Chapter 29 - I’ll Have to Keep It...

[Passive Skill Unlocked: Angler’s Wisdom (Lvl 1)]

[Description: Grants a 20% bonus to EXP earned while Fishing.]

[Passive Skill Unlocked: Tide’s Fortune (Lvl 1)]

[Description: Increases the chance of catching rare fish and treasure items by 10%.]

[Passive Skill Unlocked: Whispers of the Stream (Lvl 1)]

[Description: Enhances your perception underwater, making it easier to detect rare aquatic creatures nearby.]

Arthur stared at the new notifications that popped up, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

All the passives were huge! Getting more EXP and drops was just really good overall for the whole game. However, the last added passive was huge for his current quest! It would directly help him find this aquatic serpent that the mayor wanted.

Overjoyed, Arthur relaxed on his stool, holding his fishing rod, waiting for his first fish to take the bait.

It did take a while. The number of fish had been reduced with the current harsh cold weather. Aldora Kingdom was usually always cold, but it was more than normal because of the winter.

Still, in around 5 minutes, Arthur caught the first fish. He firmly held his fishing rod, pulling the fish from the water.

[Ice-Tailed Salmon (Uncommon)]

[Size: 55 cm]

[Weight: 3.4 kg]

[Fishing EXP + 120]

A big fish! Arthur was quite surprised that his first catch had been so great. He put it inside his inventory, as there was no use for it at that moment.

Now the next part of his plan was quite... difficult. He wanted to use his Whispers of the Stream passive to try to sense the water serpent that he had to find to complete his quest.

But the water was freezing cold.

’I think I can endure it with this cloak on?’

The cloak had been pretty damn good to him. Arthur put the fishing rod back into his inventory, then he took a deep breath and jumped into the water.

Cold.

Not as cold as he thought, though. Was the river actually warmer, or was it because of his cloak’s resistance to harsh conditions? Maybe it was both things, in the end.

What surprised him as well was the depth of that river. Way deeper than expected. Arthur swam down, trying to reach the bottom.

As a player, his attributes made him way more resistant than an ordinary human, so he could last a little longer underwater holding his breath.

The passive Whispers of the Stream allowed Arthur to sense rare aquatic creatures, but it wasn’t a miracle. This water serpent was really rare, so even with that passive, finding it was quite difficult.

While everyone was leveling up, Arthur swam in that river for 3 hours...

At that point, Shadow Cloak had reached level 10, and she was the first player to reach Snow Pine city. Well, not counting Arthur, of course.

He also gained some EXP, reaching level 5, all thanks to the monsters Shadow Cloak killed using his daggers.

She messaged him while he was underwater.

Shadow Cloak: Hey, Cinder. Can you prepare a new set of daggers for when I reach level 15? By then, these might be getting bad.

Arthur replied to her when he went back to the surface to catch his breath.

Cinder: Yes, I can. But right now I’m busy.

Shadow Cloak: Busy with that? Not leveling. You’re still level 5! Hurry up, or you won’t catch me, haha.

That was the last message they exchanged. Shadow Cloak was excited to be the highest level player at the moment. Arthur, though, was relaxed.

’I’ll catch her soon enough.’

It was only a matter of time. The best benefit would start at around 15 with the dungeons getting unlocked. Shadow Cloak would take a lot longer to level up now, as each level made it way harder, so Arthur had enough time to catch her in the future.

Anyway, his focus was on catching the water serpent. The tiny creature didn’t show up once during the hours Arthur swam, but then, he saw it!

Just a glimpse of it, but he saw it! The water serpent was white like snow with some tiny strands of blue. Its eyes were blue as well.

The creature was really beautiful. Small too, having only 20 cm at most. For a serpent, that wasn’t much. It was also really thin.

’I can see why the mayor wants this as a pet.’

A good-looking creature to show off to visitors. The mayor, being someone who did business with many people, would instantly have a subject to talk about, as the creature was pretty rare and beautiful.

Anyway, Arthur tried to speak with it by using his new passive, Animal Whispering.

"Hey," he said.

The serpent turned to face him, not moving for a second. The creature was certainly confused as to why a human could speak with it.

"Who? Want?"

It wasn’t making full sentences. Arthur understood it, though. It wanted to know who he was and what he wanted.

That was a problem. He couldn’t just say he wanted to tame it.

"Friends?" Arthur said, using simpler words to communicate with the creature.

He started swimming toward it. The serpent didn’t like the idea of having a human so close to it, so it swam away from him, really damn fast.

Arthur cursed.

"Fuck."

Arthur swam as fast as he could, trying to catch up with the serpent, but the creature was still faster than him.

Not only that, but its tiny body could easily hide behind the underwater rocks.

"Stop, please! I want to bring you on an adventure with me, please? Trust me. Or do you want to stay forever in this river?"

That was his last shot. The serpent stopped.

"Are you being serious? Can you make me leave this place? I cannot breathe out of the water yet, but I can in the future when I evolve."

"Evolve? What the hell are you talking about? And how can you speak so clearly? I thought you were dumb."

"Dumb? You are dumb. Dumb human. Dumb."

"..."

Arthur got really close to the water serpent.

"I’ll have to tame you, is that alright?" he said.

"Yes, no problem. But I want to go with you, and not end up being someone’s pet."

’How the hell does it know that?’ Arthur thought.

He felt bad about it. He couldn’t fail the quest like that, so the serpent couldn’t go with him.

"Of course."

"Do it, then. I won’t resist."

Arthur prepared the Beast Seal, using the item on the creature. Then, the next step was to use the active skill, Beast Contract.

He didn’t use the magical rope, as the serpent ended up being cooperative in the end.

A contract appeared out of nowhere underwater. Arthur marked it with his fingerprint, and the serpent bit it with its fangs. The contract was sealed.

’Now all I have to do is bring it back to the mayor and finish the quest.’

That was what Arthur wanted, but once again, the system surprised him.

[Special class detected, new bonuses for Beast Taming being added...]

[Warning: you cannot release or give your tamed beast to others.]

[Current Beast Slots: 1/1]

Arthur couldn’t believe it.

’...I’ll have to keep it.’

More notifications popped up.

[Species Identified: Snowveil Serpent]

[Rarity: Rare → ???]

[Warning: Growth rate anomaly detected. This beast’s evolution potential exceeds standard parameters for its species.]

Arthur stared at the message, his mind blank for a second.

’...What does that even mean?’