Dimension Wave: Volume 2 E-Book

Aneko Yusagi

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Dimension Wave
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 296

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

With the first wave over, Kizuna—a boy forced by his sisters to play using a girl avatar—returns with his party to their laid-back life and their voyage through the open seas. When a storm seals them in an inescapable map called the Sea of No Return, their boat is drawn toward a massive haunted pirate ship.
While searching the haunted vessel, Kizuna is inadvertently thrown overboard—alone. He’s swallowed up by the cold seawater, and by the time he realizes it, he has drifted ashore on a far-off beach.
Will Kizuna manage to survive without anyone on this deserted island? Or will conflict arise with the mysterious Pekkles that live there?

Leseprobe

Prologue: The Plank of Death

“I daresay you’re being a nuisance, milord!” Yamikage said as she stood on the deck.

We were far out at sea with nothing but the ocean around us. Yamikage seemed dissatisfied about something and voiced said dissatisfaction directly to my face.

“Now look here... Are you really saying that straight to my face?”

“I daresay, I’m sick and tired of squid!”

“She’s right. Incidentally...Ms. Sheryl, you mustn’t waste food.”

“I’m not wasting it... I’m using it as a weapon.”

Yamikage lamented while staring at her squid lunch; meanwhile, Sheryl loaded the squid onto the ballista in place of a bolt, and Shouko chastised her for it.

We had two other members on board apart from them.

“Ah ha ha, you’ve got a fun group, bro!”

“Hah... Why did I have to come along...”

Tsumugi laughed while Alto sighed.

How had the six of us ended up in such a bothersome situation...? To answer that, I’ll have to go back a little over a week, to the day right after the Dimension Wave ended.

†

We’d gone to Romina the blacksmith to turn the dismantled Cerberus parts into weapons. After a bit of discussion over what would be made, it was strongly and unanimously decided that the new weapon would be for me.

“You’ve brought in even more unfamiliar material... Not that I’ve got anything against it. If it’s for Kizuna, then it’s got to be a dismantling weapon. All right, I’ll get right to it.”

Romina eyed me suspiciously but promptly got to work. Yeah, of course she’d be suspicious after I brought in a mountain of Cerberus items.

The weapon that came out was called Cerberus Slaughter. It was a simple kitchen knife whose hilt with a black flame motif seemed to reflect absolutely no light... Yes, a simple knife; at least, that’s what it seemed to be. However, it was a weapon made from such a powerful boss. Surely it had to be strong.

The problem was that I’d lost so much Energy during the Dimension Wave that I didn’t meet the requirements to equip it. That was the big downside of choosing a race where Energy was everything. By now, I could somewhat understand how Shouko felt after she’d greatly weakened herself in the battle to open up the Second City.

“Why don’t you give it a try once your Energy has recovered? I’m sure it will be formidable.”

Before encountering me, Shouko had been driven out by her comrades, who’d insisted they didn’t need any weaklings in their party. She’s a great person who’ll never do that to anyone else...

“Yeah. I’ll do my best to meet everyone’s expectations. I guess Cerberus Slaughter will have to sleep in my inventory until then.”

And just like that, Cerberus Slaughter was buried under a host of other items. Everyone else made sure to branch off their weapon trees and buy Intermediary Stones among other things. We explored the Second City under the guise of looking into the newly implemented items. I acquired a reel and felt quite pleased with myself as I walked alongside my party members: Shouko, Yamikage, and Sheryl.

“Ah, look who it is. What do you think about this shop, little lady?”

As we coincidentally bumped into L’Arc and Therese, the casual couple beckoned us to check out one of the stalls. And that was where I had a meeting with destiny.

It was a lure. It was a shining, glistening lure—and I wasn’t exaggerating. It was actually imbued with the light element. Fate had brought me to a merchant who sold lures made for night fishing. The price was ten thousand Serin.

At first, I tried to buy it at the listed price, but Shouko pleaded, “No, don’t. It’s a scam. Please stay strong.” I barely managed to regain my senses. And after much haggling, we brought the price down to ten thousand Serin.

“So... Back to business. How much can you lower it for me?”

“Ten thousand Serin. I can’t go any lower than that.”

“Did you see that, Shouko?! That’s the power of my haggling skills!”

“You didn’t lower the price at all. You just chatted a bit! He’s completely tricking you! Please listen to me!”

