Chapter 150
【Your 'Fishing' skill has been upgraded to 'Fishing I' level】
Catching a single fish filled up the entire first level of fishing proficiency. This is the power of three top-tier bonuses. One has to admit that Ye Bai's starting point is already the endpoint for many seasoned anglers. If he had truly hooked the sea god Kraken just now, who knows, he might have jumped straight to 'Fishing V'.
Shaking off that ridiculous thought, Ye Bai walked over to the anesthetized ice bream.
Ottofis curiously sniffed at the ice bream, opening its large jaws and gesturing as if eager to try it.
Ye Bai couldn't help but twitch his mouth at the sight. Eating bread was one thing—at least it was vegetarian—but a donkey eating fish? That just didn’t seem right…
However, Ottofis quickly rolled its eyes, stopped its antics, and turned its gaze toward Ye Bai, giving him a look—
Ye Bai read the message in its eyes with a strange understanding: Prepare it before eating.
“Alright, fine.”
【Would you like to collect the fish?】
【Yes】
After confirming the choice, the massive ice bream transformed into white light, and Ye Bai received a large haul of drops, the only difference being that he didn’t gain experience points like after defeating a monster.
【Gained 'Fresh Ice Bream Meat' X20】
【Gained 'Ice Bream Blood' X5】
【Gained 'Ice Bream Bones' X8】
The fish blood and bones were both purple magical materials, while the fresh ice bream meat was a golden legendary-grade ingredient.
【Fresh Ice Bream Meat】
Level: Legendary
Attributes: Ingredient
Special Effect: Reduces fire damage by 80% for one hour after consumption.
Description: Exceptionally delicious fish meat, naturally imbued with cooling magic. Even if you can't cook, it can be eaten raw.
This special effect applies to eating it raw. One thing is certain: cooking it will restore more health than eating it raw. As for how much health it restores, that depends on the cook's culinary level.
“Ahh!”
Seeing Ye Bai's haul of fish meat, Ottofis exclaimed, its expression clearly indicating it wanted to eat.
Having just caught his first fish, Ye Bai felt a sense of novelty and began to understand the feelings of seasoned anglers. The moment you successfully reel in a fish brings an indescribable sense of achievement, akin to the joy of a bountiful harvest in farming.
Let’s give it a try!
With his eyebrows raised in excitement, Ye Bai stowed the ice bream materials in his backpack and built a campfire nearby using the firewood he had on hand.
Of course, Ye Bai had no cooking level, and there were no cooking materials around, so he settled for the simplest option: grilled fish.
“Boom!”
Soon, flames erupted, and under the system's guidance, Ye Bai skillfully skewered the fish meat onto two long fish bones and began to roast it over the fire. The island was barren, lacking branches, so fish bones would have to do. But where there’s one fish, there’s bound to be more; it was already proven that this place had fish, and he could continue fishing later.
Before long, the fish meat sizzling over the fire began to release its oils, and a golden-brown crust formed on the delicate, white flesh, making it incredibly tempting.
Fish is the fastest meat to cook, and Ye Bai quickly grilled a large piece, one for Ottofis, who was anxiously pacing nearby, and one for himself.
As for the devil, Alisio, it could only linger like a ghost, sniffing the aroma.
Naturally, the worst off was the paper figure, who couldn’t even smell it. Ye Bai suggested drawing a fish for it to taste, but it complexly refused, clearly thinking that a drawn fish wouldn’t be appetizing.
“Ahh!”
“It’s still a bit hot, take it slow.” Ye Bai handed the steaming fish to Ottofis, reminding it to eat carefully.
In the next moment, Ottofis opened its wide mouth and gulped down the entire piece of fish in one go.
“Ugh!”
“Chomp chomp… gulp!”
After swallowing the fish, it chewed a couple of times, and Ye Bai could clearly see the look of ecstasy on Ottofis's donkey face.
“Is it really that good?”
Ye Bai, puzzled, picked up another skewer of fish meat and took a bite.
“...!!!”
