Ozzy had never thought that fishing could be complicated, but he'd also spent little time doing it. Never in real life, and rarely in VR worlds. But watching Woodrat pull in fish after fish as he struggled to get even his first had convinced him that he was doing something wrong, or that his captain was doing a lot more right.

Woodrat pulled in another, and made a count. "My, it's a good thing I can use your bare toes to help me count, there's a lot of fine fishies sitting on my side of the line. By my count the score is 13 to 0. Are you perhaps ready for another lesson?"

Ozzy felt the rumblings in his belly, they convinced him to pay more attention to his lessons this time. "I reckon I am, professor. Give me the lecture."

"Then heed my wisdom this time. You're still making your chain too thick. Pare it down to a fine thread. If you're worried about it snapping, force more smoke into the end of the chain and work it along the length. We're after Golden Blinkers today. They have a peculiar form of heat that helps them stay up at the top of the smoke. You want a light line, a thin hook, and a chunk of bait with a couple of points of heat to attract them. Your line is sinking your bait too low in the smoke."

Ozzy spent the next couple of hours making chain, and trying to create a thinner fishing line. He was surprised at how much easier it was. He'd spent weeks working with Joe and only managed some clumsy links that floated off after a few seconds. Making chain had become easier here in the smoke, and after gaining his new tattoo he felt like he was learning faster. He had experimented with the magical chain a half dozen times. The links were three inches long and half that in width, made of thick, black smoke. If he thought hard he could make smaller links, which let him increase the length of the chain. The normal version was a fifty feet long. If he timed it right, he could make the chain even as he was throwing it. But after a few experiments, Woodrat complained of both scared fish, and a captain scared of being accidentally strangled. Ozzy held off experimenting more until he had some room.

Woodrat was up to 17 fish in his pile when Ozzy was finally satisfied with his line. He made a hook and put three points of heat into the bait for good measure. He cast his line out to the opposite side of the raft and sat back to impatiently wait for either a fish to take the bait or for a small tug and slack line to let him know some crafty smoke dweller had stolen his bait again.

To while away the time, he pondered how to spend his skill points and experience. After some thought, he dumped all 1000 points of experience into Strike Undead. Radiance would give him more heat, and the undead that seemed to be common in the smoke were deadly when they attacked in numbers. This increased his radiance to Rank 6, which also meant he needed to spend 2 points to increase his skill cap.

He debated buying Spirit of the Divine but Hull was catching his eye. He needed to get to Mate to get access to that list. It was a skill unique to the Smoke and if it carried over to the Conjunction, he'd be a lot tougher when he got back. If he got back. Would Joe have tossed him someplace if there wasn't a way out? He didn't see the point, but then he also couldn't see the horizon or anything except for the slightly rolling smoke and reminded himself that Joe might look nearly human at times, but he wasn't.

The list of Enhancements for a crewman was quite lacking. Mate had a lot of gems, and Woodrat had shown him the Officer's list. He could see why the upper ranks on a ship could hold power. A captain on a large ship could become a true terror. He went back through the list available to him as a contract worker. One set of skills he'd ignored were the gathering skills. Skilled Provider gave a better chance of getting quality materials while Abundance produced more. He'd seen no reason to buy those. Billy would work him just as many hours and profit more from his work. Better to buy skills that helped the group get ahead of the game.

But here on the Smoke, with fishing being so important, he saw them in a new light, and they weren't that expensive.

Skilled Provider

Your gathering skills have an increased chance of finding better quality items. This can result in gems while mining, growing 200-pound potatoes, finding a patch of Magical Mushrooms, or a golden apple while picking fruit.

1/2/3

Abundance

Your gathering skills return more resources than normally expected.

(+10%/+25%/+50%/+75%/+100%)

1/2/3/4/5

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Twenty-one points went into the two skills, and he saved the rest to purchase the Hull perk, if he ever made mate. As he dismissed the screen, he felt a tug on the line, and then another as the fish tried to get away but was jerked back by the hook in its mouth. Ozzy took a tight hold on the line as it jerked back and forth. Woodrat felt the raft move and looked up from his nap. He'd quit fishing when he hit twenty. That was enough for both of them for a couple of days.