Sure, the price might drop eventually, but time is money, as they say. Using the newly implemented lure as quickly as possible would give me an advantage over the other players and make it more than worth my time. I’d make up for any losses in the blink of an eye. The only real counterpoint to that argument was that I barely ever saw any other fishing players apart from myself.

“Calm down, little lady.”

“L’Arc, didn’t you know this would happen if you showed it to him? Help him out a bit.”

“I know, Therese.”

And so, L’Arc stepped in between me and the merchant, dragging the price of the shining lure down to six thousand Serin.

“Thanks, Mr. L’Arc. You were a big help...” Shouko groaned.

“I could have probably pushed it down to three grand if I kept at it. But it looks like our little lady wants to support the merchant in his future endeavors, so let’s keep it at that.”

“Right... As long as he wasn’t trying to deceive us, it’s fine.”

And so, the Lure of Light became mine. The day carried on peacefully with shopping and other laid-back activities until finally I hit the hay. In retrospect, I can say that the actions I took back then were not a mistake.

†

The next day, on Shouko’s decision, we set off on our Sailboat into our home turf, the sea, to restore as much of my lost Energy as possible.

“Lord Kizuna, it will all be for nothing if you take damage. Please rest inside the ship.”

Still worn out by the Dimension Wave and yesterday’s shopping, I felt unusually sleepy. And so, I left the fighting to my comrades and decided to take a nap under deck. There were two break rooms inside the ship, and as I was a bit embarrassed at the thought of anyone seeing me asleep, I locked the door before lying down. It wasn’t as comfortable as the NPC-run inns, but still, I was overtaken by drowsiness soon enough.

After a few hours had passed, I arose and climbed back onto the deck. It seemed strangely noisy, and I soon understood why. I came face-to-face with my comrades...acting practically like pirates.

To be more precise, my sister Tsumugi†Exceed was standing tied up on a wooden plank barely wide enough to fit her. The plank was fastened to the deck with most of it hanging off the edge, and it looked like she was going to be pushed off at any second. I’d come across quite the nonsensical scene.

Below, on the water’s surface, three Blue Sharks were circling, eagerly waiting for the moment of her inevitable drop.

“Stop! Stop! Save me!”

Honestly, it felt like an old comedic cliché.

“The hell are you people doing?!” I shouted, quickly regaining my composure.

“Stowaways must be executed!” Shouko shouted back.

Her eyes are completely glazed over! What could have happened to make that serious girl like this?!

“Tsumugi is my little sister. What happened?! Please explain the reason!”

What was Tsumugi even doing here in the first place? No, they called her a stowaway, so I guess she sneaked onto the ship? But even if she did, why does she have to be executed?

Neither Shouko nor Yamikage nor Sheryl was this bloodthirsty, at least as far as I was aware. It would be one thing if Yamikage was just going along with the bit, but to see even Shouko joining in on it was downright abnormal.

“I daresay, stowaways must face judgment!”

“You stay quiet!”

“Stowaways...are shark food.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“Seajackers shall be eradicated, I daresay!”

“Just stop talking, The Dark Shadow!”

Unable to make any sense of the situation, I focused on saving Tsumugi and dispelling my party’s mysterious tensions before asking again. To my astonishment, it turned out there had been a seajacking attempt while I was taking a nap. A party of four had attempted to occupy the ship.

The four seajackers were Shouko’s old party members. They had come to investigate the secret behind our performance in the Dimension Wave and had stowed away below deck... Once we were out at sea, they sprung into action. Did they seriously think it would all work out if they threatened us a bit?

My party members met them head-on, and the seajackers—who lacked the Shipboard Combat skill—had the tables turned on them and were easily subdued. This game has no PVP or PK as of yet, but you can still restrain players or kill them through environmental damage, I reminded myself. As a result, they were now trying to execute Tsumugi. How did that lead to this?

“So Tsumugi ended up like this because of the seajacking?!”

“Yes.”

Afterward, as they were discussing what to do with the four captive seajackers, one of them tried to appeal to Shouko. “We used to be comrades, right?”

He tried to abuse their past friendship to earn sympathy. He tried this after they had so smugly claimed that there had to be something shady behind Shouko and the others succeeding in the Dimension Wave despite being mere Spirits. And he tried this after they’d cackled about how our party must have somehow cheated. Shouko flew into a rage, fastened a plank to the ship’s edge, and threw them all overboard.

