Chapter 141 - 110: The 1st Fishing Contest (2)

"Heh heh." This player was clearly a smooth talker. Rubbing his hands together, he said, "Brother Yu, if you like it, the fish is yours. If you hadn’t organized this fishing event, I never would’ve caught something this good."

"Really?!"

Brother Yu’s eyes lit up, but he quickly noticed the crowd of onlookers around them. He coughed once and shook his head.

"Ahem, not so fast, not so fast. Let’s talk about it later. The competition isn’t over yet."

Not long after Brother Yu finished speaking, another player’s voice rang out.

"Think you’re the only one with a gift? Brother Yu, Brother Yu! You can have mine, too!"

With that, another player scrambled to show off his own catch.

What this player caught was rather unusual—it was a seahorse.

[Purple-Scaled Sea Horse]

[Type: Item]

[Effect: ?]

[Rarity: Rare Treasures]

[Explanation: A very rare seahorse covered in purple scales. The scales seem to possess some faint Power.]

"This one isn’t bad either." Brother Yu wasn’t too excited about the seahorse, but its quality was pretty good, and it was also of the Rare Treasures rarity.

After thinking for a moment, Brother Yu decided to ask the onlookers for their opinion: "Which of these two do you think is better?"

Hearing Brother Yu’s words, the onlookers immediately started a heated discussion.

"It’s definitely the Two-faced Fish. A fishing competition has to be about fish."

"Don’t be ridiculous, man. A seahorse is a fish too."

"Huh? This thing is a fish? You’ve got to be kidding me, right?"

"It sounds a little crazy, but he’s actually right. Seahorses are indeed fish..."

"So how are we supposed to judge this? Both items are the same rarity."

"Let’s vote."

"Then I vote for the seahorse. I think its quality is better."

"I vote for the Two-faced Fish!"

The onlookers buzzed with discussion.

After discussing it with Pai Daxun, however, Brother Yu realized that a few of the fishermen were still missing.

"Is anyone else not here yet?"

"If you don’t show up soon, we’re going to vote and decide the winner!"

Brother Yu shouted a couple of times.

The onlookers also enthusiastically shouted to the surroundings, and someone even went to notify them offline.

Before long, a player came running over in a great hurry, arriving late.

"I’m here, I’m here!"

"Phew, sorry I’m late."

"A few brothers, come to the shore and help me out! We can’t let my treasure die."

This player seemed full of confidence. As soon as he arrived, he called others to form a circle, creating a small, man-made pool.

Although the crowd was confused, they cooperated, forming a tight, multi-layered circle to create the enclosure.

"Watch closely, and don’t blink!"

Amidst the crowd’s expectant gazes, the player gave a mysterious smile and then took out his catch.

When the catch appeared, the fishermen and onlookers were all stunned.

"Holy crap! It’s so dazzling!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what a beautiful fish! It even has ribbons on it!"

"It’s over. There’s no need to argue now!"

[Pearl Dancer Fish]

[Type: Item]

[Effect: ?]

[Rarity: Epic]

[Explanation: A fish with a pinkish-white body and a pearl on its forehead, its form as supple as a dancer’s. It often appears in the legends of dancers and poets.]

It had a soft, pinkish-white body and a bright pearl on its forehead. Every scale seemed meticulously arranged, and the elegant, ribbon-like fins danced in the water, truly resembling a beautiful dancer.

Moreover, it wasn’t small, measuring over a meter in length.

The moment the Pearl Dancer Fish appeared, the previous three players instantly deflated.

If this player hadn’t shown up, the three of them might have had a fighting chance against one another.

But with an Epic-Level catch of such beautiful quality, the winner was already clear.

Staring at the fish, which was impeccable in both quality and size, Brother Yu was utterly mesmerized.

After a period of waiting and judging, all the contestants had finally arrived.

Completely satisfied after seeing so many catches, Brother Yu took out the Primordial Magic Pearl and solemnly handed it to the other player.

In his excitement, this player also gave his Pearl Dancer Fish to Brother Yu.

