Alaric woke up, deliriously happy.
He had been taken over by his fishlike spirit, and felt rejuvenated with true life.
Quickly standing up, he stretched his body out, getting ready for the day. He was still in the office of the gate guard, who had graciously allowed him to sleep there.
Alaric had taking the rat with him too. At this point, Alaric had been feeding the rat well, so it was no longer scrawny. Through the past week it had gained some weight, and was now in the territory of being an average rat.
Opening the door, he was greeted by the guard.
"Good morning. I was going to wake you up in a second, my shift is ending. You should head out now." The guard said to Alaric, seemingly in a cheerful mood.
"Good morning!!!" Alaric said in an even more cheerful mood.
He headed out of the door and went back into his boat. He was now ready to get to the house. He had the deed kept safe.
But he wasn't worried about anybody checking. The only relevant thing he would have to do regarding it would be to pay taxes for it later in the year. Much illegal activity went under the radar of the government, but taxes were one of the things that were strictly enforced.
While Alaric would try to manipulate them for his businesses, he would have to pay the standard taxes. He would have to somewhat pose as a standard fisherman. Being a part of the fishing guild would be a crucial step. Alaric also planned on selling some standard fish. There was nothing wrong with taking extra money where he could.
He would likely dry them out and sell them, as he wouldn't frequently be in a position to sell.
Alaric was now out on the open water. It was early daytime, so Alaric would likely arrive at the house by the end of the day.
The difficult part wouldn't be getting to the house on sea, it would be transporting the supplies to the house.
After all, it was about thirty minutes walking to the beach.
Alaric would have to make multiple trips there and back.
On the open sea, Alaric stayed near the coast. There was a moderate wind going, so he was advancing reasonably. In the future, he wanted to get a steam powered boat. The optimal situation would be to live on a large boat, but that would be too expensive.
But the opportunities would be endless. It would provide a place to live, fish, and transport goods easily. Alaric had no one to talk to on his ride there, so he decided to fantasize about the future on his journey.
He hummed traditional songs from his home town as he went along his way. He was reminded of his home town, his useless life as a boring citizen.
Along the coast, it was mostly rocky beaches, with woods behind them. These woods would be teeming with life.
As Alaric passed along, he saw numerous wolves in the woods. Most of them were standard wolves, maybe having some kind of strength enhancement.
But there was the occasional monster. Alaric saw a couple two headed wolves.
There were some other monsters too as he headed further out. This region was defined by its wolf population, but the further he went away the populations shifted.
Alaric at one point passed a forest of Bloodorks. There were various beasts that had humanoid shape, but that didn't mean that they were capable of complex thought. Instead, they had higher magical attainment.
Bloodorks were similar to people, but they were fat and had dark crimson skin. They were characterized by their blood magic. Their fat appearance was due to large storage of blood in their body. They had basic horns aswell. These horns were used as both weapons and tools for cutting open fruits.
Despite their bipedal appearance, they were idiots. They were still operating based on pure survival instinct.
Alaric temporarily contemplated on the nature of magic.
A common question in the world was
"Why do humans have such poor magic attainment?"
Many scholars had attempted to answer this question, and there was a commonly agreed upon answer.
That was that the rational nature of humans naturally discouraged itself from the irrational nature of magic. Humans spend their lives trying to explain the world through science. And when something as incomprehensible as magic appears, it shattered that. There were many people who tried to analyze magic in a scientific manner, but it was to no avail. It was simply too illogical.
This is where wild beasts that have no concept of rationality flourish, as they can simply accept the incomprehensible due to their low processing power. They cannot comprehend it, but they also do not have the capacity to try.
There were two major schools of thought regarding magic for humans.
One was that it was simply illogical by nature. It had no pattern at all.
The other was that it was impossibly complex.
Society had gradually shifted towards favoring the first school of thought, as the second one lead to futile madness in attempting to comprehend it.
This is why Alaric loved Esoteric fishing. Yes, it was Esoteric, and there were many secrets that had to be uncovered. This would entail madness.
But innately, it appealed more to logic. There were rules, and properties. This is where Alaric flourished.
This is where his humanity applied to its highest degree.
Alaric's fish eyes shone brightly in the light of the day.
A smile plastered on his face as he gazed out on the ocean, full of opportunity for him.
There was a whole world for him to pioneer.
As the humans had gradually explored the physical world, discovering all there was on land, Alaric would explore the deepest recesses of fishing, coming to attainment of the true nature of fishing.
Such a mastery of a concept could only bring success.