Chapter 4 - The Chill Act of Fishing

The forest was a dangerous place. There were creatures, magical ones, that could end the life of someone unwarned, like Alaric.

But his luck was just that good. He slept on the grass with a tree casting a shadow on him for two hours. Nothing came to attack him.

Ashley found him. She kicked him a few times until he woke up.

"Are you serious?" she said, "why are you sleeping? You just woke up."

Alaric was dizzy. It took him a few seconds to realize what was going on.

"My body feels tired. But I did what you asked me, look," Alaric said as he pointed at the bucket filled with water.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "But you had to bring it back to the cabin and then help me out with some other stuff."

She wasn't actually angry with him. Ashley was actually glad there was someone else with her, someone she could talk to, but Alaric had to help her if he wanted to continue having a place to sleep.

"I'm sorry for this," Alaric said.

"Fine, fine. Let's go before it gets too dark. This is not a safe place to take a nap."

Alaric carried the bucket back to the cabin. It wasn't a good idea to be out in the dark. The forest was a dangerous place.

When they arrived at the cabin, Alaric saw how Ashley had prepared dinner for them. A rabbit soup. The scent had taken over the entire cabin.

"This smells delicious," Alaric said.

"You think so?"

Ashley couldn't hide her smile after hearing Alaric compliment her food.

The fireplace inside the cabin had a warming flame, giving the cabin a cozy feeling. Alaric knew he wouldn't be cold during the night.

The soup was also delicious. Alaric ate two bowls of it, and by the time he was done, a wave of sleepiness took over him again.

Last time, with his two-hour nap, his mana increased by 1 point. It didn't look like a massive increase, but it was pretty good.

A normal mage would have to train to get that point in mana, while Alaric needed only to take a nap. That was the difference.

"Even if the gains are slow, it is still better than training at all," Alaric thought.

That was the mindset he had. So much that after dinner, he slept again. Ashley didn't say a word. She let him sleep.

This time, Alaric slept for 10 hours.

[+5 mana points]

Five points. It was a pretty good increase. Alaric was starting to get excited with his new system. It was proving to be even better.

But now, Ashley wanted him to help her more. She let the last day pass because Alaric was still recovering from the time he spent in the wilderness, suffering from the cold, hunger, and getting wounded by the thick vegetation.

"Go fill our water again, but this time, please return," Ashley asked.

Alaric stared at her pretty face. He couldn't refuse a beautiful woman like her, not after that delicious dinner she cooked.

"I'll, don't worry."

He grabbed the empty bucket and walked over to the river to fill it. The river was really close to the cabin, so while he was doing that, Ashley stared at him from afar, looking through the cabin's tiny window.

She just wanted to make sure he was actually doing things and not taking a nap somewhere.

Alaric ignored the messages in his system, saying he was working too much. That was just basic stuff, so why was the system so angry about it?

After returning with the bucket, Ashley said, "What do you think of learning how to hunt or fish? You know, survive on your own. This is important to know."

Ashley was willing to give Alaric shelter for a while. She knew it wasn't easy to get tossed into a different place like that, considering she believed in his story, of course.

The idea of learning how to hunt and fish was pretty cool, but it also required a lot of energy…

Still, it was better to do that than the other chores, so Alaric accepted it with a smile on his face.

"Of course I want."

Ashley gave him a dagger and a bow, two key weapons when hunting.

"Let's go," she said.

Ashley had been living in that secluded part of the forest for a few months. Alaric wanted to understand more about the reason she was doing that.

"My family lives in the city here on the island, and we don't go along well. That's why I decided to come here. This is the only thing I can do, you know. If I could, I would get away from this island, but that's not possible."

The island was in the middle of nowhere, and no boats went there. The only ships belonged to the fishermen, but they didn't sail far.

Apparently, the ocean surrounding the island was a dangerous place with beasts that could sink ships. That was why most people decided to stay there and not venture far.

Alaric was starting to realize that the headmaster really sent him to a god-forsaken place. Not even the people living there could leave.

Ashley didn't speak much about her family. She decided to return to the subject of hunting.

"There aren't that many magical beasts on this island, but they are still here, so you must be careful," she said.

She showed him a few standard tracks and how to identify specific animals, the ones she was accustomed to hunting.

Alaric tried to shoot a small rabbit with the bow she gave him, but that was not a skill he had mastered. He missed the shot.

"I can see you aren't that great in combat, so maybe you should focus on other parts; let me do the hunting, and you can do the fishing. Sounds good?"

It definitely sounded good. Fishing was way more chill than going after animals in the middle of the forest, and chilling was exactly what Alaric wanted.

"Sounds good," he said.

That morning, she gave him the fishing tools and showed him some good spots to fish.

Alaric sat on a soft grass with his fishing rod. He was so still that the system warned him.

[You are performing the chill act of fishing.]

[Your total mana will increase over time]

[Your mana regeneration increased by 100%]

[Your wounds heal 100% faster]

[Adding a nap after your fishing will grant you 2x benefits]

His system really wanted him to chill, and Alaric was not the type of person to go against his nature…