Their leader’s parting words: “I’ll spread bad rumors about you, wench.”

It was a line I’d expect from a heroine of an old dating sim. As for the other three:

“You won’t get away with this!”

“We’ll defeat you in the next Dimension Wave.”

“Uuuuuurgh!”

What a grab bag of petty responses. I had no idea what she was even “getting away” with, and I couldn’t understand why we’d be fighting one another in the next Dimension Wave either. And the last guy. Did he have his son taken hostage or something? Like in the fifth installment of a famous RPG series?

The baseless grudges of these sorts were a mystery to me... It was idiotic to even give them the time of day. People like them weren’t exactly rare in online games, and it was essentially a part of the experience. Anyway, the gist of it was that Tsumugi had been hiding in a barrel to surprise me, and she was discovered by the three of them while the seajacking had put them in quite a peculiar state of mind.

“You guys need to get a grip!”

“Indeed.”

“Shouko. Why are you acting like this is someone else’s problem? You were the ringleader here.”

“I’m sorry...”

I’d never even imagined that Shouko could be this unhinged.

“Now on to you, Tsumugi... What are you doing here?”

“Your party looked really fun, so I left the party I was in before.”

“Are you sure you should be leaving just like that?”

“They said it was fine. Things were getting stale anyway, and with the new update, it feels like the right time to start something new.”

Every party had its own circumstances, but it seemed Tsumugi had left on good terms.

“And...mumble, mumble, mumble.”

You tried mumbling it, but I heard you!

“What was that? You got tired of doing death game RP?”

“I kept my voice super quiet! How did you hear that?!”

Unfortunately, I had good ears. In the first place, there was no way I wouldn’t hear her when we were this close. So it wasn’t just me...probably.

“And wait, what do you mean ‘death game RP’?”

“It’s a fairly popular role-play people do in VRMMOs,” muttered Sheryl, who seemed to know all about it.

“Hmm, that’s a thing?”

“Uh-huh...”

According to Sheryl, it was a type of role-play where players acted like dying in the game meant dying in real life. It was common in games where players were unable to log out at will, such as the ones put out by the Second Life Project. Essentially, it meant forced removal from a party and cutting off contact if someone died.

“Huh? You guys were doing that?”

It wasn’t that I intended to judge how others played, but my fairly positive opinion of Rosette and his party dropped a bit. Though perhaps it was precisely this role-play that gave them enough dedication to work hard enough to be frontliners...

If Tsumugi wanted to join our party, she could have just told me... But come to think of it, she did like surprising people.

All right, I understand the situation. Let’s see if the others are on board with the idea.

“If you’re all okay with it, I’d like to add Tsumugi to the party. Any objections?”

“Certainly not.”

“I daresay I owe your sister for what she did in the Dimension Wave.”

“Mhm.”

“But weren’t you just about to execute her?”

Everyone averted their eyes.

Even if you try to play it off, I’m not going to just forget about it... Something didn’t sit right with me as I added Tsumugi.

Soon after, I received a message from Alto about the seajackers spreading rumors about us in the Second City. I explained the situation, and owing to their usual barbaric deeds and troublemaking, those rumors quickly died out. Ultimately, that was where it all began. Talking to Alto was the cause of all of this.

Chapter 1: Merchant of Death

“Stowaway, I daresay!”

Three days had passed since Tsumugi joined the party... We were working hard, shifting between land and sea in our quest to level up. Once again, an ill-timed shout came from below deck.

“Y-You have it all wrong!”

Stowaway A. Occupation: Merchant of Death. Age: Unknown.

As usual, our team of four was enacting the ritual of the death plank, having Stowaway A perform a balancing act on a narrow board while they prodded at him with sticks. As if on cue, those three sharks that appeared whenever we whipped the plank out were doing their usual rounds.

Is this really that fun for them? At least the sharks seem to be enjoying it. Maybe the developers expected players to do pirate role-play.

“Now, Mr. A... No, Mr. Altorese. What do you think you’re doing?”

“Why are you treating me like a stranger? Just help me already!”

“I’m busy fishing!”

“Heartless fiend! Please! We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“I’m kidding. It’s not like you’re actually going to die.”

