Three weeks had passed since Viers had his first introduction of Arte, Viers was currently standing before a big lake. The lake was called the Tomalica Lake, famous for a certain monster fish species that exist in abundance at this lake. Viers though the lake was a beautiful product of nature, he didn’t know the exact measurement but it was big, he’d somehow imagined the Loch Ness Lake on Earth. He never went to Scotland but he saw some pictures of the lake and he saw some resemblance to this lake. He was a bit awed by the vastness of it.

“You know, I still don’t understand why you guys insisted on coming with me,” Viers spoke to the people standing beside him.

“Aw, come on Viers, Are we really that appalling to you? Aren’t we all your friends? Take it easy, my sullen friend. You will get wrinkles on your face before you get old, hahaha.” Terry spoke.

“You want to go to Tomalica Lake but you didn’t even invite us and want to go alone? For shame Viers, for shame. I don’t remember you being this crass.” Farley said with a playful tone.

“Mmm, bad Viers, listen to Mommy Farley’s scolding and atone for your mistakes.” Paina was smiling and giving him a nudge on his shoulder.

“Hahaha, we are in a beautiful place, on a beautiful day, amongst friends. What more could you ask for?” Max said while putting both of his hands behind his head.

Viers looked at the four people with jovial mood near him and let out a long sigh. He recalled the events that led him to this situation.

A few days back, he got fed up about the routine and wanted to travel somewhere for a change of pace. That was the reason he prepared for anyone who asked, but he also got a secret intention to make the trip that he kept hidden.

He couldn’t simply go, so he took a Glass-rank quest about getting a certain monster fish’s meat that exists at the Tomalica Lake. With a quest paper in his hand, he could ask Nakala and Teldo for a leave of absence of one day. Unlike the Shrub Hills from before, Tomalica Lake was farther but the distance could still be covered within a few hours.

Yesterday night, when he was getting ready, Terry and Max went to his room to invite him for some board game. They barged in without knocking and they saw Viers was packing his bag for traveling purposes, then they saw the quest paper that was on his desk.

“…Tomalica Lake? Nice! I’ve been wanting to go there, let’s go together! How about you Max?” Terry took the paper and said the words after reading it, his excitement could be felt from his voice.

“Seems great, no dangerous area on the way, and our direction is to the north-west so no boar outbreak there. I also want a change of pace after all the training we’ve done, may I come?” Max asked Viers with a smiling face.

“No,” said Viers firmly.

“Cool! I know you won’t refuse, I will tell Paina and Farley too, I reckon they will gladly take the invitation. It’s a bit late but we should be ready to depart tomorrow morning, see you later buddy.” Terry went out very quickly.

“You also heard I said, NO… right?” Viers asked the remaining intruder in his room a question, he emphasized on the no when he was speaking.

“I need to get ready, see you tomorrow Viers, sleep well. We got a big day tomorrow, I can feel it.” Viers could see his smiling face as he closed the door.

“.....”

This must be a main storyline, this kind of development feels like it. Sigh… oh well, it happened, it not that their presence will hinder my true objective for this trip, so all is well. Just think of it as a school field trip, it’s not that bad, it may even be fun.

Viers let the forced entry of his companions to his party passed, he returned to tending his own preparations. Before long, he heard some commotion on the upstairs, he suspected the girls just received the news. Farley and Paina should be in a bit of a rush since girls needed more time to prepare. He did some push-ups and sit-ups while listening to the faint commotion upstairs.

Surprisingly, he felt some kind of excitement, he was glad that there were people who wanted to accompany him. He was a loner and liked to be alone but sometimes, he was pleased for the presence of other people. He became a bit impatient for the coming of dawn.

Anti-hero… brooding, edgy, replied every question with negativity all the time, wore black all the time. A scar on one of his eyes to add his brooding-ness, always leaning on a wall while crossing his arms all the time. All of his being is hard like a rock, including his heart and soul, without any fluff or capacity to love. The brooding guy depicted in the stories killed people left and right because he didn’t like them or simply because he could… I don’t buy it, that person could only exist in fiction.

