring, and a dazzling light show erupted across the desert sky. A brilliant flash forced Nathan to avert his eyes. When the light faded, he retrieved his harpoon from a nearby dune and inspected the scale.
Undamaged.
He rolled the scale between his fingers.
What was it about the scale that was making it so difficult to damage? That was the question.
Maybe he wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. From what everybody seemed to tell him, his talents seemed to lie in the art of causing as much damage as possible. Not necessarily in the sciences or anything else.
Idly, without much thought, he began to circulate his internal energy through his body. It went up to his arms, up to his fingers, then Nathan heard a loud crack.
He slowly looked at the scale.
A thin crack had appeared right when Nathan had flooded his fingers with the strange internal energy. A moment later, the scale shattered into dust.
Nathan stared at the fine grains before the desert wind swept them away and sent them scattered into the desert beyond.
Nathan furrowed his eyebrows. It was pretty obvious that circulating his internal energy had caused it to shatter. Not only that, but he'd used a minimal amount. What was going on?
Perhaps... perhaps there was a choice being made. A choice to make the scales virtually invulnerable to physical attacks—at least physical attacks of Nathan's level—but making the scales extremely weak to this internal energy.
Could Nathan make the same choice for his own skills?
He summoned Tidal Shield. The flickering wave-like patterns glowed and shimmered in front of him. He shut his eyes and touched his fingers to the shield. He circulated the energy up to his fingertips then snapped open his eyes.
Nothing had happened. There was no crack.
The Tidal Shield seemed to be general. That was what was going on. It was good against both physical attacks and these more mystical attacks. Could Nathan control the balance? Well first he had to figure out what it was that was creating the weakness in the first place. What was it about the energy that caused the scale to shatter? What was it about the scale that caused it to interact with the energy?
For a second, Nathan seriously considered walking away and stewing on the problem for a little bit longer. But before he could, a sudden rush of determination hit him. He felt like he could get this down if he only thought a little bit harder about it. He pulled out the fish and ripped one of the scales off. He examined it closely. Obviously, there was nothing in the physical makeup that made it clear as to what was happening. Nathan threw the scale into the air and let it hit his palm.
Perhaps it was simply a matter of intent?
A lot of this seemed to be pure mumbo-jumbo, at least the way Finny had described it.
Nathan began to summon Tidal Shield like he'd done several times before. This time, he focused on making it look and feel the same way that the scale did. The translucence, the prismatic effect. And most importantly, the fact that it was virtually impossible to break physically.
The shield shimmered to life, but there was something different about it. There was a slight rainbow effect in the middle. Nathan reached out and touched it. There was a substantial difference—it was harder, he could already tell.
The trick was—could he make it even harder? He dismissed the shield.
He focused on reforming the shield again. This time, it was even stronger.
At this point he was feeling some kind of strain in his chest. He was probably overworking himself again—but what better time to stop than now?
He continued to push.
Come on, come on...
The shield sprang to life—and if Nathan didn't know any better, he could've sworn it was made out of the same material the scales were.
[Skill upgraded: Tidal Shield (Bronze) > Tidal Bulwark (Bronze+)]
Nathan grinned. And then frowned.
Wait a second, wasn't the spirit fish supposed to fulfill the requirements for the quest? Why hadn't it finished yet?
Nathan reached into his inventory and pulled it out. He stared at it for a bit, trying to figure out how to trigger the whole disappear-into-dust-motes thing, but before he could, it spontaneously exploded into flecks of gold out of nowhere.
"Okay..." Nathan said. “Why did it take so long?”
He opened up the quest to see that the third task was finished.
[Spring Carp] - COMPLETE
[Cursed Desert Tilapia] - COMPLETE
[Spirit Fish] - COMPLETE
[Bass of Many Fins] - X
Nathan sighed. One more fish to go.
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Nathan continued walking east, retracing his steps. Thanks to the sun, he was always able to keep track of the direction. After several hours of walking, he spotted a few farms he recognized from his previous visits. He was close.
Eventually, he reached the city itself. As he approached, he noticed a pair of red eyes glowing in the distance. A shiver ran down his spine.
The Dustend is coming.