Falling into the sea would just send him back to his previous save point with a death penalty. Is this the fear that comes from how realistically things get recreated in VR games? I recalled how a VR game that could accurately recreate murder cases became a social issue for a bit; perhaps this was a similar situation.

“Hmm, another acquaintance of yours? I daresay, you get around, milord...”

“Why are you acting so disappointed? This guy’s relatively famous.”

The plank seemed to be addicting to everyone apart from myself. Regardless, I tried questioning Alto.

“So why did you stow away?”

“Yes, well you said it, didn’t you, Kizuna? That you tossed some troublesome players into the sea? That got me curious about the sea, so I did some digging and found out that hardly anyone is building ships.”

“And so, you stowed away on the only one you could find?”

“I’ll do anything for money!”

No, don’t puff out your chest when you say that.

I resisted the urge to toss this money-crazed fiend into the sea and heard him out. Secretly figuring out that we were hunting at sea and hearing those quickly extinguished rumors from the seajackers, he suspected there might be some truth mixed in with the lies. He really did have a knack for sniffing out opportunities for profit.

“What do you plan to do if they turn out to be true?” Shouko asked with a serious look on her face.

Well, the others didn’t know Alto as well as I did. I knew exactly what he wanted.

“Give me a piece of the pie!”

That was just how Alto was. But why did he stow away? If you call yourself a merchant, then negotiate. Don’t skimp out on the information fee.

The Alto I knew was someone who would sidle up to rival parties, supplying both sides with weapons and items to make a profit off of their competition. He was a good ally when you had him on your side, but there was no guarantee as to whether he’d stay there. The moment he saw his profits dwindling, he’d probably sell the secrets of our efficient maritime hunting. His clientele would spread from the frontliners to the crafters, and even the players living peaceful lives. Rumors were known to spread like wildfire.

If this were reality, it would be easy enough to silence him. But that wouldn’t work here. In the first place, it would be a crime. Our safest bet would be to negotiate and provide information so valuable he’d make more profit hoarding it than selling it.

“All right. But the sea only offers more types of fish and different monsters than the land.”

“There’s albacore tuna and sea bream. Also, you can get materials from Brave Birds and Blue Sharks, correct?”

I hadn’t even said a word, and he nailed all the creatures inhabiting the area. He’d probably done a bit of background research before coming here. Alto placed a hand to his mouth, gesturing as though he was deep in thought.

“Dismantling weapons...an isolated location...experience points...the goods in circulation...and Spirits...”

Yamikage looked at me with concern. Unfortunately, that behavior was pretty much an answer in and of itself.

“Albeit, I knew from the start.”

“Which means someone apart from me figured it out too?”

“As far as I’m aware, there are three of them, including you. There are probably quite a few more. A lot of people find themselves being excluded just for choosing dismantling weapons.”

Alto would take them into the fold, forming a secret pact to buy their materials and sell them at a markup to whoever needed them. It was a typical move for the Merchant of Death. The fact he hadn’t spread the word about dismantling weapons to raise their popularity was because he saw a secret gold mine in them. The moment the truth got out, one dismantling weapon user would become a staple in every party—naturally, to increase the drops of every monster defeated. It made no sense that this wasn’t public knowledge yet. Unless...

I recalled the Cerberus Slaughter sitting in my inventory. Perhaps someone could dismantle a boss’s corpse after everyone else had left... If I were to ever attempt it, I’d want to obtain a stealth skill first. I didn’t mean a low-level one like the one I saw Yamikage using before—a far more refined one. I see. The thought did occur to me when I first held Cerberus Slaughter in my hand... A simple thought: “This is why I can never give up on dismantling weapons.”

“Sheryl, what do we do?”

“It’s up to you, Kizuna.”

I’d always wanted to discuss the possibilities of the sea.

“Alto, what I’m about to say might be true, and it might not be.”

“So it’s up to me to figure it out?”

“Yeah. The sea is probably a route to a new continent. Going off the strength of the enemies, you’re probably supposed to clear the first continent before progressing here, but we got ahead by building a ship. The members of my party excelled in the Dimension Wave because the experience points here are better than on land. So I suspect we can obtain even better equipment if we cross the sea. There could be stuff we’ve never even seen before.”

More than half of it was convenient lies. Nothing I said was certain, but nothing was provably false either. It all lay in the realm of possibilities. Of course, I suspected there had to be something out there.

