Chapter 265: Far Ahead, A Bumper Harvest! (6000)

Chapter 265: Far Ahead, A Bumper Harvest! (6000)

The redfin worth 40,000 crowns was effortlessly caught by the unfathomably powerful young man before them.

This speed of making money was truly a bit outrageous!

Many villagers even wanted to jump in and fish themselves!

However, as mentioned before, wanting to catch fish of such Epic quality was no simple matter.

First, you needed a sufficiently sturdy fishing rod, and then you had to find bait that could attract them to bite.

Finally, you also needed a sufficiently powerful physique so as not to be dragged into the water by the fish, or let it struggle and shake off the hook.

These few conditions alone were not something ordinary people could achieve.

This was also the reason why fish of Epic quality could sell for so much.

And the other contestants naturally saw this scene as well.

"This must be a coincidence! This kid must just have good luck!"

"Everyone, don't panic. He only has 7 points; we still have a chance to catch up!"

"That's right, everyone keep it up, we still have a chance!"

Cao Xing ignored them.

Instead, he stepped forward and collected this rather pretty-looking light pink fish.

[Obtained: Redfin (Blue) * 1]

…

Just as the host said, this was a redfin.

Cao Xing glanced at its stats.

[Redfin (Blue)]

[Level: 9]

[Weight: 7.4 kg]

[Effect: Consuming for the first time increases hit rate by 3%]

(A fish with tender meat and a subtle fragrance. It can be dismantled into 7 pieces of Redfin meat, or sold as a whole.)

…

"It can actually increase the hit rate by 3%?"

"Good grief, as a Blue-quality fish, this redfin has pretty good effects!"

Cao Xing nodded in satisfaction.

And as he caught his second fish here,

Braum wasn't about to be outdone on his side either.

A cichlid about fifty or sixty centimeters long was pulled up by Braum once again.

The host broadcasted immediately: "Contestant No. 48, one Fine-quality cichlid, plus 2 points!"

This cichlid of Braum's was clearly larger than the previous ones.

However, the rule of this competition wasn't about who caught the biggest fish, but who caught the most fish.

No matter how heavy the fish you caught was, points were uniformly added based on quality.

However, not even two minutes later,

Cao Xing hooked another fish over here.

"Contestant No. 47, one Fine-quality cichlid, plus 2 points!"

"Contestant No. 48, one Fine-quality cichlid, plus 2 points!"

Almost every two or three minutes, the host would shout it out.

While the other contestants were still bitterly chiseling ice holes, Cao Xing and Braum had already continuously reeled in three or four fish!

This fishing competition had completely become a show for the two of them.

If one or two times could be considered a coincidence,

then right now, this was pure skill and technique!

At this moment, the group of contestants chiseling the ice surface wore puzzled expressions in their eyes.

"What is this situation? Why is their fishing speed so fast?"

"Yeah, this is fishing in flowing water, yet they can actually catch a fish every two or three minutes. It's too outrageous."

"I bet there's definitely something wrong with their bait! Otherwise, it's impossible for them to catch fish so fast!"

"Let's go ask what kind of bait those two guys are using."

However, the crowd looked at the person who spoke as if he were an idiot.

Even if everyone knew their bait was problematic, do you think the other party would tell them?

Moreover, because Cao Xing and Braum deliberately shielded the bait every time they hooked it,

they couldn't tell what kind of bait was being used at all.

Seeing that fifteen minutes of competition time had already passed,

all the contestants suddenly grew anxious.

One of the Sharis suddenly shouted: "I want to apply for outside assistance!"

Hearing this, the host chuckled and said: "Sure, suit yourself."

This person immediately looked at the nearby spectator villagers and said: "I need 10 strong and sturdy villagers to come help me chisel ice holes, 100 crowns for each person!"

Hearing this price, the villagers on the shore caught their breath momentarily.

100 crowns was quite a large sum of money.

The villagers excitedly said: "I'll come, I'll come!"

"And me!"

That tall Shari glanced around and then casually picked 10 villagers with slightly sturdier builds.

