As they watched a few of the sparring matches, Myrin and Balrim took turns describing things from the tutorial for Kaldalis. They confirmed that there were crafting skills that he could spend time developing, and while there was cooking and alchemy, there were also the more vital skills of weapon and charm crafting. It was trivial to give your materials to NPCs to have them craft things for you, but if you wanted better results, you would need to do it yourself.

Balrim went on about economics, and Kaldalis nodded along, knowing that this was part of the systems Nakala had worked on in the real world. Apparently the currency was called crescents, and measured by their smallest denomination, the little coin shaped like a crescent moon, called a crescent doubloon. The half-moon coin was a two-crescent piece, called a half-doubloon. The fully circular coins were called full doubloons and worth four crescents. The gibbous coins were three-quarters doubloons, and rarely minted due to low economic demand, although their rarity meant that there were collectors who might pay a full doubloon for one, if it was of a particular year.

The value of a single crescent was relatively substantial, considering it was the smallest denomination of currency. Anything smaller was usually traded in barter. According to Balrim, in the average city a single crescent could buy a single plate of a good hot meal, with a second crescent adding an ale.

Which was pretty upsetting.

Kaldalis tried not to think about how he’d traded directions in the city for the financial equivalent to about a hundred dollars.

Without the help he received, he likely wouldn’t be here right now. But it was still a lot.

He’d just have to hope his stream got popular.

Myrin took over when Balrim finished about coinage, and told him about gathering skills. There was excavation, used to gather rock, ore, and gems from the ground, and harvesting, used to gather wood and plant fibers, as well as fruit, herbs, and vegetables from the wilderness. There was also fishing-

“Wait, fishing?” Kaldalis asked, perking up. “There’s fishing?”

“You a fishing enthusiast?” Balrim asked.

“Always have been,” Kaldalis lowered his voice as he tried to rein himself back in. No one but nerds got super excited about fishing in a video game. “You see, I, ah, I made my fortune in Colossus off sole. Cornered the market early.” He looked away, taking in the horizon line that showed nothing but sea. “But I also used to go with my dad when I was a kid.”

“It’s a pretty simple system,” Myrin said, “but it’s an odd man out. Fishing rods take up an inventory slot. Unlike other gathering tools, you actually have to put them in your weapon slot for some reason.”

“Hm. Well… if there’s fishing… and we’re on the ocean for two weeks.... can we get started somehow? Like now?”

So much for playing it cool.

But instead of judging him, Balrim just laughed. “I think I can help.” His eyes went distant for a second. “I did some gathering outside of the city of Baimer a bit before heading down to the docks. And I learned a little bit about crafting. So I wonder if it might be enough to make a simple rod…” He gave a toothy grin. “Give me a moment. Maybe I can arrange something.”

They broke away from the sparring crowd and found a bit of open space for Balrim to work. He had a few lengths of wood and some fibrous materials to make rods, and some extremely thin plant fiber that he called moko grass. Balrim produced some simple tools and sanded things down, wove bits together, and in a few minutes, produced three pretty shabby looking fishing rods.

“Great!” Kaldalis said, unable to keep his excitement in check. He moved his spear to his inventory and put the fishing rod in its place on his character page. “So what’s next? Bait? Weights? Lures?”

“The tutorial message I got said that most junk merchants sell crap that you can use as bait,” Myrin said. “Bits of old meat, jars of cured roe, and even live insects.” She looked around for a moment before waving them off towards the bowels of the ship.

After sharing a glance, Balrim and Kaldalis followed.

Inside the ship there was a surprising amount of room. Right inside the entry there was a stairwell that went down into the ship, and Kaldalis saw, for the first time, the accommodations. The upper deck immediately next to the stairwell seemed to be something of a mess hall. Below that there appeared to be sleeping quarters for two floors. Beneath that was a storeroom that appeared to be full of supplies, and Myrin led them off from here.

“I was down here before the ship cast off,” she explained, leading them past barrels of fresh water, piles of lumber, and crates of food. There were all sorts of supplies here, and Kaldalis was reminded that this was an expedition to establish a base of operations. They needed all the stuff they could get. “There’s a quartermaster down here, she might have something we can get for a handful of crescents.”

The quartermaster in question was an elderly vathon with sky blue skin, grey streaks in her hair, and strikingly handsome features. Kaldalis kind of expected a merchant interface, but wasn’t disappointed when he instead had to negotiate with her verbally.

It meant he got to flash his best grin and introduce himself properly, something that always got him a good deal.

Myrin and Balrim purchased just a single crescent worth of bait each, getting only a small jar of worms. Balrim grumbled at the price before Myrin reminded him that each worm was potentially a full fish dinner. That quieted his concerns.

Kaldalis, meanwhile, gave up another full doubloon for a collection of baits. In addition to the jar of worms, he got a sizable jar of cured roe. And a friendly smile from the woman, which was always a good sign.

He wasn’t worried at all about the expense. It wasn’t like he wasn’t going to end up using it.

And maybe fish would be his “in” anyway.

Kaldalis tried to invest even more heavily in fishing, but the quartermaster had to refuse. Apparently for anything of serious value - like the more permanent lures he knew the game would have available - she was only allowed to accept guild credits, which he didn’t have.

“You didn’t tell me there were guild credits,” Kaldalis muttered to Balrim as they headed back up the stairs to the docks. “I didn’t know there would be another type of currency around here.”

“Alright, sorry. Guild credits are a currency you earn by turning in valuable materials to the League. Especially crafting materials, which are in high demand because most adventurers funnel them right into making themselves better charms and weapons.” Balrim shrugged. “I didn’t know they would come up this soon. I thought the game designers wouldn’t put in a way to spend them until after you’d had an opportunity to earn them.”

Myrin stopped on the stairs when she ran into a sailor moving the other way between the decks, and exchanged a few quick words. As the sailor resumed his trip down into the ship, Myrin led them off of the stairs and down the lower row of sleeping accommodations.

“Where are we headed?” Balrim asked casually, even as he dutifully followed his diminutive friend.

“There’s a fishing deck back here. And, I mean, of course there is. Would have to be. Did you see how huge this boat is? From the main deck we’d run out of line before our hooks hit the water.”

Kaldalis followed his new friends in silence, excited for the potential.

When they got to the rear of the ship, they found an extremely solid door that opened out onto a deck that was only a few dozen feet above the waterline. It wasn’t large - just a small shelf off the back - and there were already a half-dozen others gathered. Four of them had lines in the water, but there was plenty of room for the trio to sidle up to an open space.

“So what do we do now?” Balrim asked.

“Well, I’m gonna put a worm on this,” Kaldalis said, carefully readying his hook. “After that, if no pop-up appears, I’m just gonna wing it.” He grinned. “I’ve got two weeks and a full doubloon worth of bait to figure it out.”