My desire to cross the sea was driven by dreams and romance, and perhaps it would all end as nothing more than an entertaining detour. Still, if Alto was willing to invest, I knew I could trust him...even if he did have ulterior motives.

“Now then, Merchant Altorese. What say you about investing in this pipe dream?”

“Of course I will.”

“That was easy.”

“Please don’t misunderstand. I believe in your insight, Kizuna—the same insight that turned empty cans into gold.”

It looks like he’s got quite a high opinion of me, but that was just a stroke of luck. But it was pointless to write it off now, so I wasn’t going to say anything. Still... Has Alto become even greedier than before?

“Well, I’m glad to have the Merchant of Death’s investment. What next?”

“Who are you calling Merchant of Death, World’s Biggest Damage Sponge?”

I have no idea what you’re talking about. I know absolutely nothing about the guy who topped the list of most damage received in the Dimension Wave!

“Don’t call me that!”

“You mustn’t fight! Why don’t we just continue as we usually do?”

Taking in Alto was all well and good. Rather, things were going quite well up to that point... Excluding the dark storm clouds creeping in from the eastern sky...

Chapter 2: The Sea of No Return

“Yeah, what now?!” I cried out.

It happened the next day. Drenched from head to toe, we somehow managed to keep ourselves afloat. We’d been caught in a vicious storm, barely escaping by the skin of our teeth.

As a result, we had no idea where the ship had taken us—the compass on the map was completely nonfunctional, and we couldn’t even use a Return Transcript to get back. The only thing the map indicated was that we were in an area labeled the “Sea of No Return.”

“What about dying to respawn back in town?”

“Alto, you do realize we’re Spirits, don’t you?”

“It’s better than being stranded,” he nonchalantly replied.

As a last resort, Sheryl, Tsumugi, and Alto could jump overboard to respawn. It wasn’t that easy for us Spirits.

“If we’re gonna die anyway, then onward ho! Rather than dying to move back, it’s better to die while moving forward!” Tsumugi chimed in with a smile.

She’d been in high spirits from the moment she joined the party. Her chipper personality led to her quickly bonding with Yamikage and Sheryl. The more we spoke, the more her adventurous spirit seemed to grow and before long, it was nothing but sea, sea, sea with her. She’d come to me every morning to pester me, eager to explore more.

Despite what it may look like, Tsumugi was never that fond of RPGs. However, when it came to MMOs—especially ones with VR elements—they tended to devolve into action games. It seemed to be a quirk of VR; regardless of genre, the developers seemed to feel a need to tack on action elements, and once that happened, Tsumugi would suddenly be a master.

With normal, household RPGs, though, she’d keep blitzing through at low levels almost like she was trying to speedrun. It was interesting to watch, but...it was like she could never stay and grind in one spot—like her curiosity was always driving her to seek out something new.

“I don’t know which way is forward and which way is back...” noted Sheryl.

Altorese spoke up. “It’s got to be one of those things. Like the Lost Woods or the Endless Desert. It’s a staple of RPGs.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But this is a surprise,” he went on.

“Uh-huh.”

“Err, I haven’t said anything yet...”

“Uh-huh.”

“Don’t worry about Sheryl. So what’s surprising?”

“Well, Kizuna, I have to admit, I didn’t believe roughly half...let’s say seventy percent of what you said about the sea. But looking at our current predicament, I think you may be right.”

“And why’s that?”

“In old RPGs, places like the Desert and the Lost Woods were all over the place. And usually, once you finally get through them, you can access the next map or obtain a legendary sword or something of the like. Perhaps there’s a sliver of truth in what you said after all.”

I had to agree with him there. In the games I knew, difficult maps that disoriented the player like this often hid key items necessary to progress the story. A strategy guide would have made this a lot easier, but unfortunately, Dimension Wave didn’t come with one. This meant we had to blindly navigate this Sea of No Return. Either way, we’d have to get through if we ever wanted to cross the sea.

†

And so, we wandered the Sea of No Return.

“Tsumugi! Yamikage!” Shouko called out.

“Yep!”

“I daresay!”

We faced a coordinated attack from Blade Mermen and Sky Raiders—fish and bird monsters that seemed to come from completely different ecosystems. How were they working together? Who’s to say? We could only fight.