These 10 people quickly arrived on the ice surface.

With their joining, this Shari's ice-hole chiseling speed greatly increased!

The other contestants also followed suit one after another, starting to wield their financial power to get spectator villagers to come help chisel ice holes.

Of course, this inevitably required spending a hefty sum again!

This also made a portion of the contestants feel incomparably depressed.

After all, they no longer had extra money to hire people to help chisel ice holes.

After all, the 3,000 crowns just to participate had already emptied many people's pockets.

Time slowly passed…

The host's broadcasted announcements rang out continuously.

Up to now, nearly 20 minutes of the competition time had passed.

Cao Xing and Braum were already leading them by nearly 20 points!

Just not long after Cao Xing re-baited and placed the fishing line back into the water,

he once again felt a massive force transmit over!

Furthermore, this time seemed somewhat different from before.

Even the tough [Mad King's Fishing Rod] began to bend slightly.

"Oh? Such great strength?"

At that instant, he gripped the fishing rod tightly as well!

Then, he began a contest of endurance with the creature underwater.

"Splash! Splish-splash!"

The creature underwater struggled incessantly, but Cao Xing's hand holding the fishing rod did not budge at all.

After a stalemate of about a minute,

when he felt the tension on the fishing rod loosen slightly,

he seized the opportunity and violently yanked it up once more!

"Splash!"

A cichlid covered in blue patterns, with an oval body, a large head, and a small mouth,

was directly flung onto the ice surface by Cao Xing.

"Thud! Thud!"

This cichlid was close to over a meter in size and kept flopping around.

Seeing the creature on the ice surface, the host was startled for a moment.

He said in shock: "Contestant No. 47! One Epic-quality Blue-stripe Cichlid, plus 10 match points!"

"This is also the first Epic-quality cichlid caught in this competition. Contestant No. 47 is truly an experienced angler!"

The scoreboard flipped.

Instantly, Cao Xing's points reached 31!

Opening up a huge gap from everyone else right on the spot!

Amidst the envious gazes of the other contestants,

Cao Xing walked over and collected it.

[Obtained: Blue-stripe Cichlid (Blue) * 1]

…

He glanced at its stats as usual.

[Blue-stripe Cichlid (Blue)]

[Quality: Epic]

[Weight: 7.7 kg]

[Effect: Consuming for the first time increases Spirit +5, subsequent consumption can also restore a moderate amount of Mental Power]

(A cichlid containing magical aura with clear mental fluctuations. It is a favorite of Mage-class professions and can be dismantled into 7 pieces of Blue-stripe Cichlid meat.)

…

"Oh? Not only can it increase Spirit, but it can also restore Mental Power."

"No wonder the system remarks said this cichlid is welcomed by Mage-class professions!"

With a satisfied smile at the corner of his mouth, Cao Xing put it into his backpack.

Then, he began the next round of fishing.

When the competition had been going on for about half an hour,

the other contestants finally managed to laboriously break through the ice surface.

Although the holes they broke open weren't large and were quite irregular, they were enough for them to fish.

These contestants hurriedly shooed away the crowd, took out their fishing rods, and started fishing.

As mentioned before, those who dared to participate in the fishing competition naturally all had some skills.

But right now, the gap between them and Cao Xing was already too large.

Unless they could immediately catch a Rare-quality [Snowflake Cichlid], this gap would be very difficult to smooth over.

However, a [Snowflake Cichlid] was astonishingly valuable.

Wanting to catch such a creature required not only a powerful fishing rod, but also powerful strength!

But clearly, they possessed none of these conditions.

Not only that, but the fishing speed of those contestants was also much slower than Cao Xing's side.

After placing the fishing line into the water, it took five or six minutes before the first fish bit.

Compared to Cao Xing's side of pulling one up every two or three minutes, the gap was simply too huge!

No help for it, the effect of the [Special Pet Rations] was just that tyrannical!

Furthermore, what Cao Xing was currently using was still only Green-quality [Special Pet Rations].

