63 Good Memory

{REALM: THE SEA OF STARS}

{DEPTH 12}

"How's the fishing going?" Shizu asked Riku from where she currently sat facing the starboard side of the boat. "I'm not getting a bite here for some reason."

"Decent enough," he promptly replied, his gaze looking out on the port side of the boat just as he felt his fishing line starting to move again. "Oh, hold that thought..."

One Depth had come and gone, and Riku and Shizu were currently hard at work doing nothing as they cast their respective fishing rods out onto the waters of the Sea of Stars. It wasn't much, but it was honest work. And somehow, the former assassin was actually getting [Chaotic Tempering] procs with every fish and aquatic life he got to kill and butcher.

'I still can't believe this is actually working,' he couldn't help but think to himself just as he pulled up yet another fish from his line. 'This is honestly pretty overpowered.'

So far, he had managed to increase both his speed and attack just by making sushi and sashimi nonstop for Nyx and Shizu. It was slow going, but it was more than enough of an improvement that he actually caught himself moving faster without him even noticing it. He also got a few defense increases here and there, but compared to the two other stats that he got, it might as well be nonexistent.

'Not that I even need defense if I can just get more speed,' he inwardly scoffed to himself.

With his newly caught fish in his hand, he proceeded with the quick process of killing and butchering the fish before storage. Nicking off the fins, he cut through the relatively small fish's belly and pulled out it guts, before then dipping it back into the sea to clean it before tossing it into the cooler that he pulled out from the cabin.

[CHAOTIC TEMPERING: +0.5 MOVEMENT]

Riku smirked as the familiar prompt of his ability proccing. While it was already rewarding to just simply catch fish and prepare it for others, it also helped that even this simple thing made him stronger passively. It wouldn't do for him to remain idle while things were still calm like this. The more he could get his strength up, the better. And even more, they were fast approaching the next few Depths where his [Chaotic System] would proc again. Whether or not his investment into [Chaotic Potential] would be worth it or not would be determined at Depth 15, and it would probably determine what kind of gameplan he had available for him for the next Depths beyond that.

"Again?" Shizu whined the moment she heard the telltale sound of splashes coming from his side of the boat. "How are you so good at this? I barely caught anything for a few hours now."

"It's all about patience, I suppose," he shrugged as he cast his line out onto the inky black sea once again. "To be honest, I didn't think we'd be getting this much food already. Our cooler's starting to get full."

"Then you should make more stuff to eat, my Champion," Nyx casually chimed in from where she was lazily lounging on the front of the boat, her power still hard at work in navigating their ship through the Depths. "I'm pretty sure I can polish off most of that stuff you two already caught. Though I'm kind of craving the octopus balls that you made earlier."

Riku sighed as turned his gaze to his patron goddess. Ever since he managed to catch his first fish, Nyx had become even more insatiable than before. It also didn't help that he started getting more exotic fish equivalents like octopi and squid in his line. Well, at least he thought they were octopi and squid. The things they were catching from this otherworldly sea would probably make any marine biologist weep from joy with how abnormal they were. Some glowed in the dark, some were pretty much made of stardust in a way, while others had scales that were as hard as iron while they were alive.

All in all, the variety here was insane. And if he was being honest, it was also a cook's paradise since every single one of them were edible.

"You do know those take a while to make, right?" he pointed out just as he felt another fish catch onto his line. "I'll have to retreat into the cabin again, and I'm pretty sure we know what happened the last time that happened for a prolonged period of time."

Behind him, he felt Shizu shiver from the memory of a few hours ago from when they first started fishing. He had retreated into the cabin to prep the cooler, leaving his fellow Champion alone to fend for herself while he prepped some food. And just as luck would have it, a gigantic squid that they had all now dubbed as a kraken just so happened to start attacking them. Even worse, Shizu quick defense just so happened to occur in such a way that she had cut off one of the thing's larger tentacles. And while that would be a good thing, said tentacle somehow landed right in front of the cabin, preventing Riku from joining the fight until well after it was in full swing.

And suffice to say, once he finally managed to push the door open, he caught a sight that any man would probably love seeing in person. It was a good memory, one that he'd go back to for ammunition should the need for it arose.

"P-Please don't make me defend this ship on my own again," Shizu weakly whispered to herself. "T-The tentacles... Oh god..."

"Hey, it wasn't that bad. My Champion cut you down, right?" Nyx scoffed at their allied Champion. "Hell, it almost looked like you were about to enjoy-"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I don't want to hear it from you, Nyx!" the traumatized fortune teller desperately screamed. "I refuse to be hentai bait all over again!"

"You didn't say that when my Champion came in and saved you though," the goddess teased with a lecherous grin. "To be honest, I wouldn't have minded joining you if you asked."