As for our forces... Shouko now dual wielded a fan in each hand. Tsumugi had specialized her scythe into a war scythe. And Yamikage was stuck up on Drain, as per usual. These three were our main combatants.

I thought we could have some peace of mind with the two heroes who did most of the heavy lifting during the Dimension Wave, but these were formidable foes. The currents had presumably taken us to a higher-level area, and we were facing enemies above our weight class.

At the very least, I didn’t have nearly enough Energy to fight them.

“Circle Dance First Formation: Spin-Strike!”

Spreading the fans in her hands, Shouko performed a graceful spin. Its range was short, but it was an attack that could hit enemies all around her. As I recall, Circle Dance’s description said...in exchange for significantly increased charge time and lowered defenses, it boosts the power of skills and basic attacks.

If her previous style had been the ultimate defense, her new style was the ultimate offense. As described, this newly implemented Circle Style differed from her previous Wild Style with its powerful attacks balanced by long charges. It hadn’t been long since she began using it, so I couldn’t say anything certain, but this style seemed to suit Shouko better. She seemed to have a better time evading than blocking—judging by those acrobatics she showed off while fighting Cerberus.

What’s more, just the other day—the same day I bought the Lure of Light—I’d discovered a new real-life skill that Shouko seemed to possess. Apparently, she was ambidextrous.

Come to think of it, dual wielding is common enough in games, but in a VR game, wouldn’t attacks with the dominant hand be more effective? I wondered. Of course, the system performed the actions for us when we used skills. But basic attacks were another beast.

Since we tended to use our dominant hand instinctively, it likely had something to do with the brain. I wasn’t very knowledgeable, so I could only make a guess, but if the brain was involved, then one’s dominant hand would be important in-game as well.

I’d heard stories about southpaws having the advantage when battling with spinning tops. There were differences between right- and left-handed players in other sports as well. It was unknown whether this applied to VR games or not. But in a game as realistic as this one, perhaps ambidexterity was far more important than it seemed. By the way, I was a typical right-hander myself.

“She’s quite different from my first impression of her.”

“Alto? It’s dangerous to stand around here.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“So, what’s different about Shouko?”

“Compared to my first impression, she’s a lot more aggressive than I thought.”

Indeed, when you were having a normal conversation with her, Shouko was polite and thoughtful, both with her words and actions. This matched up with her appearance. Yet she was far more violent than one might think—or than her appearance might suggest. During the Dimension Wave, she had proposed to go on the offensive rather than hold the line.

Maybe she was born into the wrong time and gender, I mused. Had she been born in the Warring States period or the days of the Three Kingdoms or perhaps in another world, she might have been a mighty general or hero.

“Oh, come to think of it, Kizuna, are you using those Intermediary Crystals you got before?”

“Mine are store-bought.”

Intermediary Stones were a new form of equipment for Spirits unlocked during the last update. The Intermediary Stones sold by NPCs were all imbued with a special ability. They also had something called Shield Energy, corresponding to what the other races would refer to as HP. And just like with HP, Shield Energy naturally restored itself over time. By equipping the stones, a Spirit could take a little bit of damage, and the Intermediary Stone would foot the bill rather than having it deplete their Energy.

However, Shield Energy itself wasn’t very high. The lower stones had around 50, while the highest one in the shop had 1000. The ones with lower Shield Energy had more powerful bonus effects, while the higher ones had weaker effects to balance it out. It was largely up to personal preference. I could easily see Yamikage picking up a stone with Darkness Magic Damage % Up. Since my skill composition was quite half-baked, I used one that boosted my mastery level.

“You know,” said Alto, “around the time we first met... It was about a month ago now. You told me about it when we were making it big in Empty Cans. You fished up an Intermediary Crystal.”

Oh, right. That.

My inventory was stuffed with so many things I’d forgotten all about it. I navigated the menu, pulled up my inventory, and fished through it. And finally, it was there—a colorless, grayed-out Intermediary Stone... So that’s what it meant by unappraised.

“Here, found it.”

“You still haven’t appraised it yet.”

“I got the item before the system was even implemented.”

Technically speaking, the system had been implemented since the start of the game; we just didn’t have access to it yet. We’d probably continue to come across items we wouldn’t be able to equip yet.

“Do you want me to appraise it for you? I’m a merchant, so I handle a lot of items. Not to toot my own horn, but my Appraisal skill is pretty high.”