He still had even higher-grade pet rations in his backpack that he hadn't used yet.

Cao Xing was also leisurely pulling large fish out of the water one by one.

[Obtained: Cichlid (Green) * 1]

[Obtained: Yellow Croaker (Green) * 1]

[Obtained: Blue-stripe Cichlid (Green) * 1]

[Obtained…]

…

As the system prompt sounds rang out continuously,

one hour of the competition time had also passed.

Cao Xing and Braum had each finished using 15 Green Pet Rations.

Up to now,

Cao Xing had caught 11 Green-quality fish and 4 Blue-quality fish.

Braum's record on his side was about the same.

Glancing at the scoreboard on the shore,

[Fishing Competition Points Leaderboard]

[1st Place: Contestant No. 47 – 52 points]

[2nd Place: Contestant No. 48 – 45 points]

[3rd Place: Contestant No. 13 – 8 points]

[4th Place: Contestant No. 8 – 7 points]

…

Clearly, apart from him and Braum,

the others had an almost cliff-like gap, with not even a single person having a double-digit score.

If there weren't any accidents next,

then the final champion and runner-up would undoubtedly belong to them!

With a leisurely smile on his face, Cao Xing then took out even higher-grade pet rations from his backpack.

"Now, let's see if the Blue Pet Rations can give me a little surprise!"

Finishing his words, he hooked the bait on and once again placed the fishing line into the icy river water.

"Splash… Splish-splash…"

The sound of water flowed continuously.

He sat on a small stool, waiting quietly.

However, this time, in less than a minute, Cao Xing felt a massive force transmit over!

The dragging force brought instantly was at least several hundred kilograms.

And Cao Xing also violently grabbed the fishing rod, steadily holding onto the creature underwater.

"Good grief, the effect of the Blue-quality pet rations is truly as ferocious as ever!"

"The one hooked this time is definitely a big catch!"

Cao Xing was endlessly overjoyed!

Then he continued to grip the fishing rod, staying in a stalemate with the creature below.

After a little over a minute, the force in his hands loosened.

And Cao Xing also realized that the timing had arrived!

Right on the spot, he gave a fierce yank!

A cichlid with a body length exceeding one and a half meters and covered all over in blue patterns was pulled up by him!

Seeing this big fish, a look of pleasant surprise appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"Haha, I can't believe it's such a huge Blue-Veined Snapper, this feels amazing!"

Such a large snapper instantly caught everyone's attention.

The host quickly announced, "Contestant No. 47, one Epic quality Blue-Veined Snapper, plus 10 points!"

The gap widened once again!

Not only that, the host continued to add, "This Blue-Veined Snapper is over 1.5 meters long, easily ranking in the top ten among all the Blue-Veined Snappers I've ever seen!"

"Based on market price, it's worth at least seventy to eighty thousand crowns!"

Hearing this number,

all the surrounding villagers held their breath for a moment, followed by a chorus of gasps!

"Oh god! A single fish can actually sell for seventy to eighty thousand crowns? Is that even reasonable?"

"Yeah, that's so much money, it's enough for me to take several wives!"

"Haha, if you give me seventy thousand crowns, I'll head straight to the Lavia Tavern and have all those sluts come over to serve me!"

When Cao Xing heard this price, a wave of joy arose in his heart.

"Not bad, not bad. It actually has such a high value."

"Calculated this way, after deducting the 10,000 crowns cost for the blue bait, I've made a net profit of at least six to seven times, haha!"

With a look of delight, Cao Xing walked over and packed away the fish on the ice surface.

[Obtained: Blue-Veined Snapper (Blue) * 1]

…

Glancing at its stats out of habit, he found that this snapper weighed a whopping 12 kilograms—truly a big catch.

Meanwhile, on Braum's side, he also used the blue bait and successfully reeled in a catch.

"Contestant No. 48, one Epic quality Blue-Veined Snapper, plus 10 points!"

Braum also laughed heartily, "Lord, my fish is also very big, weighing at least 10 kilograms."