I believe there are people who like to be alone most of the time, like me, but no one can withstand an endless solitude. The path of friendship is not my path but what’s wrong with doing something good with the other kids once in a while.

The recollection ended, the other four were exchanging friendly banter with each other, Viers let out a faint smile while observing the lake in front of him.

No rain had fallen for a few days so the ground was dry, some places jutted to the lake making a pointed shape of land, an ideal spot to made camp and for accomplishing their objective. The lake itself was calm, with occasional some small waves from the wind. What worthy of note were the Christmas trees look-alike, they were like green cones floating on the surface of the water, each tree grew quite far from each other. Only about twenty trees exist on this big lake.

Hmn, I can see some other people besides us in the area, fishing. Their objectives must be the same as ours, but the lake is big enough so there should be any competition if we just move a little bit away from those people. This area is well-known for its fishing spot and beauty after all. If this is Earth, the visitors won’t just be this many people.

“Alright guys, shall we?” Viers’s voice got the other four attention. “That place looks good to make a camp, does anyone object?” He said while pointing at a place.

“Looks okay, so… do any of you have experience in fishing? I never did it before so I’m a complete amateur,” Paina said.

“It shouldn’t be that hard, Tomalica may be categorized as a monster but its behavior is no different from a normal fish. Just put a bait in the hook, throw it to the water, wait until they bit, then pull. Right?” Max said while giving a thumbs up.

“Maybe, let’s get settled first.” Viers started walking to the camp spot.

They make a simple camp and raised two tents, they already planned on staying the night and made the return trip at first light tomorrow. They already got experienced on how to make camp from the TC, all of them divided the works and it was soon over without a hitch.

“Let’s get fishing, I want a grilled Tomalica for dinner!” Farley said cheerfully.

“Dinner? What’s for lunch?” Max asked.

“Paina brought some bread and food pills for an emergency. If we catch a lot of fishes, we could have Tomalica for lunch too,” Terry said.

“Alright, I’m going on ahead,” Viers started first.

Currently it was still about 10, Viers didn’t talk much and prepared the cheap fishing rod that he bought just for this occasion. He put the bait on the hook, a jelly-like ball. It was a bait with a higher price than the earthworms, he bought the jelly bait alongside the fishing rod at the shop at Luxore. Thankfully, he bought quite a lot of those jelly bait so there was enough for everyone. He sat on a stone and throw the line to the water.

Soon, the others joined him in fishing, they each held much nicer rods than Viers. The others didn’t have the time to bought fishing rods but Terry had it prepared for them, his family was living in Luxore and they had some fishing rods stowed away.

“I once went fishing here a few years back, with my father and brothers. The Tomalica I ate that day was very delicious. Maybe it’s because I ate it with my family, I look forward the taste of it this time when we eat together.” Terry angled his rod before throwing it away.

“Terry, I think that’s quite a charming way of putting it, did you use that line to pick up girls?” Paina said.

“Why, I would never.” Terry was grinning from ear to ear.

The others were talking softly but merrily with each other, while Viers was thinking of the weather and season. The season was changing, spring was almost over and summer was approaching. Viers noticed that the day was getting longer.

A story of seasons… heh. I only played the first game and never even finished the first year inside the game before dropping it. Great game though… but this here, is not a game, I won’t be able to quit or hit the reset button. Be resolute Viers, be vigilant and steadfast… Winter is coming. It’s always, coming.

I would be a damn fool if I blindly hope that there would not be a crisis that shall befall me in the near future. I must constantly become stronger, like a student who studied daily. Rather than a student who studied all night long for tomorrow’s test.