“I don’t mind, but I don’t have money.”

I hadn’t just bought the Lure of Light; I’d bought reels and ingredients used in cooking, and before I knew it, I’d run out.

“Do you see me as a complete money-grubber or something...?”

“Am I wrong?”

“Completely wrong! I can throw in a freebie here and there.”

“Well, sorry about that. Go ahead.”

I handed the unappraised Intermediary Crystal over to Alto, who took out a magnifying glass...a loupe? I think that was what it was called. Anyways, he muttered, “Item Appraisal” under his breath, causing the lens to let off a faint light. And then, the crystal took on a deep blue hue that was almost black.

“Yep. That sure looks like an Intermediary Stone picked up from fishing.”

“So what does it do?”

I took it from Alto and tried equipping it... Or maybe, it was more accurate to say I transferred my soul to it. As far as the lore was concerned, it was supposed to be a vessel to bind me to the mortal plane.

Elementary Intermediary Crystal / Shield Energy 700/700

Boosts the Rank of Fishing Mastery by 2 Stages.

Amplified aggro from fish that can be caught at night.

It had two special effects. The Shield Energy seemed to be on the higher side, but I wasn’t entirely sure. That aside, the ones at the store were Intermediary Stones, so why was this an Intermediary Crystal? Perhaps the name changed based on the number of effects contained within.

“Anyways, thanks, Alto.”

“You always bring me nothing but profit. Feel free to ask for something like this anytime.”

We took these initial days of our voyage as they came, and we almost seemed to be enjoying them.

†

We were four days into being stranded in the Sea of No Return. The horizon remained constant, unchanged from when we’d first arrived, but our experience points and items from dismantling had begun to pile up. That alone wasn’t a bad thing, but there were several other problems we faced.

“We’ve run out of all cooking ingredients apart from my fish.”

I was the one in charge of cooking. Given we were in a survival situation, I did my best to use things sparingly; unfortunately, we’d never expected to end up in this predicament and hadn’t carried many food supplies with us.

“Uh...huh.”

“Worse yet, I’ve run out of fishing bait.”

“I-I daresay, what shall we do?!” exclaimed Yamikage.

“Yeah, it’s rough to go on with an empty stomach,” my sister added.

This was all because we hadn’t prepared for a long journey when we set sail.

For what it’s worth, you don’t actually need bait to fish in this game...but you need quite a bit of fish to feed six people. This was compounded by my low Culinary Art Rank, which meant that dishes had a good chance of resulting in failure. We needed to secure enough ingredient items to make up for it.

“Well, the situation shouldn’t be too dire.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Yes, well, we’ve gone for a few days without water, but we still seem all right.”

“I see...”

“Yes, Mr. Alto does have a point.”

If this were reality, we’d have encountered a hurdle much earlier thanks to our water shortage. Perhaps he was saying we wouldn’t face dehydration or starvation because of the nature of the game.

“It’s a game, after all. Sure, our stomachs might feel empty, but the most it will actually amount to is a debuff. We’re not going to die. Worst case, we can carry on without food.”

“But I don’t want to feel hungry!” my sister piped up.

I sighed. “I’ll take care of the food, one way or another.”

And so, I was thrust into a life of fishing. Without premium bait, I had no way of catching large fish; the small fries were my limit. Yet this was where the Lure of Light proved invaluable.

Its constant glow served as a makeshift lantern, meaning I didn’t have to waste any resources on lighting when fishing at night. There weren’t any fish attracted to the lure during the daytime, but I found out that it attracted squid while the stars were out.

Coupling it with the Lurolona Bobber allowed me to repel other nighttime catches like inedible Bone Fish while targeting squid specifically.

According to Alto, the Lure of Light was...

“That’s an egi, no doubt about it.”

It was apparently a type of lure called an “egi.” Honestly, it looked no different from a normal lure...apart from the fact that it glowed. In any case, it was the Lure of Light that resolved our food problems. However, it was also the Lure of Light that trapped us in a cycle of squid. Rather, squid seemed to be the only thing I ever caught at night.

I got ahead of myself, catching close to five hundred of them in one night, putting squid on the menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had skewered squid, squid noodles, grilled squid, and the like. There were quite a few dishes that could be made with squid, squid, and nothing but squid, so I continued to cook away.

“I daresay you’re being a nuisance, milord!”