Cao Xing nodded, "Well done, Braum!"

After speaking, they placed the second Blue quality bait and cast their fishing lines back into the water.

About two minutes passed.

Cao Xing, gripping his fishing rod, instantly felt an unprecedented, massive force transmission!

This immense force even exceeded that of the previous Blue-Veined Snapper.

He tightly gripped the rod, "Holy crap! Such huge strength?"

Cao Xing's gaze narrowed, and he began to take it seriously.

"Splash… Splash…"

The creature below struggled violently, causing the fishing rod to bend continuously.

It even dragged Cao Xing half a step forward.

Seeing this, Cao Xing narrowed his eyes and said,

"Although I am a mage lord, don't underestimate my physical strength!"

As he entered a serious state, he began to contest with the underwater creature.

The crowd also cast their gazes over.

Because they all had a premonition…

This time, what this mysterious young man reels up might be something extraordinary!

"Splash! Splash!"

After a full two minutes of stalemate, Cao Xing finally felt the underwater creature's strength gradually weakening.

Seizing the opportunity, he pulled up fiercely!

The sound of the water surface breaking rang out instantly.

A large snapper, pure white all over with snowflake patterns imprinted on its scales, was yanked straight up by Cao Xing!

What was most peculiar was that the large fish exuded an astonishing chill in mid-air, seemingly freezing the surrounding water vapor.

Crystal-clear snowflakes fell down, making for quite a beautiful sight.

At this moment, hundreds of pairs of eyes on the scene turned over in unison.

They were all captivated by this beautifully-appearing large fish.

The host fell silent for a moment, then said in shock, "Good god, unimaginably, it's actually a Rare quality Snowflake Snapper!"

"Since the competition started, the first Snowflake Snapper has finally appeared!"

"The value of this fish alone is almost reaching the reward for second place in this competition!"

"By estimation, it's worth at least 200,000 crowns!"

Hearing this number, everyone's breathing hitched!

On the field, hundreds of pairs of eyes stared in unison at the giant, flopping snapper at Cao Xing's feet!

Among them were shock, envy, and greed…

After all, a single snapper worth over two hundred thousand crowns was simply too exaggerated!

For those villagers, they could never imagine in their entire lifetime the day they would possess so many crowns!

However, no one on the field dared to make any overstepping moves.

After all, this young fisherman was too mysterious and extremely powerful.

Just now, his subordinate had also displayed formidable strength.

Piercing through five or six meters of ice with a single spear—such terrifying power.

Dealing with ordinary people like them, he could easily slaughter them all.

The host cleared his throat and then said excitedly, "Contestant No. 47, one Rare quality Snowflake Snapper, competition points +30!"

In an instant, Cao Xing's score reached 94 points, almost breaking a hundred!

In contrast, aside from Braum, none of the others even had a two-digit score yet.

This huge gap directly caused quite a few people to choose to give up the competition on the spot.

With a look of joy on his face, Cao Xing walked over and put away this beautifully-appearing snapper.

[Obtained: Snowflake Snapper (Purple) * 1]

…

[Snowflake Snapper (Purple): Magical Creature]

[Quality: Rare]

[Level: 17]

[Weight: 14.8 kg]

[Effect: First consumption increases 15 points of Spirit, can treat injuries caused by various mental attacks.]

(The Snowflake Snapper has extremely strong mental fluctuations and possesses great healing properties for mental trauma caused by spell backlash or other reasons. With insufficient strength, it is very hard to reel up, making it a favorite for mage-class professions.)

…

"Good grief, the effects of this fish meat are this terrifying?"

"Not only does it add 15 points of Spirit, but it can also cure all kinds of mental injuries!"

Mental injuries come in many varieties.

Among them, the most typical are various conditions caused by spell backlash.

For the mages of this world, spell backlash is a relatively common occurrence, yet something everyone is unwilling to encounter.

Casting any spell requires incantations; if interrupted at this time, one will suffer extremely severe backlash.

Basic spell backlash is okay.