"Oh, my, I couldn’t possibly accept this."

"Brother Yu, listen to yourself. You gave us something as precious as a Primordial Magic Pearl, and you won’t even accept a mere fish?"

"Sigh... alright, then I’ll accept it."

Brother Yu put on a reluctant look as he carefully took the Pearl Dancer Fish from the other player’s hands, his eyes shining with delight.

’It’s so beautiful. If only I’d caught this fish with my own hands, that would have been even better!’

"This was great, what a good event! Brother Yu, Brother Yu, you should host another competition next time."

"I wonder what effect the Pearl Dancer Fish will have after being processed by the Spirit Candle."

"You’re gonna process something so awesome? You should definitely put it in your collection!"

"Pretty interesting."

Among the onlookers, some were left wanting more and suggested Brother Yu hold another event when he had the chance. Others had developed a new interest in fishing and were ready to get into it.

...

Luo Ge had also seen the fishing competition the players organized. Besides, he was pretty bored right now anyway.

After watching, however, he decided to get down to business.

In the past few days, motivated by the new toys, the players had been grinding monsters diligently, and as a result, the tax he collected had naturally increased quite a bit.

Besides steadily summoning new players, he was also accumulating Wax Oil, all for the sake of promoting the Sin Furnace’s Tier.

He had now accumulated almost enough Wax Oil.

Having made up his mind, Luo Ge quickly sent a live update announcement to all players.

Then, he arrived at the top of Exile Island, in front of the Sin Furnace.

His arrival naturally attracted the attention of some players. "Huh, isn’t that the Candlekeeper? What’s he doing here?"

"Are you stupid? Didn’t they just send out an update announcement? He’s probably here to advance the plot."

"Let’s go take a look."

The curious players immediately gathered to watch.

However, they didn’t get too close, afraid of disturbing the Candlekeeper.

Luo Ge paid them no mind and simply went about his business.

[Consume 4000 Wax Oil to Promote the building "Sin Furnace · Tier One".]

[Building Promotion in progress...]

[The Sin Furnace has been Promoted!]

[Sin Furnace · Tier Two (Cannot be promoted further for now)]

[Functions: Reforge, Forge, Temper]

[New drops added: Reinforced Wax Stone 3, Reinforced Wax Stone 4, Reinforced Wax Stone 5. Enhancement limit increased to +4. Drop range expanded.]

[New Forging Blueprint: Frost Riding Spear]

This promotion unlocked three qualities of Wax Stones, corresponding to higher weapon qualities: Excellent, Excellence, and Treasure Collection, respectively.

Among them, the Treasure Collection quality was something no player had even obtained yet.

In addition, there was the weapon blueprint that came as an extra from the promotion.

[Blueprint: Frost Riding Spear]

[Type: Blueprint]

[Required Materials: Frost-type Attribute Object + Reinforced Wax Stone 5 + Iron Long Lance]

[Explanation: The crafting blueprint for the Special Weapon, Frost Riding Spear.]

After reading the blueprint, Luo Ge was lost in thought.

On one hand, it was because of this weapon’s special nature.

It seemed different from other ordinary weapons.

On the other hand, it was because of the blueprint itself.

Luo Ge had a faint premonition that ever since the Spirit Candle’s Tier was promoted last time, it had been independently acquiring something akin to "knowledge."

This was reflected in some of the feedback from item explanations and the blueprints provided by the two Spirit Candle Buildings.

However, what Luo Ge found strange was that when he sought corresponding feedback from the Spirit Candle, the Spirit Candle had no reaction.

This was very abnormal.

Because, if it was something the Spirit Candle itself didn’t know, it would probably give Luo Ge feedback like "Unclear" or "Unknown."

But now, it had changed to simply not responding.

This made Luo Ge feel faintly uneasy.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the Spirit Candle, but...

After sighing inwardly, Luo Ge put down the blueprint in his hand, and his figure gradually disappeared.

[This live update is complete.]

[Spirit Candle Building: The Sin Furnace has been upgraded to Tier Two. Players may go and see for themselves.]