Fresh, tender, and springy, with a hint of indescribable cool sweetness lingering after chewing—delightful!
With that first bite, Ye Bai, who had grown accustomed to nutrient solutions and had dulled taste buds in reality, once again experienced the joy of savoring a meticulously cooked dish after extreme hunger. It was a spiritual pleasure, and though he had never tasted it, at that moment, Ye Bai felt that the 'sci-fi and hardcore' cuisine crafted by the ancient civilization's super taste would be no different.
Truly, it was a golden-grade ingredient; even grilled simply, it was incredibly delicious!
Ye Bai's eyes lit up as he happily finished one skewer of grilled fish and then prepared two more pieces to skewer and grill.
“Ahh!”
Seeing this, Ottofis let out an excited cry, and Ye Bai, amused, pulled out a piece of bread for it.
“Chomp…”
Ottofis devoured the bread in one bite and then continued to stare at the fish Ye Bai was grilling.
Alright, it seems this guy wants it all.
Chuckling and shaking his head, Ye Bai continued grilling the fish while opening his character panel to check how much health he had restored after eating a piece of grilled fish.
However, upon seeing the data, Ye Bai couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
He had restored 35 points of health, which was the standard value for grilled fish. Even though it was delicious, it seemed to still follow Ye Bai's cooking level, only providing basic bonuses. If he hadn’t cooked it, the raw fish would only restore 25 points of health.
Ye Bai spent double the effort, 10 points of stamina, to grill each piece of fish, and considering Ottofis's share, each piece essentially restored only 15 points of health, making it rather inefficient.
Of course, after consuming the grilled ice bream meat, Ye Bai also gained the special effect of fire resistance, which would be quite effective against hellish enemies, but unfortunately, Ye Bai didn’t need to fight monsters right now.
Just then, as he was about to close the character page, his gaze happened to sweep over the personal experience pool below.
Ye Bai suddenly paused and checked the experience count.
Originally, Ye Bai had enough experience to level up to just over level 45, and except for the last two digits, it was exactly a round number of four million five hundred thousand. Now, however, the ten-thousands digit had changed from zero to five, meaning he had gained a full fifty thousand experience.
Fishing is a rewarding life skill, so fishing only increases skill proficiency, unlike historians who gain personal experience.
So where did this experience come from?
Aside from fishing, the only other action Ye Bai had taken was eating a piece of fish meat.
Ye Bai looked at the fish meat roasting over the fire, his eyes brightening as a new hypothesis formed in his mind.
Before long, the new fish meat was ready.
This time, Ye Bai didn’t feed it to Ottofis first; instead, he quickly ate the first piece of grilled fish to test his theory.
As a delicious, tender piece of fish went down, Ye Bai opened his personal panel, keeping an eye on the experience pool.
In the next moment, he saw the previous five in the ten-thousands place suddenly jump to zero, while the hundred-thousands place changed from ‘five’ to ‘six’.
“What the…?”
Ye Bai was utterly shocked. Eating fish meat actually increased his personal experience?!
If that’s the case, how is it any different from getting stronger just by breathing?
Ye Bai had previously not eaten anything, relying solely on leveling up to restore health, which is why he only now discovered this effect.
“What’s wrong?” The paper figure and Ottofis noticed Ye Bai’s unusual reaction and looked over.
“After eating the fish meat, I found that my strength has increased.” The NPC didn’t know what experience points were, so Ye Bai organized the most straightforward language to describe it.
“Could it be… because the fish meat is of high quality?” The paper figure was equally astonished.
From previous experiences, the paper figure could see Ye Bai's personal information but only had a rough idea of his level, unable to detail the changes in 'experience points', which is why it hadn’t noticed this effect.
The fish meat’s influence? But the description of the fish meat didn’t mention any experience-boosting effects. Theoretically, if such an effect existed, the system information would at least have some ambiguous description, like the treasure-hunting function of the golden compass.
Ye Bai shook his head: “I don’t think so.”
Just then, the paper figure seemed to think of something and suddenly said, “Could the issue be with ‘eating food’?”
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