If it's that kind of large-scale destructive spell, being suddenly interrupted results in unimaginable backlash!

In severe cases, it might even take several years to recover.

As Survivors, Cao Xing and the others didn't need to worry about such things since they had system panels.

But the natives of this world were different.

Therefore, the efficacy of the [Snowflake Snapper] was extremely important to mages.

Meanwhile,

on Braum's side, unwilling to fall behind, he also fiercely reeled in a Snowflake Snapper of a similar size.

In mid-air, ice crystals drifted down.

Everyone's gaze was instantly drawn to this scene!

Seeing this, the host exclaimed, "True Gods above, this is actually another Snowflake Snapper!"

"I've fished in the Annuo River for over a decade, and I've never seen anyone continuously reel up two Snowflake Snappers!"

"Today has truly opened my eyes!"

Even the villagers on the field were extremely excited!

They didn't know the miraculous aspects of the [Snowflake Snapper].

They only knew that a single Snowflake Snapper was worth at least 200,000 crowns!

It was fish meat with an astronomical price in the true sense.

Moreover, because they had watched the entire process from the sidelines,

this feeling made it seem as if they themselves had made money, exciting everyone to no end!

"Contestant No. 48, one Rare quality Snowflake Snapper, competition points +30!"

On the field, the other contestants were already completely numb.

Because they knew this competition no longer held any hope.

The champion and runner-up already belonged exclusively to these two.

However, the participants didn't give up either.

After all, even without the rewards for the champion and runner-up,

the top ten rewards were also very good!

Cao Xing was unaware of their thoughts; instead, with an excited mood, he continued to bait the hook and began a new round of snapper fishing.

"Splash! Splash!"

Sound after sound of the water surface breaking rang out as large fish of astonishing value were reeled up by him from the Annuo River!

Since Cao Xing only planned to use half of his pet rations this time—

5 for him and 5 for Braum—

very soon, the two of them used up the remaining three each.

[Obtained: Blue-Veined Snapper (Blue) * 1]

[Obtained: Snowflake Snapper (Purple) * 1]

[Obtained: Blue-Veined Snapper (Blue) * 1]

…

"Haha, three more large snappers, worth at least 300,000 crowns."

"Adding the previous two, these five pet rations brought me at least 550,000 crowns in revenue!"

Cao Xing was pleasantly surprised!

Because the investment for 5 pet rations was merely 50,000 crowns.

This time, he directly made a net profit of ten times!

Just thinking about it made one excited.

On the other side, Braum also reeled in two blue snappers and one purple snapper.

He also made roughly ten times the profit!

The harvest could be said to be quite bountiful.

As the host continued to broadcast,

the two of them were currently leading the others by over a hundred points.

Even if someone else reeled up an [Emerald Snapper] at this point, they wouldn't be able to surpass them.

Therefore, by now, points were no longer important.

Because no one could possibly surpass them anymore.

At this time, only the last 20 minutes of the competition remained.

Over on Braum's side, he had already used up the Green quality bait and Blue quality fish in his hands, sitting leisurely on the ice surface and waiting.

Even the host wanted to announce the early end of this competition.

However, Cao Xing showed no intention of stopping.

Looking at the icy cold river water, Cao Xing pondered inwardly,

"The effects of the Rare quality Snowflake Snapper are already this strong; I wonder what kind of miraculous effects a Golden quality Emerald Snapper would have?"

With a hint of anticipation,

Cao Xing took out another purple [Special Pet Rations] from his backpack and hooked it on.

Then, he directly lowered it into the ice hole.

As the fishing line fell into the river water,

two or three minutes passed with still no sign of a bite.

Cao Xing asked in confusion, "Oh? The special pet rations of purple quality haven't hooked a fish yet?"

This made him somewhat surprised.

And right at this moment,

Cao Xing suddenly noticed that the river water below began to churn.

Everyone suddenly had a strange feeling, as if something was rapidly approaching from beneath the water.

Yes, even those ordinary people had this intuition.