Fishing

Max rested while browsing the chat channel when he suddenly felt a tug on the fishing rod, signaling he had caught something. He slowly sat up, grabbed the fishing pole, and began reeling in the line. Unlike the usual struggle with a fish, Max noticed there was no resistance, suggesting he hadn't caught a fish but something else entirely.

As the fishhook drew closer, Max noticed a wooden box being dragged along. He quickly realized it was a wooden treasure chest.

Max happily dragged the wooden treasure chest back onto the raft and unhooked the hook and opened the box with anticipation.

Upon opening, Max found a pack of large, easy-to-make noodles with complementary spice powder. It could be prepared simply by boiling in water for a few minutes, adding the spice, and it was ready to eat.

Max happily added them to his inventory and discovered there were about 24 packs of noodles in the packet. Unfortunately, he didn't have a fire or a bowl to boil them at the moment, so he had to keep them in his inventory until he could cook them on the ship.

Just then, Max had a brilliant idea—perhaps he had misunderstood the purpose of the fishing pole. Could it be meant for catching treasure chests hidden beneath the ocean's surface rather than on the fish, he hasn't seen until now.

Yes, Max hasn't heard anyone mentioning about finding fishes until now, so he opened the regional chat channel to ask the people who are always online.

Max: "Hello everyone, I would like to ask you guys a question, have anyone seen or caught any fish until now from the time we have been transported here."

"Hmm, now you have reminded me, no I haven't seen a small fish which usually swim on the top surface of the ocean."

"Yeah, me too, I haven't seen one too, maybe they are hiding in the ocean, will come up to surface after getting dark."

"Buddy they are fishes, not bats which will only surface during night and disappear during the daytime so they could hide from us."

"Who know, we don't know about the ecology of the animals here, we have just been teleported here, maybe let's wait until tomorrow and see, if they are truly not present in the ocean."

"If there are no fish in the ocean, and our food supplies from the novice supply box are only enough to keep us alive until the third day, we'll need to find alternative food through a treasure box or discover an island to gather resources, or we might starve to death."

Max: "Just now, I have got a onetime blueprint of the fishing pole from a treasure chest, and I have cast some bait to catch some fish, but to my dismay, I haven't any fish all day, but my fishing pole has caught a wooden treasure chest."

Max: "My guess is, the fishing pole can also be used not only to catch fish but also treasure chests which are beneath the ocean surface."

Max: "If anyone has a duplicate fishing rod blueprint, please let me know. I'm offering a fair price for it. I'm also looking for blueprints of flint, pans, and a stove—if you have any of these, please reach out. I'll pay above the market price for your blueprints."

As soon the members in the chat channel have seen Max message, the entire channel went silent for a second and then everyone started to send private messages to max asking to trade his fishing rod, some even started to morally blackmail him into handing over his other stuff for greater good.

Max blocked everyone who was harassing him with private messages and added them to his shop's blacklist for one day, preventing them from trading any items from his store. This silenced most of them, but a few started spewing venomous words in the chat channel, which Max simply ignored.

Then Max deleted the spam messages from his inbox and began checking emails from those genuinely interested in trading with him.

Although Max didn't find any blueprints, he discovered various items like iron bars, copper bars, bronze bars, wires, plastics, and clothes. These were traded with him for wood to upgrade their ships.

Max then arranged the exchanges goods in the inventory and started browsing to check for blueprints in the trade market.

While browsing the market, Max once again grabbed his fishing pole and cast the hook, this time without any bait, to test his theory. He began rowing his boat in the direction his instincts told him the treasure chest might be hidden. 

While rowing the raft, Max exchange for stool blueprints a bucket blueprint and Wollen blanket from the market which he might need in the night to fight against cold.

Max searched for flint but found no one selling it or matches in the market. He realized that no one was willing to part with such a valuable resource crucial for survival. Only those bold enough to take risks were trying their luck to upgrade their rafts quickly before nightfall to stay ahead of the competition by selling critical resources.

Max once again mentioned in the regional chat that he was willing to buy matches or flint at a fair price. After closing the chat interface, he focused on steering his raft toward a location he believed to be rich in resources.

Maybe his luck is not good the afternoon, he only found some plastic and wood floating on the ocean, there were no treasure chest in the nearby area. 

As he worried that all the treasure chests had disappeared, having spent hours without finding any, he lamented his bad luck. Suddenly, a few bubbles surfaced beside his raft, and a rusty iron box emerged in a magical way. He was astonished, as he never knew iron could float on the ocean. Previously, the treasure chests he collected were supported by additional wood and weeds surrounding the boxes.

Max immediately sprang into action, dragging the box onto the raft from the ocean. He excitedly opened the box after offering a brief prayer to all the deities in charge of good luck.