Chapter 4 – 4: Fishing Spots

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Fishing Spots
Lu Qing, followed by a string of little followers, arrived at the riverside just outside the village.

The river wasn’t very large; at its widest, it was only about ten meters across.

Although the river wasn’t wide, it was quite deep–the deepest parts could submerge a person’s head–so the adults always forbade the village children from playing in the river.

Lu Qing naturally heeded such warnings.

So, once he reached the riverbank, he immediately said sternly to the few little kids who had followed him: “You guys, don’t go near the riverbank, and don’t play in the water, got it?”

Despite his slender build, Lu Qing was already fourteen or fifteen years old, which made him seem almost like an adult in the eyes of the children.

Because of that, the kids dared not disobey him and obediently responded: “Got it, Brother Lu Qing.”

Seeing that the little kids had agreed, Lu Qing then said to Little Yan: “And Little Yan, you have to be good too, don’t go near the riverbank. Just watch the bucket up here, and don’t let the fish get away, okay?”

“Okay~” Little Yan also obediently responded, and then asked, “Brother, when are you going to start fishing?”

“Don’t rush me, I need to look a little longer. Fishing isn’t about randomly choosing a spot to fish.”

This was the wisdom Lu Qing had gleaned from experience.

In the pursuit of fishing, if you wanted to catch good fish, there were several important steps.

For instance, choosing a spot, baiting the water, setting the float, and preparing the bait–each step could influence the angler’s chances of getting a bite.

Among these steps, the most crucial was undoubtedly choosing the right fishing spot.

A good fishing spot could directly affect the probability of getting a bite.

After all, it’s tough to cook without rice; if a poorly chosen spot had no fish beneath the water,

even if you were a masterful angler with excellent fishing techniques, it would all be to no avail and unlikely yield any results.

In his past life, Lu Qing had been an avid fisherman and had gained quite a bit of insight into the art of fishing.

Therefore, he was also quite experienced in choosing fishing spots.

Although he now found himself in a different world,

many of the principles that govern all things remain consistent across the board.

The fish of Otherworld, he figured, probably didn’t behave too differently.

So he thought that maybe he could use his previous life’s experience to pick a good spot and make this fishing trip more efficient and rewarding.

He didn’t even consider baiting the water this time; at home, they were short on food for themselves, let alone extra to bait the water with.

After instructing the little tikes not to wander off and to stay by a big tree, Lu Qing began to walk up and down the riverbank, surveying the surface of the water.

Soon, he spotted a location that seemed promising.

He found a stick to press down the weeds at the water’s edge and made his way to the spot to have a closer look.

This was a bend in the river, where the flow was gentle and the water plants lush–seemingly a decent spot for fishing.

After observing for a while, Lu Qing felt somewhat satisfied and was about to turn back to fetch his fishing rod, when a flicker of grey light suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

To Lu Qing, such a grey glow was all too familiar; he had seen it countless times that day.

He froze and quietly watched the water surface.

He saw the grey light slowly surface, forming a spiral water pattern about one meter in diameter on the water.

Subsequently, a line of text appeared:

“Ordinary Fishing Spots: Where the small fish gather. It seems to be a good choice for fishing.”

Its location was precisely the spot that Lu Qing had just chosen.

Lu Qing blinked in surprise, followed by a burst of delight in his heart.

His superpower actually had such a function, able to detect even something like a fishing spot?

At the same time, he felt a hint of pride.

Sure enough, his experience in choosing fishing spots was quite reliable, even validated by his superpower.

With this unexpected discovery, Lu Qing was no longer in a rush to start fishing.

He continued to walk along the riverbank, only this time he deliberately used his superpower to search for more fishing spots over the river.

Before long, he discovered two new fishing spots along this stretch of the river.

What excited him even more was that one of the fishing spots was not giving off a grey light, but a faint white glow.

Ordinary Fishing Spots: Essential paths where schools of fish search for food. Fishing here may yield a decent catch.

Primary Fishing Point: Wild fruits often fall here, a favorite food of some large fish.

Fishing here might lead to a unique and unexpected catch.

Three word strips, the first was for the grey light fishing spot, and the remaining two described the white light fishing point.

“Indeed, the grey and white lights represent different grades of the same thing, with the grey corresponding to Ordinary Fishing Spots and the white to Primary Fishing Points,” Lu Qing muttered to himself.

Moreover, from the descriptions on the strips, it was clear that there were even higher levels of fishing spots.

It was just unknown whether there were fishing spots of that caliber further along the river outside the village.

After discovering these three fishing spots, Lu Qing didn’t continue his search.

These three spots already covered the cleaner section of the river outside the village.

Walking further would mean increasingly dense vegetation on both sides of the river and more difficult terrain,

unless tools were used to clear the area, it wouldn’t be just about fishing, it would be hard to even get close to the riverbank.

Right now, he didn’t have the energy for such a task.

Besides, discovering these three fishing spots was already enough for his current needs.

What he needed to consider now was where to fish among these spots.

After pondering a moment, Lu Qing finally decided to start at the very first fishing spot he had discovered.

The reason was simple.

According to the description provided by Superpower, that spot was most likely to be populated by smaller fish.

The fishing rod Lu Qing had crafted was the simplest kind.

He was uncertain about the durability of the hemp line, or the amount of force it could withstand.

Rushing to fish for big fish, if the line were to break, then he would be the one to cry.

After all, there wasn’t much hemp left at home to twist into a few proper fishing lines.

More critically, he had only one set of hooks, and if that were lost, he wouldn’t be able to fish at all.

So it was safer to start with the smaller fish.

Having made up his mind, Lu Qing started to head back, coming to the big tree and finding the little brats all waiting obediently; he nodded in satisfaction.

In fact, Lu Qing hadn’t gone far. He stayed within sight of the little brats on purpose, fearing they’d run around if they couldn’t see him.

“Big brother, you’re back!”

Seeing Lu Qing return, Little Yan was the first to cheerfully greet him.

“Mhm, I’m back.”

“Then have you decided where you want to fish?”

“I have, let’s go there now.”

Hearing that Lu Qing had made up his mind where to fish, the little brats perked up as well.

The more spirited ones immediately came forward to help carry the bucket: “Brother Lu Qing, let me help you with this!”

Lu Qing didn’t refuse. The biggest of these little brats were around eleven or twelve, and the youngest were about eight or nine, all at an age brimming with energy, so it was good for them to burn some off.

The group quickly arrived at the fishing spot Lu Qing had chosen.

“You guys just stay up here and watch me fish, don’t get too close to the riverbank, okay? Ah Hu, you’re the oldest, help me keep an eye on them.”

Ah Hu was the oldest child among these little brats.

Twelve years old, he was already at an age where he understood responsibility.

“Got it, Brother Lu Qing!”

Seeing the little brats obediently agreeing, Lu Qing nodded in satisfaction, picked up the fishing rod and the bucket, and headed down the slope to the fishing spot.