Destiny Online: Halo Paladin - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Addicted To Fishing

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The sky was blue, the air was fresh with a hint of sweetness, it felt like he was in his hometown.

The wind caressed his face, he closed his eyes pleasantly and took a deep breath.

“Nice! It would be great if I have Chubby Blue with me!”

The fishing rod shook and the float on the surface of the river started to sink. 

Nocturne reacted calmly. 

“Hmph! You really think the fishing rod moved because the fish took the bait? Hahaha! Naive! The fish is just playing with you! If you reel it up right now, you’ll get nothing!”

After fishing for quite a while, Nocturne finally could speak from experience. There were usually three conditions for a fish to take the bait.

The first one would be the float sinking into the water completely. It was not as accurate because the float would float back up before he could even pick up his rod.

The second one was that the float started to move around, because the fish took the bait and was pulling the float.

The third one would be the float sinking into the water, leaving only the sharp tip at the surface for one to two seconds.

The thought of him being toyed with by the fish made him angry, it was nothing but sweat and tears.

Some of the fish were smart, they would touch the bait over and over again before taking the bait. Even after they took the bait, they did not swim away or bite the thread off. If Nocturne was impatient and reeled the fishing rod in, he would get nothing but disappointment again. 

It was a test of patience.

“Now!”

The buzz on the rod told him that the fish took the bait this time.

A small fish the size of his palm came out of the water and was struggling in the air. Nocturne skillfully removed it from the hook and tossed it into the basket.

“Acquired: Tasty Small Fish.”

Tasty Small Fish was a required ingredient for the dish he learned.

The fishing system in this game was unlike others. In other games, fishing might just be a mini game to kill time, all the player needed was a rod, the player just had to put on some bait and wait for the rod to move before reeling the fish in. 

In Destiny Online, even though it was unable to mimic real life fishing completely, the developers spent a large amount of effort to replicate real fishing. The moment the fish came out of the water, it felt great and somehow addictive.

It seemed like the saying about how one could get addicted to fishing was right. Nocturne was so addicted that he could not free himself, especially the excitement and adrenaline rush he got when the fish took the bait, it was intoxicating.

He tossed the rod, the fish took the bait and reeled it in once more.

“Acquired: Tasty Small Fish.”

“Acquired: Grass.”

“Acquired Tasty Small Fish.”

“Acquired: 1 Mastery Point to Fishing.”

…

“You’ve leveled up. All attributes +1. Acquired 5 free attribute points.”

“Acquired: Waterproof Box.”

“Acquired: 1 Mastery Point to Fishing.”

“Wow, I got something out of fishing?!”

[Waterproof Box (Common)]

[Character Bind]

[Usage: Acquire a random item.]

[Note: It’s all about luck here!]

…

“What kind of description is that? Is it mocking me? Okay then, let’s test my luck…”

Nocturne rubbed his hand.

“Used Waterproof Box. Acquired: Strengthened Fishing Rod, Old Diary.”

“Woohoo! A success!”

[Strengthened Fishing Rod (Common)]

[Two-handed Fishing Rod. Damage: 2 ~ 6.]

[Increase 5 Mastery Points to Fishing.]

[Requirement: Fishing (10)]

[Old Diary (Common)]

[Character Bind]

[Prescription.]

[Usage: It can teach you how to locate bigger schools of fishes.]

[Requirement: Fishing (50)]

Nocturne looked at his fishing mastery points and there were only 7 points.

He would be able to use the new fishing rod after a while but the Old Diary was out of reach for the moment. He wanted to but much remained to be done.

With that thought in mind, Nocturne picked up his fishing rod again and continued fishing.

“Acquired: Tasty Small Fish.”

“Acquired: Grass.

“The fish escaped…”

…

“You’ve leveled up. All attributes +1. Acquired 5 free attribute points.”

“Acquired: Waterproof Box.”

“Acquired 1 Mastery Point in Fishing.”

“Hoho! I got the box again! I wonder what the droprate for this box is? Hmmm, maybe I’m getting lucky here.”

“Used Waterproof Box: Acquired: Elementary Fishing Guide—Newbie Guide to Fishing.”

[Elementary Fishing Guide—Newbie Guide to Fishing (Common)]

[Character Bind.]

[Book.]

[Usage: Permanently increases 5 mastery points in Fishing.]

[Requirement: Fishing (1)]

“I guess I can never leave the books behind, even in the game. Knowledge is power anyway, knowledge can improve one’s mind…”

He used it and pictures and videos tutorials about fishing appeared before his eyes.

“What? I thought using it will grant my 5 mastery points straight away, I still have to watch this? You got me this time, devs.”

The tutorial was 5 minutes long, he could quit halfway but he would not be able to get the mastery points. After watching the tutorial, a newbie guide appeared in the fishing skill tab and it could be read repeatedly.

“Used Elementary Fishing Guide—Newbie Guide to Fishing. Fishing skill mastery increased by 5 points permanently.”

“Finally! I can change into a new fishing rod!”

Nocturne gripped the Strengthened Fishing Rod and felt its weight, it felt better than the old one he had.

He had to admit that the tutorial really helped him. It saved him a lot of time in trying to get familiar with the new fishing rod and he would be able to fish a lot better this time. He used the fishing rod according to the tutorial and it felt great.

As the fishing rod shook, he felt a heavy sensation. It must be a big fish.

A fat little fish was struggling at the end of the thread.

“Acquired: A Bloated Little Fish.”

[A Bloated Little Fish (Common)]

[Character Bind.]

[Usage: Has a certain chance to acquire a special item.]

[Note: Hey, do you know what I have in my stomach?”]

“Gee. The description is really… I really have no words for it… Way a go, Mr. Programmer. As long as you are happy…”

“Dissected A Bloated Little Fish and found a small Talent Stone.”

“Acquired: Small Talent Stone.”

[Small Talent Stone (Common)]

[Character Bind.]

[Usage: Acquire 10 Talent EXP.]

“Now I see. So this is the material to level up talents… And it’s bound to my character, meaning I can’t trade it away. It seems like the devs wanted to stop rich players from bulk purchasing these materials, so that the difference between rich and poor players won’t have such a huge effect in terms of talent.”

“I have to give it to the devs for making this game balanced.”

There were many ways to acquire Talent Stones in the game.

Players who focused on lifestyle skills had a certain chance to acquire them through daily activities, such as fishing it in the river, getting one in the stomach of monsters or mining.

Players who played the game traditionally would get the stones from killing monsters, clearing dungeons, opening chests in the wild or quest rewards.

Looking at the time, Nocturne kept his rod away and stretched his body.

“Yawn~”

He yawned. It was almost 11:00 p.m., time to sleep.

He got offline to take a bath and went to bed.

He also played with Chubby Blue for a while before sleeping.

“Good night Chubby Blue.”

“Meow.”

“I wonder what I will get from fishing tomorrow? I’m looking forward to it.”