“Hey guys, I think I got something… yes, I got a pull!” Farley rose to her feet and started to reel the line. It took a bit of time but Farley got her first catch successfully. Unfortunately it was not the Tomalica, Farley caught a 22 cm trout. “Aw, too bad it’s not a Tomalica. But it’s still just the beginning.” Farley smiled.

There were many Tomalica living in this lake but there were also other regular fishes, normal fishes. But only the Tomalica was categorized as a monster in this lake.

It didn’t take long before they got another fish hooked, it was Viers’s rod this time. He jerked the rod upwards then felt a strong pull, the fish had been successfully hooked, he reeled and let go once in a while but kept the line tense. He read somewhere that loose line gave the fish a chance to escape, his effort paid off. It was a fish with red scales, it was a bit similar to a bass species. It was 19 cm long but heavier than a regular fish similar to its size. Viers had caught a Tomalica.

“Nice! Viers caught the first Tomalica. Congrats.” Terry spoke his praise. The others also voiced their congratulations.

Using a net, Viers pull the fish out, he kept his eyes on the struggling fish.

Like I thought, a Magi*arp. A weak monster that can’t do anything but do a splash. They’re both red too, only that Tomalica didn’t have the catfish mustache. I choose you as my first monster-killing grind because of how weak you are, splashing fish. I hope you can provide me with some benefits. With your body and life. Huhuhuhuhu.

Tomalica was a fish type monster but it was very weak and did not present any threat to humans. They were considered as monsters instead of fish because they could produce a monster core in their body. There were almost no other differences that separated Tomalica from other fish.

“Thanks guys, I’m gonna process this first. Excuse me for a bit.”

Viers went to the camp and started to killing and cutting up the Tomalica, the quest only specified a certain amount of fish meat so it wasn’t needed to bring the fish back alive. He killed the fish by putting a knife to its brain, then he sliced the gills, scales, and entrails. He felt that he was supposed to put the fish meat on ice but he had no ice, and Sherry told him that monster meat was different from normal meat. They wouldn’t go bad as easily, that included the Tomalica, it would take three days before the Tomalica started to spoil.

I hope I could catch a few more Tomalica today, my main reason for this journey is to eat monster flesh, to test my theory about I could gain life-force by eating monsters. I can let the quest fail if I didn’t catch enough Magi*arp, eating the monster is more crucial, the quest itself is a secondary objective. I will still attempt to complete it though, I better not fail in too many quests or it will reflect badly on my record.

And as luck would have it, he found a bonus. A small black bead came out when he was filleting the fish.

Nice bonus, my second time seeing a monster core… what should I do with this? Sell it to Somaya? We haven’t learned the use of this thing yet… lets experiment! Just do it Viers, what could go wrong, eh? Hahahaha.

Viers used his Victa for the first experiment. He channeled the energy to the core, he wished to provoke some kind of reaction from it. A few seconds passed and nothing was happening.

Time to use my OTHER mysterious energy, I still got my Victa, the Victa energy didn’t decrease even though I channeled it to the core.

He used his Victa to move the life-force from his life-orb, slowly, the green energy made its way to the sphere-shaped thing on his palm. When both collided, something was happening. The monster core turned green and it soon melted becoming a green liquid, the liquid then disappeared, absorbed into his body via his skin like water poured into a desert.

“What… happened?”

Baffled by the spectacle, Viers didn’t move. He only stood and watched the unfolding of the event before him. He looked at his palm, and nothing remained, no sign of green liquid.

He checked his body but found nothing amiss or changed. He went to the realm of consciousness to observe his life-force on his astral projection, it didn’t disappear since the first time he created it. His life-orb was still the same, whether his life-orb got stronger or weaker he couldn’t tell, because the changes were too minute to discern.

Nada… at least for now. I don’t think this is a bad development, on the contrary, this should be a good one. Nothing I can do for the time being, just let my body do its own magic. What could go wrong, right? Eheheh…

Unlike the first time, Viers’s laugh lacked confidence and sounded meek in his mind. Viers slowly walked back to the others while looking at his palm.