Chapter 2: "A very large bass."

"Nice." The rod bent under the pressure of a snagged fish. Its strength almost ripped the pole out of my hands. "This has got to be a big one!" My arms tugged tirelessly on the fishing rod, pulling the fish ever closer. Every time I felt it let off a bit I reeled in as fast as I could. Sweat slid down and splashed into my eye, much like the fish that caused a sizable ripple when it jumped out of the water.

"Shit, that fish looked like the size of a small dog." It was a massive Bass, each of its scales were twinkling stars spread across its dark green skin. 'Not sure how this flimsy rod is holding its own against this.' As the fish let up for a moment I wiped the sweat off my brow.

Skill acquired: Fishing level 1

XP +50

<System> Ability tab unlocked. Shit dude took you long enough.

Ability acquired: Fish Whisperer

"What!? Tell me more about 'Fish Whisperer' please." I said sharply.

<System> I don't feel like opening the ability tab for you. Do it yourself. *yawn*

I grumbled a few swear words under my breath. "Stupid fuckin' System." I let go of the pole carefully with my right hand. "Open my stat screen!" I commanded. The annoying Windows XP start-up sound banged around in my head. "I swear it gets louder every time."

Name: Jason

Human

Level: 0

XP: 100

Skills:

Acrobatics Level 1

Fishing Level 1

Abilities:

Fish Whisperer

Special skill: null

HP: 95/100

No Mana acquired

Stamina: 50/50

I reached out to tap the Fish Whisperer ability. Once I tapped the ability a clicking sound rang in my ears. 'That's new, I wonder if that asshole System is making the sounds more annoying.' A submenu appeared as I tapped it.

Use?

Bind to mental command?

About this ability?

Cancel?

"I can Bind to a mental command, huh?" I scratched my head. "I guess I don't have a Hotbar like an MMO." I tapped the About this ability button. The fish jerked my rod once again. I fought it while I waited for the window to load.

A new smaller window appeared.

Fish Whisperer:

Using this ability allows you to pacify a fish on the end of your fishing rod, allowing you to reel it in safely. If the Fish out levels you, it will not work.

Stamina cost: 20

As I struggled with the fish I glanced at the windows waking in the information. "Alright, I just gotta use this ability to nab this big guy." I quickly swiped the about section away and selected Use in the sub-menu.

I felt my body grow fatigued, unlike what I had previously felt before. It felt like something sapped a great amount of energy out of me.

Used Fish Whisperer: -20 Stamina

Stamina: 30/50

The fish relaxed. "Ha, it worked! I can't believe that worked—" My words were caught in my throat at the sound of a Microsoft error sound.

Fish Whisperer failed.

The Fish suddenly thrashed violently, stronger than before. "Shit! must be mad I tried to knock it out." Water splashed everywhere as the rod strained against the fish's might. Each yank almost submerged me. "Damn, I know you are probably really angry, but how did you double your weight?"

<System> Really, you are getting your ass kicked by a fish?

"Not helpful!" I yelped.

The rod slacked. 'Weird I guess it got—' Ripples came towards me at a rapid pace. The fish was a plane that soared right towards me. My face froze with horror. With a sound that could only be described as Schlorp. The Bass swallowed my entire right hand.

My screams echoed through the surrounding area as I flailed my arm. "Get off me, you dumb ass fish!" Its small teeth dug into my right arm.

Fish bite -8 HP

HP: 87/100

I dropped the rod and willed the inventory screen open.

Inventory

Leather Armor (Worn) <Eqp>

Leather Pants (Worn <Eqp>

Leather Shoes (Worn) <Eqp>

Short Sword (Poor)

Shortbow (Poor)

Barrel Lid With A Handle (Poor Shield)

Fishing Rod (Flimsy) <Eqp>

Waterskin

Torch

Strange Red Gem (???)

I quickly slapped the short sword and selected Equip.

A bright light like the one before appeared in my hand. After it died down it left behind a rough-looking short sword. Many ridges and nicks covered the surface of the blade. It was sharp enough to kill the fish. I poised the blade horizontally so as to not stab my hand inside of the fish's mouth. "I'd say sorry, but you ate my hand." I stabbed the fish slowly, fish blood dribbled down my arm. It wriggled and twitched for a few more seconds and went limp.

"Fuck you." I felt a new weight on my shoulder. I pivoted my head cautiously to find a newly acquired scabbard to place my sword in. After I slid the shortsword out of the fish I sheathed it. "I'm gonna need to see a healer after this." I peeled back the fish's lips to reveal small inward-facing teeth. I grimaced as I pulled the mouth apart to remove the teeth from my skin. Blood streamed down my arm as I tossed the bass to the ground.

<System> If you don't heal soon you will take bleed damage.

My fists clenched until my knuckles turned white. "You have been so unhelpful, why didn't you tell me the fish was attacking?" My face was bright red with anger. 'This asshole has been nothing but rude to me since I woke up.'

<System> It's not my job man. *yawn*

"What is your job then?" Anger dripped from my mouth, or maybe that was saliva. My stomach rumbled. "Alright, No response then?" No new chat messages appeared. "Thought so." I put my fishing rod away and picked up the bass. "Let's go find a village." Dry blood ran down my forearm. "Well, I could wash up first."