Alaric and the rat proceeded out to the boat. Alaric had already grown accustomed to the walk.
It was 30 minutes in a straight direction, so there wasn't much to grow accustomed to.
Despite the lack of people, there was always a lot of noise in the area. Outside of the sounds of the monkeys and wolves, the river was exceptionally loud at points.
"It's better than silence." Alaric thought. He had a newfound appreciation for sound recently. He didn't want to be in silence for a long time lest he acknowledge his loneliness.
But now, Alaric wasn't lonely. He still had the rat with him.
Alaric had been with the rat for about two weeks at this point.
"Come to think of it, it really hasn't been that long since I started on this path." Alaric thought. Time was strange.
"Sometimes there are times in ones life where one is destined to accomplish much. Other times one's life can descend into mediocre days where little happens." Alaric thought. He had seen this cycle with other people even in his own life.
There would be people that would excel in school and have a rampant social life, but once they would turn old enough to work, they would be relegated to farm work for the rest of their life.
"I have to take advantage of this time."
Alaric wanted to seize this time to grow as much money and power as he could. Money wasn't particularly all he wanted in life, he just wanted an interesting life.
"If I had to choose between an insane year where I have an insanely interesting life, or live for a long time in mediocre interest, I would choose the year." Alaric thought.
He was currently in a state of opportunity chasing.
Alaric continued this sentiment onto the boat. He untied it from the tree and sailed out again. This time he stayed a little closer to the shore as to have more access to the ocean floor. That was where he seemed to have the most luck.
The regular cycle continued. Alaric fixed a bottle of alcohol to the end of the fishing rod, and placed it into the water.
As time passed, he considered his boat. He had brought a large bucket as to keep a fish in it temporarily. If Alaric were to get a fish earlier, he wanted a way to keep it in transport.
Alaric did his classic time passing techniques. He hummed and sang tunes while he fished, and played with the rat.
He taught the rat a couple tricks. At this point, the rat was able to backflip. Alaric was unfamiliar with any rats that were able to backflip, so he felt happy in having this accomplishment.
"Next time I go into the city I should buy something to hold my rod so I don't have to constantly hold it." Alaric thought, making a mental note. He had already developed a list of things he was planning on buying.
What he would buy next would be dependent on what he would fish up. Alaric was hoping to fish up a different variety of Esoteric Fish before the end of the month. That way he would be able to develop his market and brand further.
He still wanted to impress the Worm Guild. He wanted to befriend Tiberius and sink his foot deeper into the Esoteric Fishing world. In order to do that, he would have to diversify. As far as he knew, a lot of Esoteric Fishing was effort based. The poor results that were often thought of were merely due to a reliance on luck. Alaric wanted to push past this barrier of luck and grow his abilities as a fisher.
The day passed on and Alaric took occasional breaks in controlling the rod. His arms were very tired at this point. It was about midday now.
Tug Tug
"Nice!"
Alaric could feel some weight at the end, so it was clearly what he was looking for. Alaric quickly pulled it up to examine what he had fished up.
What he had fished up was painfully average. It had taken him less time however. The fish this time seemed to be decently young. It had some stubble on its chin, confirming its young age.
It had the signature round belly, and looked standard. It had a medium brown set of scales. Maybe the color of some coffee with milk in it.
Alaric put it into the bucket. He hadn't even had lunch yet, so he had time. He was familiar now with the process for the drunkard fish. He would likely grow even more familiar, but he had a broad idea now.
"Almost forgot." Alaric took the fish out of the bucket and took the bottle of alcohol out before plugging the mouth back up.
Alaric didn't know why he forgot to do that. It was standard procedure for fishing.
This was his third one overall.
"Curse developed too." Alaric said staring at the rod in concentration.
The color of the rod had shifted to one shade darker once more. Before it was blindingly gold, but now it was going more into a brownish-gold color. It was definitely deteriorating. The spikes that were previously negligibly small now had a little more size to them. Alaric ran his hand across the rod, and felt a slight prickle. They were a little sharp. However, they wren't sharp enough to make Alaric's hand bleed yet.
As he had fished a fish up already, Alaric shifted to having lunch.
He got out a little bit of meat for him and the rat. He placed some bread scraps on the floor and the rat scrabbled over to them.
The rat seemed to do something to the scraps of meat before he ate them. Alaric was slightly confused but he returned to eating his lunch.
After his quick lunch break Alaric was ready.
He was growing more and more worried about the curse. He was hoping it would reveal itself soon. The unknown is the greatest enemy of mankind.