Chapter 6

The stream was a very small one, and the water was very clear.

As the saying goes, "The clearer the water, the fewer the fish," but this principle seemed not to apply in this world. As long as it wasn't a stagnant pond dug by humans, no matter how clear the water, there would absolutely be—Karpies!

This time, Yeziyun continued to follow the stream, but the direction was upstream. He had already explored downstream yesterday, which seemed to lead to a large river, ultimately ending at the sea.

After walking for about an hour, Yeziyun had to stop. In the farthest distance within his sight, a bright red color caught his eye. This red was not from any fairy but from a maple forest. In the autumn, the maple forest stood out prominently against the backdrop of the evergreen conifers.

It turned out that despite wandering around for so long, he hadn't actually left Vermilion City very far...

This was actually quite normal. In the real world, it was impossible to explore all the maps in a day like in a game. That kind of thing only happened in games. The world was vast, and even with the fastest pace of a 9-year-old child, there were limits. Moreover, Yeziyun had set out in the dark, and even during the day, it was hard to avoid taking detours in the forest, let alone at night.

Having figured out the reason, Yeziyun simply stopped walking and found a relatively dry spot to sit down. He cast the line and baited it in one smooth motion. Since he was using artificial bait, and it was crudely made by soaking stones in fruit juice, to ensure the color of the stones lasted longer, Yeziyun chose a spot with calmer water to cast the line and dared not move the artificial bait too vigorously.

However, this did not mean that the results would be poor. Soon, Yeziyun felt a pulling force from the other end of the line. The strength of the opponent was not great, and with a regular fishing rod, Yeziyun could have easily reeled it in. But the rod in his hand was a makeshift one, and not only was the branch used as the rod body questionable, but the makeshift fishing line definitely wouldn't hold!

Therefore, even though the opponent was a weakling, Yeziyun had to carefully play the fish, wearing down its strength while gently pulling it towards the shore.

" Splash! "

With a splash, a red fairy drew an exaggerated parabola in the air and then plopped onto the ground.

Yeziyun looked at the fairy with no excitement. Logically, he should have been very excited about catching his first fairy, even if it was a Karpie. But! This Karpie wasn't actually caught by Yeziyun!

Although the artificial bait had indeed fallen out of its mouth, Yeziyun saw clearly that it had used the "Water Splash" move to fling itself onto the shore. Yeziyun didn't dare to make a reeling motion with the makeshift rod, which wasn't strong enough to lift a fairy to a height of nearly 2 meters, even if it was a Karpie with a body length of less than 15 cm.

[ Ding! Congratulations, you have caught your first fairy in life. ]

[ Clang! You have completed the achievement [First One], +20 achievement points. ]

But what did this system notification mean? Did it count as long as the fairy ended up on the ground, regardless of the process, as long as a fishing rod was involved?!!!

Yeziyun tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle, and for a moment, he felt like he had missed something...

He had no empty Poké Balls in his hand, so he couldn't keep the first fairy he caught. Besides, this one looked so young that Yeziyun decided to do a good deed.

"Goodbye, little one. Don't jump onto the shore by yourself next time! The outside world is very dangerous!"

He picked up the Karpie, which was still bouncing on the ground, and tossed it back into the water. Yeziyun gave a piece of advice, though the Pokémon in this world could understand human language, his subtle expression always made people think of the phrase "saying one thing but meaning another." Why? Probably to recover some of his lost integrity?

The sun was high, and the water's surface shimmered with the flow. The scenery was beautiful, but looking at it for too long would hurt the eyes. So Yeziyun took out polarized glasses from his storage space. After putting on the glasses, his vision completely ignored the reflection on the water, and even the stones at the bottom were clearly visible.

Yeziyun saw not only the small pebbles and aquatic plants at the bottom of the stream but also the Karpies swimming leisurely in the water...

All he saw were Karpies. Although the polarized glasses and the water made it hard to distinguish their colors, Yeziyun knew their bodies were red, their pectoral and caudal fins were white, their dorsal and ventral fins were golden yellow, and their whiskers were either golden yellow or silver gray. Although shiny individuals had different colors, Yeziyun didn't think his luck was good enough to encounter a shiny Pokémon here.

Seeing this situation, Yeziyun finally understood the meaning of the phrase "where there is water, there are Karpies" from his previous life.

The stream was very small, but it was home to a large number of Karpies, all less than 15 cm in length. Seeing this, Yeziyun casually cast the artificial bait near the shore. Given this situation, he would definitely catch a fairy, even if they were all Karpies.

"Great, I wonder if there are any other water-type Pokémon around here."

Sighing, he decided to head downstream the next day. According to the direction, this area should be equivalent to Route 38 in the game from his previous life, but the road hadn't been built yet. Following the water should lead to Azure City, which was by the sea. He hoped to earn enough money to buy a backpack before then. For today, he would just spend the day catching Karpies, wondering if catching multiple Pokémon of the same species in a row would also count as an achievement...

After playing the fish for a while, another splash, and a Karpie again drew a parabola and landed on the ground.

[ Clang! You have completed the achievement [Two in a Row], +5 achievement points. ]

"Kid, why is it you again!"

Yeziyun's voice was filled with confusion. This Karpie was the same one from before. It had a small corner missing from its ventral fin, and since it was the first Pokémon he caught and the first Karpie he had seen in real life, he had observed it very carefully and remembered it clearly.

But, had he somehow completed another achievement?

He patted the Karpie's head and put it back in the water.

[ Clang! You have completed the achievement [Three's a Charm], +5 achievement points. ]

A few minutes later, after playing the fish again, another notification sounded, and a Karpie drew a parabola and landed on the ground...

Looking at the Karpie with the small corner missing from its ventral fin, Yeziyun sighed, not even bothering to look, and put it back in the water.

After that, until Yeziyun left the stream and returned to the tree where the Parasects lived to sleep, many Pokémon bit the hook, but the only one he caught... was that one Karpie... and no more achievements were completed, probably because of the name of the previous achievement, "Three's a Charm."

Sitting on a tree branch, Yeziyun remembered that the store should have refreshed, so he checked. The recommended items were all pots and pans, but these items, originally priced at 1 achievement point, didn't get any cheaper even on sale. He searched for camera equipment and found that the camera's price had risen to 69 achievement points today. Checking his achievement points, he had 111. Yeziyun decided to wait for a price drop and would buy the camera as soon as the price fell below 67 achievement points.

The Parasects had gotten used to this human staying in their "home" and knew he was harmless, so they didn't react to Yeziyun's arrival. That night, in Yeziyun's dream, a small Karpie appeared, with a small corner missing from its ventral fin...