"You have a big one? It's pulling the raft a bit all by itself. Be careful pulling it in, you don't want to lose a big dinner." Ozzy had a good hold on the chain and was pulling it in an armlength at a time. Whatever it was, it was heavy. Woodrat saw the fish as it was coming out of the water and whistled. He'd never seen a Golden Blinker that big. The fish must weight thirty pounds and be two feet long. They usually ran to a tenth of that amount. There was no mistaking this type of fish though. The golden color and three large eyes were distinctive.

Ozzy struggled a bit to get the fish aboard. "Damn, the tail is all tangled up in some type of seaweed." It was the first plant he'd seen in the smoke.

Woodrat took a step back and drew his sword. "Careful, make sure that salad isn't still grabbing things." He poked at the green knot of seaweed and proclaimed it safe. "Usually, a chunk like that is dead, but you can't be sure. I saw a man strangled by salad once. He hauled it into the boat and it went for his throat. It had only been cut off of the rest of the Sargasso for a day or two and still had some fight to it."

Woodrat hung the seaweed up on the mast, letting it hang down. He broke off a piece and ate it. "Not bad. Old enough to not be moving, but still tender enough to be good eating. Be careful with the berries, they look ripe and can give you heartburn." Ozzy saw that a few small berries were growing on stems. He took a few leaves and a berry and ate them. The seaweed tasted like fresh spinach, and the berry was sweet and fruity. Then the heat hit him. It was like a bucket of ghost peppers going down his throat. He coughed and white smoke came out of his mouth.

"You're worse with your warnings about hot stuff than Makken." He pounded his chest as the heat got worse.

Woodrat stepped behind him. "If it's too much for you, make sure to look for the horizon and not have anyone near you."

Ozzy had the sudden urge to burp and opened his mouth. A bolt of fire and smoke shot out ten feet long. His heat had gone up by 2 points and he'd gained 50 experience in fire eating. "If I ever do make it home, I hope I can take a few of these for a certain dwarf I know. I owe him the experience. These things take hot to a whole different level."

Woodrat laughed. "Oh, they do. They make a good spice though. Dry them well and grind them up for a little extra flavor that you can sprinkle on a bit of fish or whatever else you're having. They go for good money on the islands. So do these three-eyed Golden Blinkers. We're eating like kings tonight, Mr. Ozzy."

Captain Woodrat declared fishing to be over. They took the fish Woodrat had caught, and wrapped them in some of the salad for the next meal, then attended to the monster fish Ozzy had caught. They wrapped it in smoke and a bit of heat until the golden skin turned flaky and brown. The meat was firm and full of smoke. Along with the salad it made for a tasty meal, and the two of them sat and talked as they ate late into the night. As Ozzy cut off another chunk of the fish, a small golden orb rolled out. It looked like glass filled with golden light and was warm to the touch. He showed it to Woodrat who whistled.

"That's a core. Some exceptional creatures have them inside of their bodies. Lots of uses for them. The most common is just eating them and letting the heat move into you, expanding your furnace or smoke. Some might even give you something more. He looked hard at the core from the Golden Blinky, "I'm unsure of the wisdom of eating this. As I said, these fishies have a weird sort of heat. Of course, growing a third eye could make you one hell of a lookout." He handed it back to Ozzy. "You caught it, it's yours. I'd suggest keeping it and selling it when we hit an island or a big ship." Ozzy stowed the small orb away in a pouch on his belt. They continued their feast of the big fish and the salad. Then Woodrat proclaimed it was the crew's turn to watch and handed Ozzy the spyglass.

Ozzy leaned against the mast, peering out into the smoke all around them. What should have been a few boring hours of keeping watch turned interesting as a pod of dolphin-like creatures came swimming through the smoke, leaping into the air, and then diving deep only to come up and leap again. They split around the raft, giving it a wide berth. The sound woke Woodrat up, but he simply smiled at the creatures. "Silver Swimmers, Mr. Ozzy, a good luck sign. Totally harmless to us, and few things are fast enough to prey on them."

The creatures swam around the raft in circles for a half hour before a scream from one of them panicked the rest. As the pod took flight, racing away from the smoke, Ozzy saw one of them struggling in the grip of a predator. Once again, he felt something, and this time he got a partial look at it. It was like a large shark with an oversized maw and huge teeth. It shook the Silver Swimmer back and forth, and then sucked it into its mouth, devouring it whole.

"What the hell is that, Woodrat? I think it's the same one I felt before."

Woodrat pointed. "That, Mr. Ozzy, is a Void Shark, and it is going to be trouble."